For the first time in more than a decade, Hollywood writers are walking out.

Thousands of writers belonging to the Writers Guild of America went on strike this week after the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents big studios like Amazon, Apple, Disney, NBC, Netflix, and Warner Bros. Discovery, failed to reach an agreement.

The strike will almost certainly disrupt program releases. It could also have an effect on the advertising dollars that flow into streaming as the union seeks terms that it says are crucial to protecting the future of the profession.

“At stake is nothing less than the survival of film and television writing as a viable middle-class career for the majority of our membership,” Zack Stentz, a screenwriter who has written for films like Thor and TV shows like Fringe, wrote in the New York Times ahead of the strike’s commencement.

While the full impact of the strike remains to be seen, it’s already having an effect on some streamers’ annual pitches to advertisers during the NewFronts. Hundreds of writers picketed outside the entrance to Peacock’s NewFront presentation in midtown Manhattan Tuesday, holding signs demanding a fair contract.

Read the full story here.—KS

With a mission to increase fertility awareness and improve access to high-quality fertility care, Blooming Eve is a women’s health platform helping readers attain the science-backed knowledge they need.

So how does this small, mission-based startup define success? “Success is progress,” shared Blooming Eve’s team. One way they attain that progress is through Mailchimp’s email marketing capabilities.

“Mailchimp is our #1 tool for nurturing relationships with our audience. The results are stronger relationships, more personalized communication, and understanding of where a subscriber is in the journey,” Blooming Eve told us.

With help from Mailchimp tools like customer journeys, typeform integrations, and individual subscriber activity, Blooming Eve can better share important info with their readers—and their favorite “badge of honor” in Mailchimp’s analytics is the sight of their emails being forwarded.

Check out the possibilities.

Twitter and NBCUniversal are teaming up (again) on Olympics coverage ahead of the 2024 games in Paris.

As part of the deal, the network, which has exclusive rights to broadcast the games through 2032, will share highlights from the games on the platform and create a daily live Twitter show.

From NBCU’s press release: “This expanded partnership demonstrates the value of big media and big tech aligning to super-serve audiences the content they love and want, while providing incremental reach and scale for advertisers.”

So what? Well, not too many advertisers are bragging about their deals with Twitter. The platform’s ad revenue is forecast to decline by 28.6% to $1.68 billion this year, according to Insider Intelligence.

With that said: The news isn’t completely shocking, considering that Elon Musk appeared onstage with NBCU chair of global advertising and partnerships Linda Yaccarino at a Miami ad conference last month. Yaccarino was also among the first ad executives to voice support for Musk as other advertisers pulled away from the platform, saying Musk just needed time to “learn advertising” and that she wouldn’t “bet against him,” Deadline reported.

Completely unrelated: Musk reportedly threatened to reassign NPR’s Twitter handle to another company if the national broadcaster, which stopped posting fresh content on Twitter last month, doesn’t go back to tweeting.—RB

It’s been almost two years since the inception of the NCAA’s name, image, likeness (NIL) policy, which means there’s been plenty of time for data collection.

Opendorse, a NIL platform that’s facilitated more than 100,000 deals between brands and college athletes, collected data on those deals from July 2021 through March 2023 to take a look at what kinds of brands are activating in this space.

Who: Media and fashion brands have been investing relatively significantly in NIL deals, as have sports brands (shocker), according to Opendorse data.

• Media companies like AT&T and Verizon accounted for 13% of spend on Opendorse.
• “Sports entities,” like the group organizing the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and Paralympics, made up 12% of spend on the platform, while fashion and apparel companies such as Reebok contributed 9%.
• Regional brands spent more than national and local brands.

When and where: Among student athletes at D1 institutions across football and men’s and women’s basketball, last November was peak NIL szn. Almost three-quarters of NIL activations overall took place on digital or social, with Instagram being the most popular platform.

Why: Brands have found a number of reasons to team up with student athletes. Companies like Meta, Degree, Champs, and Land O’Lakes have done purpose-driven NIL campaigns, while fast-casual restaurants including Sweetgreen and Smashburger leveraged student athletes for promotions in specific local markets.

Gender gap: Male athletes earned more on average per month from brand deals than women athletes during almost every month Opendorse tracked.

• Men’s basketball players made the most on average per brand deal ($3,837), followed by football players ($2,472) and swimmers and divers ($1,693).
• Women’s basketball players clocked in at fourth place ($1,418), though perhaps brands will show even more interest in them following this year’s March Madness.—AM

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Another one: Gmail has adopted the blue checkmark—read the details here.

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Have you heard? Marketing Brew is hosting The Brief, a must-attend event, NEXT WEEK. Attendees can look forward to a powerhouse panel of speakers from brands such as Duolingo, Jones Road Beauty, Love Wellness, and more!

The best part? We’re giving away 2 tickets to one lucky subscriber so you can see what all the hype is about. Don’t stress—it takes just 30 seconds to enter.

Fingers crossed!

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• How this Brooklyn diner kept regulars happy amid a rebrand
• Roku invites brands to Roku City screensaver during NewFronts
• Peacock touts movie viewership, new ad formats at NewFronts