The Refresh: Meet Marcus Freshingham

Marcus Freshingham is the new mascot of The Refresh, a weekly newsletter from AdTechGod and Marketecture. He’ll bring you the latest advertising news, commentary, and memes.

Breaking News

• Brian Lesser joins GroupM as Global CEO (AdExchanger)

• Hershey chooses dedicated Publicis team (Adweek)

• CTV commercials deliver more attention than other digital formats (NextTV)

• 75% of all CTV transactions are programmatic (AdExchanger)

• Loop Media announces viewability measurement and fraud protection with DoubleVerify (Businesswire)

• Mobile ad spend projected to exceed $200 Billion (Linkedin)

• Hallmark to launch new streaming channel in September (Hallmark)

• Google Ad Exchange sold the most MFA (Mediapost)

• Paramount advertising launches self service service platform (NextTV)

The Latest and Greatest

Paparo’s Purview

Our dear leader gives his hot takes on the news of the week. ATG chimes in.

Google makes change to privacy oversight (Politico)

Recently, six of Google’s top privacy and regulatory officials left, and a key oversight team was disbanded, raising concerns about insufficient protections for AI product users. Google's machine learning privacy team was also dissolved, leaving only two members. Departed executives include Keith Enright, Lawrence You, and others. Google claims to maintain its privacy and ethics standards despite the changes, asserting replacements for most roles. However, insiders suggest privacy teams now feel pressured to approve projects with less scrutiny. Senator Ron Wyden has called for an FTC investigation, questioning Google's adherence to its comprehensive privacy program agreement.

Ari’s view: We had Rob Leathern on the pod a couple of weeks ago and he made the point this was more about distribution of responsibilities than any step away from privacy or security. On the other hand there’s a lot of pressure at Google to ship products to compete with OpenAI, et al.

Read the Politico article

Taboola sells ads for Apple (AXIOS)

Ad tech company Taboola has partnered with Apple to power native ads within Apple News and Apple Stocks apps. Taboola will manage ad placements within these apps across the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia. Many commentators were confused about the tie-in, given Taboola’s reputation for low-quality “chumbox” ads, though the nature of the ad slots and formats were not disclosed.

Ari’s view: I’ll probably cover this in my Monday newsletter, but the bottom line is that ads in News and Stocks is not a very big business and previous partners were not moving the needle on monetization. Taboola has the advantage of working primarily with context and much less with identity or anything privacy-dependent.

NBA board approves telecast deal with ESPN, Prime Video, NBC (The Desk)

The NBA Board of Governors approved a new deal with ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, and NBC Sports starting in the 2025-26 season. If the deal proceeds, NBA games will shift from TNT to NBC and Peacock, with Prime Video airing games on weekends. ESPN will broadcast select regular-season games and the NBA Finals on ABC. This new package is valued at $76 billion, a significant increase from the previous $24 billion deal.

WBD, which can match any offer, may need to outbid Amazon's $1.8 billion proposal. A challenge for WBD is meeting the NBA’s goal to expand streaming options. The NBA Commissioner highlighted the importance of streaming for reaching fans, while WBD continues to balance traditional and streaming services, offering sports through its Max add-on, Bleacher Report Sports.

Ari’s view: I’m just worried about losing the Charles Barkley-Shaquille O'Neal banter on TNT.

Read the Desk article

Nielsen the Gauge is out! (Nielsen)

In June 2024, streaming dominated TV usage with a record 40.3%. Broadcast TV accounted for 20.5% of total TV time, boosted by a 26% increase in sports viewership and a 5% rise in news. Major events like the NBA Finals, CNN's Presidential Debate, and the NHL Stanley Cup Finals drove this growth, with ABC airing the top seven most-watched broadcasts, including NBA games and the women's gymnastics Olympic Trials.

Cable TV, comprising 27.2% of usage, saw notable viewership from the CNN Presidential Debate, which drew over 10 million viewers on CNN and 9.5 million on Fox News. Despite increases in general drama and feature films by about 6%, cable sports viewership dropped by 35% after the NBA and NHL seasons ended.

Overall, traditional TV—broadcast and cable combined—experienced a decline, falling to 47.7% of total TV usage. This drop is typical for summer, but the upcoming Summer Olympics might boost linear TV viewership in the coming months.

AdTechGod’s view: The decline in broadcast and cable TV shows the growing preference for streaming. People love the convenience and variety of services like Netflix, Disney+, Tubi, etc. With top-notch original content and on-demand access, streaming is clearly the future of entertainment, leaving traditional TV struggling to keep up.

What's exciting is the diverse audience that streaming attracts. Younger viewers, families, and even older demographics are all embracing streaming platforms. This broad appeal is driving more innovative content and creating a more inclusive entertainment landscape, proving that streaming is not just a trend but the new standard in how we watch TV.

Read the Nielsen report here

Advertising will drive global and Entertainment growth. (Deadline)

PwC’s new outlook shows global entertainment and media advertising is projected to exceed $1 trillion by 2026 and double its 2020 figure by 2028, driven by a surge in Internet advertising, which will account for 77% of total ad spend and 30% of streaming revenue.

The outlook predicts total industry revenue will rise to $3.4 trillion by 2028, led by advertising.

Ari’s view: This report seems to include China, whereas most other estimates exclude that market, which might be why this number is larger than other estimates. No matter what, it is quite big.

Read The Deadline article here

Community

AdTechGod values community.

As we expand our channels to focus on key products, we're committed to fostering an inclusive environment for everyone. Recently, we launched the Women in Adtech Slack channel and now, we're excited to introduce the Desi-US channel, dedicated to South Asians in the US working in AdTech. Join us and be part of our diverse community!

Meme of the Week

Connect with Us

Thanks for reading this weeks Marketecture Newsletter. Marketecture Media wants to help bring you the latest news, opinions and community updates. If you are interested in advertising on this newsletter, our podcasts, The AdTech Forum or our slack community you can by contacting us here.