Daily News Roundup

Criteo has two potential buyers; publishers consider blocking Google’s joint AI-scraping/search-indexing bot; and Microsoft’s billion-player gaming goal might make sense for mobile.

Creator marketing is taking over the B2B space; Reddit develops AI tools to fight spam; and Comcast-owned Sky will acquire ITV’s Media & Entertainment unit.

Paramount consolidates its ad tech and product teams; Meta execs are still figuring out the role of AI; and FIFA and World Cup sponsors lean on influencers.

OpenAI’s hiring priorities hint at the nascent ad platform’s future direction. Plus: Cloudflare unveils tools to categorize crawlers.

Retail media ramps up CTV partnerships to extend ecommerce audiences off-site; LaLiga’s piracy crackdown hits legit sites in Spain; and OpenAI mulls third-party ad measurement.

Comcast separates NBCUniversal and Sky from its broadband and wireless business; Omnicom is all in on M&A; and startup Whatnot bets on livestreamed shopping.

Apple abandoned its ad network; Did Cannes Lions abandon its creators?; and CMOs decide how much to abandon creative budgets.

Since Publicis Groupe is acquiring LiveRamp, many brands will likely find themselves in the market for a new independent vendor for audience and identity data. Plus: FIFA’s controversial ad-filled hydration breaks twice per every World Cup game.

The Tech Revolution Will Be Televised  Every business considers itself a tech company these days. Remember Allbirds sneakers pivoting to AI? In the entertainment industry, the line between tech and media is growing especially murky. Legacy entertainment studios own streaming platforms, and tech companies produce their own films and shows.  Unfortunately, a showdown between Hollywood […]

Amazon’s Alexa gets voice-activated shopping assistant ads; AI-affiliated Super PACs are the big spenders this midterms; and P&G throws cold water on the agency “one-stop shop” model.

Everyone’s investing in AppsFlyer; NBCU launches Rock Studios, a creative studio for brand integrations; and Meta wants to hop on the TV bandwagon.

There’s a new type of DSP with a shiny new acronym; AI search optimization is a tricky game; and M&Ms struggle to switch to natural coloring.

Where will OpenAI put its ads?; YouTube may or may not be considered TV; and Uber and Lyft deals really are too good to be true.

Some DOJ staffers wanted to challenge the Paramount/WBD merger on antitrust grounds; ad tech M&A is poised to pick up; and social media marketers want to normalize controversial clipping.

A new browser extension called Kickbacks serves ads during wait times while Claude Code processes a prompt. Plus: Video game publisher EA is launching a dedicated ad platform, EA Advertising.

TVision won a jury trial regarding its use of digital signatures to recognize audio content, which Nielsen alleged was infringement. Plus: Consumer wearable hardware businesses often grow quickly but lack staying power. 

Viant creates a direct pipeline between its DSP and media companies; Google and TTD won’t renew their TAG accreditations; and OpenAI may lower the cost of tokens.

Not On My Dime Marketers are increasingly using AI, but mostly for low-stakes tasks, not media-buying decisions.  A Digiday survey of more than 100 marketers names data analysis and content creation as the most popular AI use cases. Advertisers surveyed also prefer AI for social and retail media compared to other channels. One could argue […]

Bending Spoons bets on the old web; more publishers start blocking bot scrapers by default; and Apple introduces app bundles.

Communications leaders are reshaping the C-suite; Executive turnover continues at The Trade Desk; TikTok Shop earns dedicated RFP budgets.

YouTube’s remix tool sparks creator concerns; AI fuels World Cup ticket scams; Anthropic warns AI is moving too fast.

ChatGPT’s ad partners roll out incentives; Google introduces gen AI performance reports within the Search Console

Search and web traffic is getting replaced by AI, so earned media placements don’t quite look the same. Plus: More scrutiny on principal media.

Amazon has third parties selling some of its ad inventory; Scope3 selling Adloox to Peer39 suggests sustainability is out; and “fabric” is the new AI-related buzzword for ad tech.

Meta AI is opening the door for hackers; Does performance marketing work for luxury brands?; and advertisers still don’t trust their agencies much.

TrumpRX might be collecting your medical data; Snowflake is trying to get into the AI content licensing game; and travel marketers are feeling the inflation squeeze.

Walmart Connect is adding a second DSP partner: Yahoo DSP. Plus: It looks like location data is being used to spy on the military now.

Olyzon raises $10 million for TV AI; Transparency now matters more than neutrality; OpenAI expands ChatGPT ads to SMBs.

Meta wants to own online communities; Ecommerce brands face old-school advertising scrutiny; Omnicom wants fewer ad tech middlemen.

Google sees an opportunity for an ecommerce do-over in the agentic AI era. Plus: Cox Media Group and other marketing firms settle allegations over falsely marketing an AI-powered “Active Listening” ad product.