Faced a growing number of different state privacy laws, the Association of National Advertisers and 4A's on Monday launched a new initiative that aims to persuade federal lawmakers to pass a national data law that would override state laws. “We have spent years waiting for the federal government to do something,” Marla Kaplowitz, president and CEO of the 4A’s told MediaPost Monday. “We worry that that if we don't get to federal data privacy legislation, we're in big trouble,” she added. The new Responsible Privacy in Advertising Initiative expects to also update an industry self-regulatory code by the first quarter of 2024. The ad groups plan to then seek widespread compliance with the new code, and will likely argue to Congress that a federal privacy law should allow advertisers to harness data in ways permitted by the updated code.

Combined sales of comics periodicals and graphic novels in North America continued to climb in 2020, reaching approximately $1.28 billion, according to a joint estimate by pop culture trade news sites ICv2 and Comichron. The new estimate represents a 6% increase over 2019 combined sales. ICv2 CEO Milton Griepp said that in the face of a global pandemic, lockdowns, and widespread economic dislocation, consumer demand for comics and graphic novels continued to grow. “The challenges of retailing in the pandemic had profound impacts on the market, including the acceleration of trends that have been in place for years,” he reported.

The Nation, which now appears every other week, is switch to monthly frequency in January. The leftist magazine is promising 84 “bigger, richer” pages instead of the 48 it is serving now, according to the New York Times. This is being done in response to reader preferences, says D.D. Guttenplan, editor, • “Unlike almost all of our competitors, The Nation has never made a lot of money from advertising,” Mr. Guttenplan points out, according to the Times. The Nation is resolutely not going to an all-digital model.