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CMO TLDR: Your Weekly Marketing Brief

Weekly Digest - August 29, 2025

Author

Peter Brendan
August 29, 2025

Media’s AI Paradox: Google’s Zero-Click Threat Meets Perplexity’s Revenue Share

Publishers Brace for 'Google Zero' as AI Search Tools Cut Traffic

Media companies are scrambling to diversify revenue streams as Google's AI-powered search tools dramatically reduce website traffic, with some publishers reporting 25% drops in clicks despite higher search rankings. The shift toward "zero-click searches", where users get answers directly from AI summaries, is forcing publishers to pivot toward direct subscriptions, newsletters, and social media referrals rather than relying on Google for audience acquisition. Digital Content Next reports referral traffic from Google Search to premium publishers fell 10% year-over-year in recent months, prompting executives to prepare for a future where search engine dependency becomes a liability rather than an asset.

Perplexity Opens $42.5 Million Pool to Pay Publishers for AI Content Usage

AI search company Perplexity launched a new subscription tier called Comet Plus that splits 80% of subscription revenue with publishers based on how their content is used across direct traffic, search citations, and AI agent tasks. The model represents one of the first attempts by an AI company to systematically compensate media companies for content usage, with participating publishers including Fortune, Time, and The Independent potentially earning "millions" according to Perplexity's head of publisher partnerships. The revenue-sharing approach comes as publishers face mounting traffic losses from AI-powered search tools that provide answers without requiring clicks to original sources.

Magnite Gives Advertisers Pause

Magnite Makes Pause Ads Available for Programmatic Buying

Advertising platform Magnite announced it's rolling out pause ads through its supply-side platform, allowing buyers to purchase the inventory programmatically across streaming partners, including DirecTV, Dish Media, and Fubo. The move represents a significant step toward standardizing connected TV ad formats, with one in three DirecTV customers pausing content daily and agencies showing strong interest in the format as a fresh opportunity for innovation budgets. Magnite says the standardization effort is easier than other CTV innovations since most providers are moving toward the VAST video ad serving framework.

The Association of National Advertisers found that $26.8 billion in global programmatic media value is still lost annually due to supply chain inefficiencies, even as spending on made-for-advertising sites dropped to a median of 0.8% from 2.3% in the previous quarter.

Incoming WPP CEO Cindy Rose told employees she's "super excited to co-create the new WPP," while acknowledging "a lot of hard work ahead" as she prepares to lead the advertising giant through recovery from a challenging first half that saw revenues drop 4.3% and resulted in 7,000 job cuts.

Fanatics has hired former Netflix advertising president Jeremi Gorman as Chief Revenue Officer to launch a new ad division that will connect brands across the sports company's ecosystem of more than 100 million fans through commerce, betting, collectibles, and content platforms.

Key Article Takeaways - TLDR

  • The industry's response to the zero-click threat is a clear pivot from renting audiences on Google to owning them directly. The Financial Times highlights successful strategies, including building subscription funnels, cultivating loyal newsletter followings, and becoming the definitive source for a specific community (local or global) or topic. We saw this in action with Yahoo’s recent push into original sports video content, a move to create a destination, not just a search result that cannot be replaced by a chat UI. The mandate for publishers is clear: build a brand that search engines can't summarize.