Agencies

The MRC’s auction transparency standards aren’t intended to force every programmatic platform to use the same auction playbook – but platforms do have to adopt some controversial OpenRTB specs to get certified.

Q4 earnings reports are heating up; Private equity firms get squeamish; and AI data centers are harder to build than ever.

Retailers court luxury goods to compete with Amazon; indie agency Tombras acquires Opinionated; and talk of an AI bubble dominates discussion at Davos.

For the team at Monks, one of the biggest takeaways from CES this year is that AI’s place in marketing is starting to feel more practical than hypothetical.

Omnicom unveils the latest version of its ID and analytics tool; there’s a new Google Search update in town; and Omnicom Media addresses CTV ad frequency.

The founders of six AI startups offer insights on the founding journey and what problems their companies are solving.

Inside Coca-Cola’s pivot from TV advertising to influencer marketing; Netflix inks another exclusive video podcast deal with iHeartMedia; and Madison & Wall predicts slow US ad spend growth in 2026.

Agency buyers are facing a new wave of Google account hijackings that steal funds and lock out admins for weeks or even months.

Omnicom is making more cuts; investors aren’t interesting in publishing; and OpenAI is still on the fence about ads.

Differin, which produces over-the-counter gels and patches to treat acne, wanted to reach teens facing their first breakouts – and do it in a way that felt real.

Generative AI is the new ad land obsession: a shiny promise of a fully autonomous world of self-driving advertising.  But behind the hype lies the costly delusion that automation can replace judgment and more content somehow means better marketing. We’ve entered the age of machine-made abundance, where content can be generated faster than it can […]

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

Two sources at ad tech platforms that observe programmatic bidding patterns said they’ve seen Omnicom agencies shifting spend from The Trade Desk to Amazon DSP in Q3. The Trade Desk denies any such shift.

Omnicom revamps its revenue reporting; Amazon will now charge for access to its Selling Partner API; and brands seek sponsorship deals with all sorts of social creators.

A former exec sues WPP over an alleged retaliatory firing; Jolt acquires Volta Media from Shell; and AI defamation litigation is on the rise.

Dentsu is for sale; Associated Press is scraping its own archives; and AI is infiltrating newsrooms.

Meta is profiting from fraudulent ads; LLMs are taking advantage of SaaS pricing policies; and agencies aren’t going under… yet.

WPP aims to turn around faster; YouTube TV tips the carriage deal market; and Roblox takes its time on video ads.

A DSP, an SSP, an agency and a publisher walk into a room. Believe it or not, that isn’t the lead-in to a bad joke. It’s the model used by Medialive, a new AI startup that brings media buyers, sellers and vendors together to collaborate directly in a shared (digital) space. Joe Prusz, former CRO […]

WPP puts AI tools in the hands of brands; YouTube’s dynamic sponsored segments could redefine creator monetization; and Hollywood is getting into “microdramas.”

On Thursday, Comcast Advertising announced that the cable provider’s linear TV inventory will now be available on a targetable, biddable basis for advertisers that want to transact programmatically.

CTV has become a powerful full-funnel channel, attracting advertisers of all sizes – and the momentum isn’t slowing.

CTV ad spend is projected to rise another 16% this year to $26.6 billion, according to the IAB. But with rapid growth comes complexity. Advertisers now face a maze of platforms, apps and channels, each with different buying models, audience access and inconsistent measurement. For SMBs without large teams or budgets, this fragmentation is especially challenging to navigate.

What does it feel like to be a media buyer and planner in 2025? That question launched a fascinating “Ask Me Anything”-style discussion at Cynopsis ScreenShift in New York City on Tuesday.

Publicis celebrates as its growth aligns with the IAB’s downgraded ad spend projection; Spotify and Netflix partner to chase YouTube’s video podcast biz; and how investor cash keeps health data safe from advertisers.

Delivery apps are launching social networks now; Google is the latest Big Tech company to write a huge check to Trump; and ad agencies of all sizes apparently aren’t big enough.

Principal-based buying isn’t inherently bad. When incentives are aligned, clients get more precision and speed than traditional agency models often allow. The issue isn’t the mechanism; it’s the incentives.

Marketing has long struggled to prove itself as a growth engine. What if agentic AI isn’t the threat many fear but the breakthrough marketing always needed?

Agencies that dismiss in-house development are limiting their potential for differentiation. Here are five questions to ask yourself before committing to in-house tech.

Long-time ad tech exec Jeffrey Hirsch takes the reins of QuantumPath, a media-buying platform that uses AI to help with planning and campaign creation.

AI marketing company Cognitiv updated its contextual targeting tool, ContextGPT, to provide brands with more relevant and nuanced content.