Platforms

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.

Fertility companies are having their ads blocked on Google, TikTok and Meta. Plus, will the digital dark ages soon be upon us?

Having nipped at Meta’s and Google’s heels for years, Pinterest is finished with being the underdog. It’s been getting very “serious” about its investments in lower-funnel advertising products, says Pinterest CRO Bill Watkins.

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?

PayPal officially launched its ads business. Plus, Media buyers are worried that “an advertising mistake can become the news.”

HUMAN plans to build a deterministic ID from its tracking of more than 20 trillion digital signals per week across 3 billion devices, which will aid attribution for ecommerce.

Pinterest is picking up supporters on Wall Street. Plus, what’s the deal with the search advertising, AI and data licensing deal between Google and Reddit?

Meta is testing several new generative AI tools, including one that can animate static images and turn them into full-blown video ads.

The online advertising industry is staring down the barrel of not one but two potential shutdowns that could radically change where brands put their ad dollars in 2025, according to Madison and Wall’s Brian Weiser and Olivia Morley.

On Monday, Pixability announced the launch of a product called GenAI Contextual Segments (CGS), with a goal to reach specific audiences across a wider range of YouTube content.

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

TikTok announced this week that it would allow search advertising to be targeted by keyword. Plus, streaming ad supply now outpaces demand.

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.

Outbrain is trying to shed its chumbox rep by bringing social media-style vertical video to mobile publishers on the open web.

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.

Oracle’s advertising and third-party data businesses are officially kaput; political pollsters are abandoning misleading online data; and AI-generated slop is already overtaking the internet.

Winners and losers are emerging from the streaming melee. (Or at least the winenrs are.) Plus, CNN will begin testing metered content.

At the risk of sounding like “the year of mobile,” we’re at the beginning of a new phase in ad tech with the rise of AI. Advertisers and ad tech partners alike are overwhelmed with AI opportunities, eager to implement it in meaningful ways. But when seemingly everything is powered by AI, how can you make sure you’re using it successfully?

Welcome to Week Three of the US vs. Google ad tech antitrust trial. Plus, ews publishers are turning to WhatsApp for traffic.

A lot has already been said and cited during the Google ad tech antitrust trial, with more to come. Here are a few of the most notable quotables from the first two weeks.

For two days, retail media luminaries gathered to discuss how best to expand the category’s effectiveness (and budgets) for brands and advertisers – without, of course, overlooking how the end goal consumer will react.

Chrome Privacy Sandbox adds support for deal IDs and extends Protected Audiences’ lifespan to 90 days; Google’s ad tech antitrust trial could open YouTube to DSPs other than DV360; and former Kubient CEO charged in accounting fraud scheme.

Two of the EU’s biggest Big Tech antagonists are set to resign; a GAM breakup could usher in post-ad-server programmatic; and how Google kept Prebid separate from the IAB Tech Lab.

Someone will eventually need to make a Netflix-style documentary about the Google ad tech antitrust trial happening in Virginia. (And can we call it “You’ve Been Ad Served?”)

Confidential matching – which uses a TEE built on Google Cloud infrastructure – will now be the default setting for all uses of advertiser first-party data in Customer Match.

Google and the DOJ are currently questioning witnesses regarding how particular ad channels are established as defined markets. Plus, a wave of freelance advertising consultants has arrived.

In today’s newsletter: How loosened ad restrictions helped snacks take over America; Brazil’s X ban dings stan culture; and Roblox partners with Shopify as it expands real-world ecommerce to all creators.

In today’s newsletter: Google Demand Gen is the industry’s latest over-attribution controversy; data from third-party brokers might not be worth it; and The Trade Desk launches a CTV operating system.

It’s a misconception that Redditors categorically dislike advertising, says newly hired VP of Ad Product Management Jyoti Vaidee. In fact, 60% of Reddit users want brands to participate in communities, she says, so long as their interactions are relevant and respectful.