podcast

The year ahead in commerce, with insights from the NRF Big Show conference, where retailers congregate every January. Plus, the 2026 privacy policy cheat sheet.

AI is fueling advertising, and AI agents are running ads. As we close out 2025, take a moment to listen to this AdExchanger Talks interview with Paul Longo, GM of AI in ads for advertising, for his POV on both of those topics.

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.

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.”

Grocery TV’s Marlow Nickell joins AdExchanger’s Inside the Stack to explain why in-store retail media is “inevitable” and what brands miss when they overlook the shelf.

Greg Glenday weighs in on why Acast is resisting the allure of video, the trade-offs of accepting political ad bucks and positioning influencer marketing as audio’s entry point into the omnichannel mix.

Shortly after Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green said the DSP would splinter off from Prebid, he showed up at the Prebid Summit. Then, at ScreenShift, we learn what the TV industry thinks about AI.

With its PubDesk wrapper, The Trade Desk is putting roots into ad tech’s sell side. But publishers are wary.

Yieldmo’s Mike Yavonditte joins Inside the Stack podcast to unpack the misalignments between DSPs, agencies, and buyers.

Live from New York at Programmatic IO, the AdExchanger editorial team debriefs what ad tech’s brightest minds are saying and doing around AI and measurement.

Will Google need to spin off its ad exchange and ad server? Court is in session in Virgina, with the DOJ and Google advocating for completely different remedies to Google’s sell-side ad tech monopoly.

Tatari CEO Philip Inghelbrecht explains how AI doubled revenue without adding staff, why direct deals beat programmatic, and why publishers must focus on data.

Advertising using AI-doctored images could spark legal issues if the images are misleading. Plus: the commerce reckoning.

From a $637 million PE acquisition of healthcare of a DSP to acquisitions of freshly minted startups, there’s been a flurry of ad tech deals this month. And they have one thing in common: AI.

Google is running a search monopoly, but the remedies are light. How will this decision affect advertisers and competitors? Plus, Google Ad Manager is acting like a standalone SSP, a move that appears connected to the looming remedies phase of Google’s second antitrust case.

Pause ads are going programmatic, as connected TV ad buying becomes more automated. Plus: how publishers are proposing to be compensated by AI companies – and the odds that they’ll receive what they are asking for.

We’ve got the witness list for the remedy phase of the Google antitrust trial, which starts in September. How might Google be forced to change its ad server and exchange to make this corner of the ad tech market competitive again?

Wondercraft’s new tool generates and revises audio content via natural language prompting, without the need for advanced technical skills.

Change can be bumpy. From The Trade Desk’s Solimar-to-Kokai transition to Nielsen’s transition to its Big Data + Panel offering, we go inside customers’ challenges with these two transforming platforms.

Ad agency hold cos have broadcasted their earnings. As AI and acquisitions transform their businesses, there are clear winners and losers. With media as a strong spot, we discuss the paradox of “transparent nontransparency.”

Pixels attached to articles explaining a recent health diagnosis – without consent  – led Healthline to a record $1.55 million fine for violating CCPA. Plus: the new AI contract.

YouTube accounts are uploading recent Hollywood movies, racking up views while advertisers (and sometimes creators) remain in the dark. Plus: Could Cloudflare’s AI bot blockers provide a salve for digital media’s traffic declines?

Meredith Brace, CMO of TripleLift, sits down with our Head of Communities Lynne d Johnson to discuss strategic planning for the holiday season, informed by TripleLift’s Retail Media Guide.

On Wednesday, AI-powered audio intelligence platform Sounder launched a new version of its brand suitability and contextual targeting tool for podcasts that can understand the nuances of Spanish-language audio content.

The FTC approved the Omnicom-IPG merger, but with a brand-safety caveat: The agencies cannot create agency-level blocklists of any media that’s political or ideological. With Ad Fontes CEO Vanessa Otero, we unpack the consent order’s ramifications.

From Cannes Lions, our editorial team discusses the mix of perspectives on the ad industry’s application of AI: the opportunity, the hesitation and the predictions of how it will disrupt marketing.

In the latest sign of massive change among ad agency hold cos, Mark Read is stepping down as leader of WPP. We unpack the impact of AI on agency hold cos and media, including WPP Media’s prediction that 2025 will be the first year in which the majority of ad spend flows through user-generated content.

TripleLift Chief Revenue Officer Ed Dinichert shares his take on the evolution of retail media with AdExchanger head of communities Lynne d Johnson.

Meta updated its ad platform Wednesday with AI-based buying improvements. Is the company on track to be fully automated with AI by the end of next year?

Amazon is integrating into Prebid. What does this mean for publishers? Plus, are Amazon and Google diverging in their product focus?