The latest news, analysis, and insights on ad tech. 5 articles and counting.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.