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Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

What Pinterest, Snap Results Show About Ad Market’s Shift: The Information’s Tech Briefing

Photo: Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann. Photo by Bloomberg.

Stellar fourth-quarter advertising revenues reported today by both Snap and Pinterest made it official. A fourth-quarter acceleration in ad growth occurred across the board for big digital firms—Facebook, Google, Amazon—and the two smaller social media firms. It’s a sign of just how much 2020 shifted the ad market away from traditional media to internet-based businesses.

That theme is echoed in the results of those traditional media companies that have reported for the quarter. Comcast’s NBCUniversal and AT&T’s WarnerMedia have both reported a dip in TV advertising revenue for the quarter, while the New York Times and News Corp on Thursday also reported weaker ad results for the period.

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