Google cracks down on political ads

Hi! Welcome to the Insider Advertising daily for January 14. I’m Lauren Johnson, a senior advertising reporter at Business Insider. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Send me feedback or tips at LJohnson@businessinsider.com.

Today’s news: Google cracks down on political ads, the power players at Publicis, and The New York Times reckons with ‘Caliphate.’

Google said it will block political ads and those referencing the US Capitol siege until at least the day after inauguration.
Google said the move is designed to prevent the spread of misinformation around elections and other recent events.
Google and Facebook implemented a political ad ban after the 2020 election and lifted it in early December ahead of the Georgia runoffs.

Patrick Coffee identified 29 of the most influential executives at ad holding giant Publicis under Arthur Sadoun.
Like other holding companies, Publicis struggled during the pandemic but bounced back in late 2020 to outperform larger rivals WPP and Omnicom.
Publicis is the third-largest ad holding company and owns advertising and PR agencies like Leo Burnett and MSL that have created ad campaigns for Disney, Mondelez, and Kraft Heinz.

Steven Perlberg reports that The New York Times is facing a major blow to its prestigious podcast unit after retracting the core of the “Caliphate” podcast.
Some Times staffers say that the accountability over the retraction has been insufficient.
Audio is highly lucrative for the Times, bringing in $29 million of revenue 2019. To some, the episode has exposed how it’s become a big power center, with the associated politics and risk of chasing stories that can be too good to be true.