Platforms

Despite a global pandemic, Google still managed to dominate the top three most trafficked AdExchanger stories in 2020. In December, Google faced its third government antitrust lawsuit in less than two months, and since the start of the year, readers were keeping eyes on the tech giant when it announced that it would eliminate third-party cookies […]

Unity Technologies raised more than $1.3 billion during its IPO in September at a $13.6 billion valuation, proof positive that the gaming industry isn’t playing around. Roughly 750,000 creators, mainly game developers, use the Unity platform to build their apps, and Unity’s game engine powers game titles played on billions of devices around the world, […]

This week, in the spirit of holiday generosity and giving, we’ll talk about the “friendship” between Google and Facebook. Although there are a few Scrooges out there – for example, the 10 state attorneys general suing Google over antitrust concerns related to its online ads business – who might call this friendship “collusion.” Because maybe it […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Jedi Mind Trick? More details are coming out about Google and Facebook’s alleged sweetheart deal to rig Google’s ad auction. The tech giants agreed to “cooperate and assist one another” if they ever faced an investigation into their pact, according to an unredacted version […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. White Hot The Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs is leading a deal to buy bot detection and anti-fraud company White Ops, Business Insider scoops. Goldman is being joined in the deal by VC firm ClearSky Security and investment firm NightDragon. The trio will […]

For a company generating tens of billions of dollars in advertising revenue, Facebook’s attribution offerings are highly reliant on cookies and pixels. This can lead to inaccurate reports that sometimes underreport conversions. Thinkster, for example, an AI-based math tutoring app, typically spends between 90% and 95% of its ad budget on Facebook. But Facebook’s attribution […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Refriended Unilever will resume advertising on Facebook and Instagram in the United States after withdrawing last summer amid a wide scale brand protest over misinformation, The Wall Street Journal reports. The owner of Dove soap, Hellmann’s mayonnaise, and other CPG brands said Thursday that […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Breaking Big Tech? A set of strict new EU privacy laws now under discussion could be the basis for breaking up the big tech platforms, Business Insider reports. The first drafts of the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) were unveiled […]

Google’s legal team just got even busier. On Thursday, less than 24 hours after Google was hit with an antitrust lawsuit digging into its ad tech business, a bipartisan coalition of 38 states and territories served up yet another suit, this one focused on alleged antitrust violations related to Google’s alleged monopoly over the search […]

Holy collusion, Batman! This week on The Big Story, we’ll consider the double whammy facing Facebook with lawsuits from both the FTC and 48 state attorneys general, led by New York’s Letitia James. Or maybe you can call it a triple whammy (is that even a thing?) when we toss in the lawsuit Google faces […]

The multistate antitrust lawsuit against Google that dropped on Wednesday evening is so squarely focused on ad tech that the term “header bidding” shows up more than 110 times. The suit details alleged anticompetitive sins related to the way in which Google runs its multibillion-dollar online advertising business, including the claim that Google colluded with […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. The People Vs. Google’s Ad Stack The AGs of 10 states have filed a suit against Google, accusing it of monopolistic behavior in its ad business, The New York Times reports. In a Twitter video announcing the legal action, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton […]

Facebook’s got its claws out, calling Apple’s move to require an opt-in for the IDFA “an attack on personalized advertising” that will harm small businesses, creators and kittens. Well, not kittens, necessarily. It’s just that it’s a little hard not to be facetious when a multibillion-dollar company that just got hit with twin antitrust lawsuits […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Optimism … And Concern A half full glass … is also half empty. The IAB’s newly released market outlook report for 2021 is both optimistic about digital advertising in the year ahead and concerned about the loss of identifiers and how the industry will […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Reining In Big Tech Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google continue to be in the antitrust crosshairs of regulators at home and abroad. According to Business Insider, European legislators were set to unveil a raft of new policy proposals Tuesday designed to curb the influence […]

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

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Avengers Assemble (Please!) Google and the IAB are once again under the EU’s gimlet eye. A group of human rights orgs sent coordinated privacy complaints to regulators on Thursday in six European countries. At issue is whether the practice of real-time bidding is a […]

Google is planning to give people the ability to limit the number of personalized alcohol and gambling ads they see. The feature, teased on Thursday, layers in additional controls within ad settings for sensitive ad topics. The controls will roll out on YouTube in the United States by the end of this year, and across […]

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Jory Des Jardins, CMO of The @ Company and co-founder of BlogHer. Nearly 10 years ago I heard about programmatic ad fraud for the first time. I had co-founded a media […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Apple Strikes Back “Dramatic,” “outlandish” and “false” – that’s how Apple SVP Craig Federighi described claims being made by the ad tech industry about Apple’s forthcoming IDFA changes in iOS 14. During a recorded speech at the European Data Protection & Privacy Conference on Tuesday, […]

Well, the other shoe dropped. Actually two shoes. On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission and, separately, 48 attorneys general, led by New York’s Letitia James and including AGs from the District of Columbia and Guam, sued Facebook for the same thing: alleged illegal monopolization of the social networking market. (Read the FTC’s full suit here […]

Ad verification company DoubleVerify has been busy. It followed up its $350 million investment deal last month with a new tool designed to help advertisers take a more nuanced approach to brand suitability. And last week, DoubleVerify – long associated with the buy side – launched the DV Publisher Suite, which aggregates data on one […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Give It The Ol’ Rip And Replace Nielsen recently updated its panel-based currency to include data from smart TVs and set-top boxes – but an even bigger change is on the horizon. According to The Wall Street Journal, Nielsen will completely replace its TV […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. From CCPA To The Cabinet President-Elect Joe Biden has selected Xavier Becerra to lead the Department of Health and Human Services – a name that should be familiar to privacy-heads the world over. Becerra is the attorney general of California, and it’s his office […]

GroupM, Magna and Zenith released global ad spend forecasts on Monday, and all agree that 2020 was not the catastrophe many had predicted. Disaster was averted in large part due to the accelerated shift to digital during the pandemic. Global advertising fell by 5.8% in 2020, according to GroupM, which “could have been worse” and […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Falling Short? Facebook updated its misinformation policy to include vaccine-related content, as the company continues fighting against claims that it isn’t doing enough to protect its billions of users. The Wall Street Journal reports that the social networking giant will over the coming weeks […]

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

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Programmatic Merger Kepler Group has acquired UK-based Infectious Media for an undisclosed sum. Read the release. The combined global programmatic agency company has 400 professionals across London, Singapore, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco and Costa Rica. The firms’ combined client roster includes Hasbro, […]

“On TV & Video” is a column written by the sell side of the digital media community. After this exclusive first look for subscribers, the story by AdExchanger’s Allison Schiff will be published in full on AdExchanger.com. Jukin Media trawls the social universe for the most shareable video content from everyday people that it can […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. A Wondery To Behold Amazon is in talks to buy podcast production network Wondery, reports The Wall Street Journal, at a value of more than $300 million. According to WSJ sources, Wondery predicts its revenue will exceed $40 million in 2020, with 75% of […]