Meta

Freewheel will begin reporting show-level data; Xbox will let users stream games for free if they watch ads; and Meta and Google can develop AI ads without even a prompt.

A combination of layoffs, lawsuits and AI operating costs set back Meta’s Q2 earnings, despite increased revenue.

Somewhere between what the ad industry says and what the market rewards is often where the truth lives. Here are the three industry storylines most in need of debunking.

Google and Meta are quietly rewriting the rules of ad measurement, and they’re doing it with open-source marketing mix modeling tools that many marketers don’t even realize they’re using.

Advertising in AI-native destinations and experiences is already starting to look less like a series of experiments and more like an emerging market.

Instead of relying on rigid audience segments, modern systems can interpret a real-world moment in real time, combining layers of information to better predict what someone might actually care about right now.

Netflix considers live TV channels; Ofcom tells social media to cool it with the scam ads; and Meta gets weirdly nonconsensual with its AI images.

Paramount consolidates its ad tech and product teams; Meta execs are still figuring out the role of AI; and FIFA and World Cup sponsors lean on influencers.

In a world being agentically orchestrated at scale, human judgment is the indispensable guardrail preventing us from optimizing right over the cliff.

Everyone’s investing in AppsFlyer; NBCU launches Rock Studios, a creative studio for brand integrations; and Meta wants to hop on the TV bandwagon.

Where will OpenAI put its ads?; YouTube may or may not be considered TV; and Uber and Lyft deals really are too good to be true.

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

Amazon has third parties selling some of its ad inventory; Scope3 selling Adloox to Peer39 suggests sustainability is out; and “fabric” is the new AI-related buzzword for ad tech.

Meta AI is opening the door for hackers; Does performance marketing work for luxury brands?; and advertisers still don’t trust their agencies much.

Meta wants to own online communities; Ecommerce brands face old-school advertising scrutiny; Omnicom wants fewer ad tech middlemen.

Rather than fighting the rising tide of AI search engines and agentic tools, Microsoft AI’s Nikhil Kolar says publishers and retailers should license access to their sites and create content that speaks directly to AI crawlers.

Keywords, Kinda The tabs, they are a-changin’. As in, campaign analytics tabs and what they’re meant to show advertisers.  The biggest shift has been the move from “analytics” to “insights.” “Analytics” used to mean detailed, exportable data that brands could plug into their own systems. “Insights,” by contrast, are curated summaries and useful-sounding takeaways about […]

Clipping can be lucrative, but can – and should – it last?; AI Max raises the stakes for advertisers; and the ANA introduces a new fee to fund Aquila.

People Inc. previewed plans to downsize by focusing mainly on its key properties. The strategy makes sense considering its publishing portfolio has lost about two-thirds of its Google traffic.

Amazon is optimistic about agentic commerce; the costs of AI may soon outweigh profits; and AMC Global Media thinks old shows deserve new ads.

With its new funding, commerce data platform Chord plans to help brands access their data more easily by unifying it within one platform.

A proposed standard under discussion at W3C aims to redefine how ad effectiveness is measured across the web. This proposal would centralize measurement of ad effectiveness under the control of Google, Apple and Meta.

Surprise! Platforms ignore users opting out of ad tracking; the marketing machine claims credit for Geese’s popularity; and Meta’s MAGA-friendly moderation makes an unforced error.

Measurement and performance are expected to dominate convos at upfronts; Tubi doubles down on AI; and Meta takes down ads encouraging anti-Meta lawsuits.

Now that we have not one but two reporters covering the CTV advertising space, we thought we’d try something different and share the roundup newsletter this week!

Netflix’s MLB streaming is heavy on the ads; the anti-AI movement gains traction; the court dismissed X’s antitrust allegations.

Can a good sales presentation offset the impact of a very bad news week? That’s a question for Meta, which collected two guilty verdicts in court this week for failing to protect children and creating additive products.

Should businesses start advertising on AI media platforms? Yes. But it depends on how consumers in your category are already using AI and how quickly your organization can respond.

Influencers aren’t all on board with shoppable ads; Americans are buying less makeup; and Madison and Wall predicts growth (unless everything falls apart).

There are more pharma ads on CTV, but are they even targeted?; Gen Z longs for the ad-free TikTok of yore; and Meta buys a social network for AI agents.