Category: Commentary

Commentary

Craftsmanship

Edition #504 Guillermo del Toro, Snapchat & moar AI (and new LLM advertising options.  I dug Guillermo del Toro’s quote in Variety, calling for more craftsmanship on sets rather than leaning on CGI. Guillermo del Toro refused to make Frankenstein with too much visual effects and green screens: “I want real sets.” “I don’t want digital. I don’t want AI. I don’t want simulation. I want old-fashioned craftsmanship. I want people painting, building, hammering, plastering.” With the onslaught of… Continue reading

Ben Young

August 28, 2025

Commentary

AI Browsers

Edition #503 AI Browsers, Bilts Roomies & new web paradigms. With Perplexity placing a bid for Google Chrome this week, it has AI Browsers under the spot light. Having had a play with them, the best analogy is, it’s like an enhanced web experience. For no extra effort from the web, it adds a new dimension and actions you can take. Can you get by without one today? Well yeah, we all did not long ago. But the play… Continue reading

Ben Young

August 14, 2025

Commentary

Micropayments

Edition #502 On ads are the ultimate micropayments platform, LOADS of AI stories, Vogue goes amiss & acquisitions. “If you really want to get to a billion and then five billion people, you can’t do that with a paid offering… you need an indirect business model. Ads are the obvious one.” -Marc Andreesen. Every now and again, someone talks about making micro payments for content. And the reason it never works is, decision fatigue. It’s easier… Continue reading

Ben Young

August 7, 2025

Commentary

Quiet period

Edition #501 On quiet periods, AI search (lots there) and a return to brand marketing. Ahead of earnings, public companies enter what is known as a quiet period. Where they won’t comment on stories or make big announcements. This is to clear the air and avoid any unfair releases or advantages. And to give focus to the earnings.  Now, savvy reporters and activists will sometimes use this window, to drop news, knowing the firm can’t or won’t respond. Continue reading

Ben Young

July 24, 2025

Commentary

500!

Edition #500 Facebook has creators backs again, Substacks secret weapon & more AI summaries. In 2014 I wrote on my personal blog about a year of health and wellbeing. And that year was pivotal, but it also really was the start of a decade of continuing to improve on health & fitness. That year we also started a newsletter called This Week in Native Ads. And I know some readers will remember that! As you’ve come along for the… Continue reading

Ben Young

July 17, 2025

Commentary

Library edit

Edition #499 Huge edit post the Fourth of July, F1 movie sold real sponsorships to the tune of $40m and influencers, do we need them? Huge edition this week after a one week hiatus. I reviewed over 200 stories on the shortlist, so it took a bit. Fill up a cup of coffee and enjoy.  There was a bunch of measurement stories this week, one featuring data from Kochava, talking about how MMM’s are uncovering drastic opportunities… Continue reading

Ben Young

July 10, 2025

Commentary

Instagram indexed

Edition #498 Instagram opening up to Google, David Droga on 37 years & is Apple’s branded integration going too far?  Apple has really stepped up their brand integrations this year, promoting Severance on Apple.com and the F1 Movie through Maps, Haptic Trailers & Tim Cook joining in with a few tweets. Showing enthusiasm from the top. Apple even created a custom camera using iPhone parts to film parts of the movie! But maybe they went too far this week in… Continue reading

Ben Young

June 26, 2025

Commentary

Multi modal

Edition #497 Will pMax (& others) go multi modal? WhatsApp Ads & Cannes. Privacy advocacy is working, WhatsApp launched its ads product this week. The ads are limited the to the updates section (away from your messages). But at launch, they share exactly what data will feed into those placements. Why? All the advocacy for privacy is paying off, users are savvier, it’s best to launch and just go on the front foot here is what we are… Continue reading

Ben Young

June 19, 2025

Commentary

UGC

Edition #496 UGC/influencer spend surpasses traditional media, Cannes & loads of AI stories. For readers heading to Cannes, you might enjoy this fun/informative guide I put together How to Sound Smart (and Stay Sane) at Cannes. Grab the PDF to read on the go. Safe travels. There’s even a section for those whose partners are going but they aren’t! AdAge has a piece on how e.l.f and Microsoft quickly turned around content collaborations with TikTok influencer Oliver… Continue reading

Ben Young

June 12, 2025

Commentary

Infinite use cases

Edition #495 On AI’s infinite use cases, NY tech week & entry level jobs. We don’t create enough content anymore, which is why algorithmic feeds are needed to help find other content we might like. But with AI tools, ironically that may change, with people using AI to create more responsive memes, or responses or dynamic content. It’s been New York Tech Week this week, which just seems to get bigger and bigger! AI dominated the conversation with… Continue reading

Ben Young

June 5, 2025