After a Yearlong Search, WarnerMedia Expected to Hire a New Ad Sales Chief Soon

Friday marks the one-year anniversary of one of last year’s most surprising TV advertising moments: the abrupt exit of Donna Speciale as WarnerMedia ad sales chief. But even more astonishing than the timing of her departure, which came just a week after she had wrapped 2019’s upfront negotiations, is the fact that a full year…

YouTube Life in a Day 2020 Project Set for July 25

On July 24, 2010, YouTube invited its community to participate in a feature-length film project that became Life in a Day, which drew 80,000 submissions, premiered at Sundance in 2011, was released globally in theaters and has been watched on YouTube over 16 million times. Nearly 10 years to the date–Saturday, July 25–the Google-owned video…

The Challenges Facing Women and POC Founders in Cannabis

When it comes to diversity and inclusion, the cannabis industry is uniquely positioned to reconcile its own troubled roots. According to an ACLU report this year, Black Americans are almost four times more likely than white Americans to be arrested for marijuana-related offenses. Yet today, the thriving legal cannabis market still has far to go…

Shepard Smith, Former Fox News Anchor, To Lead CNBC Prime-Time News Show

The former Fox News Channel anchor will lead a general news prime-time program that will start July 13 and will become CNBC’s chief general news anchor and chief breaking general news anchor. CNBC
chairman Mark Hoffman said Smith, “who’s built a career on an honest fight to find and report the facts, will continue his pursuit of the truth at CNBC” and provide a bridge between the network’s
daytime business/financial news and later evening “aspirational” business reality TV shows. In 2019, Shepard had a testy on-air relationship with some of Fox News’ anchors — especially those featured
on prime-time viewing opinion shows.

Most Ad Pros Uncomfortable Returning To Office Anytime Soon

A majority (59%) of ad industry professionals say they are not comfortable about the idea of returning to their offices in “the coming weeks or months,” according to findings of a survey of 107
industry executives conducted over a two-week period by audio post-production facility Sound Lounge.

Dentsu Aegis Wins $180 Million Kroger Consolidated Media Account

DAN will create a team to serve Kroger called fresh@dentsu, led out of full-service media and creative agency 360i as well as with specialists from Amplifi, M8, Merkle, MKTG and Posterscope.

Facebook Blueprint Rolls Out Free Community Management Courses

Facebook Blueprint, the social network’s business education program, rolled out a series of free elearning courses related to community management. The courses are designed to support community leaders from all sectors, including agencies, brands, non-governmental organizations and nonprofits. Topic areas include: Defining and establishing a community: Building an online community, community goals and community guiding…