The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will publish its final print edition on December 31, 2025, before becoming a digital-only outlet on January 1, 2026. Publisher Andrew Morse said the move will allow resources to flow into newsletters, podcasts, video, and a new mobile app. The 157-year-old paper has already posted double-digit digital subscription growth and expanded statewide reach. The shift mirrors broader industry trends: nearly half of US adults never read print newspapers, while digital ad spend continues to climb. AJC’s farewell to print underscores the inevitable math: audiences and advertisers are digital, and adaptation is survival.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss the biggest discrepancy by device with regards to where we spend our time versus how many ad dollars are aimed there, why social players want to take a page from YouTube’s CTV playbook, and why sub OTT’s unusual path to advertising has created major misalignments. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host, Marcus Johnson, Principal Forecasting Writer, Ethan Cramer-Flood, and Senior Analyst, Minda Smiley. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
If social media is a digital shopping mall, genAI assistants are personal shoppers. As AI gains ground, it could disrupt established social shopping behaviors—but the impact will be greater for primarily search-driven ad businesses.
Amazon closed its second annual Upfronts with “significant growth” across independent agencies and holding companies, per Adweek. An Amazon spokesperson cited excitement surrounding live sports offerings on Prime Video as a key driver of growth. Amazon is positioned for sustained ad growth if it continues relying on its sports properties to draw advertiser interest in Prime Video. With Prime Video only making up a fraction of Amazon’s overall ad revenues, the service is far from hitting its ceiling—and future investment in tentpole sporting events will put Prime Video on par with its bigger competitors.
Google is enhancing its retail ad offerings with loyalty-driven personalization tools aimed at retention. New features include personalized pricing and shipping perks for loyalty members, a “loyalty mode” in Google Ads’ retention goal to optimize for high-lifetime-value customers, and personalized annotations in Performance Max campaigns. Sephora, an early adopter, reported a 20% lift in click-through rates from loyalty-focused annotations. The launch comes as loyalty ranks high on shoppers’ holiday priorities and as CMOs lean on loyalty programs to bolster first-party data. With Amazon pulling away from Google, the updates position Ads as a retention engine in the retail fight.
The news: YouTube TV may drop Fox News, Fox Sports, and Fox Broadcast Network this week if Google and Fox Corporation don’t agree on renewal terms. A blackout removing seven Fox channels could ding YouTube TV’s engagement—especially during live sports and election season, when Fox’s properties pull massive audiences, per CNBC. Our take: Fox Sports specifically drives real-time viewership. Losing it weakens YouTube TV’s live-programming value proposition. For streaming platforms like YouTube TV, it’s a warning—content gatekeepers are no longer willing to share access without premium payouts. YouTube can negotiate partial or sports-only rights to minimize disruption, but the cost will likely be passed on to subscribers. If Fox goes dark on YouTube TV, advertisers must reallocate spend or risk diminished ad performance.
The news: Legacy news is facing mounting threats after President Trump suggested on Truth Social that ABC and NBC could have their broadcast licenses revoked. Accusing the networks of serving as “AN ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY,” the news follows a string of scrutiny against public broadcasting from the current administration—and has implications for the advertisers that rely on these channels. Our take: As news channels face more scrutiny, advertisers are being forced to reconsider where they spend—but political volatility still needs to be weighed against long-term loyalty among key demographics.
TikTok’s 2024 revenues in the UK, Europe, and Latin America surged 38% to $6.3 billion, more than doubling 2022 levels, per filings cited by Forbes. The growth underscores TikTok’s strength outside the US, where a divest-or-ban standoff continues. Yet regulatory scrutiny in Europe looms large, with over $1 billion reserved for fines, ongoing probes across multiple countries, and potential penalties under the EU’s Digital Services Act. TikTok’s UK penetration tops 32%, with ad revenues projected to triple by 2027. Still, layoffs in trust and safety roles and a pivot to AI moderation could test regulators and user trust.
Streaming accounts for almost half (45.3%) of total US time spent with ad-supported TV, according to a July report from Nielsen.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss our ‘very specific, but highly unlikely’ predictions for the future of digital in 2026 and beyond. Why browsers will become the new AI battleground, what does it mean if agentic AI doesn’t take over shopping, and can GenAI actually lead to more of the jobs it can easily destroy? Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host, Marcus Johnson, Senior Director of Briefings, Jeremy Goldman, Principal Analyst, Sara Marzano, and Vice President of Content, Paul Verna. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
The news: NFL ads are more effective than anything on linear—but ads during streaming-exclusive games outperformed in the 2024-25 season. Streaming ads were 66% more effective than the cable and broadcast average during the most recent NFL season, per data from EDO. Our take: With streaming platforms capturing engaged audiences for tentpole sports like the NFL, advertisers can leverage CTV not just for reach, but for its superior ability to drive measurable action through precision targeting and interactive formats that linear doesn’t offer.
Acxiom, IPG Mediabrands, and IRIS.TV have partnered to launch Acxiom Contextual CTV, a privacy-safe targeting tool powered by IRIS_ID. The solution analyzes content context—genre, subject, tone—without using personal identifiers, addressing rising privacy concerns as cookies disappear. Already present in 17–40% of US bidstream inventory, IRIS.TV enables more accurate targeting, while early pilots show higher video completion rates and stronger brand lift. Publishers benefit too, with CPMs rising as much as 25%. With CTV ad sales projected to hit $46.9 billion by 2028, this approach could set a new industry standard for performance, compliance, and contextual relevance.
The news: China reiterated that it will not sell TikTok’s algorithm to the US in accordance with Chinese laws as the September 17 sale deadline looms. The announcement comes almost immediately after the White House launched an official TikTok account in a move Chinese officials stated “contradicts the ‘national security threat’ rhetoric.” Our take: With no definitive answer on TikTok’s future in the US, advertisers are in a difficult spot. Divestment risks losing access to audiences motivated to take action—but investing too heavily risks overreliance on a channel that could face major changes.
The news: Apple is hiking Apple TV+ subscriptions from $9.99 to $12.99 a month in the US and other select markets. The change took effect Thursday for new subscribers and will begin within 30 days of renewal for existing ones. Annual plans and Apple One bundles remain unchanged. Our take: Price hikes may stabilize short-term revenue, but they heighten the churn risk when loyalty is fragile. Apple is betting that prestige shows and an ad-free edge justify a 30% hike, but with churn peaking, this risks price-sensitive viewers simply switching away.
The news: Meta and Google still account for 88% of mobile ad spending despite shifting user habits, per a Moloco report. But while advertiser attention remains firmly focused on Big Tech, those that diversify their media mix could increase financial returns as much as 214%. Our take: As audiences become fragmented across social media, advertisers are increasingly faced with the need to look beyond the big players—but with big tech still commanding attention, a balanced approach is key.
Out-of-home (OOH) ads prompt an average 13.3% growth in US ad awareness, outpacing TV (10.2%), digital (3.9%), and connected TV (2.2%), according to a July report from Clear Channel Outdoor and Kantar.
Nexstar is acquiring Tegna in a $6.2 billion deal that would expand its reach to 265 stations and 39% of US TV households, pending FCC approval. CEO Perry Sook says the merger is essential for competing with Big Tech, while critics warn it could weaken local journalism. The timing comes as regulators signal openness to loosening ownership caps. Local TV ad spending is projected at $17.27 billion in 2025, with broadcast accounting for most of it, but growth lags digital channels. Nexstar is betting that consolidation and scale will help protect broadcast revenue against mounting digital competition.
The news: Google Ads is ending manual language targeting, taking over a significant element of campaign management. In lieu of manual targeting, Google’s AI will detect user language automatically using signals such as language settings and historic search activity. Our take: Brands should consider auditing current campaigns to identify where automated language detection might create gaps and establish safeguards, such as breaking out campaigns by region or market and including clear, native-language text in headlines and descriptions to signal intended language to both users and Google’s systems.