 Microsoft will shut down its demand-side platform, Invest (fka Xandr), by March of next year, as the company focuses on AI priorities. “We are entering a new era — one defined by conversational AI experiences, agentic systems that simplify decision making and bring brands closer to people, and predictive design models that fundamentally reshape what people expect from digital services,” said Microsoft in a blog post. “This new era will be enabled by purpose-built AI-powered advertising platforms that make personalized advertising simple.” Supply-side platform Microsoft Monetize will remain. |
| The news came as Microsoft set about letting go over 6,000 employees last week, about 3% of its workforce. The company said the cuts were part of an overall strategy to streamline corporate ranks and flatten management across the company, as well its efforts to prioritize AI.
Revenue Analytics, provider of revenue optimization software solutions, has introduced Aida, an “AI Deal Advisor” designed to transform how media companies price, package, and close ad deals. “Aida represents a significant advancement in the application of AI in media sales,” said Gotham Majumdar, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Revenue Analytics. “Sales teams today face mounting pressure to grow revenue with fewer resources, outdated legacy systems and leaner teams. Aida was built for this reality – analyzing vast volumes of pricing, inventory, and demand data in real time to deliver smart, deal-specific recommendations that accelerate deal velocity.” |
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POWERPLAYS SPORTS WEBINAR
Changing the Game—From the Ground Up
BIG3’s Bold New Playbook with Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz
They didn’t just launch a league. They built a movement.
Join us for Power Plays: The Business of Sports Media in 2025—a free virtual event where the visionaries behind BIG3 share how they’re redefining pro basketball with a city-based ownership model that puts community, culture, and control back in the hands of the fans.
In our headline session, “BIG3 Basketball Flips the Script,” you’ll get an exclusive look at how Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz are turning bold ideas into business innovation—and why media leaders are paying attention.
Featuring:
• Ice Cube, Founder, BIG3
• Jeff Kwatinetz, Founder, BIG3
Don’t miss this playmaker session.
Register Now – Free Access |
 ADVERTISING |
| DISH Media introduced AdvantEdge, a suite of solutions for linear and CTV media buying aimed at helping advertisers achieve greater ROAS. Built on verified, first-party data, DISH reports its addressable campaigns delivered higher lifts vs. industry benchmarks, including a +34% lift in pharma prescriptions, +26% lift in auto sales and +17% lift in travel bookings. “Reaching audiences at scale remains difficult for advertisers amid changing media habits and platform fragmentation,” said Tom Fochetta, SVP, DISH Media. “From real-time buying to cutting-edge audience segmentation and expanded reach, AdvantEdge delivers a unified, data-driven approach that simplifies and amplifies campaign performance.”
FOX Advertising announced the launch of the OneFOX converged media platform, powered by AdRise built on a foundation of AI-driven technology and tools. The intelligence platform will harness audience & contextual signals along with behavioral, creative and campaign analytics to create more personalized ad experiences for consumers and increase ad efficacy for advertisers. “There is a lot of buzz about AI, but we’re actually seeing a growing number of partners and customers experiment with AI-driven audience modeling and advanced targeting that will dramatically enhance current identity-based infrastructures,” said Stephano Kim, Chief Strategy and Operations Officer, FOX Ad Sales. “As we lean into protecting consumer data and their privacy, we are looking for better alternatives to connecting brands and their consumers in a safe and compliant way.”
AdImpact announced the integration of Comcast Technology Solutions’ creative management platform, AdFusion, into its data-driven political media buying solution, Potomac. The joint solution enables political advertisers and agencies using Potomac to streamline complex workflows, from media planning and buying to traffic management, content delivery and reconciliation. “Thanks to recent technological advancements, the political ad landscape has evolved rapidly, but many aspects of the media buying process have remained complex and manual,” said Kyle Roberts, CEO of AdImpact. “While Potomac has helped automate key steps to ensure campaigns are delivered on time and on budget, this integration marks a major milestone in our mission to modernize media buying.”
There’s high demand for commerce and advertising in CTV, with 52% of US internet households likely or very likely to perform at least one commercial activity through a TV platform. Or so says Parks Associates’ new white paper, Interactive & Shoppable TV: Next Wave of CTV Revenues, released in partnership with Adeia. More than 278 million viewers projected to watch subscription ad-supported streaming services by 2029. Other findings include:
· 82% of respondents see streaming ads through a combination of free streaming services, ad-based tiers of subscription streaming services, and vMVPD services that feature ads as part of their live/linear bundles of channels.
· 59% subscribe to an ad-based tier of an SVOD service, like Netflix, Disney+, or Peacock.
· 47% watch free ad-based streaming services, like Tubi, Pluto, and The Roku Channel.
· 22% watch streaming pay-TV services, vMVPDs, like YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, or Philo.
“Industry players can take productive steps today to advance the interactive TV experience for viewers and advertisers by connecting workflows, making effective use of available data, and optimizing user experience elements for interactivity,” said Jennifer Kent, Vice President, Research, Parks Associates. “Success involves building sustainable, scalable solutions for the long term rather than quick, band-aid solutions that address only immediate challenges.”
WBD US Ad Sales unveiled NEO and DemoDirect, two new solutions aimed at accelerating the effectiveness and efficiency of brands across WBD’s portfolio. In addition is an initiative to help advertisers as well as meet the rise in demand for nostalgia. “WBD Storyverse” will offer films and series to help brands emotionally connect with audiences using beloved characters and IP with new twists – like they did for the Super Bowl. “Our partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery allowed us to bring an iconic moment from ‘When Harry Met Sally’ to the Big Game in a fresh, unmissable way,” said Esi Eggleston Bracey, Chief Growth and Marketing Officer, Unilever. “The results were phenomenal, not just in terms of market share – but in creating genuine cultural impact. I mean, we even got a real-life Bill and Meg reunion at the Oscars!”.
In a new study, NBCUniversal and Tinuiti partnered with footwear brand NOBULL to demonstrate the impact of the premium-content streaming environment on advertising effectiveness. The results: premium IP and streaming drove incremental revenue and additional critical business metrics beyond a search and social heavy investment mix. Through a strategic shift in ad spend from search and social to streaming, NOBULL saw:
· +19.8% site visits
· +5.5% purchases
· +3.7% in total revenue
Additionally, as a result of the campaign, the sneaker category overall experienced a +18% lift in non-branded shopping clicks through purchases. “The results from our campaign demonstrate the power of streaming and premium IP to unlock not only brand lift, but real business results,” said Sean Odlum, Chief Product Officer at Tinuiti. “It’s clear that reallocating dollars to upper-funnel channels like premium video can supercharge performance.”
Disney data collaboration platform Compass, enabling brands to harness Disney’s audience for better targeting, has hit the market. The platform allows Disney to “act faster, understand more and continuously evolve with our brand partners,” said Rita Ferro, President of Ad Sales.
Reaching consumers off the couch and outside the home can significantly influence purchase behavior, according to a study conducted by MAGNA and GSTV. Video on-the-go outperformed both CTV and online video, with +12% lift in driving incremental store visits compared to no impact from the other channels, found “The Power of Video Everywhere,” which used ad tests for Applebees.
The emergence of new AI-powered search engines isn’t diminishing Google’s dominance. Instead, on the year anniversary of Google AI Overviews (AIOs), BrightEdge data shows total search impressions rose more than 49%. The report also found:
· In the last month, ChatGPT grew 21%, with Perplexity and Gemini remaining about 1/10 of its size, and other AI search engines like Claude, Meta, and Grok another 1/10 smaller. Meanwhile, Google still maintains over 90% of market share.
· AIOs now appear in over 11% of Google queries, a 22% increase since debuting last year.
· Longer, complex queries have grown 49% in AIOs since May 2024, while ranking-style content and comparison queries have decreased, down 60% and 14% respectively.
· Impressions on all content have jumped by over 49% since the launch of AIOs while click-throughs have steadily declined, with a nearly 30% reduction since May 2024.
“The assumption was that AI would kill traditional search,” said Jim Yu, Founder and CEO of BrightEdge. “But our data tells a different story: search is not disappearing, it’s expanding. Google is not being replaced; it’s being reimagined.”
Sooth, specialist in predictive emotional and behavioral intelligence for marketers, unveiled its Emotional Logic Interface, Eli. The AI system is designed to decode human behavior before it happens, modeling the emotional drivers and behavioral triggers behind purchasing decisions. “Most marketers still make decisions based on demographics and transactions, but those only drive 7% of buying behavior. Eli was built to decode the emotional, practical and situational needs that account for 13 out of every 14 buying decisions,” said Ian Baer, Founder & CEO, Sooth. “Brands are drowning in data, dashboards and AI hype. Eli delivers clarity, fast.”
Amazon unveiled three new CTV ad formats: contextually relevant pause ads; shoppable ads for products on Amazon; and shoppable ads for products not on Amazon. “Our ad formats are proven to drive measurable action on and off Amazon,” said Alan Moss, VP Global Advertising Sales, Amazon Ads. “Based on Amazon’s signals and fully addressable and authenticated audiences, we are uniquely positioned to offer viewers scene-aware ads as extensions of the entertainment experience, not interruptions.”
FOX Advertising announced the launch of the OneFOX converged media platform, powered by AdRise built on a foundation of AI-driven technology and tools. The intelligence platform will harness audience & contextual signals along with behavioral, creative and campaign analytics to create more personalized ad experiences for consumers and increase ad efficacy for advertisers. “There is a lot of buzz about AI, but we’re actually seeing a growing number of partners and customers experiment with AI-driven audience modeling and advanced targeting that will dramatically enhance current identity-based infrastructures,” said Stephano Kim, Chief Strategy and Operations Officer, FOX Ad Sales. “As we lean into protecting consumer data and their privacy, we are looking for better alternatives to connecting brands and their consumers in a safe and compliant way. |
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MEDIA IMPACT AWARDS
This is your mic-drop moment!
If your company is leading in AI, sales innovation, data, or distribution, the Cynopsis Media Impact Awards were built for you. This isn’t another pat on the back, it’s industry-wide validation that your work isn’t just impressive, it’s essential.
We’re honoring the boldest thinkers and builders in media and ad tech—culminating with a live celebration this October in NYC.
Get seen. Get celebrated. Get elevated.
ENTER TODAY |
| MEASUREMENT |
| IAB and the MRC released the Attention Measurement Guidelines for public comment. Developed by the IAB Attention Task Force, the guidelines offer a structured framework for the consistent measurement and reporting of attention across media. Brands, publishers, platforms, agencies, and measurement providers are invited to provide feedback. “Attention is getting a lot of, well, attention — but without a shared standard, it’s become a bit of a Wild West situation,” said Angelina Eng, VP of Measurement, Addressability & Data Center & Center of Excellence Operations. “Right now, there are too many different ways to measure and define it, which creates confusion and makes it hard to compare results or build trust. These guidelines are about bringing order to the chaos. They lay down a clear, consistent foundation so that attention can be measured in a way that’s credible, useful, and ready for where the industry is headed.”
Orange 142, focused on digital marketing for mid-market brands, released a guide to foot traffic attribution, a capability that helps marketers connect digital ad exposure to real-world store visits. “In an environment where every dollar of ad spend is scrutinized, foot traffic attribution gives marketers the confidence to link digital engagement to offline results,” said Lindsey Wilkes, SVP, Business Development at Orange 142. “This guide is designed to help brands future-proof their strategies by mastering both the challenges and opportunities of foot traffic measurement.” The guide’s best practices section encourages marketers to:
· Focus on localized campaigns with geofencing or DOOH ads
· Use time-sensitive offers to create clear attribution windows
· Choose interactive ad formats like voice-activated prompts or mobile location-based ads
· Educate consumers about the value exchange of shared data
· Avoid the “creepy factor” by prioritizing transparency, subtlety, and context |
| SUSTAINABILITY |
| Ogury announced a strategic partnership with 51toCarbonZero, the net zero platform powering growth for marketers, as the company accelerates its path toward net zero. “Environmental responsibility is not an add-on for us—it’s embedded in how we operate, innovate, and grow,” said Nathalie Pannequin, Senior Culture Lead at Ogury. “As we advance toward net zero, it’s critical we pair our strong foundations with targeted expertise that understands the unique emissions profile of digital advertising. 51-0 brings the deep industry knowledge and pioneering solutions we need to lead responsibly in this space.” |
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
SALES PLANNER, GENERAL RATE >>
GAC MEDIA, LLC/NEW YORK, NY: The Sales Planner, General Rate is responsible for providing support to the Advertising Sales department by working with Account Executives to service clients on a daily basis. The job requires attention to detail, industry knowledge, as well as strong communication skills. Full info HERE
CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER>>
ORIGIN/NY(HYBRID): Overseeing full time sales team of 2 remote sellers, an account director, a sales operations manager and sales strategist. Accelerating the adoption of award-winning suite of CTV ad formats. Ensuring we exceed our current targets and ultimately making sure we continue growing at the pace we are in an increasingly competitive market. 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
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE DIRECT RESPONSE >>
OPPORTUNITY MEDIA/NY(REMOTE/HYBRID): Seeking an energetic achiever with excellent written & organizational skills for role to assist in growing revenue for dynamic Direct Response Team: required: BA Degree, Min 2 yrs DR Experience. Wide Orbit Exp a +. 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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