Targeted TV advertising is losing steam, and industry players are scrambling to save it

Hi! Welcome to the Insider Advertising daily for September 17. 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: Targeted TV ads hit a speed bump, Cision and Meltwater try to merge, and a new startup wants to take on consultants.

Targeted ads were supposed to save the $70 billion TV industry, but advertisers say that time is quickly running out

• TV companies long bet on the promise of addressable advertising to save their $70 billion industry amid the rise of cord cutters and streaming video giants.
• I looked at how slashed ad budgets and a drop of pay-TV services during the coronavirus have impacted addressable advertising.
• Advertisers have used addressable to target people who don't see national TV ads, but have only treated it as an experimental part of their budgets. Scale and a lack of measurement standards are still challenges.

Read the full story here.

Cision and Meltwater, the two largest PR software companies, are planning a merger, and the DoJ has explored whether it would hurt competition

• Patrick Coffee and Sean Czarnecki broke the news that PR software giants Cision and Meltwater are planning to merge. The Justice Department's antitrust division has probed the potential tie-up, asking how the deal might affect competition and pricing in PR software.
• Cision and Meltwater are software-as-a-service companies that PR agencies like Edelman and giant companies like Google use to distribute press releases, create email lists of journalists and influencers, and monitor media coverage for their clients.
• Some sources expressed concern that a merger of the two companies would staunch competition and effectively create a monopoly. "What I see as harmful is they keep high-level prices and enforce longer term contracts and make them harder to get out of," said an executive at a Cision competitor who was contacted by the Justice Department.

Read the full story here.

A startup by a Thrive Global and Refinery29 vet is taking on traditional consultants with experts including Shark Tank's Daymond John and makeup mogul Anastasia Soare

• Tanya Dua reports that Ashley Miles is launching a new consulting firm called Franklyn West.
• The firm claims that it can speed up the business planning process for clients from up to six months to four weeks.
• The company's pitch deck promises to help businesses achieve their growth potential with a class taught by Miles and quarterly insights reports called "Future First."

Read the full story here.

More stories we're reading:

• Bon Appétit insiders reveal details of upcoming Test Kitchen comeback video after 3 months of silence (Business Insider)
• The CEO of the $120 million startup rolling out its IoT-powered advertising tech in 2,500 Walgreens stores explains how it will help brands regularly reach a 'Super Bowl-sized' audience (Business Insider)
• Influencer industry experts say 'usage rights' are a key part of brand deals that can lead to much higher earnings if negotiated well (Business Insider)
• Patagonia says its new 'vote the a--holes out' clothing tag is a call to action on climate change (Business Insider)
• Entertainment companies still have no idea what to name their streaming services (Quartz)
• Lawmakers skewer Google on margins and market dominance during Senate antitrust hearing (AdExchanger)

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! You can reach me in the meantime at ljohnson@businessinsider.com and subscribe to this daily email here.

— Lauren