Tik Tok partners with IPG Mediabrands on a three-year initiative to provide the network’s clients with custom programs to help them build “an authentic presence” on the platform. The companies are forming what they are calling a “Creator Collective,” which will offer IPG Mediabrands’ clients with hands-on guidance to ensure that their content connects with TikTok’s audience. The campaign’s first program will be a quarterly series of “Creator Camps” where creators will offer strategic counsel and feedback on clients’ upcoming campaigns. Tik Tok president of global business solutions says that the partnership is intended to help clients “create a steady stream of content that resonates with our community .”
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| Frank Bruni |
New York Times columnist Frank Bruni is heading to Duke University, where he will join the faculty of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy, starting July 1. He will continue to write his newsletter for the Times, in addition to staying on as a contributing opinion writer. Bruni joined the Times staff in 1995, and has served in a wide variety of positions there, including restaurant critic, metropolitan reporter, White House reporter and Rome bureau chief. Before coming to the Times, he worked at the New York Post and the Detroit Free Press, where he was a finalist for the 1992 Pulitzer for feature writing. “I’ve worked with Frank in Washington and know that he is a rare talent in American journalism,” DeWitt Wallace center director Bill Adair told the Duke Chronicle. “He will bring tremendous depth to our program.”
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Amazon now accounts for more than 10 percent of all digital ads in the U.S., according to a report from research firm eMarketer. The company’s ad revenue climbed to $15.73 billion in 2020, which eMarketer estimates is a jump of 52.5 percent from 2019. While Google (28.9 percent) and Facebook (25.2 percent) still top Amazon by a fairly wide margin, the report predicts that the company’s share of the digital market will continue to experience steady growth, hitting 12.8 percent by 2023. Google appears to be on the losing end of Amazon’s rise, with eMarketer predicting that its share of the digital ad marketing will fall to 26.6 percent by 2023.
USA TODAY brings on Jamie Stockwell as VP of news, effective March 30. Stockwell was most recently deputy managing editor of news for the Washington Post... YouTube expands its likeness detection capabilities to a pilot group of government officials, journalists and political candidates... The AP Fund for Journalism adds 50 news organizations to its local news program, bringing the total number of participating newsrooms to 100. 
Versant Media Group, the NBCUniversal cable TV spin-off, today reported its first financial results as 2025 revenues dipped 5.3 percent to $6.7B and standalone EBITDA dropped 9.1 percent to $2.2B.
Trump Media & Technology Group is discussing a spin-off of the Truth Social platform following the expected closing of its $6B merger deal with TAE Technologies... Condé Nast sells off Them, the digital LGBTQ-focused platform it launched in 2017, to Equalpride, publisher of Out, The Advocate, Out Traveler, Health PLUS Wellness and Pride.com... CBS News has parted ways with longevity influencer Peter Attia, one of the 19 contributors that editor-in-chief Bari Weiss brought on as part of her plan to present a wider variety of voices on the platform. 
Symbolic.ai forms a partnership with News Corp to begin using the company’s AI-native publisher platform in the newsrooms of News Corp publications to augment research, writing and publishing... Mediaite launches a newsletter that promises to give readers a summary of—media newsletters... The Fund for American Studies launches the Journalism Excellence Fellowship, a program that will provide promising young journalists the opportunity to work alongside top writers, reporters, and media professionals.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has roots going back to 1786, is going out of business, the paper’s owners, Block Communications, announced on Jan. 7... GQ editor Will Welch is stepping down to take on a new Paris-based role with the musician Pharrell, who is also men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton... Semafor says it has raised $30 million on a $330 million valuation, following its first profitable year. 
