AI startup Limy raised $10 million in seed funding, with a plan to show brands how AI agents are driving sales for their businesses. Plus: The CMA ruled that Google must give publishers more autonomy over the use of their content.
Google’s aborted cookie crackdown ends with a quiet CMA sign-off and a sweeping phaseout of Privacy Sandbox technologies, from the Topics API to PAAPI.
Amazon acquires AI-equipped wearable manufacturer Bee; the UK’s CMA shares competition guidelines for Google and Apple; and AI models may be learning from each other in unexpected, potentially harmful, ways.
What’s behind the drop in CTV CPMS; the UK CMA sets its antitrust sights on Google Search; and gen AI job cuts decimate another marketing department.
Google maintains its AI overviews are a boon for web traffic. Plus, there’s more than one way to combat fake reviews.
Pinterest is being overrun with low-effort generative AI slop. Plus, Stagwell partially credits its 14% growth last year to – you guessed it – AI.
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.
Google and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority continue their seemingly never-ending colloquy on Chrome, competition and cookies.
It’s been more than two months since Google said it would forego third-party cookie deprecation in favor of a user choice mechanism. But it hasn’t shared any details yet.
More than one antitrust regulator is circling around Google. On Friday, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority published a statement of objection to Google’s ad tech practices.
An ex-Googler asks: Has the commitment to perfection over progress led to the current state of play for the Privacy Sandbox and harmed the industry’s opportunity to provide better consumer privacy?
A group of 20 web app developers sent a letter to the CMA claiming the regulator’s proposed remedies for increasing competition among mobile browsers do not address barriers to entry for mobile web extensions on iOS and Android.
Recent moves by major ad tech players prove the industry doesn’t actually need cookies. But Chrome’s cookie pivot doesn’t clarify what will happen to the 1% of its audience that’s already cookieless or what will become of plans to deprecate the Android Ad ID on mobile.
By reversing its position on third-party cookie deprecation, Google’s is acknowledging its inability to effectively execute its plans for the Privacy Sandbox. It’s time Google commits to competing with the rest of the industry rather than dictating terms.
If Chrome imitates Apple, there may be a de facto deprecation of the third-party cookies, since potentially only a slim percentage of users would consent to tracking. In that case, advertisers would still have to primarily rely on cookie alternatives, including the Privacy Sandbox.
Keep the cookies; hold for consent. We unpack Google’s reversal on third-party cookies and what it means for the ad industry, which was preparing for a cookieless future.
Google appears to have thrown regulators for a loop with its surprise announcement on Monday that it no longer plans to deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome.
Debrief on the CMA’s biggest issues with the Privacy Sandbox highlighted in its latest report. Then, a vibe check on the Newfronts.
In today’s newsletter: The CMA still has a bone to pick with the Chrome Privacy Sandbox; the FCC fines mobile carriers for selling customer location data to data brokers; and the Financial Times is the latest publisher to strike a licensing deal with an AI company.
In today’s newsletter: The CMA outlines plans to fix competitive concerns in Google’s Privacy Sandbox; media mix modeling’s comeback continues; Snap’s Q1 earnings illustrate its attribution-driven turnaround.
For companies testing the Chrome Privacy Sandbox, another delay was starting to feel inevitable, even before Google shifted its deprecation deadline.
The delay is an acknowledgment by Google that efforts to prepare its cookie alternative will take longer than its proposed deadline allows, which shouldn’t be a huge surprise to those actively participating in testing.
In today’s newsletter: Google’s cookie deprecation delay hurts Chrome Privacy Sandbox supporters; mall chains go for broke with their DTC efforts; Warner Bros. Discovery launches a first-party data product.
In today’s newsletter: Google’s ad strength meter could push advertisers to adopt Google’s campaign preferences; Home Depot hosts an “InFront” to show off its RMN, Orange Apron Media; and the Privacy Sandbox rollout could do serious damage to the online ad industry.
Gathering information from industry insiders is a critical part of the CMA’s evaluation process, says Chris Jenkins, director of the its Digital Markets Unit.
There’s a lot more good than bad in Google’s Privacy Sandbox. Here’s why some of the current criticisms around the cookie alternative don’t hold water.
Out of the 15 features bundled in the Privacy Sandbox, 12 have the potential to stifle ad tech innovation and disrupt advertising use cases. Let’s take a closer look at two of these features: Fenced Frames and IP Protection.
Privacy Sandbox’s Protected Audiences API causes increased latency, decreasing viewability and yield. Given these issues, publishers simply cannot afford to test PAAPI at scale.
In today’s newsletter: Nielsen sues VideoAmp alleging patent infringement; Rembrand’s virtual product placements hit social media; and the MOW, CMA and publishers cry foul over the Chrome Privacy Sandbox’s Related Website Sets.
In today’s newsletter: The CMA comes out with an updated evaluation of Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox proposals; the IAB talks Privacy Sandbox with Google; and Temu may be a shell company, but its ad spend keeps skyrocketing.
