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Bridging commentary on the art & science of content; content marketing, branded content, native advertising and the analytics, attribution and intelligence that powers it.

Commentary

Data storytelling

Edition #530 On data storytelling, owning your own data narrative, loads of M&A & the live blog.  This week we saw Viant take a step towards owning their data narrative by acquiring TVision. This brings the data in tightly to their ecosystem. And a friend of the newsletter highlighted, helps their differentiation in the CTV DSP market. Data storytelling is all about finding the narrative and real value from that a company is giving (or receiving). A go to (and… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
April 16, 2026
Commentary

Branded citations

Edition #529 KFC’s new campaign, Time Inc gets creative with branded content & AI, and JP Dimon to start a media company?  Time Inc are dong something smart with their branded content. They shared with DigiDay, they will look at how a brand is perceived in the LLMs and contrast that to the brands current messaging in market. And then branded content to help change the LLMs perception. Leveraging their own visibility to get fresh, new authoritative content into… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
April 2, 2026
Commentary

Snafu

Edition #528 Measurement changes, OpenAI nabs Meta ad veteran and branded entertainment is really in vogue.  So you’re working with the MRC to keep your measurement in compliance. And they suggest, it would be stronger, if this part of your data source, was sourced independently. You’ve selected that data source, because you think it helps present the best model, for clients, as they navigate the ever changing landscape. But, you need to keep complaint. So you go and change. That’s… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
March 26, 2026
Commentary

LLM Skills

Edition #527 On skill files in media, new monetization paths and vertical shorts are back? Lenny did something neat with his newsletter, he opened up all his posts and transcripts so that paid subscribers could access, and build on top of the newsletter. Perfect for his community (which are product builders). “Today I’m releasing my entire newsletter archive (350+ posts) and all podcast transcripts (300+ episodes) as AI-friendly Markdown files. Plus an MCP server and GitHub repo.” And then,… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
March 19, 2026
Commentary

Joes book

Edition #526 Why you should check out Joes book, Meta acquires the social network for AI agents, new ad formats & more.  I was lucky enough to get an early preview of Joe Lazers book, on why storytelling is the super skill in the age of AI. And it’s kind of the book I wanted for this moment. Rewind 18 months and Joe and I were talking about Ai and its impact on creativity, and I said, what if… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
March 12, 2026
Commentary

ClawCon

Edition #525 The rise of personal AI agents, what it might mean for the web, News Corp & Meta strike a deal and Meta attribution changes. I went to Clawcon earlier this week in the village, it’s the event around OpenClaw. OpenClaw is the open source personal AI agent, OpenAI acqui-hired the founder a few weeks back. The event was fun, with people sharing what they were building with OpenClaw. Examples were, people adding ‘ai agent’ employees to their team,… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
March 6, 2026
Commentary

Google Marketing

Edition #524 Your margin is my opportunity, OpenTable & a new social network from AppLovin? Zuckerberg has talked about the ole your margin is my opportunity for advertising. If they can squish the cost to produce or scale creative, that expands the budget available for working media.  And we see Google just quietly executing on this same exact thesis. AlreadyCMO shared: Google is assembling a full-stack marketing suite inside Labs, and the iteration speed is aggressive. If… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
February 26, 2026
Commentary

Apple Creators

Edition #523 Apple video ads, ChatGPT ads and Bedrock raises a round.  Apple’s foray into video ads is coming. At least, this week they announced video in the podcasts app. A funny about loop, as Apple arguably invented the podcast. But others ran with video. Although, I vaguely recall in the early days, you could offer video. But it was lost somewhere along the way. The other neat thing Apple is doing, is they’re going to get F1… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
February 19, 2026
Commentary

WebMCP

Edition #522 The protocol that will change the internet, Super Bowl Ads and everything OpenAI ads. Fun fact, a kiwi directed three of the Super Bowl ads! Taika Waititi. I love that. When I watch, I’m usually trying to figure out which were filmed in New Zealand, often it’s at least three to four. But that was a neat fact I didn’t know. And who doesn’t love Taika, right? The AI ads, didn’t get much credit from the… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
February 12, 2026
Commentary

Thinking modes

Edition #521 Modes of thinking, advertising agent interoperability & Lego’s new programmatic team. I was at Davos the week before last, great to see some readers there too! A few friends asked what Davos was really about, so I put together A spirit of dialogue from Davos. A lot of recent pieces have been very forward looking, 2x, Humans in the loop, The Machines. And that is because we are facing a lot of change and… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
February 5, 2026