ID Crackdown
An academic study co-authored by researchers at Indiana University and New Jersey Institute of Technology, working with ad tech research firms Adalytics and DeepSee.io, raises serious concerns about the misuse of extended identifiers (EIDs) in programmatic advertising.
EIDs are persistent user identifiers, such as hashed email addresses, that are used to link and track users across different domains and devices.
The study found that ad tech companies were attaching real human tracking data to automated internet bots, falsely making it look like real people were visiting certain sites. In some instances, they even bundled multiple different human IDs into a single bot session or advertising bid.
Zeta Global’s LiveIntent was singled out for particularly brazen behavior, as per Jack Neff’s writeup on the study. Criteo, ID5 and Experian’s Audigent were also observed assigning different EIDs to separate supply paths in multi-SSP auctions.
Flashtalking, however, received a gold star, as it was the only one out of 18 ad tech vendors that was never documented serving human EIDs to bots. The Trade Desk, meanwhile, came close, keeping its hands almost entirely clean.
It’s worth noting that the practice doesn’t qualify as sophisticated invalid traffic under the Media Rating Council’s standards. And, as a spokesperson from the MRC tells Neff, the organization “does not currently audit or accredit any identity solutions/providers nor audience targeting.”
Searching For Growth
Google may consider itself an AI company these days, but as far as investors are concerned, it’s still mainly an advertising business.
The share price for Google’s parent company Alphabet dropped roughly 13% yesterday after its Q3 earnings call on Wednesday. It was the worst day for Alphabet’s stock since the company went public in 2004, according to The Wall Street Journal.
It was softness in Google’s search ads business that spooked investors, the FT reports.
During the earnings call, an investor pointed out that Google’s search revenue growth had gradually slowed this year. It went from 19% in Q1 to 17% in Q2 and 12% in Q3.
This observation prompted Google’s chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, to confirm that “the strong growth in AI Mode queries had an impact because of the lower monetization we were seeing in AI Mode.”
In other words, Google’s AI search business isn’t just making less money than traditional search; it’s actually dragging down Google’s search revenue. Cue the investor panic.
“In a market worried about AI chatbots cannibalizing [Google’s] key franchise, investors need to see [search] accelerating, not decelerating,” David Wagner at Aptus Capital Advisors tells the FT.
But Google is betting that by cannibalizing one of its strongest revenue lines in the short term, it’ll achieve even greater growth later on – after it loads up AI search with ads, that is.
Sports Reign Supreme
These days, sports coverage can make or break a media company’s earnings report card.
TelevisaUnivision reported a 14% drop in US revenue during the third quarter, and US advertising revenue in particular tanked 24%. Ruh-roh.
The Spanish-language media giant faced tough competition for viewers and advertisers last quarter, given that its rival Telemundo had snagged Spanish-language US rights to cover the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But it’s not all doom and gloom for TelevisaUnivision, which luckily had airing rights to the tournament in Latin America via its TV network and streaming service, ViX.
TelevisaUnivision credits its LATAM World Cup coverage for a 30% increase in overall subscription and licensing revenue, with Mexico proving to be an especially valuable tailwind. The company’s quarterly revenue rose 51% in the region, and ad revenue spiked 19%.
Those gains somewhat offset steeper losses in the US, with TelevisaUnivision’s overall ad revenue declining by an average of 5% last quarter (a far more palatable number than 24%).
Going forward, company executives told investors that the plan is to continue growing audience reach across linear and streaming platforms – which, predictably, includes expanding its sports portfolio.
Game on.
But Wait! There’s More!
WPP’s revenue was down 2.1% in Q3, but WPP Media saw positive growth for the first time in six quarters, at 0.3%. WPP CEO Cindy Rose details how the holdco’s priorities have changed since she took the helm last year. [Adweek]
Health, food and news publishers have suffered the steepest declines in organic search traffic over the past two years – but AI isn’t the only culprit. You can blame search ads, too. [Search Engine Land]
The Trump administration is increasingly using subpoenas to obtain information from Big Tech companies about users who criticize its immigration policies. [WSJ]
Nearly three months after closing its acquisition of CTV ad platform Vibe.co, Walmart announced that Vibe’s brand customers can now build campaigns using Walmart audience data. [Adweek]
You’re Hired!
Stagwell hires Alison Vacovec as SVP of growth for The Marketing Cloud. [post]
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