Advertising Vibes

The vibe around advertising right now is a bit weird huh. Elon Musk hating on it. Outcry about Netflix adding advertising. But advertising supports a healthy economy, aiding in product discovery. In a digital attention world, subscriptions have a stronger role to play. And with Netflix’s focus, it seems like most platforms are heading towards a hybrid future. Part subscription, part advertising. You choose. And that’s smart, because advertising makes content more accessible to all. And subscription provides reliable revenue. Spotify is maybe a good example of this with their subscription focused, advertising supported model. But you look at WPP, who is growing YOY, there’s a sign of creativity leading growth in advertising. And that’s exactly what’s needed.

• YouTube is testing ads on its short-form answer to TikTok, Shorts.
• Sharethrough hires a CMO. And founder Dan Greenberg and native advertising pioneer steps down after 14 years to work on something new. ????
• BuzzFeed arrives at upfronts with a vertical ad format, a creator network, and plenty of new programming.
• Spotify now allows all creators in select markets to publish video podcasts. Video can now be embedded off platform too.
• Study website Quizlet launches ad platform using native.
• The Ad Tech vendors helping programmatic go green.
• CNN+ shut down and subscription cost is driving cancellations.
• [Long read] How retail media ad platforms are rewriting the wallets garden playbook.

Deals/M&A

• Goldman Sachs to invest $325m into tv measurement company iSpot.tv.
• Kevin Hart’s LOL Network and HartBeat productions merged and the combined entity raised $100m in investment.
• G/O Media buys Quartz.

Campaign of the Week

• Metlife with WSJ. Tailwinds for Emerging Markets.

• Tumblr saw a 19% bump in new user registrations after Twitter accepts Elon Musks offer.
• HBO grows to 77m subscribers.
• Snap grew to 332m DAUs in Q1.

That’s it for this week.