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