2026-04-07
It's easy / tempting to overthink OpenAI's acquisition of TBPN. But as a brand marketing campaign, it's not egregious. Oracle has a five-year, $500MM sponsorship deal with F1 racing. Adidas pays Real Madrid $158MM annually for sponsorship placement on its jerseys.
Stratechery
OpenAI buying TBPN makes little sense, par for the course for a company that, like Twitter, stumbled into a big market and may never build a functional business
2026-04-03
Congratulations to the @tbpn team. The lesson in TBPN's popularity is that the public wants a reason to celebrate the American technology sector. Much of the tech media landscape has drifted toward a kind of baleful, sardonic pessimism. But the technology sector is the jewel [image]
Wall Street Journal
OpenAI acquires tech news show TBPN; Fidji Simo says the move aims to “help create a space for a real, constructive conversation about the changes AI creates”
TBPN staff will help with marketing and communications at OpenAI but keep their editorial independence, the ChatGPT parent says
2026-04-02
Congratulations to the @tbpn team. The lesson in TBPN's popularity is that the public wants a reason to celebrate the American technology sector. Much of the tech media landscape has drifted toward a kind of baleful, sardonic pessimism. But the technology sector is the jewel [image]
Wall Street Journal
OpenAI acquires tech news show TBPN; Fidji Simo says the move aims to “help create a space for a real, constructive conversation about the changes AI creates”
TBPN staff will help with marketing and communications at OpenAI but keep their editorial independence, the ChatGPT parent says
2026-03-27
What did y'all think Everything is an Ad Network meant? vibes? papers? essays?
The Information
OpenAI has surpassed $100M in annualized revenue from ChatGPT ads, has expanded to 600+ advertisers, and plans to launch self-serve advertiser access in April
OpenAI has surpassed $100 million in annualized revenue from its ChatGPT ads business, six weeks after the pilot was announced, according to a spokesperson.
2026-03-24
Last April, in a piece titled Apple's advertising ambitions, I posited that Apple's introduction of view-through attribution to the AdServices API — as well as the renaming of Apple Search Ads to, simply, Apple Ads — could portend the introduction of ads to Apple Maps. [image]
Bloomberg
Sources: Apple is preparing to introduce ads in Maps, letting retailers and brands bid for ad slots against search queries, to be announced as soon as in March
Apple Inc. is preparing to introduce advertising in its Maps app, part of a broader push to generate more money from services.
2026-03-23
Last April, in a piece titled Apple's advertising ambitions, I posited that Apple's introduction of view-through attribution to the AdServices API — as well as the renaming of Apple Search Ads to, simply, Apple Ads — could portend the introduction of ads to Apple Maps. [image]
Bloomberg
Sources: Apple is preparing to introduce ads in its Maps app, allowing retailers and brands to bid for ad slots against search queries
Apple Inc. is preparing to introduce advertising in its Maps app, part of a broader push to generate more money from services.
2026-03-10
Meta announced today that it will begin applying “location fees” to ads run in countries that charge digital service taxes (DST) on digitally fulfilled ads. Those countries are: Austria: 5% France: 3% Italy: 3% Turkey: 5% UK: 2% Notably, automated campaign budget allocation [image]
Bloomberg
Meta emails advertisers about “location fees” in select European countries to cover digital services taxes, starting July 1; Google and Amazon have similar fees
Meta Platforms is asking advertisers to cover the costs of digital services taxes, levies imposed by countries on local sales made by technology firms.
2026-02-25
For the past few months, I have been writing a long-form podcast articulating an AI Bull Thesis for the digital economy. I call it The Prosperous Society. In light of the Citrini report, I decided to chop it up and release it episodically. Episode 1 is live. [image]
Financial Times
An Evercore ISI economist criticizes Citrini's AI report, calling its assumptions “extreme and improbable”, but says it's a thought-provoking exercise
2026-02-24
Right. The AI doomer report is intellectually sloppy and belies a deep misunderstanding of the economics of consumer technology broadly but of agentic commerce specifically. Why would $DASH and $UBER not be the principal beneficiaries of agentic commerce by simply embedding that functionality in their own apps, just as Amazon is doing? If anything, agentic commerce likely puts a premium on aggregated attention and erects *hurdles* to competition.
Citrini Research
Imagining an AI-driven “2028 Global Intelligence Crisis”: as white-collar layoffs grow, the human-centric consumer economy withers and the social fabric frays
A Thought Exercise in Financial History, from the Future — Preface — What if our AI bullishness continues to be right …
For the past few months, I have been writing a long-form podcast articulating an AI Bull Thesis for the digital economy. I call it The Prosperous Society. In light of the Citrini report, I decided to chop it up and release it episodically. Episode 1 is live. [image]
Financial Times
An Evercore ISI economist criticizes Citrini's AI report, calling its assumptions “extreme and improbable”, but says it's a thought-provoking exercise
Most of the sell-side has remained hilariously silent at a mere Substacker seemingly shaking markets, even though the anguish and frustration is almost palpable.
Right. The AI doomer report is intellectually sloppy and belies a deep misunderstanding of the economics of consumer technology broadly but of agentic commerce specifically. Why would $DASH and $UBER not be the principal beneficiaries of agentic commerce by simply embedding that functionality in their own apps, just as Amazon is doing? If anything, agentic commerce likely puts a premium on aggregated attention and erects *hurdles* to competition.
Wall Street Journal
Software stocks like AppLovin and CrowdStrike extended their weeks-long selloff; several of the biggest decliners were discussed in Citrini Research's post
The weeks-long selloff in software stocks deepened Monday amid general unease about the threat posed by AI. — Software-makers AppLovin, CrowdStrike …
2026-02-23
Right. The AI doomer report is intellectually sloppy and belies a deep misunderstanding of the economics of consumer technology broadly but of agentic commerce specifically. Why would $DASH and $UBER not be the principal beneficiaries of agentic commerce by simply embedding
Citrini Research
Imagining an AI-driven “2028 Global Intelligence Crisis”: as white-collar layoffs grow, the human-centric consumer economy withers and the social fabric frays
A Thought Exercise in Financial History, from the Future — Preface — What if our AI bullishness continues …
2026-02-19
Apple's Podcasts app is the top app for audio-only podcast consumption, although it trails YouTube and Spotify for video podcast consumption. Emphasizing video could be a precursor to ads. [image]
Bloomberg
Apple Podcasts' fresh leap into video podcasts accelerates the podcast industry's shift from an audio-centric medium to a decidedly video-focused one
Apple Podcasts' fresh leap into video podcasts refocuses the audio medium on visuals — Welcome back to Soundbite.
2026-02-05
This Anthropic ad is simply obnoxious. Anthropic generates most of its revenue from its enterprise business, so it can afford not to maximize its consumer revenue opportunity. But the sanctimonious moralizing here presents advertising as a cynical business model choice. It is
@sama
Sam Altman says Anthropic's Super Bowl ads are funny but “dishonest”, and Anthropic serves a “product to rich people” while OpenAI is “committed to free access”
First, the good part of the Anthropic ads: they are funny, and I laughed. But I wonder why Anthropic would go for something so clearly dishonest. Our most important principle for a...
2026-01-27
OpenAI's introductory ad pricing is close to what Netflix charged when it launched the ad-supported tier. Worth noting that Netflix saw a surfeit of *demand* at launch. It had to refund committed money to advertisers because it couldn't exhaust their budgets.
The Information
Source: OpenAI targets ~$60 per 1,000 views for ChatGPT ads, on par with live NFL broadcasts and above Meta's sub-$20 CPM, while offering little conversion data
2026-01-26
OpenAI's introductory ad pricing is close to what Netflix charged when it launched the ad-supported tier. Worth noting that Netflix saw a surfeit of *demand* at launch. It had to refund committed money to advertisers because it couldn't exhaust their budgets.
The Information
Source: OpenAI targets ~$60 per 1,000 views for ChatGPT ads, on par with live NFL broadcasts and above Meta's sub-$20 CPM, while offering little conversion data
In its initial rollout of ads, OpenAI is charging prices that rival those for coveted video programs like the NFL …See also Mediagazer
2026-01-18
OpenAI announced today that it will soon ("in the coming weeks") begin testing advertising in its Free and Go tiers in the United States. I believe that ChatGPT's advertising platform will be wildly successful. The gap between OpenAI's and Meta's unit economics is attributable to the latter's performant, direct-response advertising platform. And while I also believe that OpenAI is late with its advertising offering, given that Alphabet has already found a means of monetizing its Gemini model without inserting ads into the Gemini chatbot, I don't think that puts OpenAI at any sort of material disadvantage or jeopardizes the project. Ultimately, ads in ChatGPT will enable OpenAI to monetize the product at the scale necessary to support the potential of its adoption. If anything, ads in ChatGPT are a gift to its user base, which, as the blog post points out, will now benefit from “fewer usage limits.”
Financial Times
OpenAI plans to test ads below ChatGPT replies for users of free and Go tiers in the US; source: OpenAI expects to make “low billions” from ads in 2026
$500bn start-up seeks ways to fund expansion and fend off competition from rivals Google and Anthropic
2026-01-17
OpenAI announced today that it will soon ("in the coming weeks") begin testing advertising in its Free and Go tiers in the United States. I believe that ChatGPT's advertising platform will be wildly successful. The gap between OpenAI's and Meta's unit economics is attributable to the latter's performant, direct-response advertising platform. And while I also believe that OpenAI is late with its advertising offering, given that Alphabet has already found a means of monetizing its Gemini model without inserting ads into the Gemini chatbot, I don't think that puts OpenAI at any sort of material disadvantage or jeopardizes the project. Ultimately, ads in ChatGPT will enable OpenAI to monetize the product at the scale necessary to support the potential of its adoption. If anything, ads in ChatGPT are a gift to its user base, which, as the blog post points out, will now benefit from “fewer usage limits.”
Financial Times
OpenAI plans to test ads below ChatGPT replies for users of free and Go tiers in the US; source: OpenAI expects to make “low billions” from ads in 2026
$500bn start-up seeks ways to fund expansion and fend off competition from rivals Google and Anthropic
2026-01-16
OpenAI embraces the inevitable: ads come to ChatGPT OpenAI announced today that it will soon ("in the coming weeks") begin testing advertising in its Free and Go tiers in the United States. I believe that ChatGPT's advertising platform will be wildly successful. The gap between [image]
Financial Times
OpenAI plans to test ads below ChatGPT replies for users of free and Go tiers in the US; source: OpenAI expects to make “low billions” from ads in 2026
$500bn start-up seeks ways to fund expansion and fend off competition from rivals Google and Anthropic
2026-01-13
Interesting hint at what Meta perceives as roadblocks to growth. [image]
Axios
Meta appoints Dina Powell McCormick, a prominent banking executive and former Republican official, as president and vice chair, reporting to Mark Zuckerberg
Dina Powell McCormick, a prominent banking executive and former Republican official, is joining Meta full-time as president and vice chairman …