Adweek

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA·FOUNDED 1979·adweek.com

Adweek is an American trade publication covering marketing, advertising, media and creative industries, founded in 1979 and currently owned by Shamrock Capital.

Overview

Adweek is a trade publication covering marketing, advertising, media and creative industries, publishing news, analysis and rankings through print, digital, events, podcasts, newsletters and mobile apps. Founded in 1979, Adweek has changed ownership repeatedly over its history and is currently owned by Shamrock Capital, a Los Angeles-based investment firm, since June 2020.

History

Adweek was founded in 1979 and published by A/S/M Communications Inc. In 1990, Affiliated Publications Inc., the publisher of the Boston Globe, acquired an 80% stake in A/S/M Communications through its BPI Communications subsidiary. Adweek later became part of Nielsen Business Media; in October 2008, Nielsen merged the previously separate editorial teams of Adweek, Brandweek and Mediaweek into a single operation under the AdweekMedia name. On December 10, 2009, Nielsen sold its Business Media division—including AdweekMedia, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Backstage, the Clio Awards and Film Journal International—to e5 Global Media LLC, a joint venture formed by Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners specifically for the acquisition, in a deal reported at roughly $70 million. Richard Beckman was named CEO of the new company in January 2010, and in 2011 the Brandweek and Mediaweek titles were folded back into Adweek.

Guggenheim Partners acquired Pluribus's stake in January 2013, taking full ownership of the company, by then renamed Prometheus Global Media. In December 2015, Guggenheim spun out its media properties to a group led by former executive Todd Boehly, known as Eldridge Industries; Adweek was acquired by Toronto-based private equity firm Beringer Capital roughly six months later, in July 2016. On June 2, 2020, Los Angeles-based investment firm Shamrock Capital acquired Adweek from Beringer Capital; terms were not disclosed. CEO Jeffrey Litvack, who had led Adweek through the Beringer and early Shamrock years, stepped down in May 2021, with Shamrock partner Laura Held leading an "Office of the CEO" during the search for his successor. Will Lee, a former chief operating officer at NPR, was named Adweek's CEO effective July 26, 2023. In November 2023, Lee hired Zoë Ruderman, formerly a vice president and general manager at People, as chief content officer, and Drew Schutte, a former Condé Nast executive, as chief revenue officer.

Notable works

• 2026Adweek reporter Kendra Barnett has provided ongoing coverage of a whistleblower lawsuit against agency holding company WPP, including reporting on new court filings in which former WPP executive Richard Foster alleges an independent probe by WPP client Sony found evidence of rebate fraud.

• 2026Adweek published exclusive reporting that Omnicom had offloaded hundreds of staffers who built its AI platform to a third-party contractor, and separately reported exclusively that Amazon had doubled the ad load on Prime Video to six minutes per hour.

• August 31, 2026Adweek's commerce desk covered the FTC's lawsuit against Amazon, joined by 22 state attorneys general, alleging the company manipulated its ad-auction rules to overcharge 1.2 million advertisers by more than $20 billion since 2019.

Key personnel

• Chief Executive OfficerWill Lee

• Chief Content OfficerZoë Ruderman

• Chief Revenue OfficerDrew Schutte

Audience

Adweek serves marketing, advertising and media industry professionals. According to the company, its coverage reaches more than 6 million professionals across platforms including print, digital, events, podcasts, newsletters, social media and mobile apps.

Location and contact info

Headquarters New York, New York

Owner Shamrock Capital (Los Angeles, CA), since June 2020

Website https://www.adweek.com