• Microsoft Corp. said it plans to end support for Twitter Inc. on its B2B advertising platform that allows ad buyers to manage all of their brands’ social media accounts in one place. (Mashable) In response to a tweet about Microsoft’s announcement, Twitter owner Elon Musk threatened to sue Microsoft, claiming the tech giant illegally used Twitter data to train its artificial intelligence programs. (CNBC)
• Alphabet Inc.’s Google is reportedly planning to roll out a suite of AI-powered advertising tools over the coming months, marking its latest push to incorporate the emerging technology into existing offerings. According to an internal presentation viewed by the Financial Times, the products will be able to create sophisticated ad campaigns from inputs provided by human marketers, such as reference images or stated target audiences. (Financial Times) 
• Publicis Groupe SA reported organic growth of 7.1% for the first quarter, beating estimates despite a mixed economic environment. CEO Arthur Sadoun said the holding company saw some clients cut traditional ad spend across agencies during the reporting period, but those pullbacks were “not material enough to have an impact.” (The Wall Street Journal) 
• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy in the coming days as it struggles to raise the $300 million it needs to continue operations by an April 26 deadline. The retailer avoided a Chapter 11 filing earlier this year by raising $360 million from a hedge fund investor. (Bloomberg)

Most NHL Fans Support Pride Nights

Morning Consult

A new option when making audio ads: Voice AI

Alyssa Meyers, Marketing Brew

Like DALL-E and ChatGPT, voice AI tools promise to make audio ads quickly and affordably, but they’re not yet widespread.

Kroger And Disney Partner To Close The Loop Between The Sofa And The Store Shelf

Allison Schiff, AdExchanger

Kroger Precision Marketing, the grocer’s retail media arm, announced a deal Wednesday with Disney Advertising to share first-party behavioral data for targeting streaming audiences and measuring the results, including sales and conversions by household.

Top pro leagues, media outlets team up to combat problematic sports-betting ads

Stefan Sykes, CNBC 

The NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, WNBA, NASCAR, and MLS have joined media companies NBCUniversal and Fox to form The Coalition for Responsible Sports Betting Advertising. The coalition, led by NFL vice president of public policy and government affairs, Jonathan Nabavi, aims to regulate sports-betting advertising as it floods television, internet and print media.

Fox News Mostly Avoids Airing How It Paid Out $787 Million For Spreading Election Lies

Charlotte Klein, Vanity Fair

It was largely business as usual on the network after its historic defamation suit with Dominion Voting Systems, which will not be seeing any on-air apologies, came to an abrupt end.

SeatGeek Files Confidentially for IPO

Cory Weinberg, The Information 

Event ticketing company SeatGeek filed confidentially with regulators this month for an initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said, adding itself to a long list of firms aiming for IPOs once market conditions improve.

Night Jitters: TV’s Late Crowd Grapples With Weakness in the Wee Hours

Brian Steinberg, Variety

In 2018, seven late night programs — NBC’s “Tonight” and “Late Night,” CBS’ “Late Show” and “Late Late Show,” ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” and NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” — drew more than $698 million in advertising in 2018, according to Vivvix, a tracker of ad spending. By 2022, that total came to $412.7 million — a drop of approximately 41% over five years. 

Netflix Earnings Show Wall Street’s Diverging Views On Streaming Growth Potential

Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter

The company’s first-quarter results didn’t sway most finance experts from their previously held bull or bear opinions. A couple of them upgraded their stock price target though.

Netflix blames a technical bug for its ‘Love is Blind’ live stream issues, says it will try live again

Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Co-CEO Greg Peters acknowledged the technical glitches had to do with an internal bug the company had introduced after the Chris Rock special in March, which wasn’t discovered until it tried to live stream again under the load of millions of viewers.

DeSantis’s Florida board just discovered another “11th-hour agreement” shielding Disney from its oversight

Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz 

DeSantis established the new board in March to end Disney’s self-governing status in Florida. 

Fox News Producer’s Secret Recordings Helped Spur Dominion Deal

Jeff Feeley, Bloomberg

The prospect of a fired Fox News producer’s secret recordings being played during trial helped push the conservative network to its $787.5 million settlement of a defamation suit by Dominion Voting Systems Inc. over the broadcasting of false 2020 election-fraud claims, people familiar with the matter said.

Warner Bros. Discovery Owes $52 Million for ‘South Park’ Streaming Rights, Paramount Alleges

Gene Maddaus, Variety

Paramount Global fired back on Wednesday in the battle over “South Park” streaming rights, accusing Warner Bros. Discovery of withholding $52 million in license fees.

CNN’s new, proprietary publishing platform helps ‘reduce tech debt’

Sara Guaglione, Digiday

CNN went live with a new content management system called Stellar on Tuesday, created in-house by CNN’s product & technology team. 

Apple CEO Tim Cook Meets India Prime Minister Modi, in Move Diversifying Supply Chain

Yang Jie and Rajesh Roy, The Wall Street Journal

Tech giant wants India to become a center of iPhone manufacturing and sales.

Snap says Snapchat+ has 3 million paid subscribers

Sheila Dang, Reuters

Snapchat+, which launched last year for $3.99 per month, has been a key part of the company’s efforts to expand its revenue beyond digital advertising, which is struggling as some brands cut marketing budgets amid concerns about the economy.

The Future of Social Media Is a Lot Less Social

Brian X. Chen, The New York Times

Facebook, TikTok and Twitter seem to be increasingly connecting users with brands and influencers. To restore a sense of community, some users are trying smaller social networks.

Twitter removes transgender protections from hateful conduct policy

Clare Duffy, CNN

Twitter appears to have quietly rolled back a portion of its hateful conduct policy that included specific protections for transgender people.

Reddit will charge companies and organizations to access its data—and the CEO is blaming A.I.

Nicholas Gordon, Fortune

Reddit is going to start charging large companies for access to its data, and stop large tech companies from hoovering up its user content to train chatbots. 

From Twinkies to Doritos, Snacks Get Tiny

Jesse Newman, The Wall Street Journal

Big food is going small. Sometimes too small. Within the span of a few months last fall, General Mills Inc., Hostess Brands Inc. and PepsiCo Inc.’s Frito-Lay unveiled mini versions of their iconic snacks and cereals, including pee-wee Trix, Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Doritos. The diminutive treats kept coming this year, with the debut of mini wafers from Hostess’s Voortman and McCain Foods USA’s bite-size mashed-potato puffs for restaurants. 

Postmates makes 4/20 its best brand holiday with a hoodie built for eating takeout

Jeff Beer, Fast Company

Just don’t call it another piece of branded streetwear.

The New Tiffany, Unboxed

Alex Vadukul, The New York Times 

After a makeover that took nearly four years, the jewelry company’s famous flagship store in Manhattan is set to reopen under new ownership.

Barbie and Gap Team Up on New Collection Ahead of Blockbuster Movie 

Adrianne Pasquarelli, Ad Age 

The apparel chain is one of many brands tapping into ‘Barbiecore’ trend.

L’Oréal Posts Sales Gain That Outpaces Analysts’ Estimates

Angelina Rascouet, Bloomberg

Like-for-like sales in the first quarter gained 13%, the owner of the Maybelline New York label said Wednesday. Analysts had expected a gain of 8.1%. Growth in North Asia, which includes China, was 1.9%, the only region to trail market estimates. The company said that was due to a lack of enough merchandise to meet demand at the beginning of the year. 

Coach Tests ‘Circular’ Coachtopia Sub-Brand

Sarah Kent, Business of Fashion

The American accessories giant says the line will serve as lab to develop new design and production models, starting with a capsule that features patchworked products made from manufacturing scraps. How the project will scale remains unclear.

Meta has started its latest round of layoffs, focusing on technical employees

Jonathan Vanian and Rohan Goswami, CNBC

Employees with technical backgrounds like user experience, software engineering, graphics programming and other roles announced on LinkedIn that they had been let go by the company on Wednesday morning. A Meta spokesperson confirmed to CNBC the cuts had started.

Instagram Will Cut or Relocate Its London Staff

Sarah Frier, Bloomberg

The London office became a center for growth for the social-media app when its leader, Adam Mosseri, moved there temporarily last year. Mosseri plans to relocate to the US, along with the staffers who aren’t laid off, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the decision hasn’t been made public. The move won’t be final until the completion of a required consultation period with the UK government.

ESPN to begin layoffs early next week as part of Disney cost cuts, sources say

Alex Sherman, CNBC 

Cuts will include some on-air talent and management, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. The number of layoffs at ESPN is unclear and the decision process is still fluid.

Get ready for job searches on LinkedIn to include a lot more parsing of company values

Gabriela Riccardi, Quartz

LinkedIn’s new Commitments tool lets users screen prospective employers by what they stand for.

When Bringing Your ‘Whole Self’ to Work Is Too Much

Callum Borchers, The Wall Street Journal

Talking about emotional health with co-workers can break down taboos—and reveal too much information.

Burnout Retreats are the Latest Wellness Cure for White-Collar Wipeout

Mark Ellwood, Bloomberg

Cutting-edge medical treatments meet hardcore rest and relaxation at these elite, rehab-style clinics.

‘Progressive’ companies: Get ready for your workers to make you prove it 

Hamilton Nolan, Fast Company

Things get complicated when a company whose brand rests on ‘being good’ starts being bad to its workers—and unions have figured out how to take advantage.