Covers creators and ad-tech. Bylines at Next in Media and Next in Media (podcast). Desk record: 36 signals cited since June 2026, 29 published. Updated November 3, 2026.
Indexed from published reporting. Not a medianexis staff byline. Any journalist can ask to be removed.
Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Skydance CEO David Ellison’s team is considering dropping Comcast-owned FreeWheel as its CTV ad server, rather than building its own platform, with Google positioned as a likely beneficiary.
Oct 28Next in Media’s Mike Shields talks with StackAdapt’s Giuseppe La Rocca, who argues that winning enterprise DSP business now means unifying direct mail, vertical-specific identity graphs, and custom agency intelligence rather than matching legacy feature matrices.
Oct 27Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that CTV players like Roku, Netflix, Comcast and DIRECTV are rolling out conversion APIs, server-to-server links that match ad exposure to sales, to replicate the feedback loop Meta and Google already have.
Oct 22Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Amazon’s Charlotte Maines and Amerge’s Laura Abadias discuss how Epson linked Fire TV, Prime Video, and Amazon Marketing Cloud to launch its LightStudio projector.
Oct 21Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that United Airlines is folding its Kinective Group retail media network into its loyalty program, a pullback that follows a leadership change at the airline.
Oct 16Next in Media’s Mike Shields talks with former YouTube executive Tara Walpert Levy, who argues creator spend must run on automated ad tech and prove itself with hard sales and profit metrics.
Oct 15Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Nestlé is merging its scattered PR, media and influencer budgets into one creator marketing discipline, per digital content lead Daniele Tundo, while CreativeX’s Anastasia Leng says most brands plateau at 10-20% of spend going to creators.
Oct 15Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Nestlé‘s Daniele Tundo and CreativeX CEO Anastasia Leng detailed how the Fortune 500 brand built unified infrastructure for creator marketing.
Oct 13Next in Media’s Mike Shields argues that David Ellison’s new Skydance-Paramount-Warner leadership team skipped ad sales, and that filling the role with a status-quo hire would waste the newly merged company’s scale.
Oct 10Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Discord is rolling out self-serve video quest ads this week, as VP of Advertising Adam Bauer argues gaming is a “behavior,” not a vertical, even as the IAB pegs gaming at under 3% of US ad spend.
Oct 7Next in Media’s Mike Shields talks with Discord Global VP of Advertising Adam Bauer, who argues marketers should target gaming as an active consumer habit and details the platform’s self-service Ads Manager and real-time PlayQuest+ reward tools built for opt-in, Gen Z-friendly campaigns.
Oct 6Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Amazon Marketing Cloud lets brands fuse five years of retail sales data with ad exposure across Prime Video, Twitch and partner data from holding companies like Omnicom and Publicis, delivering attribution marketers have long wanted.
Oct 4Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that despite Meta CFO Susan Li touting partnership ads revenue doubling to ten billion dollars, industry voices say Meta treats creators mainly as an ad-impression source.
Sep 30Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that YouTube plans to invest heavily in tools to streamline brand-creator deals, after touting “hundreds of millions” in agency incentives at its Made On YouTube event.
Sep 25Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Madison and Wall projects AI-powered ad systems will reach $158 billion by 2030, driving 11 percent global ad growth this year, while North American TV revenue excluding political grows only about 3 percent in 2026.
Sep 25Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that at the IAB’s inaugural Creator Fronts, the trade group forecast creator ad spending will eclipse $44 billion this year and pushed for standardized ways to find, contract and measure creators.
Sep 18Betches produced “Sisters,” a three-episode scripted show made in-house by video producers Tess Tregellas and Madeline Mahoney, who first tested the concept as short-form social videos before scaling it up. Season one ran with zero brand sponsorships by design.
Sep 17Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green has long insisted marketers will inevitably shift budgets from walled gardens to the open internet.
Sep 10Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Meta’s settlement with state attorneys general sets time limits and overnight bans for teens on Facebook and Instagram’s web and app versions, but the language does not appear to expressly cover smart TV interfaces.
Sep 9Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that NFL data chief Paul Ballew told Next in Media the league has lost confidence in Nielsen’s methodology changes and restatements, and floated alternative currencies like device IDs or subscriber counts within five to ten years.
Aug 25Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Microdrama viewing is surging, but the format’s tiny episode length makes heavy ad breaks feel absurd to viewers. That mismatch could keep the category reliant on subscriptions and in-app purchases rather than becoming a real ad vehicle.
Aug 13AI models need vast troves of video to train on, and creators plus media planners may end up licensing content and expertise to feed them. That opens a new, murky revenue stream — and a new dependency on AI platforms.
Aug 12Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Ace’s new retail media network skips legacy tech debt by plugging straight into Pacvue and CitrusAd, and leans on in-store signage since most sales still happen in physical aisles.
Aug 10Wpromote’s Andrea Bendzick argues independent agencies beat holding companies by staying agile, buying brand credibility via M&A, and using AI for grunt work — not building costly proprietary platforms. Her advice: own measurement, partner for execution.
Aug 10