

ADSN
James Borow and Daniel Druger
ADSN (The Ads Network) is a weekly show for people building and investing in ads, media, and monetization products. Every Tuesday, join James Borow and Daniel Druger as they bring over 30 years of experience to discuss the headlines and the why and how behind them. They also welcome industry leaders to go deep on topics in a fun and approachable format.
Join the ADSN crew every Tuesday 🗓️
Join the ADSN crew every Tuesday 🗓️
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jun 21, 2023 • 24min
EP9 (GUEST) – Kenan Saleh, GM of Lyft Media, on growing his startup from just 1 customer, why the future of commerce media is bright, and building a new revenue stream within a complex organization
This week's guest: Kenan Saleh
Kenan Saleh is the General Manager at Lyft Media where he leads the team focused on building Lyft’s transportation advertising products. Kenan joined Lyft in 2019 through the acquisition of Halo, a transportation ad network, which he co-founded while still in college. Since joining the company he’s grown the advertising business from $0 to more than $10M in revenue. In addition to Lyft, Kenan was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 and is an active investor and advisor.
You can find Kenan on Twitter @kenanhsaleh and LinkedIn

Jun 15, 2023 • 21min
EP8 – Dictators, Democracies, and Anarchists, oh my! The ins and outs of Mark Zuckerberg’s AI future, EU regulation, and the Reddit mob.
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Visit us at www.withmarket.com
Follow us on Twitter @withmarkethq, @JamesBorow, and @ddruger
Links to articles and topics discussed:
Zuckerberg talks about his AI vision with Lex Friedman: https://www.vice.com/en/article/jg55j7/zuckerbergs-vision-for-ai-a-bot-that-makes-ads-and-helps-you-say-happy-birthday-to-your-friends
Mob rule; Reddit goes dark: https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/14/hundreds-of-subreddits-plan-to-go-dark-indefinitely-after-reddit-ceos-internal-memo/
EU regulates AI: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/14/technology/europe-ai-regulation.html
EU calls for a Google ads breakup: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-14/google-hit-with-eu-charge-sheet-over-ad-tech-dominance#xj4y7vzkg
Montana holds strong on their TikTok ban: https://www.foxnews.com/media/montana-attorney-general-stands-tiktok-ban-despite-lawsuits-spying-tool-chinese-communist-party

Jun 9, 2023 • 22min
EP7 – Apple reshapes the ads industry again, The Trade Desk makes a walled garden-esque announcement, shifting power dynamics between platforms and their communities
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Visit us at www.withmarket.com
Follow us on Twitter @withmarkethq, @JamesBorow, and @ddruger
Links to articles and topics discussed:
Apple breaks advertising with more privacy announcements from WWDC
Link tracking protection: https://9to5mac.com/2023/06/08/ios-17-link-tracking-protection/
Privacy manifest: https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=av1nevon
Twitch announces then backtracks plans for a revenue change for its creators: https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/07/twitch-backtracks-on-changes-to-branded-content-rules-after-streamer-backlash/
The Trade Desk becoming the new walled garden? https://www.adexchanger.com/online-advertising/the-trade-desks-kokai-upgrade-takes-inspiration-from-the-walled-gardens-it-reviles/
Reddit upsets its community of developers and puts some out of business: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/06/reddit-insists-on-being-fairly-paid-amid-api-price-protest-plans-layoffs

Jun 2, 2023 • 45min
EP6 (GUEST) – Founder of AI Whiteboard and Retina AI, Emad Hasan, shares what CEOs need to know about AI, predicts what search ads may look like in the future, and the top 3 trends in AI
This week's guest: Emad Hasan
Emad Hasan is one of the most respected thinkers when it comes to AI and marketing. He is the founder of the AI Whiteboard newsletter and the Co-founder of Retina AI. Retina AI was one of the first companies to use Machine Learning to do predictive customer lifetime value (CLV), working with customers including Nestle, Capital One, Madison Reed, Backcountry.com, Brickell, and many others. Prior to founding Retina and AI Whiteboard, Emad was the Head of Business Marketing Operations & Analytics at Facebook and has also held roles at PayPal, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Boeing.
You can find Emad on Twitter @emadtastic and LinkedIn
Check out Emad’s newsletter AI Whiteboard: https://www.ehasan.com/
News Roundup:
Twitter partners with adtech firm Inmobi to test outsources monetization: https://digiday.com/marketing/with-advertising-in-flux-twitter-is-outsourcing-ad-monetization-to-ad-tech/
GoPuff launches its first non-endemic ads: https://www.modernretail.co/marketing/gopuff-adds-non-endemic-advertising-capabilities/
The Trade Desk takes aim at walled gardens with new campaign: https://www.marketing-interactive.com/tech-firm-the-trade-desk-launches-ad-campaign-to-rally-advertisers-to-improve-the-internet
Omnicom’s John Wren speaks openly about AI and its impact: https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/385746/omnicoms-wren-likens-ai-to-war-discloses-betas.html
Interview with Emad (13:20):
Journey from aerospace to AI Whiteboard? (14:20)
How are business leaders approaching AI for their businesses? (18:48)
Media buying and creative may be getting automated away (21:50)
Is transparency with AI models important or is performance what matters? (25:00)
Prediction for a new search ad model (28:32)
Emad’s experience using AI to take a project from 4-weeks to 90 minutes (30:44)
The role of marketing co-pilots (32:14)
Emad’s top 3 AI trends that get him excited? (37:02)
What AI resources and tools is Emad using? (42:28)

May 26, 2023 • 31min
EP5 (GUEST) – Twitter’s former Global Head of Partnerships, Greg Lieber, breaks down the evolving ad tech partner ecosystem and talks about areas of opportunity
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Visit us at www.withmarket.com
Follow us on Twitter @withmarkethq, @JamesBorow, and @ddruger
This week's guest: Greg Lieber
Greg is an experienced Business Development, Partnerships, and Product leader with over 15 years of experience in ad tech. Greg, along with James Borow, co-founded SHIFT, one of the earliest and largest ads API partners to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Following SHIFT’s acquisition in 2015, Greg joined VaynerMedia where he lead partnerships, was an early employee at VidMob leading partnerships, and most recently was the Global Head of Partnerships at Twitter.
You can find Greg on Twitter @greglieber and LinkedIn
News Roundup:
Google Marketing Live 2023: https://www.googlemarketinglive.com/
https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/13579260
Meta’s Shop mandate poses a challenge for brands: https://www.adweek.com/programmatic/metas-in-app-purchase-push-poses-operational-issues-for-marketers/
AI podcast ads that sound like real people: https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/23/spotify-may-use-ai-to-make-host-read-podcast-ads-that-sound-like-real-people/
Interview with Greg:
What’s in store for AI and creative? (11:36)
How does the value of agencies change as a result of AI + creative? (14:40)
New era of partners in the new environment (16:47)
POV from Greg and Daniel leading platform partnerships (20:32)
Companies doing innovative work that brands should know (24:36)
Predicting ad tech in 5 years (26:48)
What macro areas is Greg excited about? (28:34)

May 19, 2023 • 25min
EP4 – What you need to know from LUMA’s Digital Media Summit, AI is everywhere in marketing, supply constrained platforms race for 1st party data to build an ads business
Like and Subscribe to the podcast!
Visit us at www.withmarket.com
Follow us on Twitter @withmarkethq, @JamesBorow, and @ddruger
Links to articles and topics discussed:
LUMA’s Digital Media Summit: https://www.dmsbyluma.com/dmseast
Google, Meta, and Amazon’s next frontier: AI-generated ads: https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/18/23728256/google-ai-generate-content-advertisers-palm-2
Google – 100 things we announced at I/O 2023: https://blog.google/technology/developers/google-io-2023-100-announcements/
Delta offers free wi-fi: https://www.travelpulse.com/News/Airlines-Airports/Delta-Air-Lines-Rolls-Out-Free-Wi-Fi-on-Domestic-Mainline-Flights
Telly: https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/16/telly-free-smart-tv-privacy-policy
Best Buy Audience: https://www.bestbuyads.com/audience/
Kroger Precision Marketing: https://www.8451.com/solutions/kroger-precision-marketing

May 12, 2023 • 37min
EP3 (GUEST) – Snap’s Former Head of Measurement, Andrew Covato, explains how the advertising industry can turn dumb measurement into smart measurement
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Visit us at www.withmarket.com
Follow us on Twitter @withmarkethq, @JamesBorow, and @ddruger
This week's guest: Andrew Covato
Andrew has over fifteen years of ad and growth experience at eBay, Google, Meta, Netflix, and most recently led global Measurement and Insights at Snap. During his career, Andrew has been a leader in building first- and third-party measurement systems for ad platforms and has designed media buying and optimization systems that have managed over $1B in annual spend. Andrew also invests, consults, and advises adtech companies and has sat on numerous industry boards & working groups.
You can find Andrew on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewcovato/
What does measurement mean at different companies? (1:23)
The measurement lead up to where we are today (4:56)
Old school measurement vs. New school measurement (7:13)
Who gets to win? (10:25)
This requires changes to how advertisers invest in marketing (13:38)
All marketing is performance marketing (17:34)
What is a data clean room and why do they matter? (21:10)
Moving towards contextual advertising (25:17)
Ending the digital marketing surveillance state (27:29)
What does this mean for advertisers, platforms, and adtech? (30:50)
Predicting ad tech in 5 years (32:44)

May 6, 2023 • 25min
EP2 – Are the rich getting richer in ad tech? Amazon and Pinterest team up, Facebook forces checkout, and more big tech partnerships.
Visit us at www.withmarket.com
Follow us on Twitter @withmarkethq, @JamesBorow, and @ddruger
Links to articles and topics discussed:
Facebook checkout: https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/27/instagram-facebook-force-checkout-experience-shops-soon/
Snapchat and myAI ads? https://adage.com/article/special-report-newfronts/snaps-my-ai-chatbot-opens-advertisers-search-ad-format/2491951
Amazon + Pinterest partnership: https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/27/pinterest-announces-multi-year-ads-partnership-with-amazon/
Roku + Instacart: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230426005702/en/Roku-and-Instacart-Announce-Partnership-to-Pair-TV-Streaming-and-Online-Grocery-Delivery-for-Marketers
Trade Desk + Attain: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-trade-desk-strikes-deal-with-measurement-firm-attain-2023-5
Connor McKenna at Luma Partners: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/conor-mckenna-7a079125_adtech-commercemedia-activity-7059294916895494144-i3iV

Apr 27, 2023 • 23min
EP1 – AI + ads, Slinging content to LLMs, Economically rational advertisers, The Elon ad tax, Kroger and Disney? and is Amazon eating the RMNs.
Visit us at www.withmarket.com
Follow us on Twitter @withmarkethq, @JamesBorow, and @ddruger
Links to articles and topics discussed:
AI + ads: https://arstechnica-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/04/[…]rative-ai-to-create-sophisticated-ad-campaigns/amp/
Slinging content to LLMs: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/04/reddit-will-start-charging-ai-models-learning-from-its-extremely-human-archives/
Economically rational advertisers: https://www.modernretail.co/marketing/all-my-eggs-in-the-facebook-basket-true-classic-ceo-ryan-bartlett-on-growing-a-dtc-brand-on-paid-social/
The Elon ad tax: https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-twitter-blue-advertisers-required-1850361922
Kroger and Disney?: https://www.supermarketnews.com/technology/kroger-and-disney-come-together-appease-advertisers
Amazon eating the RMNs.


