Commerce

Incrementality measurement may be a sound methodology, but online ad platforms are not really bringing a steady river of new-to-brand customers with their incrementality-based solutions.

Criteo dives into video ads; after 20 years, YouTube might be the world’s biggest media brand; Threads opens up for advertising.

Shopify checkout might be coming to ChatGPT; private equity builds a French ad tech stack; and how Meta turning off news in Canada is affecting news access ahead of this month’s election.

The wave of ad tech headlines in recent weeks represents a long overdue moment of reckoning for companies who (still) hold disproportionate control over publishers’ website traffic and revenue potential.

Sabrina Sierant joined Mondelez more than 12 years ago, which seems like a prior age in shopping terms. In December 2019, she took on marketing for the US Chips Ahoy business, as Mondelez orchestrated a major rebrand and reinvestment in its cookie brand.

Jason Colon, until recently Publicis’ EVP and managing director of retail media, has taken a new role as EVP of Commerce Media at Horizon’s retail media agency Night Market.

Whether it’s on a shelf, on Instacart or an online shopping page, a brand needs to take advantage of every inch it has to express itself and entertain potential customers. At least that’s always been the perspective of Oatly, the Swedish oat milk brand known for self-deferential marketing.

The Trump tariff situation is in constant flux, creating uncertainty that spells doom for any potential growth in US ad spending this year. Plus, how retail media and other emerging channels could be threatened by tariff turmoil.

With “edible” in its name, how could Edible Arrangements not get into the budding cannabis delivery business?

Proof keeps piling up that gen AI makes marketing creatives lazy; Google stops serving ads to parked domains, prompting questions as to why those domains were ever monetized; and a resurgent David’s Bridal thinks it can reach profitability this year.

Yotpo, the retention-based marketing and analytics company, announced on Tuesday that it is acquiring fellow Israeli tech startup Coho AI, a customer data platform.

The retail media agency consolidation trend is still going with the announcement on Tuesday that indie shop Acadia has acquired fellow ecommerce marketplace ad agency Crush.

Forecasters expected tariffs would impact advertising growth projections. But that was before we knew exactly how steep these tariffs would be – and now that we do, it doesn’t bode well.

As most generative AI search engines focus on general adoption and subscription licenses, Perplexity AI is zagging toward advertising and commerce applications.

Audience suppression may be the missing link between annoying a consumer and building a lasting relationship.

The Google PMax whisperer releases his latest annual report; publishers brace for more disruptions from Google search updates; and stolen content is the least of Wikipedia’s gen AI concerns.

Wonder Group, a restaurant tech and meal delivery company, snapped up Blue Apron in 2023, Grubhub a year later, then Tastemade earlier this month. Tastemade brings new capabilities, says Wonder Chief Growth Officer Daniel Shlossman. But it’s an important step in the company’s plan to become a 360-degree advertising player.

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? 

Uber ended 2024 with its strongest quarter ever, posting 20% year-over-year revenue growth of $12 billion in Q4 – due in no small part to Uber Advertising.

AI and machine learning services have come a long way in the past couple years, and these changes have introduced a whole new vocabulary for marketers trying to get a handle on how products like PMax work.

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

PubMatic CEO Rajeev Goel dishes on sell-side curation, data fees, how the business model differs from buy-side curation and how publishers can control pricing for curated deals.

“There were some lessons early on,” Dawn Brodehl, Tillamook’s manager of omni-shopper marketing, tells AdExchanger of the company’s expansion to a national brand. For one thing, did you know that ice cream and dairy products can explode when they’re shipped over the Rocky Mountains?

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.

Target reported $649 million in revenue from its Roundel advertising business in 2024, up about 25% from 2023, during its Q4 and full-year earnings report on Tuesday.

Today’s roundup deals with an uncomfortable topic that, at some point, retail media companies must reckon with. It’s not transparency, or MFA, or standardization. It is the issue of rising return rates.

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?

Walmart’s ad business is starting to click. The company generated $4.4 billion in global ad revenue in 2024, up  27% year-over-year, the company disclosed in its latest earnings report on Thursday.