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Welcome back to The Brief by Kuro House, your daily shot of clarity in a marketing world that never sits still. Today, we’re diving into the latest tectonic shifts in social media ownership, the real story behind brand-led growth, the AI licensing gold rush, and a wake-up call about marketing’s obsession with declaring things “dead.” Let’s get started.

First up, from Digiday, the TikTok saga is entering a new chapter. After a year of regulatory limbo, TikTok’s U.S. future is coming into focus, but marketers are bracing themselves for what could be a wild ride. The deal, expected to close on January 22nd, sees Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX taking a combined 45% of TikTok’s U.S. entity, with ByteDance retaining 20% and the rest held by existing ByteDance investors. This new structure is meant to address long-standing U.S. concerns over Chinese ownership, but marketers are wary, drawing parallels to the chaos that followed Elon Musk’s takeover of X (formerly Twitter). The ad business at X has started to recover — eMarketer projects $2.46 billion in global ad revenue this year — but TikTok dwarfs that, expected to generate over $17 billion in U.S. ad revenue alone. The uncertainty is already causing some marketers to pull back on spend, especially after a string of executive departures at TikTok, reminiscent of the exodus at X during its transition. The biggest fear isn’t censorship, but a shift in the algorithm or user behavior that could undermine TikTok’s unique appeal. Despite these jitters, TikTok’s proven performance, e-commerce traction, and massive user base are keeping it in marketing plans — for now. As Kira Henson from Good Apple put it, “If the user experience holds steady, we expect spend to fluctuate only as media buyers pause to recalibrate their data. But if these updates negatively impact how users interact with the app, the shift in spend could signal a migration to where the user attention has moved next.” Marketers are watching closely as the final details come into focus.

Switching gears, let’s talk about what’s not likely to happen in 2026, also via Digiday. Predicting the future in tech is a mug’s game, so industry insiders are focusing on what probably won’t change. First, don’t expect a clean resolution to TikTok’s U.S. ownership saga — the ambiguity is here to stay, and smart marketers are planning for resilience, not certainty. Next, while Threads is testing ads, it’s nowhere near replacing X as the go-to platform for real-time conversation and cultural urgency. Snap had a strong 2025, but its ad revenue remains a fraction of Meta, YouTube, or TikTok, and its alternative revenue streams like Bitmoji subscriptions or a Perplexity partnership are still nascent. The anticipated AI-driven layoffs didn’t really materialize as cost-cutting; instead, companies are reallocating funds toward AI investments, with 2026 poised to be about efficiency, not exuberance. OpenAI’s ad business is a matter of when, not if, with key hires signaling a serious move into advertising. In retail media, don’t expect consolidation just yet — fragmentation will continue until growth slows and costs rise. And in live streaming, YouTube is doubling down, betting that the authenticity of live content — “messy, unedited, impossible for AI to fake convincingly” — will draw both audiences and advertisers. The bottom line: the industry’s biggest players are evolving, but don’t expect dramatic shakeups in the next year.

Now, let’s zero in on a major trend from 2025: the explosion of AI content licensing deals between publishers and tech giants. Digiday has tracked a flurry of agreements that are reshaping the media landscape. This year alone, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon all inked deals to license publisher content for training large language models and powering AI chatbots. The deals usually include attribution for publishers and access to AI tools, but also raise thorny copyright questions — witness The New York Times and Chicago Tribune suing Perplexity, and Penske Media taking Google to court over AI summaries. Notable deals include Axios and OpenAI, where OpenAI not only licensed content but also funded new local newsrooms; The Associated Press and Google, bringing AP’s real-time news into Gemini; and The Guardian and OpenAI, with mutual access to content and tech. Amazon signed agreements with The New York Times, Condé Nast, and Hearst for use in Alexa and its AI shopping assistant, Rufus. USA Today Co. joined both Perplexity’s publisher program and Microsoft’s upcoming AI content marketplace. Meta made its first foray into AI content licensing with CNN, Fox News, and others, while Google launched an AI pilot partnership with a range of international publishers. The upshot? Publishers are seeking compensation and control as their content becomes training data for the next generation of AI — and the deals are only getting bigger.

Let’s shift to a more human angle with insights from Caryn Wasser, chief brand officer at Little Spoon, as featured on Adweek’s Marketing Vanguard podcast. Wasser has grown Little Spoon from a two-person startup in a WeWork to a $150 million brand and the largest online baby and kids food company in the U.S. Her philosophy? Brand isn’t just a halo effect — it’s the core growth engine. She argues that treating brand and performance marketing as separate silos is a recipe for stagnation. Instead, every marketer should understand their impact on the full funnel. Wasser stresses that authentic growth comes from being obsessively rooted in consumer truth, not chasing the latest marketing trend or conversion hack. She’s built Little Spoon’s team as a unified “operating system,” where insights from community managers, paid marketers, and creative teams are shared and debated regularly. This cross-functional approach ensures that every data point is seen as a proxy for a real customer, and that messaging resonates authentically. When it comes to influencer partnerships, Wasser’s filter is simple: does the celebrity or influencer genuinely need and use the product? If not, no deal — even if it means turning down high-profile opportunities. For founders and marketers, her playbook is clear: build on consumer truth, break down silos, and prioritize authentic connections over flashy stunts.

Finally, let’s take a step back and talk about marketing’s perennial obsession with declaring the “death” of, well, everything. In a recent Adweek piece, Mark Ritson skewers the industry’s fondness for dramatic eulogies. Sir Martin Sorrell recently declared “there is no such thing as PR anymore,” arguing that digital storytelling has subsumed traditional earned media. But as Ritson notes, the irony is rich: Sorrell made his pronouncement on a flagship radio show — a classic PR move. He’s not alone; Scott Galloway has declared the “era of brand” over, Gary Vaynerchuk has written TV’s obituary, and Raja Rajamannar says advertising as we know it is dead. Yet, history shows that nothing in marketing truly dies — it adapts. Radio, pronounced finished in the 1950s, still generates billions in ad revenue. The VCR, once likened to the Boston Strangler by Hollywood, became a cash cow. Email marketing, declared dead with every new platform, still delivers the best ROI in digital. Ritson’s message is clear: stop obsessing over the end of things. Marketing disciplines persist, evolve, and coexist. As we head into 2026, let’s resolve to focus less on funerals and more on adaptation and evolution.

That’s it for today’s edition of The Brief. Whether you’re recalibrating your TikTok strategy, rethinking brand versus performance, or negotiating AI licensing deals, remember: the fundamentals persist even as the landscape shifts. Stay curious, stay sharp, and we’ll see you tomorrow for more marketing intelligence.