Digiday Daily

April 09, 2026

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Rather than sponsor sports leagues and clubs, advertisers like State Farm, Nissan, Google and Ford are putting themselves in the role of ringmaster and producing their own branded content built around sports fandom.

Ford Bronco, for example, has been working with the Pro League Network (PLN), an extreme sports channel available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, to create sports programming featuring their vehicles in a starring role.

TOP STORY

Marketing in Sports

Ford, Nissan and State Farm are embedding their brands in sports as they chase fandoms

Advertisers are rewriting the branded entertainment playbook for a sports-focused media landscape.

OTHER THINGS TO KNOW

Before the term signal loss gained popularity, media owners and their advertising partners grew accustomed to hacking the programmatic auction to increase the value of their inventory, but this never solved the root issue. Partner insights from Optable.
In the reality of today’s media environment, scale is fragile. Traffic is rented. Content alone is no longer defensible. But participation turns audiences from passive consumers into active participants. Partner insights from Viafoura.
Join us at the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit, May 6–8 in Palm Springs, to connect with programmatic leaders from Havas, Publicis, OMD and many others. Learn more and secure your pass.

A MESSAGE FROM PEBBLEPOST

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MEDIA & PLATFORMS

AI Revenue Generation

The Washington Post's Arc XP adds TollBit to help publishers make money from AI bot traffic

The Washington Post’s Arc XP adds TollBit to help smaller publishers monetize AI bot traffic, offering a path into AI licensing revenue.

Member exclusive

Media Briefing: Another AI threat emerges for publishers: the third-party scraper

A growing network of third-party web scrapers is fueling an AI content licensing market, where publisher content is scraped and sold.

PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM PATHLABS

Agencies are thriving in a high-tech delivery world with human-led service

Tools meant to free up time for high-priority tasks require more human attention, not less, leaving no time for necessary agency work that compounds: strategic planning, senior-level guidance and new business.

MARKETING

Brands in Culture

Possible expands not only its area but also its marketer presence, aka 'gold dust'