ad tech consolidation

Who bought what and why this year? Here’s a (mostly) comprehensive list of all the notable ad tech, agency and digital content deals of 2025.

Since Connatix and JW Player first announced their merger in October, JWP Connatix – a temporary name for the newly joined companies – says things are going well at the six-month mark.

Inspire Brands, the fast-food franchise that owns popular chains such as Dunkin’, Sonic and Arby’s, is rewriting parts of its TV playbook to better manage reach and frequency in streaming media campaigns.

Broadcasters and brands love the idea of applying digital targeting to CTV ad campaigns. But there are still roadblocks stopping CTV advertisers from fully embracing programmatic, including price and transparency (or the lack thereof).

Innovid added a new machine learning feature to its measurement product that automatically optimizes CTV campaigns based on how they’re performing.

Innovid confirmed plans to lay off 10% of its global staff this year. But considering the external pressures, the numbers it reported for Q4 could’ve been worse.

Ad exchanges used to be a regular feature of the ad tech landscape. Now? You can hardly find a stand-alone ad exchange because other ad tech players (including SSPs) and ad servers rolled all the exchanges into their service suites. And consolidation is a system in which the best company doesn’t always win, writes Jayson Dubin, CEO of Playwire. Publishers can protect themselves in the midst of disruption by taking a few easy steps.

Consolidation is a natural and necessary part of a maturing industry’s life cycle. But not all consolidation yields the same outcomes, particularly when it comes to mobile gaming, writes Itai Cohen, head of marketing and corporate strategy at Digital Turbine.

Special purpose acquisition companies have fallen out of favor. But demand-side platform AdTheorent, which went public via SPAC late last year, has no regrets about the route it took to IPO.

The programmatic advertising landscape has never faced more complexity or challenges than it does today. However, at the same time, the opportunity for growth and refinement has never been greater. Here’s how marketers can take advantage of key trends shaping the space in 2022 and beyond, writes Sameer Sondhi, Co-CEO at Verve Group.