Explore every episode of the podcast Next in Media
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discord's Global VP Explains the Future of Ads | 06 Oct 2026 | 00:24:08 | |
Discord Global VP of Advertising Adam Bauer breaks down why marketers must stop treating gaming as a niche vertical and start targeting it as an active consumer behavior. Discover how Discord's new self-service Ads Manager, real-time PlayQuest+ rewards, and community-led brand servers are reshaping digital advertising for Gen Z. Key Highlights🎮 Treat gaming as an active habit people lean into, not just another passive channel on a spreadsheet. 🚫 Gen Z blocks and skips forced ads, so reaching them requires optional perks with a clear give-and-take. ⚙️ Self-serve ad tools make it easy for mainstream brands to launch, track, and scale rewarded video campaigns. ⚡ Real-time SDK integrations drop rewards directly into a game the second a player hits their goal. 🔄 Rewarded gameplay challenges give players who haven't logged in for a month or more a real reason to come back. 🛠️ Building custom assets for one virtual world lets you reuse them across platforms like Roblox and Fortnite to save budget. Resources & Next Steps🔗 Adam Bauer on LinkedIn 00:00 Intro | |||
| Spy Ninjas President Shelly Soriano on How the Company is Trying to Build the WWE of YouTube | 29 Sep 2026 | 00:22:51 | |
Spy Ninjas President Shelly Soriano breaks down how the YouTube-native serialized franchise scaled to 47 million subscribers and expanded beyond digital video into live entertainment, licensing, and retail. 🤼 Borrowing WWE's formula—big characters mixed with unscripted improv; gives digital shows a proven blueprint for keeping fans hooked long-term. 🔗 Shelly Soriano on LinkedIn 00:00 Introduction | |||
| How Addressable TV Drives Real Business ROI | 22 Sep 2026 | 00:22:14 | |
IQVIA Digital’s Justin Rosen reveals how addressable TV and CTV targeting are evolving beyond basic reach to demand high-fidelity data, rigorous privacy compliance, and proven closed-loop measurement. 🎯 Basic CTV targeting is now standard; the real edge comes down to data precision, scale, and accuracy. 🔗 Justin Rosen on LinkedIn 00:00 Introduction | |||
| How Betches Built a TV-Quality Show In-House | 15 Sep 2026 | 00:25:16 | |
Betches senior video producers Tess Tregellas and Madeline Mahoney reveal how they transformed a viral social media premise into their flagship scripted comedy series Sisters. They outline the operational mechanics of building an in-house creator studio, maintaining a sponsor-free first season to protect brand voice, and driving multi-platform distribution completely organically. Key Highlights🎬 Short-form skits let you test creator chemistry and prove audience interest before committing big budgets to long-form shows. 🔗 Tess Tregellas on LinkedIn 00:00 Introduction | |||
| WTF Happened to The Trade Desk? | 09 Sep 2026 | 00:20:12 | |
As The Trade Desk confronts negative growth guidance, executive turnover, and a 15% workforce reduction, media analysts Brian Wieser and Luke Stillman dissect the structural missteps behind the company's valuation drop. 🎯 Marketers care about price, performance, and convenience—not speeches about saving the open web. 🔗 Brian Wieser on LinkedIn 00:00 Introduction | |||
| How NBAT2 is Building Gateway Content for Gen Z | 01 Sep 2026 | 00:22:59 | |
Traditional sports broadcasts are evolving into multi-platform cultural ecosystems driven by social media, gaming metaverses, and athlete creators. 🏀 Live sports remain one of the few shared cultural anchors, using basketball as a natural entry point into fashion, music, and lifestyle programming. 🔗 Andrew Perlmutter on LinkedIn 00:00 Intro | |||
| "The Frustration is Real" - The NFL Unloads on Nielsen | 25 Aug 2026 | 00:28:37 | |
Rushed methodology changes implemented mid-season by Nielsen have severely shaken the NFL's confidence in standard television ratings. 📉 Changing ratings math in the middle of ad sales season destroys trust and throws billions in ad deals into chaos. 🔗 Paul Ballew on LinkedIn 00:00 Intro | |||
| Why Social Video Is Beating Connected TV | 18 Aug 2026 | 00:26:22 | |
As US video ad spend reaches $82 billion, media buyers are demanding granular audience targeting capabilities alongside bottom-funnel performance metrics. IAB Vice President Chris Bruderle breaks down the shifting dynamics between CTV and social video, the rise of multimodal contextual AI, and why live sports platforms must prove direct ROI to capture long-tail budgets. Key Highlights🎯 Targeting Outweighs Raw Performance: Hitting sales numbers isn't enough anymore—media buyers want to know exactly which audiences drove those conversions before committing budgets. 📱 Why Social Beats TV for Small Businesses: Social platforms are pulling away from CTV by giving smaller advertisers easy self-serve AI tools and direct in-app checkout. 🌐 The Open Web Isn't Dead: Web video is still a $20 billion market because publishers are using native video to keep audiences engaged as search traffic drops. 📊 A View Isn't Equal Everywhere: Real measurement normalizes cross-platform data under one framework without pretending a TikTok scroll carries the same weight as a living room CTV impression. 🛡️ Ad Fraud Is a Transparency Problem: Buyers aren't panicking about sudden fraud spikes; they're anxious because publishers still won't clearly disclose where programmatic ads actually run. 🤖 Smart AI Beats Blunt Keyword Blocking: Multimodal AI actually understands video context, saving brand-safe news and pop culture content from being needlessly blocked. Resources & Next Steps🔗 Chris Bruderle on LinkedIn 00:00 Introduction | |||
| Connect YouTube Ad Buys to CTV Campaigns | 06 Aug 2026 | 00:15:25 | |
Traditional media buying breaks down when attitudinal audience data gets lost between upstream research and downstream media activation. Bright Mountain's Andy Davidson and Deep Focus's Kyle Krueger unpack how synthetic personas, unified YouTube-to-CTV strategies, and responsible creator management keep ad campaigns aligned and effective. Key Highlights🔄 Audience research usually gets mangled like a game of telephone once an agency hands off a campaign brief to platforms and creators. 📺 TV networks ingest data much faster now, letting buyers target real-time viewer interests instead of relying on six-month-old demographic reports. 🔗 Andy Davidson on LinkedIn 00:00 Intro | |||
| Ace Hardware Retail Media Launch & Strategy | 04 Aug 2026 | 00:23:49 | |
Ace Hardware's RedVest Media is rewriting the retail advertising playbook by turning a late market entry into a strategic advantage across its 5,200 store footprint. ⏰ The Late-Mover Edge: Launching a network today means skipping years of clunky tech builds and plugging straight into mature e-commerce and delivery setups. 🤝 Meet Advertisers Where They Work: Brands hate learning new dashboards; plugging into existing buying platforms like Pacvue removes friction and gets campaigns funded faster. 🏢 Co-Ops Require Local Buy-In: You can't force thousands of independent store owners into a corporate playbook—you have to prove the model boosts local store revenue first. 📈 Big-Ticket Items Drive Market-Wide Sales: High-priced hardware like grills won't hit impulse CPG conversion rates, but they pull in massive overall revenue across entire markets. 📊 Standard Measurement Builds Instant Trust: Using accredited third-party platforms like CitrusAd gives brands reliable metrics, whereas legacy tools like Marketing Mix Modeling fail in retail media. 🏷️ Physical Aisles Drive the Real Volume: E-commerce gets the attention, but most transactions happen in physical stores, making in-store signage essential for moving product. 🛑 Off-Platform Expansion Kills Retail Context: Dumping shopper data across the open web strips away the store context, breaking closed-loop attribution and frustrating endemic brands. Resources & Next Steps🔗 Molly Hjelm on LinkedIn 00:00 Intro | |||
| Collectively's Natalie SIlverstein on How to Optimize Creator Video Content | 30 Jul 2026 | 00:15:27 | |
Collective CIO Natalie Silverstein joins Next In Media to explore how creators are evolving into full-fledged media networks and what it takes for brands to scale authentic partnerships in a hyper-fragmented landscape. 📺 YouTube Creator Networks: Creators aren't just making one-off sponsored videos anymore—they're running multi-show media networks with their own IP. 🤝 Scale Without Losing the Soul: Pulling off massive creator runs like L’Oréal’s (think thousands of activations) doesn't mean producing generic slop. ⚡ Real-Time Crisis Agility: Social platforms run on outrage, and minor issues turn into viral fires fast. 🤖 Targeting the AI Audience: LLMs are becoming a key target audience, and they love structured content. Writing scripts and captions with clear, direct Q&As helps AI models pick up your video as an authoritative answer. 📐 Matching ROI to the Surface: You can't measure all creator content the same way. 🏢 Creator Marketing Goes Core: Major ad holding companies buying up influencer agencies isn't a fluke; it's proof that creator strategy is now table stakes for every serious media plan, not a side experiment. 🧠 The Limits of Tech: AI can overhaul campaign data and software tools, but it can't read a room. Resources & Next Steps🔗 Natalie Silverstein on LinkedIn 00:00 Intro | |||
| How Smart Agencies Really Use AI | 28 Jul 2026 | 00:13:41 | |
Recorded live at Cannes, Wpromote CEO Andrea Bendzick exposes why agile independent agencies are eating traditional holding companies' lunch while everyone else scrambles to build overpriced tech platforms. She maps out how mixing performance marketing, smart M&A, and hard revenue-backed brand metrics gives modern agencies an unbeatable edge. Key Highlights⚖️ Independent agencies sit in a sweet spot where they're big enough to handle massive brands but agile enough to pivot while legacy holding companies stay stuck. 🛠️ Wasting capital building proprietary AI platforms is a trap when you can simply own your measurement and partner up for execution. 🧠 AI belongs in the trenches clearing out manual grunt work and sorting platform data so your senior talent has space for real strategy. 🚀 Building brand credibility from scratch takes way too long to win client trust, making smart agency acquisitions the fastest route to scale. 📺 Traditional TV commercials are dying off because creators need to be actual co-producers across streaming and social, not just hired actors. 🤖 Autonomous AI agents need strict human guardrails on day one instead of being left alone to manage ad spend. Resources & Next Steps🔗 Andrea Bendzick on LinkedIn 00:00 Intro | |||
| Cadent's Doug Rozen on How to Unify Your TV, CTV, and YouTube Strategy | 23 Jul 2026 | 00:11:11 | |
Cadent President Doug Rozen unpacks the hidden organizational silos and ad frequency nightmares plaguing modern video advertising at Cannes. Discover why shifting from audience persistence to contextual TV and total video planning is the ultimate fix for bruised brand performance. Key Highlights📺 Internal agency silos are ruining the viewer experience by slamming consumers with the same ad over and over. 🔗 Doug Rozen on LinkedIn 00:00 Intro | |||
| Inside Spotify’s Ad Exchange Takeover | 21 Jul 2026 | 00:16:01 | |
Spotify is shifting from a traditional audio platform into a powerful multi-format ad engine driven by advanced data targeting and transparent, value-exchange sponsorship models. 📺 The Pivot to Video: Platforms can't survive on audio alone anymore; they have to mix in music videos, video podcasts, and live events to keep modern fans hooked. 🤝 The Win-Win Ad Model: Giving users a visual takeover with fewer commercial breaks builds real goodwill while driving up actual returns for brands. 🔌 Prompt-to-Purchase Ads: Hooking AI models like Claude straight into the ad API means anyone can script and launch a campaign from a command line without needing an agency. 🔓 Killing the Paperwork: Ditching manual insertion orders for instant programmatic buying opens the door for thousands of smaller advertisers who used to be priced out. 📊 Free Measurement Built-In: Native brand lift data and conversion APIs remove the expensive barriers that usually stop brands from tracking true performance. 🧠 Tracking Daily Habits: Tapping into billions of real-time signals—like skips, listening history, and playlist creation—gives brands a direct line to what users actually like. 🎤 Fixing the Audio Bottleneck: Free text-to-speech AI tools solve the old problem of audio ads being too slow and expensive to make, letting brands spend more budget on runtime. Resources & Next Steps🔗 Per Sandell on LinkedIn 00:00 Intro | |||
| Why Creators Actually Need Brands (And Not The Reverse) | 16 Jul 2026 | 00:24:09 | |
Recorded live at Cannes, this episode explores the shift from surface-level ad efficiency to true business effectiveness in a hyper-fragmented media landscape. 🤝 Economically speaking, creators need brands far more than brands need creators to fund their operations, despite the cultural relevance they offer in return. 📺 YouTube has officially evolved past platform debate, shifting into an undisputed, ubiquitous streaming giant that requires agencies to bridge the gap between CTV and social budget buckets. 🚀 Top-tier creators function effectively as independent mini media companies, but they succeed through platform coexistence rather than attempting to directly compete with tech giants like Meta or Amazon. 📉 The industry is facing a critical pivot away from legacy efficiency metrics like programmatic cost-per-view toward outcome-driven, actual business effectiveness. 🗳️ Organic social media acts as a true meritocracy where superior content wins naturally, serving as a brutal reminder that you cannot simply buy your way out of poor engagement. 📊 Cross-platform measurement remains highly probabilistic due to fragmented view definitions across TikTok, Reels, and YouTube, challenging the industry's desire for a master deterministic plan. 🛍️ Scaling creator integration effectively requires leveraging platform-native tools like TikTok Shop ecosystems rather than relying entirely on traditional legacy talent agencies. Resources & Next Steps🔗 Jon Morgenstern on LinkedIn 00:00 Intro | |||
| Inside the Ad Tech Alternative Saving Brands Millions | 14 Jul 2026 | 00:14:29 | |
Relying solely on programmatic CTV auctions locks brands out of premium live sports and high-value cultural moments while racking up heavy middleware fees. 🏎️ The streaming landscape has finally solidified clear operational guardrails for PMPs, direct deals, and programmatic guaranteed executions. 🚫 Brands relying exclusively on open programmatic bidding frameworks are entirely locked out of premium live sports and cultural finale inventory. 🚀 Parallel ad-server execution platforms bypass traditional DSP/SSP tech stacks to unlock automated direct buying without extortionate transaction fees. 📉 Moving execution closer to the publisher's native ad server slashes ad operations complexity from thousands of line items down to a handful of weekly adjustments. 🧠 The future of smart ad matching lies in feeding first-party data clean rooms into large language models to algorithmically pair impressions with optimal brands. ⚖️ Advanced streaming networks require a hybrid architecture that seamlessly balances highly targeted identity-driven deals alongside broad reach-and-frequency buys. Resources & Next Steps🔗 Leo O'Connor on LinkedIn 00:00 Intro | |||
| Stop Buying Video in Silos: A New Playbook for Brands | 09 Jul 2026 | 00:20:21 | |
YouTube has officially outgrown traditional media taxonomies to become a unique, multi-surface ecosystem spanning streaming, social, and commerce. 🇨🇭 YouTube operates as a media "Swiss army knife" that spans streaming, social, and commerce, making it a standalone category that defies traditional television or digital video silos. 🛑 Advertisers must overcome the "cold start" planning problem by fusing brand CRM data with platform signals rather than using wasteful, brute-force ad spending across millions of creators. 🛋️ The massive migration of viewers to connected TV screens introduces a "lean back" posture that dries up traditional click-through data and forces agencies to build view-through attribution models. 🔑 Marketers frequently fall victim to the "looking for keys under the lamplight" bias by over-indexing on easily measured mobile formats while failing to capture deeply engaged CTV exposures. 📧 Privacy-compliant clean rooms like YouTube's Ads Data Hub allow brands to unlock deterministic measurement by using hashed emails as a durable identity signal to link exposures to actual conversions. 🚘 YouTube's content structure makes it uniquely optimized for highly considered, research-driven purchases rather than the impulse buying loops that dominate short-form entertainment apps. Resources & Next Steps🔗 Sean Odlum on LinkedIn 00:00 Introduction | |||
| Inside The Global Rebrand Of Sam's Club Connect | 07 Jul 2026 | 00:12:53 | |
The traditional retail media playbook is undergoing a massive transformation as platforms shift away from transactional clicks toward holistic, real-world shopping experiences. 💳 Every single purchase is tracked. Because members have to scan their ID at the register, the app, or the gas pump, brands get direct, 1-to-1 attribution without having to guess or make assumptions. 🤝 It's a long-term relationship, not a one-time buy. Looking at how people use services like travel, pharmacy, and auto care gives a much clearer picture of future shopping intent than a single grocery receipt. 🌐 Built once, scaled everywhere. Putting different ad platforms under one global roof makes things consistent, simplifies the buying process, and cuts down transactional friction for brands. 🏎️ Ads are leaving the store. Brands are moving beyond traditional retail spaces by using live events—like racing sponsorships—to reach people out in the real world and prove the ads actually work. 👃 Hooking all five senses. Warehouse shopping is inherently physical, so the strategy centers on taste, touch, and smell to build actual emotional connections instead of just chasing digital clicks. 📊 Optimizing on the fly. Tools like Omni Impact track the entire shopping journey to see which channels are pulling their weight, allowing brands to adjust their media mix in real time. Resources & Next Steps🔗 Harvey Ma on LinkedIn 00:00 Introduction | |||
| Vizio’s Strategy to Dominate the Smart TV OS Market | 30 Jun 2026 | 00:10:57 | |
As streaming behavior dominates the living room, Vizio's operating system has claimed the top spot in U.S. television sales by turning the home screen into an active search and discovery storefront. 🛒 Smart TV operating systems are evolving from invisible background infrastructure into powerful retail media endpoints embedded directly within commerce networks. 🎯 While traditional audience reach and frequency planning still matter, actual business outcomes have become the primary scorecard for modern connected TV advertising. 📺 True scale in the smart TV landscape requires a balanced formula of distribution volume matched with deep, daily home screen user engagement. 📉 Relying strictly on last-click attribution undervalues the top-of-funnel brand discovery and awareness value that television inherently delivers. 🔍 Designing utility-driven features like centralized sports discovery hubs solves viewer choice fatigue while unlocking high-intent sponsorship assets for advertisers. Resources & Next Steps🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps00:00 Introduction | |||
| Inside SharkNinja's Ad Optimization Playbook | 23 Jun 2026 | 00:22:00 | |
SharkNinja has rewritten the modern commerce playbook by embedding a "threshold of virality" directly into pre-product development and abandoning rigid, weekly campaign reviews for hourly optimization. 🚀 Modern product development must integrate a Threshold of Virality (TOV) pre-production to ensure the product’s DNA naturally inspires organic creator advocacy and consumer content generation. 📈 TikTok Shop has officially evolved from a novel social feature into a powerhouse retail and commerce engine comparable to traditional retail media. ⚡ High-growth brands must transition from standard weekly media reviews to an agile, real-time optimization infrastructure that monitors and scales winning content on an hourly and daily cadence. 🤝 Authentic creator engagement requires shifting from rigid, forced brand messaging to an early product-sampling model where influencers provide honest feedback and co-create real human usage stories. 📊 Measuring content performance requires a unified view that evaluates message resonance and audience viewing time across a single, integrated paid and organic ecosystem. 🧩 Signal fragmentation across emerging platforms like CTV and digital out-of-home remains the largest operational bottleneck preventing fast-moving digital optimization from scaling across the full media ecosystem. Resources & Next Steps🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps00:00 TikTok Shop Success and Consumer Shopping Evolution | |||
| How Netflix is Changing Live Sports and Connected TV Ads | 16 Jun 2026 | 00:24:00 | |
The shift from traditional television to connected TV has accelerated rapidly, requiring publishers to offer both massive culture-shifting scale and ultra-precise targeting capabilities. 📈 Achieving a scale of 250 million global ad-supported subscribers establishes premium streaming networks as direct rivals to traditional broadcast television for top-of-funnel brand equity. 🛠️ Migrating away from third-party tech partners to own the entire proprietary ad server stack is critical for premium publishers wanting to control data assets and accelerate product roadmaps. 🔄 Capitalizing on a consistent, weekly viewing habit among 80% of an ad-supported base allows brands to maximize creative repetition and long-term brand building rather than just transactional spikes. 🏟️ Reimagining live sports through a unique entertainment lens expands standard fan demographics, transforming traditional sports broadcasts into massive cultural pop-culture events. ⚖️ Unlocking the true potential of connected TV requires a deliberate balance between personalized digital targeting and broad-reach, unified storytelling that drives shared cultural experiences. 🧩 Relying entirely on single hit series integrations is a flawed media strategy since even a top-tier show only captures roughly 1.5% of total platform viewing at any given point. 🔐 Standardizing clean room integrations and advanced data collaboration frameworks is the essential path forward for activating scaled first-party data securely. 📊 Proving television advertising value should focus on holistic return on ad spend and incremental revenue lift across agency dashboards rather than expecting immediate on-screen transactions. Resources & Next Steps🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps00:00 Introduction | |||
| How Georgia Pacific Modernized Its Marketing Mix Modeling | 11 Jun 2026 | 00:22:16 | |
Achieving true cross-channel attribution remains an uphill battle as walled gardens restrict access to critical log-level data. 📊 Walled gardens continue to choke cross-channel attribution by withholding log-level data, forcing brands to rely on a mosaic of complementary measurement frameworks rather than a single source of truth. 🎯 Strategic mass awareness is shifting toward a hybrid model that blends broad linear reach with hyper-targeted digital video tactics like CTV and YouTube to balance scale and precision. 📺 Premium addressable and data-driven linear television formats frequently fail to generate the performance lift required to justify their steep upfront cost premiums. 👥 Independent content creators should be treated as dynamic ad formats and flexible engagement assets deployed across diverse platform verticals rather than being siloed as a standalone media channel. 📈 Bringing Marketing Mix Modeling in-house can drastically condense operational reporting loops, shifting analytics cadences from lagging annual retrospectives to agile, granular quarterly deployments. 🧪 AI applications in programmatic media yield immediate dividends for algorithmic bidding and supply-path optimization, but agentic decision-making still requires strict human guardrails for multi-million-dollar budgets. 🏗️ Building a high-functioning in-house programmatic operation demands a multi-year road map focused on incremental scaling, specialized talent retention, and direct ad-tech relationship management. Resources & Next Steps🔗 Javier Bustillos on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps00:00 Introduction | |||
| Why Live Sports and - Bravo (?) Are Dominating the Upfronts | 09 Jun 2026 | 00:19:30 | |
As television viewership shifts, NBCUniversal is proving that premium IP like live sports and reality television can compete with digital channels by integrating advanced programmatic ad tech. 📺 Premium, year-round unscripted programming creates sustained fan communities that offer brands continuous, high-engagement cultural relevance instead of the brief campaign windows typical of limited series. 🚪 Operating systems like Vizio OS are becoming the critical "front door" of television, capturing consumer attention during the search and discovery phase before they enter ad-free environments. 🤖 The traditional boundary between upper-funnel awareness and lower-funnel performance is dissolving as media networks deploy advanced data hubs to compress measurement cycles from months to days. 📱 Embracing automation and programmatic infrastructure in linear and streaming environments allows major networks to onboard thousands of emerging, niche advertisers who were previously priced out of premium TV inventory. 🏈 Real-time, AI-driven content scanning enables hyper-contextual dynamic creative insertion immediately following specific live broadcast triggers, drastically increasing brand resonance. 🎯 Maximizing sports viewership monetisation requires a dual broadcast and streaming infrastructure, recognizing that the vast majority of premium ad impressions still occur on linear television. 🗓️ Establishing consistent, predictable programming blocks across distinct sports leagues creates a unified destination for viewers and a year-round narrative platform for advertisers. 🎪 In-person experiential events act as powerful content factories, allowing brands to super-serve live audiences while generating digital assets that scale across streaming and social platforms. Resources & Next Steps🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps00:00 The Power of Year-Round Reality TV Communities and Advertising Integration | |||
| Why Warner Bros Discovery Ditched and Rebuilt TV Targeting | 02 Jun 2026 | 00:16:01 | |
After briefly de-emphasizing targeted TV ads during the Discovery merger, Warner Bros. Discovery has rapidly rebuilt its infrastructure to offer clients unprecedented transparency and accountability. 🔄 Warner Bros. Discovery is correcting a four-year-old strategic pivot by aggressively reinvesting in addressable TV advertising to bridge the performance gap between linear and digital video inventory. 🎯 Roughly 80% of audience-driven TV campaigns now leverage client-supplied first-party segments, signaling a massive shift toward data-ownership and customized targeting in premium environments. 📉 Traditional media companies must radically streamline their back-end infrastructure to eliminate the crippling operational friction that still makes buying TV inventory too slow and clunky for modern brands. 🤝 Legacy publishers are abandoning old rivalries and uniting within consortiums like OpenAP because collective ecosystem collaboration is the only way to successfully compete against tech titans like Amazon, Google, and Meta. 📉 Direct-to-consumer and small-to-medium digital-native advertisers expect the exact same level of performance, accountability, and transparency from television that they grew up using on Meta and Google. 🌊 Relying on a single persistent identifier like an IP address is no longer sustainable, forcing publishers to adopt flexible, composable data waterfalls that combine multiple deterministic and modeled signals. 📊 By guaranteeing reach and incremental reach through their StreamX solution, networks are successfully using top-of-funnel control as a reliable proxy to prove downstream business lift. 🎭 Pairing high-impact sponsorships like premium series premieres with deterministic retargeting allows brands to orchestrate a complete full-funnel strategy from culture-shaping moments down to precise suppression and competitive conquesting. Resources & Next Steps🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps00:00 Introduction | |||
| iSpot CEO on the Future of TV Ad Outcomes & AI | 28 May 2026 | 00:29:14 | |
Discover how the future of TV advertising is shifting toward outcome-based measurement and AI-driven optimization coming out of the 2026 upfronts . 📺 Following the 2026 upfronts, publishers and networks are shifting from traditional linear metrics to embrace outcome-based models because they recognize that advertisers make major budget allocations based on direct business performance. 🎯 The traditional debate over alternative audience measurement currencies is largely a publisher-driven concern, while modern brands remain strictly focused on concrete performance and cross-platform ad effectiveness. 🧪 True attribution requires a paradigm shift that treats creative and media as an inseparable equation, proving that creative quality is just as critical to the final business outcome as audience targeting. ⏱️ Holistic media measurement must capture a four-quadrant grid that balances short-term performance metrics like immediate website visits with long-term brand equity indicators like purchase intent and favorability. ⚖️ Advertisers are standardizing multi-touch attribution frameworks that pair conversion rate with lift/incrementality to ensure they are tracking true behavioral causality rather than just hitting consumers who would have purchased anyway. 🤝 The real competitive advantage for publishers lies in moving beyond basic outcome reporting toward actively optimizing campaigns in real time using trusted, neutral third-party measurement signals. 🤖 While building autonomous AI agents for campaign optimization is technically trivial, achieving industry adoption depends entirely on training platforms on verified, historical data that marketers can transparently verify via traditional dashboards. 📈 Although streaming and programmatic buying are gradually lowering the barriers to entry for smaller advertisers, total television ad spend remains highly concentrated within sports and a handful of legacy industries. Resources & Next Steps🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps00:00 Introduction to TV Outcomes and Industry Readiness | |||
| How to Monetize Arguments - Without Getting Cancelled | 26 May 2026 | 00:23:31 | |
Jubilee Media founder and CEO Jason Y Lee joins Next in Media to break down how the digital-first studio builds scalable, format-driven IP that captures Gen Z's massive attention span without relying on a single face. Key Takeaways: The Creator Economy Flip: Top digital creators no longer view Hollywood as the ultimate graduation point, reversing the media power dynamic as traditional studios now seek out digital-first strategies to survive. The Attention Span Myth: Massive engagement metrics on 90-minute videos prove that younger audiences aren’t suffering from short attention spans; they are simply starving for unscripted, long-form authenticity. Format Over Face: Designing repeatable, host-agnostic IP rather than relying on a single charismatic personality eliminates key-person risk and unlocks true operational scalability for digital studios. Contextual Brand Storytelling: The next frontier of monetization rejects one-off, disruptive advertisements in favor of naturally embedding brands into existing, high-performing video franchises. The Anti-Echo Chamber Demand: Algorithms have hyper-fragmented public discourse, creating a massive, untapped market of viewers who actively seek out raw, multi-perspective content to escape their own echo chambers. The TV Screen Takeover: Digital-first production must now default to cinema-grade standards like 4K, as YouTube’s massive growth on connected televisions blends the boundary between streaming networks and independent creators. The Human Premium in an AI Era: As artificial intelligence commoditizes automated content creation, media companies that double down on raw, real-life human connection will hold the ultimate competitive advantage. IP Upcycling and Windowing: Legacy distribution strategies like FAST channels and AVOD licensing represent the most lucrative secondary revenue streams for creators sitting on deep libraries of episodic content. Resources & Next Steps: Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Key Episode Timestamps: 00:00 Jubilee's Mission and Content Philosophy | |||
| The Power of Nostalgia: Reaching Gen Alpha Through Their Parents’ Childhood | 19 May 2026 | 00:28:07 | |
Gen Alpha has completely fragmented away from traditional TV, leaving advertisers scrambling to connect with kids and parents across YouTube, FAST channels, and gaming platforms. This week, Mike sits down with Emma Witkowski, VP of Media Solutions at WildBrain, to unpack the massive market disconnect in children's media, the power of nostalgia in family co-viewing, and how upcoming privacy regulations like COPPA 2.0 are rewriting the rules of digital targeting. Key Highlights: 📺 The Great Gen Alpha Fragmentation: Children's media consumption has shattered across Netflix, YouTube, FAST, social, and gaming platforms, completely ending the era where a single traditional network like Nickelodeon could capture the majority of the audience. 🔌 The Linear Co-Viewing Ad Dollar Gap: While toy and entertainment brands have successfully followed kids to digital spaces, a major market disconnect remains with non-endemic advertisers whose linear TV budgets failed to migrate alongside the parents they were trying to reach. 🛑 The Death of Traditional Tracking Metrics: Regulatory protections like COPPA make standard digital tactics like cookies, pixels, and multi-touch attribution entirely obsolete in children's media, forcing buyers to shift their mindset from tracking to context and from targeting to trust. 🛋️ The Rise of "Shared Screen Time": Shared viewing remains a vital family bonding ritual—with nearly nearly all parents watching alongside their kids weekly and over half doing so daily—yet it continues to challenge standard digital reporting because impression-level verification of who is watching is fundamentally impossible. 🚀 Single-IP FAST Channels as Fandom Hubs: Single-franchise FAST networks are seeing massive year-over-year audience growth by leaning into consistent, curated curation that gives super-fans a dedicated, lean-back destination to immerse themselves in trusted IP. 🧸 Nostalgia as a Direct Purchase Driver: Modern parents deliberately choose content featuring the beloved characters they grew up with, creating an emotional connection that drastically boosts brand recall, purchase intent, and consumer product sales. 📜 The High Operational Stakes of COPPA 2.0: Emerging regulations expanding legal protections up to age 17 and limiting algorithmic AI targeting will severely challenge automated ad resellers, leaving structurally compliant, human-vetted, publisher-direct environments as the safest bet for brands. 💰 A Critical Content Sustainability Crisis: Premium educational and kids' programming faces an existential funding threat from the decline of public broadcasters and linear ad revenue, making direct publisher relationships essential to ensure ad dollars are reinvested back into the content ecosystem rather than lost to third-party reseller leakage Resources & Next Steps: Emma Witkowski Chapter Timestamps: 00:00 Audience Fragmentation and Platform Challenges | |||
| Amazon Ads Chief Alan Moss on Connecting Live Sports, Streaming, and Retail | 12 May 2026 | 00:20:34 | |
In this episode of Next in Media, Mike Shields sits down with Alan Moss, VP of Global Advertising Sales at Amazon Ads, to talk about Amazon's rapid transformation into a full-funnel advertising powerhouse. Alan walks through how he joined Amazon mid-COVID in 2020 and within a few years helped land an 11-year NFL deal, launch Prime Video ads, and close an NBA partnership that made Prime Video a year-round sports network. He and Mike dig into what's working in the upfront market, why Amazon sees retail media and streaming as one unified full-funnel business, and how Amazon DSP's partnerships with Netflix, Disney, Roku, and others now reach 90% of household audiences. They also get into the growing role of Twitch and creators as a mid-funnel marketing lever, and why Alan believes the future is AI agents — not just for creative optimization, but for full campaign orchestration. Key Highlights🏈 From COVID Hire to Year-Round Sports Network: Alan joined Amazon in July 2020 and within months helped land an 11-year NFL deal, followed by Prime Video ads and the NBA — turning Amazon into a full-year live sports destination. 📺 Prime Video as the Biggest Ad-Supported Streamer: Flipping the switch in January 2024 made Amazon the largest premium ad-supported streaming platform overnight, though the team had to scramble for scatter dollars outside the upfront window. 🚀 Amazon Is Democratizing Live Sports Advertising: Amazon brought 80 net-new advertisers to the NFL and 30 to the NBA in year one — opening up inventory that was previously an exclusive club. 🔗 Retail Media and Streaming Are the Same Business: Alan pushes back on treating Amazon's retail and streaming sides as separate, arguing the real value is a single full-funnel offering from brand awareness to measurable outcomes. 📡 The Amazon DSP Reaches 90% of Households: Partnerships with Netflix, Disney, Roku, Spotify, and SiriusXM extend Amazon's authenticated graph well beyond its own properties. 🎮 Creators Are a New Mid-Funnel Marketing Lever: Twitch's 105 million monthly viewers are increasingly bundled with Prime Video and sports buys rather than treated as a standalone offering. 🤖 AI Agents Are the Big Upfront Story: Alan predicts that the integration of premium content with AI-driven ad tech — from creative adaptation to chat-based campaign execution — will define this upfront season. 📈 The Upfront Market Is Showing Positive Signals: Despite macro headwinds, Alan says agency conversations reflect focus rather than anxiety, with demand clustering around scarce inventory like live sports and custom sponsorships. Resources & Next Steps🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps00:00 Cold open | |||
| Why Independent Agencies Are Having a Renaissance – with CMO Kristina Canada | 05 May 2026 | 00:21:17 | |
Episode description
In this episode of Next in Media, Mike Shields sits down with Kristina Canada, CMO at Net Conversion, a 19-year-old independent marketing and analytics agency based in Orlando that's in the middle of a serious growth push — with a new Chicago office, a recent acquisition of CTV specialists Elevate the Outcome, and a philosophy rooted in measurable business outcomes over vanity metrics. Kristina and Mike dig into why independent agencies are experiencing a renaissance right now as clients seek out agility and transparency. They unpack Net Conversion's approach to making CTV a true performance channel without losing the brand-building benefits, and get into the agency's pragmatic but skeptical stance on AI — from arguing with Google reps about Performance Max to building their own internal chatbot and copilot tools for analysts. Key Highlights🏢 The Independent Agency Renaissance: Clients are gravitating toward independents for agility, transparency, and freedom from holdco conflicts of interest. 📺 CTV as a Performance Channel: Net Conversion splits CTV into demand capture and demand creation, applying measurement rigor without forcing direct-response KPIs on brand-building. 🤖 AI as Co-Pilot, Not Pilot: The agency's internal mantra is "everyone gets an intern" — they've built their own chatbot but remain vocal skeptics of handing everything to PMAX. 🔍 AI Search Is Merging Paid and Organic: Kristina advises shifting from keyword matching to intent matching, and shares early learnings from piloting ads inside ChatGPT. 🤝 Against Principal-Based Buying: When agencies pre-buy media, incentives shift away from the client — Net Conversion keeps its model firmly aligned with client outcomes. 📈 Undervalued Platforms: Reddit and YouTube are two channels Kristina says deserve more attention from performance-minded advertisers. Resources & Next Steps🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps00:00 Cold open | |||
| From Trick Shots to Tour Buses – Inside Dude Perfect’s Media Playbook | 28 Apr 2026 | 00:21:12 | |
In this episode of Next in Media, Mike Shields sits down with Andrew Yaffe, CEO of Dude Perfect, to talk about how the iconic trick-shot brand has evolved into one of the most diversified properties in digital media. Eighteen months into the role after a long run at the NBA, Andrew walks through Dude Perfect's three-part strategy of content, products, and experiences — including a 22-city summer tour, middle-grade novel series, new outdoors channel, and experiential concepts. Mike and Andrew dig into why Dude Perfect now looks more like a sports league than a creator business, what made their Xfinity co-created ad the best-performing spot on YouTube, and why reaching the family unit has become one of the most valuable propositions in fragmented media. They also cover YouTube's role in the upfront, the long-form content shift, the wishlist for better cross-platform measurement, and Andrew's reluctant NBA Finals pick. Key Highlights🏗️ Tripling Headcount in 18 Months: Andrew has scaled Dude Perfect from a small content team into a much larger operation spanning production, commercial, and product. 🎯 Three Buckets — Content, Products, Experiences: Dude Perfect's strategy spans far beyond YouTube, including a live tour, board games, sporting goods, and a novel series. 📺 A Media Business, Not a Creator Business: Andrew argues Dude Perfect's partnership model with brands like BODYARMOR looks more like a sports sponsorship than a one-off creator deal. 🤝 The Xfinity Co-Creation Playbook: Andrew breaks down how Dude Perfect, YouTube, and Xfinity built one of the platform's standout ads of the past year, earning C-level accolades. 👨👩👧👦 The Family Audience Is the Moat: Reaching kids and parents simultaneously is a near-extinct value proposition in fragmented media — and Dude Perfect owns it. 📱 As Big as the NBA on TikTok: Dude Perfect's TikTok following rivals the NBA's, and their multi-platform strategy reaches different audiences with different content than YouTube. ⏱️ Longer Content Is Working: Watch time and retention now drive the strategy, leading to 40-minute videos and a new variety show being built like a network TV asset. 🎬 Format and Talent IP Is the Real Unlock: New talent and ownable formats like Squad Games and All Sports Golf are how Dude Perfect extends the franchise beyond the original five. 🎢 Trick Shot Town, Not a Theme Park (Yet): Andrew clarifies Dude Perfect’s experiential roadmap — what's actually being built in Austin, and the bigger vision for their own family entertainment concept. Resources & Next Steps🌐 Dude Perfect on YouTube 🔗 Follow Andrew Yaffe on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts Chapter Timestamps00:00 Cold open | |||
| How Lenovo Is Putting AI to Work in Marketing — with CMO Emily Ketchen | 21 Apr 2026 | 00:24:56 | |
In this episode of Next in Media, I sit down with Emily Ketchen, SVP & CMO of Intelligent Devices Group & International Markets at Lenovo, to talk about what it actually looks like to operationalize AI inside a global marketing organization. Emily shares how Lenovo is standing up the AI PC and AI phone category, why contextual and generative AI drove efficiency gains in the brand's Formula One partnership, and what it means to be "the first generation of leaders tasked with managing an agentic workforce." Emily walks through Lenovo's AI governance council, the grassroots prompt library her team built, and tangible and intangible measurement frameworks behind big sponsorships. We also dig into Lenovo's Creator Odyssey campaign — a Sundance-recognized global collaboration — and close on the tension every marketer is navigating right now: how to use AI-driven media optimization without giving up control, transparency, or human judgment. KEY HIGHLIGHTS: 🧭 Three Fronts for AI in Marketing: Emily frames Lenovo's AI work across category creation, internal upskilling, and marketing applications — with governance at the center. 🏎️ AI in the Most Precious Media: Rather than starting with low-stakes creative variants, Lenovo deployed contextual and generative AI in its Formula One sponsorship to sharpen targeting and creative impact. 🤖 The First Generation Managing an Agentic Workforce: Emily reflects on leading teams that now include agents alongside humans — a workforce that doesn't sleep, doesn't eat, and isn't looking for a raise. 📚 Grassroots Prompt Library: After Lenovo's governance council rolled out AI training, two employees built an internal prompt library that's now a go-to resource for the whole marketing org. 🎨 The Creator Odyssey: For the Yoga line, Lenovo built a global creator chain where digital artists around the world built on each other's work — a process-first campaign that picked up a Sundance brand storytelling award. ⚖️ Personal, Useful, Human: Emily's framework for talking about AI with wary consumers and creators: lead with what it feels like in everyday life, not what it is. 🛡️ Not All Agents, No People, No Agencies: On AI-driven media optimization, Emily argues the black-box version isn't the answer — experimentation has to come with guardrails and human judgment. RESOURCES & NEXT STEPS: 🌐 Learn more about Lenovo: Lenovo.com 🔗 Follow Emily Ketchen on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/emilyketchen 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube CHAPTER TIME STAMPS: 00:00 Cold open — Where Lenovo sits on the AI adoption curve 01:34 Introducing Emily Ketchen and Lenovo's AI mandate 03:56 Betting on Formula One with contextual + GenAI creative 05:52 Human judgement and Lenovo's AI governance council 07:33 Ecosystem marketing & AI category creation 10:11 The first generation managing an agentic workforce 13:50: Sponsor break: Reaching the right audiences on CTV 14:47 Measuring big sponsorships in a performance era 18:02 Creator strategy, Yoga product line, Sundance accolades 21:05 Talking to creators and consumers who are wary of AI 22:39 AI-driven media optimization without the black box 00:00 Wrap up and thanks | |||
| How Michael Wolf Is Rethinking Attention in the Age of Multitasking | 14 Apr 2026 | 00:24:50 | |
In this episode of Next in Media, I sit down with Michael Wolf, CEO and Founder of Activate Consulting, to break down the findings from the firm’s 11th annual Technology and Media Outlook. Michael walks us through Activate's "Attention Clock" and how multitasking stretches the average American's day well past 24 hours, leaving brands to fight for partial attention while still paying like they're getting all of it. We also get into the state of television. Michael explains why TV is more fragmented than Madison Avenue admits, why YouTube still doesn't get full credit despite dominating CTV, and what the Paramount-Warner deal actually changes. From there, we turn to predictions: Michael makes the case for virtual product placement as the next frontier in creator and in-game ads, and explains how sports gambling is changing live sports. He closes with his biggest sleeper story of 2026: spatial computing and the data layer that will power it. Key Highlights: ⏰ The Attention Clock Hits 32 Hours a Day: Activate's research shows multitasking is pushing daily media consumption past the limits of a 24-hour day, leaving advertisers fighting for partial attention. 📺 TV Is More Fragmented Than Anyone Admits: Even the biggest TV players hold surprisingly small slices of total viewership, and a merged Paramount-Warner barely moves the needle. 🎬 Why YouTube Still Isn't "TV" to Madison Avenue: YouTube dominates CTV but lacks the big simultaneous tentpole events that brand advertisers use to reach huge audiences at once. 🛒 The Shopping Journey No Longer Starts at Google: For younger consumers, product discovery now begins directly at Amazon, Target, and Walmart — reshaping how brands think about the funnel. 🎮 Virtual Product Placement Is the Next Ad Frontier: Michael argues the future of in-game and in-content ads is authentic integration powered by AI, not interruption. 🎰 Sports Gambling Is Quietly Saving Long-Form Sports: In-game betting and prop bets are driving Gen Z viewers to watch entire games front to back. 👓 Spatial Computing Is the Most Underrated Story of 2026: Nearly every major tech company is betting on AI glasses and spatial devices, but the real battleground will be the visual data layer in the cloud. Resources & Next Steps: 💡 Download the full Tech & Media Outlook at activate.com 🔗 Follow Michael J. Wolf on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts Chapter Time Stamps: 00:00 Cold open – Why YouTube is winning on every screen 1:29 Introducing Michael Wolf, CEO & Founder of Activate Consulting 2:31 Activate's Attention Clock: 11 years of measuring multitasking 4:35 How fragmented is TV viewership, really? 6:33 How YouTube quietly took over social and CTV 7:46 Why video is eating the internet 8:54 Why Madison Avenue still hesitates to treat YouTube like TV 12:05 Sponsor break: Why the household graph is a differentiator 13:24 What the Paramount-Warner deal actually changes 14:45 Why CTV still isn't built for small brands 15:54 AI, personalization, and the future of video creative 16:22 The bottleneck holding back creator marketing 18:01 How can video games finally get advertising right? 19:19 Live sports, Gen Z, and the gambling effect 20:54 Michael's biggest sleeper call for 2026 24:17 Wrap up and thanks | |||
| What's So Challenging About Cross Platform Measurement? | 07 Apr 2026 | 00:24:10 | |
Explore how the "cookie apocalypse" evolved into a hyper-fragmented identity landscape where iPhone users, cookieless browsers, and diverse CTV signals have created massive monetization gaps for the unprepared. I sit down with Intent IQ’s Fabrice Beer-Gabel to reveal why the future of programmatic advertising isn't a choice between deterministic or probabilistic data, but a high-stakes race to balance scale with the 99% accuracy required to prevent AI from amplifying inaccuracies at scale. Episode Takeaways: 🌐 The "Cookie Apocalypse" didn't disappear; it simply evolved into a hyper-fragmented landscape of "idealist" environments across 150 million iPhone users and 70 million cookieless desktop browsers. ⚖️ True identity accuracy isn't a binary choice between deterministic and probabilistic methods but a strategic effort to strike the perfect balance between massive scale and reliable user recognition. 🌍 Global compliance requires a nuanced, jurisdiction-specific approach because adopting a single "strictest" standard unnecessarily limits reach and creates a massive competitive disadvantage. 🌉 Bridging the gap between proprietary "data spines" and "biddable identifiers" is the only way to actually translate deep audience insights into real-world programmatic transactions. 🤖 AI acts as a powerful force multiplier for identity resolution, but it poses a systemic risk by amplifying bad data into "inaccuracy at scale" if the initial training sets are flawed. 🕷️ Publishers face a sustainability crisis as non-monetizable crawler traffic now outweighs human visitors by a staggering 200-to-1 ratio. 📈 Mastering identity resolution delivers a massive ROI punch, with the potential to double advertiser reach and lift publisher ad revenue by as much as 60%. 00:00 Introduction to Identity Resolution Challenges and Intent IQ Overview 1:53 The Fragmented Identity Landscape and Signal Constraints 4:06 Deterministic vs Probabilistic Identity Debate 5:33 Mobile Identity Evolution and Cross-Platform Similarities 7:25 Regulatory Complexity and Compliance Strategies 9:36 Intent IQ's Business Model and Client Examples 12:45 Walled Gardens vs Open Ecosystem Competition 15:00 AI's Impact on Identity Resolution and Industry Transformation 17:54 Agentic AI and Content Protection Concerns 19:38 Identity Accuracy Crisis and AI Amplification Risks 21:45 ROI Impact and Business Outcomes 22:50 Strategic Advice for Brands in a Changing Landscape | |||
| How Mike Law Is Navigating the CTV Targeting Puzzle at Carat | 31 Mar 2026 | 00:29:35 | |
In this episode of Next in Media, I sit down with Mike Law, CEO of Carat North America, to talk about one of the biggest tensions in modern media: the push for more targeted TV advertising versus the risk of going too narrow and losing brand growth. Mike and I discuss how brands have at times gotten too addressable, siloing themselves into repeat customers while forgetting to grow the top of the funnel. We dig into the fragmentation challenge across streaming, CTV, and social video, and why defining your audience has never been harder with a million data sets and walled gardens competing for attention. We also get into how YouTube is becoming more like TV every day, the evolving role of creators in upfront conversations, and whether creator media belongs in the same budget bucket as a big show on CBS. Mike shares how Carat is using AI agents to run multiple media plan scenarios in minutes instead of hours, and we explore what the next generation of media planners (AI native, digital native) will bring to the industry. We wrap up talking about measurement, why the industry needs to come together to solve identity and addressability, and what Go Addressable is doing to advance deterministic audience-based advertising at scale. __________________________________________________ Key Highlights
📺 CTV Targeting vs. Brand Growth: Mike argues that brands have sometimes gotten too addressable, squeezing existing customers dry before realizing they need to find new audiences to grow the business. 🔀 Fragmentation Is the Core Challenge: With a million data sets, walled gardens, and consumers bouncing between streaming, search, and LLMs in seconds, the media planning landscape is what Mike calls a "bowl of spaghetti." 📱 YouTube as TV Replacement: Mike sees YouTube becoming more like television every day, but its dual identity as both a TV replacement and a social video performance platform makes it tricky to plan against. 🎥 Creators in the Upfront: Long-form, episodic creators are increasingly part of upfront conversations, but the question remains whether they belong in the TV budget or require their own planning approach. 🤖 AI Agents for Media Planning: Carat is using AI agents to generate eight to ten versions of a media plan at once, letting planners compare trade-offs and craft strategy faster than ever. 📊 The Measurement Gap: Cross-platform measurement remains fragmented, and Mike believes the industry needs to come together to solve identity and comparability across CTV, linear, and digital. 🌐 Go Addressable and Industry Collaboration: The episode is part of a special series with Go Addressable, the trade organization working to advance deterministic audience-based advertising across the full TV ecosystem. __________________________________________________ Resources & Next Steps
🌐 Learn more about Go Addressable at GoAddressable.com 🔗 Follow Mike Law on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts __________________________________________________ Timestamps
00:00 Cold open: the state of TV targeting and brand growth 01:07 Introducing Mike Law, CEO of Carat North America 01:43 Where we are with CTV targeting today 03:25 When brands get too addressable and forget reach 05:00 The cycle of squeezing audiences and finding new ones 06:50 Fragmentation, walled gardens, and identity challenges 08:50 How identity resolution tools are evolving 10:15 YouTube as a TV replacement and where it fits 12:53 YouTube in the upfront: TV bucket or something else? 14:47 Creators in upfront conversations and long-form episodic content 17:30 The premium creator economy and brand integrations 19:30 AI in media planning: what is changing day to day 22:00 AI agents running multiple plan scenarios at Carat 23:13 The next generation of media planners (AI and digital native) 25:30 Measurement challenges across platforms 27:30 Industry collaboration and lessons learned 28:42 Wrap up and Go Addressable sponsor message | |||
| Ryan Detert on Why Publicis Made Its Biggest Bet on Creator Marketing | 24 Mar 2026 | 00:26:56 | |
In this episode of Next in Media, I sit down with Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential, the creator marketing company that was acquired by Publicis in 2024. Since the acquisition, Influential has seen massive growth, also acquiring Captiv8 to build out a global offering combining technology, services, and measurement all in one place. Ryan and I dig into how brands are structuring their creator teams, why a center of excellence led by media is where the most success is happening, and how technology (especially brand safety tools) has become the non negotiable foundation for scaling influencer campaigns. We also cover the measurement question that every marketer is asking: can you prove creator ROI? Ryan walks us through how MMMs are finally capturing creator value, why always on strategies beat tentpole campaigns, and how platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram are each fighting for attention in different ways. We get into the AI question too, from "slop" concerns to the future of creator likeness licensing and NIL rights. Ryan makes the case that AI will transform the back end of the business (speed, sourcing, brand safety) long before it replaces human creators in the feed. Plus, Ryan shares why the greatest ROI often comes from 100 micro creators rather than one mega deal. __________________________________________________ Key Highlights
🚀 Influential's Post Acquisition Growth: Since being acquired by Publicis in 2024, Influential has seen "massive multiples" of growth and also acquired Captiv8 to consolidate technology, measurement, and services into one global platform. 🛡️ Brand Safety as the Foundation: Ryan calls it the "Hippocratic Oath" of influencer marketing. With 15 million plus creators in their database, technology is essential for vetting creators across profanity, nudity, hate speech, and reputational risk before any campaign launches. 📊 Proving Creator ROI Through MMMs: Influencer marketing is a $35 billion TAM because it works. Ryan explains how media mix models are finally capturing creator value, and why brands need to break down creator spend by platform, paid vs. organic, and on vs. off social to get accurate measurement. 📺 The Platform Attention Wars: YouTube dominates long form because it pays creators the most. TikTok owns the meteoric rise. Instagram is aspirational. Meta is a messaging platform. Every platform has both a live strategy and a TV strategy, and all are competing for the same attention. 🤖 AI and Creator Content Transparency: AI is "not a dirty word" as long as it augments a real human. Ryan believes brands will embrace AI generated creator content only when NIL licensing ensures creators are compensated and consumers don't feel duped. 🎯 Micro Creators vs. Mega Deals: For brands with a $2 million budget, 100 targeted micro creators often outperform a single mega creator deal. Ryan compares it to buying one Super Bowl ad vs. going deep across cable networks. 🔄 Always On Beats Tentpole Campaigns: Brands that only activate around the Super Bowl, summer, and holidays are letting competitors eat their lunch in between. Long term creator partnerships drive both efficiency and authenticity. __________________________________________________ Resources & Next Steps🌐 Learn more about Influential 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts __________________________________________________ Timestamps
00:00 Cold open on creator marketing growth and AI 01:13 Meet Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential 02:07 Life after the Publicis acquisition 04:04 Where creator teams fit inside brand organizations 06:04 Technology's role in scaling influencer marketing 07:00 Brand safety as the non negotiable first step 08:52 Managing creator campaigns at scale 09:44 Proving creator ROI through measurement and MMMs 12:43 YouTube on TV and the platform attention wars 16:11 Micro vs. macro creators and where the real ROI lives 18:22 AI transparency and the slop problem 20:46 Creator likeness, NIL, and AI generated content 23:05 Episodic content and always on brand partnerships 25:04 The future of creator marketing in three to five years | |||
| How Yahoo DSP Is Winning the Identity and CTV Wars with Adam Roodman | 17 Mar 2026 | 00:34:25 | |
In this episode of Next in Media, I sit down with Adam Roodman, General Manager of Yahoo DSP, to talk about how Yahoo has quietly built one of the most compelling demand side platforms in the market. Adam walks through Yahoo's positioning in the ongoing DSP wars, why their identity graph and ConnectID solution give advertisers an edge in a world of increasing signal loss, and how the platform's deep roots in connected TV and live sports are creating new opportunities for performance marketers. We also get into Yahoo's massive supply path optimization efforts and why having fewer, higher quality paths to inventory is becoming a real differentiator. Adam and I also dig into the rapidly evolving world of agentic AI in advertising and what it actually means today versus the hype. He shares Yahoo's perspective on the protocol debate between A2A and MCP, why data quality and content accuracy are table stakes for AI agents, and how Yahoo is building an "AI librarian" function to ensure agents can operate with the right context. We also explore how CTV inventory has exploded on the platform, why live sports are changing the addressable advertising landscape, and Adam's take on whether AI will truly reduce headcount or just shift how teams operate. __________________________________________________ Key Highlights
🏆 Yahoo DSP in the DSP Wars: Adam explains why Yahoo is committed to the DSP business for the long haul, leveraging their unique combination of owned and operated properties, a massive identity graph, and deep integrations with premium supply. 🔐 Identity as a Competitive Moat: Yahoo's ConnectID and proprietary identity graph give advertisers access to durable, individual-based data across browsers, devices, and CTV, driving better performance in a signal-loss world. 📺 CTV and Live Sports Explosion: The amount of live sports on Yahoo's platform has doubled in nine months, and addressable, biddable premium CTV and audio inventory continues to surge, opening new opportunities for performance marketers. 🤖 Agentic AI and the Protocol Debate: Adam shares Yahoo's view on the A2A vs MCP protocol discussion, emphasizing that agentic AI is not a strategy in itself. It's about how you operate it and ensuring agents have access to accurate, contextual data. 📚 The AI Librarian Function: Yahoo is evolving from a "tech writer" approach to an "AI librarian" model, ensuring that content, documentation, and data fed into AI systems are high quality, accurate, and written with good context. 🔗 Supply Path Optimization at Scale: Yahoo has reduced tens of thousands of supply paths down to focused, high quality routes, improving auction dynamics and giving advertisers cleaner access to premium inventory. ⚡ AI Won't Replace Teams, It Will Reshape Them: Adam argues that AI adoption in advertising is less about replacing people and more about conviction and operational change, predicting that early movers will see compounding advantages. __________________________________________________ Resources & Next Steps
🌐 Learn more about Yahoo DSP and ConnectID 🔗 Follow Adam Roodman on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts __________________________________________________ YouTube Chapter Timestamps
00:00 Cold open: identity, CTV, and agentic AI in advertising 01:46 IntentIQ ad: privacy-first identity resolution 02:10 Meet Adam Roodman, GM of Yahoo DSP 03:30 Yahoo's commitment to the DSP business 05:20 ConnectID and Yahoo's identity advantage 07:30 How identity drives better CTV performance 09:45 Live sports doubling on the platform 11:30 Supply path optimization and auction quality 13:40 The DSP wars and competitive positioning 16:00 Agentic AI: what it means today vs the hype 18:30 The A2A vs MCP protocol debate 20:45 Building the AI librarian function at Yahoo 23:00 Data quality as table stakes for AI agents 25:30 Will AI reduce headcount in advertising? 28:00 CTV inventory explosion and addressable audio 30:30 Advice for brands getting started with AI 33:00 Wrap up: Yahoo's Adam Roodman, Sabio, and IntentIQ | |||
| How Sam Garfield Is Building Adobe's AI Operating System for Advertising | 10 Mar 2026 | 00:28:10 | |
In this episode of Next in Media, I sit down with Sam Garfield, Head of Digital Strategy for CMT Data and AI Platforms at Adobe, to explore how Adobe is quietly becoming the backbone of modern marketing. Sam breaks down how Adobe operates across three core layers: the creative layer (Creative Cloud and Firefly AI), the content supply chain layer (Workfront and asset management), and the data and experience layer (customer data platforms and analytics). Together, these tools form what Sam describes as an operating system for marketers -- a full-stack solution that takes a brand from ideation all the way through activation and measurement. We also dig into the rise of creative intelligence and what it means for brands, agencies, and the future of advertising. Sam unpacks Adobe's Winterberry Group research showing a 23% increase in investment in creative intelligence, and explains why creative can no longer be treated as a fixed cost. We cover how generative AI is accelerating asset production at scale, why agencies are leaning into Adobe's platform rather than building from scratch, and how agentic AI is beginning to appear inside existing workflows. Sam also reveals that traffic to brand sites and publishers is down 40% as LLMs reshape discovery, and shares how Adobe's new LLM Optimizer tool is helping brands regain visibility in a generative search world. Key Highlights 🖥️ Adobe's Marketing Operating System: Sam breaks down how Adobe's three-layer platform -- creative, content supply chain, and data -- functions as an end-to-end OS for brands and agencies. 🤖 Generative AI and the Asset Scale Problem: Sam walks through the math problem facing global brands -- producing assets across formats, languages, and channels -- and why generative AI is the only scalable solution. 📊 Creative Intelligence Is the Next Frontier: Adobe's research with Winterberry Group found a 23% increase in creative intelligence investment -- and Sam explains why understanding why content performs is becoming as systematic as audience targeting. 🏢 Agencies Are Building on Top, Not From Scratch: Major holding companies are integrating Adobe into their proprietary platforms rather than building from scratch -- including a recently expanded WPP partnership. 🔍 LLMs Are Reshaping Brand Discovery: Adobe's research shows traffic to brand sites is down 40% as AI changes how consumers find information. Sam shares how Adobe's new LLM Optimizer helps brands monitor and improve their visibility inside AI-generated results. ⚡ Agentic AI Is Here but Still Early: There is no end-to-end agentic advertising solution yet. Adobe's approach is to embed agentic tools inside existing workflows so teams can get started without overhauling their entire operation. Resources & Next Steps🌐 Explore Adobe's Marketing and AI Solutions 🔗 Follow Sam Garfield on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts YouTube Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Cold open -- AI's impact on advertising and brand discovery 01:00 Mike introduces Sam Garfield and Adobe's role in ad tech 01:30 Sam's background and Adobe's history in advertising 02:00 Adobe's three-layer marketing platform explained 03:00 The 'operating system for marketers' concept 03:50 Who is Adobe's customer -- brands, agencies, or publishers? 04:20 The expanded WPP and agency partnership announcement 05:10 Where creative AI optimization stands today 05:40 The asset scale math problem facing global brands 06:20 Laying the generative AI foundation for creative 07:10 From production efficiency to intelligent automation 08:00 Precor creative intelligence and variation at scale 08:40 How conservative vs. progressive brands approach AI 09:10 Adobe Firefly and legally obtained training data 09:40 Workflow integration as the real barrier to adoption 10:10 Humans as creatives, AI as the production layer 10:50 How Adobe fits alongside platform-native AI tools 11:30 Why CMOs won't hand over full creative control to platforms 13:30 Adobe's Winterberry Group creative intelligence research 14:00 Creative as a performance driver, not a fixed cost 14:30 The 23% increase in creative intelligence investment 15:00 Where creative intelligence works -- display, social, CTV 15:30 Early findings and the testing and learning phase 16:10 Are creative agencies threatened or empowered by AI? 16:30 How major holding companies are building on Adobe's OS 17:10 Automating rote work to free up strategic creative thinking 18:20 Creative AI and media buying converging 19:00 Data and creative intelligence coming together at Adobe 19:40 The future of always-on marketing vs. campaign flights 20:20 The network operations center vision for marketing 21:00 Agentic AI in advertising -- where things actually stand 21:30 Adobe's approach to building agentic tools inside workflows 22:00 What agentic audience pulling looks like in practice 22:30 The future of media agencies in an algorithmic world 23:10 People doing higher-value strategic work, not less work 23:40 How brands are showing up inside LLMs 24:00 Adobe's research -- traffic to brand sites down 40% 24:30 Introducing the LLM Optimizer tool 25:00 Structuring content for generative engine optimization 25:40 Will search ad budgets shift to LLM visibility strategies? 26:20 The unknown future of advertising inside AI-generated results 27:10 Wrap-up -- the fulfillment of advertising's long-promised future | |||
| Why Philip Inghelbrecht Is Betting Against Programmatic CTV | 03 Mar 2026 | 00:28:36 | |
In this episode of Next in Media, I sit down with Philip Inghelbrecht, Co-Founder and CEO of Tatari, to unpack why one of the most innovative companies in TV advertising has built its entire thesis on a contrarian idea: that programmatic CTV is the wrong tool for most of the television market. Philip walks through how Tatari operates as a full infrastructure holding company, combining a demand-side platform, a supply-side solution called Upstream, and a privacy and identity layer called Vault. From day one, Tatari has argued that unlike display advertising, connected TV is dominated by a small number of premium publishers, and that automating around them rather than through open exchanges is the smarter path forward. Philip breaks down the $30 billion US CTV market, explaining how roughly half flows through programmatic channels and how up to half of that programmatic slice is fraud or low-quality inventory. The premium inventory that actually drives results, including sports, tentpole events, and top-tier streaming placements, lives almost entirely outside programmatic pipes and has historically required massive budgets and manual negotiation to access. That is exactly the gap Upstream was designed to close. By building custom, direct integrations with the five biggest TV publishers, including Disney, Warner Bros., NBCUniversal, and Paramount, Tatari has automated that direct buying process end to end, giving a much broader range of brands access to premium TV inventory without sacrificing pricing control, brand safety, or transparency. Key Highlights 📡 Programmatic CTV Is Built on the Wrong Foundation: Philip explains why the SSP/DSP model designed for display advertising is a poor fit for connected TV, where 90% of streaming impressions come from the same top 10 publishers and the most valuable inventory never appears in an open exchange. 💰 The $30 Billion Reality Check: Of the roughly $30 billion US CTV market, about $15 billion flows through programmatic. Philip reveals that up to half of that programmatic pool is fraud or low-quality supply, meaning only $7 to $8 billion represents genuinely premium inventory. 🚀 Upstream Brings Automation to Direct TV Deals: Tatari spent nearly two years building one-to-one tech integrations with Disney, Warner Bros., NBCUniversal, and Paramount, enabling fully automated direct buys that preserve the brand safety and pricing control of traditional direct sales while eliminating manual overhead. 📺 Premium TV Is Now Within Reach for More Brands: Upstream shifts TV advertising from a big-budget brand privilege to something accessible to a much broader set of advertisers. Brands that never could have accessed premium placements now have a real path in, and early publisher partners have already seen doubled transaction volume during the test period. 🤖 AI in TV Advertising Has Promise But Real Limits: Philip is measured about AI's near-term impact on TV. He sees immediate wins in automating creative pre-approval and longer-term potential in data-driven yield optimization for publishers, but pushes back on the idea that AI will quickly transform the TV creative production process. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Follow Philip Inghelbrecht on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Cold open - the programmatic CTV reality check 01:18 Introducing Philip Inghelbrecht and Tatari 01:58 Tatari's three-product infrastructure stack explained 03:30 Why programmatic does not fit connected TV 05:00 The problem with SSP aggregation in a concentrated market 06:17 How Upstream was born from supply-side tech 07:22 Breaking down the $30 billion CTV market 08:06 Half of programmatic CTV is fraud or low quality 09:44 Building direct integrations with Disney, Warner, NBCU, Paramount 10:17 How automation benefits publishers and speeds up transactions 11:45 Doubling volume with early publisher partners 12:28 Is TV right for SMBs? Philip's honest take 13:47 Where Upstream takes the market next 15:00 Using first-party data to drive higher publisher yield 16:21 Programmatic still has a role, just not the biggest one 17:17 What Dentsu and WPP's open path retreat signals 18:26 Will the walled gardens ever join Upstream? 18:52 What changes for existing Tatari advertisers 20:00 AI and the future of TV advertising 22:11 AI creative tools: impressive but still five days of editing 22:56 AI for creative pre-approval: what works today 24:16 First-party data capture is harder than it looks 25:36 Measurement, look-alike audiences, and machine learning loops 26:13 Closing thought - the biggest TV inventory is not in programmatic | |||
| How Leanne Perice Is Building the Future of Creator Management at Made by All | 24 Feb 2026 | 00:28:37 | |
In this episode of Next in Media, Mike Shields sits down with Leanne Perice, founder and CEO of Made by All, one of the creator economy's most distinctive talent management firms. Leanne shares how she built the company from the ground up over nine years, starting with a single $1,000 deal in 2014 and growing it into a global powerhouse that doubles revenue year over year. She explains how her early career at a celebrity endorsement agency gave her the blueprint for what great talent management looks like, and how she applied those lessons to an entirely new generation of digital creators. From signing Vine stars before the term 'creator economy' even existed, to opening a new office in Dubai, Leanne has built Made by All on the belief that creators deserve the same strategic investment as Hollywood's biggest names. Leanne also introduces her framework DASI (Distribution, Attention, Storytelling, and Impact) to explain what creators truly offer brands, and why so many marketers are still only tapping into the first letter. She opens up about the CMO turnover crisis slowing momentum in the creator space, why she launched Made by Us as a social storytelling studio, and why she believes YouTube's long-form monetization is the best opportunity in the market right now. She also gives her take on platforms like YouTube and TikTok brokering brand deals directly, the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley financial models, and what brands still get wrong about building a presence on social media. This episode is a must-listen for anyone at the intersection of media, marketing, and the creator economy. Key Highlights
Resources & Next Steps
Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Cold open: Creator economy and building household names 00:53 Intro: Mike sets up the episode 01:00 Meet Leanne Perice and Made by All 01:32 The origin story: nine years and one thesis 02:20 What makes Made by All different from a talent agency 03:10 Holistic creator management: more than just deals 04:30 Leanne's career path: from middle school dream to Hollywood 05:20 First job at a celebrity endorsement agency 05:50 Signing Vine stars before 'creator economy' was a term 06:10 The first $1,000 deal and stacking to $25K a week 07:00 How marketers have evolved in dealing with creators 07:40 Introducing the DASI framework 08:00 Made by Us: creators as creative directors for brands 09:00 Brand spend and the challenge of executive turnover 09:40 Going global: opening the Dubai office 11:10 Hollywood vs. creator economy: two separate financial models 11:50 Building the bridge to Creator Hollywood 12:40 Why Hollywood is still holding on but change is coming 13:20 Alarming speed of the creator world vs. legacy media 14:10 Brokering brand deals: management vs. agents 15:00 Cold calling and building brand relationships since 2014 15:50 Weekly email blasts to 5,000 brands and agencies 16:30 Why management has an edge over agents in the creator space 16:50 Streamlining brand deals with AI and tools like KOMI 18:00 When creators should lead the creative brief 19:00 The Made by Us social storytelling incubator 19:30 CMO turnover and the need for relationship-first brand strategy 20:00 How intentional creator relationships unlock better campaigns 21:00 Success story: UFC fight with Paramount, 30 million views 22:00 Qatar Airlines, Abu Dhabi, and global creator deals 22:20 The NFL's creator-first approach as a model for brands 23:00 YouTube and TikTok brokering deals internally 23:40 What Leanne wants to see improved: local and global platform metrics 25:00 YouTube's rise in the living room and long-form monetization 25:40 Pushing creators toward long-form content strategy 26:20 TikTok and Instagram moving into TV: will it work? 27:00 Short form on TV vs. the intentional social media experience 27:30 What brands still get wrong about social media 28:00 Closing thoughts and final takeaway | |||
| Charles Manning on Why Measurement Is the Secret Weapon in the Age of Agentic AI | 17 Feb 2026 | 00:38:48 | |
In this episode of Next in Media, I sit down live at the Kochava Summit in Sandpoint, Idaho, with Charles Manning, founder and CEO of Kochava. We go deep on one of the most pressing questions facing the industry right now: how profound is the shift to agentic advertising and AI-driven workflows? Charles argues it is not a decade-long evolution like programmatic was. It is breathtakingly faster, and the companies that understand how to use their first-party data as a competitive kernel, rather than leaking it to the walled gardens, are the ones that will come out ahead. He draws a compelling analogy: if programmatic changed the auction, AI is about to change the workflow. We also dig into Kochava's CTV journey, from its mobile app roots to building measurement tools adopted by LG, Samsung, Vizio, and Roku, and how the view-and-do combo between the TV screen and the mobile device is creating powerful new outcome-based measurement opportunities for brands. Charles breaks down what holding companies should fear (and fix), why the ad tech supply chain is due for serious consolidation, and why he predicts a wave of take-privates and roll-ups followed by a bonanza of public offerings over the next two years. He also introduces Station One, Kochava's integrative AI hub that acts like a Slack for AI workflows, designed to help teams transform how they work without giving up control of their data. Key Highlights: ⚡ AI vs. Programmatic: Charles explains why the shift to agentic advertising is moving breathtakingly faster than programmatic did. While programmatic took over a decade to fully reshape the auction, AI is set to transform the entire workflow within the next 16 months. 🔒 Protect Your Data: Charles identifies the two biggest risks brands face in the AI era. First, leaking proprietary data to platforms like Meta and making them smarter without benefiting your own organization. Second, failing to develop a unique "how" that cannot be replicated when everyone has access to the same AI tools. 📺 CTV Measurement Evolution: Kochava's Atlas Performance product now powers CTV measurement for LG, Samsung, Vizio, and Roku by connecting the view on the television screen with the action on the mobile device, giving brands a clear picture of real business outcomes from their CTV spend. 🤖 Station One, a Slack for AI: Charles introduces Kochava's Station One platform, an integrative AI hub that lets teams connect models, codify skills, build knowledge bases, and containerize workflows into shareable workspaces, all while keeping data ownership firmly in the hands of the brand. 📉 Ad Tech Consolidation Is Coming: Charles predicts a significant collapse in the ad tech supply chain, with SSPs and DSPs already moving into each other's territory. He also foresees a wave of take-privates and roll-ups over the next 16 months, as companies use the cover of private ownership to restructure for the AI era, followed by a major IPO bonanza. 💼 The Future Workforce: As AI handles more of the analytical grunt work, Charles argues the most valuable skill in the industry is shifting away from data science and toward clear communication. The ability to articulate your goals to an AI model is becoming the defining talent of the next generation of media professionals. Resources & Next Steps: 🌐 Explore Kochava and learn more about Atlas Performance and Station One 🔗 Follow Charles Manning on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts Chapter Timestamps: 00:00 Cold open - AI disruption and the next 16 months 01:00 Welcome and introducing Charles Manning of Kochava 01:20 Revisiting a past conversation and what has changed 01:45 Setting the stage - agentic advertising and the metaverse PTSD problem 02:20 The next decade is really the next 16 months 03:10 How fast is this vs. the programmatic shift? 03:50 MCP, APIs, and how AI wraps the workflow 05:20 Machine learning from reach optimization to business outcomes 06:10 From post-campaign briefs to real-time workflow automation 07:20 Why big platforms like Meta and Google got even stronger with AI 08:00 The two biggest risks brands face in the AI era 09:00 The "how" is as important as the "what" - competitive differentiation 09:50 Can agencies avoid being commoditized by AI? 10:20 Vertical AI and why domain expertise matters 12:00 Measurement as an odometer vs. measurement as a decision engine 13:20 The racing clutch analogy - agile measurement for agile goals 14:00 Who fills the seats next? The shift from data scientists to communicators 15:00 Tasks that get reallocated and skills that become more valuable 16:00 How far away is autonomous agentic media buying? 16:30 Guardrails, budget constraints, and agent managers 17:10 Introducing Station One - Kochava's AI workflow hub 18:10 How teams transition from human workflows to AI-assisted execution 19:00 Kochava's CTV journey - from mobile app roots to the living room 20:10 The 80-inch mobile device and why OEMs saw the pattern 21:20 Why OEMs pushed back and how Atlas Performance was born 22:10 LG, Samsung, Vizio, Roku - how they became Kochava customers 23:00 Is CTV performance TV? How should we measure it? 23:40 The view-and-do combo - TV impressions and mobile actions 24:10 QSR and loyalty programs - CTV driving real consumer behavior 25:00 Why AI optimization has not hit CTV the way it has Meta and Google 26:00 Station One as the connective tissue for CTV and the broader ecosystem 27:20 Will more ad dollars flow to television? Charles says yes, and soon 28:30 Audience Q&A - how to prove CTV incrementality to your CFO 29:00 The Machine Zone story and what it taught Charles about media mix 31:30 Why media mix modeling finally works in the AI era 32:10 What happens to ad tech? The daisy chain gets disrupted 33:00 SSPs and DSPs are already moving into each other's territory 34:00 More money in media, less ad tax - where the dollars go next 35:00 Premium inventory, exclusive access, and the sports betting parallel 36:10 IO-level programmatic guaranteed - a bold prediction 37:00 The biggest obstacle ahead - take-privates, roll-ups, and an IPO bonanza 38:30 Wrap-up and closing thoughts | |||
| Navigating Data Identity and AI in Marketing with Matt Spiegel | 10 Feb 2026 | 00:29:45 | |
This week on Next in Media, I sat down with Matt Spiegel, EVP of Marketing Solutions Growth Strategies at TransUnion, to unpack one of the most pressing questions in advertising right now: what's actually changed since cookies started disappearing and privacy laws started piling up? And just as importantly, what hasn't changed? Matt brings a refreshingly practical perspective to the conversation, explaining how disconnected data infrastructure remains the biggest obstacle for most brands, even as everyone races to adopt AI-powered marketing. He breaks down why walled gardens still have an inherent advantage, how signal loss is forcing marketers to rethink their strategies, and why the industry's obsession with the "easy button" might be holding progress back. We also tackled some uncomfortable truths about where the industry is headed. Matt shared his thoughts on agentic advertising and whether bots will really replace media planners, the noisy MarTech landscape that's overwhelming CMOs, and why he believes the next economic downturn could trigger massive layoffs in marketing and advertising. Throughout our conversation, Matt emphasized that while the tools and technology are evolving rapidly, the fundamentals of good marketing haven't changed. It's about understanding your customers, connecting your data, and applying that intelligence at scale. This is a conversation for anyone trying to make sense of the chaos in modern marketing, wondering how to navigate identity resolution in a post-cookie world, or just trying to figure out which AI tools are actually worth the hype. _______________________________________________________ Key Highlights🔌 The Infrastructure Problem: Most brands lack connected data ecosystems. Their CRM, transaction records, and marketing databases exist in silos, making it nearly impossible to achieve the precision marketing everyone's chasing. 🏰 Walled Gardens Still Win: Large platforms have a scaled, dimensional view of consumers that few brands can match. The "easy button" appeal is real, but it comes at the cost of transparency and cross-platform measurement. 🤖 AI Won't Replace Humans (Yet): Agentic advertising is coming and will automate significant portions of media buying, but Matt believes we'll keep humans in the loop. The idea that bots will fully control everything is overdone, at least for now. 📊 Data Hygiene Still Matters: Simple things like ensuring "Matt" and "Matthew" are recognized as the same person remain real obstacles. Many organizations are still working through basic data cleaning before they can even think about advanced AI applications. 📉 Layoffs Are Coming: Matt predicts the next economic downturn will trigger massive job losses in marketing and advertising as automation takes over manual tasks. New roles will emerge, but there will be a painful transition period. 📈 The Measurement Mess: Between attribution debates, walled garden metrics, and inconsistent cross-platform views, CMOs are struggling to prove ROI. The complexity isn't just technical, it's political inside organizations. 🎯 Outcomes Over Tactics: Despite all the noise around cookies, signal loss, and AI, the fundamentals haven't changed. Great marketing still comes down to understanding consumers holistically and applying that intelligence strategically. ⚡ It's a Noisy Time: Marketers are juggling CIOs demanding new tech, CFOs questioning results, platforms promising exclusive deals, and measurement reports that don't add up. It's chaotic, but navigable with the right analytical mindset. _______________________________________________________ Resources & Next Steps🌐 Learn more about TransUnion Marketing Solutions 🔗 Follow Matt Spiegel on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts _______________________________________________________ YouTube Chapter Timestamps00:00 Intro -- Consumer insights and AI limitations 00:35 The complexity of modern marketing 01:00 Episode introduction and Matt Spiegel 01:34 Where we are in the identity and data landscape 02:15 The marketer's challenge -- Disconnected data 03:45 Why data infrastructure is the core problem 05:20 The reality of data hygiene issues 06:30 Signal loss and privacy regulations 07:45 Platform advantages in identity resolution 09:10 Walled gardens vs transparency 11:00 The programmatic ecosystem revisited 12:40 How agencies are investing in data capabilities 14:20 The measurement and attribution challenge 16:00 AI's impact on marketing decisions 17:30 Why consumer insights still matter 18:45 The current state of MarTech noise 20:15 Startup consolidation and hype cycles 21:50 Will agentic advertising replace media planners? 23:20 Keeping humans in the loop 24:40 The coming wave of marketing layoffs 26:10 New opportunities emerging from automation 27:30 The complexity brands face daily 28:50 CMO tenure and pressure 29:40 Final thoughts and wrap-up | |||
| David Freeman on the Case for a Capital Infusion in Creator Media | 03 Feb 2026 | 00:32:25 | |
In this episode, I sit down with David Freeman, who just launched Kynetic Media Partners after an incredible 15-year run at CAA. David was one of the first executives I knew who truly understood the business impact of digital talent and the creator economy - back when most people in Hollywood were still asking "why do you care about that?" He walks us through his journey from starting CAA's digital department in 2010 (when they were the "redheaded stepchildren" of the agency) to today, where the creator economy is tracking toward $37 billion by 2027. Now he's building the infrastructure to turn fandom into real enterprise value. We dive deep into how tech companies have become Hollywood, the rise of mega-creators like MrBeast who are building billion-dollar businesses, and how AI is about to revolutionize content creation in ways we can barely imagine. David shares insights on creators who are successfully building mini media empires (think Dude Perfect, Rhett & Link, Jesser), the critical need for proper operators and infrastructure around talent, and why we're likely to see consolidation and big exits in the creator space. It's a masterclass in understanding where media, culture, and commerce are headed. --- Key Highlights🚀 The Big Leap: After 15 years building and leading CAA's digital talent division, David left to launch Kynetic Media Partners - focused on turning fandom into enterprise value with infrastructure, strategic capital, and expertise. 💡 From Stepchildren to Stars: In 2010, digital departments were "redheaded stepchildren" at agencies. Today, the creator economy is tracking toward $37 billion by 2027, and tech companies have become Hollywood. 🎬 The MrBeast Phenomenon: David breaks down how Jimmy Donaldson built a billion-dollar business with deeper engagement than traditional media, and why he represents the future of entertainment. 🤖 AI Revolution Ahead: The potential for AI to transform content creation is massive - from animation that rivals Pixar to community-driven development cycles that release new episodes in weeks, not years. 🏢 Mini Media Empires: Creators like Dude Perfect (with their $100M investment), Rhett & Link, Dahr Mann, and Jesser are building real media companies - but success requires proper operators, not just talent. 📊 Infrastructure Matters: The biggest gap in the creator economy isn't talent or fandom - it's the lack of infrastructure, operators, and strategic capital to help creators scale into sustainable businesses. 🔮 Consolidation Coming: Expect to see legacy media companies acquire creator businesses, channel aggregation (like old cable models), and agencies potentially hosting their own upfronts with talent networks. 🎯 Where Culture Lives: The creator space isn't just about entertainment - it's where culture is being born, and brands need to understand that talent is now distribution. --- Resources & Next Steps🔗 Follow David Freeman on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts --- YouTube Chapter Timestamps00:00 Cold open - Keyman risk and YouTube dominance 00:55 Episode intro - David Freeman and Kynetic Media Ventures 01:24 Meet David Freeman, founder of Kynetic Media Ventures 01:49 Why David left CAA after 15 years 02:26 The creator economy arbitrage moment 04:00 Turning fandom into enterprise value 05:30 The evolution from digital talent to creator economy 06:32 How tech became Hollywood 07:50 YouTube vs traditional talent discovery 08:30 Legacy media in the early innings of YouTube 09:00 Madison Avenue grapples with YouTube's TV dominance 10:20 Creators must build IP and brands 11:30 Netflix vs YouTube - the talent war 13:00 IShowSpeed's Speed Goes Pro - ownership over distribution 14:30 Mr. Beast and the Amazon deal 16:10 Amazon's creator strategy beyond Prime 18:20 Making creator partnerships easier at scale 20:00 CMOs admit 20-30% of spend lacks attribution 21:20 The most dynamic time in media history 23:20 AI hype vs AI reality 25:00 AI as a tool controlled by humans 26:00 The CAA Vault and name, image, likeness 27:10 How many creators can become media moguls? 28:20 Building teams - good operators win 30:00 Will legacy media buy creator companies? 31:10 The rebirth of networks and agency upfronts 32:10 Wrap-up and what's next | |||
| The Future of Retail Media with Kiri Masters | 27 Jan 2026 | 00:27:47 | |
In this episode of Next in Media, I sit down with Kiri Masters, host of the Retail Media Breakfast Club podcast, to explore the biggest shifts happening in retail media advertising. We dive into the recent announcement about ads coming to ChatGPT and what that means for brands trying to meet consumers where they are. Kiri shares her perspective on whether AI-powered shopping will truly disrupt the retail media landscape - and why she's optimistic that LLM-based ads could actually be more relevant and less annoying than traditional formats. We also unpack the Walmart-Google partnership and discuss what it signals about the future of conversational commerce. Beyond the AI conversation, we tackle some of the industry's most pressing questions. Will we see consolidation in retail media networks this year? Can shoppable TV finally gain traction? And what happens when offsite retail media faces competition from platforms with their own transactional data? Kiri brings both historical context - including a fascinating story about Piggly Wiggly's self-service revolution - and forward-looking insights about how brands and retailers need to collaborate differently. Whether you're a marketer navigating this space or just curious about where AI and commerce intersect, this conversation offers a clear-eyed look at what's real, what's hype, and what's coming next. _______________________________________________ Key Highlights
🤖 Ads in AI Assistants: Kiri explains why she's optimistic that ads in LLMs like ChatGPT could actually enhance the user experience rather than detract from it - as long as they're contextually relevant and leverage the deep personal insights these platforms have. 🛒 The Walmart-Google Partnership: Why retailers want to maintain control as the merchant of record even as they experiment with AI-powered shopping surfaces, and what this means for the competitive landscape between retailers and tech giants. 📊 Amazon's Retail Media Dominance: How Amazon has trained brands to expect exceptional reporting and data-driven insights, creating a high bar that other retailers struggle to match - and why CFOs love the platform's transparency. 🔄 Consolidation is Coming: With over 250 retail media networks globally but brands only wanting to work with 5-7 partners, Kiri predicts we'll see more partnerships like Macy's and Amazon this year as the market rationalizes. 💡 The Piggly Wiggly Lesson: A fascinating historical parallel about how the first self-service grocery store in 1916 got consumers to change behavior by passing savings directly to them - a lesson for how AI shopping might need to work. ⚠️ Offsite Media at Risk: If AI-powered shopping takes off, offsite retail media networks could face serious competition as LLMs gain access to transaction and intent data that retailers previously controlled. 🎯 Back to Category Growth: Kiri advocates for retailers and brands to move beyond performance-focused land grabs and return to collaborative trade marketing strategies that grow entire categories together. _______________________________________________ Resources & Next Steps
🎙️ Follow Kiri Masters and subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts _______________________________________________ Chapter Timestamps
00:00 Introduction - Ads in AI assistants 00:40 This week on Next in Media 01:00 Meet Kiri Masters of Retail Media Breakfast Club 01:40 Ads coming to ChatGPT and conversational search 02:10 How brands follow consumers to new platforms 03:30 Will AI commerce disrupt retail media? 04:00 Will ads in LLMs work like Google and Facebook? 04:40 The importance of trust in AI assistants 05:00 Why AI ads could be better than traditional ads 06:00 Context and relevance in LLM advertising 07:00 The trust equation in conversational AI 08:00 Understanding AI ads won't necessarily suck 08:10 Walmart and Google partnership announcement 08:30 Are people ready to shop through AI interfaces? 09:00 Building trust through repeated exposure to LLMs 09:40 Story time - buying an iPod on eBay in 1999 11:00 Testing Instacart on ChatGPT 11:40 Sao CTV ad 12:40 Why Walmart partnered with Google 13:20 Retailers want to remain merchant of record 14:40 Can every retailer integrate with AI platforms? 15:20 Consumer choice and retailer selection criteria 16:00 The Piggly Wiggly story - self-service revolution 17:00 Consumer behavior change requires value proposition 17:40 State of retail media today 18:20 Amazon's dominance in retail media 19:20 Offsite retail media and in-store opportunities 20:00 How AI threatens offsite retail media networks 20:40 Open web and retail media advertising 21:30 Competition for audience data between retailers and LLMs 22:20 Could LLMs build offsite media businesses? 23:10 Will we see consolidation in retail media networks? 24:00 The Macy's and Amazon partnership example 24:40 Shoppable TV and CTV shopping outlook 26:00 How AI shopping might impact retail media 26:30 Moving beyond land grabs to category growth 27:20 Wrap-up and thanks | |||
| Why the NFL is Leaning So Hard on Creators - with Ian Trombetta | 20 Jan 2026 | 00:30:58 | |
In this week's episode of Next in Media, I sat down with Ian Trombetta, SVP of Social Influencer and Content Marketing for the NFL. We dove deep into how the league is winning the creator economy by building long-term partnerships with rising stars like Kai Cenat, Sketch, and Mr. Beast. Ian shared how his team identifies talent before they blow up, creating authentic relationships that benefit both the creators and the NFL's global reach. What struck me most was how the NFL isn't just throwing money at big names - they're investing in momentum and cultural relevance, finding creators who genuinely connect with the next generation of fans. Ian also walked me through the challenges of scaling this strategy globally, the lessons learned from his time at Red Bull and Activision, and what it takes to work with YouTube on their first-ever NFL broadcast. We discussed the NFL's massive Super Bowl creator activation - with over 150 creators on the ground in San Francisco - and how they're using everything from cooking competitions to fashion shows to showcase the culture around the game. Ian's philosophy is clear: let creators be themselves, provide them with massive value and exposure, and the authentic engagement will follow. It's a masterclass in modern brand building. _________________________________________________________________ Key Highlights:🎯 Finding Creators Early: The NFL identifies rising talent before they explode - working with Kai Cenat for 5-6 years before he became a household name. Ian's team stays ahead of dashboards and media coverage by staying deeply connected to culture and momentum. 🤝 Long-Term Relationships Over One-Offs: The NFL's strategy focuses on building sustained partnerships with creators, offering them massive exposure through linear TV, streaming platforms, and owned channels in exchange for authentic engagement with their communities. 🌍 Global Creator Strategy: With international growth as a major priority, the NFL works with global creators like Mr. Beast and IShowSpeed, plus local creators in markets like Brazil and Dublin to introduce football to new audiences worldwide. 🏆 Super Bowl Creator Takeover: Over 150 creators will be on the ground in San Francisco for Super Bowl week, participating in cooking competitions (NFL Season), fashion shows, and cross-promotions with NBC and the Olympics - the biggest creator activation yet. 🎮 Gaming Lessons from Activision: Ian emphasized that brands underestimate the quality bar required for gaming platforms like Roblox and Fortnite - you need dedicated studios creating sustained content, not just one-time pop-ups. 📺 Let Creators Be Themselves: The NFL's philosophy is to never force creators into a box. Great content comes from letting them engage their audiences authentically while naturally weaving in the NFL, not force-feeding promotional content. 🚀 YouTube's First NFL Broadcast: Ian shared insights from working with YouTube on their inaugural NFL game broadcast, highlighting the collaboration between traditional sports media and digital platforms. 🤖 Navigating the AI Challenge: Ian acknowledged that AI's impact on content creation is evolving daily, and staying ahead of how platforms and creators use AI is one of the biggest ongoing challenges for the league. _________________________________________________________________ Resources & Next Steps:🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts _________________________________________________________________ YouTube Chapter Timestamps:00:00 Cold open - Creator opportunities and AI evolution 00:38 Episode intro and playoff season context 01:02 Meet Ian Trombetta - SVP of Social Influencer and Marketing at NFL 01:36 Ian's role - Social media, influencer marketing, and content creation 02:52 Why the NFL needs creators beyond traditional TV 04:20 Creators as entry points for casual and younger fans 05:15 Global creator strategy - No borders with Mr. Beast and IShowSpeed 06:30 How to find the right creators for your brand 07:45 Building long-term relationships with rising creators 08:40 The Kai Cenat story - 5-6 years of partnership 10:12 The secret sauce - Getting in early and offering value 11:30 Letting creators be themselves for authentic engagement 13:05 Understanding creator momentum and culture 14:20 The Sketch example - Catching viral moments early 16:40 Live streamers and the endurance of daily content creation 18:25 Brand partnerships and measuring ROI from organic reach 20:10 Red Bull background - Building communities and content 22:30 Activision lessons - Community is everything in gaming 24:29 Parallels between gaming communities and NFL fandom 25:23 The gaming challenge - Quality bar and sustained presence 26:23 Roblox and Fortnite - You need a full studio operation 27:14 Flag football, mobile games, and the Olympics opportunity 27:26 Super Bowl preview - 150+ creators on the ground 28:12 NFL Season cooking competition and fashion shows 28:53 Cross-promotion with NBC and the Olympics 29:13 Showcasing culture and music around the NFL 29:27 Working with YouTube on their first NFL broadcast 29:59 Biggest challenge - Navigating AI in content and platforms | |||
| How Smosh Endured Numerous Pitfalls Before Becoming a 70-Person Media Powerhouse | 13 Jan 2026 | 00:31:34 | |
I never thought I'd be running a 70-employee media company built around two guys who started making Pokemon sketches in their bedroom. But here we are. When I stepped into the role of CEO of Smosh in early 2023, I wasn't just taking on a business - I was stewarding a 20-year legacy that spans five active YouTube channels, a 15-person cast, and millions of fans worldwide. My background in talent management taught me to think about creators as brands, and that's exactly how I approach Smosh today. We're not just making content - we're building a sustainable entertainment company that respects both the comedy at our core and the business fundamentals that keep us growing. What excites me most is how we're redefining what digital-first entertainment looks like. We've invested heavily in 4K production to meet the demands of YouTube's living room experience, and we're launching ambitious projects like Hospital - a semi-scripted improv show that blends SNL-style comedy with Grey's Anatomy parody. But beyond the content itself, I'm passionate about changing how brands work with creators. Too many advertisers still treat us like we're amateurs in bedrooms, when the reality is we have the infrastructure, the talent, and the audience insights to deliver campaigns that traditional media can't match. We're proving that collaboration over competition and authenticity over scripts is the future of entertainment - and the future is happening right now.
--- Key Highlights
🚀 From Talent Manager to CEO: How working with Anthony Padilla at Press Alike and 15 years in the creator economy led to becoming CEO of a 70-employee media company with five active YouTube channels and 15 cast members. 📺 YouTube's Living Room Revolution: Why Smosh invested heavily in 4K production, upgraded cameras and servers, and how YouTube is slowly separating TV-viewing experiences from search engine content - with bold predictions about the platform's future. 🎭 Hospital Launches in January: A groundbreaking semi-scripted improv show where cast members play doctors who must swap out when they break character - blending SNL-style comedy with Grey's Anatomy parody, designed for viewers who've never heard of Smosh. 🤝 Collaboration Over Competition: Why Smosh's social team gets lunch with Mythical, their production manager grabs coffee with Dropout, and the entire creator economy thrives when digital entertainment companies share tips instead of treating each other as enemies. 💰 Owning Your CMS is Power: Lessons from the MCN era about the importance of maintaining your own content management system, controlling sales processes, and working directly with Google to craft bespoke advertising deals around major programming events. 📢 The Brand Partnership Problem: Why traditional TV commercials are terrible, how marketing agencies waste millions on creative that doesn't convert, and why Smosh only partners with brands they sincerely use - building authentic campaigns instead of following scripts. ⏰ Treat Creators Like Studios: The frustrating reality that brands still don't understand production schedules, kill fees, or professional timelines - and why the same respect given to Fox or NBC should apply to digital-first media companies. 🎯 Accessible Content Strategy: How shows like Do You Know Your Duo and Culinary Crimes are designed so new viewers can jump in without knowing Smosh's 20-year history - making great improv and comedy accessible to superfans and first-time watchers alike.
--- Resources & Next Steps
🎥 Watch Smosh on YouTube 🔗 Follow Alessandra Catanese on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts
--- Chapter Timestamps
00:00 Introduction - Smosh's evolution from bedroom to boardroom 00:38 Early days of covering Smosh at Media Week 01:25 Meet Alessandra Catanese - from talent manager to CEO 02:01 The Maker Studios era and YouTube economy origins 03:14 15 years of experience leading to this role 03:43 Working with Anthony and Ian on the vision 05:37 Smosh 101 - five channels and 15 cast members 07:04 Full-fledged merch business and cast-driven products 07:51 Making content accessible without knowing the lore 08:51 Hospital show - the January improv comedy launch 09:20 SNL meets Grey's Anatomy with character breaks 10:22 YouTube on TV and the living room experience 11:05 Investing in 4K production for Summer Games 12:10 Honoring traditional TV conventions on YouTube 12:46 Predicting YouTube's TV vs search engine split 14:40 Digital and traditional becoming the same thing 15:26 The MCN era and owning your CMS 18:07 Google's special care and bespoke deals 19:14 MCN collaboration lessons and creator networks 20:11 YouTube was founded on collaboration 20:50 We don't have competition, we have collaborators 21:36 No monopoly on the internet 22:34 Growing the creator advertising economy 23:48 Educating advertisers on metrics that matter 24:19 Sincere representation philosophy with brands 24:52 Brands need smarter creative strategies 26:59 Why TV commercials are terrible today 27:40 YouTube provides instant, rich data 28:40 Working with newer vs legacy brands 29:09 Brands still see creators as bedroom amateurs 29:50 Production costs and treating creators professionally 30:29 Progress in podcast ad reads and trust 31:07 Wrap-up and final thoughts | |||
| Media Predictions for 2026 with Evan Shapiro | 06 Jan 2026 | 00:30:32 | |
I sat down with Evan Shapiro, the legendary media cartographer and author of the must-read substack Media War and Peace, to kick off 2026 with bold predictions about where our industry is heading. Evan didn't hold back as he unpacked the tension between AI-driven automation and the raw authenticity that makes creators so powerful. We explored how scale and reach are becoming vanity metrics, while fandom and engagement are what truly matter now. From Under Armor to Procter & Gamble, major brands are launching their own content channels and becoming creators themselves rather than just renting influencers. This isn't your typical brand content strategy, this is a fundamental shift in how marketing dollars flow. We also tackled the elephant in the room: YouTube's dominance and whether anyone can challenge it, the explosive growth of retail media networks like Walmart and Amazon, and why traditional media companies like Disney and Warner Brothers are finally embracing platforms they once feared. Evan predicts the AI bubble will burst in 2026, not because the technology isn't valuable, but because it won't be the sexy revolution everyone's hyping. Instead, AI will improve things behind the scenes with targeting optimization and efficiency gains. Plus, we discussed the rise of social media politicians and how $2.5 billion in political ad spending could fundamentally change addressable TV advertising. This conversation is packed with insights you won't want to miss. Key Highlights
🎯 Engagement Over Reach: Scale and reach are now vanity metrics. The biggest shift in the creator economy is toward fandom and deep engagement rather than pure subscriber counts. Mr. Beast is the exception, creators like Amelia Dimoldenberg and Sean Evans prove that smaller, highly engaged audiences drive better business results. 🏢 Brands Become Creators: Under Armor, Procter & Gamble, and L'Oreal are launching their own content channels and production companies. Instead of hiring influencers, brands will convert ad spend into creating their own entertainment channels, following the Barbie and LEGO model of becoming lifestyle brands. 📺 Traditional Media's Creator Problem: Disney still treats YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok as brochure ware with trailers and promotional content. In 2026, major studios will finally go all-in on real content for these platforms, similar to how they eventually launched Disney+ after years of resistance. 🤖 The AI Bubble Will Burst: The hype around AI making movies, commercials, and scripts will deflate in 2026. AI's real value lies in boring but crucial improvements to targeting, optimization, and efficiency, not in replacing creative talent. Disney's $1.5 billion investment in OpenAI signals they're getting ahead of this shift. 🛍️ Retail Media's Next Wave: We're in the first half of the first inning of shoppable TV. Walmart's integration of Vizio will make them the second-largest retail media network after Amazon. This enables a whole new class of TV advertisers and unlocks budgets that never intersected with traditional media spending. 📱 Instagram and TikTok Launch CTV: Evan predicts both Instagram and TikTok will launch connected TV platforms in 2026. When Oracle takes control of TikTok in the US, a television product is inevitable. YouTube's success with shorts on TV proves short-form content can work on the big screen. 💰 YouTube's Branded Content Explosion: Branded deals embedded in YouTube videos grew over 50% in the first half of 2025, becoming the fastest-growing segment of YouTube's ad economy. With dynamic insertion launching for branded content in 2026, this will dramatically accelerate and become more scalable. 🗳️ Political Ads Transform CTV: The $2.5 billion political ecosystem will spend on hyper-local, outcome-based ads in 2026. This wave of aggressive buyers targeting at the neighborhood level will change television advertising at the genetic level and unlock the true promise of addressable TV. Resources & Next Steps
🔗 Follow Evan Shapiro on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts | |||
| Shane Atchison and Seth Gordon on Building Zaaz Collective for the Creator Economy | 23 Dec 2025 | 00:28:56 | |
This week on Next in Media, I sat down with Shane Atchison, CEO of Zaaz Collective, and Seth Gordon, a film director and co-founder of Zaaz. We dove into their mission to help micro and mid-level creators (those with 5,000 to 100,000 followers) think and act like media companies. With 96% of creators making minimum wage or less, Shane and Seth saw an opportunity to build a collective where creators could access the data, tools, and intelligence typically reserved for top-tier talent. They shared how Zaaz is using AI-powered analytics, audience insights, and comments-to-commerce strategies to help creators maximize their impact and earnings. I was fascinated by their approach to solving the creator-brand disconnect. Shane explained how most creators have no idea what to charge for brand deals and often feel they get screwed on their first partnerships. Zaaz addresses this with transparent pricing data, engagement rate benchmarks, and personalized AI language models trained on each creator's unique content and audience. Seth brought a compelling perspective from the traditional entertainment world, noting how the $50 million ad model is dying and the future is much more atomized and creator-led. We also explored their plans for Q1 2025, including creator-to-creator events in Brazil and launching new tools for content transcription and multi-platform analytics. _________________________________________________________________ Key Highlights💡 The Creator Economy Gap: 96% of creators are making minimum wage or less despite the industry growing to $500 million by 2030 with 35% year-over-year growth in media spend. 🤝 The Collective Model: Zaaz operates as a membership-based collective where creators share anonymized data on brand deals, pricing, and engagement rates so everyone can learn what's a fair deal. 📊 Audience Intelligence: The platform unifies analytics across all social platforms in one dashboard and uses AI to analyze comments for purchase intent, brand opportunities, and genuine engagement. 💬 Comments to Commerce: Zaaz filters through thousands of comments to surface the ones that matter, like when someone asks "what shirt are you wearing?" turning those into affiliate link opportunities. 🤖 Personalized AI Language Models: Each creator gets their own AI agent trained on their content, comments, and audience data, plus access to collective intelligence from other creators' successful strategies. 🎯 Brand Discovery Done Right: Zaaz pushes dynamic media kits to discovery platforms so creators are represented with real-time data on momentum, engagement rates, and audience quality. 🎬 The Future is Atomized: Seth Gordon explained how the traditional $50 million ad campaign model is dying, and the future belongs to niche, specialized creator-led content reaching targeted audiences. 🚀 Launching in 2025: Zaaz is hosting creator-to-creator events in Brazil and the U.S., launching AI-powered content transcription tools, and helping creators who "don't realize they're creators" move into the space. _________________________________________________________________ Resources & Next Steps🌐 Explore Zaaz Collective 🔗 Connect with Shane Atchison on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts _________________________________________________________________ YouTube Chapter Timestamps00:00 Cold open - Building Zaaz for creators 00:36 Introducing Shane Atchison and Seth Gordon 02:02 What is Zaaz Collective? 03:00 How the collective model works 04:32 The "I got screwed" problem for creators 06:07 Seth on protecting creators in the wild west 07:07 Who are the target creators? (5K-100K followers) 08:32 Audience analytics across platforms 10:52 Comments to commerce strategy 13:04 Brand discovery and connecting the two sides 15:19 Seth on knowing your audience 18:32 The value of micro influencers 20:23 Seth on Warner Bros and the dying $50M ad model 22:10 Streamlining media spend in the creator economy 24:51 Personalized AI language models for creators 27:00 Q1 plans: Launching in Brazil and creator events 28:29 Wrap-up and thanks | |||
| The Digital Banking Company Chime Wants CTV to Work Just Like Meta | 17 Dec 2025 | 00:27:41 | |
This week I had the chance to sit down with two fascinating guests who are at the forefront of bridging the worlds of digital performance marketing and traditional television advertising. Nick Fairbairn, VP of Growth Marketing at Chime, and Andy Schonfeld, CRO at Tatari, walked me through how they've transformed Chime from a pure digital-first, DTC neobank brand built on social and search into a sophisticated advertiser that runs television campaigns with the same performance mindset they apply to Meta and Google. Their partnership has evolved from small linear TV tests six years ago to a comprehensive full-funnel TV strategy that blends brand building with direct response metrics. Nick and Andy shared incredible insights into the evolution of performance TV, from navigating the COVID-era inventory opportunities to understanding why linear TV still matters even as streaming dominates the conversation. They explained how Chime approaches television with a portfolio strategy, balancing premium reach moments like live sports with more targeted direct response placements, and why creative and media planning have become the "new targeting" in a world where precise one-to-one identification remains expensive and imperfect. We also dove into the challenges of measuring TV in a fragmented landscape, the role of AI-driven creative, and whether shoppable TV will actually move the needle or remain a marginal innovation. Key Highlights Here's a shorter version: 📺 From Walled Gardens to TV: Chime shifted from 80% Facebook/Google spend to treating TV as a performance channel, not just brand awareness. 🚀 COVID's Opportunity: The pandemic opened premium TV inventory at discounts as major advertisers exited, accelerating streaming adoption for performance marketers. 🎯 Performance TV Defined: Measuring full-funnel impact from awareness to account openings using spike attribution, MMM, and Tatari's platform. ⚡ Linear Still Works: Live sports and big moments deliver results at 75% off rate card for brands buying real-time through platforms like Tatari. 💰 The DR Valley of Death: Pure direct response TV hits limits, requiring investment in premium brand moments with longer attribution windows for growth. 🤖 AI and Creative Over Targeting: Paying 2-3x CPMs for precise targeting isn't worth it—creative and smart placement beat perfect identity resolution. 📱 Shoppable TV Reality: Interactive ads and QR codes show promise but remain marginal in business impact; AI-generated creative variations offer more upside. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Learn more about Chime 📊 Explore Tatari's performance TV platform 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts YouTube Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Opening - Performance TV and Chime's evolution 00:55 Introducing Nick Fairbairn (VP Growth Marketing at Chime) 01:00 Introducing Andy Schonfeld (CRO at Tatari) 01:10 Chime's historic media mix - born on social and search 02:00 The classic DTC journey - 80% in Facebook and Google 02:20 Bringing a portfolio approach to acquisition 02:40 Meeting Tatari and starting the TV journey (2019) 03:00 Initial barriers - cost, creative, and optimization concerns 03:40 Running TV like Meta from day one 04:10 Linear focus in the early days (2016-2019) 04:40 Small doses of TV with incrementality and attribution 05:00 How COVID accelerated streaming adoption 05:40 Major brands exiting created inventory opportunities 06:00 Fire sale opportunities on premium inventory 06:30 Nick's resistance to streaming at first 07:00 The linear purist becomes a 50/50 believer 07:40 Defining performance in TV advertising 08:20 Full funnel measurement - awareness to enrollments 09:00 Getting efficient on walled gardens to fund brand TV 09:40 The DR valley of death explained 10:10 How performance TV measurement has evolved 11:00 Starting lower funnel, then expanding upward 11:40 The $10-15M threshold where DR hits limits 12:10 Going premium - live sports and big moments 12:40 The commitment required to unlock TV's power 13:10 TV driving IPOs and acquisitions 13:40 Helping startups scale through TV 14:00 The state of CTV today - better or more complex? 14:40 Linear vs streaming buying challenges 15:10 Cost prohibitive targeting on streaming 15:50 Creative differences between linear and streaming 16:20 What's missing - the dashboard fantasy 17:00 Why linear still matters - 50% of viewership 17:40 Yankees playoff game example - 75% discount 18:30 You can't buy big moments programmatically 19:10 Relationships still matter in TV buying 19:50 Programmatic CTV limitations 20:30 Media mix modeling and holistic measurement 21:30 Identity and targeting in TV - does it matter? 22:10 Creative as the new targeting 22:50 Why paying 2-3x CPM for precision isn't worth it 23:30 You can't measure it all - need multiple approaches 24:00 Shoppable TV and interactive ads - bullish or not? 24:40 QR codes and send-to-phone - still marginal 25:10 Pause ads opening new real estate 25:40 Amazon remote ads and early testing 26:00 Dynamic AI creative - 100 variations vs two 26:30 Local market creative optimization 27:00 Something's brewing with device and TV convergence 27:30 Wrap-up and thanks | |||
| Can Brands Really Spend $37 Billion with Creators? | 11 Dec 2025 | 01:16:58 | |
I had the incredible opportunity to bring together some of the brightest minds in the creator economy for an evening of candid conversation about where this industry is headed. From ad tech innovations to creator authenticity, we covered the full spectrum of what it takes to turn creator content into scalable, revenue-generating partnerships. Conor McKenna from Luma and Zoe Soon from the IAB kicked things off with a macro view of the space, discussing how fragmented media is creating massive opportunities for technology to step in. We explored why brands are shifting budgets at unprecedented rates, with Unilever committing 50% of marketing spend to creator-related initiatives. The evening featured deep dives into brand integration strategies with Ali Parish from Blue Hour Studios and Jeremy Stewart from VuePlanner, followed by an eye-opening discussion with Arthur Leopolod from Agentio about how AI and automation are revolutionizing creator advertising. Perhaps most compelling was hearing directly from Sydney Jo, the creator behind the viral Group Chat series, and her manager Haley Friedman from Made By All about the reality of building a creator business. From navigating brand negotiations to maintaining creative authenticity, this conversation revealed both the opportunities and challenges facing the next generation of digital storytellers. _______________________________________________ Key Highlights🚀 The Walled Garden Shift: Meta and Google are evolving from social platforms to entertainment platforms, opening up competitive dynamics that allow ad tech to capture margin in the previously closed creator ecosystem. 📈 Explosive Growth Trajectory: The creator economy is projected to reach $37 billion this year, growing 400% faster than average digital media, with Agentio raising $40 million to help brands scale from $50K to over $1 million in creator spend without additional bandwidth. 🎯 The Authenticity Challenge: Brands are treating creators like Hollywood storytellers but expecting them to perform like programmatic ad units, creating a disconnect that requires better infrastructure, measurement, and understanding of the creator-first approach. 🤖 AI as the Creative Multiplier: While AI enables scalability and reduces production costs to zero, the real winners will be creators with established trust and parasocial relationships, as audiences increasingly seek authentic voices in a sea of AI-generated content. 💡 Partnership Over Performance: Long-term brand relationships like Sydney's multi-season deal with Hilton outperform transactional campaigns, with brands that engage in comments and understand social media culture seeing significantly better integration and results. 📊 The Measurement Gap: Over 50% of US buyers consider creators a must-buy (second only to search and social), yet the industry lacks standardized metrics beyond engagement and reach, requiring brands to rely heavily on first-party data and brand-specific goals. 🎬 Platform Dynamics: YouTube and Meta provide strong creator support with dedicated reps, while TikTok remains uniquely difficult to work with despite its massive scale, and creators intentionally maintain cross-platform presence to avoid giving control to any single platform. ⚡ From Viral to Viable: Sydney's journey from 250K to 1.7 million followers in one week (and a Today Show appearance) reveals both the opportunity and challenge of monetizing virality, highlighting the critical importance of having the right management team to navigate brand negotiations and maintain creative control. _______________________________________________ Resources & Next Steps🌐 Learn more about VuePlanner 🌐 Learn more about Agentio 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts _______________________________________________ YouTube Chapter Timestamps00:00 Opening remarks and industry momentum 01:10 Introducing Connor McKenney and Zoe Soon 03:00 The ad tech opportunity in creator economy 05:40 Walled gardens becoming distribution platforms 07:00 Why brands are shifting to creators 08:30 The infrastructure and measurement challenge 12:00 AI and algorithm control concerns 13:00 Standardization vs. authenticity debate 17:10 Ali Perish and Jeremy Stewart on brand integration 18:40 Evolution of Blue Hour Studios 20:40 View Planner's role in creator measurement 24:00 YouTube Creator Partnerships Hub 26:00 The lifetime value of creators 28:00 Arthur Leopold introduces Agentio 30:00 The $10 billion to $800 billion opportunity 32:00 How Agentio automates creator advertising 35:30 Bidding model and AI strategy creation 37:40 Creators as micro creative agencies 40:00 The Cambrian explosion of AI creativity 42:40 Sydney and Hailey from Made By All 44:00 Sydney's viral Group Chat origin story 46:30 Navigating early brand deals 49:00 The importance of saying no 51:40 Long-term brand relationships 54:00 When brands don't understand social media 56:00 Working with platform partners 58:30 Advice for brands and creators 01:00:00 Closing thoughts and thank you | |||
| How the New York Times Is Evolving Advertising with Tusar Barik | 09 Dec 2025 | 00:34:33 | |
I sat down with Tusar Barik, the SVP of Marketing at the New York Times, who's just past his first year in this newly created role. We explored how the Times has transformed from a traditional newspaper into a multifaceted media company spanning news, games, podcasts, cooking, sports, and more. Tusar leads a comprehensive team managing everything from measurement and data insights to product marketing, editorial advertising opportunities, and traditional communications. What struck me most was learning that the Times now reaches over 150 million registered users with 50 to 100 million weekly engagers, seeing the highest growth among Gen Z adults and audiences in the Midwest and South. The digital advertising business delivered over 20% year-over-year growth, proving that quality journalism and a direct relationship with readers creates a powerhouse advertising platform. We dove deep into how the Times is meeting consumers where they are through video-forward strategies, producing over 75 hours of professional video monthly and transforming podcasts into multimodal shows available as both audio and video. Tusar shared insights on their Brand Match generative AI product that delivers 30% improvements in both click-through rates and brand lift by intelligently matching advertiser briefs with the right content. We explored how games like Wordle have been part of the Times' DNA since the 1940s crossword, how The Daily creates deeply personal connections with millions, and why the Times sees itself as a solar system with news at the center. The conversation revealed a company that's successfully balanced subscription-first strategy with a thriving advertising business by staying true to its mission while innovating how it reaches and serves audiences. _______________________________________________ Key Highlights
_______________________________________________ Resources & Next Steps🔗 Follow Tusar Barrick on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts _______________________________________________ YouTube Chapter Timestamps00:00 Elemental TV ad 00:48 Introduction and guest overview 01:50 Welcome to Next in Media 02:03 Tor's role and first year at the Times 04:19 The Times' evolution beyond news 05:07 Core mission and solar system approach 06:25 Audience scale: 150M registered users 07:39 20% digital ad growth and earnings 08:58 AI and Brand Match product 10:46 Brand Match performance results 11:31 Podcasting and The Daily's impact 13:06 Michael Barbaro's emotional connection story 14:02 Audio and video evolution 15:31 Video production stats and strategy 16:14 Navigating agency relationships 17:44 Solutions-based approach to advertising 18:01 Measurement playbook and strategies 19:47 Outcome-based measurement approach 20:59 Sabio ad 21:05 Talent and newsletter strategy 23:48 Gaming portfolio and DNA since 1940s 26:03 The Athletic and portfolio expansion 27:04 Games advertising opportunities 28:28 Programmatic strategy and philosophy 30:29 Video strategy and Watch tab launch 33:49 Video advertising opportunities 34:12 Closing thoughts and wrap-up 34:24 Outro and thanks | |||