May 16, 2025  |  SIGN UP

Jim Cooper
DIGIDAY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Upfront season 2025 wrapped yesterday afternoon and while the presentations themselves were as flashy - and non-news events - as always, the undercurrent of a shaky economy and the efficacy of the safety values placed on any advance deals were really the main event.

Dealmaking will follow and by all accounts could stretch well into July when many expect the true effects of a softening economy will kick in.

Also interesting to see was the undeniable presence of creators and their content across both NewFronts and upfront weeks. As Digiday’s Seb Joseph wrote this week, “legacy players can no longer afford to fight over scraps in shrinking media categories. Instead, they’re chasing a bigger piece of a growing digital ad pie and creators are among their sharpest tools to get there.”

Oh, and we broke the news that Microsoft will scuttle its Xandr DSP. Read more below ICYMI – Happy Friday!

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THE CREATOR ECONOMY

The Upfronts got a taste of the creator economy

Creators might be playing cameo roles in this year’s TV and streaming upfront marketplace – but give it time. The spotlight’s inching closer. What started as a YouTube sideshow is creeping onto the main stage. From the talent in the room to the lingo in the air, creators cast a long shadow over this year’s weeklong industry parade.

THE PROGRAMMATIC MARKETER

Microsoft Advertising is closing the Xandr DSP, layoffs pending

Rumors of such a closure have been circulating for some time, with Microsoft Advertising contacting media buyers earlier Wednesday (May 14), informing them of the planned sunsetting of the DSP, according to two sources familiar with the developments. One source said the closure of the Xandr DSP would involve multiple layoffs.

SPONSORED BY PATHLABS

Why scaling digital media services is key to long-term success for agencies

Agencies that don’t scale their digital operations will be outpaced by those that do. While building an in-house digital team can strain resources, outsourcing may reduce margins and limit control. So, some agencies are turning to a flexible partner model, enabling them to scale digital media services efficiently while maintaining their independence.

EVOLVING AGENCIES

After a year of Google’s AI Overviews, marketers consider tweaking their paid search strategies

As the AI-generated summaries have become more common in search results, marketers have begun actively examining how their sites can appeal to both human users and AI crawlers, throwing established SEO strategies into question. They’re also keeping a close eye on the performance of their paid search investments.

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DIGIDAY PROGRAMMATIC MARKETING SUMMIT

‘Trade Desk is the Spirit Airlines of the DSP world’: Overheard at the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit

Challenges in CTV measurement, pricing and transparency among CTV ad tech vendors and DSP fragmentation and fee structures were pain points that bubbled up during the town hall discussions at the event, which are held under Chatham House Rules, granting participants anonymity in exchange for candor.

GENERATIVE AI

S4 Capital trades billable hours for outputs as AI redraws agency economics

CEO Sir Martin Sorrell said the rise of automation is forcing a rethink of how the firm is paid, particularly with those marketers who are under pressure to slash production costs and funnel more dollars into media without increasing overall spend.

SPONSORED BY ADSTRA

How composable identity unlocks the power of business-to-person marketing

With a business-to-person strategy, B2B marketers no longer view business and consumer identities as separate. The challenge is building an identity solution that effectively takes in all the relevant information and makes it actionable. Composable identity solves this problem; unlike rigid, bundled solutions, it is modular, interoperable and designed for control.