Edition #506
Are we on the verge of M&A mania? Not Wheels brand partnerships and the new AI economy.
We see more movement in the AI economy, with Koah raising funds to put ads in LLMs. The founder of RSS working on RSL – licensing for chat bots. And Raptive also looking to remunerate their creators from usage of their chatbots. They don’t promise big bucks but it’s more that this is a step in the right direction on the journey. On top of that, we have all the pipes being built around AI agents, which is forming whole new economies on top of the web as we know it. Truly is a lot of white space.
With the fed (likely?) to cut, and enact a few cuts later this year, paired with AI disruption. Will this unlock a whole tranch of M&A? I think so. Going into an environment where interest rates are only going to get better, provides a great path for capital.
Another nugget in the stories, look at Carrot Ads (Instacarts ad network) – extending their reach on to other food related sites. Super smart. Retail networks huh.
Notable stories this week
- Matador launches Matador House for creators.
- Why LeBron James is hosting a new show for the employment brand Indeed.
- The Biggest 2025 VMAs Ad Stunts, Starring MrBeast and Sabrina Carpenter.
- Why brands should focus on great ads, not just sponsored posts.
- Google’s AI is the ‘worst’ for stealing content, says People CEO.
- Netflix turns to Amazon to make its ads easier to buy.
- Raptive is partnering with ProRata to explore a fair model for AI content use.
- 5,000 Podcasts. 3,000 Episodes a Week. $1 Cost Per Episode — Behind an AI Start Up’s Plan.
- Google really doesn’t want you to think the open web is in decline.
- YouTube may soon split from Google’s Search Partner network.
- When every brand is a publisher, how do you stand out?
- Netflix will let users customize and share clips on mobile.
- Is the Future of Publishing a Bunch of AI Answer Engines?
- AI bots bombard publisher websites with ‘no meaningful value exchange.
- The Internet Will Be More Dead Than Alive Within 3 Years, Trend Shows.
- ‘Axios Show’ Featuring One-on-One Newsmaker Interviews, Set to Debut. Uber as brand partner.
- Roblox’s growth comes with growing pains between creators and ad sales.
- PayPal Ads partners with PubMatic to deliver commerce-driven advertising.
- Time moved 2m+ newsletter subscribers to Beehiiv.
- Media Buying Briefing: How Publicis is winning and keeping clients, even as competitors cry foul.
- The web has a new system for making AI companies pay up.
- Hy-Vee RedMedia Rolling Out Instacart Carrot Ads.
- Meet the Google-Scraping Startup Used by ChatGPT, Cursor and Perplexity.
- Online travel platforms prepare for rise of artificial intelligence ‘agents’.
- Ahrefs has ChatGPT traffic slowing.
- Creators are leveraging CTV channels as added value for sponsorship deals.
- The web has a new system for making AI companies pay up.
- Investing $60m in creators.
- Will OpenAI’s Critterz make or break AI filmmaking? Check out the trailer.
- Saving the open web.
Deals/M&A
- Magnite Acquires GenAI Streaming Ads Startup Streamr.ai.
- BendingSpoons acquires Vimeo.
- Koah raises $5M to bring ads into AI apps.
- OpenEvidence Acquires Google Ventures-Backed AI Startup, Amaro.
- Ahrefs acquired Detailed.
Campaign of the week
- MSCHF x MATTEL CREATION – Not Wheels. Fun.
- What if Lebron James skills were never seen?
Smartest commentary
- “Curate harder than you create” –Sarah Spence.
Datapoints of note
- 220m images edited and 10m new people came to Gemini, using Nano Banana.
- Survey: 74% UK marketers plan to increase programmatic CTV spend.
- Roblox currently has 111.8 million daily active users. Over the past year, Roblox paid out over $1 billion to creators on the platform, with Roblox svp of engine and creator engineering Nick Tornow claiming the company is “on track to pay well more than that in 2025”.
- Facebook ad costs jump 21% as lead campaigns struggle while traffic ads thrive.
- 78% are okay with sponsored content on AI platforms—as long as it’s clearly labeled and contextually relevant.
- 80% prefer a free, ad-supported AI model over a paid one.
Events
- AI Breakfast coming up. Ping me to join.
That’s it for this week.
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