The only way to read the new issue of Digiday magazine is to subscribe to Digiday+. Lock in our lowest rate and pay just $89 for a 3-month membership by using the code: UNICORN at checkout. This offer ends at 5:00 pm today, March 29.

In this issue:

Why it’s not all doom and gloom in digital media
Recent cuts at Buzzfeed, Vice and Huffington Post cast a pall over many industry discussions. Pessimism about the future of digital media is en vogue. But the cuts also obscure some bright spots. Media is not a monolith.

S4 Capital’s Martin Sorrell: ‘Direct-to-consumer is a symptom of the disease’
After his exit from WPP in April 2018, Sir Martin Sorrell started S4 Capital as a “clean sheet of paper,” he said in an interview in February. However, he began to fill in that paper by looking back at his former company.

In streaming video, direct-to-consumer is a lie
Last August, Disney CEO Bob Iger said Disney+, their upcoming subscription video-streaming service, is “the biggest priority of the company during calendar 2019.” If asked, Iger would extend that timeline well into the future as Disney tries to ward off the threat of Netflix by building its own streaming platform. And Disney is not alone.

The end of DTC: Digitally native brands are acting like normal brands
As digital brands grow up, direct-to-consumer retail is looking more like a launch strategy than a business model. There was a period of time when online growth seemed infinite, but maturation for these brands means spending ad dollars on direct mail and TV spots instead of digital campaigns.