More Like Amateurgrammatic
Does programmatic feel like it’s gotten more confusing?
Don’t worry, it’s not just you.
“I think ad tech has done that good old ad tech thing where s*** has gotten super confusing again,” writes Gareth Glaser, an industry vet who pens the Gareth Hates AdTech Substack.
Glaser, the former Prebid.org committee chairman, sees Prebid as the central through line of ad tech’s evolution. The first great step forward, so to speak, came with publishers adopting header bidding. And now we might have a third epoch, if the industry abandons its preoccupation with buy-side and sell-side classifications and stops assigning functions to those categories.
The DSP sells data and handles campaign optimization; SSPs set price floors and do traffic shaping.
But what if optimization works better in the SSP? Just like how The Trade Desk, in adopting Prebid long before other major DSPs, realized that SSP functions like managing on-page creative and frequency measurement could be buy-side tools.
In programmatic, one might think potential efficiency gains would be decisive. However, an edge of efficiency is nothing compared to the blunt-force hammer of inertia.
“Getting people to change DSPs is impossible. Everyone knows that,” Glaser writes.
All Fubo’d Up
The advertising world is obsessed with live sports these days – but not at Fubo, evidently.
In its earnings report on Friday, the sports streaming service shared that its North American revenue grew 3.5% year over year to $407.9 million. Though in line with expectations, the results sent the stock down more than 16% post-earnings.
In a call to investors, CEO and Co-Founder David Gandler attributed the quarter’s results to “a typically lighter first quarter sports calendar and a broader backdrop of economic uncertainty.”
Advertising revenue is down a whopping 17%, from $27.5 million this time in 2024 to $22.8 million in 2025.
North American subscribers also dipped, going down 2.7% YOY to $1.47 million.
The decline in ad revenue, execs on the call claimed, stemmed from a dispute between Fubo and TelevisaUnivision that led to the publisher pulling its network’s programming from the streamer in late December.
At least the company still has its upcoming merger with Disney’s Hulu + Live TV to look forward to, assuming it can hang in there until 2026 when the deal is expected to close.
Bing It On
If ya had the chance to change yer fate … or search engine, would ya?
For many, it looks like the answer is yes. Out of a group of people paid to switch their search engine to Bing for two weeks, 33% chose to stick with it after the trial ended.
These results came from a study on search engine preferences conducted in January by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). A portion of the group was paid to use Bing as their preferred search engine.
Does this mean that if Google weren’t paying billions to ensure that their search engine is the default on many phones, including Apple devices, its search engine would decline somewhat in popularity? Maybe.
Search Engine Journal suggests that NBER’s findings point to familiarity and convenience being the primary driver behind Google’s search engine popularity. But they neglect to mention that NBER, a nonpartisan nonprofit (or so they say), is funded in part by Google.
But why would Google want to make themselves look worse? Didn’t this study show that they aren’t all they’re cracked up to be?
Sure, it showed that other search engines are definitely viable contenders. But at this moment, that might be exactly what Google wants. After all, you can’t be ruled a monopoly if your competitors steal your glory.
But Wait! There’s More
Following Thursday’s federal court ruling that Apple violated a court order mandating alternate payment methods for apps in its App Store, Patreon will update its iOS app to allow creators to avoid Apple’s 30% cut. [The Verge]
More fallout from the App Store ruling: Apple approved Spotify’s app update that allows US users to access external payment links and see pricing information for alternate payment methods. [TechCrunch]
Social media creators aren’t getting enough brand deals and going back to their day jobs. [Digiday]
Walmart’s getting ready to pitch Vizio ads to its retail media partners. [Adweek]
