#counter-programming

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fromThe Atlantic
1 day ago

How Some People Became So Averse to Hype

Anna Holmes defines 'hype aversion' as a reflex against being told what to like, suggesting that popularity can create pressure rather than signal quality. This feeling can lead to a deliberate choice to resist mainstream culture.
Media industry
Marketing tech
fromForbes
2 days ago

From Streaming To AI: Agency Leaders' Next Big Media Bets

Streaming platform consolidation is reshaping agency strategies, emphasizing precision and adaptability in targeting consumer attention.
Marketing
fromForbes
3 days ago

To Get Powerful Publicity, Build A Narrative Strategy

Building a clear, consistent narrative strategy is essential for organizations to connect with stakeholders and achieve sustainable success.
fromIndieWire
4 days ago

You Can't Make a 'Cult Classic' with Marketing - Opinion

'Forbidden Fruits' has been widely hailed as a 'cult classic' by critics and fans, but labeling it as such too soon risks undermining the process that establishes a film's cultural significance over time.
Independent films
fromThe New Yorker
6 days ago

Reality-TV Deconstructor

So much of the White House has always been a kind of symbolic construction. All the tackiness-I find it endearing. The bald artifice, the kind of striver-ness of it-it's like rooting for early Bethenny.
NYC real estate
Film
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 week ago

The Guide #236: Is celebrity casting a cynical marketing stunt or does it help to democratise theatre?

Celebrity casting in UK theatre is increasingly common but faces criticism for overshadowing smaller productions and new talent.
Music
fromPitchfork
1 week ago

Choose Your Fighter in Pitchfork's Bracket Challenge

A bracket challenge featuring 32 favorite albums invites fans to vote for the best in honor of Pitchfork's 30th anniversary.
Media industry
fromTNW | Investors-Funding
2 days ago

OpenAI has acquired the Silicon Valley talk show TBPN

OpenAI has acquired the Technology Business Programming Network, maintaining its editorial independence while integrating it into its strategy organization.
#public-relations
Marketing
fromFast Company
3 days ago

Beyond earned media: A new PR playbook

A strong PR plan balances daily visibility with long-term brand building, adapting to evolving media landscapes and consumer habits.
Marketing
fromEntrepreneur
6 days ago

The Future of PR Is Collaborative. Here's Why Lone Wolves Will Lose

Collaboration is the primary driver of growth in the PR industry, replacing competition.
Arts
fromHyperallergic
1 week ago

Social Malpractice in the Age of Cultural Compliance

Socially engaged art faces challenges in a world increasingly hostile to independent thought and public expression.
Social media marketing
fromEntrepreneur
6 days ago

Not All PR Fires Burn the Same - Here's How to Put Them Out

Reputation management during a crisis requires digital intervention and a well-crafted media response to effectively control the narrative.
Marketing
fromForbes
4 days ago

The Great Convergence: Why The Creator Economy's Future Belongs To Those Who Unite Social, Brand, And Talent

The entertainment industry is shifting power to creators, with traditional advertising losing relevance as the creator economy rapidly expands.
Media industry
fromNieman Lab
4 days ago

Three newsletters for the price of 1.5: Independent journalists experiment with a bundle

Bundling independent journalism subscriptions can reduce costs for readers and support multiple writers effectively.
Philosophy
fromThe Nation
2 weeks ago

In Defense of Being Performative

Democracy requires citizens to actively perform civic engagement; dismissing performative politics misunderstands that democratic participation is inherently performative and essential for democratic survival.
#independent-film
Media industry
fromIndieWire
4 days ago

To Access Stranded Capital, Filmmakers Need to Learn Demand-Side Thinking

Shifting from supply-side to demand-side thinking is crucial for independent filmmakers to attract investment and audience interest.
Media industry
fromIndieWire
4 days ago

To Access Stranded Capital, Filmmakers Need to Learn Demand-Side Thinking

Shifting from supply-side to demand-side thinking is crucial for independent filmmakers to attract investment and audience interest.
Marketing tech
fromForbes
2 weeks ago

The Communications Role Is Changing: 5 Shifts That Matter Most

AI is transforming communications by making earned media a structural necessity for brand reputation.
World politics
fromwww.aljazeera.com
3 weeks ago

The battle on the propaganda front intensifies

Iran employs asymmetric economic tactics against U.S.-Israeli military superiority while misinformation complicates public understanding of the conflict.
Independent films
fromIndieWire
2 weeks ago

Indie Film Has an Architecture Problem

The indie film model is structurally designed to fail, with misaligned incentives between investors, filmmakers, distributors, and audiences, resulting in only 0.025% of screenplays achieving profitable theatrical outcomes.
Online Community Development
fromPR Daily
2 weeks ago

The next phase of social strategy: Giving audiences ownership of the story - PR Daily

Brands are shifting from broadcasting authenticity to enabling audience ownership through participatory experiences and community involvement.
Media industry
fromDigiday
4 days ago

Future of TV Briefing: What publishers have to offer creators

Publishers are increasingly collaborating with creators to enhance revenue opportunities and audience reach.
Public health
fromPsychology Today
3 weeks ago

Can Media Literacy Games Travel Across Cultures?

Culturally tailored misinformation games significantly outperform generic Western-designed versions in building media literacy across different populations.
Miami Dolphins
fromDefector
3 weeks ago

I Am Standing By For News | Defector

NFL free agency's tampering period begins with teams already negotiating trades and signings before the official window opens, generating intense anticipation among fans.
Film
fromIndieWire
3 weeks ago

How to Craft a Film Festival That Appeals to All Ages (No, Really, All Ages)

The New York International Children's Film Festival demonstrates how specialized festivals can serve diverse audiences through rigorous curation, year-round engagement, and inclusive programming strategies applicable to festivals of all sizes.
Podcast
fromwww.theguardian.com
3 weeks ago

A loving homage to pop culture's also-rans: best podcasts of the week

Several new podcasts celebrate overlooked pop culture figures, explore nuanced cultural debates, critique AI-generated content, examine Viking history, and investigate a wrongful murder conviction case.
Media industry
fromExchangewire
6 days ago

How Publishers are Balancing AI Fear with Opportunity

The publishing industry is navigating AI adoption with a focus on innovation while maintaining quality and ethical standards.
Marketing
fromThe Drum
1 week ago

Andrew Tindall: We've made media easier to defend than creativity, but we need both to win

The challenge in marketing is prioritizing creativity over media effectiveness for impactful campaigns.
Arts
fromColossal
3 weeks ago

Mischief's Genius Ads for NPR Provoke Urgent Questions About the Right to Information

NPR continues its mission despite losing $1.1 billion in federal funding through CPB dissolution, relying on member stations, endowments, and contributions while launching a campaign promoting public curiosity and inquiry.
Film
fromIndieWire
3 weeks ago

Have You Been Hurt by Media Consolidation? I Have.

The infrastructure supporting independent film production and distribution has collapsed, eliminating financing options, distribution channels, and profit opportunities that sustained filmmakers for decades.
Marketing
fromPR Daily
2 weeks ago

Why cultural insight beats product messaging every time - PR Daily

Brands achieve relevance by connecting to cultural values people already care about rather than forcing product features into conversations.
Social media marketing
fromInc
4 weeks ago

Forget Perfection. This Simple Habit Is What Actually Builds an Audience Today.

Authentic, casual content now resonates more with audiences than polished, carefully staged posts on social media platforms.
Television
fromVulture
1 month ago

The Hunt for the Next Heated Rivalry Is Not That Simple

Heated Rivalry's unexpected success on HBO Max has sparked industry interest in sports romance content, but executives warn against creating derivative clones of the show.
Film
fromNo Film School
1 month ago

Reclaiming Distribution: A Modern Indie Release Strategy

Filmmaker Gille Klabin abandoned traditional distribution for his second feature, choosing self-distribution with transparent data-driven marketing to maintain creative control and maximize returns on his low-budget film.
Marketing
fromFast Company
3 weeks ago

AI will power Fandom from spectator to co-star

Generative AI enables media companies to maintain constant fan engagement by scaling personalized content creation beyond traditional production limits, transforming passive consumers into active co-creators within brand-safe parameters.
Media industry
fromPadailypost
3 weeks ago

Author finds outrage is profitable

Social media algorithms are deliberately designed to amplify outrage because anger drives engagement, clicks, and shares, particularly intensifying before elections when candidates use fear to motivate voters.
Philosophy
fromApaonline
1 month ago

"When You See This Sign...": The Power of Silence in Propaganda

Silence functions as a strategic propagandistic tool alongside language, enabling ideologies to spread through what remains unsaid rather than explicitly stated.
Marketing
fromThe Drum
3 weeks ago

The future of advertising: integrating creativity and technology

CTV platforms enable advertisers to deliver interactive, personalized experiences through data collection and automation, transforming audience engagement strategies.
fromDigiday
3 weeks ago

From rented audiences to engaged communities: Why participation is the new moat for publishers

Social platforms promised reach, scale and frictionless distribution. In exchange, publishers ceded control of audience relationships, data and, ultimately, trust. Today, that bargain is not working. Social media is imperfect. Feeds are flooded with bots, synthetic engagement, misinformation and bad actors operating under inconsistent or nonexistent moderation standards.
Media industry
Marketing
fromTheWrap
3 weeks ago

Top Marketing Execs Say Hollywood's Embrace of Brand Integration Offsets Industry Cuts | Video

Hollywood studios increasingly embrace brand integration in film and television to offset production budget cuts, with audiences accepting placements when executed authentically and organically.
Left-wing politics
fromTruthout
1 month ago

The Web Is Not Enough - Why These Left Media Workers Are Opening Physical Spaces

Leftist independent publishers shifted from DIY home operations to opening community spaces, aided by pandemic-era relief, profitable mail orders, and a growing ecosystem of similar outlets.
Arts
fromArtnet News
1 month ago

Can Performance Art Win Over a New Generation of Collectors? | Artnet News

Performance art is already sellable; recent shifts are increasing how its market value is established through editions, documentation, and institutional purchases.
Design
fromItsnicethat
1 month ago

POV: What worked last time is the enemy of what works next

Evidence-driven demands and institutional risk aversion steadily suppress creative experimentation, replacing play with safety and making genuinely new ideas harder to justify.
US politics
fromDefector
2 months ago

Which Lives Are Worthy Of The Media's Protection? | Defector

The United States invaded Venezuela, abducted President Nicolás Maduro during Operation Absolute Resolve, and imposed restrictive Pentagon rules limiting reporters' access and reporting.
UK politics
fromKotaku
2 months ago

Anti-Extremism Visual Novel Sparks Goth E-Girl Extremist Meme

A British government-funded anti-extremism game unintentionally turned its racist goth antagonist into an alt-right meme and AI fan-art phenomenon online.
Marketing
fromForbes
1 month ago

Marketers, Stop Donating Free Advertising To Your Competitors

Pepsi's 2026 Super Bowl ad featuring Coca-Cola's Polar Bear exemplifies a persistent challenger marketing mistake: building campaigns around competitors' distinctive assets, which strengthens rival brand memory instead of the advertiser's own.
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

All the world's enraged: a new era of resistance theater' is rising as Trump attacks the arts

On a cool winter night in Los Angeles, dozens gathered to protest the Trump administration's attacks on the arts and the recent federal immigration raids in southern California. But these protestors didn't carry signs or chant in front of a government building they recited poems such as Antifa Tea Party and Love in Times of Fascism. They performed anti-fascist improv to a small but lively crowd at The Glendale Room, a library-themed theater, as part of the monthly show Unquiet: A Night of Creative Resistance.
US politics
fromThe Drum
2 months ago

Press releases are the selfie of the marketing world

Context as the subject The issue with selfies is that they demote the importance of context. You can be standing in front of the Great Wall of China but an arms-length framing makes you an artificial focal point. By contrast, if you turn the camera around, you're presenting your viewer with your perspective on the world around you. Taking care to turn a quick snap into an artful, composed observation shows your audience something important, without having to tell them so directly.
Music
fromOregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
1 month ago

"What is My Hand in This?": A powerful call for a better world * Oregon ArtsWatch

Davóne Tines and Ruckus delivered a powerful, multi-genre concert pleading for a better world, blending spirituals, opera, and rock-infused period instruments.
Marketing tech
fromDigiday
1 month ago

While holdcos build 'death stars of content,' indie creative agencies take alternative routes

The ad industry's largest holding companies are shifting away from traditional creative advertising toward AI-driven production and marketing platforms, while independents emphasize distinct creative work.
Arts
fromOregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
1 month ago

DramaWatch: Memory, meta-theater and musicals * Oregon ArtsWatch

Portland stages a diverse slate of theater and musicals this season, spanning meta-theater, classic revivals, immersive reinterpretations, and contemporary indie productions.
Television
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

Competency porn: is there any greater escapism than watching a capable person on TV?

Audiences increasingly seek escapism through media that showcases calm, expert performance and everyday professional competence rather than sensational or fantastical drama.
Marketing tech
fromThe Drum
2 months ago

A marketers guide to diverse media planning

Diverse media plans require clear brand definitions, representative creative, aligned audience touchpoints, and investment in diverse-owned publishers to scale inclusively.
Arts
fromArtnet News
2 months ago

How Activists Are Embracing Craft as a Tool of Anti-ICE Resistance | Artnet News

Handmade craftivism—knit hats, origami, quilts and puppetry—is being used as a nonviolent, emotion-driven form of protest against ICE enforcement and deportation policies.
Film
fromIndieWire
2 months ago

Critics, Filmmakers, and Why the Future of Movies Belongs to the People Who Give a Sh*t About Them

At the New York Film Critics Circle awards dinner, a lengthy speech about critics' relationship with filmmakers prompted playful roasts from presenters.
fromAdExchanger
2 months ago

When Performance Brands Invade TV; Subscription Conniptions | AdExchanger

Big TV networks and studios are finally shifting toward programmatic advertising - even for their linear TV spots. And this shift is attracting a new wave of advertisers and transforming what a typical TV ad break looks and feels like. For example, as reports, Comcast is starting to see net-new ad revenue growth from first-time TV advertisers. "The people coming in the door are small performance advertisers, but they've been doing social ads forever," says Travis Flood, Comcast Advertising's director of insights. "They don't have a TV ad."
Marketing tech
Marketing tech
fromDigiday
2 months ago

Media Briefing: Here's what media execs are prioritizing in 2026

Publishers will prioritize AI-driven ad revenue, brand marketing, and creator/video strategies to recover from 2025 and capitalize on 2026 political and sports opportunities.
Film
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

The Guide #229: How an indie movie distributed by a lone gamer broke the US box office

Two unusual releases contrasted a costly, widely distributed first-lady documentary with a self-financed YouTuber-made indie horror that achieved notable box-office success.
Media industry
fromPR Daily
2 months ago

Communicators say these are the hills they'll die on - PR Daily

Communicators must defend clarity, simplicity, business alignment, journalistic standards, and strategic agility while refusing unnecessary jargon, verbose releases, or disconnected plans.
Film
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

The strangest thing: is the future of cinema not new movies?

A theatrical release of the Stranger Things finale generated an estimated $25–30m in 24 hours by selling concession-voucher seats, funneling revenue directly to exhibitors.
Media industry
fromNieman Lab
2 months ago

Newsrooms are taking comments seriously again

Reader comment sections are resurging as publishers reinvest in moderated, subscriber-gated or automated-comment systems to drive engagement and revenue.
Marketing
fromThe Drum
2 months ago

Agencies need to shake up the creative process if they want to compete with their 'frenemies'

Agencies must refocus on core skills—consumer insight, transformative creativity, and tenacious execution—to reclaim central client relationships amid platform dominance and rising complexity.
fromThe Drum
2 months ago

The formula for successful content: creative and performance must work together

Capturing your audience in the perfect moment with the perfect content to produce startling results is the ultimate goal of creative content marketing. But the real magic happens when creatives and performance marketers work closely together. When creative experts join forces with performance specialists, you are building a winning formula to achieve maximum impact for your campaign investment. So, the million-dollar question is: how do you create content that achieves your goals and cuts through the noise, across every touchpoint of the customer journey?
Marketing
Marketing
fromForbes
2 months ago

AI Has A Brand Problem And Entertainment Is The Fix

Brands must build and own entertainment platforms to create durable cultural value because AI-driven content abundance commoditizes attention and distribution.
Marketing
fromPR Daily
2 months ago

Resisting the slop: How brands can stand out in the age of infinite content and finite attention - PR Daily

Brands must prioritize high-quality, insight-driven content over high-volume AI-produced output to protect engagement, trust, and brand authority.
Marketing
fromFast Company
2 months ago

Branded entertainment will just be entertainment in 2026

Brands are shifting from interruptive paid media to branded content and entertainment partnerships with Hollywood to attract attention and drive measurable results.
Marketing
fromThe Drum
2 months ago

Make branded content people actually care about on TV and online

Successful online brands prioritize entertaining, consumer-centric content to capture attention within a choice-driven, ad-blocking digital environment.
Marketing
fromForbes
2 months ago

The Strongest Signals Yet Of Brand Storytelling's Entertainment Future

Brand storytelling has become a strategic corporate function essential for engaging audiences, building emotional resonance, and driving brand preference in fragmented media landscapes.
Marketing
fromThe Drum
2 months ago

Implications for social communications

Branded content includes owned media, native paid distribution, and publisher-hosted material, each bearing different transparency, trust, and cultural implications for marketers and audiences.
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