Waze veers off course for advertisers

Good morning and welcome to Insider Advertising for February 26. I'm deputy editor Lucia Moses, filling in for Lauren Johnson, and here's what's going on:

• Whither Waze?
• Podcast payments
• Top tech journalists

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Tips, comments, suggestions? Drop me a line at LMoses@insider.com or on Twitter at @lmoses.

Ad buyers and analysts are questioning Waze's future with the pandemic decimating its business and its longtime CEO gone

• Waze, the popular navigation app owned by Google, once had potential to be a giant in outdoor advertising.
• But it's lost business in the pandemic, and is without a CEO, Tanya Dua and Hugh Langley reported.
• Ad buyers and analysts are cooling on Waze, and its place in the Google empire seems less certain than ever.

Read more here.

Some podcast hosts are making thousands of dollars a year charging guests to appear on their shows

• The podcast industry is taking off with big investment, but there's little oversight.
• Some podcast hosts are charging anywhere from $200 to $3,500 for guests to appear on their shows and rarely disclose the payments, Mark Ellwood reported.
• These payments risk turning shows into infomercials that fail to adequately disclose their bias to listeners.

Read more here.

The 59 most important tech reporters every public relations pro should know

Technology is one of the most dynamic beats in journalism today, with outlets like The Washington Post expanding their tech teams and new publications like Protocol and standalone newsletters launching.

But keeping track of these journalists and what they cover is difficult for public relations pros, given how quickly coverage areas change.

Sean Czarnecki ran down 59 of the most influential tech reporters working today who are known for their authoritative and impactful scoops, investigations, and profiles.

Read more here.

Other stories we're reading:

• AT&T to Sell Stake In DirecTV and Video Business to TPG (The Hollywood Reporter)
• Twitter reveals 'Super Follow' paid service, new groups feature, more at Analyst Day event (9to5Mac)
• Amazon is going through its biggest leadership shakeup in history, and 12 executive roles across almost every division are empty (Business Insider)
• Paramount+'s Pitch: Big Name Reboots, Spinoffs and Sequels (Plus Sports) (Variety)
• Diversity hit between the eyes as old media pockets about 90% of big tech cash (Crikey)
• How Disney's international streaming strategy takes a page from Netflix's playbook (Business Insider)

That's it for today. Thanks for reading, and remember you can sign up for this daily newsletter here!

- Lucia