Dave Portnoy's Barstool Sports takes on the betting giants

Hi and welcome to this weekly edition of Insider Advertising, where I break down the big stories in media and advertising.

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Barstool's big bet

Penn National Gaming bought a stake in Barstool worth $163 million — and now it's about to see if its bet will pay off.

As Barstool's Dave Portnoy broke it down to Ashley Rodriguez, the idea is to use Barstool to turn its rabid following into bettors rather than spend a lot of money on expensive TV ads.

But the field has gotten very crowded. Barstool is going up against 10 mobile sportsbooks and industry giants like FanDuel and DraftKings.

It's a big "if," but as Chris Grove, gambling-industry analyst and partner at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, told Ashley: "They have this thing that is unique: a community connected via culture. Other sportsbooks really don't have that."

Read the full story here: Barstool Sports is betting on its big names like Dave Portnoy to help its newly branded sportsbook take on DraftKings and FanDuel

Facebook gets a new CMO

Facebook named longtime insider Alex Schultz to replace Antonio Lucio. Key things to know about him:

• Unlike his predecessor, who spent two years at the company, Schultz is one of Facebook's longest serving employees, having started in 2007.
• He'll continue to head up growth marketing, analytics and internationalization.
• He's also openly gay and plays a leadership role in the company's LGBTQ affinity group.

Read the full story here: Facebook promotes VP of product growth Alex Schultz to chief marketing officer

Edelman's data deal

Life is getting more complicated and competitive for traditional PR agencies as clients increasingly demand more accurate measurement and proof that their services lead to actual business results. It's not enough to just get a headline in The New York Times anymore.

That was the driver of a big deal announced by PR industry's biggest firm and biggest software company last year that was touted as game-changing. The deal would let Edelman clients see things like how many actual people read an article and their demographic makeup.

A year later, the deal doesn't seem to be working out as envisioned. From Sean Czarnecki's article:

It's another wrinkle for Cision, which also has the Justice Department asking questions about whether its plans to merge with its biggest rival will hurt competition, Business Insider reported earlier.

Read the rest of the story here: Edelman's partnership with Cision was once positioned as the 'first of its kind,' but after its first year, the deal is no longer exclusive

Other stories we're reading:

• Disney is cutting about 25 percent of its resort work force (New York Times)
• New data shows activewear brands spiking on social media as influencers run to the fitness trend in the pandemic (Business Insider)
• Google's secretive healthcare business wants to organize the world's health information, but insiders describe how turf wars and trust issues are hamstringing the operation (Business Insider)
• JOB DIARY: A day in the life of a professional namer, who gets paid to brand major companies and products and spends 2 weeks at a time in a 'creative' phase of brainstorming names (Business Insider)
• Pandemic spurs journalists to go it alone via email (Axios)

That's a wrap for this week. See you in October.

— Lucia