The Big Story

Agents, streamers and robots, oh my! Live from the C-Space campus at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas, our team breaks down the most interesting ad tech trends we saw at CES this year.  

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, CTV: The VAB has a bone with pick with Nielsen about its Big Data ratings, and Pinterest and TVScientific pair up. Then: Google Ad Manager is making changes in the EU, from getting rid of Unified Pricing Rules to integrating with Prebid and sharing more data with publishers.  

Netflix could acquire Warner Bros., unless Paramount swoops in or regulators intervene. How rearranging the streaming leaders could affect the CTV ad business.

Consumer spending on Black Friday Cyber Monday was up 7%. But prices are high, and the most affluent customers are doing the most spending in the US. Plus: the challenges faced by the ad buyers managing campaigns on Meta during Glitchmas.    

Inside Omnicom's shift in spend from The Trade Desk DSP to Amazon DSP.

We break down some of the most interesting financial trends coming out of Q3 earnings reports, and what rises to the level of being worth covering in the first place.

New APIs from Roku, Comcast and The Trade Desk are reshaping digital advertising, from self-serve campaign management to cross-platform measurement. But when it comes to identity and targeting, a new study finds that IP address matching is missing the mark.

With its wide adoption and independent membership, Prebid is powerful. We discuss Transaction IDs and the remedies phase of the antitrust trial with those inside and outside the org to better understand this open-source project.

Now that the Google Privacy Sandbox is officially gone, we take the time to reflect on the project's complicated legacy (and our favorite memories of the deceased).

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 OpenAds wrapper, The Trade Desk is putting roots into ad tech's sell side. But publishers are wary.

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.

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. Learn what changes Google could be forced to make to its ad server and exchange in order to make this corner of the ad tech market competitive again.

The Trade Desk has won the battle for supremacy on the open internet, says Needham & Company's Laura Martin. But it might just be losing the war for the future of the web to walled gardens and AI search.

OpenX filed a lawsuit against Google over its anticompetitive practices. And HyphaMetrics claimed victory against Nielsen in court over a patent lawsuit.

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?