Daily News Roundup

The wave of CDP consolidation is riding strong. Plus, AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi responded to reports that short sellers are targeting the company.

Google is full-steam ahead with AI Overviews. Plus, don’t post AI-generated pictures in the style of Studio Ghibli.

Daily Mail’s ad-light subscription soars; YouTube Shorts takes another cue from TikTok; and MAGNA predicts an ad spend slump due to tariff-induced uncertainty.

Meta introduces new ad placements, promo opportunities and AI prompts; an influencer campaign prompts right-wing influencers to oppose RFK Jr.’s soda crackdown; and transcription platform Otter launches an AI assistant.

Operating a genetic testing business is difficult. Plus, YouTube has become the biggest platform for podcast consumption.

Could AppleTV+ be the next CTV platform to turn to ads in order to turn a profit? Plus, the bubble may have already burst on creators launching direct-to-consumer brands.

Companies are now leaning toward slick, scripted video series ok TikTok. Plus, expect any future OpenAI ads to be less than traditional.

The Trade Desk’s weak Q4 emboldened the company’s critics; DOGE’s cuts to federal agencies are hurting ad agencies; and President Trump fires the two remaining Democratic FTC commissioners.

Oracle’s TikTok bid is a warmed-over Project Texas; Amazon’s ads biz has its sights set on Google; and gen AI search is a good traffic source for retailers, but bad for news pubs.

Dotdash Meredith (DDM) has hired Jim Lawson to run its ad tech division D/Cipher. Plus, can Target become a true advertising powerhouse? 

Omnicom and IPG have both received additional information requests from the FTC about their merger. Plus, publishers don’t know how AI overviews fit into their referral traffic.

Sonos’s woes ding The Trade Desk; WPP’s AI investments may not keep Coke from switching to Publicis; and feminized Swedish tobacco products find an audience in the US manosphere.

AI-equipped consumer products keep failing; why the newsletter boom might be nothing but spam; and retaliatory tariffs hit America where it hurts.

Who controls the retail media (RMN) budget? Plus, this year YouTube will close out the upfronts

Is the threat of tariffs like the end of third-party cookies? Plus, Roblox is ramping its in-house programmatic ambitions.

What exactly are joint business partnerships? Plus, AI chatbot responses may be susceptible to Russian propaganda.

PMax has joined Search as what Google dubs “the power pair.”  Plus, TikTok usage and ad spend are still dropping.

Amazon’s ad tech ambitions are crowding out Amazon specialists; EU regulators have concerns about Apple ATT; and Google says breaking it up could threaten national security.

T-Mobile may be considering an acquisition in the mobile data market; Google’s glitch shuts down ads for a weekend; and ad tech’s old guard is salivating over AI startups.

Google has been spotted triple serving ads to search pages. Plus, good luck getting ads next to Oscars content this year.

Pinterest is being overrun with low-effort generative AI slop. Plus, Stagwell partially credits its 14% growth last year to – you guessed it – AI.

WPP shares dipped to a four-year low on after posting its 2024 earnings results. Plus: How brands are courting virality.

DoubleVerify adds Rockerbox to its attribution stack; Taboola courts performance marketers with a new ad platform; and the end of the MLB/ESPN deal spells opportunity for sports streamers.

YouTube advertisers prefer long-form videos to Shorts; Microsoft tests an ad-supported version of its Office suite; and Chegg sues Google over lost traffic from gen AI search.

Amazon is still lowering its Prime Video ad rates across the board. Plus, there are disadvantages to being a big tech giant.

YouTube is adding a new tier with a “light” ad load. Plus, remember Facebook?

More dollars are flowing through the Amazon ads machine. Plus, are advertisers coming back to X out of fear of the Trump administration?

Why Google Demand Gen is struggling to grow; embattled web browser extensions test the limits of last-click attribution; and the State Department demands diplomats cancel their news subscriptions.

Spotify faces obstacles in its ticket sales aspirations; Apple switches to view-through attribution; and The Washington Post and Meta remove ads that were critical of Elon Musk.

AirBNB starting an ad service business is “not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when.”  Plus, Walmart is winning.