Xbox Launches Film Studio XP for Advertising and Sponsorship

According to Press Gazette, news publishers' pages are exempt from the rule — which raises a separate problem: who decides, and how, who counts as a news publisher and who doesn't.

Meta is tightening the rule: it now also applies to comments, which were previously unaffected. The exceptions are telling:

• links in ads;
• Meta affiliate links;
• links to Meta's own services — WhatsApp and Threads.

Why Are Independent Agencies Merging?

Meanwhile, the agency market is consolidating. Some holding companies are already embarrassed by the very word "holding": on the first investor call last year, WPP CEO Cindy Rose said the company is "no longer a holding company." Horizon Media Holdings President Bob Lord is openly skeptical of the holding model.

Mid-sized independent agencies are pursuing mergers into hybrid structures. Ad Age cites examples:

• Wpromote acquired Giant Spoon;
• Chemistry acquired Colossus;
• Acadia acquired Crush.

At the top of the market, the deals are bigger: alongside the Omnicom–IPG merger — the Horizon Media and Havas joint venture (Horizon Global) launched last year, and the first full year of commerce agency Mars United under the Publicis flag.

"[Independent agencies] are going to find it harder to compete," Mars CEO Rob Rivenburgh told AdExchanger in an interview. He led Mars for 23 years before the deal and stayed at Publicis for about a year. According to him, fewer and fewer marketers are willing to include independent agencies in their partner pool. The takeaway for the indie market is harsh: staying independent means growing.

What Else Happened?

• Apple fixed The Trade Desk's Safari advertising issue, but the status quo hasn't returned. [Adweek]
• A freelance designer who created the M logo for Meta's AI assistant Muse is getting attacked — ironically, on Threads. [Wired]
• Agencies are adopting agentic media models, but clients fear AI agents spinning out of control. [Digiday]
• Meta is testing a video-centric Facebook interface in India. [TechCrunch]
• USA Today is suing OpenAI for copyright infringement. [Reuters]
• Cable TV is grappling with the regional sports networks problem. [CFX]

Personnel Moves

• Apple replaced longtime M&A chief Adrian Perica with his deputy Steve Smith; Carson Oliver was promoted to vice president of the App Store. [Bloomberg]
• Skydance announced appointments: Jay Askinasi as head of ad sales, David Decker as head of content sales, Ray Hopkins as head of distribution. [Variety]
• Infra TV, the parent company of adtech platform Tatari, appointed Teg Grenager SVP of product.
• Smartly brought in Netflix veteran Kelly Uphoff as chief technology officer.
• McCann CEO Tyler Turnbull will lead WPP Creative as global CEO. [Ad Age]