The Current Report

Celebrities reigned once again in many commercials for the Big Game, including Glen Powell doing his own version of Goldilocks in a spot for Ram Trucks. Two executives at the agency that created the ad, GSD&M’s Kate Rush Sheehy and Chelsea York Vargas, joined The Current Report to share the inside story of the strategy behind the ad. _______ To read the full stories included in this episode: Disne...

We’re days away from the Big Game, and with that, watch parties full of snacks. Grocery prices are going up, as everything from bird flu to bad weather are hiking up prices at the highest pace in more than a year. The cost of groceries increased nearly 2% in December compared to the year before, according to the Labor Department. A way to help stem those costs? Discounts and cash-back offers, whic...

Two years after Tubi's ad during football's Big Game stole the attention of millions, the FAST platform is streaming the game itself. It's an incredible turn of events and another landmark moment in the evolution of live sports streaming. Of course, the game will still be broadcast on Fox, but for the first time ever, the Big Game will be shown for free on a FAST platform. Tubi CMO Nicole Parlapia...

The TikTok party didn’t stop in the U.S. as President Trump signed an executive order to keep it active for 75 days. With the clock ticking, marketers are strategizing their next move in case the social media platform does go dark. Michelle Castillo joins The Current Report to discuss the entire industry's realization that even if a platform seems to be the holy grail of marketing, it’s not worth...

To read the full stories included in this episode: US Forecast Trends to Watch in 2025: https://bit.ly/4g5zsHA The Current Report is our weekly news roundup of what’s happening in the world of digital media. We headline topical stories every edition — everything from connected TV to retail media networks to new initiatives around identity — offering our fresh take on why it's relevant for the mark...

Still fresh off the news of Omnicom and IPG merging, all the agencies that work within the holding companies are plugging along. IPG’s Initiative is one of those agencies. It counts Amazon, Nike, Unilever and Nintendo among the brands it serves. Initiative U.S. CEO Stacy DeRiso joined The Current Report at CES to talk about retail media networks' emergence at the conference, maximizing clients' do...

Ad tech dominated the CES experience again, with ease as a key tenet of conversations across the week. Making the advertising experience easy for brands and agencies is a top priority for Spotify in 2025. The digital audio giant has opened up programmatic capabilities for advertisers of all sizes by testing its own ad exchange. Still, according to WARC, In 2024, audio will account for 24.5% of ad-...

It’s the final episode of The Current Report for the year, so we’re recapping the biggest stories and topics of 2024 – from streaming to potential fallout with both of Google’s antitrust cases, the state of news advertising and the landmark year for podcasting. To help us get a handle on this dramatic year in ad tech who better than Lou Paskalis. Lou has decades of experience in the advertising in...

The news of Omnicom and IPG merging lit up the advertising world last week. The holding companies had a combined revenue of more than $25 billion in 2023, and merging could make the new-faced Omnicom the largest holding company in the world. Madison and Wall CEO Brian Wieser joins The Current Report to break down the implications, from the increased scale to how AI plays into the deal. _______ To...

Walmart finalized its $2.3 billion acquisition of VIZIO. And for for Walmart, this deal is clearly about more than selling TVs. Walmart can match its shopping transaction data with Vizio’s data on who’s watching what to make things like ad targeting much more precise. And that’s a big deal for the retailer, as almost a third of its operating income in the last quarter, about 2 billion dollars, cam...

The landmark adtech trial of the century has now officially come and gone. Google and the Department of Justice wrapped up their cases with closing arguments last week. Next up – a decision in the case from the Judge presiding in the case, Judge Leonie Brinkema. Judge Brinkema said she expects to have a decision by the end of the year, but that could get pushed out to the start of next year. To ge...

The Department of Justice is proposing big remedies in the Google antitrust search case, after a landmark ruling in August found Google held a monopoly over search. These remedies could reshape the future of the internet. The headline: the Justice Department wants Google to sell its Chrome browser and share data. Plus it’s leaving the door open for Android to be sold as well. Search advertising ac...

The holiday season is fast approaching and Americans are ready to spend. Adults in the US plan to spend an average of $2,100 dollars, up 7% from last year, according to Bank of America’s holiday shopping survey. And six figure earners, those who make between $100,000 and $199,000 a year and say they’re gonna spend more, is up 17% from last year. Here’s a number you might not recognize – small busi...

Donald Trump was once again elected as the President of the United States last week, becoming the first president since Grover Cleveland in 1892 to win back the presidency after losing a re-election bid.   One tech company is 3 for 3 in successfully predicting who would become the president in the last 3 elections. That company, Resonate, relies on consumer data and intelligence to deliver data-dr...

On the eve of election day in the U.S, the number of news outlets reporting on the races is continuing to dissipate. A recent report from Northwestern University found 127 newspapers across America closed down in 2023, leaving nearly 55 million Americans with limited or no access to local news. This continues the expanding trend of news deserts we’ve seen over the years, as now more than half of c...

More and more, brands are under pressure to figure out if they should attach to cultural or social issues, or stay out of those issues all together. Some of that pressure comes from consumers themselves. A recent survey from sustainability consultant BSR and Morning Consult found that U.S. consumers are four times more likely to say companies need to do more to promote social justice.   There are...

More non-traditional advertising companies have entered the ad game recently with their own media networks, from Uber to United Airlines leveraging their deep amounts of consumer data. Now PayPal is the latest entrant, led by the architect of Uber’s ad business Mark Grether. With over a trillion dollars of digital transactions running through PayPal every year, 400 million active accounts, and 35...

Upfront deals are now being activated now that the fall season is underway – the traditional moment when TV networks launch their prime shows. But as we’ve seen in recent years, streaming platforms and companies have become an emerging force in the upfronts market. One of the main players in the streaming market is Roku, which has seen big growth in revenue recently. The company’s overall revenue ...

The Current is on the ground at Advertising Week in New York, speaking to top-level marketers about the industry's biggest topics, from the future of streaming to retail media networks and potential impending fallout from the Google antitrust adtech trial. On this episode of The Current Report, UM Worldwide's chief product officer Andy Littlewood breaks down why he thinks AI is advancing past bein...

Now that the Google antitrust trial focused around digital advertising has ended, the next move will be the Department of Justice and Google coming back to the courtroom November 25 for closing arguments. Marketecture's Ari Paparo, who has covered the entire trial, dives into what he thought of Google's defense, what the ruling might be and what the next steps could be for the digital advertising...

Google is in the middle of its defense during the third week of the DOJ's adtech antitrust trial. On this episode of The Current Report, attorney Tom Blakely shares why he believes the government has a strong case. _______  To read the full stories included in this episode:  Google’s No Good Very Bad Start to Its Case: https://substack.com/@tomblakely/p-149221869 _______  The Current Report is our...

The Fed dropped interest rates last week for the first time in 4 years. So what's it all mean for marketers? On this episode of The Current Report, we're diving into what verticals could be affected the most with Noble People's Steven Frey.  _____ To read the full stories included in this episode: Annual US consumer inflation fell to 2.5% in August, a 3-year low: https://apnews.com/article/inflati...

The NFL will exclusively stream at least one game a week this season, as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Peacock and ESPN are all streaming partners. Live sports rights in the U.S. are estimated at $30 billion in 2024, according to a report with S&P Global, with more of those rights moving to streaming.  On The Current Report, Chris Brooklier speaks with the author of that report, Scott Robson, about...

We’re just a week away from the start of the U.S. government’s antitrust trial against Google, the second one taking place this year. This one alleges that the company is illegally monopolizing the ad tech market.  The trial comes hot on the heels of another DOJ antitrust case, whose verdict in August charged Google with monopolizing the search engine market. In the lead up to this second trial, t...

Political campaigns have long been challenged with evidence that their ads or messaging is working. Now, tech from Swayable’s James Slezak is making that measurement possible in real-time. Hear more on this week’s episode of The Current Report. _______ To read the full stories included in this episode: Inside political marketers' strategies to get Democrats elected: https://www.thecurrent.com/poli...