- The First - And Probably Last - Omnicom Media Global Landscape in
Planning & Buying Insider on
01/13/2026
In what will likely prove to be Magna Global's last -- and Omnicom Media's only -- public global/regional ad spending estimates, the former Interpublic unit quietly updated its Atlas database at
year-end with its official December 2025 forecast.
- If Your Agent Doesn't Read This Blog, We'll Kill It in
Media 3.0 on
01/13/2026
The good news is AI experts don't believe agents will automate reading trade pub content like this anytime soon. The bad news is marketers do.
- Media Agency Of The Year: MRM's AI Relationship Management in
Agency of the Year on
01/09/2026
In an AI-mediated world, the MRM practice is engineering how to manage the relationships between agents representing consumers and brands.
- Comscore, Trade Desk Integrate 'Contextual,' Audio Content-Level Targeting in
Planning & Buying Insider on
01/08/2026
Based on initial test, the integration has been boosting incremental reach an average of 10% by adding digital audio to the mix.
- Holding Company Of The Year: WPP Media in
Agency of the Year on
01/07/2026
It may have started with vision and sizzle, but the year evolved into a sophisticated, methodological framework for rearchitecting advertising and media on the road to 2030.
- Omnicom Reveals New Big 3 Influences: People, AI, Influencers - In That Order in
Planning & Buying Insider on
01/06/2026
Omnicom Media's new "Future of Brand Influence" study implies a new "multi-microphone" stage of consumer influence omprised of AI and people, as well as "influencers," whether they be man or machine.
- Agency Tech Giants Mediaocean, Basis Announce 'Foundational' Partnership in
MediaDailyNews on
01/06/2026
The companies declined to disclose terms of the deal, but said it is an "end-to-end" integration that will automate the entire media campaign process.
- In Memoriam Addendum: The Corporation For Public Broadcasting in
Red, White & Blog on
01/05/2026
The corporation's board voted Monday to dissolve it to "protect the future of public media."
- Happy New Epoch in
Planning & Buying Insider on
01/05/2026
Agentic media-buying may only have started a few months ago, but it's accelerating quickly. Just watch this two-minute demo video of PubMatic's new agent-to-agent media-buying system.
- The 2.8% Solution in
Red, White & Blog on
01/04/2026
Is that too much of a trade publisher's total coverage? Not enough? How about never -- is never good for you?
- The 2.8% Solution
by
Joe Mandese
(Red, White & Blog on
01/04/2026)
@Ed Papazian: Just goes to prove why you're still the media analytics guru. I did not originally ask that prompt, but I just did and Gemini estimates that nearly 50% of the comments made on MediaPost articles in 2025 were related to political commentary. Gemini estimates political commentary "over-indexed 18x" comments on all other content published by MediaPost last year.I'm not sure what to do with that insight though. I think it's just the nature of the subject matter.
- The Most Red - Er, I Mean Read - White & Blogs
by
Joe Mandese
(Red, White & Blog on
12/29/2025)
@Dan C. from MS Entertainment: Heh-heh, I can always count on you to express something debasing, can't I. Not sure how it helps the discussion, but just to fact-check a couple of points you may not understand: 1) I've covered political media and marketing for nearly half a century at Adweek, Ad Age, and yes -- even journalistically at MediaPost. It has always been one of my beats. That might be why my publisher asked me to take over "Red, White & Blog" to provide my own opinion-based commentary. By the way, opinions are inherently biased and Ive never implied mine were any different. As always, if you don't like reading them, why do you -- and why do you take the time to troll -- er, I mean comment -- about them?Lastly, opinions have always been a part of journalist. In fact, news organizations often have whole sections devoted to them. They're called "op-eds" and even though we call "Red, White & Blog" a blog, it is an op-ed commentary.Hope that clarifies things for you, but I'm sure this comment will be repeated in some form sometimes soon.Happy New Year!
- The Suite Smell Of Nielsen's Big Data Success
by
Joe Mandese
(TV Watch on
12/22/2025)
@William Abbott: You are fundamentally correct, and it's mostly due to the fact that I often write columns like this one too cryptically. If you read between the lines (including the use of the word "suite" in the headline), I was hoping readers would realize some of Nielsen's Big Data success was intended as sarcasm. But I've always appreciated Howard Shimmel's efforts to make his case and figured this might be as good a time as any to present it.Personally, I'm not convinced, and the most important part of this story (as well as the Big Data integration stories coming out of big ad agencies) is that we now live in an industry that prizes data for data sake and that it has become the grease that keeps the gears turning.It has been frustrating for me personally, because it's almost impossible to vet superior data integration claims when I can't see either the data or the integration, so all a trade journalist can do is report what people and companies say they can do, and let it stand on its own merits. But I can also keep raising the question: Is it actually better?That's what I was trying to do with this column.The other most important part is the ongong reference to Kelly Abcarian's brilliant quip that "every single number" the advertising and media industry now uses is modeled. Not primary audience measurement. I think that's important to remember, because modeled numbers are only as good as the model (assumptions being applied) and the data inputs they're being applied to.I have no doubt that Nielsen has some of the best data modelers in the world working for it. (See Howard Shimmel.) But they are models nonetheless.
- Misinformer Of The Year: Nick Fuentes
by
Joe Mandese
(Red, White & Blog on
12/19/2025)
@Dan C. from MS Entertainment: Funny how you read things into columns "Madese" never wrote or even implied. Other than my Global Alliance for Irresponsible Media plug, all of it came from Media Matters' "Misinformer of the Year" announcement.Speaks volumes that you don't think Fuentes should be condemned for what he promotes.
- The Federal Censorship Commission
by
Joe Mandese
(TV Watch on
12/18/2025)
@Mark Winslow: Interesting point, but also mostly whataboutism. My column was about the characterization -- and reaction -- of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr during a Congressional hearing about threats he made to media he regulates (TV stations). The FCC doesn't regulate social media platforms, which are inherently unregulated -- and indemnified from any liability of the content they distribute, thanks to Section 230 of the Communications Act.And personally, I don't think you can compare the White House pressuring social media networks to moderate misinformation to the head of the FCC threatening government licensed TV stations for broadcasting a comedian whose humor the administration didn't like.One was pressure, jawboning, "extensive communications," or whatever you want to call it on companies the White House had no regulatory power over. The other was an explicit threat to TV station owners, who are licensed by the FCC.
- Snow White And The Seven Prompts
by
Joe Mandese
(Media 3.0 on
12/11/2025)
@Brian Bieron: I have heard of Google and written about it in the past, including how it indexes images published on the Web. This column was about chatbots -- including Google's Gemini -- and how they generate things that may not be appropriate for children.
- After Peaking In Recent Years, LGBTQ+ Ad Spending Decelerates Under Trump
by
Joe Mandese
(MediaDailyNews on
12/09/2025)
@Dan C. from MS Entertainment: You missed the part where the rate of growth decelerated 61% during Trump's first year of his second term.
- From H2H To A2A, A New Marketing Framework
by
Joe Mandese
(Media 3.0 on
11/10/2025)
@David Raab: Would love to read your take and happy to publish it H2M (on MediaPost), if that's something you're interesetd in. Happy Thanksgiving.
- When TV Was Really Good: The Old Normal Of Alan Cohen
by
Joe Mandese
(TV Watch on
11/10/2025)
@Tim Spengler: Great anecdote. I did not know that. Thank you for sharing. I'm only surprised that Alan didn't use something from the Boss.
- It's Moron Again In America
by
Joe Mandese
(Red, White & Blog on
10/24/2025)
@Andrew Susman: I'm proud to say I broke the story that the Tuesday Team had created "There's A Bear In The Woods" spot, and got to interview Hal Riney after it broke. If he were updating it today, it would probably be more like, "There's an unbearable in the woods..."