Opinion

Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out the obvious: There was a lot of talk about AI in Cannes, but where is the real ad tech innovation?

In a world where privacy regulations are tightening and third-party cookies are increasingly unreliable, first-party data has emerged as a cornerstone of modern marketing strategy.

In a media landscape that’s more fragmented than ever, brands face mounting pressure to prove ROI and outmaneuver competitors, especially as budgets tighten. Nielsen’s Matt Devitt breaks down how marketers can gain a competitive edge by leveraging accurate, comparable data across channels and understanding their share of voice in the broader market. He also tackles […]

Dave Helmreich, CEO of TripleLift, joins Lynne d Johnson of AdExchanger and AdMonsters at Cannes 2025 to explore how TripleLift is redefining what it means to be a supply-side platform. Helmreich shares how TripleLift isn’t just connecting inventory to demand—they’re innovating through creative technology, dynamic ad formats, and real-time personalization across mobile, CTV, and retail […]

PayPal Ads SVP and GM Mark Grether joins Allison Schiff at Cannes 2025 to reveal how PayPal is leading a new category with financial media networks (FMNs). Unlike traditional retail or commerce media, PayPal Ads leverages its powerful “transaction graph” to deliver seamless, high-frequency campaigns across the open web. Grether discusses the recent launch of […]

Marketing measurement is broken, and everyone knows it. Every week, I talk to marketing leaders who are desperate to quantify the revenue that marketing is incrementally delivering to the business. Many of them have some kind of marketing mix model (MMM) in place, yet still rely almost exclusively on last-touch attribution (LTA) to optimize their marketing investments on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

In this timely conversation at Cannes 2025, Allison Schiff sits down with Eddie Ishak, Head of User Experience at Yieldmo, to unpack the challenges and future of programmatic advertising. They explore how the disconnect between media and creative impacts performance and why alignment is more critical than ever. Eddie explains how managed services can deliver […]

With a growing array of platforms and channels competing for consumer attention, advertisers have been increasingly looking for ways to understand which ads and placements drive engagement and sales – not just engagement and sales that would have happened anyway but true incrementality.

AI is transforming advertising by empowering brands—especially small businesses—with tools to scale high-quality visuals, videos, and messaging quickly to reach diverse audiences, from retail shoppers to live sports viewers. Jay Richman, VP of Products & Tech at Amazon, highlights how AI enables more emotional, contextual, and personalized ad experiences, helping brands stand out across diverse […]

After a reenergizing week at the Cannes Lions festival, here are six observations on how our industry is changing to meet its new challenges.

Fragmentation was on the list of hot topics at Cannes 2025. Allison Schiff, Managing Editor of AdExchanger sat with MiQ’s Tom Richards to learn how MiQ is unifying the complex programmatic landscape for advertisers with MiQ Sigma, a conversational AI agent that transforms hours of manual work into moments of strategic insight. Discover how MiQ […]

Charlotte Maines, Head of Fire TV, Alexa, and Tablets at Amazon, joins AdExchanger to discuss how AI is revolutionizing content discovery, advertising, and the connected home. From personalized recommendations to voice-powered engagement, she reveals how Amazon’s ecosystem is driving immersive brand experiences. Discover how AI and cross-device innovation are shaping the future of streaming and […]

When it comes to the red-hot retail media sector, history doesn’t have to repeat itself. Here’s how to add accountability and transparency to a space where those attributes are sorely lacking.

What’s holding back progress in cross-media measurement?  Akhil Parekh, Chief Product Officer at Nielsen, explains what needs to shift to make it a reality.

How do advertisers measure success in a market they can’t fully see? At Cannes Lions 2025, Sarah Sluis with AdExchanger and AdMonsters sits down with Matt Devitt, SVP, Head of Advertisers and Agencies at Nielsen, to explore how advertisers can benchmark performance against competitors in today’s fragmented, AI-driven media landscape. From unlocking competitive intelligence with […]

With no-click generative AI search gaining steam, here’s how publishers can thrive when search traffic disappears.

Marketers didn’t sign up to be spreadsheet jockeys or calendar coordinators; they came to craft stories, shape brands and drive growth. But in reality, campaign deployments have become code for chaos: fighting fires, fulfilling last-minute requests and executing the same plays under slightly different subject lines.

Economic uncertainty provides the perfect scenario for demonstrating marketing’s essential role in driving growth, resilience and adaptability. Here are actionable strategies CMOs can take to thrive amid market volatility.

The past two decades have left publishers struggling to effectively compete with “easy buttons” from tech giants and UGC behemoths. The ad tech industry must proactively support publishers with solutions tailored to their needs.

Google’s decision not to deprecate cookies in the Chrome browser after all caused a stir across the industry. Companies invested heavily in developing solutions aligned with the Privacy Sandbox as a survival tactic for the post-cookie landscape. At first glance, Google’s about-face may appear to undercut those efforts.

If there’s one safe prediction heading into Cannes this year, it’s that AI will be everywhere: in panels, on yachts and splashed across every DOOH ad within a 10-kilometer radius of the Croisette. But behind the noise, something real is happening. We are witnessing a strategic shift. AI is evolving from a shiny object into a performance engine that helps marketers uncover hidden audiences and iterate faster while delivering relevance at scale.

Retroactive reinforcement won’t be enough to ensure a fairer and more innovative ad market going forward. The advertising industry needs proactive antitrust enforcement.

2025 promises a proliferation of US state laws regulating the processing of children’s data, with new rules either already in effect or coming into force later this year.

Marketers having to justify their budgets is nothing new, but macroeconomic anxiety is making the stakes feel higher.

In the next two years, linear TV will be deprioritized so much that holding companies will begin outsourcing their linear buying.

Marketing has evolved dramatically – from one-size-fits-all tactics to today’s hyper-personalized, data-driven strategies. But now we’re reaching another inflection point. For years, marketing teams have invested in turning data into insights. Yet a persistent problem remains: The path from insight to action remains too long and fragmented.

Audio platforms that solve identity challenges are gaining an edge, winning new advertisers and driving stronger returns. As digital audio matures, the ability to understand who’s listening is becoming just as important as what they’re listening to. Digital audio is evolving fast. What was once a niche channel of host-read sponsorships and direct buys has […]

Can the IAB Tech Lab’s Trusted Server initiative really help restore publishers’ ownership of monetization and wrestle back control from Big Tech and walled gardens?

Programmatic promised clarity: automation, efficiency and measurable outcomes. What we got instead is complexity dressed up as optimization: a stack of acronyms performing trust theater.

As AI agents begin to mediate everything from search to purchase, marketers are being forced to confront the reality that they must treat machines as customers.