media reporter at @adweek | [email protected] | subscribe to my weekly media newsletter, On Background, below
Joined October 2013
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If you follow, work in, or care about the media industry, make sure to sign up for my free weekly newsletter, On Background.
Every Wednesday, subscribers receive a pleasantly readable email stuffed with scoops, original reporting, and emerging trends.
preferences.adweek.com/on-ba…
SCOOP: Anthropic has signed a content licensing deal—its first—with the Associated Press.
Through it, Anthropic gains access to election data in exchange for citing and paying the AP.
The deal marks a pivot for Anthropric, which had previously eschewed these arrangements.
Read the full @Adweek story, in my media newlsetter On Background, below:
adweek.com/media/anthropic-l…
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SCOOP: Condé Nast is on track to fall around $40 million short of its 2H targets for its U.S. advertising business, according to internal documents.
In Q4 alone, it’s forecasting roughly $130 million in U.S. ad bookings, more than $35 million below its internal goal.
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Read the full story, for @Adweek, below:
adweek.com/media/conde-nast-…
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New: The biggest trend I'm hearing at Advertising Week is not creators or AI — it's the return of real-world ads.
The shift reflects a new truth: As the internet becomes less trustworthy, less trafficked, and more mediated by AI, physical space is becoming more valuable.
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Taken together, these forces—the declining trust in online content, the growing ability to bypass websites, and the rise of agents that ignore advertising—could make parts of the digital ecosystem less valuable to marketers.
My latest for On Background:
adweek.com/media/ai-advertis…
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New: Uncensored Media, the YouTube-based media company founded by Piers Morgan, is rolling out its first paid subscription offering.
The company is hoping 2% to 4% of its 4.6 million YouTube subscribers will pay $4.99 a month for early, ad-free, exclusive content.
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New: Morning Brew has acquired the creator-led editorial brand Express Checkout, which covers the CPG industry through a mix of newsletters, social video, and podcasts.
Terms were not disclosed. The founders of EC, Nate Rosen and Jenna Movsowitz, will join Morning Brew.
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New: The adtech platform OpenWeb, which monetizes publishers' comment sections and was valued at $1.5 billion in 2022, declared insolvency this week.
The company faced a shortfall of roughly $5 million, which worsened when its largest lender demanded $20 million.
New: Creators are ascendent, and investors want to work with them.
But natural limitations, such as creators' small teams and funding needs, have forced financial firms to retool their approach.
Slow Ventures, which invested in three creators on Wednesday, has one strategy.
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Breaking: Condè Nast CEO Roger Lynch is out at the company after seven and a half years, according to a memo he sent to employees this morning. He is leaving to become the new CEO of Mattel.
Board member Mike Perlis will step in as interim CEO.
Fascinating first-person account in @_capermedia about the New York chef behind Bartolo and Ernesto going on Ozempic.
caper.media/p/ryan-bartlow-c…
The Washington Post officially named Jeff D'Onofrio as its new publisher and CEO on Wednesday, according to a company spokesperson.
D'Onofrio had been serving in the role in an interim capacity after Will Lewis resigned.
The note also lists some recent wins for the publisher.
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Anyone who knows me knows that I am a massive fan of the San Antonio Spurs.
But when I got the opportunity to profile Jaylen Brown, the longtime Boston Celtics shooting guard who was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers this summer, I jumped at the opportunity.
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New: The lifestyle publisher i-D, now owned by Karlie Kloss' Bedford Media, named chief commercial officer Michiel Steur as its new CEO.
The appointment comes amid a broader wave of transformation at i-D, which launched in 1980 but was owned by Vice for much of the last decade.
New: The B2B media company Workweek has raised $17 million in new funding, bringing its total capital raise to $36.5 million.
The company is using the financing to expand its B2B newsletter platform and ad network.
You can read the full story on @Adweek:
New: In response to traffic disruption from AI firms, publishers have largely adopted a "woo and sue" approach.
They strike content licensing deals with amenable AI companies and take legal action against the rest.
But one AI firm, Anthropic, stands curiously apart.
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New: The social series Track Star, which former Rolling Stone CEO Gus Wenner joined in January, is one several creator franchises looking to become a media company.
In July, the company hired its first head of sales and first outside talent, part of a broader expansion.
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