Welcome to week 3 of our December Advent Calendar, where we dive into sponsored branded content.

What's 🔥 Right Now

Week 3🚪: branded content

To note: The Media Tracker kept tabs on 20 media companies producing various branded content/studio pieces. WSJ dominated this sponsored space throughout the year, averaging at 18 pieces produced per month.

February through March garnered the most studio pieces across all publications (~50 per month), with July reaching the lowest produced month with 32 sponsored pieces as media entered their summer slump.

Looking ahead into 2024, expect volume to remain steady but more media companies testing new waters in producing unique studio pieces. We’ll look out for companies bending initiatives towards key topics during the ‘24 election, impacting what messaging they push out at a top dollar price tag.

• March kicked off the multi-part sponsored series where companies like TaxAct (WSJ), Google (WSJ), and Dell Technologies (Forbes) spread various messaging, initiatives, and educational awareness content.

• April brought in the theme of transformation. 3M’s (WaPo) multi-part sustainability series focused on transforming energy use within cities, to Deloitte (Fortune) touching on their approach for embracing change.

• September was all about the supply chain with brands like Cathay Cargo (WSJ), Amazon (Fortune), and AT&T Business (WaPo) tapping into the crisis in present day shipping and how they plan to resolve it.

• Fast forward to Fall🍁 and AI officially took over studio pieces, from Thomson Reuters (WSJ), Qualcomm (WaPo), Okta (Fortune), Google (Axios) and more.

Ads across the web this week

• Aerospace/ Defense: Boeing (Roll Call)

• Tech: Meta (NYTimes), Palo Alto Networks (WSJ), Verizon (Vox), Samsung (Axios), T-Mobile (Puck), Hitachi (WSJ), Checkpoint (Bloomberg), Cloudflare (Bloomberg), SOCi (Axios), Deloitte (Axios), Cboe (Bloomberg), IBM (Axios), Instagram (Politico), Microsoft (NYTimes)

• Automotive/Transport: Genesis (Semafor), Porsche (NYTimes)

• Business/Finance: Thomson Reuters (Quartz), BCG (Fortune), SPDRs (Forbes), Bank of America (Axios), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (The Atlantic), Tata (Semafor), Wells Fargo (Axios), CFA Institute (WSJ)

• Healthcare: Advisory Board (NYTimes) 

• Real-estate: Corcoran (WSJ)

• Non-Profit: NHCAA (Politico), Cannabis Consumer Watch (Roll Call), USA-IT (WSJ)

• Travel: Visit Florida (NYTimes)

• E-Commerce/Retail: Van Cleef & Arpels (NYTimes), Dior (NYTimes), Chanel (NYTimes, WSJ), Swarovski (WSJ), Ralph Lauren (Vox, WSJ), Walmart (NYTimes), Bottega Veneta (NYTimes), The Macallan (WSJ), Amazon (Quartz), Gucci (New Yorker)

• Entertainment: Netflix (The Atlantic), effectTV (Axios), Peacock (The Atlantic)

Notable Campaigns 

Meta ran a HPTO across NYTimes on 12/18 and today, 12/21, promoting their smart glasses collaboration with Ray-Ban.

BCG ran a two day HPTO across Fortune from 12/18-12/19, promoting their video series on the impact they’ve made over 60 years.

SPDRs is running a week-long HPTO across Forbes, promoting sector ETFs customization within the S&P 500.

Swarovski ran a HPTO across WSJ on 12/19, promoting their New York Fifth Ave store.

Walmart ran a HPTO across NYTimes on 12/20, drawing awareness toward their career growth opportunities.

Cboe ran a HPTO across Bloomberg on 12/20, promoting their services for the VIX complex.

Netflix ran a HPTO across The Atlantic on 12/20, promoting Maestro—now streaming.

Peacock is running a HPTO across The Atlantic today, 12/21, promoting Dr Death. 

Bank of America is running a HPTO across Axios today, 12/21, driving users to their branded content piece around investing in economic opportunities.

Newsletter Tracker

Here's a link to the full newsletter list

Punchbowl News sent out a special newsletter called The Canvass, sponsored by BP, promoting their 2023 year in review with LSG

Across the newsletter tracker, this week has a STR of 52%, 26% down from last week 💵

New Branded Content

• Axios: L'Oreal Groupe, Humana, Bank of America 

• WSJ: Bahrain, Department of Health - Abu Dhabi, Omron, Etisalat and, Freshworks, Salesforce, DP World

• Fortune: CVS Health, PayPal

Here's a link to the full branded content list

Industry News + Product Launches

• NYTimes has hired Quartz co-founder, Zach Seward as editorial director for AI 

• Semafor co-founder Justin Smith joins The Digiday podcast to discuss how they reached profitability

• The Athletic is joining Apple’s paid news app, Apple News+

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