appnexus

Ad platforms are nixing credit card payments; LLMs are getting really good at unmasking online users; and McDonald’s offers a case study in how not to do organic social media.

Most publishers have no idea that a major part of their video ad delivery will stop working on April 30, shortly after Microsoft shuts down the Xandr DSP.

The generative AI trend generated endless hot takes this year, but the ad industry also had plenty to say about growing competition between DSPs and SSPs. Here are AdExchanger’s top 10 most popular guest columns of 2025 and why they resonated.

Judge Leonie Brinkema is ready to be done with the DOJ v. Google saga; Amazon DSP comes out on top; and Mozilla brings programmatic ads to to the Firefox browser.

SSPs aren’t thrilled by TTD characterizing them as “resellers”; Amazon DSP just announced a new partnership to sell Netflix inventory; and pharma brands will be subject to stricter regulations, per the FDA.

Ron Jacobson took the classic programmatic startup route. Which is to say, he pivoted randomly from a software job at a bank (well, the New York Fed), landed at an ad tech company and later founded his own ad tech startup before getting acquired by yet another ad tech company.

Classify is entering a crowded space of AI-powered contextual curation offerings. But the company is already teasing some high-profile integrations thanks to its network of well-connected advisors.

We’re seeing the worst possible outcomes with the CPM-based buying approach. And Google’s recent decision to hang on to cookies indefinitely risks perpetuating the worst parts of the digital ad business.

The era of fragmented, adversarial ad tech is winding down. A new paradigm is emerging defined by AI-first, end-to-end platforms and collaboration among buyers and sellers.

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that it will shut down Microsoft Invest by March next year, to be replaced by a chatbot-style ad-buying product powered by Copilot.

AdExchanger spoke to a number of programmatic leaders who testified in the DOJ’s Google antitrust trial last September.

Firsthand is a startup founded by two OG ad tech entrepreneurs that describes itself as an “AI-powered brand agent platform.” But what the heck is an “AI-powered brand agent platform?”

T-Mobile may be considering an acquisition in the mobile data market; Google’s glitch shuts down ads for a weekend; and ad tech’s old guard is salivating over AI startups.

The catalyst for Google’s future success – regardless of any legal ruling – is its YouTube strategy. Opening YouTube’s ad inventory to outside demand will increase its value.

Dotdash Meredith’s Lindsay Van Kirk says the cookie-based buying tools she helped develop in her early career at AppNexus placed too much value on unreliable third-party audiences. But contextual tools like DDM’s D/Cipher, which she now oversees, can build a better ad ecosystem for buyers and sellers.

Enjoy this weekly comic strip from AdExchanger.com that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem … 

Two of the EU’s biggest Big Tech antagonists are set to resign; a GAM breakup could usher in post-ad-server programmatic; and how Google kept Prebid separate from the IAB Tech Lab.

Google doesn’t want AppNexus founder Brian O’Kelley – you know, the godfather of programmatic – to testify during its ad tech antitrust trial starting on September 9.

The acquisition puts Reddit in a better position to compete with Google, Meta, Amazon and TikTok, which all built or expanded their AI creative generation and optimization tools within the past year.

In today’s newsletter: Google’s ad strength meter could push advertisers to adopt Google’s campaign preferences; Home Depot hosts an “InFront” to show off its RMN, Orange Apron Media; and the Privacy Sandbox rollout could do serious damage to the online ad industry.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Cannot Fulfill This Request Generative AI products continue to fail in obviously foreseeable ways.  The latest: Amazon listings that appear to have used OpenAI’s ChatGPT to generate product names and descriptions feature an identical error message, The Verge reports. Who doesn’t want to […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Ghosts In The Machine The rise of machine-learning-powered ad products from Google and Meta is changing the performance marketer’s job from a hybrid creative tactician, media hound and command pilot to, well, someone who just feeds data, text prompts and raw creative assets […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. A Voyage Of Discovery Newspaper publisher Gannett is suing Google for alleged ad tech monopolization. Google, of course, disputes the charge. Dan Taylor, VP of Google Ads, tells The Wall Street Journal Google will “show the court how our advertising products benefit publishers […]

Microsoft’s purchase of Xandr from AT&T in late 2021 might have looked like an embrace of third-party ad tech. But while parts of the Xandr tech are considered valuable by Microsoft, the future of Xandr as an SSP integrated with thousands of outside publishers is in doubt.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Stores Of Value From regional chains to the largest department and grocery stores, seemingly every retailer is in the retail media network business.  Retail ad spend forecasts have leapt to $25 billion and more. Except those numbers mostly track Amazon’s growth, plus a […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Trade Punches In 2016, The Trade Desk cracked open the DSP market by sticking with agencies. DSPs such as Turn and TubeMogul attempted to go brand-direct but were dropped by agencies and AppNexus, the top dog DSP at the time, refashioned itself as […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. It Takes Two ACR data and ad analytics firm Samba TV’s media sales business is now in the hands of programmatic firm MiQ, Deadline reports. As part of the multiyear commercial partnership,  MiQ will directly handle all of Samba’s former sales operations. Meanwhile, […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. The Mobility Ability The retail media boom has spawned a subcategory of first-party data owners in the travel and hospitality vertical, and they’ve got their own terminology. When Uber formalized its new advertising group last October, for example, GM Mark Grether referred to […]

After a hiatus from ad tech, Brian O’Kelley is back with Scope3, a new startup to help ad tech companies reduce their carbon emissions. The cynical POV: He’s cleaning up the mess he helped make. It’s a fair criticism, O’Kelley says: “I take accountability for my role in this.”

This article is based on interviews with participants. Martin Kihn speaks to all the main players. It was inspired by Microsoft’s supposedly surprising selection as Netflix’s ad tech partner. But driven by the acquisition of AT&T’s Xandr, that’s just the latest chapter in a breathtaking adventure of pivots, write-downs, partnerships and potential.