Data Privacy

Ad industry growth will slow to single-digits next year; consolidation hits the CPG market; and predicting the future of the FTC based on a commissioner’s pitch to the president-elect.

Although most people probably understand in an abstract way that they’re being tracked online, the details are fuzzy. Honestly, the details are fuzzy to me, and I write about this stuff for a living.

When talk turns to the most impactful state privacy laws, the conversation usually starts and stops with California. However, recent developments may make Maryland the most challenging state for compliance by the digital media industry.

Mediaocean has a new certified partner program. Plus, Google’s “site reputation abuse” search update is cratering publisher affiliate revenue during the year’s busiest shopping season.

Dave Strauss, VP of revenue operations and strategy for North America, spoke with AdExchanger about The Guardian’s PMP priorities and how it’s tapping into other emerging revenue streams.

Black Friday ecommerce continues to surge, mainly on mobile; social platforms pull optimization features for health and beauty brands; and Google’s antitrust lawyers subpoena info about rival AI search startups.

Nikki Bhargava, a partner at law firm Reed Smith, spoke with AdExchanger about knowns – and unknowns – on the privacy as we gear up for the next four years.

Meta’s privacy policies are uniquely impenetrable. Plus, Google once thought Apple would likely expand its ad business to third-party apps.

While tech companies are jumping on the curation bandwagon, publishers are left to navigate a new normal in programmatic advertising, where they often don’t have a say.

The odds of RFK Jr. implementing a ban on TV drug ads are slim, says our guest this week, BranchLab’s Josh Walsh. Still, pharma advertisers could face other regulatory changes over the next four years. Plus: We break down Forrester’s picks for the top 10 SSPs.

The Justice Department will ask Judge Amit Mehta, who ruled in August that Google operates a search monopoly, to require Google to sell Chrome. Plus, the ad tech wants the IAB Tech Lab to roll out curation standards.

The Federal Trade Commission is warning companies that using a data clean room isn’t some kind of get-out-of-compliance-free card.

Why the agency pivot to alternative payment models is good for M&A; Zeta Global responds to a short-seller’s explosive claims; and X sees a mass exodus after the election.

As media consultancy Sequent Partners ceases operations, its leaders look back at how far the ad industry has come – and how far it still needs to go.

The deal is a “platform investment,” in which Inverness Graham sees Alliant as a foundation to build on, potentially through further acquisitions.

One key to successful advertising is showing ads to people at just the right moment. Advertisers understand the typical smartphone user moves seamlessly between apps and websites throughout the day, and this makes showing ads on both crucial to reaching their audience.

Even when third-party cookie deprecation was ostensibly still in the offing last year, there was only modest publisher adoption of the Protected Audiences and Topics APIs, according to data from Sincera.

Adelaide may become the first vendor to receive accreditation for an attention metric. Plus, the IAB is leading a lawsuit against the FTC.

A tool popular with law enforcement can track devices to sensitive locations. Plus, black boxes are getting a bit more transparent.

For Carat US Chief Investment Officer Carrie Drinkwater, data is essential to driving success – but it’s not the whole story.

A new nonprofit organization in the UK wants to develop the first regulator-approved privacy-compliance certification for ad tech – and it’s got the UK’s data protection authority on board.

Nobody likes social media bots… but what about users who act like bots? Plus, even telling someone to go vote might get your content flagged.

The catalyst for Google’s future success – regardless of any legal ruling – is its YouTube strategy. Opening YouTube’s ad inventory to outside demand will increase its value.

NCIS: Ad Tech takes off as Washington zeroes in on Adalytics reports; Kroger says attention has yet to prove correlation to performance; and inside California’s backroom deal with Google to fund journalism and AI.

In-game ad platform Frameplay joins with competitors to chase scale; top-level domains become a top-level concern; and could Google be forced to open its data warehouse?

It’s been more than two months since Google said it would forego third-party cookie deprecation in favor of a user choice mechanism. But it hasn’t shared any details yet.

It’s a wrap on the US v. Google antitrust case, at least for now. Then, behind the IP infringement claim on the OpenRTB spec that ruffled feathers at the IAB Tech Lab.

Google isn’t perfect. But it offers convenient, cost-effective advertising tools that millions of small businesses use to find customers, grow and succeed. If the DOJ breaks up the company, it will also break those tools.

A web crime ring that sold Facebook account service tickets collapses in dramatic fashion; how US antitrust precedent could inform the DOJ/Google ad tech trial; and more publishers turn to paywalls as the open web shuts its gates.

Competing agendas are limiting the tools publishers have at their disposal in ways that aren’t always primarily motivated by user privacy. Here are five things about privacy in digital media that should keep publishers up at night.