Edition #511
Was TV the ultimate destination for social anyway? Agentic developments and a post-naive internet.
BrandWeek is coming up in Atlanta, the week after next, are any readers going or in Atlanta? Love to connect in person.
If you want to go – they offered me a discount, ping me back and I can share. It looks like an excellent line up. Netflix CMO, American Eagle CMO, Hasbro, AG1, Twitch, Vacation, Hawks, Reebok, Build-a-bear, IHG.
On events, did any readers make it to MIPCOM brand storytelling? It was their first year running it, so be curious on how it went. Have had a couple of folks ask me about going next year.
I’ve had a couple of folks talk about their preparation for the agentic web. Would any readers want to do a call on it? A guided chat, on what each is working on, or something like that? Let me know.
This piece on Everything is Television has fired up in the chats a few times the last week, give it a peek if you haven’t yet.
A short excerpt:
“Meta cannot possibly be a social media monopoly, Meta said, because it is not really a social media company.
Only a small share of time spent on its social-networking platforms is truly “social” networking—that is, time spent checking in with friends and family. More than 80 percent of time spent on Facebook and more than 90 percent of time spent on Instagram is spent watching videos, the company reported. “
And I think a wider view is yeah, at scale, watching videos is the lowest barrier to consumption. I think it’s just a bit funny, not many would have picked that this might be the inevitable conclusion of social media.
Notable stories this week
- Influencers are turning into retailers.
- X to launch marketplace for buying inactive handles.
- OpenAI launched ChatGPT Atlas.
- Automattic CEO calls Tumblr his ‘biggest failure’ so far.
- Why TV anchors are flourishing on Substack.
- The hot new trend in marketing: hating on AI.
- Why Sam Altman and OpenAI just announced a new web browser.
- Taboola launches CTV product with Paramount.
- Netflix advertising riding on the back of programmatic.
- Step by step, publishers are building toward an agent-led ad business.
- Google’s AdX unit has begun striking deals with media agencies.
- AWS debuts real time bidding services for Advertisers.
- Meta is testing skippable ads on Instagram Reels.
- Google officially shuts down Privacy Sandbox.
- Everything is television.
- Meta just tied your private AI chats to its ad business. The next step? Designing bots that keep you talking, expert says.
- Inside the web infrastructure revolt over Google’s AI Overviews.
- Why AI startups are taking data into their own hands.
- NYT to debut new TikTok like ‘Watch’ tab in its app.
- AI Enigma: Search Traffic Drops to Sites, but Revenue Doesn’t—Yet.
- The first agentic media buy, more to come.
- Too early for agentic advertising?
- The Athletic and Amazon partners to launch “The Athletic Show” on Fire TV.
- Why 1440 is evolving from a newsletter company to a destination of explainers.
- Reddit accuses ‘data scraper’ companies of stealing its information.
- AI won’t kill marketing. Marketers might.
- Meta withdraws from MRC Brand Safety Audit.
- Advertising duopoly’s durable dominance.
- WPP’s $400m Google Bet: are agencies building brains — or renting them from the ad seller.
- The $160 billion martech industry can’t answer a simple question: How does it make its customers money?
- The Monocle playbook.
- [Smart take] Welcome to the post-naive internet era.
Deals/M&A
- WBD announces strategic review of assets, says it’s open to a sale.
- Adobe Discussed $3 Billion Acquisition of AI Video Startup Synthesia.
Campaign of the week
- ‘Reach’ isn’t a dirty word – it’s how brands grow. Marketing Architects with Adweek.
Smartest commentary
- “The point is that influencing the world today is not about creating scale; it’s about developing the conditions that determine how culture is created, distributed and monetized. As the culture wars are now being fought over digital infrastructure, we need to build it on a radically different set of principles to serve our needs.” –Mozilla Foundation.
Datapoints of note
- Social media traffic referrals to news sites have fallen 30% since 2022.
- Today, only a fraction of time spent on Meta’s services—7% on Instagram, 17% on Facebook—involves consuming content from online “friends” (“friend sharing”).
- 41% of U.S. consumers now earn income outside traditional employment. Among those with side hustles, 67% also hold full- or part-time jobs, while 24% rely entirely on side work. For these workers, supplemental gigs aren’t side income; they’re structural to survival. Side hustles account for 43% of the average hustler’s total income. That share climbs to 57% for Gen Z consumers and a striking 76% for those earning under $50,000 annually.
- Two-thirds (66.7%) of the 450 respondents to the 2025 State of B2B Marketing survey say their tactics for generating leads are changing.
Events
- Next breakfast coming up in November. Ping me to join.
That’s it for this week.
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