Fast Times at People Inc.: On Tuesday, I hosted a fireside panel with People Inc. chief executive Neil Vogel at the Marketecture Live event in Chelsea. Despite People Inc. (formerly known as Dotdash Meredith) being nearly synonymous with the now-shrinking open web, People Inc. has managed nine straight quarters of growth. When I asked Neil about how the company compensates for the declining Google Search traffic, he told me 40% of its business is growing—primarily licensing, Apple News+, and content syndication—while 60% is flat or declining. He also railed against Google, which continues to use one crawler for both search indexing and Gemini training, making it impossible for publishers to opt out of the latter and still show up in the former.
Gang Green: The CEO of The Trade Desk, Jeff Green, has recently posted public excoriations of both ADWEEK and AdExchanger, claiming that both outlets have been too critical of the $12.8 billion company he founded. In his defense, Green has put his money where his mouth is: On March 6, he bought $150 million of Trade Desk stock, a massive vote of confidence in the direction of the firm. But as someone who has covered The Trade Desk often in recent years, and whose colleagues have covered it doggedly (and accurately) in recent months, I am beyond proud of our coverage and frankly quite tickled to see its impact.
Social Media Week Returns: In just a few weeks, ADWEEK will once again be hosting Social Media Week, by far the coolest event in our portfolio and one whose insights can legitimately help make or break your brand. I will be on-site, moderating panels and trying not to look washed, and would love to see you there. So join ADWEEK, on April 14 – 16 in New York, to tap into the cutting-edge tactics powering social for the top brands, media outlets, agencies, and creators in the world. Click here to learn more.
Pulled Quotes
“Yesterday, I announced that this week I made the biggest purchase of my life.”
Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green, sharing why he bought $150 million of TTD stock
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“The idea that what’s going to happen in the world only matters because of how it impacts stock prices is a bit bizarre to me.”
Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour, on why prediction markets are more useful than stock markets
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“I want to build the greatest collective of non-fiction writers in the English speaking world.”
The Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, on the publisher’s profitable growth
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