Daily News Roundup

It’s hard to break into the ad platform big leagues; AI platforms debate the value of ads; and vibe coding isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Has Fox One Won Yet? Fox is still finding its footing in the streaming era. It didn’t operate its own streaming platform until this past summer, with the launch of Fox ONE, and, unlike Disney and NBCUniversal, it lacks lucrative sports rights that help drive viewership. What Fox does have, though, is Fox News.  Roughly […]

Big Tech seems overconfident their ad revenue growth isn’t tied to the economy; Microsoft AI launches a publisher licensing program; and the unique security vulnerabilities of Moltbook’s social media for AI bots.

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

ICE is going ad tech; Streaming television is more original than ever; and YouTube wants to keep all its data to itself.

All of Cadent’s SSP’s CTV supply paths are now direct; Netflix is thriving on repurposed YouTube content; and the Washington Post continues to struggle.

AI startup Limy raised $10 million in seed funding, with a plan to show brands how AI agents are driving sales for their businesses. Plus: The CMA ruled that Google must give publishers more autonomy over the use of their content.

Big TV’s shift to programmatic brings in the performance brands; Meta rolls out premium subscriptions for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp; and Yahoo enters the crowded AI search market.

Democracy dies in darkness, but also in newspaper layoffs; The Trade Desk loses its CFO (again); and start saving up for ChatGPT ads now.

Goodbye for real this time, TikTok ban; Hello to ForbesPredict; and who knows what’s up with Business Insider?

PayPal announced plans to acquire Cymbio, a startup that helps brands improve their presence in AI searches. Plus: Hollywood seems to have forgotten how to do good movie marketing.

Everyone has an opinion on OpenAI’s revenue prospects; Threads rolls out ads universally; and sports are a bastion of strength for Paramount.

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

Open AI finally gets ads; YouTube gets its own BBC shows; and marketers get to grading their own homework.

A Google divestiture is still in the cards; the IAB’s new framework lays out exactly when to disclose use of AI; and Hershey’s doubles down on marketing.

Human-made creative is in again; The Atlantic accuses Google of (another) monopoly; and it turns out brands like to have a say in their sponsorships.

Meta cuts its metaverse investment by 30%; Netflix makes a renewed push in the gaming market; and the rush to slap an AI label on everything is placing existing ad tech under renewed scrutiny.

Retail media gets its own special kind of AI agents; xAI has a CSAM problem; and Discord might be trying to go public.

Off Ramp Publicis signed a deal to license LiveRamp’s RampID and Authenticated Traffic Solutions (its alternative IDs to third-party cookies) on behalf of clients. This alone is hardly major news. After all, LiveRamp sells its cookieless identity products to all the major holdcos.  But Ad Age also reports that Publicis execs were “exploring” the idea […]

Amazon touts its Marketing Cloud, but buyers have concerns; OpenAI’s ad biz may face challenges; and in-chat shopping isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

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.

Agentic Alphabet Soup Another day, another attempt at making sense of agentic AI. On Tuesday, the IAB Tech Lab released its Agentic Roadmap, a framework designed to help the industry scale agentic buying and selling without rewiring existing workflows. Tech Lab CEO Anthony Katsur says the new road map will minimize fragmentation and confusion across […]

Ring In The New Year The “everything is an ad network” trend will live forever.  There are always new advertising canvases and data sources to be plumbed. For instance, consumer wearables are primed to go off in 2026, Bloomberg reports, especially accessories and rings. That said, smart watches remain the top wearables choice by far, […]

ChatGPT ads might already be here; TikTok’s new ownership deal has marketers spooked; and California unveils a new consumer protection act.

Private equity finds ecommerce publishers aren’t worth what they used to be; Salesforce rethinks its faith in agentic AI; and CBS News accidentally encourages people to pirate its content.

FAO Schwarz is getting into data; ChatGPT is better at driving traffic than we thought; and Honey’s bad behavior might go beyond affiliate hijacking.

Agencies are shifting away from third-party ad tech; ChatGPT is throwing all kinds of monetization spaghetti at the wall; and Axel Springer is looking to buy.

Anthropic’s AI-operated vending machine sparks chaos; ad revenue should remain a top priority; and Roblox has potential for in-game ads – and concerns.

Attribution measurement is still a mess; video podcasting struggles with effective advertising; and NIL deals are taking off for student athletes.

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.