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.
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is being bought by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit that is the parent organization of the Baltimore Banner... The British Broadcasting Corporation is axing approximately 2,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force... Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is also succumbing to layoff fever, announcing plans to lay off 16 percent of its employees, about 1,000 people.
CBS News Radio will go off the air on May 22, part of the axe-swinging managerial plan put into play by CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss... The Economist, which was first published in 1843, is changing hands. Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith has agreed to acquire a 26.9 percent stake in the publication from Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, her family and family foundation... Nexstar Media Group says it has closed its acquisition of TEGNA, the broadcast, digital media and marketing services company that was formed in 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publicly traded companies.
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.
