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YouTube finds new ways to crack down in ad-blockers; the Better Business Bureau takes swipes at AI marketing; and Gen Z only trusts digital-native brands.

Google released a proposal for a Chrome feature called script blocking as part of a broader effort to mitigate API misuse for broader reidentification. In short: It’s a crackdown on fingerprinting in Incognito mode.

AI-generated mystery pages are appearing on brand sites; Amazon Prime Video doubles its ad load; and bipartisan efforts to protect kids online get a new partisan focus under the Trump admin.

Mark Read is exiting WPP at the end of the year; the CEO of DeepMind is important, we swear; Google’s major SEO swings have changed the game.

Can the IAB Tech Lab’s Trusted Server initiative really help restore publishers’ ownership of monetization and wrestle back control from Big Tech and walled gardens?

Google’s pivot on IP addresses shows it fears competition; the FTC investigates media watchdogs for advising brands not to spend on X; and Mondelez accuses Aldi of copying its snacks.

Programmatic promised clarity: automation, efficiency and measurable outcomes. What we got instead is complexity dressed up as optimization: a stack of acronyms performing trust theater.

As AI agents begin to mediate everything from search to purchase, marketers are being forced to confront the reality that they must treat machines as customers.

YouTube is winning the CTV race by not just focusing on TV; ads threaten the gen AI user experience; and sports still brings brands incremental reach.

Sports sponsorships can play well for small brands; Perplexity was first to AI search ads, but advertisers waited for Google; and GroupM officially rebrands to WPP Media.

Magnite’s SpringServe deal illustrates why SSPs need a video ad server; Google grapples with AI search’s impact on publisher traffic; and Anthropic’s AI assistant is a law enforcement snitch.

Although furniture brand James & James was hitting its own aggressive revenue targets while primarily spending on search and social ads – the facts told a different story.

OMD’s Emily Proctor outlined the criteria the ad agency uses to evaluate alt IDs. She also shared which five IDs OMD uses most often and why.

TV dealmaking has shifted to “always-on” models; “activation” is a classic bit of ad jargon; ChatGPT is sending more traffic to publisher.

Amazon Prime Video rolls out new audience and contextual targeting; streamers wring more revenue from subscription-weary consumers; and AI is an app, so it must obey Google and Apple.

Google and Amazon compete for people’s time and wallets, and for advertisers’ budgets. And on Wednesday, they both kicked off their marketing industry conferences and announced a round of big ad tech news.

AirBNB considers introducing ads (just not right now); antitrust enforcement is about more than shrinking Big Tech; and broadcasters want to get the ball rolling on sports again.

Political advertisers, by necessity, have built precise, privacy-conscious targeting strategies that work without relying exclusively on third-party data like cookies.

Jerry Dischler leaves Google; a bunch of marketing execs join AI companies; agency holdcos don’t know which way is up.

Shopify is growing its advertising and data business; the privacy train is slowing down; Roku is striking deals to make its data more accessible.

Why did Walmart buy Vizio? What happens when a CTV campaign turns on the S&P500+? Is Google losing its search engine edge?

According to Google, DV360 now reaches 98% of CTV households in the US and represents 5 billion hours of ad-supported watch time per month – roughly 40% more than The Trade Desk and 90% more than Amazon’s DSP.

Does programmatic feel like it’s gotten more confusing? It’s not just you. Plus, Fubo’s ad revenue dropped during Q1 and Bing might not be as big a punchline as we all thought.

AdExchanger spoke to a number of programmatic leaders who testified in the DOJ’s Google antitrust trial last September.

LinkedIn launches a creator rev share program; AdSense comes to third-party AI chatbots; and the verdict in Apple v. Epic Games cracks down on Apple’s App Store fees.

PayPal embraces off-site media but says no to data sales; Google pivoted on cookies again, but what about the Google Ad ID?; and gen AI bots are blowing up publisher server costs.

A long-awaited development: Advertisers will soon be able to see around three of the most important transparency blockers in PMax.

Transparency has become the currency of credibility in advertising. Larger holding companies and black box AI platforms must recognize that their opaque practices are no longer sustainable.

Erez Levin, a former Googler and current outspoken consultant, on why the digital ad industry should transact on media quality signals like attention instead of optimizing to outcomes and other flawed attribution models.

The programmatic “sustainability” and “waste” conversation has shifted. Plus, the 2010s called – they want Facebook back.