Daily reporting on programmatic platforms, buying trends, identity shifts, and the economics behind modern ad execution.
22 articles and counting.
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.
IAB Tech Lab's Agentic Advertising Management Protocols define how AI agents communicate in programmatic workflows. Here is what the spec actually covers, what is production-ready, and whether your team should integrate now.
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.
AAMP gave agentic ad buying a spec. Early tests show real results. But nobody has answered the governance questions: accountability, audit trails, role changes, and spend authority. Here is the organizational playbook your team needs before an agent touches a real budget.
IAB Tech Lab published AAMP, a real specification for AI agents that plan, buy, and optimize ad campaigns. Kochava shipped a runtime. Here is what your ad ops team actually needs to prepare, with realistic timelines and a month-one checklist.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
A step-by-step guide to auditing your programmatic supply paths, scoring your SSPs, and cutting the intermediaries that waste your budget. Includes scorecard template and 2026 DSP tool recommendations.