Artificial Intelligence

Meta is profiting from fraudulent ads; LLMs are taking advantage of SaaS pricing policies; and agencies aren’t going under… yet.

The Trade Desk is going after Amazon; Facebook creators are going after Meta; and everybody’s going after Warner Bros. Discovery.

Artificial intelligence has become marketing’s favorite headline. Every platform, publisher and technology partner now promises “AI-powered” solutions that will make campaigns smarter, faster and cheaper.

Meta’s Q3 earnings saw increased growth in its ad business and continued the conversation on superintelligence.

Tony Stubblebine became CEO of Medium in 2022 and turned the struggling, loss-making platform profitable by cutting costs, improving content quality and refusing to rely on advertising.

My Marketing Pro has set out to automate the entire marketing process, from brainstorm to launch, via conversations with an agent.

Procter & Gamble is spending less on ads; OpenAI is spending more on ads; and guess which side of the scale Mondelez is falling on?

Marketing often gets unfairly pegged as a cost center. But that wouldn’t happen if marketers had access to better measurement that gave them clarity on what truly drives business growth, argues Henry Innis, CEO and co-founder of MMM platform Mutinex.

Wouldn’t it be great to enact standards rather than talk about them?; Amazon wants to go fully automated; and revenue doesn’t seem to drop like search traffic does.

As the pendulum swings hard toward 1:1 personalization, a critical question emerges: Just because we can personalize every interaction, does it mean we should?

Walmart’s AI shopping deal with ChatGPT might ding its retail media biz; the MRC shares updates on which platforms won and lost accreditation; and kids’ sports streaming is becoming a real media channel.

Enjoy this weekly comic from AdExchanger.com that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem … 

Cloudflare restricts how bots can scrape content; TiVo’s customer base stays loyal, even as TiVo leaves the DVR business; and Nestlé announces a stark reduction in headcount.

As AI sweeps the tech landscape, new startups continue to emerge. Here are seven former ad tech execs’ thoughts on best AI practices and starting their own companies.

Anne Coghlan, co-founder and COO of Scope3, on why cutting carbon in ad tech isn’t just about saving the planet; it’s about eliminating inefficiency and financial waste at the same time. Plus: Using AI to automate and optimize digital media buying at the impression level.

Apple TV is losing its plus; Agentic AI is ruining the ad tech equilibrium; and Google insists that search is still solid.

Advertisers are still having a lot of the same brand-safety problems today as he did years ago – and it’s pretty damned frustrating.

The fate of the open web will be decided on who controls the data that drives monetization and the AI that determines distribution. Google controls both, and proposed remedies to its ad tech monopoly do not address this imbalance.

American publishers are hamstrung by antitrust law; should marketers lean into ragebait?; and Pexplexity is hitting pause on its ads business.

The layoffs reflect a strategic decision on People Inc.’s part to free up money to invest in growth areas, according to CEO Neil Vogel’s memo to employees.

Optable introduced AI agents this week, allowing clients to improve their workflows with the help of AI and integrate with multiple tech platforms.

ChatGPT and others continued the fragmentation of the search journey, which today hops between platforms and intents. The funnel no longer exists. Here’s how to pivot your brand’s SEO/GEO strategy.

Duolingo now speaks the language of ad sales; marketers worry about writing like bots; and Microsoft is getting in on ad-supported platforms, too. Duolingo now speaks the language of ad sales; marketers worry about writing like bots; and Microsoft is getting in on ad-supported platforms, too.

The Trade Desk insists its OS is still coming; TikTok Shop is becoming a grocery store; and for AI studios, bad press is still press.

Alvaro Bedoya shared his qualms with digital advertising’s more controversial targeting tactics and how kids use gen AI and social media.

The number and scope of U.S. laws that require advertisers to disclose the use of AI are limited. But there are some restrictions and guidelines that advertisers must follow to ensure their compliance.

Live from New York at Programmatic IO, the AdExchanger editorial team debriefs what ad tech’s brightest minds are saying and doing around AI and measurement.

Mike Hauptman, co-founder of AdLib, discusses the company’s evolution and how AI is changing the future of both AdLib and ad tech as a whole.

Principal-based buying isn’t inherently bad. When incentives are aligned, clients get more precision and speed than traditional agency models often allow. The issue isn’t the mechanism; it’s the incentives.

OpenAI wants to be social media now; retail marketers need to appease the bots; and yes, even Peloton is pivoting to AI.