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 I think the wrong strategy) for adtech companies, is to commission a bunch of studies and just use those as their talking points of their value add. Or to just say, we work with all measurement vendors, whichever you want, we’ll support them.
Now I’m not saying neither of these tactics should exist, but when this is the default strategy, the company is saying, we don’t know how we add value. But maybe these companies do.
I think you can see the problem.
That then means, sales are harder, growth is harder, retention is harder and you actually shrink the market, not expand it. By taking ownership of your own data storytelling, you’re setting yourself up for a market leadership position.
A recent anecdote. I was with an advertiser, who allocates about $1.4b of advertising a year between their portfolio of brands. And they were sharing how a video vendor came to them, and did exactly the above, they had no clear narrative on their unique value add. They might, might, get some budget. But even if they do, you think it’s as much as they could have gotten?
Between now and 2030, digital advertising is going to add another $300-$400b of spend. How much of that share is going to companies that own their data narrative? You bet the lions share.
I’ll be at Possible, the week after next, if you’re in town, hosting something or want to grab coffee, a drink, or even a morning run. Let me know.
Notable stories this week
- AI slop is making the internet fake-happy.
- The live blog is dead in the water.
- Dentsu revamps its AI Platform for an agentic future.
- Dow Jones and WSJ launch new sports vertical with live event.
- GEO drives new brand media deals.
- Who exactly are brands creating their social media content for?
- OpenAI continues to lose market share in GenAI traffic.
- Apple is getting serious about ads.
- NBCUniversal says Nielsen devalues media companies with inaccurate metrics.
- Morning Brew’s direct thesis.
- What’s working in audience strategies?
- Why brands can’t stop acting like reply guys and umping into viral comment threads on social media.
- The future for ad agency strategist.
- Your Rummikub Group has a sponsor. It also has a brand strategy.
- Code in OpenAI’s Ads Manager Suggests the Company Is Building Conversion Tracking Into ChatGPT.
- Brian Williams signs with Netflix to host a weekly podcast.
- Times ‘fewer, better stories’ strategy leads to run of audience growth.
- OpenAI has quietly launched its ads manager.
- Another AI threat emerges for publishers: the third-party scraper.
- AI Bot Traffic’s Effect on Publishers: The Indirect Costs Adding Up.
- The 10 Golden Rules for programmatic campaign management.
- Local TV Measurement Speeds Up With Locality–Nielsen Deal.
- AARP proves print and digital can coexist.
- FTC in settlement talks with ad companies.
- Five Years in, Axios Local Still Isn’t Profitable. Can it Be?
- YouTube now lets you turn off Shorts.
- Creator scandals have turned morality clauses into brands’ go-to exit strategy.
- Snap’s crucible moment.
- Ad giant Publicis is less ‘Mad Men’ more ‘The IT Crowd’.
- MrBeast wants to hire his first CMO.
- Google AI Max moves out of beta: Marketers sound off on the inevitable migration.
- The approval matrix evolutions. Inside Vox’s attempts to sell parts.
- An interview with NY Times CEO.
- YouTube now lets you turn off shorts.
- The $975m TikTok mystery.
Deals/M&A
- Historic $113m investment catalyzes NPR’s strategic push for digital growth and sustainability.
- Hightouch reaches $100m ARR field by marketing tools powered by AI.
- Viant announces agreement to acquire TVision.
- LinkedIn discussed buying Beehiiv last year.
- Hubspot acquired Futurepedia, the largest AI education network on YouTube.
- Bluefish raises 443m to help brands show up in ChatGPT, Rufus, and others.
Campaign of the week
- Stella Artois x Fifa World Cup, Celebration featuring David Beckham.
Smartest commentary
- “The format that large news organisations have typically reached for to help explain what is going on is the live blog. But a linear scroll of time-stamped updates conceived for a single breaking event is unfit for purpose when it comes to covering a multi-theatre, multi-faceted conflict.” –Colin Nagy.
Datapoints of note
- The report, which documented nearly 40 web scrapers, also noted that advanced scraping services were charging up to $22 for 1,000 pages.
- The Times says a strategy of publishing “fewer, better stories” has led to three consecutive months of record-breaking global audience growth. The Times news desk has reduced the number of stories it publishes by 20% since the mindset change while the sports desk cut its output by 30%.
- OpenAI projects $100b in ad revenue by 2030.
- DeeperDive reaches 7m monthly active users. Sees up to 17% user engagement, compared to typical internet recirculation rates in the low single digits. And roughly 20% of users choose to read additional articles.
- Branded content studios experienced 18% YOY growth and anticipate the same again this year.
Events
- Come say hi at Possible if you’re joining.
That’s it for this week.
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