July 9, 2025  |  SIGN UP

Michael Bürgi
SENIOR EDITOR, MEDIA BUYING AND PLANNING

The mixing of politics and media just keeps getting messier – and it's putting media agencies in an awkward place.

The fact that CBS Paramount had to pay off President Trump in order to secure its new ownership has many in the news business worried about bad precedents being set. The fact that President Trump's Truth Social has a streaming deal with Newsmax makes for an extremely uncomfortable – some would say inappropriate – relationship between an administration and a news outlet. Even Linda Yaccarino's resignation from X has a political tinge to it, thanks to Elon Musk's love/hate relationship with the president.

How is a media agency supposed to make the right decisions on where and when to invest in media when the media becomes filled with political landmines? I don't have an answer. All I can predict is that it's likely going to get worse over the next 3.5 years, as all norms of keeping media buying and politics at arm's length fly out the proverbial window. Fairness Doctrine, we hardly knew ye. 

ADVERTISEMENT

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE

Media Buying Briefing: The upfront isn’t moving along for a few surprising reasons

The marketplace is being slowed down due to increasing complexity, and discrepancies with Nielsen’s latest ratings system.

AGENCY CULTURE

When should an agency go the ESOP route, and what are the risks?

Boiled down to their essence, ESOPs are when an owner or founder sells their stake in an agency to the employees who all receive stock, most often held in a trust.

SPONSORED BY KEEN DECISION SYSTEMS

How brands are weathering a turbulent economy with scenario-based planning

Amid economic uncertainty, brands often adjust their marketing plans, whether by shifting messaging or allocating spend to different channels. However, it’s important that brands not cut spending altogether. Cutting spend has negative short- and long-term consequences for a brand, resulting in a loss of brand equity, customer loyalty and sales.

DATA REGULATION

TikTok might be working on a standalone U.S. app, but marketers aren’t sold on the idea – yet

TikTok is developing a lifeboat for its American business, but media buyers are wary of advertising implications.

SPONSORED BY CELTRA

What is the biggest blocker to marketing performance?

The real challenge marketing teams face is system-wide: the absence of a connected, end-to-end creative supply chain. Modern marketing demands a system that can support speed, scale and complexity. The advertisers who implement such a system gain efficiency, agility and consistency, and they are better equipped to grow.

Get the guide

RETAIL MEDIA REWRITTEN

Retail media’s mid-2025 reality: Why advertisers are going all in on full-funnel

Retail media’s meteoric rise may finally be leveling off — and that’s forcing advertisers to take a harder look at what they’re getting for their money.

GENERATIVE AI

Agencies create specialist units to help marketers’ solve for AI search gatekeepers

Wpromote, Kepler and Jellyfish practices aim to illuminate impact of black box LLMs' understanding of brands search and social efforts.

SPONSORED BY VIOOH

Why brands like Gucci are leveraging premium DOOH to drive performance

Brands need guaranteed access to premium screens, but traditional OOH buying methods aren’t able to offer the dynamic data-triggered opportunities marketers have grown accustomed to in digital display. A recent Gucci campaign demonstrated the benefits of using both programmatic guaranteed and non-guaranteed deals to drive foot traffic.

DIGIDAY AWARDS

Digiday Awards: Final call for entries

This Friday, July 11 marks the last chance to enter the Digiday Awards. Submit your achievements across categories including Best Use of AI, Best Branding Campaign B2B and more. Don't miss this opportunity to put your work front and center through daily newsletters, on-site announcements and more.

SPONSORED BY TEENVOICE