CTV

Publicis recommends some clients ditch The Trade Desk; ChatGPT reconsiders its “unlimited” enterprise subscription; and how NYC’s Washington Square Park became an influencer hub.

Complexity hasn’t made the CTV supply chain difficult to trust. This is a transparency problem and, more specifically, an ads.txt problem.

Someday soon, marketers may be able to pay NBCUniversal to have an AI-generated approximation of “Real Housewives” executive producer Andy Cohen namedrop their brand to hundreds of thousands of fans.

Netflix unveiled its own conversion API to help brands measure outcomes as CAPIs become increasingly popular in streaming advertising.

2026 is the year CTV will bridge the gap between branding and performance. Fresh off the Convergent TV World event, our team discusses the rise of performance TV, shifting live sports rights and the impact of M&A on the streaming experience in this future-facing episode.

There are more pharma ads on CTV, but are they even targeted?; Gen Z longs for the ad-free TikTok of yore; and Meta buys a social network for AI agents.

Consumers today switch between screens and viewing interfaces to seamlessly view content. Now it’s time for advertisers to catch up to this convergence, so they can make ad experiences better – not worse, said Cadent CEO Doug Rozen.

NBCU used this year’s Olympic Winter Games to lean further into programmatic buying for live sports at scale. NBCU also made Olympics inventory available through Comcast’s Universal Ads self-serve platform for the first time and used AI for creative review and campaign optimization in near real time.

Marketers who want to remain competitive need to reexamine the way they view, plan and measure performance across video and streaming platforms. If they’re still debating programmatic vs. direct or linear vs. streaming, then they’re missing out on the real meaning behind convergent TV, according to Mike Fogarty, head of client development, brand and agency […]

Is brand advertising bad now,?; Prediction markets are targeting college students; and performance TV is a real thing, maybe.

“We are focused on being where the world watches video,” said Tara Walpert Levy, YouTube’s VP, Americas at the Convergent TV conference in NYC on Thursday. “And to us that now is TV.”

Late last week, Netflix walked away from plans to acquire Warner Bros., clearing the way for Paramount Skydance to scoop up the whole company with its hostile takeover bid.

Enjoy this weekly comic strip from AdExchanger.com that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem … 

The NHL develops new revenue streams; malware makes its way into the programmatic ecosystem; and Target plans to open 30 new locations this year, along with revamping existing ones.

Netflix unveils a conversion API; some publishers are using AI tools to expand their footprints; and CFOs are getting more involved in marketing decisions.

The divergence between the DSPs reveals shifting buy-side priorities. Advertisers have grown wary of how The Trade Desk earns margin, where its algorithm steers inventory and how these strategies compete with buyer goals.

Versant Media Group reported its first earnings as a publicly traded company. The portfolio of networks, which includes CNBC, MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), USA Network, E! and Fandango, was spun off from Comcast in January.

DS-1, a new agentic AI interface developed by audience platform Dstillery, aims to reduce manual inefficiencies within audience curation.

Onetag’s acquisition of creative ad tech platform Aryel equips its curation solution with new tools for tweaking and testing interactive ad creative.

Who says TV is the only media channel that could benefit from converged buying?

The problems with FAST’s rapid growth; streaming viewers get a bot-powered alternative to subscriptions and ads; and IAS uncovers a mobile app fraud network that infected millions of devices.

PubMatic says adoption of its AgenticOS, combined with strong CTV and mobile demand, set the stage for double digit growth in the second half of this year.

Last year was a massive success for Warner Bros. Discovery’s content – but maybe not so much for its financials.

Display advertising is old and busted. Streaming CTV is the new hotness. Obviously, those aren’t the exact words Magnite CEO Michael Barrett used, but it’s pretty much what the numbers say.

While the outcome of Paramount Skydance’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery hangs in the balance, Paramount is laser-focused on driving streaming growth.

On Wednesday, and in time for the upfronts, Nielsen added more than 200 advanced audience segments in Nielsen ONE, its cross-platform analytics dashboard.

Buyers dig Netflix’s ad platform changes; OpenTable puts the “restaurant” in “RMN”; and Google and Amazon blame human error even when it’s AI’s fault.

The future of retail media depends on a shift away from siloed in-store and online metrics to a full-funnel approach that reflects how customers actually shop.

OpenX and Givsly’s new curation solution lets political campaigns reach voters based on data sourced from nonprofits, rather than traditional party affiliation.

The Winter Olympics show us how far streaming live sports has come – and how much linear viewership remains. Plus: CPGs are pulling back on ad spend, as they steer through economic challenges and the ripple effects of policy decisions.