The Digiday Podcast

Digiday

The Digiday Podcast is a weekly show on the big stories and issues that matter to brands, agencies and publishers as they transition to the digital age.

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20 episodes
Updated Tuesday

Episodes20

Newest first

Tuesday · 34 min
WTF is the IAB's Redefining Media Types standard?
The IAB has a new acronym—the RTM, short for Redefining Media Types Standard. But this acronym could actually matter. In this episode of the Digiday Podcast, Jamie Finstein, vp of media center at the IAB, unpacks what the proposed framework means for advertisers, agencies and media buying.
July 21 · 27 min
What happens to agencies when AI does the busywork?
As AI takes on more repetitive marketing tasks, agencies are being forced to rethink what they’re selling. Omnicom Media Group North America CEO Ralph Pardo joins Digiday from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to talk about the future of agency talent, the rise of “capability companies” and why human judgment still matters.
July 14 · 36 min
The anatomy of a sports marketing deal with Ally CMO Andrea Brimmer
For a channel expected to rake in $5.3 billion between 2026 and 2030, a logo on a jersey isn't enough anymore. On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, Ally Bank CMO Andrea Brimmer breaks down the anatomy of a sports marketing deal and why emerging media is Ally's next bet.
June 30 · 39 min
Creators vs. influencers: Inside the divide (RERUN)
Is there a difference between a creator and an influencer. If so, what’s the difference and why does it matter to marketers? On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, Digiday staffers debate the topic.
June 26 · 30 min
Inside the infrastructure behind Unilever’s creator force
Creators are no longer a media channel or transaction. It’s an entirely new marketing model, at least that’s what the infrastructure behind Unilever’s creator strategy indicates. In this episode, Digiday catches up with Selina Sykes, global vp of digital, social and Al transformation at Unilever’s Beauty and Wellbeing, to learn about its scale and automation.
June 25 · 23 min
Meta courts agencies with expanded ad tools while AI reshapes the industry
At the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this week, Meta announced a slew of even more automated marketing tools, further lowering the barrier to entry for advertisers to manage campaigns directly. Nicola Mendelsohn, Meta’s head of global business group, joins this episode of the Digiday podcast to talk about how that does and doesn't change the agency-platform relationship.
June 24 · 35 min
Spotify rebuilds ad business around automation, AI to win bigger media budgets
Spotify’s ad business is trying to evolve beyond audio. At this year's Cannes Lions, Digiday senior marketing reporter Kimeko McCoy catches up with Brian Berner, VP of advertising partnerships at Spotify, about automation, AI, video and Spotify’s push for bigger media budgets.
June 16 · 29 min
What happens when brands AI clone their talent?
Digital twins are helping brands scale content and talent deals. Marketers are still navigating the tradeoffs. On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, hosts Kimeko McCoy and Tim Peterson unpack the rise of digital twins, AI sprawl and authenticity.
June 9 · 31 min
How automation and AI are rewriting the upfront marketplace
The upfront marketplace has long been built on relationships and negotiation. Now, automation and AI are changing how deals get done.
June 2 · 28 min
ChatGPT ads are underperforming. Why are brands staying?
OpenAI's ad pilot is plagued with reporting hiccups and under-delivery issues. It's testing marketer's patience, but the fear of missing out on AI's next big platforms seems to outweigh their frustrations.
May 26 · 36 min
BuzzFeed, Vox and the end of the site traffic era
Once valued in the billions, digital media giants like BuzzFeed and Vox Media are now selling assets and restructuring as the old traffic-driven publishing model breaks down. On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, Digiday senior media editor Jessica Davies and senior media reporter Sara Guaglione joins hosts Kimeko McCoy and Tim Peterson to unpack what the fall of billion-dollar valuations says about the future of digital media.
May 19 · 31 min
Can retail media networks survive the shift to agentic commerce?
If shoppers start turning to AI assistants instead of retailer websites, the foundation of the retail media business could begin to crack. That’s the tension at the center of agentic commerce. On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, hosts Kimeko McCoy and Tim Peterson explore how AI-powered shopping agents could reshape retail media networks, disrupt ad dollars and force retailers to rethink their role in the shopper journey.
May 12 · 37 min
Why Duluth trusts AI agents with bidding, but not brand storytelling
The programmatic world seems split: is AI the future of media buying, or just a tool requiring heavy supervision? Duluth Trading Company lands somewhere in the middle by leveraging agents for high-speed bidding while keeping a firm human hand on brand storytelling, Duluth’s Director of Marketing Ellie Uberto joins Kimeko McCoy and Tim Peterson live from the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit on May 6 - 8 in Palm Springs, Calif. to break down's Duluth's approach to agents in media.
May 5 · 26 min
WTF are brand health metrics?
Is the era of performance-only marketing over? Performance returns are dropping. Brands are chasing AI visibility as LLMs take over search. All roads point to the return of 'brandformance.' Kimeko McCoy and Tim Peterson explain the brandformance to brand health metrics rebrand, and why marketers care about it again.
April 28 · 38 min
The Netflix playbook: JBPs, programmatic power, and the future of the upfront deal
In this episode, Digiday senior marketing reporter Sam Bradley joins Digiday Podcast co-hosts Tim Peterson and Kimeko McCoy to break down Netflix's massive ad business glow up, and how the streaming giant is rewriting the streaming ad business playbook.
April 21 · 30 min
Why OpenAI is moving fast to build an ads business
The AI ad race is heating up. OpenAI is staffing up and cutting deals to win brand budgets from Meta and Google. On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, Digiday senior platforms reporter Krystal Scanlon joins hosts Kimeko McCoy and Tim Peterson to breakdown the ad business playbook.
April 14 · 29 min
Inside The Trade Desk's programmatic power struggle
Major agencies are pulling back ad spend from The Trade Desk’s OpenPath platform, citing concerns of hidden fees and lack of transparency. Meanwhile, TTD is shifting its payment model for identity providers, like LiveRamp and Experian. All said, The Trade Desk is facing a new set of rising tensions with agencies over transparency — and more importantly, programmatic control.
April 7 · 35 min
Mondelez overhauls its $3.5 billion digital commerce strategy in era of AI search
Mondelez vp of global digital commerce, Andrew Lederman, joins the Digiday Podcast to talk through how the CPG giant is aggressively shifting its digital commerce strategy to optimize for AI, ensuring brands like Oreo dominate agentic search.
March 31 · 31 min
Why The Guardian’s first reader-facing AI product isn’t a chatbot
The Guardian didn’t want to build an AI chatbot. Not a reader-facing one anyway. Not at the risk of that chatbot misrepresenting the news publisher’s journalism and undermining readers’ trust. “We’re not going to die if we don’t build a chatbot tomorrow. We need to be really clear about what the threats are externally, but ultimately what we have is something that’s worth protecting,” said Chris Moran, head of editorial innovation at The Guardian, during a live recording of the Digiday Podcast at the Digiday Publishing Summit in Vail, Colorado, on March 23. While not a chatbot, The Guardian has begun to roll out its first reader-facing AI product. But it doesn’t really look like an AI product. Called Storylines, the product is an AI-generated spin on the related links module common to publishers’ pages. It currently appears on a subset of The Guardian’s so-called “tag” pages, which typically list articles related to a given topic, such as “Trump,” in reverse-chronological order. Amid this article feed is an unassuming box with a selection of related articles threaded to a given narrative or storyline.
March 24 · 54 min
How to sell an influencer agency: Lessons from Digital Voices founder Jennifer Quigley-Jones
What does it take to sell an influencer agency right now? This week on the Digiday Podcast, Digital Voices founder Jennifer Quigley-Jones joins Kimeko McCoy and Tim Peterson to break down her agency’s sale to PMG. Plus, what it says about the booming creator economy M&A moment.