Next in Media by Mike Shields

I was talking recently with Omdia Senior Research Director, Media and Entertainment Maria Rua Aguete about the microdrama phenomenon (with some skepticism of my own), when she remarked how good these services were are surfacing shows that ‘got’ her, versus her ongoing frustrations with streaming TV shows.

I have to admit, I am confused about Nielsen spending $2.5 billion to acquire DoubleVerify. It may be because Nielsen doesn’t want to be Nielsen anymore. I remember meeting with early DoubleVerify executives when the company first hit the scene, and “verification” was a new concept in digital media. Early on, it was mainly about helping brands make sure their display ads ran when and where they were supposed to, and not next to Nazi content and the like.

Over the past several years, the talk in retail media circles has been the need to “go off platform” - and “definitely full-funnel.” Which has essentially been code for “we’re running out of room and ad dollars on our shopping website and app” and “we want access to bigger brand budgets.” Thanks for reading Next in Media! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

There is something very cool about working as an independent analyst, able to say whatever you want in a newsletter without oversight. And there is something very humbling about the fact that with all that independence comes almost zero power or real influence. A few months ago I wrote about the anti-snoring brand Respyria was posting a bunch of ads on Instagram making it look as though celebrities like Joe Rogan and Jack Black were endorsing the product in podcast interviews.

There was an amusing moment a few weeks ago at the Advertising Economic Forum in New York, where Founder and Executive Chairman of S4 Capital Sir Martin Sorrell gently took Madison and Wall analyst Brian Wieser to task. Wieser had just sent out a newsletter regarding the future of ad agencies in the impending AI era in which he basically called off the various doomsday scenarios facing the industry. Agencies will endure, he argued.