Month: February 2025

Interested in sharing your perspectives on the media and marketing industries? Join the Digiday research panel.

Traffic declines and the economy: Those were the biggest challenges publishers faced last year, and they’ll be on repeat again this year.

This is a member-exclusive article from Digiday. Continue reading it on digiday.com and subscribe to continue reading content like this.

Under the leadership of Andrew Ferguson, chairman of Federal Trade Commission, the agency could shift its focus from broad regulatory rule-making to targeted enforcement actions. 

However, some observers note that doesn’t mean the FTC’s new leadership will be totally soft on Big Tech. One indication: Ferguson’s recent picks for top agency positions as indication, including some with experience from President Donald Trump’s first administration.

• Daniel Guarnera, named director of the Bureau of Competition, joins the FTC from the Justice Department’s antitrust division, where he filed monopolization lawsuits against Google and Apple. 
• Lucas Croslow was appointed FTC General Counsel. Previously, he was deputy Solicitor General of Virginia.

Key differences in FTC regimes 

Ferguson, a Republican, became an FTC commissioner in 2024 after being appointed by then-President Joe Biden. Unlike former FTC Chair Lina Khan’s tenure, which pursued expansive rulemaking efforts to reshape antitrust and privacy regulations, Ferguson has emphasized that comprehensive privacy laws should be the domain of Congress.

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.

Smaller platforms are in a fierce tug-of-war for small- to medium-sized business (SMB) ad dollars, betting that these smaller advertisers hold the key to future growth — and they’re looking to AI-powered tools to capture their ad spend.

Platforms like Snapchat, Pinterest and Reddit have long leaned on big brand budgets — a strategy with limits given the finite pool of major advertisers. Now, they’re making a bigger play for SMBs, hoping that casting a wider net will reel in a fresh wave of ad dollars.

And if their latest earnings are any indication, the bet is starting to pay off. Here are some highlights from the platforms’ earnings:

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.

Fox’s streaming platform Tubi helped the broadcaster stage the most-viewed Super Bowl in history on Feb. 9. 

A record-breaking audience of 127.7 million watched the Eagles crumple the Chiefs on Sunday, and 13.6 million of them did so via Tubi, which is classed as a free ad-supported TV (FAST) channel, according to figures released by Fox (the streaming audience peaked at 15.5 million).

Anjali Sud, CEO of Tubi, referred to the moment as a “major milestone for free ad-supported television,” adding that it was “a full circle moment as we achieve new levels of scale and cultural resonance with viewers.”

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.

The piece was first published by Digiday sibling WorkLife

The watercooler flirtation has gone digital, with emojis and GIFs becoming the new Cupid’s arrows and LinkedIn and Slack taking the place of Tinder.

According to recent studies, office romances aren’t just surviving hybrid work — they’re thriving in it.

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.

TikTok is back on both the Apple App Store and Google Play as of Thursday evening. Apple restored TikTok after newly-appointed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent it a letter, Bloomberg reported. TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, faced a ban Jan. 19 under the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which was…

The move reportedly comes after US attorney general Pam Bondi reassured Apple and Google they would not be fined for hosting TikTok.

Google Performance Max has become the hub of the company’s advertising system, but marketers continue to express concerns about transparency while using the platform.

KWWL evening anchor Ron Steele is leaving the Waterloo, Iowa NBC affiliate after more than 50 years as a broadcast journalist. Steele joined the station in 1974 as sports director before moving to the evening anchor role. Currently, he anchors the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts. “KWWL has been very generous to me and…

Cameron Diaz’s return to acting has paid off for her and Netflix, as her action comedy film Back in Action was the No. 1 streamed title for the week of Jan. 13. According to Nielsen streaming ratings, Netflix had six standalone titles in the top 10 for the overall streamed programs during the week and…