Emily and Mike Talk AI in Media Buying, Agency Layoffs, and Trade Desk Bounceback

This week, Mike and Emily dive into the recent positive performance of The Trade Desk, questioning if the earlier concerns about the ad tech market were overblown, and then shift gears to discuss the evolving landscape of search with the rise of sophisticated AI prompting and its implications for information access and optimization.💡Takeaways:Trade Desk's Resilience: Despite earlier concerns, Trade Desk has shown strong performance, indicating potential stabilization in the ad tech market. 📈  CTV Growth & Complexity: Connected TV (CTV) is expanding, with platforms like Samsung, LG, and Vizio becoming significant players, yet the space faces challenges in balancing automation and relationships. 📺  AI Impact on Ad Tech: AI is increasingly influential in ad tech, with discussions around "agentic AI" and its potential to automate ad buying, but concerns remain about transparency and control. 🤖  Transparency vs. Automation: There's an ongoing debate about balancing the need for transparency in ad buying with the efficiency promised by automation, especially with AI. ⚖️  Agency Evolution: Agencies are adapting to technological changes, with some restructuring and incorporating AI, raising questions about the future of media planning and buying. 🏢  Search Advertising Disruption: The search landscape is potentially undergoing a significant transformation, with AI influencing how search and advertising interact and the emergence of conversational search. 🔍  Data Accuracy Concerns: There are growing concerns about the accuracy of data used by AI in ad tech, with reports of AI "hallucinations" and inaccuracies in data-driven decisions. ⚠️  Balancing Automation and Human Element: The industry is grappling with how to integrate automation technologies like AI while preserving the value of human relationships and judgment in media buying and advertising. 🤝

Next in Media spoke with Brian Albert, Managing Director, YouTube Media Partnerships & Creative Works, about YouTube's ascent on the TV screen, how the company plans to bring top creators to the table during upfront talks, and whether brands are about to pull back on commitments amidst all this tariff uncertainty.💡Takeaways:YouTube's Enduring Influence: Even after 20 years, YouTube remains a central force in the digital landscape, particularly in advertising. 🚀The Evolution of Ad Formats: The journey of YouTube's ad products over the past 15 years highlights a period of rapid and significant innovation. 📈Strategic Upfront Negotiations: YouTube actively engages in upfront negotiations, demonstrating a structured and proactive approach to securing advertising partnerships. 🤝Emphasis on Creative Best Practices: Ensuring ad quality and variety (6s, 15s, 30s, vertical) is a key focus for YouTube and its partners. 🎨Creator Collaboration as a Service: Facilitating connections between advertisers and creators is a valuable service YouTube provides to enhance campaigns. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑The Power of Creator Scale: The production capabilities of top creators like Mr. Beast and Dude Perfect rival traditional media, offering unique partnership opportunities. 🤯Brittany Broski Emceeing the Brandcast: Leveraging popular and relevant online personalities to host key industry events signals a keen understanding of current internet culture.🎤Mr. Beast and Lady Gaga on the Same Stage: The convergence of mainstream celebrity and digital creator talent at YouTube events underscores the platform's broad appeal and influence.👩🏼‍🎤🎙 Guest: Brian Albert🎤 Host: Mike Shields📺 Sponsor: VuePlanner🎬 Producer: FEL Creative

Next in Media spoke with Tim Vanderhook and Chris Vanderhook, co-Founders of Viant Technologies. The CEO and COO of the ad tech firm talked about their Trade Desk rivalry, whether a Google breakup will be good for their business and the open web, and why CTV offers a chance for fewer monopolies.💡Takeaways:Google's Monopoly & Ad Tech ⚖️: The discussion emphasizes the impact of Google's monopoly on the ad tech industry and suggests that a breakup could foster a fairer marketplace.Privacy & Regulation 🛡️: The interview highlights the ongoing debate about privacy czars, self-regulation, and the necessity for more proactive government involvement in setting privacy standards.The Evolving Ad Tech Ecosystem 🔄: There's a focus on the continuous evolution of the ad tech landscape, with discussions around the shift away from cookies and the importance of adapting to new measurement methodologies.Challenges to Established Players 🥊: The dialogue examines the increasing dominance of certain ad tech companies and the need for a level playing field to foster competition and prevent lock-in tactics.Effectiveness of Household Data 🏠: The speakers advocate for the use of household IDs as a more effective and privacy-friendly approach to ad targeting compared to traditional methods like hashed emails.The Pitfalls of Last Touch Attribution 📉: The conversation sheds light on the drawbacks of last-touch attribution models and how they can lead to misguided advertising strategies and wasted spend.CTV and the Shift in Advertising 📺: Connected TV (CTV) is identified as a key area of growth and innovation in the ad industry, with a focus on the importance of accurate measurement and attribution in this space.The Role of AI in Advertising 🤖: AI's transformative potential in advertising is explored, with a spotlight on its ability to automate processes, simplify workflows, and enhance ad targeting and optimization🎙 Guests: Tim and Chris Vanderhook🎤 Host: Mike Shields📺 Sponsor: Elemental TV🎬 Producer: FEL Creative

"I think it will be blunt and arbitrary" - Goodway Group CEO Jay Friedman on what happens if marketers have to slash budget during TariffmageodonNext in Media talked to Goodway Group CEO Jay Friedman about the state of brands' decision making amidst an uncertain economy and a rise in AI automation.  And of course, we talked about cookies and the various court decisions facing Google.💡Takeaways:Google's Ecosystem is Massive 🐘:Google's influence extends far beyond ad tech, with a vast ecosystem that includes Android, Maps, YouTube, and Search, making it a complex entity to regulate.Acquisitions Shaped Google 🏢:Google's dominance was built largely through strategic acquisitions like Overture, DoubleClick, and YouTube, which has led to a powerful network of data sharing.Regulatory Challenges ⚖️:Antitrust cases against Google are complex, with debates focusing on specific areas like the Apple payment and ad tech, but may not address Google's broader power.The Future of Publishing ✍️:The focus is shifting from traditional websites to content creation on platforms like Substack, YouTube, and TikTok, which is changing how media empires are built.Retail Media's Rise 🛍️:Retail media has grown significantly, partly as a replacement for lost targeting capabilities due to changes in cookie policies and Apple's ATT.Ad Tech Transparency 🕵️‍♀️:There's a lack of transparency and some misrepresentation in the ad tech industry, which affects advertisers' ability to make informed decisions.AI's Impact on Decision Making 🤖:AI is expected to play a key role in de-biasing decision-making processes, providing deeper insights by analyzing historical data and various economic factors.Upfronts are Changing 🔄:Advertisers are advised to approach upfronts strategically, using retail data and delaying commitments to maximize their leverage and ensure more effective ad placements.🎙 Guest: Jay Friedman🎤 Host: Mike Shields📺 Sponsor: Elemental TV🎬 Producer: FEL Creative 

Host Mike Shields and ad consultant Emily Riley return to break down the major developments in media and advertising, from the Google antitrust trial to the latest on Google's cookie changes.📡Takeaways:Google's Influence: Google's actions significantly impact market competition, even amidst antitrust scrutiny. ⚖️The Evolving Role of Cookies: The diminishing importance of third-party cookies is pushing the industry towards first-party data strategies. 🍪➡️📊Ad Tech Challenges: Changes in ad tech, partly due to regulatory pressure on Google, are causing short-term pain but may lead to a future renaissance. 😣➡️✨The AI Impact: AI is becoming a significant factor in search behavior, especially among younger demographics, and its growing influence may lead to new monopolies. 🤖Amazon's Dominance: Amazon is a dominant force in retail search and is expanding its influence in the ad tech world. 🛍️🔍CTV Evolution: Connected TV is experiencing a creative transformation with AI-driven, interactive ads, which is enhancing competition. 📺🎨Regulatory Complexity: Regulating tech giants is difficult due to the intricate nature of the technology and defining what constitutes a monopoly. 🏛️🤔Shifting Power Dynamics: The ad tech industry is seeing a power shift, with SSPs and publishers exploring new strategies to bypass traditional players and consolidate their positions. 🔄

Next in Media talked to Tyler Price, head of content at Bleacher Report about the company's evolving connected TV strategy, how it works with its own talent and YouTube creators, and making decisions about growing it's audience versus leaning into revenue. Prince also talked about the company's big plans to dive deep into the NFL draft this year. 💡Takeaways:📣 Bleacher Report sees itself as a voice of the fan, joining the conversations already happening.📱 The company focuses on a personalized, fan-driven experience, now largely through video.🚀 Social media has been huge for Bleacher Report, but there's an increasing emphasis on their app for a more interactive fan experience.🎬 Bleacher Report uses a multifaceted video production approach to cover sports at scale, from high-end shows to social media-style content.🤝 Partnerships, like the one with TNT Sports, have given Bleacher Report access to rights and the ability to bring athletes into their coverage.🏈 Bleacher Report’s NFL draft coverage focuses on fan interaction and includes athlete reactions and NFL highlights.👂 The company prioritizes listening to its audience across platforms and iterating on its content strategy.⭐ Bleacher Report is embracing partnerships with creators, recognizing their importance in reaching Gen Z sports fans. 🎙 Guest: Tyler Price🎤 Host: Mike Shields📺 Sponsor: Elemental TV🎬 Producer: FEL Creative 

Next in Media spoke to Marc McCollum. Chief Innovation Officer at Raptive, about how smaller publishers are enduring in the face of AI search, Google search changes, and the supposed death of cookies.💡Takeaways:🤝 Raptive's Mission: Raptive champions ~6,000 independent creators on the open web, helping them monetize, grow audiences, and build sustainable businesses.📊 Google's Grip: Google Search is the lifeblood, driving a massive 58% of traffic to Raptive's network, making any changes highly impactful.📉 "Helpful Content" Hurdles: Recent Google updates, while aiming for quality, have disproportionately hurt mid-size and smaller creators, often favoring larger sites and forums like Reddit.🤖 The AI Answer Engine Threat: Google's pivot to AI Overviews signals a move from search to "answer engine," potentially slashing publisher traffic (~25% estimate) and raising serious copyright infringement concerns by repurposing content without compensation.🔗❓ AI's Attribution Issues: Even when creator content is used in AI answers, attribution is often missing, inaccurate, or doesn't lead to clicks, breaking the traditional traffic model.💪 Advertisers Still Value the Open Web: Despite traffic woes, advertiser demand for authentic creator content is strong, with Raptive seeing record direct sales, valuing the trust and connection creators build.🎯 Smarter Ads with AI: Raptive is leveraging AI (Raptive Intelligence) not just as a threat, but as a tool to analyze content nuances and create powerful mindset-based targeting for advertisers, commanding premium rates.🚀 Diversification is Key: Creators must reduce reliance on Google by building audiences on platforms like Pinterest, YouTube, and especially email newsletters, a strategy Raptive actively supports.🎙 Guests: Marc McCollum🎤 Host: Mike Shields📺 Sponsor: ElementalTV🎬 Producer: FEL Creative      

Next in Media spoke with George Karalexis, Co-Founder & CEO of TEN2 Media and his partner and COO Donna Budica, about the company's focus on helping artists think - and make money - like digital creators.💡Takeaways:🎵 Bridging the Gap: TEN2 Media assists artists, especially musicians, in maximizing their YouTube presence, moving beyond simply hosting music videos.📱 YouTube's Evolution: The platform has become a multi-format "super app" (Shorts, long-form, live, etc.), offering significant monetization opportunities that were previously underserviced in music.🤝 Unique Expertise: TEN2 Media's strength lies in its founders' combined experience in music, business, and YouTube, allowing them to understand artists' needs deeply.💰 Monetization & IP Protection: They utilize advanced tools and YouTube's systems (like Content ID) to track fan-created content (UGC), protect intellectual property, and optimize revenue for artists.📈 Significant Revenue Growth: Their strategies have led to substantial revenue increases (up to 5-7x) for clients ranging from independent artists building careers to major legacy acts.👑 YouTube vs. Other Platforms: While platforms like TikTok drive virality and Instagram excels at aesthetics, YouTube provides a more robust environment for building an authentic brand, community, and diverse income streams.🎬 Shorts are Key: Engaging with short-form video is now essential for discovery and reaching new audiences, complementing the deeper engagement and higher revenue potential of long-form content.🤯 Modern Music Challenge: While it's easier than ever for independent artists to distribute music, the overwhelming content volume makes standing out and achieving discovery without a unique point of view and smart platform strategy extremely difficult.🎙 Guests: George Karalexis & Donna Budica🎤 Host: Mike Shields📺 Sponsor: VuePlanner🎬 Producer: FEL Creative 

Mike and ad consultant Emily Riley are back talking about the big headlines in media and advertising, including the plunge in consumer confidence, how brands are viewing retail media right now, the fate of Yahoo's DSP, and lawsuits against the Trade Desk.💡Takeaways:📉 Economic Uncertainty & Ad Spend: Advertisers face significant uncertainty due to factors like tariffs and fluctuating consumer confidence, potentially leading to budget cuts or shifts towards performance-driven advertising.   🔗 Supply Chain Resilience: Many companies are better prepared for supply chain disruptions now compared to the COVID era, having improved systems and diversification. 📊 Measurement Renaissance: There's a growing emphasis on better advertising measurement, incrementality, and outcome-based models. 📺 Streaming's Dual Market: The streaming ad market is bifurcated. Big brands are shifting linear TV budgets (especially for live events like sports) to streaming, buying for mass reach. 🛒 Retail Media Dynamics: Amazon dominates retail media, and much of the sector's growth is coming from offsite targeting (using retailer data for ads elsewhere on the web). 🔒 UID 2.0 & Privacy Questions: Lawsuits targeting The Trade Desk's UID 2.0 highlight concerns about how aggregated data (like hashed emails, mobile IDs, IP addresses) might create permanent identifiers, potentially conflicting with privacy laws and user expectations.   🤔 Yahoo's DSP Puzzle: Yahoo selling its highly-rated DSP is puzzling, especially since much of its perceived value comes from its integration with Yahoo's own content (like Finance and Sports).🎮 Integrated Campaign Success: The Minecraft movie's McDonald's campaign success highlights the power of deep, long-term, multi-platform integrations that tap into existing fandoms and nostalgia, feeling authentic rather than like a last-minute ad insertion.       

Next in Media spoke with Sammy Rubin, Vice President of Integrated Media at Wpromote, about the blurring lines between retail media and everything else brands care about - and how big brands are still in the middle of a messy process to integrate budgets and teams.💡Takeaways:📈 Retail Media is Evolving: The lines are blurring! Retail media isn't just shopper marketing anymore; it now includes diverse channels like CTV, podcasts, and influencer marketing.🤝 Integration is Key: Silos are breaking down. Brands are increasingly looking for integrated strategies where all marketing investments work together cohesively to drive goals.❓ Ownership Challenges: With retail media expanding into areas like CTV and social, a key challenge is figuring out who owns these channels within an organization. Are search experts planning influencer campaigns? 📱 Social is the New Search: Consumers, especially younger demographics, increasingly discover brands and products passively through social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels, rather than active searching.📊 Measurement Renaissance (MMM is Back!): Media Mix Modeling (MMM) is experiencing a comeback, driven by cookie deprecation and advancements in AI.🤖 AI's Role in Media: While AI is making analysis more powerful and efficient (especially with MMM), human strategists are still crucial. AI can extract insights, but lacks the historical context, understanding of consumer behavior nuances, and creativity that humans bring to media planning.📺 CTV Performance is Here: Connected TV (CTV) isn't just for brand awareness anymore. Performance-focused, digitally native agencies have been buying CTV programmatically for years, using advanced measurement to prove its impact on conversions, sales, and store traffic.🤔 Flexibility & Scenario Planning: Uncertainty (like potential tariffs or platform changes like TikTok) requires brands to build flexibility into their plans.🎙 Guests: Sammy Rubin🎤 Host: Mike Shields📺 Sponsor: ElementalTV🎬 Producer: FEL Creative