New Yorker writer’s new book takes aim at ad industry

Guests at New Yorker writer Ken Auletta’s book party for “Frenemies” were treated to an added bonus as they exited from downtown hot spot The Standard — Manhattanhenge bathing the cross streets in brilliant light from Monday’s setting sun.

The premise of “Frenemies,” published by Penguin, is that the once-vaunted advertising industry — the primary means of support for so many media — finds itself under enormous pressure as smartphones become the major media-consuming tool.

“Millennials don’t have ads on Netflix or YouTube and 20 percent of the public uses ad blockers,” noted Auletta. “They don’t want content interrupted by crappy ads.”

“It’s an existential crisis for the advertising industry, which supports all of us,” Auletta said in his comments to the media-savvy crowd.

Among those in attendance were two who play prominent roles in the book: Sir Martin Sorrell, who just stepped down from the mammoth ad agency WPP, and Michael Kassan, founder and CEO of MediaLink, which tracks the shifting ad spends.

Books were also on the minds of many in the crowd. Bestselling Simon & Schuster author Jennet Conant said she is jumping to Norton for her next book — but was tightlipped about its subject. Her husband, “60 Minutes” host Steve Kroft, was on hand — as was his doppelgänger, former Sports Illustrated and Esquire editor Terry McDonell.

Walter Bernard, one half of the legendary magazine design team of Glazer and Bernard, (Milton Glaser is the other half), told Media Ink they have inked a deal for a book, “Mag Men,” with Columbia University Press.

Author Vicky Ward said she is working on her next book, “Kushner, Inc.,” about presidential son-in-law Jared Kusher and his wife, Ivanka Trump.