Daily News Roundup

AppLovin might be the next breakout in retail media. Plus, some advertiseres have already turned off TikTok Smart+.

A class-action lawsuit was filed this week against French game studio Ubisoft. Plus, expect Trump to pull back on regulating AI.

Walmart’s latest data play: an app for unlocking barricades on store shelves; training generative AI may rely more on scraping big-name sites than previously thought; and tracking the issues that mattered most to Trump and Harris, based on ad spending.

Nielsen has received accreditation from the MRC for a product that integrates a broadcaster or media company’s first-party streaming data into Nielsen’s TV panel ratings.  Plus, Google launches a curation service that bundles ad inventory within its own Google Ad Manager.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT will launch a web search engine. Plus, this year’s $12-billion-plus deluge in political advertising has priced brands out of certain markets.

Integral Ad Science is raising rates on various products by one to three cents per CPM. Plus, Gannett is inching back to overall growth.

Google holds court with bloggers bumped from its search algorithm; a backlash is brewing as the online recommendation engine goes into overdrive; and X pushes conservative politics to accounts with nonpartisan interests.

Adelaide may become the first vendor to receive accreditation for an attention metric. Plus, the IAB is leading a lawsuit against the FTC.

Google Search dings big-name pubs’ affiliate-link-laden articles; Google’s new audience prospecting guesses user intent from less obvious keywords; and TikTok Shop’s success could finally make social commerce a thing in the US.

Disney redirects subscribers to its site to avoid Apple’s App Store fee; ad tech IPOs are in a lull, but the tech companies that are going public rely on ads for growth; and a Democratic PAC spent $30 million on Spanish-language ads.

The term “data clean room” has gotten co-opted. Plus, a useful one-pager on the new baseline standards for DTC marketing. 

A tool popular with law enforcement can track devices to sensitive locations. Plus, black boxes are getting a bit more transparent.

Ari Paparo’s Marketecture acquires another ad-tech publication; Spotify is launching an SSP; and CPG brands turn to “chaos packaging” to stand out among the crowd.

The chorus of curation critics is growing. Plus, Charter Communications will begin a huge marketing push on streaming platforms next year.

Airbnb gets one step closer to launching a retail media biz; Google shakes up its ad tech executive team; and streamers struggle to balance ad and subscriber revenues.

Publishers are skeptical that “curation” is actually doing anything for them. Plus, what’s coming up in 2025?

Nobody likes social media bots… but what about users who act like bots? Plus, even telling someone to go vote might get your content flagged.

Fertility companies are having their ads blocked on Google, TikTok and Meta. Plus, will the digital dark ages soon be upon us?

NCIS: Ad Tech takes off as Washington zeroes in on Adalytics reports; Kroger says attention has yet to prove correlation to performance; and inside California’s backroom deal with Google to fund journalism and AI.

In-game ad platform Frameplay joins with competitors to chase scale; top-level domains become a top-level concern; and could Google be forced to open its data warehouse?

PayPal officially launched its ads business. Plus, Media buyers are worried that “an advertising mistake can become the news.”

Move over, Mr. Met — it’s Grimace’s time to shine. Plus, Zeta Global has acquired email marketing and identity company LiveIntent for $250 million.

Pinterest is picking up supporters on Wall Street. Plus, what’s the deal with the search advertising, AI and data licensing deal between Google and Reddit?

Chalice integrated with Index Exchange, and it’s not a typical partnership. Plus, Microsoft will be moving on from its retail media platform Promote IQ.

As Nike’s new CEO prepares to take over, the shoe brand is walking back on some of its direct-to-consumer plans. Plus: YouTube Shorts ups maximum video length to three minutes.

TikTok announced this week that it would allow search advertising to be targeted by keyword. Plus, streaming ad supply now outpaces demand.

The US v. Google antitrust trial is over, but nobody’s done with the drama. Plus, Charter just struck a deal with NBCUniversal.

A web crime ring that sold Facebook account service tickets collapses in dramatic fashion; how US antitrust precedent could inform the DOJ/Google ad tech trial; and more publishers turn to paywalls as the open web shuts its gates.

Paramount is the latest entertainment studio headed for a showdown with Nielsen. Plus, Forbes seems to have been rebuked by Google Search.

Oracle’s advertising and third-party data businesses are officially kaput; political pollsters are abandoning misleading online data; and AI-generated slop is already overtaking the internet.