Platforms

Daily Mail’s ad-light subscription soars; YouTube Shorts takes another cue from TikTok; and MAGNA predicts an ad spend slump due to tariff-induced uncertainty.

Meta introduces new ad placements, promo opportunities and AI prompts; an influencer campaign prompts right-wing influencers to oppose RFK Jr.’s soda crackdown; and transcription platform Otter launches an AI assistant.

Operating a genetic testing business is difficult. Plus, YouTube has become the biggest platform for podcast consumption.

Alphonso shareholders won their lawsuit against LG Ads, clearing the way for an IPO. Then, as TikTok counts down the days until its stay of execution expires, Oracle might buy a minority stake.

Despite diverse hiring initiatives and programs to support women in the workplace, representation in ad tech is lacking. And given threats to women’s rights and the rollback of DEI efforts due to political pressure, the time to take action is now.

Companies are now leaning toward slick, scripted video series ok TikTok. Plus, expect any future OpenAI ads to be less than traditional.

What’s next after launching a retail media network? Becoming a social ad network, apparently.

Microsoft ad sales vet Rob Wilk joined Yahoo last year to lead revenue for the company’s advertising business with one main goal in mind: to evangelize Yahoo’s owned-and-operated properties. Most advertisers just aren’t aware of the inventory Yahoo has to offer – and that’s on Yahoo.

Oracle’s TikTok bid is a warmed-over Project Texas; Amazon’s ads biz has its sights set on Google; and gen AI search is a good traffic source for retailers, but bad for news pubs.

Omnicom and IPG have both received additional information requests from the FTC about their merger. Plus, publishers don’t know how AI overviews fit into their referral traffic.

NBC, Fubo, Disney-owned ESPN and ad agency Mindshare weigh in on the creative flexibility offered on CTV and whether sports streamers really reach incremental audiences.

AI-equipped consumer products keep failing; why the newsletter boom might be nothing but spam; and retaliatory tariffs hit America where it hurts.

Just because curated PMPs and direct-to-DSP deals are trendy doesn’t mean they should be the focus of every publisher’s tech stack.

Based on the way advertisers deal with publishers, you’d think they were sworn enemies. Our failure to prioritize collaboration on the open web and build a positive value chain has been our collective downfall.

Canadian tech investment firm Redbrick has acquired Paved, a programmatic newsletter platform for publishers that specializes in native ad formats.

PubMatic CEO Rajeev Goel dishes on sell-side curation, data fees, how the business model differs from buy-side curation and how publishers can control pricing for curated deals.

PMax has joined Search as what Google dubs “the power pair.”  Plus, TikTok usage and ad spend are still dropping.

Amazon’s ad tech ambitions are crowding out Amazon specialists; EU regulators have concerns about Apple ATT; and Google says breaking it up could threaten national security.

GDPR may not be perfect, but it forced European companies to adopt a privacy-by-default position. For US companies, this is a clear signal: Change is inevitable.

T-Mobile may be considering an acquisition in the mobile data market; Google’s glitch shuts down ads for a weekend; and ad tech’s old guard is salivating over AI startups.

Naming a new product “Business AI” feels a bit on the nose for Meta’s current artificial intelligence efforts. But in this case, it’s certainly applicable.

To zero in on premium inventory, The Trade Desk is analyzing metadata signals about ad placements and pushing adoption of its alternative ID. It’s also betting the farm on CTV.

Pinterest is being overrun with low-effort generative AI slop. Plus, Stagwell partially credits its 14% growth last year to – you guessed it – AI.

To solve ad tech’s intractable problems, there’s a solution that the advertising industry could borrow from the hacker world: bug bounties.

YouTube advertisers prefer long-form videos to Shorts; Microsoft tests an ad-supported version of its Office suite; and Chegg sues Google over lost traffic from gen AI search.

YouTube is adding a new tier with a “light” ad load. Plus, remember Facebook?

Launching a TV channel typically starts with zeroing in on a specific target audience or a genre. Figuring out how to sell ads comes later – you know, once there’s inventory to pitch. But for Creator TV, things happened the other way around.

More dollars are flowing through the Amazon ads machine. Plus, are advertisers coming back to X out of fear of the Trump administration?

When The Trade Desk, the ad tech darling of Wall Street, missed its earnings forecast for the first time, ad tech insiders paid attention. Plus: Reddit, fueled by Google Search, sputters after an algorithmic adjustment.

Not every retailer has a solid handle on emerging AI tech. While some thrived, others stumbled – sometimes spectacularly. Here are some lessons to learn from Q4 campaigns.