Ads pay for the internet—and they’re about to change again. a16z General Partner Erik Torenberg, entrepreneur and author Antonio García Martínez, and Meta CMO Alex Schultz dive into growth and performance marketing, privacy myths, retail media, and the AI future of “audience-of-one” advertising—plus Instagram what-ifs, WhatsApp as a super-app, and how Meta’s feed shifted from social graphs to AI-ranked content.
Ads pay for the internet—and they’re about to change again. a16z General Partner Erik Torenberg, entrepreneur and author Antonio García Martínez, and Meta CMO Alex Schultz dive into growth and performance marketing, privacy myths, retail media, and the AI future of “audience-of-one” advertising—plus Instagram what-ifs, WhatsApp as a super-app, and how Meta’s feed shifted from social graphs to AI-ranked content.
Timecodes:
0:00 Introduction
0:38 Book Inspiration & Positive Perspective on Advertising
4:43 Critiques of Online Advertising & Data Privacy
7:34 The Evolution of Media Business Models
10:12 Content Moderation and Platform Shifts
11:43 Connected vs. Unconnected Content & The Rise of AI
13:34 The Future of AI, Personalization, and Advertising
28:18 Retail Media Networks & First-Party Data
38:18 Alternative Histories: Instagram, Libra, and Industry What-Ifs
46:31 The Impact of AI on Jobs and Company Structure
55:00 The Metaverse, VR, and Future Platforms
Resources:
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Follow Antonio on X: https://x.com/antoniogm
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