Drip Sequence💧

Sup. People have been begging for this for months, if not years. After finally crossing the 100k follower mark (sans bots), it felt appropriate to drop something less ephemeral and more perpetual to celebrate.

Preamble

We—and by "we," I mean I—at @digital_chadvertising, seek to form a more perfect industry newsletter to ensure workplace transparency, provide for the common office grunt, promote general well-being, and secure that bag for ourselves and our subordinates. We do ordain and establish Drip Sequence for the marketing and advertising industry.

What to expect:

- 1^st Party Reports (like the comp survey) tied to an interactive dashboard you can view

- Headline round ups, for a top-down view of what’s going on

- Anon OpEds, because sometimes you need to vent and I will redact information to make sure your identity will not be compromised

- Deep dives on the latest tech and how much that could potentially bone or benefit you

- Feet pics

- Many more

- Please do not actually expect me to post feet pics

Headline Overviews

• House passes bill that could ban TikTok in the U.S., sending it to the Senate The House passed legislation potentially banning TikTok in the U.S., citing national security concerns due to its China-based ownership. The bill now moves to the Senate amid bipartisan support, with proponents advocating for a separation of TikTok from its parent company to mitigate risks, while opponents argue it threatens free speech and small businesses reliant on the platform.

• CEO Says MoviePass Will Test Ads On Its Platform, Offer Cheaper Tickets To Users Who Watch Them The move aims to integrate advertising into the movie-watching experience, with Spikes suggesting that an ad-supported model could make a portion of movie going entirely free for users who earn credits by watching ads.

• IAB Europe’s advertising bidding model uses personal data, EU court rules The European Court of Justice ruled that IAB Europe's online advertising model, involving personal data, is subject to GDPR. The decision follows a dispute with the Belgian Data Protection Authority, which found IAB's real-time bidding model lacked user data transparency.

• Microsoft Ads expands Copilot to more advertisers Microsoft Ads has expanded its Copilot trial to a broader group of advertisers, allowing them access to the AI-driven tool designed for generating recommendations for advertising assets like product images and headlines.

• Meta blocked news from Facebook and Instagram in Canada — could they do the same in Australia? Meta's cessation of news sharing in Canada prompts speculation about a similar move in Australia, raising concerns about its impact on information dissemination and democracy. While experts disagree on the likelihood, they warn of potential repercussions, including the proliferation of misinformation and the erosion of access to news for passive consumers.

EXCLUSIVE: THE 2024 AD INDUSTRY COMP REPORT

OVERVIEW

I surveyed over 2,600 advertising and marketing professionals from 27 countries to understand how compensation varies in the industry across different age ranges, countries, levels of seniority, and roles. Respondents included employees from all the major advertising holding companies, client-side managers from Fortune 100 companies, and the big tech boys like Google, Meta, and Amazon (Ads).

The goal was to create more transparency around compensation in an industry known for high expectations, a fast-paced work environment, long hours and low compensation.

KEY FINDINGS 

Satisfaction with Compensation

Overall, nearly half of you were dissatisfied with compensation (42%). A quarter of respondents reported being satisfied with their compensation, while the rest (33%) responded that they were “ambivalent” neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. 

When looking at respondents from the United States only, satisfaction was overall higher, with 34% of respondents reporting satisfaction with their compensation, 32% dissatisfied and 34% were neutral. 

Compensation by Age Bracket

Naturally, the 18-24 entry-level age bracket is the lowest compensated making $71,824 on average across all roles. 

The good news: after you tough out the first few years your earning potential greatly increases. For the 25-34 age bracket earnings nearly tripled with an average of $209,693 across all roles. However, earning potential tends to stagnate as the 35-44 and the 45-54 age brackets earn an average of $217,147 and $255,738 respectively.  It is worth noting that all big salaries are tied to working in major cities (New York, SF, LA, etc.) where cost of living is also high.

Notably, compensation drops slightly in the 55+ age bracket to $240,000 on average. This data backs the age-old cliché of the advertising industry as one that typically prefers younger talent, and has been known to devalue talent as they age and are presumably “out-of-the-loop” or no longer innovative.

Agency vs. Client-side Compensation

We found that professionals working client-side earned more than their counterparts on the agency-side.  The greatest disparity between the two happens in the late career (45-54 age bracket) with agency-side professionals earning an average of $231,219, while those on the client-side earn an average of $320,111.  One thing to consider working client-side at a publicly-traded entity is that your compensation will include Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) that significantly increases your annual earnings.

To fully access the report I put it all in a fancy little dashboard for you right here. HIGHLY recommend you view this on a laptop or desktop, mobile is not the greatest if you are handcuffed to Looker BI.

By the way, if you want a swift kick in the balls, cross-filter by vendor/partner and go look at sales.

What people at TikTok are saying about the bill being passed through Congress

“We’re numb to it. Same shit different day.”

“In the UK we’re just vibing.”

“I had an interview with them recently and the team seemed pretty blasé about the whole thing. Said they survived it when Trump tried it.”

“No ones even talking about it lol pretending like it’s not happening.”

“It’s eerily business as usual".”

“Radio silent. Everyone’s acting like this isn’t a big deal and it’s BIZARRE.”

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