Thirty-second ad messages went for an average $2 million, according to media-buying execs. Prices were as low at $1.7 million and as high as $2.3 million. Read the full story by Wayne Friedman

ABC and the Oscars are hoping for a fourth year of audience growth with this Sunday's 97th Academy Awards. Read the full story by Adam Buckman

How does a Gold Card for the right Russian oligarchs connect with the Oscars? Consider "Anora," about a stripper's encounter with an oligarch's son. Read the full story by Barbara Lippert

We are an economic power. We are a military power. However, we are no longer the leader of the free world. Read the full story by Dave Morgan

Founded on the spirit of 1776, America's constitutional republic was not built for the dispiriting reality of today, especially government and corporate control of an increasingly marginalized free press. Read the full story by Joe Mandese

Today's "no buy" movement is meant to pressure companies on DEI policies. Its real impact will be measured in trust, not sales. Read the full story by Sarah Mahoney

A group billing itself as Everyone Hates Elon is stoking the flames with a guerrilla campaign in the U.K. and Germany that labels Tesla as The Swasticar. Read the full story by Tanya Gazdik

One effort shelved: "Wild to Mild" campaign juxtaposing images of lions and kittens as analogy for how immunization can help tame the flu. Read the full story by Tanya Gazdik

"Digital advertising will shift from targeting people to influencing AI agents that shop on their behalf," PMG head of search Paul Low told MediaPost when asked to describe what digital … Read the full story by Laurie Sullivan

The robots are coming for media planners, or so claimed a recent column here. As CEO of an independent media agency, I can assure you the obituary for human-led media … Read the full story by Jeff Larson

January's growth expands on the same month a year ago, and follows a strong double-digit finish to 2024's ad-spending growth. Read the full story by Joe Mandese

The initial outlook for 2025: an organic decline of 2% albeit with some improvement in the second half. Read the full story by Steve McClellan

YouTube says it will show more mid-roll ads at natural break points "like pauses and transitions," and fewer ads "in the middle of a sentence or action sequence," where they … Read the full story by Colin Kirkland

The mode looks different than Microsoft's Copilot, but is similar to Google's AI search with summarized results. Read the full story by Laurie Sullivan

Being on TV night after night criticizing, complaining and attacking seems like an exhausting thing to do. Read the full story by Adam Buckman

The new opinion area will support "personal liberties and free market," Bezos tells staff. Read the full story by Ray Schultz

At a Barclays investor conference this week, managing director Julien Roch asked Krakowsky what the "bottlenecks" were to IPG getting its principal trading operating off the ground. Read the full story by Steve McClellan

The TV news-and-commentary landscape is undergoing changes in the new era of Trump, some related to his ascendance and some not. Read the full story by Adam Buckman