Next in Media

Hosted by Mike Shields

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316

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Oct 2026

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About the show

Everything we know about the media, marketing and advertising business is being completely upended thanks to technology and data. We're talking with some of the top industry leaders as they steer their companies through constant change.

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October 15, 202610 min

The Creator Economy Is ‘a Capability, Not a Channel

As corporate titans like Unilever commit half their marketing budgets to creators, brand leaders face an aggressive operational reset across media, infrastructure, and measurement. Former YouTube executive Tara Walpert Levy breaks down why the creator economy must be treated as an enterprise capability—demanding automated ad-tech plumbing, CFO-level financial accountability, and real-time content agility. Key Highlights 🏢 Stop boxing creators into a single media line item; treat them as a core company capability that injects speed and cultural relevance straight into your product and brand strategy. ⚙️ Pouring half your ad budget into creators won't work on manual spreadsheets—brands need automated, third-party ad tech to handle creator matchmaking, logistics, and tracking at real scale. 📊 The free pass from finance is over, and creator campaigns now have to prove their worth the old-fashioned way: hard sales, clean marketing metrics, and bottom-line profit. 🎬 Legacy networks will burn cash if they treat creators like expensive movie studios instead of running high-volume, low-cost rosters that adapt to audiences on the fly. 🤖 AI pays off when creators use it behind the scenes for workflow heavy lifting like ideation, editing, and auto-dubbing—not when platforms flood feeds with cheap, fully synthetic junk. 📺 TV and creator video aren't in a winner-take-all fight; the ad dollars are stacking across both, so smart marketers have to pull cash from social, linear, and streaming pots at the same time. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Tara Walpert Levy on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Intro 00:55 Unilever’s creator-budget commitment and the challenge of scale 2:17 Creators as a capability rather than a single budget line 3:01 Building cross-platform creator infrastructure 4:07 AI’s promise and unresolved boundaries in creator content 5:09 Measuring creator marketing against sales and profit 6:25 Social video, television, and streaming compete for creator budgets 7:19 Advice for traditional media: more creators, lower cost, faster optimization 8:06 Brand experimentation, organizational change, and CEO-level relevance

October 13, 202626 min

Nestlé & CreativeX Reveal Creator Ad Effectiveness

Nestlé Global Head Daniele Tundo and CreativeX CEO Anastasia Leng unpack how Fortune 500 brands build the operational infrastructure needed to professionalize creator partnerships and measure real business impact. From integrating creative observability tools to applying core advertising hygiene standards on paid boosts, this masterclass reveals what it takes to scale creator investments beyond vanity metrics. Key Highlights 🏗️ Stop splitting creator campaigns across PR and media teams—run it as its own unified practice with a single budget and clear rules. 🧼 The moment you put paid ad dollars behind an organic creator video, it has to follow basic advertising rules to actually build your brand. 🔍 Audit creator videos against your proven ad effectiveness data before throwing real ad spend behind them. 📊 Cap your creator spend around 10% to 20% of your total media budget, as performance tends to drop off past the 30% mark. 🌐 Platform-native tools are fine for trends, but major advertisers need one central platform to run creators across all channels. 🛡️ Prevent brand safety disasters by using knowledgeable ground teams for pre-launch checks rather than burying creators in endless approval chains. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Anastasia Leng on LinkedIn 🔗 Daniele Tundo on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Intro 2:20 Nestlé’s three waves of creator marketing 4:22 CreativeX’s role as a creative observability layer 6:08 Nestlé’s infrastructure audit and global operating model 7:34 Centralizing creator activation, approval, and technology 8:12 Applying Nestlé advertising learnings to creator ads 9:45 Integrating CreatorIQ and CreativeX before paid amplification 10:20 Authenticity for organic posts, advertising standards for paid work 11:11 Using creator learnings to improve traditional branded advertising 13:10 Balancing creator authenticity with long-term advertising impact 15:05 Creator-spending growth and apparent budget limits 17:21 Platform partnerships versus cross-platform control 18:51 Brand safety, governance, and the limits of creator-specific blame 21:17 Organic creator value and the role of paid boosting 23:19 Selecting creator content for paid media rather than standardizing everything 24:12 Creator content, LLMs, and consistent brand messages

October 6, 202624 min

Discord's Global VP Explains the Future of Ads

Discord Global VP of Advertising Adam Bauer breaks down why marketers must stop treating gaming as a niche vertical and start targeting it as an active consumer behavior. Discover how Discord's new self-service Ads Manager, real-time PlayQuest+ rewards, and community-led brand servers are reshaping digital advertising for Gen Z. Key Highlights 🎮 Treat gaming as an active habit people lean into, not just another passive channel on a spreadsheet. 🚫 Gen Z blocks and skips forced ads, so reaching them requires optional perks with a clear give-and-take. ⚙️ Self-serve ad tools make it easy for mainstream brands to launch, track, and scale rewarded video campaigns. ⚡ Real-time SDK integrations drop rewards directly into a game the second a player hits their goal. 🔄 Rewarded gameplay challenges give players who haven't logged in for a month or more a real reason to come back. 🛠️ Building custom assets for one virtual world lets you reuse them across platforms like Roblox and Fortnite to save budget. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Adam Bauer on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Intro 4:19 Identity resolution for cross-channel marketing 4:52 Discord’s deliberate, opt-in advertising strategy 8:36 Self-service buying and the expansion beyond gaming 11:10 PlayQuest+ and real-time in-game rewards 13:47 Why in-game advertising is gaining renewed momentum 15:20 Gaming budgets, participation, and measurement 18:25 Gaming as an essential consumer behavior, not a vertical 19:55 e.l.f. Cosmetics as a nontraditional Discord community example 21:35 Discord’s upcoming products and immersive Mission activations

September 29, 202622 min

Spy Ninjas President Shelly Soriano on How the Company is Trying to Build the WWE of YouTube

Spy Ninjas President Shelly Soriano breaks down how the YouTube-native serialized franchise scaled to 47 million subscribers and expanded beyond digital video into live entertainment, licensing, and retail. She reveals why keeping production values intentionally accessible maintains viewer trust, how a $25 million investment fuels their expansion, and why traditional entertainment talent must adapt to platform-native storytelling. Key Highlights 🤼 Borrowing WWE's formula—big characters mixed with unscripted improv; gives digital shows a proven blueprint for keeping fans hooked long-term. 🪆 Fancy Hollywood cameras can actually hurt engagement on YouTube; keeping video production simple makes creators feel relatable and lets kids play along at home. 🎪 Turning online fans into real-world visitors at physical venues like theme parks builds a profitable business that platform algorithms can't touch. 📱 Simply copy-pasting the same video to TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube doesn't work; each platform has its own audience and requires tailored content. 📊 When platforms tweak how they count views, creators have to show advertisers the difference between passive scroll-by views and real, intentional watch time. 🎯 Kids and parents respond much better to brands when products are built into the storyline or video challenge instead of sitting in standard ad breaks. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Shelly Soriano on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 1:56 Spy Ninjas’ franchise model, audience, and scale 2:38 Soriano’s digital-business background and the company’s revenue mix 6:14 Brand partnerships for children and family audiences 8:18 Authenticity over expensive production 10:42 YouTube’s rise, platform-specific strategy, and short-form opportunity 13:01 Spy Ninjas HQ: the Las Vegas live entertainment business 14:10 Algorithm stability and changing definitions of YouTube views 16:27 The $25 million investment and plans for expansion 17:40 The need for specialized creator-economy talent 19:53 Improving advertising infrastructure for creator media 21:11 The Creative Class: training the next generation of digital-entertainment workers

September 22, 202622 min

How Addressable TV Drives Real Business ROI

IQVIA Digital’s Justin Rosen reveals how addressable TV and CTV targeting are evolving beyond basic reach to demand high-fidelity data, rigorous privacy compliance, and proven closed-loop measurement. From identity resolution to the trap of the AI doom loop, discover how top media professionals connect upper-funnel audience quality directly to real-world business results. Key Highlights 🎯 Basic CTV targeting is now standard; the real edge comes down to data precision, scale, and accuracy. 🔒 Privacy can't be a post-campaign checklist—it has to start upfront with anonymized datasets and double-blind matching. ⚠️ AI speeds up media buying operations, but if your underlying audience data is bad, automation just speeds up your failure. 🤝 Addressable TV pays off quickest for brands sitting on strong first-party data who can directly link ad views to offline conversions. 📊 Outcome measurement is taking over as the true test of ROI, even if traditional panel ratings stay around to settle the bills. 🏛️ Clean rooms make cross-platform tracking possible across walled gardens by analyzing campaign performance without physically moving sensitive consumer data. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Justin Rosen on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 2:46 TV targeting becomes standard, while data quality becomes the differentiator 5:28 Shared goals across advertisers: accurate targeting and real outcomes 6:39 Pharmaceutical targeting: privacy compliance as the starting point 8:43 Fierce Pharma discussion: meaningful signals and the link to outcomes 10:56 AI can accelerate workflows, but cannot correct weak data 13:27 Addressable-TV growth depends on first-party data, simplicity, and trust 15:00 Nielsen’s continuing role and the rise of outcome-based measurement 16:35 Holistic cross-platform measurement and publisher transparency 18:06 Data clean rooms enable privacy-safe collaboration across walled gardens 19:50 Identity resolution is a foundational element of marketing accuracy 20:51 Measurement everywhere: flexibility across client identity systems

September 15, 202625 min

How Betches Built a TV-Quality Show In-House

Betches senior video producers Tess Tregellas and Madeline Mahoney reveal how they transformed a viral social media premise into their flagship scripted comedy series Sisters. They outline the operational mechanics of building an in-house creator studio, maintaining a sponsor-free first season to protect brand voice, and driving multi-platform distribution completely organically. Key Highlights 🎬 Short-form skits let you test creator chemistry and prove audience interest before committing big budgets to long-form shows. 🔒 Keeping your first season sponsor-free protects your characters and tone, making the show much more attractive to advertisers later. ⚡ A lean in-house crew skips Hollywood's endless development cycles, letting you film polished episodes in just a few days. 📐 Frame horizontal shots with vertical cutdowns in mind to get free organic reach across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts. 🎭 Casting guest stars with dedicated niche followings sneaks your show right into brand-new algorithmic communities. 🤝 Sponsor deals actually work when brands trust your sarcastic, natural voice instead of forcing corporate ad scripts. 📲 Turning audio podcasts into video vodcasts fits how people actually watch content—streaming YouTube on their living room TV. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Tess Tregellas on LinkedIn 🔗 Madeline Mahoney on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 1:22 Introduction to Betches and the interview guests 2:18 Roles at Betches and the company’s video-first transformation 5:57 From a real-life coincidence to a scripted sister comedy 7:17 Short-form, premium long-form, and production quality 09:24 Why Betches produced the show in-house 12:15 Sponsor-free first season and a more natural future brand opportunity 15:10 Writing for one-minute clips and learning platform behavior 17:49 Betches’ in-house talent model and external creator network 19:18 Branded content works when partners trust the Betches voice 20:30 Season two and a potential streaming adaptation 21:27 Advice for brands and publishers entering bigger video formats

September 9, 202620 min

WTF Happened to The Trade Desk?

As The Trade Desk confronts negative growth guidance, executive turnover, and a 15% workforce reduction, media analysts Brian Wieser and Luke Stillman dissect the structural missteps behind the company's valuation drop. They reveal how an insistence on open-web transparency manifestos lost ground to buyer demands for price, convenience, and direct supply path performance. Key Highlights 🎯 Marketers care about price, performance, and convenience—not speeches about saving the open web. 👁️ Founder vision works early on, but ignoring market feedback once you're big creates massive blind spots. 🧩 Buyers are sick of bloated tech stacks and want a simpler, direct path to ad inventory. 📺 Connected TV won't fetch crazy software margins when brands manage it like standard TV budgets. 🤝 Going straight to brand clients burns bridges with the agencies that built your business. 💸 Taking a 20% cut of ad spend works in boom times, but buyers won't tolerate high fees in a slowdown. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Brian Wieser on LinkedIn 🔗 Luke Stillman on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 2:04 Analysis of recent earnings, market valuation drops, and the 15% workforce reduction. 3:06 Marketers prioritize performance, pricing, and convenience over open-web transparency debates. 5:02 Jeff Green's persistent founder mindset versus changing organizational market dynamics. 09:34 AdTech tech stack collapse and the industry-wide push toward supply path optimization. 11:49 Sustainability challenges regarding total platform take rates exceeding 20%. 13:50 Leveraging newly hired executive talent to challenge internal consensus. 18:38 Missed capital allocation and acquisition opportunities during peak equity valuation.

September 1, 202622 min

How NBAT2 is Building Gateway Content for Gen Z

Traditional sports broadcasts are evolving into multi-platform cultural ecosystems driven by social media, gaming metaverses, and athlete creators. NBA Take-Two Media CEO Andrew Perlmutter explains how media brands can build participatory off-court entertainment that converts casual viewers into lifelong fans. Key Highlights 🏀 Live sports remain one of the few shared cultural anchors, using basketball as a natural entry point into fashion, music, and lifestyle programming. 🎮 Video games like NBA 2K function as interactive virtual spaces where fans build real connections by playing directly against actual NBA stars. 📱 Content strategy requires building custom video formats tailored specifically to how people consume media on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. ⚡ Younger fans demand hands-on participation over passive watching, preferring interactive features like call-in hotlines and fan-driven video game simulations. 🎙️ Digital media brands must maintain a strong, distinct point of view to avoid getting doused in a sea of generic content. 📺 Live game broadcasts are adapting to second-screen habits through alternate commentary casts and player-specific camera views. 👟 Successful brand partnerships weave products naturally into entertaining social storylines rather than forcing scripted endorsements or rigid ad reads. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Andrew Perlmutter on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Intro 2:22 NBA 2K as a metaverse-like participatory experience 5:30 Sports as an expanding cultural gateway 7:19 NBA R&D and accessible basketball-pop-culture formats 9:05 Joakim Noah’s Nomad and athletes becoming creators 11:08 Building shows for platforms, brand voices, and talent 14:19 Gen Z: preserving live-sports drama while enabling participation 17:00 Co-creation, fan experiments, and new sports entry points 18:57 Native brand partnerships in basketball-adjacent culture

August 25, 202628 min

"The Frustration is Real" - The NFL Unloads on Nielsen

Rushed methodology changes implemented mid-season by Nielsen have severely shaken the NFL's confidence in standard television ratings. NFL Chief Data Officer Paul Ballew explains how media fragmentation is forcing leagues and networks to demand radical transparency or switch to new transactional metrics. Key Highlights 📉 Changing ratings math in the middle of ad sales season destroys trust and throws billions in ad deals into chaos. 🤝 Traditional demographic panels aren't dead, but they are useless unless paired with hard transactional data. 📱 Streaming platforms are far more likely to ditch legacy ratings than traditional TV networks. 👥 Broken co-viewing math leaves huge money on the table for blockbuster events like the Super Bowl. ⚖️ Old-school measurement giants are trapped in the innovator's dilemma, trying to overhaul the engine while driving the car down the highway. 💳 TV ad buying will eventually trade on verified subscriber counts and device IDs instead of estimated viewer headcounts. 🔄 When measurement firms constantly issue "whoops" restatements, sports leagues have to publish their own audience numbers to save face. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Paul Ballew on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Intro 1:50 Grading Nielsen's Progress: Mixed Results 3:57 Three Core Problems Holding Nielsen Back 5:34 The Currency Wars: More Noise Than Change? 9:01 CreatorTV Sponsor Segment 10:07 Why the NFL Cares Beyond Top-Line Numbers 11:40 The Integrated Weighting Problem and Its Impact on Sports 13:33 The NFL's Collaborative Approach and Its Limits 15:54 Panels vs. Big Data: The Right Balance 17:54 The NFL's Own Data Capabilities and the Transactional Data Argument 20:04 Nielsen's Cultural Challenge and the Innovator's Dilemma 22:06 The NFL's Measurement Wish List 26:38 Could TV Measurement Move Beyond Viewership as a Currency?

August 18, 202626 min

Why Social Video Is Beating Connected TV

As US video ad spend reaches $82 billion, media buyers are demanding granular audience targeting capabilities alongside bottom-funnel performance metrics. IAB Vice President Chris Bruderle breaks down the shifting dynamics between CTV and social video, the rise of multimodal contextual AI, and why live sports platforms must prove direct ROI to capture long-tail budgets. Key Highlights 🎯 Targeting Outweighs Raw Performance: Hitting sales numbers isn't enough anymore—media buyers want to know exactly which audiences drove those conversions before committing budgets. 📱 Why Social Beats TV for Small Businesses: Social platforms are pulling away from CTV by giving smaller advertisers easy self-serve AI tools and direct in-app checkout. 🌐 The Open Web Isn't Dead: Web video is still a $20 billion market because publishers are using native video to keep audiences engaged as search traffic drops. 📊 A View Isn't Equal Everywhere: Real measurement normalizes cross-platform data under one framework without pretending a TikTok scroll carries the same weight as a living room CTV impression. 🛡️ Ad Fraud Is a Transparency Problem: Buyers aren't panicking about sudden fraud spikes; they're anxious because publishers still won't clearly disclose where programmatic ads actually run. 🤖 Smart AI Beats Blunt Keyword Blocking: Multimodal AI actually understands video context, saving brand-safe news and pop culture content from being needlessly blocked. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Chris Bruderle on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 4:15 The Overall Health of the Video Ad Market 6:21 Is the Open Web Dead? Websites Still Matter 7:05 Measuring Video Across Platforms: Unified but Differentiated 9:03 Social Video Overtakes CTV: Why SMBs Prefer Social 10:49 In-Stream vs. Out-Stream: Clearing Up Confusion 13:43 Ad Fraud and Trust in Programmatic Video 16:01 Contextual Advertising: AI-Powered Classification as a Solution 17:42 Agentic AI: Back-End Efficiency vs. Autonomous Spending 19:29 Shoppable Formats in Video: CTV Must Catch Up 20:58 TV Branding vs. Performance: Navigating the Full Funnel 23:06 Advice for Streamers: Live Sports and the SMB Challenge