| A Cynopsis Message From ITN |
 TOP MEDIA TECH NEWS |
| POSSIBLE 2026 was a long week of networking, conversations and insights along Miami Beach. Unsurprisingly, AI was the topic that took center stage in most of the discussions that took place on the ground. But the AI conversations that took place last week went beyond the typical talking points about operational efficiency to address the deeper concerns and longer-term benefits. Here are some of the highlights from last week:
· Discussions during POSSIBLE highlighted both the pros and cons of AI. Among the pros: AI can help streamline workflows and reporting insights, creating better opportunities for marketing mix modeling and incrementality testing. Also, agencies and brands are gradually getting more comfortable sharing that they’re beginning to run test campaigns within AI-based chatbots and large-language models with ads businesses, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Among the cons: consumer distrust of AI and concerns around job security and environmental sustainability.
· Cynopsis sat down with Domenic Venuto, Horizon Media’s chief product and data officer, about how AI is changing the dynamics between agencies and brands. For example, AI can help centralize technology and eliminate the need for silos between departments, helping agencies reposition themselves to clients as partners rather than vendors. But although AI introduces plenty of efficiencies and advantages, it also adds new layers of complexity.
· Cynopsis Senior Editor Alyssa Boyle led a discussion about the hit TV show “Heated Rivalry” and its role in making LGBTQ+ media and marketing mainstream. Industry experts spanning publishers, buyers and tech partners advise brands to ensure their efforts to connect with this community are organic and not forced. Product placement, co-branded content and media sponsorships are three examples of what this might look like. As the LGBTQ+ population continues to grow, marketers might reconsider whether and how they support this community with strategic brand alignment and messaging that resonates. |
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| BEST OF THE REST |
| Netflix rolled out a vertical video feed on its mobile app as part of its efforts to grow its subscriber base by making it easier for viewers to find something to watch. As the competition for ad dollars intensifies among streaming platforms – especially leading up to upfronts – vertical video is becoming a popular strategy among streaming publishers. Disney recently launched its feed for Disney+ called Verts, after experimenting with a similar feed on ESPN+. Paramount also introduced short-form video for Paramount+, and Peacock has had vertical video on its app for over a year. If Netflix succeeds in driving engagement and subscriptions thanks to vertical video, it could help the streamer achieve its goal of doubling its ad revenue again this year.
Snapchat introduced AI Sponsored Snaps, a new advertising format that lets brands reach users directly within the app’s Chat feature through interactive AI agents. The move reflects a broader push to embed AI into the spaces where people already spend their time, rather than treating it as a separate destination. Snap argues that Chat – historically the backbone of Snapchat’s user behavior – is the logical place for that shift to happen. The launch builds on the platform’s rollout of Sponsored Snaps, which brought full-screen vertical video into user feeds. Snap hopes the new feature will extend user engagement and improve ad performance compared to other platforms experimenting with AI chatbots because Snap’s primary interface is chat.
Walmart launched Connect Select, a new marketplace that makes streaming ads available to buy through Walmart’s demand-side platform. The marketplace gives buyers access to inventory on Vizio and across premium streaming publishers including Warner Bros. Discovery. Connect Select is also integrated with supply-side platforms such as Magnite, PubMatic, FreeWheel and Index Exchange. Walmart expects its new marketplace will attract small and medium-sized businesses by making it easier for them to buy streaming TV commercials.
Roku’s platform revenue for Q1 grew 28% year over year to $1.13 billion, and the company expects advertising will further fuel its growth as it integrates with third-party programmatic platforms in pursuit of demand diversification. Roku also told shareholders that the number of advertisers using Roku’s self-serve Ads Manager platform last quarter more than doubled YOY. Going forward, the company hopes its self-serve product and programmatic buying options will attract more performance marketers in particular.
Sell-side ad platform Magnite unveiled an expansion of AI capabilities designed to help boost video monetization for publishers using its SpringServe ad server, which also mediates direct and programmatic ad transactions. Among the upgrades to its mediation capabilities are improved pricing tools and methodology to detect shifts in ad auction dynamics. Magnite also launched an agentic buyer agent that aims to improve ad performance by streamlining campaign activation. Agencies Kepler and MiQ are testing the agent with inventory from Disney Advertising.
The brand suitability company Zefr launched an agentic AI hub called Zain, which is designed to allow marketers to push campaigns live across YouTube, Meta and other social ad environments within a single workflow. Zain integrates data, including a brand’s first party-data and Zefr’s contextual data, and makes this setup possible via Model Context Protocol and an Advertising Context Protocol layer that allows those agents to turn natural language requests into active campaigns. |
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| Mutinex and The Hershey Company are partnering to overhaul how Hershey evaluates and allocates its marketing spend. By embedding AI-powered, continuous marketing mix modeling into the business, the two companies aim to replace sluggish, backward-looking reports with real-time decision-making across media and trade investments. While in the past, Hershey focused on reach, when the new systems fully launch in May, “We’ll have the ability to make fast, informed decisions about where our advertising dollars go based on what’s actually happening right now in the market, not what happened months ago,” said Vinny Renaldi, VP, Consumer Connections at Hershey, in a blog post.
Guideline has expanded its SQADCosts Local solution with a new Digital Extension, bringing CPM benchmarks for locally geo-targeted digital video and audio buys across 60+ top U.S. publishers. SQADCosts Local has served as a pricing reference for local linear media on both the buy and sell sides; now, the Digital Extension carries the same benchmarking framework into CTV, audio streaming and podcasting with a focus on locally geo-targeted inventory. The familiar structure is designed to mirror the existing linear offering, giving buyers and sellers a consistent tool to answer everyday planning and transaction questions, from price benchmarking to competitive analysis.
Optable is joining forces with Goodway Group to bring agentic advertising into the connected commerce ecosystem. The partnership aims to unify disparate workflows and campaign processes and, in turn, help the indie agency’s clients better navigate media and data fragmentation. As a partner behind Goodway’s audience solution, Optable enables transaction-based identifiers to plug directly into the media ecosystem. The tie-up is part of a broader trend of media and tech companies and agencies tapping AI – and AI agents in particular – to both streamline and improve campaigns.
Metaprofile launched metaADS, an AI engine that digs into the dialogue and story structure of film and TV to find the best moments for ads. Instead of tacking broad title-level tags on content, it reads emotional tone, narrative weight and commercial fit scene by scene. The result is structured metadata that plugs into DSPs, ad servers and content workflows, which can give media buyers and platforms a more precise way to target and package inventory.
Albertsons Media Collective is partnering with Google’s Display & Video 360 to let brands run YouTube ads targeted at Albertsons shoppers, with Keurig Dr. Pepper as the first advertiser. The integration gives brands access to Albertsons’ shopper data – including over 36 million weekly shoppers – to reach grocery audiences off-site and measure the impact of those campaigns.
DAIVID, the creative intelligence platform, and ADIN.AI, an AI-native operating system for digital marketing, are teaming up to embed DAIVID’s AI-driven creative effectiveness models directly into ADIN.AI’s enterprise platform. These models predict the emotional and business impact of ads in real time, enabling a continuous feedback loop between creative intelligence and media execution, where insights inform action within a single interface.
TV is turning into an “immersive storefront,” where discovery and purchase happen in the same environment, notes Circana report, The Future of TV: Where Immersion Meets Commerce. To support that claim, the report says:
· Connected TV delivers +15% higher ROAS than linear TV and +21% higher than short-form video.
· 75% of US households now subscribe to ad-supported streaming, giving TV scaled, addressable reach.
· Retail media networks are increasingly enabling closed-loop measurement between TV exposure and purchase. |
EXECUTIVE >>
TBS INTERNATIONAL/LOS ANGELES, CA: Draft, review, and negotiate a broad range of entertainment and media agreements, with a primary focus on unscripted television, format licensing, and intellectual property distribution. Handle development, production, and co-production agreements, including situations where TBS is designated as the production entity providing production services. More info HERE
PRINT TRAFFICKER AND TECHNICAL COORDINATOR >>
FILM FEST DC/WASHINGTON, DC: Coordinate direct communication between print sources and the festival to ensure the on-time inbound and outbound delivery of all film materials and work with venue staff to deliver and test each film and KDM. Request and collect KDMs for all encrypted DCPs and maintain a spreadsheet that contains all the aspects of the film. Full info HERE
MANAGER, MEMBER ENGAGEMENT AND ANALYTICS >>
TELEVISION ACADEMY/NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA:
Lead the execution of initiatives such as the Peer Circle program and Your Voice Matters, reviewing data to enhance program participation and ensure metrics are achieved; collaborate with the Senior Director of Engagement and Retention and stakeholders across marketing to manage delivery and optimization of the Member Benefits Perks newsletter. Full info HERE
BROADCAST ENGINEER >>
HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY/HIGH POINT, NC: Ensure high-quality production environments and provide technical leadership to faculty, staff, and students in live and recorded productions and play a role in supporting the school’s mission to provide industry-standard production experiences for students and will have opportunities to contribute to the development of emerging media technologies. More info HERE
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF THE PRACTICE, MULTI-EPISODE TELEVISION PRODUCING >>
BOSTON UNIVERSITY – COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION/BOSTON, MA: Develope, produce, and manage scripted and unscripted multi-episodic series for linear television and/or streaming. Qualified applicants will be distinguished multi-platform practitioners with a significant body of “boots on the ground” work in the TV and streaming industry. The position will require in-class instruction and on-set exercises. Full info HERE
PROFESSOR OF THE PRACTICE: STUDIO AND/OR FIELD DIRECTING; MULTIPLE CAMERAS >>
BOSTON UNIVERSITY – COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION/BOSTON, MA: We seek a colleague with a significant body of practical work in television directing using multiple cameras for linear television and/or streaming platforms. Familiarity with visual effects and AI-supported tools is considered a plus. This position includes teaching directing of scripted and/or unscripted content using multiple cameras at many levels. Full info HERE
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF THE PRACTICE: VERTICAL FILMMAKING/CONTENT CREATOR >>
BOSTON UNIVERSITY – COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION/BOSTON, MA: We seek a colleague with a professional track record in the creation and development of original short-form content aimed at promoting, activating, and motivating young people through social activism, experimentation, entertainment, brand building, and audience engagement across today’s leading content platforms and social media ecosystems. More info HERE
SALES MANAGER – AP AD INSIGHTS HUB >>
ADVERTISER PERCEPTIONS/NEW YORK, NY: Drive direct sales of the platform offering, focusing heavily on new client acquisition. Reporting to and working closely with the GM of the Ad Insights Hub, this individual contributor will partner cross-functionally with Sales, Business Intelligence, Operations, and Client Services teams to build awareness and engagement with new clients. Full info HERE
SALES DIRECTOR – OMG
MOONBUG ENTERTAINMENT
NEW YORK, NY
Deliver and exceed sales revenue targets as well as build, manage and grow a strategic account list with a focus on Omnicom agencies and their clients directly, within the northeast. Ability to navigate holding company structure and negotiate strategic partnerships with key stakeholders (ratecards, preferred programmatic deals, content deals, etc.). More info HERE
DIRECTOR OF PERFORMANCE MARKETING >>
ATHLETE TO ATHLETE/SANTA MONICA, CA: Lead the performance marketing team across Meta Ads and new paid digital channels (TikTok, YouTube, Google, etc.) as well as build and execute a roadmap for channel expansion and profitable scale. Develop and run structured testing frameworks. Partner with Creative Strategist on ad briefs, testing priorities, and creative feedback loops. Full info HERE
NATIONAL SALES MANAGER>>
HEARST MEDIA PRODUCTION GROUP/CHARLOTTE, NC: Oversee daily sales pipeline operations focused on national sponsorships, integrations, and branded content tied to unscripted programming. Manage and coach the Business Development team, drive outbound activity, shape proposals and pricing, and lead CRM strategy, reporting, and optimizations via Salesforce. Full info HERE
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER >>
NTD/WASHINGTON, DC: Pitch story ideas and write scripts/segment outlines as well as research guests and interview topics. Book guests and coordinate interviews. Help with logistics and sometimes field production. Support shoots and ensure production runs smoothly. Review footage and work with editors to shape final episodes. Write headlines, teasers, and social posts. Full info HERE
DIRECTOR, HUMAN RESOURCES AND ADMINISTRATION >>
THE JIM HENSON COMPANY/HOLLYWOOD, CA: Responsible for all HR functions and oversight of administrative and management needs. This strategic role is charged with operating from a customer service driven viewpoint that prioritizes employee satisfaction as well as enforce legally compliant policies, increase efficiency by implementing administrative and record-keeping best practices. Full info HERE
SR. DIRECTOR OF SALES, KSTU & KUPX >>
THE E.W. SCRIPPS COMPANY/SALT LAKE CITY: Leverage our suite of advertising solutions to unlock growth opportunities for local and national businesses. Play a role in driving the station’s revenue goals as well as serving as the home station for Utah’s new NHL team. Collaborate with our production team to create campaigns that connect our clients with their customers in meaningful ways. Full info HERE
DIGITAL MEDIA BUYER >>
FURMAN ROTH ADVERTISING/NY(HYBRID): Plan, launch, and optimize digital marketing campaigns across various paid media channels (including Display, Google products, Paid Social, CTV, and Programmatic, etc.) while managing budgets effectively. Support the execution of media plans across platforms, overseeing targeting, budget allocation, and performance tracking to drive campaign success. Full info HERE
ACCOUNT DIRECTOR; CTV BRAND PARTNERSHIPS – MID WEST/WEST COAST
FUTURE TODAY
REMOTE
Build, maintain and expand a pipeline of sales targets, contacts, and sales opportunities leveraging your relationships with a heavy focus on new business revenue. Build/nurture relationships with the investment, strategy, precision and digital agencies as well as clients. Also maintain an ongoing knowledge of the streaming media landscape. Full info HERE
DIRECTOR, AD MARKETING & SALES >>
THE SHADE ROOM/REMOTE: Develop and execute a revenue growth strategy to drive direct advertising, branded content, and sponsorship sales as well as lead the development of compelling advertising and branded content offerings tailored for TSR’s audience and cultivate and maintain strong relationships with key advertisers, media agencies, and brand partners. Full info HERE
PROFESSIONAL LECTURER OF COMMUNICATION/SPORTS BROADCASTING >>
MARIST UNIVERSITY/ POUGHKEEPSIE, NY: Teach studio and field broadcasting and new media courses in sports media and journalism as well as be able to teach a studio course on producing a newscast and help students live stream a podcast or produce short-form feature content suitable for social media streaming. Also demonstrate through their teaching, professional activity, and service. Full info HERE
SALES LEAD – AGENCY PARTNERSHIPS
UPWAVE
NEW YORK, NY
Build and manage relationships with our agency partners – mostly targeting media buyers and planners – and help them see the value of adding Upwave measurement to The Trade Desk campaigns. You will both leverage your existing network and open new doors to achieve aggressive but achievable sales targets. Full info HERE |
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