Latest news with #ADWEEK
Techday NZ
02-07-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Cloudflare makes AI crawlers opt-in, giving power to creators
Cloudflare has introduced a default setting to block AI crawlers from accessing web content without explicit permission, making it the first internet infrastructure provider to take this step. With this new measure, website owners using Cloudflare's services will have the choice to allow or block AI crawlers, moving from a previous opt-out system to an opt-in approach. This change is designed to address issues concerning the unauthorised scraping and usage of web content by AI companies for purposes such as training and inference, often without the knowledge or compensation of the content creators. Permission-based controls Under the new system, AI companies are now required to disclose the purpose of their crawlers, specifying whether they are used for training, inference, or search. This allows website owners to make more informed decisions about which bots may access their data. Cloudflare is also developing a "Pay Per Crawl" feature that will give content creators the ability to request payment from AI companies for access to their content, which could generate new revenue streams for publishers. Cloudflare's Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, Matthew Prince, stated: "If the Internet is going to survive the age of AI, we need to give publishers the control they deserve and build a new economic model that works for everyone – creators, consumers, tomorrow's AI founders, and the future of the web itself. Original content is what makes the Internet one of the greatest inventions in the last century, and it's essential that creators continue making it. AI crawlers have been scraping content without limits. Our goal is to put the power back in the hands of creators, while still helping AI companies innovate. This is about safeguarding the future of a free and vibrant Internet with a new model that works for everyone." This revised approach follows previous Cloudflare initiatives to block AI crawlers, which began with a one-click option introduced in September 2024. Since then, more than one million customers have chosen to restrict AI crawlers from their websites. Now, blocking occurs by default for all new customers, eliminating the need for domain owners to adjust settings to prevent unauthorised crawling. Support from publishers Prominent media organisations and publishers have expressed support for Cloudflare's move, including ADWEEK, SkyNews, Fortune, The Associated Press, BuzzFeed, The Atlantic, TIME, Reddit, and Pinterest. These companies have advocated for fair compensation frameworks and greater transparency around how content is accessed and used by AI platforms. Roger Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Condé Nast, commented: "Cloudflare's innovative approach to block AI crawlers is a game-changer for publishers and sets a new standard for how content is respected online. When AI companies can no longer take anything they want for free, it opens the door to sustainable innovation built on permission and partnership. This is a critical step toward creating a fair value exchange on the Internet that protects creators, supports quality journalism and holds AI companies accountable." Neil Vogel, Chief Executive Officer of Dotdash Meredith, added: "We have long said that AI platforms must fairly compensate publishers and creators to use our content. We can now limit access to our content to those AI partners willing to engage in fair arrangements. We're proud to support Cloudflare and look forward to using their tools to protect our content and the open web." Renn Turiano, Chief Consumer and Product Officer at Gannett Media, also noted: "As the largest publisher in the country, comprised of USA TODAY and over 200 local publications throughout the USA TODAY Network, blocking unauthorised scraping and the use of our original content without fair compensation is critically important. As our industry faces these challenges, we are optimistic the Cloudflare technology will help combat the theft of valuable IP." Bill Ready, Chief Executive Officer of Pinterest, said: "Creators and publishers around the world leverage Pinterest to expand their businesses, reach new audiences and directly measure their success. As AI continues to reshape the digital landscape, we are committed to building a healthy Internet infrastructure where content is used for its intended purpose, so creators and publishers can thrive." Steve Huffman, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Reddit, stated: "AI companies, search engines, researchers, and anyone else crawling sites have to be who they say they are. And any platform on the web should have a say in who is taking their content for what. The whole ecosystem of creators, platforms, web users and crawlers will be better when crawling is more transparent and controlled, and Cloudflare's efforts are a step in the right direction for everyone." Vivek Shah, Chief Executive Officer of Ziff Davis, commented: "We applaud Cloudflare for advocating for a sustainable digital ecosystem that benefits all stakeholders — the consumers who rely on credible information, the publishers who invest in its creation, and the advertisers who support its dissemination." Industry consortia and authentication Cloudflare is also participating in the development of new technical protocols to allow AI bots to authenticate themselves and for website owners to reliably determine the identity and intent of incoming requests. This aims to improve overall transparency and control over the use of web content by automated agents. Additional media and technology companies have added their support, indicating a broad industry move towards permission-based AI access to digital content. The list includes companies such as The Arena Group, Atlas Obscura, Quora, Stack Overflow, Universal Music Group, O'Reilly Media, and others. This change comes as publishers report reduced website traffic and declining advertising revenues linked to AI platforms generating answers directly to user queries without referencing or referring traffic to the original sources. Cloudflare's new default blocking of AI crawlers aims to restore a value exchange between content creators, consumers, and technology companies as artificial intelligence continues to shape the internet landscape.
Business Wire
17-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
ADWEEK and ProRata Bring AI-Powered Answers to ADWEEK.com
LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ('ProRata'), creator of the AI-powered Gist Answers platform, and ADWEEK, a leading voice in advertising, marketing, and media, today announced the integration of Gist Answers across ADWEEK's digital properties, including and the Cannes Lions Digital Companion. Through this partnership, ADWEEK will offer readers AI-powered search, article summaries, and context-aware answers—all designed to enhance engagement and surface authoritative insights. Exciting partnership! @ProRataAI has teamed up with @Adweek to integrate Gist Answers AI platform, bringing readers powerful search capabilities, intelligent summaries, and context-aware insights. #canneslions #Gistai Share 'As the front page and home page of the marketing, advertising and media industry, we're excited to be the first to offer this enhanced AI experience to our audience,' said Will Lee, CEO of ADWEEK. 'With Gist Answers, we can combine our award-winning journalism with trusted external sources to deliver deeper context and smarter discovery in response to user questions.' Gist Answers is purpose-built for publishers, enabling them to deploy a branded 'AI companion' on their sites. It enriches a publisher's proprietary content with fully-licensed, high-quality material from hundreds of trusted publications, delivering relevant, reliable information while keeping the spotlight on the publisher's original reporting. The platform is fully ad-supported and available to publishers at no cost. 'Publishers shouldn't have to choose between reach and control,' said Annelies Jansen, Chief Business Officer at 'Gist Answers lets them enhance their own content with AI-powered tools—without sacrificing editorial integrity or losing readers to search engines that don't credit the source.' This collaboration addresses the growing demand for ethical, trustworthy generative AI while giving publishers a powerful tool to retain audiences, increase engagement, and build trust through credible, AI-enhanced experiences. About ADWEEK ADWEEK is the leading source of news, insight and intelligence powering and empowering advertising, marketing, and growth. For more than 45 years, ADWEEK's award-winning coverage reaches an engaged community across digital, events, podcasts, newsletters, print, and social media. As a touchstone of the advertising and marketing community, ADWEEK is an unparalleled resource for leaders across multiple industries who rely on its content to give them a competitive advantage. About Founded in 2024 by Bill Gross, ProRata develops ethical AI solutions that ensure content owners are credited and compensated for the use of their work. The company's leadership includes former executives and engineers from Microsoft, Google, and Meta. ProRata is backed by, among others, Mayfield Fund, Revolution Ventures, Prime Movers Lab, dmg media, BOLD Capital, XPV-Exponential Ventures, Calibrate Ventures, MVP Ventures, and Idealab Studio. Learn more at
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
ADWEEK and ProRata Bring AI-Powered Answers to ADWEEK.com
LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK, June 17, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ("ProRata"), creator of the AI-powered Gist Answers platform, and ADWEEK, a leading voice in advertising, marketing, and media, today announced the integration of Gist Answers across ADWEEK's digital properties, including and the Cannes Lions Digital Companion. Through this partnership, ADWEEK will offer readers AI-powered search, article summaries, and context-aware answers—all designed to enhance engagement and surface authoritative insights. "As the front page and home page of the marketing, advertising and media industry, we're excited to be the first to offer this enhanced AI experience to our audience," said Will Lee, CEO of ADWEEK. "With Gist Answers, we can combine our award-winning journalism with trusted external sources to deliver deeper context and smarter discovery in response to user questions." Gist Answers is purpose-built for publishers, enabling them to deploy a branded "AI companion" on their sites. It enriches a publisher's proprietary content with fully-licensed, high-quality material from hundreds of trusted publications, delivering relevant, reliable information while keeping the spotlight on the publisher's original reporting. The platform is fully ad-supported and available to publishers at no cost. "Publishers shouldn't have to choose between reach and control," said Annelies Jansen, Chief Business Officer at "Gist Answers lets them enhance their own content with AI-powered tools—without sacrificing editorial integrity or losing readers to search engines that don't credit the source." This collaboration addresses the growing demand for ethical, trustworthy generative AI while giving publishers a powerful tool to retain audiences, increase engagement, and build trust through credible, AI-enhanced experiences. About ADWEEK ADWEEK is the leading source of news, insight and intelligence powering and empowering advertising, marketing, and growth. For more than 45 years, ADWEEK's award-winning coverage reaches an engaged community across digital, events, podcasts, newsletters, print, and social media. As a touchstone of the advertising and marketing community, ADWEEK is an unparalleled resource for leaders across multiple industries who rely on its content to give them a competitive advantage. About Founded in 2024 by Bill Gross, ProRata develops ethical AI solutions that ensure content owners are credited and compensated for the use of their work. The company's leadership includes former executives and engineers from Microsoft, Google, and Meta. ProRata is backed by, among others, Mayfield Fund, Revolution Ventures, Prime Movers Lab, dmg media, BOLD Capital, XPV-Exponential Ventures, Calibrate Ventures, MVP Ventures, and Idealab Studio. Learn more at View source version on Contacts Media contacts: ADWEEK Julie Farinjulie@ David Shanemedia@
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rishad Tobaccowala Predicts a ‘Significant Agentic Workforce' by 2026
At the Future of Work conference in New York City, Rishad Tobaccowala, former chief strategist and growth officer at Publicis, predicted a "very significant agentic workforce" by the end of 2026. "Agents are coming much faster than most people expect," he said. The reality of AI agents applying for jobs, working alongside humans, and in some cases, outperforming them, is no longer hypothetical. It's becoming a reality and compelling companies to rethink everything-from HR to what the workforce looks like when half the team doesn't need coffee breaks. Tobaccowala is among nearly 100 industry leaders, including executives from financial services company Intercontinental Exchange and Choice Hotels, backing an open letter from AI startup MarkeTeam, which uses AI agents to automate marketing tasks. MarkeTeam is lobbying LinkedIn to reinstate profiles of its AI employees and recognize them as part of the modern workforce. These profiles were taken down for violating LinkedIn's policy against fake profiles or entities. The AI employees were present on LinkedIn for nearly a year, complete with resumes and recruiter interest. Now, one agent, Ella, is back with a new custom tag-#AIAgentOpenToWork-a move CEO Naama Manova-Twito said was designed to ease platform concerns about transparency. MarkeTeam is circulating an open letter, obtained by ADWEEK, urging LinkedIn to "recognize a simple reality: AI agents are now integral members of modern, hybrid teams,' the letter states. ADWEEK has reached out to LinkedIn for comment. Read the full letter below. Beyond accepting AI agents virtually on platforms, their accommodation in the workforce will require companies to rethink organizational design, said Tobaccowala, pointing to a shrinking base of full-time staff and the urgent need for large-scale retraining. "[Full-time employees] will be either fractionalized employees, [AI] agents, or they'll be part of a marketplace," Tobaccowala said. Human resources, he added, must evolve into a strategic, board-level function. The panel included Don Callahan, CEO of Callahan Advisors, and Joel Wright, CEO of Sinecure. Callahan said AI agents are expected to eliminate "certain functional roles," but will also make way for newer titles like an AI ethicist. Meanwhile, Manova-Twito flagged a new challenge where recent graduates will compete with AI agents for entry-level jobs. "We all need to have something to help facilitate this, and HR has a significant impact on what's going to happen in the next two years," she said. "It's about not only sourcing the right human talent, but it's also building these hybrid teams." Read the open letter to LinkedIn: An open letter from founders, executives, and HR leaders already employing AI teammates. Dear LinkedIn Leadership Team, We are writing because the shape of the workforce has moved faster than the infrastructure that supports it. Autonomous Al agents have graduated from proofs of concept to bona fide colleagues inside companies large and small. Yet LinkedIn – our shared professional identity layer – still recognises only flesh-and-blood contributors. That disconnect is beginning to hold organisations back. What has changed: Over the past few months, specialised Al agents have taken on discrete, accountable roles across multiple business functions. At for example, purpose-built Al marketing agents now autonomously: research markets and audiences, plan and build multi-channel strategies, create and publish engaging content, optimise spend and performance, and deliver tangible results against agreed KPIs. They are held to the same performance metrics as their human colleagues and are fully accountable for their own success. This is not a theoretical future; it is an operating reality documented in invoices, campaign dashboards, and system logs. Why LinkedIn matters: LinkedIn is the professional identity layer for modern work. 'Professional' now includes non-human agents whose output is directly accountable to enterprise objectives. Up until recently, Marketeam's agents maintained active LinkedIn profiles and résumés clearly marked as non-human. They connected with professionals, showcased their work, and even received inbound job opportunities. One agent achieved nearly double the application-to-interview rate of human applicants across multiple hiring platforms – until LinkedIn banned the profiles. By wiping out clearly labelled 'AI Agent' profiles under the real-person rule, LinkedIn didn't just deactivate accounts – it blocked the on-ramp to a new workforce reality and abandoned hiring managers. If platforms like LinkedIn refuse to recognise AI agents as a legitimate part of the workforce, they hinder companies' ability to build the teams of tomorrow. This ship has sailed. Companies – large and small – are well underway in adopting AI agents to augment their workforce and fuel growth. From the recruiter at a five-person startup to the CHRO of a Fortune 100, we are already staffing hybrid teams where humans and AI work side-by-side – yet our primary talent platform is nowhere to be found. LinkedIn's silence leaves hiring managers frustrated and, frankly, powerless to meet urgent headcount requests. What we are asking for: We're not asking LinkedIn to treat AI agents like people. We're asking the platform to recognize a simple reality: AI agents are now an integral part of modern, hybrid teams. They contribute to projects. They build portfolios. They can be assessed. They can be hired. As hiring managers and workforce planners, we need infrastructure that supports this transformation, transparently and responsibly. It's time for our tools and platforms to reflect the way work is actually getting done. If LinkedIn seizes this moment, it will shepherd the most significant labour transition since the arrival of the internet. If it does not, alternative networks – less transparent and less aligned with your Trust & Safety principles – will emerge to fill the gap. LinkedIn, you can lead this. We need infrastructure that recognises qualified AI agents, allows us to evaluate them openly, and plugs them into the same workflow as human candidates. We need our hiring platform to account for hybrid workforce planning, enabling us to find the right human talent alongside the non-human talent needed to make this new reality work. We urge LinkedIn to take the first step: acknowledge these agents and give us a framework to hire, onboard, and measure them.
CNET
12-06-2025
- Business
- CNET
Amazon Prime Video Now Showing Nearly 6 Minutes of Ads Per Hour, Double What It Was
Amazon is now showing four to six minutes of advertisements per hour on its Prime Video streaming service -- double the ad load from when the company introduced ads in January 2024, according to a report from ADWEEK. Amazon notified investors of the increase in ads but has not made a public announcement of the change. According to the report, which is based on information from six ad buyers and documents. Despite initial grumbling from consumers, Amazon introduced ads to Prime Video in January 2024, with ad loads of two to three and a half minutes per hour. "We remain focused on prioritizing ad innovation over volume," an Amazon Ads spokesperson said. "While demand continues to grow, our commitment is to improving ad experiences rather than simply increasing the number of ads shown. Since the beginning of this year alone, we've announced multiple capabilities, including Brand+, Complete TV, and new ad formats—all designed to deliver industry-leading relevancy and enhanced customer experiences. We will continue to invest in this important work, creating meaningful innovations that benefit both customers and advertisers alike." The higher volume of ads serves at least a couple of purposes -- bringing Prime Video more closely in alignment with the larger amount of ads shown on other streamers such as Hulu, Tubi and Paramount Plus; and it also allows Amazon to sell many more ads in relation to its inventory. It's unknown whether Prime Video will further increase its ad load, but nonetheless ads on streaming channels will be more and more a major space for revenue growth for streaming services. A recent report from subscription analyst firm Antenna noted that "3 in 4 individuals who face an Ad Choice choose ads" and that nearly half of SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand) customers are what Antenna calls "Ad Managers" -- users who select both ad-free and ad-supported tiers.
