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TOGETHER WITH |
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It’s Friday and Spotify is celebrating is 20th birthday. Here’s a trip down memory lane for anyone who's ever gotten into a debate about Spotify vs. Apple Music. |
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Today’s News |
🎙️ Users spot YouTube live ads 🇫🇷 French public TV hits YouTube 👀 Instagram riffs on Snapchat 👨⚖️ MrBeast’s company gets sued 🏒 The NHL capitalizes on Heated Rivalry
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AD WORLD |
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YouTube is experimenting with new ad formats. (Photo credit: JasonDoiy via Getty Images.) |
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YouTube’s “side-by-side” live streaming ads have been spotted in the wild |
The ads: YouTube is testing a new ad format that reinforces its mission to make live streams more seamless. The platform’s so-called “side-by-side” ads load in a separate video player that pops up directly below the active stream, meaning creators can run ad breaks without actively interrupting their streams. |
YouTube first teased side-by-side ads last year, when the format earned a mention at the annual Made On event. Six months later, Reddit users like PuffballOfficial12 have been served side-by-side ads in a handful of YouTube streams, indicating the presence of an ongoing test. |
The context: The question of how to serve ads to streaming viewers has been an ongoing challenge for platforms. |
Twitch’s efforts to monetize streams took a step forward with the 2020 introduction of mid-roll breaks, but that solution drew criticism from creators who complained that the ad breaks’ automatic insertion interrupted exciting or high-stakes moments. Twitch’s more recent formats, like pause ads, enable types of monetization that don’t interrupt the streaming experience. |
As YouTube has leveled up its own live streaming infrastructure, it’s found other ways to serve non-interruptive ads. Picture-in-picture ads place spots in a minimized window, and the new side-by-side ads make a clear distinction between creator content and paid media. |
That’s a big upside, but some creators have still found side-by-side ads to be disruptive. Several Reddit users noted that the new ads include autoplaying sound, which has to be muted if viewers want to understand the audio of the attached stream. That means some fans are still rewinding streams to catch up on key moments after being served side-by-side ads. |
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POSSIBLE is just 3 days away. What’s on your itinerary? |
POSSIBLE is where the marketing industry comes together to drive business forward. |
On April 27, POSSIBLE will unite thousands of decision makers from the world’s top brands, agencies, and media networks in Miami Beach for three days of can’t-miss programming. |
Here are 3 sessions that should be on your POSSIBLE agenda: |
“Deconstructing Successful Brand-Creator Partnerships on YouTube” (Monday, April 27)
Dive into the power of creator partnerships on YouTube with Anne Marie Nelson-Bogle, VP of YouTube Ads Marketing, Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential, and a soon-to-be-revealed YouTube star. |
“How We Turned a Super Bowl Ad Into an AI-Powered Entertainment System” (Monday, April 27)
For the 2026 Super Bowl, Salesforce and MrBeast built an AI-powered, multi-channel fan experience that turned one ad into a live treasure hunt. Join Beau Avril (MrBeast Senior Vice President, Global Media & Brand Partnerships), Zoe Ruderman (ADWEEK CCO), and John Zissimos (Salesforce EVP, Chief Creative Officer) to unravel the process behind the campaign. |
“The New Storytellers: How Brands are Shaping Entertainment” (Wednesday, April 29)
Listen in as Insecure creator Issa Rae explains how her belief that the best stories come from the most authentic voices has shaped everything from Hoorae Media’s digital slate to Ensemble's creator collaborations. |
Ready to start planning your POSSIBLE 2026 itinerary? |
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HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰 |
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French public TV is coming to YouTube. (Photo via Getty Images.) |
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APP CHAT |
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Welcome to Instants. |
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Instagram’s new app is yet another riff on Snapchat |
The app: Instagram has spent the past decade honing its own version of Snapchat's signature disappearing posts. Now, the Meta-owned platform is doubling down on its copycat behavior with the launch of a new app called Instants. |
Instants is currently available in Spain and Italy. Users who download the app can only create posts via their phone’s camera; the photo and video libraries on their devices are off limits. Once a post is uploaded, it remains visible for 24 hours—but each follower can only view it once. |
With its focus on unvarnished, ephemeral content, Instants feels like Instagram’s answer not only to Snapchat but also to BeReal. The French social app peaked in 2022, when its simplified approach attracted millions of new users. BeReal’s fortunes have reversed course since then, but the app is still eager to recruit more creator partners in the U.S. |
The launch of Instants helps Instagram counter that push, since creators who might have been tempted by a BeReal offer can now access a similar experience on a Meta-branded app. |
The context: If you’re wondering why Instagram created a new app instead of bringing copycat features to its main app, the answer has to do with timing. As TechCrunch notes, Instants has been released as an in-app Instagram feature in other regions. These days, however, Meta generally prefers to sequester some of its short-form experiments. CapCut-style features, for example, have been developed on an app called Edits, and Reels might be getting its own app, too. |
Features like Storylines and comments have already made Stories more interactive; now, by separating Instants from Instagram, Meta is testing how much community it can build from its fleeting content. |
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FILING SUIT |
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A suit against MrBeast’s company alleges a culture of harassment. |
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MrBeast’s former Head of Creative is suing his company over its alleged “boy’s club” culture |
The lawsuit: MrBeast‘s former Head of Creative has filed suit against his company, alleging she was sexually harassed, expected to work during maternity leave, and fired after returning. |
Lorrayne Mavromatis joined Beast Industries in 2022 as Head of Instagram, and was promoted twice before being demoted and then fired in 2025. During that time, the lawsuit says, she endured a “boy’s club” culture and was forced to work in former CEO James Warren‘s personal home. |
Mavromatis also alleges that MrBeast—aka Jimmy Donaldson—refused to work with her on certain projects because, as Warren allegedly explained, “Jimmy gets really awkward around beautiful women…when you’re around and he goes to the restroom, he’s not actually using the restroom” (per the suit). |
In other instances, Mavromatis says she witnessed male executives mocking female Beast Games contestants and was told to “shut up” by a male colleague during a meeting. |
According to the suit, Mavromatis filed a formal report with Beast Industries’ head of HR in November 2023, noting “the sexually inappropriate encounters and harassment”—but the head of HR at the time was Donaldson’s mother, Sue Parisher. After an investigation into her report, Mavromatis was demoted to Social Media Manager of Merchandise. She subsequently went on maternity leave , but says she was pressured to join a call while in labor and pushed to work “nonstop” following the birth. |
The lawsuit seeks damages in the form of “lost wages, lost benefits, [and] reinstatement.” |
The response: MrBeast’s company has denied Mavromatis’s allegations, saying it will not “submit to opportunistic lawyers looking to manufacture a payday from us.” |
It claims Mavromatis’s position was eliminated as part of a reorg brought on by Beast Industries’ new Head of Ecommerce. Regarding Mavromatis’s allegations about working during maternity leave, the company produced a screenshot where Mavromatis tells a coworker she’s “actually in labor,” and the coworker says she “shouldn’t even be checking” her messages. |
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WATCH THIS 👀 |
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The NHL is cashing in on Heated Rivalry hype. |
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The NHL wants to capitalize on Heated Rivalry’s fandom success |
The fandom frenzy: Fictional or not, hot hockey players are driving more views for the NHL. The TV adaptation of Rachel Reid‘s hit m/m romance novel, Heated Rivalry, became a fandom sensation after dropping in November 2025. Fast forward a few months, and the NHL just hit its best viewership figures in 14 years. During the league’s most recent season, games aired across ESPN, ABC, and TNT brought an average of 546,000 viewers (a 23% increase over the previous season). |
We can’t automatically say Heated Rivalry is responsible for that growth—but data from research firm EDO does show that brands running ads against U.S. hockey coverage saw campaign effectiveness rise 7% after the show took off. |
The NHL isn’t taking that correlation lightly. Per Digiday, the league’s marketing team is looking to capitalize on this moment by turning Rivalry fans into lifelong hockey viewers—and that means amping up the NHL’s TikTok presence. |
That tactic seems to be working out so far. The league’s European account, which has 2 million followers, just hit 1 billion lifetime views. During the most recent season, the account’s videos reached an average of 1.16 million views. Check out one of its most recent clips here. |
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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen. |
