CREATOR ECONOMY

How LEGO Built a Winning Strategy with YouTube Shorts

LEGO’s building something huge on YouTube, and it’s primarily out of Shorts. Data from Tubular Labs highlights how the toy brand has emphasized YouTube Shorts to hit new highs in terms of both unique U.S. viewers and minutes watched. LEGO’s 14.1 million YouTube viewers ranked

BUSINESS OF DATA

The Business of Data with Jon Lafayette--Three Ways Marketers Can Score

Data helps marketers do their jobs. It can also help ad sellers create vehicles that enables their clients to do their jobs more efficiently. And, by the way, generate additional revenue. The stories in this newsletter show how it's done. Ahead of World Cup, Marketers Can Target Five

SPORTS

Home Depot Leads for Brand Consideration Among NCAA Women’s Basketball Fans

Successful sports sponsorships do more than boost awareness — they strengthen fan connections. To truly understand impact, leagues, teams and brands must measure both sponsorship performance and fan engagement. With the women’s NCAA college basketball season now underway, MarketCast shared some insights around fan engagement and sponsor impact for the

BUSINESS OF DATA

Ahead of World Cup, Marketers Can Target Five Types of Fans

GWI survey categorizes soccer followers by their passions, habits and purchasing power

MARKETING

Christmas Creep: 34% of Holiday Shoppers Got Started Earlier This Year

A November study from Wunderkind reveals that early deal-hunting and cost-spreading have become the norm

TV ADVERTISING

B2B Brands Bet On Soccer For TV Ad Conversions

Despite limited ad breaks during soccer matches, the sport was still a strong source of online lift conversions for B2B brands during Q3 2025. Data from iSpot's Q3 Unified TV & Video Ad Snapshot reveals the programs that delivered for B2B, with soccer and other live sports largely

BUSINESS OF DATA

DirecTV Stakes Claim to Share of Political Advertising Gold Mine

Using AI, DirecTV Elect targets CTV audiences

REPORTS

Challenges Of Using IP Address For Audience Identification, Measurement

IP addresses are crucial for today's audience targeting, yet recent research casts some doubt on how accurate that information really is. A new study from Go Addressable, CIMM and Truthset – The Challenges of Using IP Address for Audience Identification and Measurement – indicates that just 21% of audience linkage

BUSINESS OF DATA

Amazon Ads Expands Local Capabilities with Location-Based Interactive Video Campaigns

‘By bringing local context to streaming campaigns, we’re making it easier for brands to reflect the communities they serve while democratizing access to premium streaming environments,’ said Amazon’s Jenn Donohue

Movies

How Action, Animation Win With Movie Audiences

The following is a selection from Brandon Katz of Greenlight Analytics As studios search for the next winners at the box office, two genres seem to fare better than most: Action and animation. Data from Greenlight Analytics looks at how the two are potentially keeping Hollywood afloat right now, as

TV ADVERTISING

Top 5 Ways Applebee's Scored Big with its NFL Kick-Off Campaign

Applebee's successfully kicked off its second NFL season as the league's official Grill + Bar sponsor with a star-driven campaign that resonated with fans and drove strong intent. Here are five key strategies that contributed to their success: 1. Leveraging Star Power for Persuasion: The campaign featured

SPORTS

GEICO Leads the Pack For World Series Game 7 Ad Breakthrough

The 2025 World Series wrapped up with an unforgettable Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays — and brands were just as competitive as the players on the field. MarketCast’s analysis of advertising during the decisive game reveals which spots truly resonated with audiences by breaking

Business Of Data With Jon Lafayette-iSpot Gets Results From Search

Measurement isn't easy. Sometimes it's a team sport. And getting the right data in the right place can be a challenge. In this week's newsletter we see iSpot and Captify teaming up, and studies from Truthset and Gracenote showing how tough it can be

BUSINESS OF DATA

iSpot Adds Captify Search Data to Outcomes Arsenal

‘Captify provides a great option for brands or publishers that want to use search as a response to advertising,’ said iSpot’s Emily Wood

CREATOR ECONOMY

‘Kidult’ Toys Turn Nostalgia Into Viral Growth

‘Kidult’ toy brands are gaining increased popularity, shown not just in their rising profits, but in their online presence and social engagement. Companies such as British toy brand ‘Jellycat’ and Chinese toy brand ‘POP MART’–known best for Labubus–are connecting with adults trying to reconnect with their “inner child”

MARKETING

50% of Publishers Worry AI Will Cut Website Traffic

Although AI adoption in publishing is on the upswing, fragmentation remains, as revealed by Wunderkind’s 2025 Publisher State of the Union report. While experimentation is widespread (as both a tool to streamline workflows and as a disruptor threatening traditional traffic models), most publishers have yet to fully integrate AI

BUSINESS OF DATA

Study Calls IP Address-Based Targeting Unreliable for CTV Ad Campaigns

Truthset finds IP addresses accurately linked to postal addresses just 13% of the time

BUSINESS OF DATA

Price Increases Aren’t the Only Reason Consumers Cancel Streaming Services

Consumers tell Gracenote survey finding something to watch is too difficult

Data Dose Newsletter

How To Demystify Media Measurement

Walton Isaacson's Albert Thompson talks fixing the muddied measurement conversation, consumers prefer personalized emails, and more in this week's Data Dose newsletter.

SPORTS

Capital One Leads Brands Banking On Baseball Ads

On Saturday, the Los Angeles Dodgers won a thrilling game seven to take home their second consecutive World Series title over the Toronto Blue Jays. And while L.A. took home the win on the field, the extensive series had some big winners off the field as well in the

TV ADVERTISING

Big Box Shoppers Are Big On Watching Broadcast TV

The price tag attached to broadcast programming – especially live sports – may be high. But for many industries, it's also warranted because of the reach it provides intended audiences. Case-in-point? Big box retailer shoppers were most likely to watch Big 4 networks and sports in September 2025, according to

REPORTS

All TV Is Local Now: Local Television In The Age of Streaming

Local TV is "back" – but not as we once we knew it. Geotargeting and streaming have turned the traditional ideas behind local on their head. Still, true local broadcast still has advantages: Namely, the trust, credibility and connections forged with the communities they serve. So yes, local TV

Video

Behavior Is The New Identity: Albert Thompson On The Future Of Measurement

Albert Thompson, Director of Digital Innovation at Walton Isaacson, breaks down one of the industry’s biggest challenges—measurement—and why it’s lost sight of what actually matters: business outcomes.

SPORTS

These Men's College Basketball Sponsorships Are a Slam Dunk

As the 2025-2026 NCAA basketball season tips off, insights from MarketCast reveal how sports sponsorships are scoring big with fans, translating excitement on the court into stronger awareness, deeper consideration and lasting brand loyalty.  * Official sponsors of the 2025 NCAA men’s basketball averaged 31% aided awareness. * The most recognized

SPORTS

Ahead Of Bills vs. Chiefs, Allen’s Ad Blitz Outscores Mahomes

It’s one of the NFL’s biggest modern-day NFL matchups, the Buffalo Bills vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. And every year, it draws in massive TV audiences. Last year’s November 17 match up on CBS was the top game by household TV ad reach, according to iSpot. After