The Big Story

This week the big stories are all Google, all the time. First, the Department of Justice uncorked its long-awaited antitrust lawsuit against the tech giant. As previously speculated by multiple news outlets, the DOJ’s case homes in on Google’s search business. In this episode of The Big Story, the AdExchanger team talks about why the […]

It’s time for an exciting new acronym: CDP. But what makes it exciting? Is it the promise – delivered for only the thousandth time this decade – that marketers can finally unify their customer data? No, what makes it exciting is $3.2 billion (in stock). That’s how much Twilio paid to grab the CDP Segment […]

This week on the Big Story, we look at trust in the market as cataloged by LUMA Partners, and the antitrust case against Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon, as cataloged by a House Judiciary subcommittee. LUMA VP Conor McKenna swings by to lead us through Q3 M&A activity in a wide-ranging conversation that looks at […]

Is Google finally listening to the ad tech industry? The introduction of the Dovekey spec last week – which embraced one of the key concepts laid out in Criteo’s SPARROW proposal – indicates that maybe, finally, the W3C’s Improving Web Advertising Business Group is making some headway. But, as always, we need to take these […]

In these uncertain times … Sorry, scratch that and let’s start again. With the ongoing pandemic, the third-party cookie debate and Apple’s IDFA changes on the horizon, it’s easy to forget that there are actually other things happening in the advertising world right now. And this week on The Big Story we dig into them […]

We’ve been talking so much these days about Google and identity that we’ve neglected getting into the other big Google story: antitrust. Congress dragged Google back to Washington again this week (virtually, at least) to examine about how its business impacts the competition. And this time, reports AdExchanger senior editor Allison Schiff, the senators were […]

The digital advertising world is changing faster than the seasons. At the Interactive Advertising Bureau, Randall Rothenberg, who held the top spot for 14 years, is stepping into an executive chairman role, while David Cohen, IAB president since March, is taking over. Not only will Cohen become CEO of IAB, he also inherits that same […]

It feels a tad early to be buying pumpkin spice lattes (even though you apparently can). But one thing it’s definitely not too early to do? Get ready for Apple’s IDFA changes in iOS 14. And even the biggies need to prepare. Last week, Facebook got very vocal about its plans, which involve not collecting […]

The ad tech industry is innovative, resourceful, agile – and so full of BS that it’s become a meme. Ad tech vendors often boast about their scale, claim that their solutions have HAL 9000-level AI and gloss over the difference between correlation and causation. In some cases, they’re purposely trying to obfuscate and overcomplicate what they […]

It’s the dog days of summer. The afternoons are sultry and the pace is slow. Ice cubes melt and tinkle in glasses, cats nap under porches … and it’s easy to forget that the earth is shifting and splitting under the ad industry’s feet. As managing editor Ryan Joe notes in this week’s episode, the […]

This week saw a big flex from LiveRamp, which a few days ago reported its first profitable quarter since it spun off from Acxiom. All very cool, especially when you consider that this measured success happened during a global pandemic when the rest of the digital advertising community – and, really, the rest of the […]

Did you hear the one about Microsoft maybe buying TikTok? No, really, there’s a potential deal in the works. Amid ongoing drama over TikTok’s Chinese ownership and threats from the Trump administration of a ban on the app in the United States, the technology company most associated with office software could become the owner of […]

This week is earnings week, and there are many, many investor calls on the calendar. Couldn’t listen to them all? In this episode of The Big Story, the AdExchanger team gives you the quick lowdown on how some of the biggest advertisers and agencies did after a full quarter of COVID-19. We start out with […]

TripleLift Chief Privacy Officer Julia Shullman has been digging in to understand ad tech from the beginning. “When the legal or privacy team is brought in at the end of the process, most companies end up in a world of pain,” Shullman said. She joined TripleLift from AppNexus in February, just before the pandemic. Since […]

Once Apple’s IDFA becomes opt-in for consumers, its utility to advertisers will be greatly limited. But what does this new policy mean for Facebook and its powerful, lucrative Audience Network? As one source told senior editor Allison Schiff, targeting on Audience Network is all but dead. But does that mean it’s the end? In this […]

As COVID-19 cases spike across America, the joyous reopening is on pause. (Unless you’re Disney World, because apparently the virus has no effect on the land of enchantment and childhood dreams.) But having gone through the initial shutdown in March, brands are more prepared this time around. They’re pulling back on some of the more […]

In January, Google Chrome said it would phase out third-party cookies over the next two years. No problem, right? The W3C, which creates common standards for web browsers, will figure out an alternative. Except, man, it’s certainly taking its sweet time. Two years might sound like ages but it’s not, when you consider how foundational […]

Last week, Google cracked open its black box to divulge its take rates across its buying platforms DV360 and Google Ads, as well as for its publisher tech Google Ad Manager. This week on The Big Story, we’re going to take a look at those fees, including what they mean, what we know and, most […]

Did Apple deal a death blow to the IDFA, the identifier used by the mobile ecosystem to understand app audiences? Not yet – but according to senior editor Allison Schiff, the tech giant certainly shined a light on it at its developer conference Monday. As Allison reported, Apple didn’t end the IDFA as some speculated […]

At long last, Google released its sellers.json file. And the world was 5% grateful, in line with the level of completeness of Google’s file. This week on The Big Story, the AdExchanger team welcomes Jounce Media founder Chris Kane to talk about what’s missing in Google’s seller.json file. And senior editor Sarah Sluis, who spoke […]

America’s reopening is well under way, for better (Yay, economy!) or for worse. (Coronavirus cases are spiking across numerous states.) Given the inconsistency with which the country is reopening – policies differ at the state, regional and even local levels – how should advertisers think about reengaging? Have no doubt – advertisers that went dark […]

The real big story this week goes well beyond digital advertising. The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers ignited nationwide protests. But that murder was just the spark that ignited the firestorm. Against the backdrop of the coronavirus lockdowns, tension had been building since the deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud […]

Not a news flash: Media agencies are under immense pressure. That was true long before the pandemic. But agencies have also made big investments in data and technology over the last few years that are starting to bear fruit. This week on The Big Story, special guest Jay Pattisall, a principal analyst at Forrester, calls […]

The M&A has been relentless this past week, with AppLovin buying the game publisher Machine Zone, Facebook buying GIPHY and Twitter buying the DSP CrossInstall. On this episode, the team breaks down what each acquisition means. What is CrossInstall, and why would Twitter need to actually own a demand-side platform? Was Facebook buying GIPHY mostly […]

BrightLine co-founder Rob Aksman is living the dream from his in-laws’ basement. “We have a 2-year-old, and with daycare canceled and a small New York City apartment, it was becoming untenable for us to get any work done,” he says. “We were defaulting to a little too much television, a little too much Disney Plus […]

This week on The Big Story, the AdExchanger team welcomes three special guests – Goodway Group president Jay Friedman, PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Sam Tomlinson and ISBA director of media Stephen Chester – to dig deep into last week’s incendiary study about the programmatic supply chain. The study, executed by PwC and commissioned by ISBA, which represents […]

When AT&T debuted its advertising division Xandr in 2018, it had the bold remit to reinvent advertising, starting with television. But instead, television, with all of its competitive interests, old tech and legacy business models, reinvented Xandr. Its leader, Brian Lesser, resigned unexpectedly and, one week ago, the unit – which debuted as a significant […]

This week on The Big Story, we delve into Google’s Q1 earnings to get an early sense of how the pandemic has impacted the world’s biggest ad supplier. Like others in the industry, the good vibes at the beginning of 2020 soon soured as the pandemic took hold of our way of life. The loss […]

The Trade Desk is cracking down on bid duplication – a byproduct of header bidding in which wrappers such as Google Open Bidding, Amazon TAM or Prebid, as well as the exchanges, all send the same impression. As a result, DSPs such as The Trade Desk might see up to 18 bids for one impression. […]

The past few weeks haven’t been great for the digital advertising industry, with many companies enacting layoffs, furloughs and salary cuts. So how do you, as either an individual or as a company, recover after a tough slog? This week on The Big Story, the AdExchanger team welcomes special guest Martin Kihn, SVP of marketing […]