Advertisers — they’re just like us and don’t want to be solely advertisers, but part of culture

It seems that advertisers don’t want to be advertisers at all anymore. Or maybe it’s not that they don’t want to — apologies for the double negative, roll with it — but that they recognize they can’t simply be advertisers anymore.

Additional coverage:

• This week’s Digiday+ Future of TV Briefing looks at some of the top trends and developments to keep an eye on in 2024.
• While not everyone sees the situation in such bleak terms, even the most optimistic believers in TV have to admit that time is running out for the industry's top dogs to give their trusty workhorse the makeover it desperately needs.
• With a difficult year in the rearview mirror, podcast execs at five companies said they were optimistic their businesses would grow in 2024, despite stiff competition for listeners.
• At the moment, many non-endemic brands still view gaming as an experimental channel, rather than a tentpole of their broader marketing strategies. On the other hand, Gillette believes that gaming is a natural breeding ground for its male audience, and the company plans to increase its spending in the space in 2024.
• By using its own standards as well as those out of the ANA study, Omnicom Media Group delivered results for its own clients that it said outperformed the averages the ANA study revealed.

ICYMI stories from winter break:

• Publishers’ efforts to diversify their workforces slows in 2023, but heads of DEI point to progress
• Marketers no longer have total control of their brand narratives. Now they're spending time influencing influencers
• ‘More volatile now’: Digiday editors share top takeaways from 2023
• Media matchmakers: The 2024 uncoupling edition
• Bot takes: ChatGPT, Bard and Claude ponder 2023, pitch holiday TV ads, and predict 2024