‘A year of loose ends’: Digiday editors share top takeaways from 2025

This year was filled with major developments, from Netflix’s planned WBD deal to Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG to the introduction of AI-only video feeds. But there were also developments that didn’t really happen, like the U.S. spinoff of TikTok and Google’s third-party cookie deprecation. Digiday editors Sara Jerde and Seb Joseph joined hosts Kimeko McCoy and Tim Peterson to recap the year that was (and wasn’t).

This week’s episode recaps Disney’s deal to open up its character library to OpenAI and Google’s reported plan to roll out ads in its Gemini chatbot. Then Davis Wright Tremaine partner Rob Driscoll joins the show to delve into the copyright concerns and potential trademark issues surrounding brands’ use of generative AI tools (16:40).

This week’s episode unpacks two major developments in the media and entertainment industries. Digiday’s executive editor of news Seb Joseph joins to analyze Netflix’s plan to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business (3:43) as well as Meta’s foray into signing content licensing deals with publishers for its AI chatbot (25:37). Then this week’s featured segment is a live recording from last week’s Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit, in which Attention Arc’s Christopher Francia makes the case for why programmatic ad buying shouldn’t be outsourced to AI agents (34:50).

On this week's episode, the smoke is clearing in the Omnicom-IPG merger with a clearer look at how its media, tech and creative will operate going forward coming into focus. Plus, another ripple in OpenAI's author lawsuit begins to surface. Then (16:30), Digiday's senior marketing reporter Sam Bradley joins the show to discuss WPP's turbulent 2025, and what it'll take to turn things around in 2026.

This week’s episode recaps the who’s who of Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition bids, the end to Meta’s antitrust case, the Omnicom-IPG deal’s final hurdle and why Adobe acquired Semrush. Then (13:40), Digiday’s platforms reporter Krystal Scanlon joins the show to discuss how OpenAI could seriously pursue an ad business.

This week’s episode recaps Paramount raising new ad arbitrage questions, Amazon and Google unveiling new ad agents and IAB Tech Lab introducing its Agentic RTB Framework. Then Digiday’s executive editor of news Seb Joseph and senior ad tech reporter Ronan Shields join the show to outline how, with the introduction of Ad Context Protocol and ARTF, the ad industry is laying the pipes for programmatic advertising’s intersection with AI agents.

This week’s episode recaps the YouTube TV-Disney distribution standoff (5:50), Netflix’s interest in acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery (14:50) and the rising revenue Google and Meta are reaping from their respective short-form video platforms (20:00). Then Tracy Yaverbaun, gm of The Times and Sunday Times, joins the show to talk about the British news publisher’s work with Electric Twin to create a synthetic audience research panel based on The Times’ human reader panel (27:20).

On this week's episode, digital creator and actor Kalen Allen talks navigating brand safety and the so-called culture wars in the creator economy (24:50). Plus, what WPP Open Pro launch says about the agency AI arms race, Reddit’s Perplexity lawsuit and the future AI framework, and the latest on the Warner Bros. Discovery possible sale.

This week's episode pours one out for Google's Privacy Sandbox as the saga comes to an end and takes a look at the rise of agentic AI while Pinterest tries to curb its AI slop. Then (21:24), David Huntzinger, an agent at talent management firm Night, joins the show to make sense of how the creator economy is positioning itself as a media channel.

This week’s episode recaps Instagram eyeing the launch of a CTV app and Perplexity putting its ad business on pause. Then Digiday platforms reporter Krystal Scanlon joins the show to to discuss the state of the short-form video market as all-AI entrants like OpenAI’s Sora and Meta’s Vibes enter the fray alongside the impending TikTok U.S.