The ad industry added two new alternative IDs this week; Sony and Microsoft file patents that hint at new gaming ad ambitions; and OpenAI says its cookies are for analytics, not targeting.
AI is creating new problems for advertisers; Amazon Prime’s new privacy feature irks customers; and the Trump administration sides with OpenAI in the copyright lawsuit brought forth by the NYT.
AI marketing platform Optimizely announced the launch of Virtual Teammates, blurring the line between human employees and AI assistants.
Enjoy this weekly comic strip from AdExchanger.com that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem …
Per-token price for frontier models may go up or down, but the cost to solve complex problems is going to increase, writes Zefr’s Jon Morra.
What happens when you let an AI agent handle back-to-school shopping – and realize you may have outsourced the fun parts, too?
Marketing teams are getting faster with AI, but the real question is whether they’re actually getting better outcomes, writes Devart’s Margaret Lee.
Google’s Spirit Airlines data stockpile is feeding AI; ChatGPT’s advertiser switcheroo; and X’s rage-baiting isn’t the engagement signal advertisers are looking for.
Two years ago, AppLovin launched an ecommerce beta program to bring in non-gaming advertisers. Now it’s launched a consumer ads segment with ambitions to take on the Big Tech platforms.
The newly introduced Stealth Bot Prohibition Act would prevent AI stealth crawlers from hiding their identities and illicitly scraping web content.
Mary Gabrielyan, Chief Strategy Officer at AI Digital, discusses what OpenAI’s move into advertising means for marketers.
Enjoy this weekly comic strip from AdExchanger.com that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem …
Disney got some cash back in its pocket after the OpenAI deal fell apart – but the company still plans to lean into AI.
Cuisinart’s marketing team has been eager to take advantage of generative AI-based creative.
Newton Research introduced a fully agentic layer to its platform that can handle each step of a campaign lifecycle and better predict future outcomes.
Chalice AI’s COO and co-founder, Ali Manning, explains how the AI startup – don’t call it a custom algorithm company – is helping brands like Bayer use advertiser-specific bidding models to drive real outcomes as opposed to poor proxies.
IAB offers new guidelines as to how brands and publishers should be tracking their AI search analytics. But don’t call it a framework – they have enough of those.
Freewheel will begin reporting show-level data; Xbox will let users stream games for free if they watch ads; and Meta and Google can develop AI ads without even a prompt.
A combination of layoffs, lawsuits and AI operating costs set back Meta’s Q2 earnings, despite increased revenue.
Hightouch’s new creative generation tool helped HelloFresh develop creative at a larger scale and launch a Times Square activation.
Some holdcos will pay AI costs in exchange for principal inventory commitments; Google will require Ads API customers to have passkeys; and microdramas struggle with the ethics of AI likenesses.
Rafa Flores helped build an “intelligent CDP.” But also he also used his product development skills to address his own epilepsy.
Amazon’s million-dollar sellers are revolting against changes that undercut their margins and change where their ads run. From inside a meeting of these discontented sellers, AdExchanger Senior Editor James Hercher shares how they are fighting back – and why Amazon made these changes.
Paramount+, unlike Netflix, announces a subscription-free option; Havas announces plans to go AI-first; and Faire’s Promoted Listings platform targets wholesalers, rather than individual customers.
Kraft Heinz’s deal with Disney represents a food marketing trend; how buying location data is a legal loophole for the government; analysts rain on OpenAI’s ad parade.
Google has to hand over some of its AI features to competitors; when LLMs will (or won’t) be critical; and publishers are productizing GEO offerings.
The SAIL initiative compensates publishers when AI scrapes their content and guarantees the outputs adhere to the same cultural standards they apply to their own coverage.
Advertising in AI-native destinations and experiences is already starting to look less like a series of experiments and more like an emerging market.
Instead of relying on rigid audience segments, modern systems can interpret a real-world moment in real time, combining layers of information to better predict what someone might actually care about right now.
What does it take to sell “media quality” in 2026, when AI is making the content and placing the ads? That’s what new IAS CEO Lidiane Jones has to figure out.
Intuit shakes up its media business; the OpenAI ads pilot continues to expand; and the MLB seems to have changed its tune on gambling.
Given how much the market has changed since the Google trial began, and the wiggle room in the ruling itself, publishers aren’t expecting much relief from the court’s behavioral remedies.
Indie agency KWG says sell-side curation can target more high-performing inventory with better match rates and lower data fees than buy-side curation.
Infillion checked in with its latest acquisition on Friday: Foursquare. Apparently, if there’s a strategically interesting or distressed ad tech asset on the market, Infillion will find it.
A week ago, HBO MAX had its verified Reddit account overrun by a hacker group, which eluded notice for two days while it ran 108 different ad permutations targeting an unknown number of Redditors.
Adapting other channels’ strategies might be what gaming platforms need to do to get advertisers comfortable spending more. Leaning into gaming’s differentiators will come later, after bigger budgets arrive.
Taboola has made an offer to buy Dianomi, a UK-based ad tech company that connects financial advertisers with premium business and finance publishers.
