Opinion

SSPs are staring at their own demise. And it’s because, for over a decade, SSPs have positioned themselves as agnostic platforms.

The old approach to media and measurement is no longer sustainable. AI is now embedded across every step of the media value chain, and AI is only as good as the data it’s fed.

CTV, like digital display before it, is facing fraud and mislabeled information. The prevailing advice for advertisers is to go directly to the networks and streaming platforms. However, buying direct comes with a fraud risk itself.

For too long, marketers have been stuck in a false dilemma: Do you want reach, or do you want relevance? Mass exposure, or accurate targeting?

Concrete findings on how effective QR codes are at driving ad interactions are now available, and some industry best practices are emerging.

Transaction IDs can benefit the ecosystem, but not if they result in information asymmetry. Solutions need to be found that reduce bad duplication but do not reduce bid density.

Brands don’t feel secure enough to lock in huge CTV deals outside of live sports. So what happens to all of that nonsports content spread out across streaming channels?

Commerce media is booming, and everyone wants a piece of it. For commerce media networks, servicing the growing pool of media buyers brings many new opportunities and new challenges.

We spoke to a score of ad tech leaders to uncover seven competencies essential for the success of the next generation of ad tech leadership.

2026 will be a massive year in sports, and the race is on for advertisers to reach sports viewers.

There’s no shortage of sports programming options, with everything from major global tentpole events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2026 Winter Olympics to nonstop NFL action, college football and basketball, NBA/WNBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, Formula 1, the PGA, horse racing and even NCAA Wrestling.

Straddling the line between content creator and content-conscious mother offers a fresh perspective on the importance of media literacy and advertisers’ role in the online ecosystem. 

In an era marked by generative AI, algorithmic optimization and an obsession with outcomes, cloud infrastructure has become a competitive differentiator.

Remember when you could update your privacy disclosures and be in good shape for a few years? Well, those days are long gone.

The IAB Tech Lab video classification updates introduced much-needed clarity. But valuable inventory, now categorized differently, is being deprioritized or rejected, even though its performance hasn’t changed.

The competitive set has shifted and it’s stacked against independent DSPs. But, instead of chasing what competitors already own, TTD can own what they can’t: trust.

Today’s developers face mounting challenges: heavier workloads, complex tech stacks and an increasingly fragmented advertising landscape demanding automation at scale. This complexity limits their ability to adopt new products and innovate.

Human-made content will remain the most important source of information for consumers online. And our appreciation for human expression will only grow as we experience derivative outputs created by AI models.

Today’s biggest retail events are noisy, fast-moving and fiercely competitive. From back-to-school time and Prime Day to Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the entire holiday shopping season, success comes down to securing attention before the rush begins.

Television advertising has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years, with connected TV (CTV) emerging as a powerful channel for marketers seeking the impact of traditional television with the precision of digital targeting.

New social media content moderation policies will enable connections with audiences that reflect a broader range of perspectives, expand inventory, and provide opportunities for contextual alignment.

In today’s digital advertising landscape, speed, scale and sophistication have become both a promise and a problem. Innovation has accelerated – but so too has fragmentation. Marketers are expected to drive performance across an ever-expanding universe of platforms, formats and data streams – often without the clarity or confidence they need to succeed.

Almost a decade ago, running multiple retargeters across the same user base was a recipe for inefficiency. But the landscape shifted, and the data makes that clear.

As the advertising industry races forward, core technology providers – particularly ad servers, dynamic creative platforms and attribution or measurement companies – play an increasingly critical role in powering the infrastructure that enables targeted, data-driven and performance-optimized campaigns at scale. But one outdated pricing model is becoming an obstacle to innovation, efficiency and effectiveness: CPM-based pricing.

As the quality of answer engines improves, people will click through to publisher websites less often. The solution isn’t to wage war against AI. It’s time to build a sustainable future for all stakeholders.

As marketing fails to speak the language of business outcomes due to an overemphasis on vanity metrics, it is increasingly losing its seat at the decision-making table.

With over $200 billion in programmatic spending on the table next year, maximizing yield is the name of the game for publishers in 2026. Capturing that opportunity demands maximum optionality across demand paths and signals. And with AI reshaping the landscape (referrals from ChatGPT to news publishers saw a 25x increase from the first half of 2024 to the first half of 2025, while traditional search traffic heads in the other direction) it is more important than ever for publishers to optimize their monetizable inventory.

Brands spend millions activating around Coachella. Then they spend the next three months trying to figure out if any of it actually worked. It’s a reflection of our industry’s broken approach to measuring media effectiveness.

For advertisers, the holiday season poses an optimal opportunity to reach a new and broader audience, boost sales and foster brand loyalty with customers. And this season, CTV should be a core area of focus.

AI agents and so-called “super signal aggregators” are being framed as the saviors of premium publishers and advertisers who prioritize high-quality media. But these technologies could perpetuate programmatic’s worst practices.

Overreliance on performance channels in pursuit of short-term gains creates fragility in the growth model, especially when brand equity is underfunded and unable to drive demand.