Digiday Sunday
Digiday:?A strong week of coverage across our key beats. A piece that looked at the marketing implications of TikTok’s expanding search ambitions was the week’s top performer, followed by a deep dive analysis of what went wrong with the once vaunted Oracle advertising sales business and a story on how the huge gaming platform Roblox is pivoting to a more opened stance on programmatic revenue potential. The Digiday weekly podcast coming out of the Digiday Publishing Summit in Miami the week prior featuring a chat about Disney’s progress with ad sales automation, looking as far out as 2027, found a sizable audience as did our ongoing coverage of the Google Antitrust trial and what a breakup of the search and ad sales colossus might signal for the digital media and marketing sector. Coverage of the shift at the very top of Nike and what it means for both the company and the C-suite of all companies trying to balance both performance and brand-based marketing performed nicely as well. – James Cooper
Story highlights
Krystal Scanlon and Seb Joseph continued their team coverage of TikTok as the platform seems to be firmly set on the radar of marketers and agencies. The angle of their piece was that while TikTok’s Search Ads is now out in the wild, advertisers aren’t ready to reallocate marketing budgets away from Google at the moment. As they reported, ‘Marketers are so far intrigued, but are still wondering if it’s the right fit. Are these ads a complement to their existing TikTok spend? Or something entirely different? They’ll need time to test and figure it out.?One thing’s certain, though: Google’s throne isn’t under threat just yet. Advertisers can now pay to show up in TikTok search results, but that’s where the similarities to Google end. Users come to TikTok with a different mindset — more passive and open to discovery, compared to Google’s searchers, who are typically driven by intent.’
Sam Bradley pulled together an exhaustive bit of reporting on the rise and fall of Orcale’s once massive digital ad sales division, detailing what exactly what went wrong – and when and where. As he reported, ‘It’s a sober end for a business that ex-staffers, industry experts and former competitors describe as an ambitious, well-resourced organization with a collegiate internal culture — in the beginning, at least. But as the founding executives of its acquired businesses left, ex-staffers say culture gave way to corporate distance, innovation slowed, and growth avenues closed up.’
Alexander Lee reported out a smart daily piece that unpacked how gaming giant platform Roblox is beginning to be more open to programmatic marketing possibilities on the platform. As he reported. The listing for the software engineer role, for example, makes no effort to downplay the scale of Roblox’s advertising dreams,?as well as the responsibilities that come with them, including?“crafting robust and scalable backend services, processing vast amounts of data, and running a real-time advertising decision server to develop and expand Roblox’s advertising business.” Another tell-tale sign that Roblox has big plans for programmatic is the recent changes to its?Partner Program.?After a period of testing and learning, Roblox recently revised the program to shift the onus for selling its in-game advertising inventory from developer partners to programmatic vendors such as PubMatic.’?
Seb Joseph and Kayleigh Barber kept up our continuing coverage of the Google/DOJ antitrust trial with reporting on how some publishers see a breakup of Google as causing more headaches than solutions. As they reported, ‘Make no mistake — they’re hungry for change. After nearly two decades of living under Google’s thumb, they’re savoring the sight of the tech giant sweating under the legal microscope. But a breakup? That’s flirting with disaster — for them, anyway. Here’s why: If the Department of Justice proves Google built an illegal ad monopoly and the courts back a breakup of the sell-side of its business, publishers could take a major hit. They’re worried the programmatic ad dollars they depend on might dry up — a price they’re not willing to pay.’?
Sam Bradley and Seb Joseph teamed up on a sharp analysis of the shuffling of the top decks at Nike and what it signals to senior markets everywhere trying to navigate the twin shoals of performance and brand. As they reported, ‘After years of pushing the “advertising is an investment, not a cost” mantra — often to the eyerolls of skeptical CFOs — CMOs finally have a chance to prove it. And Nike’s turnaround could be the ultimate test. But it’s not just Nike’s marketing chief under pressure. Across industries, CMOs are being called to the frontlines as CEOs realize marketing isn’t just a budget line to slash — it’s an investment to fuel growth.’
Tim Peterson 'sreturn to the Digiday Podcast featured a great discussion coming from the stage of the Digiday Publishing Summit in a session with Disney’s senior vp of addressable sales Jamie Power that served as a live recording for the Digiday Podcast. During that chat she said Disney is closing in on its goal to have a full 75 percent of its ad sales automated by 2027. Give a listen here
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?Here are the Digiday + Briefings for the week
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See you next Sunday!