Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Transparency in agency relationships is a growing issue. Pivotal analyst Brian Wieser downgraded ratings on the four major agency holding companies on Monday, warning that the growing noise over agency kickbacks has caused him to “reassess some of our views on long-term holding company growth.” In a note to investors, he added that since marketers are…
With the major investigation into media buying kickbacks in the USA by the ANA about to conclude, and our own ISBA recently making headlines about the poor state of media agencies in the UK, Mark Ritson reviews what we have learned so far. Just over a year ago Jon Mandel, the former CEO of media…
Advertising agencies in the US have been systematically padding their profits by using non-transparent practices such as taking rebates from media companies and not disclosing them to clients, according to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), which released the highly anticipated findings of an eight-month investigation into the sector on Tuesday. The ANA — which…
Jon Mandel Media agency rebates and kickbacks, long thought to be something that happened overseas — or only in pockets of the U.S. market — are actually widespread, said former Mediacom CEO Jon Mandel, so much so that it caused him to leave the agency business. Mr. Mandel made his remarks in a blistering presentation…
Agencies are not transparent about their actions. Agencies recommend media that is off-strategy when it works for their gain. Agencies accrue media earned by advertisers’ spending and resell it to other advertisers. Agencies demand pay-for-play from vendors in order to be recommended, and cross the line in partnership relationships. These are among the claims made…
close story-meta Photo President Trump mocked Mika Brzezinski, a co-host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” on Thursday. Joe Scarborough responded on Friday. Credit Al Drago/The New York Times President Trump remained embroiled in a rumpus with two cable talk-show hosts on Friday, a surreal dispute featuring allegations of extortion, dueling tweets and low-rent insults that has…
Facebook embraced sound-on autoplay videos, just months before Google and Apple said they were banning these formats on their platforms as unacceptable UX intrusions. By Tony Haile on June 27, 2017 6:30 am Facebook has a problem. What has driven its growth for the last five years won’t drive its growth for the next…
In Trump’s America, the press is under attack. You know what I’m talking about—in your head, do a montage of Donald Trump saying “fake news,” congressional candidates body-slamming reporters, and so on. But on Tuesday, that war intensified, when a swarm of bees lingered outside Vox Media’s New York City offices. What Are Bees? “Bees…
Publishers are leaving Medium, the crowdsourced-based content platform, amid business changes that make It harder for them to make money. Most notably in the last month, Bill Simmon’s sports/culture blog The Ringer moved to Vox and Condé Nast’s tech blog BackChannel moved to Wired. Why it matters: Medium’s long-term solution to this problem is to wait until its subscription model…
Advisers who represent what remains of Gawker Media Group in bankruptcy are exploring whether they can bring a viable lawsuit against Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire who helped finance Hulk Hogan’s successful legal battle against the publisher. Gawker on Tuesday asked a bankruptcy judge for permission to subpoena Mr. Thiel to obtain information upon…