Direct-to-consumer companies are sticking with Facebook

Hello! Welcome to the Advertising & Media Insider newsletter, your weekly industry news roundup. I'm Lucia Moses, deputy editor. You can always sign up for this newsletter here.

Still Facebook friends

Well, while big-name brands like Coke and Patagonia are jumping on the Facebook boycott bandwagon, there's one group of companies that's mostly absent from the movement: built-on-Facebook DTC companies like Glossier, Casper, and Daily Harvest.

For many of these companies, Facebook is the core of their sales and marketing, the pandemic has crushed their businesses, and for their growth-hungry VC backers, this is hardly the time to hit the sales brakes. That's informed speculation, since hardly any of the 15 DTC companies Tanya Dua reached out to for her story were willing to comment.

It makes you wonder how much the household names boycotting Facebook were driven by principles or the fact that the platform wasn't such a big driver for their sales in the first place and was an easy way to cut ad spending in a sluggish sales period.

Read the rest of Tanya's story here: Prominent DTC brands including Casper, Glossier, Harry's, and Smile Direct Club are continuing to pump money into Facebook and Instagram despite the ad boycott

Where's Procter & Gamble?

Speaking of the boycott, the peer pressure to join in hasn't extended to advertising's biggest spender, Procter & Gamble, and that has tongues wagging.

P&G's marketing chief Marc Pritchard said he's reviewing everywhere P&G's ads run but hasn't come out against the boycott in so many words. It's a head scratcher and disappointment for some industry watchers since P&G has the clout to set the industry agenda and Pritchard had been a loud critic of digital ad platforms' lack of measurement accountability.

Read more here: Procter & Gamble is sitting out the Facebook boycott, and theories are flying

Peacock's pandemic pitch

NBCUniversal faced its share of industry doubters when it announced its entrant into the streaming wars, Peacock, with a familiar if boring lineup of shows.

But Peacock's Matt Strauss argues the service is even more relevant than ever in the pandemic when people are tightening their belts.

He gave Ashley Rodriguez an inside look into all the ways Peacock is tweaking the service as it prepares to go live nationally, making significantly more free stuff available, including "Ray Donovan" and "The Godfather."

Read Ashley's full story here: The exec leading Comcast's new streaming service Peacock explains why he's betting on free users with a model that's more Spotify than Netflix

Here are other great reads from advertising, media, and beyond:

• Snap's reputation as a safe haven for advertisers is paying off as companies boycott Facebook, but some ad buyers think they'll crawl back eventually
• Condé Nast employees say Black celebrities like Lizzo and Megan Thee Stallion were rejected from videos based on a 'racist' vetting process
• Fintech startup Karat has launched a new charge card designed for YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok stars that looks at social-media engagement rather than credit history
• Uber was in a desperate position after it failed to buy Grubhub, but its 'aggressive' acquisition of Postmates will help it chip away at DoorDash's huge lead in the food-delivery industry, an industry watcher says
• Big Tech salaries revealed: How much Apple, Tesla, Amazon, and 10 other tech giants pay their workers, from engineers to salespeople
• A 17-year-old entrepreneur made nearly $500,000 in sales by reselling sneakers during a quarantine. Here's a look inside his pandemic-proof business model.
• TikTok influencers are getting paid thousands of dollars to promote songs, as the app becomes a major force in the music industry
• A veteran talent agent says TikTok is the next frontier for gamer houses and esports teams — and she's betting her career on it
• How much money a YouTuber with 1 million subscribers earns, according to 5 creators
• Verishop is diving into social commerce with shoppable videos, but experts say it will face tough competition from Instagram, Snap, and Pinterest

That's a wrap. Thanks for reading, and see you next week.

— Lucia