Travis Lusk
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travis.adlingo.org
Travis Lusk
@travis.adlingo.org
Occasional instigator at ADLINGO.org. Digital ad tech and advertising transparency consultant. Ex IAS, Collective, Vindico, Specific Media, CBS.

My Stuff: adlingo.org/unlock
Heard of AdCP? Here's what you need to know. #adcp www.adlingo.org/what-is-adcp/
What is AdCP?
The bots are back, but this time they work for us.
www.adlingo.org
November 12, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Recently, Kathryn Lundstrom from ADWEEK published excerpts from a leaked document that allegedly contained the details of what various Retail Media Networks charge advertisers to access their inventory. The fees include various types of audience targeting, measurement, and more.
August 25, 2025 at 4:22 PM
On our watch. This is happening. Right now. While you're reading this. Collectively, we have the resources to stop it. What we should do: www.adlingo.org/pbs-npr-publ...
Public media dies in 6 weeks
Every one of us in commercial media has benefited from PBS and NPR. If we let them die on our watch, we're complicit in destroying the best of what American media can be.
www.adlingo.org
August 21, 2025 at 2:04 PM
If you are an undergrad (or parent of one) here's my advice against the traditional agency path.

www.adlingo.org/undergrads-t...
Undergrads: Traditional agency career paths are a financial dead end, and what to do instead
Agencies spent $1B on AI, fired 15,000 people, and entry-level workers spend 70% of income on rent. Smart marketing students are skipping agencies for brands: 30% higher pay, better hours, and jobs th...
www.adlingo.org
August 14, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by Travis Lusk
Has anyone else blocked the LLM's from scraping their sites with the new Cloudflare tools? Curious if there are any initial learnings.
August 4, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Deleted my Substack account and all my subscriptions. Sorry to lose the insights of all the writers I enjoy on there, but there's no excuse to not move your publication to a different, better platform at this point. www.platformer.news/substack-naz...
Substack promotes a Nazi
The company has long wanted to be seen as neutral infrastructure — this week, we saw why that’s a fantasy
www.platformer.news
August 1, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Great breakdown of Substack's current business. I too took ADLINGO off Substack for the same reasons as Casey. www.platformer.news/substack-ser...
Let’s all try to help Substack live up to its new valuation
The company's new unicorn status has already led its founders to reverse their position on advertising. What other compromises are they prepared to make?
www.platformer.news
July 18, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Ok, hear me out about Colbert.

- October 2024 - Trump sues CBS/Paramount for $10 billion.
- February 2025 - Raises the demand to $20 billion.
- July 2025 - Settles for $16 million.

$20 billion down to $16 million. Curious. 🤔

July 2025 - Colbert and The Late Show announce cancellation.

(1/2)
July 18, 2025 at 1:24 PM
This will either be a spectacular self own, or was designed to starve news by design.

Did the FTC just hand agencies the perfect excuse? www.adlingo.org/did-the-ftc-...
Did the FTC just hand agencies the perfect excuse?
What the FTC designed as protection for news publishers could become their financial ruin. The documentation burdens and compliance risks associated with the consent order create perverse incentives f...
www.adlingo.org
June 25, 2025 at 12:02 PM
May 2, 2025 at 7:26 PM
See you Sunday in Miami #possible #miami2025
April 25, 2025 at 4:08 PM
April 22, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Here are the important parts of the ruling, with citations.

www.adlingo.org/google-monop...
Google Monopoly for the CMO
When asked what today's ruling against Google means for advertisers, here is what I say. (Without making a prediction about a breakup.)
www.adlingo.org
April 17, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Looking forward to #POSSIBLE in a couple weeks. See you there?
April 15, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Like clockwork.
April 14, 2025 at 8:18 PM
And so begins the swiss cheesing of tariffs that were ridiculous in the first place. Free pass for electronics.

Us owned vehicle OEMs assembled/sourced abroad are next.
April 12, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Sums up the week on so many levels.
March 28, 2025 at 2:04 PM
It is wild that inventory quality measurement, like ad verification, can be gutted overnight by clever deployments of AI. And not super fancy AI...off the shelf stuff deployed with a specialist purpose.
March 27, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Reposted by Travis Lusk
One of my companies informed me they cancelled a $2m conference in Florida. Why ?

They didn’t feel they could pass on the incremental cost of tariffs. So they are cutting expenses.

That’s a city that lost a ton of tourism revenue.

The cost of tariffs isn’t just the cost of the tariff
March 10, 2025 at 9:38 PM
"Hey that's a nice acquisition you and Omnicom have planned. It sure would be a shame if anything happened to it."
www.wsj.com/business/med...
Exclusive | X Hinted at Possible Deal Trouble in Talks With Ad Giant to Increase Spending
Interpublic Group recently signed an advertising agreement with the social-media platform; other agencies are also in negotiations.
www.wsj.com
February 20, 2025 at 5:05 AM
Things only advertising people notice.

How about the Kendrick's Buick GNX behind the JEEP halftime show stage. The. Entire. Time.

Someone, somewhere at Stellantis was 🤬🤯
February 10, 2025 at 1:57 AM