MediaPost | Around the Net In Media

Apple's Adtech Blocking Harms Publishers, IAB Tech Lab Chief Argues

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 21:02:04 -0400

Apple is harming publishers with its new adtech domain blocking, Anthony Katsur, chief executive of IAB Tech Lab, argues in a new essay, PPC Land reports. Designed to protect designed to protect consumer privacy, the blocking cuts off needed traffic and revenue for publishers and exceeds regulatory demands, Katsur asserts. "Apple and other platform companies seek to establish consumer privacy protections that go beyond current government requirements," Katsur wrote. "Their policies may restrict practices that applicable law permits under specified conditions, including valid consent."

White House May Turn Media Briefing Room Into A Swimming Pool

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 20:54:15 -0400

The Trump administration may remove the media out of the White House and use the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room as a swimming pool, The New York Times reports. The pool was added in 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had be stricken with polio. President Richard M. Nixon had it covered over and turned the space into the press briefing room. The proposed move would be highly symbolic given President Trump’s antipathy toward the media, and would be hard for future presidents to undo.

Podcast Ad Spend Picks Up After Sluggish First Half

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 20:48:18 -0400

Podcast ad spending hit a new 2026 high in September, Podcast News Daily reports. The top 15 advertisers spent a combined $72.1 million, a 16% hike over August, which held the previous monthly high of $61.9 million. based on an estimate by Magellan AI. The increase signaled an acceleration from the $60 million spent during the entire first half of 2026.

Hive Raises $27 Million To Serve Events Business

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 20:26:26 -0400

Hive, a marketing platform that serves the live events industry, has raised Series B funding of $27 million, a round led by Frontier Growth, Dealroom reports. Hive helps promoters, artists, festivals and venues drive ticket sales, using fan data. It offers Meta ads, AI marketing automation tools, SMS, CRM and event-specific email.

OpenAI Brings ChatGPT Ad Program To 26 Countries

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 11:10:15 -0400

OpenAI is expanding its ChatGPT ad platform to 26 countries, including 14 in Latin America, the Next Web reports. The program, which had 20,000 advertisers in August, is also now available in additional European, African and Asian markets, such as Ukraine, Serbia, Nigeria, South Africa,Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru ChatGPT ads were launched eight months ago.

Salesforce To Acquire Engagement Firm Braze For $5.66 Billion

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 21:50:49 -0400

Salesforce is acquiring Braze, a customer-engagement platform, for $5.66 billion including debt, The Wall Street Journal reports. Braze helps brands build deeper relationships with their customers and create more personalized experiences across channels. Braze shareholders will receive $47.50 per share of common stock owned, a roughly 58% premium over the firm’s closing price on Monday, of $30.04.

New Citi Advertising Service Is Built On Transaction Data

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 21:45:53 -0400

Citi’s new Citi Commerce Media uses data containing a trove of transaction intelligence to help advertisers determine what shoppers want, Mike Venables, head of media, U.S. brand advertising and experiential marketing at Citi, argued in an interview, as reported by Beet.TV. Citi announced the new entity last month. Venables also believes that an everyday transaction can lead to predictive marketing opportunities. For example, buying a concert ticket in another city can suggest needs like a hotel room, restaurants and clothing. “We’re in 2026 -- reactive marketing is not the most winning strategy,” Venables said.

New York City Seeks To Regulate Automated Chatbots

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 21:41:57 -0400

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration has proposed a rule that would require firms using automated chatbots for customer service to disclose that usage and provide consumers with the option of talking to a human being. The rule -- which the administration claims to be the first of its kind in the country -- would also require systems to avoid directing consumers that do not answer their questions or provide incorrect information. “Companies have hid behind technology to ignore customer complaints, stymie refunds, and avoid fixing building errors,” said Samuel Levine, the commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.

Local Video Providers Offered Programmatic TV Tool

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 21:32:45 -0400

Ateme has formed a partnership with Viamedia to make programmatic TV advertising accessible to independent and regional video service providers, SVG News reports. Those local providers need a tool that can unite monetization technology and advertiser demand, the companies argue. “Many operators understand the value of dynamic ad insertion and targeted advertising but struggle with the complexity of deploying and running a complete monetization ecosystem,” says Remi Beaudouin, chief strategy officer at Ateme.

Amex Limits Advertiser Access To Its 4X Earning Slots

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 22:38:30 -0400

American Express is tightening up access to 4X earning categories on its business gold card, effective in February 2027, Inside Flyer reports. The 4X rate applies to a cardholders two biggest spending categories per billing cycle with a combined annual cap of $150,000. The result is that firms using advertising or wireless bills for 4X earning will have fewer qualifying vendors. Advertising will qualify for 4X only when directly purchased from Meta, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, GoDaddy or Yelp.

A Fifth Of All Consumers Get News On TikTok

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 22:37:10 -0400

One-fifth of U.S. adults regularly get their news on TikTok, the Pew Research Center reports. While the share is flat from 2025, 39% of Americans ages 18 to 29 regularly go to TikTok for news, compared with 25% of people in the 30-49 age category and 11% of those ages 50 to 64. In addition, 32% of Black Americans and 35% of Hispanic consumers regularly get news there, versus 14% of White and Asian consumers.

Publishers Move Beyond Advertising To Seek Other Revenue Sources

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 22:26:24 -0400

Publishers are seeking revenue diversification, moving beyond traditional advertising and subscriptions, Editor & Publisher reports. The goal is to build a more sustainable business. Editor & Publisher interviewed three news media executives: Melissa Bell, CEO Chicago Public Media; Ryan Dohrn, president and founder of Brain Swell Media, and owner and CEO of Niche Media LLC; Uriah Kizer, founder and publisher of Potomac Local News.

Start-Up Seeks To Help Content Producers Reach The Right Audiences

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 22:20:44 -0400

Chronicle Media is using artificial intelligence to help brands target and find audiences that will engage with their content, Variety reports. The start-up helps brands and creators reach those consumers across such platforms as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Co-founders Aaron Sisto and Scott Greenberg believe this task has taken on a new urgency as AI makes content more plentiful while attention is wandering. Sisto says that changes the basic calculus for any firm developing IP.

Political Groups Spend $137M On AI-Driven Advertising

Sun, 18 Oct 2026 21:10:24 -0400

Over $137 million has been spent on AI-generated ads by campaigns and political groups during this election cycle, a new high, according to the Wesleyan Media Project, Campaigns & Elections reports -- up from the $50,000 reported by the Wesleyan Media Project in 2024. But the new total may be an undercount, given than only 30 states require a disclaimer when AI is utilized in political ads. A separate study by the American Association of Political Consultants stated that 83% of political professionals used AI tools once a week or more, compared to 59% in the prior year.

Social Media Bans Can Backfire, Are Easily Breached: Study Finds

Sun, 18 Oct 2026 21:06:36 -0400

Social media bans for young people are easily circumvented, and could actually backfire, MIT Technology Review writes. Early lessons from Australia, which implemented an age ban in 2024, shows that teens have used tactics ranging from substituting an older sibling’s face for ID to drawing fake facial hair on their own. The downside of bans is that they suppress access to information, including some that helps their development, identity formation and socialization.

Omnicom, Vevo Develop Brand Fandom Metric

Sun, 18 Oct 2026 20:57:43 -0400

Omnicom Media Partner Intelligence has partnered with video network Vevo to create what they call a Brand Fandom metric that can measure the strength of consumers’ emotional connection through four behaviors, Advanced Television reports. It determines whether people intend to talk about the brand as they differentiate it from those of competitors, whether they are proud to buy it and whether they plan to recommend it to others. “The opportunity for brands isn’t to manufacture fandom, but to understand where passion already exists and find meaningful ways to become part of it,” said Kara Manatt, executive vice president, intelligence solutions, Omnicom Media.

Cumulus Is Out Of Bankruptcy, Has Paid $550 Million

Sun, 18 Oct 2026 20:53:11 -0400

Cumulus Media has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, having eliminated roughly $550 million in debt, Inside Radio reports. The company began its prepackaged Chapter 11 reorganization in March. Cumulus canceled 100% of its indebtedness in return for 100% of the company’s equity. The deal also called for issuing $50 million in convertible notes to its former lenders. Cumulus will provide “engaging content across our national footprint, serving as a lifeline and voice for the local communities we serve,” said CEO Mary Berner.

Ad-To-Sales Ratio Falls For U.S. Brands

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 22:24:11 -0400

The ad-to-sales ratio of 25 U.S. advertisers declined more than half a percentage point to 5.5% in the period between 2019 and last year even in the face of robust global advertising revenue, according to WARC, Marketing Dive reports. Consumer goods were the outlier. "The expansion of digital platform spend by smaller businesses and cross-border e-commerce sellers is by far outpacing growth in ad investment by big brands," said Alex Brownsell, head of content for WARC. "This has major implications for the ecosystem of agencies and vendors operating in the enterprise market."

Media Bias Detector Releases Data Set On The 2024 Election

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 22:19:09 -0400

The Media Bias Detector, a project that uses artificial intelligence to analyze news articles for topic, tone and political leaning, has published a data set consisting of more than 140,000 articles published during the 2024 U.S. presidential election year. Launched that year by Penn, the Media Bias Detector was focused on “the public-facing side of the project, while this paper describes the underlying scientific framework that powers the dashboard," says Samar Haider, lead researcher of the study. "We present a rigorous evaluation of our data annotation pipeline, [showcasing] illustrative findings from the underlying data that cannot yet be visualized on the dashboard."

New Audio Ad Tools Help Targeting, Firm Says

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 22:13:57 -0400

StackAdapt has debuted enhanced targeting and reporting capabilities for streaming music, digital radio and podcasts Inside Radio reports. This is occurring as digital audio ad spend is growing apace. The new tools bring several tasks, including audio content discovery, campaign planning and reporting into a single workflow, the company says. In addition, advertisers can now break out digital radio, streaming music, and podcasts when building campaigns, instead of seeing digital audio as a single ad environment.

Accenture Limits Claude Spending By Its Staff

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 22:09:16 -0400

Accenture has announced to employees that it will now spend only $29 a month per person on Claude, 404 Media reports. Some had been running up bills of up to $1,000. This illustrates what is happening in all types of industries — that many users are burning or “chewing” through AI tokens. Accenture’s move is ironic, given that the consulting giant has encouraged clients to invest in artificial intelligence.

GOP Wins High Court Ruling On Cheaper Political Ad Rates

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 21:09:40 -0400

Party political committees will receive cheaper rates for advertising thanks to a Wednesday decision by the Supreme Court, The Hill reports. Both parties will receive the cheaper rates, but the ruling is seen as a victory for Republicans as they try to raise money for the midterms. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. Lower court judges told the Federal Communications Commission that it should act quickly on a challenge by Democrats. But the Justices said that was “inappropriate,” the decision says. “Our system of separation of powers does not allow the Judiciary to meddle in ‘the workings of a coordinate branch of the Government’ in this manner,” the decision says.

Media Outlets Beat White House On Access

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 21:05:47 -0400

The Trump administration suffered a defeat in federal court when U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled that the White House cannot ban MS Now, CNN and Politico, MS Now reports. Kelly stated that the ban probably violates the First Amendment’s due process clause and the First Amendment. The judge also rejected the administration’s national security argument justification.

Fox Shareholders Approve $22 Billion Roku Merger

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 20:59:44 -0400

Fox Corp. shareholders have approved the $22 billion equity acquisition of Roku, a deal that is expected to close by mid-2027, MediaPlayNews reports. The merger will combine Fox assets, including live news, sports and Tubi streaming with the software and devices offered by Roku, along with The Roku Channel. Upon closing, Fox shareholders will own 73% of the entity and Roku shareholders will own 27%.

Bethenny Starts A Media Company To Connect Content, Commerce

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 20:54:32 -0400

Reality TV star Bethenny Frankel is launching a “direct to consumer” media company called Bethenny Media, The Hollywood Reporter writes. The new firm will connect “content, commerce, brands and equity in one place,” Frankel says. Carina Titone will serve as chief operations officer, with Larissa Bachman as brand and creative director.

Getty To Enter Chapter 11, Restructure By End Of Year

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 01:06:54 -0400

Getty Images, a major supplier of images to media, plans to file a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy and take itself private, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This follow Getty’s abandonment of a $3.7 billion merger with Shutterstock, a competitor. Getty expects to emerge from restructuring by the end of the year. The firm said in an investor presentation that its iStock eCommerce business has seen “declining agency demand and disruption.” Getty has also seen its annual subscriptions fall from 321,000 to 241,000, but this was a “deliberate strategy to deemphasize lower-value acquisition channels, including the discontinuation of our iStock free trial program.” Getty will now focus more on its archive and news photography business.

Vice Names Shannon Washington President Of Its Creative Agency

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:58:53 -0400

Vice Media has appointed Shannon Washington as president of its creative agency, Virtue Worldwide, Roast Brief reports. Washington will be tasked with determining the agency’s name and leveraging its connection to the Vice brand. She also will be charged with expanding the firm’s brand marketing via Vice Sports. Washington, a brand builder and creative leader, will report to Vice Media CEO Adam Stotsky.

Google Will Allow Gaming Ads On Its Mastheads

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:53:52 -0400

Google has opened YouTube to Masthead advertising from gaming operators, CDC Gaming reports. Masthead, which are video advertisement sat the top of YouTube’s home page, has been allowed for sports betting advertising, but not most other forms of online gambling. Gaming advertisers must be certified under Google’s Gambling and Games policy.

European Regulators Launch Political Ad Repository Pilot

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:49:30 -0400

The European Commission has debuted a pilot version of its European Repository of political advertisements, Digwatch reports. The Repository is a public platform that will make information about political advertising accessible and transparent to the public. The pilot version is now available for voluntary use, and the Commission will separately announce the official deployment date to ad publishers.

Meta Launches AI Model To Power Digital Assistants

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:00:00 -0400

Meta has debuted "Muse Wonder," an artificial intelligence (AI) model that it says is its most advanced feature for powering digital assistants, as it seeks to create AI-derived revenue sources beyond its online ad business, CNBC reports. Meta had launched Muse, its AI agent app, last month. Muse users will need a monthly subscription to access Muse Wonder, with options ranging from $20 to $100. The company says Muse Wonder will help people with online tasks. “When you do real-world tasks, you’re going to get roadblocks and you’re going to get things that come up or various setbacks,” said Alexandr Wang, AI chief at Meta. “We specifically tried to train the model to be able to try other approaches instead of stalling and then checking back in with the user at any time.”