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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

AI Monetization

Edition #536 On how the new LLM monetization model is being calculated, Google has a new adblocker & what Pinterest says we’re wearing this summer. Last week Parallel, announced Index, a way to help content owners, monetize their content for LLMs. At the moment, the monetization, is only for developers who also use Parallels Deep Research API. However, there are 100,000 developers using it. This is the first (transparent) stab at how should content creators be paid for their… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
May 28, 2026
Commentary

Spines

Edition #535 On digital spines, the two track internet and Stanley Tucci.  The Sunday blue blobs were flying in the group chat. Publicis acquired LiveRamp. Putting together a foundation for the agentic media future. A quick recap, LiveRamp is an identity spine, where you can match IDs. Imagine a literal spine, and you hang your ID on one part, and it helps you connect that ID to another on the spine. On the deal, ‘Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun said… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
May 21, 2026
Commentary

Radio voice

Edition #534 A voice for radio, the disconnect between CMOs better equipped to scale AI and those that aren’t and margin expansion.  You’ve heard the saying, they have a voice for radio. But podcasters are recently finding out, they need to turn on the video. In the search for more ad dollars, the extended reach of video, podcasts which have been audio only are now pressing the video record button. There’s some rationality to this, you’ve already got the content,… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
May 14, 2026
Commentary

CTV

Edition #533 What makes CTV exciting, Criteo has 1,000+ advertisers in its ChatGPT pilot & WealthSimple’s The Trade Show. I didn’t get CTV initially, we did some work, helping measure early CTV campaigns. I mean, as a consumer, I got it. But I didn’t get the hype around the advertising side. And that only really clicked for me in the last 6 months. And maybe I’m slow on the uptake.  But CTV enables advertisers to do the early digital… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
May 7, 2026
Commentary

FQ

Edition #532 How did the FQ suddenly become everywhere? The real cost of Dull Advertising and Substack sells books. I wanted to give a shout to the Female Quotient (FQ). If you’ve been to any major industry event recently, they seem to be there. In fact they seem to be everywhere, I first kind of noticed at Advertising Week last year, and then at Davos, then CES and Possible. But they’re also at the F1 too? I don’t… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
April 30, 2026
Commentary

Home Screen

Edition #531 How long do you spend what to watch? Paid benefactors and Miami.  Do you ever spend half an hour discussing with your spouse on what to watch next? It turns out Nielsen has estimated that exact average at about 10 and a half minutes. It seems my wife and I are an outlier! But Nexxen this week announced inventory TV Home Screen, in this exact window, that 10 minutes of discovery whilst you’re figuring out what’s next. Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
April 23, 2026
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