YouTube has the final say – if creators decide where to run advertising, that could mean it doesn’t run at all. And that means less money coming to creators.
TV’s Constant Complainers Are Difficult To Live With
Being on TV night after night criticizing, complaining and attacking seems like an exhausting thing to do.
The SEC Is Abandoning Its Biggest Crypto Lawsuits
Regulators at the US Securities and Exchange Commission have called a sudden truce with the cryptocurrency industry, bringing an end to years of legal conflict.
Retail Media Can Be Pricey. 4 Experts Break Down When It’s Worth the Cost
Retail media’s quick growth has made it a buzzy topic at nearly every industry conference over the last couple of years, but it’s also faced criticism for what some marketers see as inflated pricing, especially as many retailers struggle to offer the kind of scale, user experience, and measurement capabilities that media buyers want. Emarketer…
Can Elon Musk Bend Marketers to His Will?
During peak pearl-clutching over Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, the conventional wisdom in the marketing world was that after changing the name, firing 80% of staff, and alienating advertisers, the newly renamed X was on the short road to oblivion. So far, the conventional wisdom has been spectacularly wrong. Not only is Musk on top of…
Amazon Restricted Vaginal Health Products for Being ‘Potentially Embarrassing’
Big Tech’s restrictions on adult content are crippling businesses and organizations focused on sexual health, according to a new report shared exclusively with WIRED.
What it takes to get paid by YouTube, TikTok and other social platforms
For creators, YouTube is still the top platform for making money.
No surprise there. It’s had a head start, fine-tuning its monetization model while others scramble to keep up. And with U.S. creators expected to rake in over $15 billion from social media alone this year, according to eMarketer, the stakes have never been higher. For platforms, courting creators isn’t just a strategy, its table stakes. And more often than not, the winning move comes down to cold, hard cash.
“If you asked 10 creators what platform they prefer for monetizing outside of brand partnerships, you’d probably get at least nine (if not all) saying YouTube,” said Keith Bendes, chief strategy officer at Linqia. “Interestingly though, if you asked 10 brands which platform they prefer for creator partnerships, you’d probably get nine (or all of them) saying Instagram or TikTok.”
Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.
Amid stock price drops, The Trade Desk promises ‘win-wins’ for clients and publishers
It’s been a little over two weeks since The Trade Desk issued its first-ever earnings miss, during which time its stock price dropped by almost 40%. However, at its flagship NYC partner event on Thursday, executives there outlined their priorities for the year ahead.
Joined on stage by the likes of The New York Times, NBC Universal, Paramount, and Warner Bros.Discovery (among others), the narrative heralded “the rise of the premium internet,” indicating its priorities on Madison Avenue for the year ahead.
In opening remarks, its commercial chief Tim Sims outlined The Trade Desk’s outlook on a new industry paradigm, one that’s free from Google’s influence. This paradigm includes the importance of authenticated audiences and a more efficient supply chain.
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 Honey scandal is a ‘wake-up call’ for the creator industry’s affiliate partnerships
The creator economy is taking a closer look at creator affiliate programs, giving them more scrutiny than before. The move follows creator pushback against Honey, a PayPal-owned browser extension, after reports broke late last year that the company was allegedly skimming creators’ affiliate revenue.
Honey, which finds coupon codes for online shopping, was exposed by YouTuber MegaLag for allegedly hijacking affiliate links from creators and using its own (even in cases where it wasn’t a better deal). This has since resulted in class action lawsuits from several creators including YouTubers Legal Eagle and GamersNexus, against the browser extension, claiming that Honey is taking affiliate revenue that belonged to creators.
It’s not just Honey. Other companies including Microsoft and Capital One are facing similar claims regarding their browser extensions through Microsoft Shopping and Capital One Shopping. Now creator and legal experts expect to see greater scrutiny to these affiliate partnerships and changes to influencer contracts and agreements to include more protections to mitigate risk — on both the brand and creator sides. While some creator agreements already include morals clauses or similar terms for exit deals if a brand engages in disreputable conduct, there’s more interest from creators today for those terms. PayPal, Microsoft and Capital One did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.
With ad revenue reaching $4.4B, buyers see Walmart’s retail media network as the ‘one to watch’
Walmart’s ad business grew 27% year over year in 2024, according to the company’s recent earnings report, netting the retail giant $4.4 billion in global ad revenue for the year. That growth has come as Walmart has continued to evolve its ad offerings. This week, for example, the company announced a new Application Programming Interface (API) for Walmart Connect that allows ad tech platforms to create and manage tools for display campaigns — a move that buyers see as Walmart setting the stage to transition from managed service to self-service.
As Walmart’s retail media network matures, buyers see it as the leader of the pack among the bevy of retail media networks — aside from Amazon of course. Walmart is checking a lot of the boxes when it comes to what buyers want from retail media networks now, including adding more capabilities and tools, more measurement tracking and off-site ad units. Whenever Walmart adds streaming and CTV capabilities — something buyers expect it will do given its acquisition of smart TV maker Vizio — that will only help the retailer continue its current growth trajectory, according to four ad buyers Digiday spoke with for this piece.
“Walmart has been the one to watch,” said Amie Owen, chief commerce officer at IPG Mediabrands.
Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.