Three and a half years ago, as the world fawned over the capabilities of ChatGPT, generative AI was viewed as an almost magical tool that could help companies achieve just about anything. In the time since then, AI has lost some of that magical sheen. It’s still a tool that can help companies accomplish many tasks, but it requires planning and expertise, data and the right infrastructure to actually get there. In short, it needs someone to put in some work.

Marketers are doing that work, but it’s not always easy. Boathouse, a marketing agency with a strong focus on data and analytics, seeks to help brands get the insights and action they want out of AI. To get there, they recently hired former Google and Salesforce exec Sonia Chung as their chief strategy officer. I talked with her about her perspective on marketing and technology. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter.

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Does broadcast TV truly matter anymore? Forbes’ Mary Whitfill Roeloffs analyzed broadcast viewership data and found many longstanding news and entertainment shows lost about half of their viewers in the last 12 years. The largest viewership decrease was for NBC’s “Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon, which has seen its audience drop about 64% since 2015. The audiences for ABC’s “Good Morning America,” NBC’s “Today” and “CBS Mornings” were all down by just under 50%, while CBS’ “Evening News” and NBC’s “Nightly News” saw their audiences decrease by 41% and 30%, respectively.

While all broadcast TV has lost some viewership over the past 12 years, not every show has seen such a sharp decline. “ABC World News Tonight” has seen just a 9% drop in viewership, as has Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” on CBS. However, Colbert’s “Late Show” is the only one of these broadcast stalwarts that’s been cancelled, with the last program scheduled to air on May 21. After that, writes Forbes contributor Rick Ellis, the time slot will be filled by Byron Allen’s “Comics Unleashed,” a program that currently airs after midnight.

Despite the decreasing number of viewers, broadcast TV is still federally regulated—and hotly contested. Last week, a federal judge in California blocked the $6.2 billion merger of local broadcast TV station owners Nexstar Media Group and Tegna until a pending antitrust lawsuit is resolved—despite the fact that it received (somewhat controversial) FCC clearance last month. The merger would give Nexstar control of 265 local stations in 44 states and Washington, D.C.—about 80% of the nation’s local TV market—which exceeds the FCC’s rule limiting a single station owner to reaching 39% of the nation’s local TV market. Prior to the FCC’s approval, DirecTV and attorneys general from eight states had filed the antitrust lawsuit to block the merger, arguing that consolidating ownership would drive up consumer costs and reduce competition.

On Tuesday, Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said the company........

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