CTV

The US ad market is set to grow this year, according to a Magna forecast released Thursday. Streaming and political advertising play outsized roles in that growth.

In today’s newsletter: Brands risk having their organic sales counted as paid conversion conversions on multiple platforms; Facebook’s Project Ghostbusters spied on Snap, YouTube and Amazon; and DTC brands bow out of brick-and-mortar.

Seedtag announced a product called Contextual TV designed to help its clients apply contextual targeting tactics to their streaming ad buys.

The MRC and the broadcaster-backed joint industry committee released a joint statement to clarify the difference between them, which has been a charged topic ever since the JIC formed last year.

In today’s newsletter: NAD says influencers should label endorsements as ads, even if they invest in the company; Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown was a catalyst for ad-supported audience growth; and G/O Media sells more of its portfolio.

To fill in the gaps left by third-party data loss, Adobe has added a data collaboration product to its Real-Time CDP that lets advertisers match their data to a partner’s to create lookalike audiences, target ads or attribute campaigns.

In today’s newsletter: Amazon’s DSP doesn’t compare to Google’s and TTD’s; US ad spend looks strong this year; European Commission will investigate Google, Apple and Meta under the EU’s DMA.

Disney just took the next stop on its journey to automate as much of its ad sales as possible by the end of this year with the release of DRAX Direct, an expansion of its real-time ad exchange.

NBCUniversal is making its annual case for bigger streaming ad budgets at One24, NBCU’s annual ad tech and data dog and pony show, which took place in New York City this week.

More than two decades after they ran, Cerveza Cristal’s Star Wars ads are a perfect and unintentional cautionary tale for ad tech vendors pushing CTV ad products like virtual product placements and shoppable content overlays.

In today’s newsletter: Google PAIR snags a CTV partnership with NBCU; why Madison Avenue and Hollywood will never make their relationship official; and TV buyers explain why they aren’t all-in on alternative currencies just yet.

Streaming services that monetize with ads must prioritize engagement first and foremost. But programmers and investors alike named engagement as one of the top challenges of streaming profitability.

Say hello to Blkfam (pronounced “Black fam”), a free ad-supported streaming platform that launched in February with on-demand content curated for Black families. The platform was founded by media vet Larry Adams with equity investment and creative direction from Whoopi Goldberg.

In today’s newsletter: Meta will shutter news benchmarking service CrowdTangle; Reddit rolls out a new ad format to monetize its user activity; and the ANA readies a report analyzing the programmatic supply chain.

If you’re using retail media or commerce marketing for the bottom of the funnel only, then you’re missing out on major opportunities.

In today’s newsletter: Criteo invests heavily in the Privacy Sandbox; the open web is not too big to fail; and Amazon aims to grow its ad business to rival Google’s and Meta’s.

AdExchanger will lift the hood on the hottest topics in CTV live onstage at the inaugural CTV Connect event in New York City on March 13 and March 14.

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

In today’s newsletter: Microsoft Edge debuts its Ad Selection API, a PAAPI competitor; the EU’s DMA is live; and OhHello aims to help ad industry employees network.

In today’s newsletter: Viant sees double-digit CTV growth powered largely by direct deals; Target launches a new paid membership program; YouTube makes a bid to compete with TikTok on video editing.

In today’s newsletter: Big Tech may be best positioned to take advantage of generative AI’s ad tech uses; ad tech leaders waffle on investing in Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox; Google faces an innovator’s dilemma.

Streaming services must juggle subscriber growth and ad revenue – an ongoing struggle that produced a mixed bag of Q4 earnings results. But there’s a reason why it seems like Netflix is coming out on top.

In today’s newsletter: European news companies are suing Google; the TV industry reevaluates IP addresses; Sridhar Ramaswamy will be Snowflake’s new CEO.

Self-serve CTV ad platform Vibe.co announced its $22.5 million Series A round, which it will use to bolster its machine learning and measurement chops to help SMBs give CTV a try.

Paramount touted its tailwinds during its Q4 earnings call, including a new partnership with Walmart that gives it access to the retailer’s shopper data.

Total ad spend from deals transacted through Magnite’s platform topped $5 billion for the full year, representing nearly 20% YOY growth, while full-year CTV ad spend was also up 20%.

In today’s newsletter: Ad tech data can compromise Americans; Reddit has a hard road ahead revenue wise; CTV ad-buying startup tvScientific raises a funding round.

If Walmart’s pending acquisition of Vizio makes it past regulators, the retail media giant will get to reap the rewards of a profitable data and ads business that strengthens its position as an adversary to Amazon.

Data has not only become the new oil for marketers; it is also the oxygen breathing life into TV advertising with new branding and performance opportunities.

In today’s newsletter: Google agrees to placement-level reporting across its Google Search Partners network; how an explosion of ads is ruining the internet; and Google pays publishers to test an unreleased generative AI tool.