In Adidas’s earnings report, CEO Bjørn Gulden was quick to point out the obvious, noting that “the loss of Yeezy is of course hurting” the company.

During the quarter, Adidas said that the closure of its Yeezy line caused a sales hit to the tune of €400 million when compared to the previous year.

Under Gulden, who joined Adidas from Puma earlier this year, it seems marketing will play a crucial role: In March, Gulden said he would replace the company’s departing global head of global brands himself (its head of global marketing also left earlier this year). Gulden has said he intends to build brand awareness as part of a goal to return the company to profitable growth next year.

Part of this will presumably involve charting new partnerships for Adidas after it cut ties with two of its most high-profile celebrity partners.

• In October, the company terminated its relationship with rapper Ye and his Yeezy line after he made several antisemitic remarks.
• Adidas also recently parted ways with Beyoncé’s Ivy Park, which was slated to make $250 million last year, according to internal company documents seen by the Wall Street Journal; it ended up making around $40 million.

Thank you, next: As the company moves on from these partnerships, it’s inking new ones, some of which seem targeted toward Gen Z. In February, it debuted its first new line in 50 years, Adidas Sportswear, naming Wednesday star Jenna Ortega as the face of the label.

“When you look at the demographic of Kanye and Beyonce, it probably does skew a little bit older than some of the newer artists coming up,” Bob Lynch, founder and CEO of sports intelligence platform SponsorUnited, explained. “This is probably a really good opportunity for them to do a reset and start to invest in sort of the next generation of creators and artists that are out there.”

Keep reading here.—JS

It’s no secret that Formula 1 is “having a moment,” as Sebastian Tomich, CCO of The Athletic, put it.

The 2022 season broke US viewership records, with an average of more than 1 million viewers per race across ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC, up 28% from the year prior. Netflix’s Drive to Survive documentary series, now in its fifth season, chronicles the sport and has contributed to its rise in the US.

“I’m shocked just by how many people I talked to that are building a habit around watching F1 every weekend,” Tomich told Marketing Brew. “Cul-de-sac dads who spent their Sundays watching the NFL are now watching F1 on Sundays.”

So perhaps it’s no surprise that The Athletic debuted a dedicated F1 vertical with a team of two reporters and an editor earlier this year. Tomich said there was a “business case” to be made for introducing the new coverage area, but said he was still “blown away” by early advertiser interest.

Continue reading here.—AM

Many people regularly listen to podcasts. But are they paying attention to the ads?

Customer experience platform Disqo recently tried to find out via a survey of close to 35,000 US consumers last month. Overall, it found that while many listeners don’t love the ads they hear on podcasts, they don’t seem to hate them either.

Attention, please: When asked if they pay more or less attention to ads on podcasts compared to channels like online, radio, and TV, the largest share of respondents said they weren’t sure. But one in three said they pay more attention to podcast ads.

• A smaller share—about one in four—said they pay less attention.
• “While this difference isn’t overwhelmingly large, it does suggest that consumers can be more influenced by podcast ads,” the report concludes.
• Daily listeners are even more tuned into podcast ads, with almost half saying they pay more attention.

Hate it or love it: Sorry, marketers…no one really loves ads. When it comes to podcast ads, just 15% of listeners said they liked them. Another 50%, however, said they don’t mind them, and “the lack of negative sentiment and the presence of ample positive feelings suggest that podcast ads can meaningfully engage target audiences,” according to the report.

• About one in three listeners (35%) said they dislike podcast ads.
• Younger adults (ages 18–44) had a more positive view of podcast ads than those 45+, with 19% saying they like them, compared to 9% of the older demo.

Host with the most: Podcasting is known for its host-read ad format, so perhaps it’s not surprising that Disqo found a podcast’s content and host impact sentiment toward its advertisers.

• One-third of respondents said they like a brand more when it’s promoted by a host or show they also like.
• But large shares of both groups said the content or host has no impact on their feelings toward the advertisers, including 63% of all listeners and 52% of daily listeners.—AM

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Chat ads: Microsoft is rolling out an advertising tool that lets “online services, apps, and publishers” monetize with ads on AI-powered chat platforms.

Scope it out: An explainer on “sustainability scopes,” AKA the three categories used to classify companies’ carbon emissions.

Moving on: Tucker Carlson is starting a new show on Twitter—here’s what this could mean for its ad business.

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

• What marketers can learn from Bud Light’s response to backlash
• Dominion lawsuit erases Fox’s Super Bowl revenue gains
• Americans want to see their favorite brands in movies, research finds