The Big Story features a roundtable discussion with the AdExchanger editorial team on the week’s top news stories. New and previously published episodes are available on this page and on your preferred podcast app.
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 […]
This week on The Big Story, James Hercher provides some color into what’s going on with Amazon’s affiliate program. Earlier this week, he reported how Amazon had removed third-party vendors from the program. We’ll explore what’s going on and why Amazon came to this decision. In short, removing these vendors boosts Amazon’s margins. Affiliate networks […]
Google’s Ads Data Hub (ADH) is beta testing new audience targeting features. That shift is significant, considering ADH was originally positioned as a way for marketers to get post-campaign analytics and measurement. AdExchanger senior editor James Hercher breaks down what he knows about this expansion of ADH. How granularly can you target? Is search and […]
This week on The Big Story, we take a break from your minute-by-minute coronavirus coverage to bring you the latest on Apple and its anti-tracking practices. On Tuesday, the tech giant reemphasized its infamous (or famous, if you’re a consumer privacy advocate) stance and, in an added measure, said it would quash any and all […]
We now live in a world where euphoria is a 24-pack of toilet paper on a Duane Reade shelf. The Big Story – the only story, really – is the unsettling pall of COVID-19. This week, the AdExchanger team will tell you how we’re doing, but we also want to know how you’re doing. At […]
The Big Story this week (this month, rather) remains the impact of the Coronavirus on media, marketing and global economies. The team examines how the pandemic and ‘social distancing’ affects the advertising industry, which is notoriously built around personal relationships and networking. As Allison Schiff notes, many ad deals come about extemporaneously, whether it’s sitting […]
The new coronavirus is wreaking havoc worldwide as uncertainty reigns, and marketers aren’t immune. This week on The Big Story, the team diagnoses the effect of COVID-19 on 2020 ad budgets, work productivity and the industry conference circuit. Advertisers won’t necessarily spend less, but they will probably start shifting budget to channels where they know […]
If advertising wants to keep using big data sets filled with consumer information, they’ll have to do a better job protecting them. And differential privacy is one of the most promising weapons in the privacy-protecting arsenal. This week on The Big Story, senior editor Allison Schiff dishes on differential privacy. It might sound like an […]
Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg’s wealth couldn’t buy him a great debate Wednesday night. This week on The Big Story, the team looks at how his money has affected the paid media space. As our own James Hercher points out: “The ROI only shows up when people turn out to vote.” And, despite vaulting into second […]
Cookies in Chrome might be on the way out, but the IAB has a plan for a new identifier. Project Rearc is still in its infancy, and while its goal is clear, its methodology is still TBD – though the slide deck the IAB shared during its annual leadership conference on Sunday and Monday, indicated […]
