Next in Media

Next in Media spoke with Sammy Rubin, Vice President of Integrated Media at Wpromote, about the blurring lines between retail media and everything else brands care about - and how big brands are still in the middle of a messy process to integrate budgets and teams.

💡Takeaways:

• 📈 Retail Media is Evolving: The lines are blurring! Retail media isn't just shopper marketing anymore; it now includes diverse channels like CTV, podcasts, and influencer marketing.
• 🤝 Integration is Key: Silos are breaking down. Brands are increasingly looking for integrated strategies where all marketing investments work together cohesively to drive goals.
• ❓ Ownership Challenges: With retail media expanding into areas like CTV and social, a key challenge is figuring out who owns these channels within an organization. Are search experts planning influencer campaigns?
• 📱 Social is the New Search: Consumers, especially younger demographics, increasingly discover brands and products passively through social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels, rather than active searching.
• 📊 Measurement Renaissance (MMM is Back!): Media Mix Modeling (MMM) is experiencing a comeback, driven by cookie deprecation and advancements in AI.
• 🤖 AI's Role in Media: While AI is making analysis more powerful and efficient (especially with MMM), human strategists are still crucial. AI can extract insights, but lacks the historical context, understanding of consumer behavior nuances, and creativity that humans bring to media planning.
• 📺 CTV Performance is Here: Connected TV (CTV) isn't just for brand awareness anymore. Performance-focused, digitally native agencies have been buying CTV programmatically for years, using advanced measurement to prove its impact on conversions, sales, and store traffic.
• 🤔 Flexibility & Scenario Planning: Uncertainty (like potential tariffs or platform changes like TikTok) requires brands to build flexibility into their plans.

🎙 Guests: Sammy Rubin
🎤 Host: Mike Shields
📺 Sponsor: ElementalTV
🎬 Producer: FEL Creative

Mike and ad consultant Emily Riley are back talking about the big headlines in media and advertising, including the plunge in consumer confidence, how brands are viewing retail media right now, the fate of Yahoo's DSP, and lawsuits against the Trade Desk.

💡Takeaways:

• 📉 Economic Uncertainty & Ad Spend: Advertisers face significant uncertainty due to factors like tariffs and fluctuating consumer confidence, potentially leading to budget cuts or shifts towards performance-driven advertising.
• 🔗 Supply Chain Resilience: Many companies are better prepared for supply chain disruptions now compared to the COVID era, having improved systems and diversification.
• 📊 Measurement Renaissance: There's a growing emphasis on better advertising measurement, incrementality, and outcome-based models.
• 📺 Streaming's Dual Market: The streaming ad market is bifurcated. Big brands are shifting linear TV budgets (especially for live events like sports) to streaming, buying for mass reach.
• 🛒 Retail Media Dynamics: Amazon dominates retail media, and much of the sector's growth is coming from offsite targeting (using retailer data for ads elsewhere on the web).
• 🔒 UID 2.0 & Privacy Questions: Lawsuits targeting The Trade Desk's UID 2.0 highlight concerns about how aggregated data (like hashed emails, mobile IDs, IP addresses) might create permanent identifiers, potentially conflicting with privacy laws and user expectations.
• 🤔 Yahoo's DSP Puzzle: Yahoo selling its highly-rated DSP is puzzling, especially since much of its perceived value comes from its integration with Yahoo's own content (like Finance and Sports).
• 🎮 Integrated Campaign Success: The Minecraft movie's McDonald's campaign success highlights the power of deep, long-term, multi-platform integrations that tap into existing fandoms and nostalgia, feeling authentic rather than like a last-minute ad insertion.

Next in Media spoke with George Karalexis, Co-Founder & CEO of TEN2 Media and his partner and COO Donna Budica, about the company's focus on helping artists think - and make money - like digital creators.

💡Takeaways:

• 🎵 Bridging the Gap: TEN2 Media assists artists, especially musicians, in maximizing their YouTube presence, moving beyond simply hosting music videos.
• 📱 YouTube's Evolution: The platform has become a multi-format "super app" (Shorts, long-form, live, etc.), offering significant monetization opportunities that were previously underserviced in music.
• 🤝 Unique Expertise: TEN2 Media's strength lies in its founders' combined experience in music, business, and YouTube, allowing them to understand artists' needs deeply.
• 💰 Monetization & IP Protection: They utilize advanced tools and YouTube's systems (like Content ID) to track fan-created content (UGC), protect intellectual property, and optimize revenue for artists.
• 📈 Significant Revenue Growth: Their strategies have led to substantial revenue increases (up to 5-7x) for clients ranging from independent artists building careers to major legacy acts.
• 👑 YouTube vs. Other Platforms: While platforms like TikTok drive virality and Instagram excels at aesthetics, YouTube provides a more robust environment for building an authentic brand, community, and diverse income streams.
• 🎬 Shorts are Key: Engaging with short-form video is now essential for discovery and reaching new audiences, complementing the deeper engagement and higher revenue potential of long-form content.
• 🤯 Modern Music Challenge: While it's easier than ever for independent artists to distribute music, the overwhelming content volume makes standing out and achieving discovery without a unique point of view and smart platform strategy extremely difficult.

🎙 Guests: George Karalexis & Donna Budica
🎤 Host: Mike Shields
📺 Sponsor: VuePlanner
🎬 Producer: FEL Creative

Next in Media spoke with Adam Roodman, Yahoo's SVP Product Strategy and Management on the company's decision to shut down its SSP to focus exclusively on the buy side of business - and why he thinks we'll see more exclusive deals as the ad tech ecosystem consolidates. Adam also talked about how he explains Yahoo's relevance to ad buyers in 2023, and why being owned by private equity has revitalized the company

Guest: Adam Roodman

Host: Mike Shields

Produced by: Fresh Take

Next in Media spoke with David Kostman, CEO of Teads (formerly Outbrain) about the company's plans to bring together performance advertising, web video and TV, and move beyond its reputation as haven for 'cheap' ads.

Kostman also talked about how publishers are preparing for more AI-driven search and content discovery, and whether brands are as invested as they should be in news and the open web.

Takeaways:

Outbrain & Teads: A Game-Changing Merger for the Open Internet

• The Outbrain-Teads merger creates a $1.7 billion ad powerhouse, merging native performance and premium video advertising to serve brands across the entire marketing funnel.

The Power of Controlled Real Estate & First-Party Data

• Unlike traditional ad networks, Teeds secures exclusive publisher inventory, ensuring premium ad placement without competing in an auction model.

AI & The Future of Digital Advertising Optimization

• Teeds is integrating AI-driven predictive analytics for automated media buying and ad optimization, enhancing real-time targeting.

CTV Advertising & The Evolution of Small Business Reach

• Teeds is making a strong push into Connected TV (CTV), with exclusive placements on OEM home screens like LG and Hisense.

AI, Content Discovery & The Fight for Quality Journalism

• With the rise of AI-generated content, premium publishers are at risk. Teeds is doubling down on supporting quality journalism, ensuring trusted news sites get premium monetization opportunities.

📢 Final Thought:
Teeds is reshaping the future of digital advertising, combining premium video, performance-driven targeting, and AI-powered optimization to create a brand-safe, full-funnel solution that rivals the biggest players in the industry.

Guest: David Kostman

Host: Mike Shields

Sponsor: ElementalTV

Producer: FEL Creative