Edition #549
Muse, personal AI agents, investment in commerce media and Stratchery goes with Stripe.
Two weeks missed in a row! My schedule has been a bit unforgiving, or, more accurately, I got squished for time. It’s often on a Thursday night, I’m getting this ready, but even that buffer wasn’t enough. But we’re here now.
Back to Advertising Week, Rob thought it was quieter this year, and he touched on a point, that there wasn’t really anything to hype, Muse yes, but the real work on agents is being done right now. Expect a couple of great case studies come Cannes next year, from this moment.
I popped into Axios Media Trends Live on Tuesday, their second year in a row, a better pacing this year, and really good guests/content. The fun part as an audience member is, you can see Kerry & Sara, doing their thing, trying to get scoops. It was my first time at Pier 60 which is a great venue.
If I’d spoken on Muse during Advertising Week (and I did) I would have said, it’s very exciting, but it remains to be seen if the users will stick. Readers will recall OpenClaw earlier this year. And my own bet that Siri is going to represent the mainstream consumer use case, they have the price (free), they have the data & access (we trust them), and (TBD) they’ll be built into your fav apps.
HOWEVER that was two weeks ago. For a more informed take on Muse, we have Meta’s own comments from their earnings.
So, Muse, 10m downloads, 25% daily active, $200 average purchase and commerce is the main use case. As TechCrunch said, only 11 other apps have had this many downloads in 40 days.
Yet I think my earlier conclusions remain.
Notable stories this week
- Netflix announces new ad updates for measurement and capabilities.
- Kevin Kelly, NYT Bestselling book author, founding executive editor of Wired magazine, files proposed Amicus Brief in support of OpenAI’s fair use.
- Uber and TripleLift partner.
- Netflix posts third-quarter earnings beat, but shares fall on advertising and revenue guidance.
- Advertisers pull Meta Ads that had unwanted AI glow ups.
- Cloudflare and OpenAI: Making AI discovery better for everyone.
- Will we permit malicious bots to roam the agentic ad ecosystem?
- Meta introduces new brand advertising formats across Facebook and Instagram.
- Kawhi Leonard is building a creative agency to tell his story and help brands tell theirs.
- CNN joins Google News AI Pilot.
- The Verge switches up its audience team to prepare for Google Zero.
- How top brands are hunting for the next breakout influencer.
- All advertising on X subject to reasonable aesthetics standar
- Introducing podcast sponsorships on Substack.
- Thrad launches $1m fund to expand advertising in AI Conversations.
- Fox expands Agentic, strikes end to end deals with Omnicom, Stagwell.
- Walter Isaacson launches new podcast to examine the builders of AI, including Elon Musk.
- How YouTubers finance their videos.
- WTF is with all the software hats at the US Open?
- The Wall Street Journal has been planning a big push into streaming TV.
- Agentic Commerce round up.
- Meta pauses Muse sharing after researchers find AI chats on the web.
- Is Yahoo ready for another IPO?
- Apple publishers its plan to wipe out web tracking.
- Programmatic CTV’s next advantage runs on content.
- How Amazon Ads plans to make programmatic simple without taking control from marketers.
- AI slop sites are on the rise. Is ad tech ready for its new MFA challenge?
- Walmart is inviting AI agents to shop for you.
- Are the DSP’s days numbered in an agentic future?
- Publishers block AI training bots, but embrace search.
- Two creators went to NYU’s business school, then decided to make a show about the news.
Deals/M&A
- Kevel raises $52m in capital. Congrats James & team.
- Elon Musk makes $1b investment in Ellison’s Skydance.
- Why Zeta Global keeps buying companies, including two in two days.
Campaign of the week
- Stripe has partnered with Stratchery.
Smartest commentary
- [On agentic disruption to DSPs] “DSPs currently do far more than provide an interface through which someone buys an impression, because they provide the infrastructure, access to inventory, optimisation, data, controls, reporting and other capabilities required to execute campaigns at scale.”–Nick Tong, Mediaplus.
Datapoints of note
- Spotify has removed 50m AI slop tracks from users recommendations.
- Muse is now at 10.2m downloads, DAUS at 2.5m.
- Meta grows revenue 26%.
- Marketers to slash display spend by 30% as AI and CTV redefine engagement.
Events
- None planned, but there’s a Whiskey tasting I wanted to try, anyone keen?
That’s it for this week.
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