Technology

The IAB predicts what privacy laws might be passed by the new congress; AI-generated newsletters are competing with local news; and the IAB Tech Lab ramps up production of new OpenRTB specs.

Yahoo’s endorsement could drive further adoption of the IAB Tech Lab’s data transparency labels throughout the programmatic ecosystem after years of inaction.

It’s not easy competing for business with massive holding companies (which are only getting more massive). But the Omnicom-IPG deal “also creates opportunities for the rest of us,” says Remy Stiles, North America CEO of programmatic agency Kepler.

Jeff Green, CEO of The Trade Desk, calls it like he sees it. And he doesn’t see a future for Google monetizing the open internet via its SSP and ad server business.

DSPs have been slow to adopt the Tech Lab’s new signal for classifying online video, causing confusion about which placement signal should be prioritized.

Sen. Ron Wyden shared his stance on a federal privacy law, consumer data brokers and, for good measure, his thoughts on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg cozying up to President Trump. (“I thought it was god awful,” he said.)

In light of T-Mobile’s plans to buy Vistar Media, Atmosphere TV’s business model shines a brighter spotlight on the grey area between connected TV and DOOH billboards.

The first half of this decade has left publishers reeling from a pandemic jab and an AI uppercut that rearranged our reality and knocked us to our knees. Here’s how pubs and their ad tech partners can punch back in the years ahead.

A new storyline is emerging around curation, one in which publishers feel they’ve lost out to middlemen on yet another opportunity to monetize their audiences.

Retail media might not ruin retail, but the strikes are adding up. Plus, TikTok throws its support behind Trump.

AI-generated slop content is growing exponentially online. Plus, publishers and new organizations are strategizing for a post-TikTok future. 
 

Commerce media just went shopping. On Thursday, ecommerce marketing company Rokt acquired customer data platform mParticle for $300 million.

Google says it plans to stop restricting fingerprinting because of two shifts in the advertising ecosystem: the rise of connected TV and the rise of privacy-enhancing technologies.

AI chatbots entice users into subscriptions with free trials; non-pornographic content creators are raking in ad bucks on PornHub; and the US TikTok ban has Americans flocking to other China-based apps.

The Trade Desk has said it will buy Sincera, a startup that aggregates and supplies metadata to ad tech companies. This is TTD’s second-ever public acquisition.

Mohegan and LiveRamp partner on a “casino media network;” Criteo hires its new CEO from the agency side; and Publicis Groupe consolidates

Pinterest’s main focus is making it easier for users to buy through its platform. “We’re all in on shopping,” CRO Bill Watkins told AdExchanger.

Would the internet be a better place if it weren’t run by billionaires? Plus, more brands are cutting out the ad tech middlemen.

On Monday, T-Mobile announced plans to acquire Vistar Media, an ad platform that specializes in digital out-of-home for roughly $600 million in cash.

Tom Pachys, Co-founder and CEO of EX.CO, discusses the company’s new expanded ad server, and how it sets the offering sets them apart from other ad tech companies.

Starting on February 16, Google said it will no longer prohibit fingerprinting for companies that use its advertising products. Oh, how times have changed.

What is the future of curation in 2025? On the CES conference floor, PubMatic Chief Revenue Officer Kyle Dozeman talks about why curation is such a hot topic in ad tech.

Helen Havlak, publisher at The Verge, chats with AdExchanger at CES about how publishers should pivot in response to the dropoff in traffic from Google search.

Ad tech is headed to the stratosphere. As in, on the way to becoming part of the cloud infrastructure technology.

At CES on Tuesday, media and ad tech veteran Kris Johns unveiled AdGood, a nonprofit with a connected TV ad platform and a mission to help other nonprofits access streaming media.

Three years after launching its own data clean room, Roku is trying to bring something new to the table. On Monday, the company announced the launch of a new offering, the Roku Data Cloud, which allows marketers access to more granular streaming TV data via ad tech and agency API partners.

Meta recently revisited its goal to create AI-generated “characters” — which backfired. Plus, Apple’s trying to avoid a class-action lawsuit.

As the new year begins, expect CTV growth to continue blasting along with a vengeance. Experts are “bullish” on the channel and believe that many of 2024’s biggest CTV trends will continue well into 2025.

Dealmaking and AI (and blackjack) are top of mind for those heading to CES. Plus, don’t expect brands to reengage with hard news in 2025.

Every week, we publish an original comic creation inspired by trends in the online advertising industry. These are the stories – and the highly specific double entendres – behind AdExchanger’s top 10 comics of 2024.