Platforms

Nobody is acting like TikTok will actually be scrapped from American smartphones. Plus, Venu Sports got benched – for good.

What is the future of curation in 2025? On the CES conference floor, PubMatic Chief Revenue Officer Kyle Dozeman talks about why curation is such a hot topic in ad tech.

Enjoy this weekly comic strip from AdExchanger.com that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem … 

Three years after launching its own data clean room, Roku is trying to bring something new to the table. On Monday, the company announced the launch of a new offering, the Roku Data Cloud, which allows marketers access to more granular streaming TV data via ad tech and agency API partners.

Meta recently revisited its goal to create AI-generated “characters” — which backfired. Plus, Apple’s trying to avoid a class-action lawsuit.

Trap More Flies With Honey Honey, a free browser extension that automatically finds and applies discount codes, is being accused of defrauding its users and the online content creators who championed it. That’s according to a YouTube tech investigator who goes by MegaLag. He alleges that the PayPal-owned Honey effectively steals the credit for online […]

As the ad industry awaits Judge Leonie Brinkema’s decision in US v. Google (ad tech edition), get up to speed quick with AdExchanger’s in-depth coverage.

Google plans to create an “AI Mode” for its web search engine users. Plus, the social media vultures now circling the air above TikTok.

In response to shifting ad industry trends, A360 Media abandoned its made-for-advertising model four years ago and streamlined its site design to court programmatic demand.

Sports betting comes under fire over dubious ad claims and problematic targeting; Forbes says Google’s SEO crackdown on affiliate marketing caused it to cut freelancers; and SCOTUS takes on the TikTok case.

The in-game advertising market’s stagnation is both unsurprising and frustrating. The onus is on the gaming industry to make gaming an essential channel for advertisers, rather than a nice-to-have.

A class-action lawsuit takes Office Depot to task for deceptive pricing and ads; YouTube is taking over TV, but brands may be missing out; and advertisers weigh in on which marketing trends are worth the hype.

What is incrementality testing? “I’ve been doing more interviews with journalists lately and realize I need a better answer to this question,” says Haus Head of Strategy Olivia Kory.

Marketers are already beginning to prepare for a world without TikTok. Plus, the TV manufacturing industry is more focused on user tracking and monetizing with ads.

Success with Gen Z isn’t about the stories brands want to tell – it’s about tapping into their stories and aligning with how they live and express themselves. That’s where the PPCCs framework comes in.

AppLovin’s ecommerce advertising beta program has sparked optimism and speculation. Plus, the results of YouTube’s auto-reply program have been mixed.

The IAB Tech Lab is officially rebranding its Seller Defined Audiences spec as “Curated Audiences” to spur adoption in response to this year’s sell-side curation trend.

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.

What happens if the TikTok ban comes to pass; Netflix’s live sports Hail Mary play; and Channel Factory surfs for buyers.

Ecommerce and DTC marketers may be overrelying on YouTube and Meta for advertising. Plus, song recognition technology is becoming a problem.

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.

Call it a Glitchmas miracle. Maybe. Meta finally appears to have resolved a glitch in its ad platform that prevented new financial services advertisers from running campaigns.

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

Google and the DOJ were given roughly 90 minutes apiece to present their closing arguments, and Judge Brinkema could interrupt and ask questions throughout. She had some great ones.

As we close the books on 2024, we’ve noticed some trends over the past twelve months. Any of these could summarize the “theme” of 2024: the rise of AI, the debate over supply curation, the “will they, won’t they” around cookie deprecation. Together, these trends have laid the groundwork for what’s to come in 2025: It will be the year of empowerment for buyers through choice and control.

Meta changes policy on “sensitive” ads; Texas AG launches an investigation into GARM; and the CMA takes it easy on Apple and Google when it comes to cloud gaming.

Rumors are swirling that DV is exploring an acquisition of Lumen Research to add eye-tracking capabilities to its attention measurement solution.

Bluesky’s user count is booming, but it lacks the scale marketers crave; “individual-level prices” are ruining airline rewards programs; and Meta details its fight against forced-labor camps that perpetuate online scams.

Current ad pricing often doesn’t correlate to a site’s attention score, which means there’s an arbitrage opportunity for buyers and resellers.

Political ad strategies evolved quickly this year, as campaigns moved beyond exclusivity, focusing on flexibility and reach. Here’s what this cycle taught us and how it will guide our business in the medium term.