Daily News Roundup

There’s no magic bullet for AI search optimization; how kids’ media monetizes outside of YouTube; and hey, whatever happened to the TikTok ban?

Havas makes a play for WPP; The European Commission is getting simplified; and retail chains are monetizing their Muzak.

OneTrust wants to get bought; Europe wants Google to tweak its ad tech; and the DHS is spending more on ads than ever.

Omnicom revamps its revenue reporting; Amazon will now charge for access to its Selling Partner API; and brands seek sponsorship deals with all sorts of social creators.

A former exec sues WPP over an alleged retaliatory firing; Jolt acquires Volta Media from Shell; and AI defamation litigation is on the rise.

Lesser-known browser Brave comes out of the woodwork; agentic chatbots require new ad practices; and private equity can endanger both brands and publishers.

The Daily Mail deals with AI overviews; pause ads are the new hotness; and YouTube fights back against ad blockers.

Dentsu is for sale; Associated Press is scraping its own archives; and AI is infiltrating newsrooms.

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

Netflix announces a new way to measure viewership; streaming and smart TV companies face data collection investigations; and Polymarket ads incentivized losing bets.

LiveRamp’s gift could make IAB Tech Lab’s AI consent model workable; Spotify hypes video podcast growth and nabs a bigger ad margin; and Coke launches another AI holiday ad campaign.

Fubo had a good quarter; Kenvue is having a bad time; and the holiday season has started earlier than ever this year.

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

WPP aims to turn around faster; YouTube TV tips the carriage deal market; and Roblox takes its time on video ads.

Tylenol maker Kenvue navigates pushing back against the Trump administration’s claims; viewers of Nobody Wants This are tired of product placement; and US Census data might become less privacy-safe.

Prebid changes its mind on universal TIDs; streaming media takes advantage of live events; and short-form video clips are (still) all the rage.

Condé Nast doesn’t think advertising will save it; AWS strikes a blow against Google’s cloud service; and Paramount+ is going to have to pivot.

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

WPP puts AI tools in the hands of brands; YouTube’s dynamic sponsored segments could redefine creator monetization; and Hollywood is getting into “microdramas.”

Reddit sues four companies for scraping and selling (and buying) its data; Unity Software’s new zero-fee product is good news for mobile developers; and brands aren’t thrilled by TikTok shop’s latest updates.

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.

Apparently, we’re in for a hardware revolution; advertisers don’t know what to expect from the US’s new version of TikTok; and live sports should take better advantage of ad opportunities.

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.

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.

SSPs are looking pretty ripe for acquisition; agencies want real man-on-the-street content from actual human men; and AI slop is taking over the internet.

Publicis celebrates as its growth aligns with the IAB’s downgraded ad spend projection; Spotify and Netflix partner to chase YouTube’s video podcast biz; and how investor cash keeps health data safe from advertisers.

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

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

The Viant-Tubi integration offers new data insights; advertisers can buy sponsored product ads on Gopuff, thanks to TTD; and publishers continue to face traffic woes.

Ask advertisers, not Meta, how best to use Meta’s ad platform; holdcos and big brands are pressuring Big Tech to self-regulate; and how data-driven animal husbandry is impacting marketing.