Thread · 4 tweets · 12 Feb 2021

I think a lot of that depends on what you describe as "working for The Times". If you're thinking "direct-sold to global luxury brand" then that's probably right. But I would say that most of the other things we have a potential interest in are good for all publishers.

It's important to remember that the "oh but they have subscribers" argument doesn't hold water. How do you get subs? With advertising. A subscription model needs an effective ad ecosystem. What we all have to contend with today is pretty crap.

I won't write an essay here, but there are plenty of inefficiencies to squeeze out, from fraud to useless data to intermediaries using your audience data against you to bloated and dangerous ads.

The way I think about the future of ads is through a priority of constituencies: users over publishers over advertisers over intermediaries. We have a mess today because that order is reversed. There's a lot we can do to flip that and the benefits should distribute broadly.