Digiday

Publishers that want to experiment with using generative AI technology to build products and features like creating chatbots and analyzing data have to evaluate which large language models best fit the bill. And it turns out that one of the biggest factors in these evaluations is how easy it is to integrate an LLM into their companies’ tech systems — such as different product suites and content management platforms — according to conversations with three publishing execs. That often means choosing the LLMs owned by companies with which they already have enterprise technology or content licensing agreements. In this piece by Sara Guaglione, we speak to Nathaniel Landau of theSkimm, and Mark Howard of TIME.

Digiday’s survey found that, this year, agencies are wary about client budgets more than anything else. Forty-three percent of agency pros said that reduced client budgets will be the biggest challenge for the agency industry in 2025 — making that the biggest group of respondents by far. Nineteen percent of agencies said scope creep will be the biggest challenge this year, marking the second-largest group of respondents, followed by 12% who said their biggest challenge will be video ad measurement and attribution.

Despite Spotify’s investment in developing more video features for podcasts, YouTube still reigns supreme when it comes to where podcast execs are focusing their video efforts, four execs told Digiday. There are a few reasons why they’re not won over by Spotify’s push into video podcasts yet. One is simply the growth podcast execs are seeing on YouTube for their video podcasts. Podcast organizations and publishers are still working on upping their video podcast production and figuring out what’s working to attract viewers. For now, execs are seeing subscriber and viewership growth from posting full-length podcast episodes on YouTube, so that is where they are concentrating their efforts.

It’s no secret that YouTube stands to benefit if TikTok gets the boot from the U.S., but the longer the uncertainty drags on, the clearer that opportunity becomes. Google’s svp and chief Philipp Schindler made that crystal clear on the company’s earnings call (Feb. 4), telling analysts that ad revenue from Shorts — YouTube’s answer to TikTok — is quickly catching up to its long-form content.

Amazon is poised to issue its full-year earnings today, a quarterly requirement that has helped market observers gauge the growing importance of the e-commerce giant’s advertising services. And key to that is ad tech, one it’s doubling down on. Amazon Ads is further opening up to third parties, signing partners to its latest beta program, which involves its demand-side platform telling them what supply it needs and when it needs it more efficiently than historical practices.

The weeks ahead of the Super Bowl are always a mad dash for marketers. The ones running ever-more integrated campaigns are dropping hints on social media and teasers for their Super Bowl spots, then comes the actual rolling out the spots and finding ways to move campaigns beyond the flash in the pan of the Big Game. Others are trying to keep their strategies under lock and key, making sure whatever surprise they have in store for the Super Bowl doesn’t leak out.

The concept of ad curation may appear to be a nebulous one. Still, in the contemporary phase of the $750 billion digital advertising industry’s maturation, it has come to represent control: who owns the relationship, and who can command margin? And with consolidation expected to represent much of the mergers and acquisitions in the space during 2025, the importance of this term is ramping up, as new players enter the space and audience signals become more scarce. In its most basic concept, curation can be traced back to the earliest ad networks, with several industry figures laying claim to its invention, from high-profile pioneers to under-the-hood stalwarts. In this piece, we speak to Shane Shevlin of Bedrock Platform, Andrew Casale of Index Exchange, Chris Kane of Jounce Media, Adam Heimlich of Chalice AI, and Anthony Katsur of IAB Tech Lab.

Snap Inc. is vying for ad dollars dedicated to creators, touting monetization tools and its Gen Z audience — but three agency execs say they are not seeing dollars move over just yet. There is money on the table for TikTok rivals right now, given the roller coaster of TikTok’s status in the U.S. But Snapchat will have to convince marketers that it can reach beyond its mostly Gen Z or Gen Alpha audience to win over any amount of substantial dollars from its competitors like Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube. In this piece by Antoinette S., we speak to Francis Roberts, Sarah Gerrish of Movers+Shakers, Amy Cotteleer of Duncan Channon, Jasmine Enberg of EMARKETER, and Kelly Dye of New Engen, Inc.

After promising growth in 2024 and early 2025, LinkedIn is doubling down on video with new tools and metrics. As of yesterday, creators on LinkedIn are able to track the average watch time of their videos. LinkedIn rolled out the new video metric amid a range of new features — such as improved video search functionality and the introduction of full-screen vertical video on LinkedIn’s desktop version — intended to further improve video creators’ experience on the platform. To learn more about LinkedIn’s decision to make average video watch times available to creators on the platform, Digiday spoke to LinkedIn vp of product Gyanda Sachdeva. Here are some of the key takeaways. In this piece by Alexander Lee, we speak to Gigi Robinson, M.S., BFA, and Sam Saideman.

Remember those old-fashioned bunny ears that used to sit atop TVs? How you needed to fiddle with them to get a clear signal but the signal-to-noise ratio was always a bit out of whack? Yeah, the streaming ad market’s supply chain is kinda like that. For one thing, ad buyers feel like there aren’t enough signals being passed communicating what kinds of content will carry their ads. For another, the content signals that are being passed can be enveloped in noise, with streaming ad sellers adopting different nomenclatures or obfuscating the information being sent. And for a third, too much of the industry seems unaware that a fix exists (or are unmoved to adopt it). Story by Tim Peterson