Publishers Guard Revenue While BMW Puts Spider-Man in Drivers’ Dashboards

The useful part

CEO Neil Vogel recently said that blocking all Google scrapers is " entirely on the table," the publisher apparently isn't ready to go that far, at least not yet. During the company's Q2 earnings call on Tuesday, Vogel told investors that Google Search. "We're not out the other side of it," he noted, which is just another way to say that People Inc., like so many other publishers, still needs Google to make money.

How it works

• So even though you can click away the Spider-Man promo, the forced distribution feels like an affront.
• Many influencers are setting up their own platforms and side businesses to better monetize their strong followings on YouTube, Adweek reports.
• The rise of AI search is pushing influencers to think less like creators and more like media businesses.
• [ WSJ ] Teads files a lawsuit against Google and parent company Alphabet in a New York district court, seeking damages following the recent ruling that exposed Google's monopoly over online advertising.
• Collar, a dog collar brand with direct-to-consumer origins, is preparing for its retail expansion by honing its first-party data strategy and incrementality measurement.

What to take from it

Despite what VideoWeek describes as a "steep decline in traffic," People Inc. managed to keep ad revenue flat year-over-year by packaging inventory on its sites with offsite content, such as live events and social media. says it can hold the line on ad revenue is that quality inventory is getting harder to find in a sea of AI slop and declining traffic.

Example or evidence

• Publishers Neuroscience And AI Are Transforming The Weather Company's Measurement Stack TWC is building a monetization model that treats weather as both a contextual and an emotional signal, and it's using...
• The campaign will be available to experience in BMW vehicles produced after July 2020 that run the most recent BMW operating system.
• (Our condolences to those owners.) The movie tie-in is part of a broader brand deal whereby other BMW models are featured in the new Spider-Man movie.
• One was even driven onto the red carpet at the film's Los Angeles premiere, a BMW spokesperson tells auto industry pub The Autopian.

Details worth keeping

Wednesday, August 5th, 2026 – 12:03 am SHARE: which relies on the same crawler as AI Overviews. Put It In Drive With great horsepower comes great responsibility.

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