Carrie and Mary and Rhoda and Me
When it comes to television characters, my thoughts of late have been focused on Carrie Bradshaw, Charlotte Goldenblatt and Miranda Hobbes of And Just Like That, the calamitous continuation of Sex and the City that recently came to a somewhat distasteful ending. After all, Sex and the City (including its two follow-up feature films) and And Just Like That have together spanned 27 years. But thinking about them has called to mind Mary Richards and Rhoda Morgenstern, the two women who came to define young adult female friendship long before Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and their vivacious friend Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) appeared on the scene.
Programmatic Linear Television Is Here!
Although low CPM has been the main driver of digital ad spend’s meteoric growth, the ease and data-first aspect of programmatic has been a strong second factor. For years we’ve urged that television’s ROAS value was constrained by not being programmatic, and we’re thrilled to show that programmatic television at scale is finally a reality.
How AI Is Flipping the Script on Discovery, Identity, and the Future of Entertainment
Advertisers who fail to rethink their role as emotional co-creators will get left behind.
The Future of Beauty PR: Where Skincare, Wellness, and Storytelling Meet
The modern beauty consumer no longer views skincare, makeup, and wellness rituals as separate categories. They see them as part of a broader lifestyle that blends health, self-expression, and self-care. This evolution has changed the way brands must communicate. At the center of this change is beauty PR.
The ROI of Relevance: How Personalization Offers a Key to Combat Rising Prices
Consumers are watching prices more closely than ever. According to new research from Magna Media Trials and Zeta, more than 80% of people across all income levels say price now plays a bigger role in what they buy than it did two years ago. That shift spans everything from groceries and personal care to alcohol and tech.
The Ad Council and Dollar General Literacy Foundation Celebrate 15 Years of Promoting Adult Education
Long-running Finish Your Diploma campaign encourages the 30 million adults in the US without a high school diploma to take the first step to a brighter future
1998 E-Commerce Report: A Wake-Up Call for the Age of AI-Driven Commerce
In 1998, The Myers Report published E-Commerce: The Electronic Marketing Future, co-written by Jack Myers and then–senior editor Joe Mandese. At the time, the internet was just beginning to transform commerce, and e-commerce sales in the United States were measured in millions, not trillions. Amazon was still primarily a bookseller, Dell was pioneering direct-to-consumer PC sales, and terms like “mass customization” and “disintermediation” were just entering the marketing vocabulary.
The Ad Council and Sugar23 Launch Ad Council Entertainment
New Partnership to Develop Premium Film and TV Entertainment for Social Impact and Culture Change
AdDaptive Named “Best Account Based Marketing Company” in 8th Annual MarTech Breakthrough Awards Program
AdDaptive Intelligence, the leader in account-based advertising and analytics, today announced that it has been selected as winner of the “Best Account Based Marketing Company” award in the 8th annual MarTech Breakthrough Awards program conducted by MarTech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence organization that recognizes the most innovative companies in the global marketing, sales and advertising technology industry today.
Can Muhammad Ali’s Rope-a-Dope Reinvent the Linear TV Ad Model?
For TV network media sellers, the challenge is urgent: to reinvent the TV ad model through data collaboration, creative innovation, and measurement flexibility. For advertisers, the opportunity lies in aligning video investment with outcome-based planning models, optimizing every dollar across platforms, formats, and audiences.
Creative and Media Are Abstractions: The Viewer Sees Both As One Thing
The problem with abstractions is that we eventually fool ourselves into thinking of them as real things.
When Viewers Become the Show: AI-TV Turns Television Inside Out
The launch of Showrunner, the Amazon‑backed AI platform from Edward Saatchi’s Fable Studio, is more than a quirky headline about “AI making TV shows.” It is a flashing beacon for the future of media, advertising, and entertainment. For decades, our industry thrived on a clear division: studios produced, networks distributed, audiences consumed, and advertisers funded the spectacle. Showrunner blurs all of it.
Can You Afford to Go Without Modern MMM?
Over the decades I’ve spent in this industry, I’ve seen firsthand how businesses often leave money on the table due to inefficient marketing spend. They’re flying blind, making decisions based on gut instinct or incomplete data. And that’s precisely where a good modern MMM partner comes in.
tvbeat and Spectrum Reach Launch Programmatic Linear TV Solution to Expand CTV Advertising Using Traditional TV Ad Inventory
tvbeat, a global leader in Total TV campaign forecasting, planning and optimization, and Spectrum Reach today announced a partnership to bring tvbeat’s programmatic capabilities to linear TV advertising in the U.S. market. This collaboration will bring a fully automated, data-driven buying experience to linear TV, allowing digital advertisers to access traditional TV advertising inventory with the precision and ease of Connected TV (CTV).
Auren Hoffman on Why Vendor Management is A Skill You Need to Master Now (Video)
A CMO Confidential Interview with Auren Hoffman, CEO of SafeGraph, formerly co-founder and CEO of LiveRamp. Auren discusses his belief that vendor management is the most critical skill for the future and why most companies should "rent" a high caliber pool of talent instead of hiring individual executives. Key topics include: thoughts on improving your vendor management skill (with outside law firms as an example); the concept of "scaffolding" developing talent; why he believes procurement is a "negative value" function; and why he would short consulting firm Booz Allen.
Why Contextual Advertising Is Winning in Retail Right Now
Retail today looks very different from what it was even a year or two ago.
I Don't Believe It
Victor Meldrew is a fictional cantankerous character in the BBC sitcom, One Foot in the Grave, played by Richard Wilson, whose catchphrase is often misquoted as ‘I simply don’t believe it’ (the word ‘simply’ is simply incorrect).
From Blinks to Clicks: How Jack Myers Saw the Digital Ad Revolution Coming in 1993
In 1993, The Myers Report forecasted a media world where a fraction-of-a-second exposure would define advertising value. Three decades later, the “Blink Theory” dominates digital marketing.
Wurl and TVision Unveil New Report Linking Emotion Alignment to Higher Ad Attention on Streaming TV
Wurl, a leader in the streaming TV industry, in partnership with TVision, the company measuring every second of TV and CTV viewer engagement, published a new report today called, The Impact of Emotion Alignment on Ad Attention in Streaming TV. The report offers a first-of-its-kind analysis across 50+ advertiser campaigns to explore how emotional alignment between ads and on-screen content can boost attention on streaming TV.
Economics of AI Disruption in Advertising & Media
Artificial Intelligence is no longer theoretical in the advertising industry; it’s fully operational, embedded, and essential. In 2025, AI has evolved from a buzzword into a core component of both media agency and brand infrastructure, shaping every stage of the advertising lifecycle. From initial media planning and creative versioning to dynamic bidding, audience segmentation, fraud detection, and outcome-based attribution, AI has become the invisible architecture powering the modern media economy.