Steven's Newsletter - June 16th, 2025

News you may have missed last week, info to make you smarter and games

📰 News:

Roku and Amazon have announced a strategic partnership to expand their connected TV advertising reach significantly. This collaboration aims to create the largest authenticated TV footprint in the United States, targeting a large percentage of total CTV households. Their combined first-party data from logged-in users allows for highly precise audience identification, targeting, and measurement. Early tests of this partnership have shown improved return on ad spend, increased unique reach, and a reduction in ad frequency for users. (AdExchanger)

Disney is unlikely to follow other major media companies in splitting its television assets from its streaming business. CEO Bob Iger decided to fully acquire Hulu and keep linear television networks, integrating them seamlessly with the streaming operations. This unified approach helps aggregate revenue from both subscription fees and advertising, contributing to the streaming business's profitability. Disney believes this strategy, especially with core networks like ESPN and ABC, allows for growth and margin expansion in an increasingly fragmented market. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Marriott International has officially launched MARRIOTT MEDIA, a new network designed specifically for travelers. This platform utilizes first-party data from its vast Marriott Bonvoy program and global lodging portfolio to connect relevant brands with customers at opportune moments. It aims to enhance the guest experience by serving personalized content, recommendations, and offers across digital and physical touchpoints. The network allows brand partners to create deeper engagement through storytelling on platforms like Marriott Bonvoy TV and offers sophisticated measurement capabilities. (PR Newswire)

MiQ has unveiled "Sigma," a new AI-powered ad platform designed to streamline the fragmented advertising data landscape. This platform addresses the common frustration brands face when trying to make sense of data from diverse sources. Sigma features a data visualization tool, a conversational AI trading agent, and generative AI personas for precise audience targeting. Its goal is to provide advertisers with a more cohesive view of their data, enabling better understanding of customer habits and buying behaviors. (AdExchanger)

Amazon Prime Video has subtly doubled its ad load, with commercials now ranging from four to six minutes per hour. This increase provides Amazon with considerably more inventory to sell across its rapidly expanding streaming operations. The shift brings Prime Video's ad volume closer to broader industry standards among premium streaming platforms. While this could potentially lead to lower costs per thousand impressions for buyers, advertisers are closely monitoring its impact on user experience and overall performance. (ADWEEK)

The Trade Desk has enhanced its advertising capabilities by adding Instacart and Ocado as its initial SKU-level retail data sellers for self-serve advertisers. This integration means product catalogs from these online grocery platforms are now directly accessible within an advertiser's Trade Desk account. For the first time, SKU-level sales and customer data can be utilized by self-service advertisers in near real-time, especially when leveraging the Conversion API. While there are strict data usage limitations to prevent direct competitive targeting, this move significantly speeds up advertisers' ability to engage with retail data. (AdExchanger)

WPP and Publicis Groupe have escalated their rivalry with Publicis Groupe by publicly attacking the quality of its rival's ad inventory. A report funded by WPP Media alleged that Publicis-owned Epsilon's supply-side platform trafficked low-quality ad placements, including "made-for-advertising" sites. WPP claimed Epsilon's inventory fell below industry standards for viewability and attention based on their programmatic buying test. Publicis Groupe vehemently denied the accusations, stating WPP's research was intentionally flawed and engineered to produce negative results. (Ad Age)

Warner Bros. Discovery announced plans to split its company into two separate publicly-traded entities by mid-next year. One new company will focus on streaming and content production, while the other will manage traditional television networks. CEO David Zaslav will lead the streaming-centric business, which includes Warner's studios and HBO Max. This strategic separation aims to give each entity a sharper focus and greater flexibility to compete in the evolving media landscape, echoing a similar move by Comcast. (Variety)