Netflix’s Bold New Pitch to Advertisers: ‘We Can Compete With Anyone’
Netflix’s advertising division is on track to double its revenue for the second consecutive year, targeting roughly $3 billion in ad sales by 2026. Programmatic buying now accounts for almost half of its ad business, bolstered by recent DSP integrations with Yahoo and Amazon. The company is leveraging high‑profile live events—including NFL Christmas Day games and a future Women’s World Cup deal—to attract advertisers. Ahead of its May 13 upfront, Netflix will highlight AI‑driven brand integrations and its expanded data‑toolset as evidence it can compete with any global ad platform.
Koddi and Comcast’s Universal Ads Ink Deal to Target Streaming Ads With Commerce Data
Koddi, a commerce‑media adtech firm, has partnered with Comcast’s self‑service platform Universal Ads to let advertisers purchase streaming inventory using first‑party shopper audiences. The integration opens access to ad slots from more than 20 publishers, including DirecTV, Fox, NBCUniversal, Paramount,...
The 2026 Creative 100: Media, TV & Streaming Innovators Know How to Win
The 2026 Creative 100 Media, TV & Streaming Innovators list spotlights leaders who turned bold ideas into measurable business results. Ali Brown’s teams secured four Super Bowl spots and earned Production Company of the Year, while Bloomberg Media Studios generated double‑digit...
Ticker: Testy Exchange Takes Place Between Scott Jennings and Adam Mockler on CNN NewsNight
During Thursday's CNN NewsNight, senior political commentator Scott Jennings erupted in profanity while debating the Iran war with MeidasTouch analyst Adam Mockler, prompting host Abby Phillip to intervene. The same broadcast highlighted a wave of personnel shifts at CNN, including...
The Marketing CEO: Why Leadership Now Starts With Knowing Your Brand Identity
In a recent Adspeak episode, senior editor Rob Klara convenes CEOs Bing Chen, Jessica Schinazi, and Artis Stevens to argue that today’s chief executives must first act as marketers. They explore moving from service‑based to solution‑based positioning, decentralizing brand ownership across thousands of employees,...
AI Is Bringing Retail Media Closer to the Sale
Retail media is becoming more complex as brands juggle multiple channels and an explosion of shopper signals. At an ADWEEK House Possible panel, CVS Media Exchange (CMX) and Kenvue highlighted how artificial intelligence is being used to personalize offers, streamline...
What It Takes to Grow a CPG Challenger Brand
Emerging CPG challenger brands are scaling by anchoring on two consumer priorities—value and health—identified in Ibotta’s State of the Spend report. Companies like Chomps and Sweet Loren’s maintain their original mission while expanding product lines, such as Chomps’ new chicken...
For Creator-Led Campaigns, Authenticity Starts Before the Shoot
Intuit QuickBooks, together with agency Collectively, has expanded its creator‑led "Outdo It" campaign from a $200,000 pilot to a budget exceeding $40 million. The program insists on casting real small‑business owners who actually use QuickBooks, boosting authenticity. The latest spot features...
Why Audio Is a Trusted Anchor in a Digital World
During an ADWEEK House Possible panel, executives from iHeartMedia, GroundTruth and ADWEEK discussed how audio is re‑emerging as a trust‑centric medium in a world saturated with AI‑generated content. They highlighted that 93% of consumers want news from a human and...
AI Answer Engines Pose Challenges and Opportunities for Brands
AI answer engines such as ChatGPT are reshaping a fragmented customer journey, with overall search activity rising 26% year‑on‑year. Marketers must view AI as a new stakeholder that consumes reviews, social chatter and platform content to generate citations. Platforms like...
How Generative AI Will Impact Marketers and Consumers
InMobi exec Singhal predicts that by 2026 generative AI will power interactive ad formats that act like personal shopping agents, letting consumers outsource research while retaining final purchase decisions. He highlighted Glance, InMobi’s agentic commerce platform, which creates AI‑generated visual...
Possible’s Aggressive Sponsorship Push: $50K Minimums and 2027 Contracts Due Today
Possible, the marketing and media summit owned by Hyve Group, wrapped up its fourth‑annual event in Miami Beach with 7,500 attendees, a 38 % increase over last year. The conference featured 292 commercial partners, up from 175, including headline sponsors such...
The Trade Desk Is Selling Onsite Retail Media Ads for Dollar General
The Trade Desk has launched a new retail‑media offering that lets advertisers purchase onsite display ads on Dollar General’s website through the same demand‑side platform used for off‑site campaigns. The partnership, built with retail‑tech provider Kevel, merges upper‑funnel inventory such...
In Its Summer Campaign, Budweiser Waves the Flag — A Lot
Anheuser‑Busch unveiled a 30‑second "Great Delivery" TV spot as the centerpiece of its 150th‑anniversary campaign, showcasing Clydesdales hauling kegs across iconic American landscapes. The ad leans heavily on patriotic symbols, tying Budweiser’s sesquicentennial to the nation’s 250th birthday and promoting...
Rao’s Enlists Goodby Silverstein & Partners to Make Its Brand Iconic
Rao’s Homemade has appointed Goodby Silverstein & Partners (GS&P) as its agency of record to craft a new, iconic brand identity. The agency will develop campaigns that highlight Rao’s Italian restaurant roots, premium ingredients, and timeless quality, with work slated to launch in...
Lenovo Taps Becky G and AI to Turn Soccer Kits Into Art
Lenovo is launching “Your Club Your Canvas,” a global campaign that blends soccer, art and AI. The tech giant has named musician Becky G as global ambassador and will enlist artists to create limited‑edition kits for five clubs in Brazil, China,...
Vue Calls on Taika Waititi to Lure Audiences Back to Movie Theaters
Vue has launched the "Feel It Forever" campaign, a two‑minute ad directed by Academy Award‑winning filmmaker Taika Waititi, to coax audiences back to its European cinemas. The spot, which follows two strangers trailed by iconic movie characters, debuted on May 1 in...
Inside Claire’s Comeback Plan: Squishies, ASMR and Reclaiming Girlhood
Claire’s is staging a brand revival with its summer "A Girl SMR at Claire’s" campaign, aimed squarely at Gen Alpha girls. The initiative, the first major project of new chief brand officer Michelle Goad—formerly of Athleta—centers on ASMR‑inspired content and tactile...
The Trade Desk’s Jeff Green Tells Agencies ‘We Want to Help’ After Months of Tension
The Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green addressed ad agencies at Possible 2026, acknowledging the mounting margin pressure they face from tighter budgets, AI adoption, and a more complex media supply chain. He emphasized that agencies are being squeezed as money is...
Omnicom Focuses Investors on ‘Core Operations’ in Q1 as It Plans to Offload Agencies
Omnicom reported $5.6 billion in core‑operation revenue for Q1 2026, a 6.7% year‑over‑year increase, while operating expenses rose to the same level due largely to the recent IPG acquisition. The company disclosed $627 million in revenue from assets held for sale and...
FCC Orders Early Renewals for ABC TV Licenses Following Scrutiny Over Kimmel Joke
The Federal Communications Commission ordered eight ABC‑owned and operated TV stations to file broadcast‑license renewals by May 28, 2026, two years ahead of the 2028 deadline. The move coincides with a year‑long FCC probe into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices...
The Funnel Is Dead: Now What?
Brandweek’s 2026 panel, moderated by ADWEEK’s Alison Weissbrot, declared the classic marketing funnel obsolete, urging brands to adopt a flywheel mindset. Leaders from SmartCommerce, Liquid Death, LYS Beauty, Kellanova, Sephora, and Argonaut shared tactics for omnichannel commerce, retail‑media data leverage,...
Netflix’s Running Point Scores Several Integrated Brand Partnerships in Season 2
Netflix’s comedy series Running Point has secured multiple integrated brand partnerships for its Season 2 launch. The basketball‑focused show weaves sponsors such as State Farm, DoorDash, Lexus, Ally Bank, Sephora and Google Search into its storyline and visual design. Netflix VP...
3,000 Images, Zero Dialogue: How This Studio Made AI Films Without Sacrificing the Creative Soul
Purga Films and Gut produced three AI‑generated short films—mafia, Western, and samurai—using roughly 3,000 AI‑created images each and no spoken dialogue, substituting Lorem Ipsum placeholder text. Completed in three months, the project showcases how AI can deliver cinematic visuals while...
VaynerX Launches Tamara Group, Betting Production-Led Is the New Agency Model
Gary Vaynerchuk’s VaynerX unveiled Tamara Group at the POSSIBLE conference in Miami on April 27, debuting a production‑led agency model. The new firm launches with roughly 100 employees and early clients Ulta Beauty, Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day, and Method. Tamara...
Dentsu Bolsters Americas Leadership as It Seeks Turnaround in Key Region
Dentsu announced a sweeping leadership overhaul in the Americas, elevating Beth Ann Kaminkow to CEO of the region and chief global client officer. The agency also created a new chief client experience officer role for Christena Pyle and hired Steve...
Possible 2026 Opening Remarks: Marketing’s Age of Opinion Is Ending
At the 2026 Possible opening remarks, industry leaders warned that marketing’s “age of opinion” must end in favor of a scientific, data‑driven profession. Citing decades‑old research, the speaker highlighted that a 10% ad‑spend lift yields only a 0.5% sales increase,...
Week of April 13 Cable News Ratings: Cable News Networks See Drops
In the week of April 13, 2026, all three major cable news networks saw declines in primetime and total‑day audiences compared with the prior week. Fox News, despite an 11% drop in primetime total viewers and a 21% dip in the...
Goodway Group and Optable Partner to Feed AI Agents Cleaner Data
Optable has partnered with Goodway Group to layer Anthropic Claude‑powered AI agents on its data clean‑room platform, unifying first‑party, third‑party and campaign data. The rollout currently reaches about 70 of Goodway’s 350 employees, primarily in media planning and analytics, to...
Ads of the Week: 12 Campaigns That Caught Our Eye, From Marc Jacobs to Ikea
Cannes Lions highlighted 12 standout ads this week, ranging from Goop Kitchen’s New York‑centric food‑delivery launch to Publix’s whimsical puppet‑dog spots. High‑profile talent like Serena Williams and Rachel Sennott fronted campaigns for Heineken 0.0, Marc Jacobs and Venmo, while Ikea used humor to promote...
EXCLUSIVE: The Trade Desk Is Quietly Phasing Out Its Signature Periodic Table
The Trade Desk is quietly phasing out the signature periodic‑table interface in its Kokai platform, replacing it with a more spreadsheet‑like, customizable layout. The change introduces a new tile‑filter feature that lets advertisers tailor the view to their workflow. While...
Tim Cook Built Apple Ads, But His Successor Has the Harder Job
Apple’s advertising division, quietly built under Tim Cook, is projected to generate about $7 billion in 2025, with roughly 95 % of revenue coming from App Store search ads. The company has kept its ad inventory limited to owned platforms such as...
Code and Theory’s New President Will Help CMOs Navigate AI Complexity
Code and Theory has appointed former VML chief growth officer JJ Schmuckler as its new president to steer the agency through the accelerating AI wave. CEO Michael Treff said the traditional service‑only model is ending, and the firm will blend technology,...
That Is a Wrap on Social Media Week 2026!
Social Media Week 2026 concluded after a three‑day hybrid program that attracted over 2,000 marketers, platform executives, and creators in New York and online. The event, now in its 15th edition, highlighted Meta’s metaverse‑commerce roadmap, AI‑driven content, and short‑form video dominance....
PayPal Goes After Streaming TV Advertisers With New Adtech Deals
PayPal is extending its advertising platform into streaming TV and the open web with a new offering called Curated Ads. The product leverages PayPal’s transaction graph to build purchase‑based audience segments that can be targeted through partnerships with Warner Bros. Discovery, Spectrum...
Gallo’s Britt West on Fixing Wine’s Relevance Problem and Recruiting the Next Generation
Chief commercial officer Britt West told the Brave Commerce podcast that wine’s recent sales decline stems more from a failure to recruit new consumers than from health‑related moderation trends. Decades of premiumization delivered short‑term growth but left the category with...
The Team Behind Zohran Mamdani’s Viral Campaign Wants More Political Candidates to Get Candid on Social Media
At AD Week, Melted Solids—co‑founders Anthony DiMieri and Debbie Saslaw—and video director Donald Borenstein broke down the social‑video playbook that helped Zohran Mamdani win New York City’s mayoral race. Their strategy centered on authentic, on‑the‑fly footage that let Mamdani riff in...
‘Brands Can’t Guide Culture’: Creators and Marketers on Ditching Skin-Deep Allyship
At Social Media Week 2026, experts warned that brands cannot own culture and must instead immerse themselves in the communities they wish to serve. Alejandra Salazar of Croing urged marketers to rely on cultural experts and listen deeply. Deaf creator...
What Dove, Netflix, and Nike Didn’t Do on Reddit Is Why They’re Winning
Brands are abandoning high‑frequency posting on Reddit in favor of authentic, low‑volume engagement. Research from Reddit’s insights team shows sentiment drops sharply after three weekly posts, prompting marketers to focus on community contribution rather than follower counts. Companies like Netflix,...
EXCLUSIVE: Complex Is Scaling Its Food Festival Family Style Into a Year-Round Media Brand
Complex Media, which bought the Family Style food festival in May 2024, is expanding the brand into a year‑round media franchise. The company will debut a slate of original video series and digital content that complements its live events. By...
ESPN Reveals Football-Focused Creator Program Ahead of 2027 Super Bowl
Disney’s ESPN announced the fourth edition of its Creator Network will be football‑centric, timed to the lead‑up to the 2027 Super Bowl. The year‑long program will embed creators at Monday Night Football, college games and culminate in a week‑long VIP...
Bob Liodice Will Step Down as the ANA’s CEO at the End of 2026
Bob Liodice announced he will step down as chief executive of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) at the end of 2026, concluding a 31‑year tenure that began in the early 1990s. Under his leadership, the ANA grew into the...
How The Daily Show Is Outsmarting the Social Media Algorithm
The Daily Show posted its strongest 18‑49 ratings in eight years while its digital footprint surged to 2.5 billion views in 2026, a 56% jump from the prior year. Producers explained that a dedicated digital team creates content that flows between...
How The Dogist Turned His Passion for Photographing Dogs Into a Media Brand
Elias Weiss Friedman launched The Dogist on Instagram in 2013, turning street dog photography into a digital media brand. Within a year he secured a book deal and hit one million followers; today the franchise boasts over 10 million followers and...
Liquid Death and Pop-Tarts Team Up to Ruin Boring Adulthood
Liquid Death and Pop‑Tarts have launched a limited‑edition iced‑tea called Pop‑Tarts Carnage, flavored like Frosted Strawberry Pop‑Tarts and sold in Liquid Death’s death‑metal cans. The partnership is promoted with a chaotic ad that depicts bored adults turning into mischievous rebels...
Ticker: Fox News Media Partners With Kalshi
Fox News Media announced a sponsored integration with prediction‑market platform Kalshi, embedding Kalshi’s real‑time data forecasts into Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Weather and the Fox One streaming service. The partnership will feed live political, economic, weather and cultural insights...
EXCLUSIVE: Soccer Media Startup Footballco Wants to Own New York’s World Cup Summer
Footballco, a UK‑based soccer media startup, will launch a two‑week pop‑up called House of Goal in Brooklyn’s Industry City from July 4 to July 19. The free event coincides with the final weeks of the World Cup and features themed zones for...
The Art of Making Fintech Cool With Catherine Ferdon of Coinbase
Coinbase CMO Catherine Ferdon explains how bold, risk‑aware creativity can break through the sterile image of regulated fintech. She outlines a three‑question framework for giving voice to intangible products and cites the polarizing Super Bowl karaoke ad that prioritized conversation over...
Code in OpenAI’s Ads Manager Suggests the Company Is Building Conversion Tracking Into ChatGPT
OpenAI's internal ads manager code indicates the company is adding conversion‑tracking to ChatGPT, moving beyond its current impression‑only model. The system, codenamed “bazaar” and built on the “tapestry” infrastructure, hints at support for click‑ and conversion‑based campaigns. This development could...
Less Soccer, More Feeling: The 5 Creative Principals Guiding Coca-Cola’s World Cup Playbook
Coca‑Cola is rolling out its biggest World Cup campaign ever, leveraging five emotion‑focused creative principles instead of traditional soccer‑centric ads. The 2026 tournament will be broadcast to an estimated six billion viewers, with five million fans attending matches across the United States,...