As obsessions go, being fascinated by the rise of retailer-owned media channels is pretty harmless, I guess.  So it’s probably okay for me to share that Brandcrush recently launched a marketplace to make it easier for retailers to sell ad space across in-store, in-package, and digital interactions.  They say clients can set up their ad sales business in as little as 48 hours, which is great news if you think consumers should see more ads as quickly as possible.

It’s deal-making time for generative AI model builders and publishers who can provide them with quality data.  Germany publishing giant Axel Springer is trading access to its data for Microsoft adtech, AI, and Azure hosting solutions.  Meanwhile, The Financial Times has struck a deal with OpenAI to license its content with attribution of summaries and quotes.