The following is a teaser of ADWEEK’s August cover story, which was featured in On Background with Mark Stenberg, a free, weekly newsletter that explores the key themes shaping the media industry. You can sign up for it here. On a Friday morning in June, Jimmy Donaldson—better known as MrBeast—notched a
General Compute builds ASIC-based infrastructure for AI inference ? a deliberate alternative to the GPU status quo, engineered for lightspeed intelligence. The identity centers on an asymmetric radial burst: tapered needle-rays converging on an off-center void that reads as a latent “G” ? energy resolving into form. It’s paired with
I have dozens of conversations per week with folks in growth and marketing, ranging from directors, VPs of marketing, and CMOs to SEOs in the nitty-gritty day-to-day. Many of my conversations involve measurement. This is an increasingly challenging topic as traditional SEO metrics are breaking down with the advent of
New research says software vendors are routinely collecting far more customer data than is needed and using it to build commercial products. The findings come from Clark Barron, founder of Blackout, a company that provides GTM threat intelligence through forensic analysis of marketing software. His research examines browser code, JavaScript,
The Philadelphia-based Sam Wenc, an interdisciplinary artist, composer and “improviser” has been making album covers, show posters and merchandise for over ten years. It really shows. A self taught designer, his work is inspired by various aesthetics which is evident in his taste of music – Yo La Tengo, Emahoy
Google has finally separated generative AI visibility from the rest of the data in Search Console. On June 3, 2026, Google announced dedicated Generative AI performance reports for Search and Discover. The announcement fell on my birthday, which felt briefly thoughtful until I realized the gift was all impressions and
Teads has filed suit against Google’s ad tech practices, bringing the sum total of such cases to four as the industry awaits the looming remedies ruling from Justice Leonie Brinkema following a related antitrust case. The developments bring Teads in lockstep with fellow ad tech companies Magnite, OpenX, and PubMatic,
When one of the world’s biggest brands reveals an updated brand identity, regardless of how dramatic the new look, it’s going to make headlines. That was certainly the case with Coca-Cola’s new identity, unveiled last month. With a strong focus on typography, JKR’s brand refresh has received a lot of
John Shehata, CEO of NewzDash, found something in July that a lot of publishers threatening to block Google’s AI don’t realize is already happening underneath them. Google has started folding entire Top Stories carousels directly inside AI Overviews, and the robots.txt directive most publishers reach for first does nothing to
The numbers: March 2027—A federal judge set the date for the Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merger trial for next March, shortly before the company gave its Q2 earnings call on Tuesday. 81.6 million—Paramount+ subscribers worldwide after 2 million additions in the quarter. $30 billion—Expected total revenue in 2026, reflecting
