Digiday Daily

December 23, 2025

The tariff policies imposed by U.S. President Trump at the beginning of his second term in office turned 2025 on its head for marketers. Though the political drama around tariffs quieted down in the second half of the year, their economic impact will be felt for months to come.

TOP STORY

Managing Through Crisis

How brands shifted marketing and media strategies through year of tariffs

Marketers share how they navigated the maze of tariffs and regulatory changes this year.

OTHER THINGS TO KNOW

Panelists at 4As Gaming Day underscored that the term “gamer” feels increasingly outdated and often unnecessarily creates distance between people and the behaviors they already participate in daily. Partner insights from Activision Blizzard Media.
Leaders need new frameworks for handling the human-agent hybrid workforce. This means rethinking foundational assumptions about expertise, collaboration and career development. Partner insights from BetterUp.
According to a new Digiday and IntentIQ survey, only 21% of respondents reported being “very confident” about their ability to accurately identify and reach their target audiences across digital channels. Partner insights from IntentIQ.

MARKETING

Generative AI

Despite the hype, agentic AI isn’t ready to take the brand controls just yet

Despite agentic AI boosting content creation speed, human oversight remains critical due to concerns over hallucination, brand consistency.

The Programmatic Marketer

Media buyers shift spend from The Trade Desk’s OpenPath over transparency concerns

OpenPath offers buyers a “cleaner” route to publishers, but some are concerned about lack of clarity over indirect costs.

PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM INSTACART ADS

Report: The state of retail media

RMNs have historically limited ad placements to their own digital properties, but now many RMNs are extending ad offerings to off-site channels like social media, CTV and email to improve growth opportunities and expand reach.

PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM FULLTHROTTLE.AI

Why CFOs are looking for ad tech that blends marketing and finance needs

Most ad tech platforms are built for CMOs, so the real breakthrough is finding one that’s also built for CFOs — a true ad tech operating system that unites marketing performance with financial precision.

MEDIA & PLATFORMS

Business of TV

‘A year of loose ends’: Digiday editors share top takeaways from 2025

This year was filled with major developments – from Netflix’s planned WBD deal to Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG to Google’s ultimately cookie reversal – and Digiday editors Sara Jerde and Seb Joseph help to recap the year that was (and wasn’t).