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Welcome to The Brief by Kuro House, your daily hit of sharp, essential marketing news. Today, we’re diving into the latest adtech innovations from Disney, a big prediction from The Trade Desk’s Jeff Green about the future of the open internet, and the headline-grabbing bankruptcy of Food52. We’ve combed through the noise to bring you the five stories that matter most to your day. Let’s get started.

First up, Disney made waves at CES with a suite of new adtech updates, as reported by Adweek. The company’s annual Tech and Data Showcase was all about making life easier and more effective for advertisers. One of the standout announcements was a new video creation tool that lets advertisers use their own brand assets and guidelines to quickly generate CTV-ready commercials. These ads can be tailored for different audiences, contexts, and placements, and the creative is informed by performance signals in real time. Disney isn’t stopping at creative tools—they’re also launching an AI-powered planning tool designed to make campaign setup more efficient, so marketers can focus more on strategy than logistics. Another major update is the expansion of Disney Compass with the new Brand Portal, which offers a unified view of brand performance across campaigns and platforms. This includes AI-powered summaries and benchmarks, drawing data from partners like Affinity Solutions, CINT, EDO, Innovid, and VideoAmp. To help advertisers measure the true impact of their placements, Disney introduced the Brand Impact Metric, which combines attention, brand health, and search data into a single, comprehensive view. This metric is meant to connect the dots between ad exposure and business outcomes, giving marketers clearer insight into what’s actually driving results. And, in a nod to changing content habits, Disney is bringing vertical video formats to Disney+ in the U.S., building on the success of “verts” in the ESPN app. They’re exploring how vertical video can be used across different categories and content types to make for a more personalized experience. The message is clear: Disney is betting big on AI, data, and new formats to shape the future of TV advertising.

Switching gears, The Trade Desk’s CEO Jeff Green took the stage at CES and made a bold prediction for the open web, as covered by Adweek. Green declared that 2026 will be “the best year yet” for the open internet, thanks to advances in AI and long-awaited improvements in measurement. He sees these developments as the turning point that will finally push more brands to allocate their first ad dollars away from walled gardens—think Google and Facebook—and toward premium inventory across the broader web. Green pointed to the recent U.S. Department of Justice monopoly ruling against Google as a major catalyst, alongside growing pressure on companies to show real, tangible returns from their AI investments. After years of upheaval in the advertising industry, he’s framing 2025 as a “game-changer,” setting the stage for an even stronger 2026. If Green’s vision pans out, we could see a significant rebalancing of digital ad spend, with more emphasis on the open web and less dominance by the big platforms.

Now, let’s talk about Food52, the beloved food media company that just declared bankruptcy, according to Adweek. Food52 filed for bankruptcy in a Delaware court, capping off a multi-year struggle with financial woes that began in 2022. The company now owes more than $25 million to a mix of creditors. This move marks the end of a long saga for Food52, which had been a darling of the food media world, known for its content, community, and e-commerce offerings. The bankruptcy isn’t entirely surprising for those who’ve followed the company’s recent troubles, but it’s still a striking development for a brand that once seemed to have cracked the code on blending media and commerce. The details of what happens next for Food52—whether it can restructure, sell assets, or find a buyer—will be closely watched by both media and retail players, especially as the challenges facing digital publishers continue to mount.

That’s it for today’s Brief. As always, we’re committed to bringing you the stories that shape the marketing landscape—no fluff, just what matters. Remember, the pace of change in our industry is relentless, but with the right insights, you can stay one step ahead. Thanks for listening, and we’ll catch you tomorrow with more essential updates.