Next in Media

Mike Shields
  • 4.8 (43)
  • Marketing
  • Updated Biweekly

Everything we know about the media, marketing and advertising business is being completely upended thanks to technology and data. We're talking with some of the top industry leaders as they steer their companies through constant change.

  1. 10h ago

    Vizio’s Strategy to Dominate the Smart TV OS Market

    As streaming behavior dominates the living room, Vizio's operating system has claimed the top spot in U.S. television sales by turning the home screen into an active search and discovery storefront. In this exclusive Cannes interview, Chief Revenue Officer Mike O'Donnell explains how partnering with Walmart Connect allows advertisers to move beyond last-click attribution and track the complete customer path from initial TV exposure to final purchase. Key Highlights 🛒 Smart TV operating systems are evolving from invisible background infrastructure into powerful retail media endpoints embedded directly within commerce networks. 🎯 While traditional audience reach and frequency planning still matter, actual business outcomes have become the primary scorecard for modern connected TV advertising. 📺 True scale in the smart TV landscape requires a balanced formula of distribution volume matched with deep, daily home screen user engagement. 📉 Relying strictly on last-click attribution undervalues the top-of-funnel brand discovery and awareness value that television inherently delivers. 🔍 Designing utility-driven features like centralized sports discovery hubs solves viewer choice fatigue while unlocking high-intent sponsorship assets for advertisers. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Mike O'Donnell on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 3:00 Evolution of Smart TV Operating Systems and User Behavior 4:32 Market Position and Competitive Landscape 6:23 Balancing Audience Metrics with Outcome-Focused Advertising 7:44 Content-to-Commerce Integration and Walmart Connect's Role 8:54 Moving Beyond Last-Click Attribution 10:05 Innovation User Experience and Discovery 11:33 Advertising Innovation and Branded Content 12:53 Future Outlook and Walmart's Vibe Acquisition

    11 min

  2. Jun 23

    Inside SharkNinja's Ad Optimization Playbook

    SharkNinja has rewritten the modern commerce playbook by embedding a "threshold of virality" directly into pre-product development and abandoning rigid, weekly campaign reviews for hourly optimization. Global Head of Media Dave Kersey shares how this social-first, digital-only approach skyrocketed the brand to the top of TikTok Shop ecosystems globally while establishing a hyper-transparent, API-driven model for agency partnerships. Key Highlights 🚀 Modern product development must integrate a Threshold of Virality (TOV) pre-production to ensure the product’s DNA naturally inspires organic creator advocacy and consumer content generation. 📈 TikTok Shop has officially evolved from a novel social feature into a powerhouse retail and commerce engine comparable to traditional retail media. ⚡ High-growth brands must transition from standard weekly media reviews to an agile, real-time optimization infrastructure that monitors and scales winning content on an hourly and daily cadence. 🤝 Authentic creator engagement requires shifting from rigid, forced brand messaging to an early product-sampling model where influencers provide honest feedback and co-create real human usage stories. 📊 Measuring content performance requires a unified view that evaluates message resonance and audience viewing time across a single, integrated paid and organic ecosystem. 🧩 Signal fragmentation across emerging platforms like CTV and digital out-of-home remains the largest operational bottleneck preventing fast-moving digital optimization from scaling across the full media ecosystem. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Dave Kersey on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 TikTok Shop Success and Consumer Shopping Evolution 1:47 Shark Ninja's Unique Product Development and Media Integration 3:51 Creator-Centric Social Commerce Strategy 7:32 Measurement and Attribution Approach 11:22 Aggressive Media Investment and Real-Time Optimization 12:56 Television and CTV Strategy Limitations 16:29 Signal Fragmentation as Primary Challenge 18:05 Agency vs. Client Side Insights and Partnership Model 20:52 Product Spotlight: The Chill Pill

    22 min

  3. Jun 16

    How Netflix is Changing Live Sports and Connected TV Ads

    The shift from traditional television to connected TV has accelerated rapidly, requiring publishers to offer both massive culture-shifting scale and ultra-precise targeting capabilities. In this deep dive, Netflix Advertising VP Nicolle Pangis pulls back the curtain on how the platform built an independent, proprietary ad server to give global brands the exact mix of automated programmatic buying and high-impact live events they need to drive measurable ROI. Key Highlights 📈 Achieving a scale of 250 million global ad-supported subscribers establishes premium streaming networks as direct rivals to traditional broadcast television for top-of-funnel brand equity. 🛠️ Migrating away from third-party tech partners to own the entire proprietary ad server stack is critical for premium publishers wanting to control data assets and accelerate product roadmaps. 🔄 Capitalizing on a consistent, weekly viewing habit among 80% of an ad-supported base allows brands to maximize creative repetition and long-term brand building rather than just transactional spikes. 🏟️ Reimagining live sports through a unique entertainment lens expands standard fan demographics, transforming traditional sports broadcasts into massive cultural pop-culture events. ⚖️ Unlocking the true potential of connected TV requires a deliberate balance between personalized digital targeting and broad-reach, unified storytelling that drives shared cultural experiences. 🧩 Relying entirely on single hit series integrations is a flawed media strategy since even a top-tier show only captures roughly 1.5% of total platform viewing at any given point. 🔐 Standardizing clean room integrations and advanced data collaboration frameworks is the essential path forward for activating scaled first-party data securely. 📊 Proving television advertising value should focus on holistic return on ad spend and incremental revenue lift across agency dashboards rather than expecting immediate on-screen transactions. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Nicolle Pangis on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 1:14 Netflix's Advertising Journey and Infrastructure Building 4:07 Subscriber Growth and Market Position 6:15 Competitive Positioning and Technology Advantages 7:48 Ad Tech Platform Development Strategy 9:12 Career Background and Strategic Approach 12:12 Current Market Conditions and Advertiser Needs 14:14 NFL Partnership and Content Innovation 16:36 Advertising Format Innovation and Personalization Balance 18:15 Content Integration and Audience Strategy 20:49 Data Collaboration and Clean Room Technology

    24 min

  4. Jun 11

    How Georgia Pacific Modernized Its Marketing Mix Modeling

    Achieving true cross-channel attribution remains an uphill battle as walled gardens restrict access to critical log-level data. Georgia Pacific's Vice President of Integrated Media and Brand Analytics, Javier Bustillos, reveals how his team combats these fragmentation challenges by accelerating in-house Marketing Mix Modeling and adopting a disciplined, test-and-learn approach to automation. Key Highlights 📊 Walled gardens continue to choke cross-channel attribution by withholding log-level data, forcing brands to rely on a mosaic of complementary measurement frameworks rather than a single source of truth. 🎯 Strategic mass awareness is shifting toward a hybrid model that blends broad linear reach with hyper-targeted digital video tactics like CTV and YouTube to balance scale and precision. 📺 Premium addressable and data-driven linear television formats frequently fail to generate the performance lift required to justify their steep upfront cost premiums. 👥 Independent content creators should be treated as dynamic ad formats and flexible engagement assets deployed across diverse platform verticals rather than being siloed as a standalone media channel. 📈 Bringing Marketing Mix Modeling in-house can drastically condense operational reporting loops, shifting analytics cadences from lagging annual retrospectives to agile, granular quarterly deployments. 🧪 AI applications in programmatic media yield immediate dividends for algorithmic bidding and supply-path optimization, but agentic decision-making still requires strict human guardrails for multi-million-dollar budgets. 🏗️ Building a high-functioning in-house programmatic operation demands a multi-year road map focused on incremental scaling, specialized talent retention, and direct ad-tech relationship management. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Javier Bustillos on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 1:28 Georgia Pacific's Role and Brand Portfolio 2:20 Evolution from Mass Reach to Integrated Targeting 4:05 Cross-Channel Integration Challenges 5:00 Upfront Evolution and New Players 7:10 Creator Economy Integration Across Platforms 8:31 Marketing Mix Modeling Evolution and In-House Capabilities 11:00 MMM Limitations and Supplementary Measurement 13:04 Business Outcome Accountability and Long-term Impact 14:36 AI Implementation and Agentic Capabilities 16:28 Future of Agencies and In-House Teams with AI 18:36 CFO Relations and Marketing Value Communication 19:55 In-Housing Reality Check and Implementation Timeline 21:16 In-Housing Challenges and Relationship Building

    22 min

  5. Jun 9

    Why Live Sports and - Bravo (?) Are Dominating the Upfronts

    As television viewership shifts, NBCUniversal is proving that premium IP like live sports and reality television can compete with digital channels by integrating advanced programmatic ad tech. Through initiatives like real-time AI context-scanning and the Performance Insights Hub, they are closing the data loop to deliver immediate, measurable outcomes across the entire marketing funnel. Key Highlights 📺 Premium, year-round unscripted programming creates sustained fan communities that offer brands continuous, high-engagement cultural relevance instead of the brief campaign windows typical of limited series. 🚪 Operating systems like Vizio OS are becoming the critical "front door" of television, capturing consumer attention during the search and discovery phase before they enter ad-free environments. 🤖 The traditional boundary between upper-funnel awareness and lower-funnel performance is dissolving as media networks deploy advanced data hubs to compress measurement cycles from months to days. 📱 Embracing automation and programmatic infrastructure in linear and streaming environments allows major networks to onboard thousands of emerging, niche advertisers who were previously priced out of premium TV inventory. 🏈 Real-time, AI-driven content scanning enables hyper-contextual dynamic creative insertion immediately following specific live broadcast triggers, drastically increasing brand resonance. 🎯 Maximizing sports viewership monetisation requires a dual broadcast and streaming infrastructure, recognizing that the vast majority of premium ad impressions still occur on linear television. 🗓️ Establishing consistent, predictable programming blocks across distinct sports leagues creates a unified destination for viewers and a year-round narrative platform for advertisers. 🎪 In-person experiential events act as powerful content factories, allowing brands to super-serve live audiences while generating digital assets that scale across streaming and social platforms. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Alison Levin on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 The Power of Year-Round Reality TV Communities and Advertising Integration 00:32 Vizio OS as the Solution to TV Fragmentation 1:44 The Cultural Phenomenon of Reality TV and Community Building 5:29 Advertising Scale and Integration Strategies 7:12 Performance TV Advertising and Data Feedback Loops 9:09 AI and Dynamic Creative Capabilities 11:09 NBA Return and Sunday Night Sports Strategy 13:15 Dynamic Ad Insertion and Programmatic Sports Advertising 15:12 Current Advertising Market Conditions and Upfront Dynamics 16:58 BravoCon as a Content Creation Phenomenon

    20 min

  6. Jun 2

    Why Warner Bros Discovery Ditched and Rebuilt TV Targeting

    After briefly de-emphasizing targeted TV ads during the Discovery merger, Warner Bros. Discovery has rapidly rebuilt its infrastructure to offer clients unprecedented transparency and accountability. In this live recording from the GoAddressable upfront breakfast, learn how premium IP content is joining forces with sophisticated data waterfalls to challenge the dominance of walled gardens. Key Highlights 🔄 Warner Bros. Discovery is correcting a four-year-old strategic pivot by aggressively reinvesting in addressable TV advertising to bridge the performance gap between linear and digital video inventory. 🎯 Roughly 80% of audience-driven TV campaigns now leverage client-supplied first-party segments, signaling a massive shift toward data-ownership and customized targeting in premium environments. 📉 Traditional media companies must radically streamline their back-end infrastructure to eliminate the crippling operational friction that still makes buying TV inventory too slow and clunky for modern brands. 🤝 Legacy publishers are abandoning old rivalries and uniting within consortiums like OpenAP because collective ecosystem collaboration is the only way to successfully compete against tech titans like Amazon, Google, and Meta. 📉 Direct-to-consumer and small-to-medium digital-native advertisers expect the exact same level of performance, accountability, and transparency from television that they grew up using on Meta and Google. 🌊 Relying on a single persistent identifier like an IP address is no longer sustainable, forcing publishers to adopt flexible, composable data waterfalls that combine multiple deterministic and modeled signals. 📊 By guaranteeing reach and incremental reach through their StreamX solution, networks are successfully using top-of-funnel control as a reliable proxy to prove downstream business lift. 🎭 Pairing high-impact sponsorships like premium series premieres with deterministic retargeting allows brands to orchestrate a complete full-funnel strategy from culture-shaping moments down to precise suppression and competitive conquesting. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Bridget Jayaram on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 1:46 Bridget's Background and Warner Brothers Discovery's Addressable Journey 3:33 The De-emphasis and Return to Addressable 4:26 Current Addressable Demand and Client Profiles 5:31 First-Party Data Usage and WBD's Own Data Assets 6:29 Operational Challenges and Infrastructure Needs 7:34 Industry Collaboration vs. Competition 8:38 Outcomes Measurement and Performance Guarantees 10:30 Identity Strategy and Deterministic vs. Probabilistic Approaches 12:12 Serving Different Advertiser Categories and Expectations 13:25 Education and Industry Knowledge Gaps 14:32 WBD's Approach to Performance and Brand Advertising

    16 min

  7. May 28

    iSpot CEO on the Future of TV Ad Outcomes & AI

    Discover how the future of TV advertising is shifting toward outcome-based measurement and AI-driven optimization coming out of the 2026 upfronts . iSpot CEO Sean Muller joins the show to break down their fundamental "Creative + Audience = Outcome" equation, the integration of their new AI platform Sage, and why the industry must prioritize trusted, neutral data over ongoing currency debates. Key Highlights 📺 Following the 2026 upfronts, publishers and networks are shifting from traditional linear metrics to embrace outcome-based models because they recognize that advertisers make major budget allocations based on direct business performance. 🎯 The traditional debate over alternative audience measurement currencies is largely a publisher-driven concern, while modern brands remain strictly focused on concrete performance and cross-platform ad effectiveness. 🧪 True attribution requires a paradigm shift that treats creative and media as an inseparable equation, proving that creative quality is just as critical to the final business outcome as audience targeting. ⏱️ Holistic media measurement must capture a four-quadrant grid that balances short-term performance metrics like immediate website visits with long-term brand equity indicators like purchase intent and favorability. ⚖️ Advertisers are standardizing multi-touch attribution frameworks that pair conversion rate with lift/incrementality to ensure they are tracking true behavioral causality rather than just hitting consumers who would have purchased anyway. 🤝 The real competitive advantage for publishers lies in moving beyond basic outcome reporting toward actively optimizing campaigns in real time using trusted, neutral third-party measurement signals. 🤖 While building autonomous AI agents for campaign optimization is technically trivial, achieving industry adoption depends entirely on training platforms on verified, historical data that marketers can transparently verify via traditional dashboards. 📈 Although streaming and programmatic buying are gradually lowering the barriers to entry for smaller advertisers, total television ad spend remains highly concentrated within sports and a handful of legacy industries. Resources & Next Steps 🔗 Sean Muller on LinkedIn 🎧 Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Chapter Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to TV Outcomes and Industry Readiness 4:29 Defining iSpot's Role and Measurement Philosophy 5:42 TV Disrupt Event and Industry Focus Areas 8:45 Defining Short-term vs Long-term Outcomes 11:59 The Creative + Audience = Outcome Equation 15:06 Measurement Methodology and Industry Partnerships 17:53 Publisher Optimization and the Roku Partnership 19:24 AI Implementation and the Trust Factor 24:01 Legal Dispute with EDO 26:52 Industry Growth and SMB Adoption

    29 min

  8. May 26

    How to Monetize Arguments - Without Getting Cancelled

    Jubilee Media founder and CEO Jason Y Lee joins Next in Media to break down how the digital-first studio builds scalable, format-driven IP that captures Gen Z's massive attention span without relying on a single face. Discover the monetization strategies behind their unscripted content, why creators are turning down Hollywood, and how authentic human conversation is outperforming AI in the modern creator economy. Key Takeaways: The Creator Economy Flip: Top digital creators no longer view Hollywood as the ultimate graduation point, reversing the media power dynamic as traditional studios now seek out digital-first strategies to survive. The Attention Span Myth: Massive engagement metrics on 90-minute videos prove that younger audiences aren’t suffering from short attention spans; they are simply starving for unscripted, long-form authenticity. Format Over Face: Designing repeatable, host-agnostic IP rather than relying on a single charismatic personality eliminates key-person risk and unlocks true operational scalability for digital studios. Contextual Brand Storytelling: The next frontier of monetization rejects one-off, disruptive advertisements in favor of naturally embedding brands into existing, high-performing video franchises. The Anti-Echo Chamber Demand: Algorithms have hyper-fragmented public discourse, creating a massive, untapped market of viewers who actively seek out raw, multi-perspective content to escape their own echo chambers. The TV Screen Takeover: Digital-first production must now default to cinema-grade standards like 4K, as YouTube’s massive growth on connected televisions blends the boundary between streaming networks and independent creators. The Human Premium in an AI Era: As artificial intelligence commoditizes automated content creation, media companies that double down on raw, real-life human connection will hold the ultimate competitive advantage. IP Upcycling and Windowing: Legacy distribution strategies like FAST channels and AVOD licensing represent the most lucrative secondary revenue streams for creators sitting on deep libraries of episodic content. Resources & Next Steps: Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts and Spotify Key Episode Timestamps: 00:00 Jubilee's Mission and Content Philosophy 1:09 Introduction and Background 2:07 Jubilee's Format Strategy and Studio Approach 3:44 Building a Scalable Business Model 4:57 Format Development and Longevity 6:16 YouTube's Evolution and Connected TV 7:54 Multi-Platform Strategy 8:54 Brand Partnerships and Controversial Content 10:01 Successful Brand Integration Examples 11:23 Brand Partnership Philosophy 12:19 YouTube's Creator Economy Evolution 13:44 Creator Content Boosting vs Investment 15:19 Hollywood and Streaming Industry Relations 16:32 Content Licensing and Distribution 17:41 Short-Form Fiction and Experimentation 18:25 Microdrama and Asian Market Trends 19:05 AI Integration and Human-Centered Content 20:09 Generational Media Habits and Public Discourse 21:34 Gen Z's Media Consciousness 22:21 Future Political Engagement and Partnerships

    24 min
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4.8
out of 5
43 Ratings

About

Everything we know about the media, marketing and advertising business is being completely upended thanks to technology and data. We're talking with some of the top industry leaders as they steer their companies through constant change.

Information

  • Creator
    Mike Shields
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    297
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2024 Next in Media
  • Show Website
    Next in Media

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