Home Ad Exchange News AT&T’s TV Inventory Infusion; AppNexus Battles Bots

AT&T’s TV Inventory Infusion; AppNexus Battles Bots

SHARE:

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.

AT&TV

With DirecTV, AT&T has had two minutes of ad space per hour to sell as its own inventory. Time Warner’s Turner cable channels, which include CNN, TNT and TBS, will give AT&T around 14 more minutes per hour, reports The Wall Street Journal. AT&T can fuel growth by adding that cable TV inventory to its addressable ad platform – its targeted media sells at a CPM that’s five to six times higher than a typical national cable spot. “We understand that there’s going to be risk associated with that, but the size of the prize is pretty significant accompanied with the resources of AT&T combined with Time Warner,” said John Stankey, the AT&T exec who will lead Time Warner, referring during the DOJ trial last month to a potential automated ad marketplace.

Bot Busting

AppNexus announced a deal with White Ops to scan every ad either bought or sold through its exchange for bots. Read the release. The DSP has been on a mission to stamp out bad traffic for years. [Dive into the AdExchanger vault to read about some of the company’s earliest efforts.] AppNexus CEO Brian O’Kelley was attracted to White Ops because of its singular focus on detecting non-human traffic, unlike other third-party ad tech and verification vendors, whose services extend to brand safety and viewability. Industry initiatives like ads.txt have made strides against certain kinds of fraud, like spoofed URLs or unknown supply chain vendors, but picking ad fraud’s low-hanging fruit may bring attention to more sophisticated, better-hidden efforts. Business Insider has more.

ROI And SPF

If you want a chance at the lion’s share of attention at Cannes, you’ve got to go big or go home. Snapchat made a splash at Cannes Lions festival last year following its IPO with billboards and a branded ferris wheel, while Google and Facebook stake out prominent beach real estate to host meetings and entertain clients. On the upswing at last, Twitter is making itself visible at the festival with billboards at the Nice airport and throughout the city, Garett Sloane reports for Ad Age. The outdoor ads are tied to the World Cup, which was a major revenue driver for Twitter during the 2014 Brazil games. Twitter isn’t new to OOH. The social media platform won a Cannes Grand Prix award last year for a 2016 out-of-home campaign touting its role in breaking news and cultural moments.

But Wait, There’s More!

You’re Hired!

Must Read

New Startup Pinch AI Tackles The Growing Problem Of Ecommerce Return Scams

Fraud is eating into retail profits. A new startup called Pinch AI just launched with $5 million in funding to fight back.

Comic: Shopper Marketing Data

CPG Data Seller SPINS Moves Into Media With MikMak Acquisition

On Wednesday, retail and CPG data company SPINS added a new piece with its acquisition of MikMak, a click-to-buy ad tech and analytics startup that helps optimize their commerce media.

How Valvoline Shifted Marketing Gears When It Became A Pure-Play Retail Brand

Believe it or not, car oil change service company Valvoline is in the midst of a fascinating retail marketing transformation.

Privacy! Commerce! Connected TV! Read all about it. Subscribe to AdExchanger Newsletters
AdExchanger's Big Story podcast with journalistic insights on advertising, marketing and ad tech

The Big Story: Live From CES 2026

Agents, streamers and robots, oh my! Live from the C-Space campus at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas, our team breaks down the most interesting ad tech trends we saw at CES this year.

Monopoly Man looks on at the DOJ vs. Google ad tech antitrust trial (comic).

2025: The Year Google Lost In Court And Won Anyway

From afar, it looks like Google had a rough year in antitrust court. But zoom in a bit and it becomes clear that the past year went about as well as Google could have hoped for.

Why 2025 Marked The End Of The Data Clean Room Era

A few years ago, “data clean rooms” were all the ad tech trades could talk about. Fast-forward to 2026, and maybe advertisers don’t need to know what a data clean room is after all.