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It’s hard to break into the ad platform big leagues; AI platforms debate the value of ads; and vibe coding isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Describing Google’s revenue growth has become a problem, it so vastly outpaces the human capacity to understand large numbers and percentage growth rates. The company earned more than $113 billion in Q4 2025, and more than $400 billion in the past year.

People Inc. is offsetting a 50% decline in Google search traffic through off-platform growth and its highest digital revenue gains in five quarters.

The MRC’s auction transparency standards aren’t intended to force every programmatic platform to use the same auction playbook – but platforms do have to adopt some controversial OpenRTB specs to get certified.

Q4 earnings reports are heating up; Private equity firms get squeamish; and AI data centers are harder to build than ever.

ICE is going ad tech; Streaming television is more original than ever; and YouTube wants to keep all its data to itself.

Big TV’s shift to programmatic brings in the performance brands; Meta rolls out premium subscriptions for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp; and Yahoo enters the crowded AI search market.

AirOps’ new Page360 platform helps brands update their content to better perform across traditional search, AI search and online forums.

YouTube is finally delivering on the promise of shoppable CTV ads. Starting Thursday, they’ll roll out to all of Google’s Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns, YouTube confirmed to AdExchanger.

A Google divestiture is still in the cards; the IAB’s new framework lays out exactly when to disclose use of AI; and Hershey’s doubles down on marketing.

Human-made creative is in again; The Atlantic accuses Google of (another) monopoly; and it turns out brands like to have a say in their sponsorships.

Meta cuts its metaverse investment by 30%; Netflix makes a renewed push in the gaming market; and the rush to slap an AI label on everything is placing existing ad tech under renewed scrutiny.

Amazon touts its Marketing Cloud, but buyers have concerns; OpenAI’s ad biz may face challenges; and in-chat shopping isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

From afar, it looks like Google had a rough year in antitrust court. But zoom in a bit and it becomes clear that the past year went about as well as Google could have hoped for.

This year, programmatic companies faced tough decisions about privacy, awkward acquisitions and the cookie die-off that never quite happened.

The generative AI trend generated endless hot takes this year, but the ad industry also had plenty to say about growing competition between DSPs and SSPs. Here are AdExchanger’s top 10 most popular guest columns of 2025 and why they resonated.

Private equity finds ecommerce publishers aren’t worth what they used to be; Salesforce rethinks its faith in agentic AI; and CBS News accidentally encourages people to pirate its content.

FAO Schwarz is getting into data; ChatGPT is better at driving traffic than we thought; and Honey’s bad behavior might go beyond affiliate hijacking.

Agencies are shifting away from third-party ad tech; ChatGPT is throwing all kinds of monetization spaghetti at the wall; and Axel Springer is looking to buy.

First, the VAB clashes with Nielsen over Big Data, and Pinterest teams up with tvScientific. Plus, Google Ad Manager rolls out major EU changes, from ditching Unified Pricing Rules to deeper data sharing with publishers.

Meta’s not beating the scam ads allegations; SEO tools are getting into AI prompts; and the telcos are at it again.

YouTube TV launches new skinny TV bundles; anti-ad Substack is testing ads; Google strikes new publisher licensing deals to feed its AI.

Almost everything in AI feels big. But are you looking at the next Gangnam Style or the birth of a new industry? Here’s how to assess whether an AI vendor is likely to matter in two years.

Instacart tried dynamic pricing for groceries; AI companies aim for an open-source agentic AI standard; and Tinder digs into users’ camera rolls for data.

You are not immune to shopaganda; AI responses are more limited than retailers would like; and FIFA is forcing ad-mandated water breaks.

Consumer spending on Black Friday Cyber Monday was up 7%. But prices are high, and it’s affluent customers who are doing the most spending in the US. Plus: the challenge of being an ad buyer managing campaigns on Meta during “Glitchmas.”

On Google and Meta platforms, AI search becomes the default; TTD might cut its costs; and apparently, toddlers like AI slop on YouTube.

Agency buyers are facing a new wave of Google account hijackings that steal funds and lock out admins for weeks or even months.

Spencer has exited The Trade Desk after 12 years, marking another major leadership change amid friction with ad tech trade groups and intensifying competition across the DSP landscape.

Broadsign may actually be building a platform that will make an attractive acquisition target down the road. And one of the major cross-platform Big Tech players feels like the most likely buyer.