What you need to know in advertising today

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gave a surprise interview Tuesday to a bunch of editors and executives from publications across the country.

The media executives - from Business Insider, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Time Inc, CNN, BuzzFeed and more - were gathered at the Rosewood hotel in Silicon Valley for a conference called OTR.

"OTR" stands for "off the record," and we were all told that's what the meeting with Zuckerberg was supposed to be.

But then, just after 4:00 p.m. local time, the world's most powerful 33-year-old walked into a sunny conference room, shook everyone's hand, sat down and announced our conversation would be on the record.

To read more about what Zuckerberg said in the surprise interview, click here.

In related news:

Cambridge Analytica, the data firm at the center of Facebook's data privacy scandal, is shutting down. The company announced on Wednesday that negative media coverage has "driven away virtually all of the Company's customers and suppliers."

Investigators warn Cambridge Analytica bosses that they can run, but they can't hide. Britain's Information Commissioner's Office and Electoral Commission will continue to pursue Cambridge Analytica, which shut down on Wednesday.

In other news:

YouTube's NewFronts presentation is today, but the video behemoth seems to have already made progress in winning brands back after its brand safety snafus. YouTube has spent the past few months doing a brand-safety blitzkrieg.

A new type of ad agency is catering to brands born on digital channels - and industry giants need a plan. A growing number of specialist ad agencies built for data-driven, programmatic advertising are starting to gain traction and put pressure on the traditional ad giants.

Bloomberg just revealed its new subscription strategy to staff - here are the key points from the memo. Business Insider first reported on Bloomberg's plans for a paywall late last month.

Refinery29 is taking aim at live TV with it own lifestyle-focused channel. The female-focused digital media company plans to launch its very own live and on-demand lifestyle channel later this year.

CNN says it's being unfairly punished by advertisers. The company's digital editor-in-chief urged advertisers to rethink their definitions of what is brand safe during a keynote at the Collision Conference in New Orleans on Wednesday.

GDPR hits on May 25th - an expert explains what you need to do if you're not ready. Box's VP of compliance Crispen Maung tells us that it's better to have an outline of a plan for GDPR than no plan at all.