Latest news and analysis in ad tech.
Swivel and Olyzon launched live agent-to-agent CTV transactions via AdCP, bypassing DSP/SSP infrastructure entirely. The same week, Basis shipped agentic planning tools and Horizon Media revealed an orchestration layer above the entire stack. Three architectural bets on programmatic's future landed in 72 hours.
Publicis audited The Trade Desk and rivals rushed to pitch alternatives. Four agency buyers surveyed said they changed nothing. The real fight is over margin and infrastructure control, not transparency.
The IAB NewFronts completed their transformation from digital video showcase to tech-and-data bazaar. Performance TV, creator matchmaking, and pause ads dominated. Here is who actually benefits.
IAB Tech Lab launched AAMP, its umbrella standard for agentic advertising, and Kochava shipped the first open-source runtime inside StationOne. Here's what 19 skills across 8 workflow areas actually do for buyers.
WARC's updated 2026 forecast projects $1.32 trillion in global ad spending, but warns the Gulf energy crisis could erase up to $49.9 billion in a single year. Three oil-shock scenarios lay out where the money goes if the Iran war drags on.
PubMatic's AgenticOS, PMG's Alli Buyer Cloud, and TTD's eroding lock-in are three arrows hitting the same target: the DSP's 10-20% fee layer. Here's what the convergence means.
ChatGPT's advertising pilot hit $100 million in annualized revenue faster than anyone expected. With 600+ advertisers, $60 CPMs, and self-serve access coming in April, the money is flowing. But the math behind OpenAI's ad play reveals something more familiar than revolutionary.
Netflix is opening Amazon Audiences on its DSP inventory starting Q2. Here is what the CPMs actually look like, what purchase data you get, and what is still missing.
Four holding companies are now auditing or distancing from The Trade Desk over hidden fees. But the real fight is over something more expensive than a markup: control of the advertiser relationship.
IAB Tech Lab's AAMP protocols now have a runtime: Kochava's StationOne hosts 19 agent skills covering the full buy-side workflow. The measurement loop is the piece still missing.
Shopify just opened agentic storefronts inside ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Google AI Mode. The channel attribution story sounds clean. The GEO measurement reality is something else entirely.
OpenAI is hiring to build its own advertising infrastructure while leaning on Criteo and The Trade Desk to get up and running. The vendor relationships are a bridge, not a destination.
The ad-blocking browser now sells ads with query-only targeting and no programmatic pipes. Here's what its closed-loop measurement model actually gives advertisers, and what it doesn't.
Amazon and Google are slashing DSP fees to capture agency budgets. The Trade Desk says objectivity is its moat. But behind the earnings calls, TTD is negotiating on price for the first time in years.
PubMatic and Untapped Growth claim 40-50% supply chain savings through agentic media buying that bypasses DSPs. The numbers look great on the press release. They look different in the Adweek exclusive. Here's what media buyers should actually trust.
Gap will let shoppers buy directly inside Google Gemini, bypassing the search ad auction entirely. The real story is what this means for agencies, media buyers, and everyone who gets paid when brands bid on keywords.
U.S. CTV ad spend is projected to hit $38 billion in 2026 while global programmatic surpasses $200 billion. Biddable CTV is reshaping how media buyers operate, but inventory quality remains the elephant in the room.
OpenAI pulled the plug on Sora today. The $1B Disney deal is dead. The freed compute is going straight into ChatGPT ads.
The Trade Desk gained 3.4% on a brutal market day. The real story isn't the stock price. It's the collision of agency margin models, CEO insider buying, and whether the last independent DSP can survive the fight for who controls programmatic's economics.
Google is pitching Gemini-powered creator matching and CTV frequency management at NewFronts 2026. The tools are real, but so is the threat to third-party vendors who built their businesses on the same YouTube API.
OpenAI partnered with Criteo and talked to The Trade Desk. Then it started hiring a full in-house ads team at $385K a head. The vendors are training wheels, and the clock is already ticking.
OpenAI is hiring a full ads engineering team to build its own monetization infrastructure from scratch — the same move Netflix and Walmart made before they stopped renting ad tech and started owning it.
Netflix launched its Conversion API this month, joining Meta, Google, TikTok, Snap, LinkedIn, and Roku in making server-to-server attribution the default measurement architecture. The panic phase of signal loss is over. The engineering phase is here.
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed under oath that the bureau purchases location data on Americans from commercial data brokers - the same bidstream exhaust from programmatic ad exchanges. The legal gap Carpenter v. United States didn't close is now a documented surveillance program.
A FirmDecisions audit found fee violations. Dentsu, WPP, and now Publicis have all broken from the industry's dominant independent DSP within weeks. This is not a partner dispute — it's a structural reckoning over who controls programmatic's future.
Agency holding companies rebuilt the old rebate economics under a new name. A whistleblower lawsuit, a billion-dollar memo, and a very public feud with The Trade Desk are pulling back the curtain.
News Corp, The Weather Company, and Raptive are testing AI agents that sell publisher inventory to buy-side bots, built on Prebid's open-source framework. The pitch is compelling. The receipts are still coming in.
Smartly is acquiring always-on incrementality startup INCRMNTAL, embedding causal lift measurement directly into its creative and media optimization loop. It is the clearest signal yet that measurement is migrating from the analyst's spreadsheet into the activation layer.
Meta's Q1 2026 revenue guidance beat consensus by billions. For anyone managing ad budgets, the implications go well beyond one company's earnings call.