- Pepper…and Salt... read more
- eBay Faces Potential GameStop Takeover BideBay is preparing to fend off a takeover bid from game retailer GameStop as it continues to build out its ad and agentic businesses. ... read more
- Instagram Algorithm Update Discourages Reposted ContentInstagram has altered its core recommendations algorithm, extending its originality guidelines to discourage aggregators from reposting others' content across a wider variety of display formats. ... read more
- Reddit's Q1 Advertising, Search Usage SurgesReddit's Q1 performance results for 2026 show a continuous surge in its ad revenue, as well as steady user growth and a sizable uptick in the use of the company's AI-powered search engine. ... read more
- Meta Warns It Might Exit New MexicoMeta Platforms is threatening to stop offering Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp in New Mexico if a judge issues an injunction that would force the company to significantly revise its apps. ... read more
- Meta Warns It May Exit New MexicoMeta Platforms is threatening to stop offering Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp in New Mexico if a judge issues an injunction that would force the company to significantly revise its apps. ... read more
- News Industry At Odds With Free Speech Advocates Over Amazon's Perplexity BanDigital Content Next, which represents news companies, argues that allowing Amazon to oust Perplexity's Comet browser "will advance, not harm, journalism." ... read more
- What’s POSSIBLE With AITake your sunglasses off for this one. Fresh off the POSSIBLE conference in Miami, our reporters debrief on how the marketing industry addressed the subject du jour, AI. Plus: the topics that were conspicuously absent ... read more
- OpenAI starts laying foundations for ChatGPT ads in EUOpenAI appears to be getting ready to expand its ads business to Europe. A code update to its conversion tracking pixel, which Digiday reviewed, points to the company building the technical groundwork needed to run ... read more
- Supergoop! Names January Digital Media AORThe agency's goal is to drive efficiency and scale, as well as customer growth. ... read more
- Possible 2026: AdExchanger’s Hot TakesThe fourth-annual Possible is in the books! AdExchanger Senior Editors Alyssa Boyle and Anthony Vargas were on the ground in Miami. Here are their takeaways from three days chatting about agentic AI in the Florida ... read more
- OpenAI To 'Promote' Own Products Via Your Browser CookiesThe shift moves OpenAI beyond organic growth to a commercialized ad/marketing strategy, highlighting its readiness to transition from a research-led organization to a competitive consumer brand that uses standard ad tech to find and convert ... read more
- The 1% Solution: Media-For-EquityAfter half a century covering the media marketplace, I thought I had seen every conceivable model for funding ad-supported media buys. Until I met Piyush Puri. ... read more
- Black Media Trust Set Up In MilwaukeeWisconsin’s oldest Black newspaper has been placed in an employee benefit trust along with two Black radio stations in an effort to secure independent Black ownership in perpetuity, WMDX reports. The Milwaukee Black Media Trust ... read more
- 'Better Be Soon'? More Kimmel Zingers For TrumpThis comes as the FCC makes an unprecedented move to do an early broadcast license review of eight ABC-owned television stations. ... read more
- Audacy Names Media, Investment Execs To Its BoardAudio firm Audacy has named two new members to its board of directors: Walker Jacobs, global chief revenue officer and president of U.S. operations at DAZN, and Gabriel Brotman of Soros Fund Management, Country Insider ... read more
- Roku Q1 Ad Spend Up 27% To $613MRoku had been releasing one "Platform" revenue figure, for its subscription and ad business. Subscription revenue quarterly growth was similar to that of advertising, rising 30% to $518.5 million. ... read more
- '60 Minutes' Veteran Sharyn Alfonsi Speaks Out Against 'Meddling' At CBS News"60 Minutes" correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi criticized “the spread of corporate meddling and editorial fear” at CBS News after receiving the Ridenhour prize for courage at the National Press Club in Washington on Thursday evening, the Guardian ... read more
- More PR Pros Seek Press While Media Is In ShamblesThe public relations business is focusing once again on media relations and pitches to trades and legacy media after a period in which social media and influencer relations were the cool new kids on the ... read more
- Unglued Late-Night Host Vs. Unglued PresidentEnough already! The "TV Blog" believes that both of these combatants have gone too far. ... read more
- What ‘Heated Rivalry’ Reveals About LGBTQ+ Media And MarketingAs a queer media trade reporter, I often wonder whether media companies and marketers are interested in trying to form a connection with me based on my queer identity. It’s a question I got to ... read more
- What An Outdoor Retailer Learned By Replacing Pricey SaaS With A NewcomerI find it useful on occasion to interview people who are marketing-adjacent, and thus possess a different and perhaps more highly clarified perspective on the tools we use for data-driven online advertising. These are the ... read more
- Comic: ‘I Just Wanna Watch The Game!’Enjoy this weekly comic strip from AdExchanger.com that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem … The post Comic: ‘I Just Wanna Watch The Game!’ appeared first on AdExchanger. ... read more
- Is Amazon Ready For An Agentic Future?; The Cost Of Building AIAdmazon There were a few standout takeaways from Amazon’s Q1 earnings report earlier this week. For one, Amazon surpassed $70 billion in ad revenue over the past 12 months. (Just for the sake of comparison, ... read more
- USA Today Co.’s AI licensing deals drive ‘notable’ revenue in Q1, despite pressure on traffic and programmaticUSA Today Co.’s AI licensing deals helped drive meaningful year-over-year revenue growth in the first quarter of this year, despite pressure on referral traffic and programmatic advertising. According to the publisher’s latest earnings published Thursday ... read more
- Taboola’s next act: an AI answer engine for publishersMore publishers are turning to AI-powered search and chatbot tools to make their sites stickier to users and offset the impact of zero-click search. HuffPost UK, Reach and USA Today Co., are among the latest ... read more
- Future of Marketing Briefing: YouTube’s creator data play is an on-ramp, not a destinationYouTube is giving brands something they’ve been asking for. The question is whether getting it makes them want something it can’t yet provide. The platform’s Creator Partnerships API, announced at the NewFronts earlier this sping, ... read more
- Marketers question expensive AI visibility tools as inconsistent results fuel skepticismThe latest industry phrase keeping marketers awake at night is AI visibility. The so-called zero-click reality has ushered in a slew of tools promising insight as to when and where a brand is referenced in ... read more
- Baller League’s creator strategy: reach is not the same as fandomBaller League has something rare in creator economy business circles: a plan that doesn’t end with it becoming a media company. Instead it wants to become a sustainable sports league. That’s not as obvious as ... read more
- Reddit Reports A 75% Boost In Q1 Ad Revenue As It Reaches For 100 Million Daily US UsersGenerative AI has pushed traffic off a cliff across most of the internet, but not on social platforms. Reddit included. Reddit’s global average daily users increased by 17% year over year in Q1 to 126.8 ... read more
- Roku Is Carving Out A Niche As A Low-Cost AlternativeRoku's two content offerings, The Roku Channel and Howdy, are both performing well, the leadership disclosed during a recent earnings call. But streaming numbers aside, the company is finding ways to translate engagement into revenue. ... read more
- 'Devil Wears Prada 2' Attracts All The Brands, Even TweezermanLicensing arrangement with Tweezerman means the "Devil" logo is emblazoned on a pair of nail clippers. ... read more
- OpenAI Rolls Out 'Advanced' Security Mode Without PasswordsOpenAI has begun rolling out Advanced Account Security for users concerned that their ChatGPT or Codex accounts could become potential targets of phishing attacks. ... read more
- Amazon Ad Machine Outrunning ExpectationsAt $17.24 billion and growing 24%, the advertising division continues to be one of the quiet stars of Amazon's earnings report. ... read more
- Tech Industry Backs Anthropic In Copyright Battle With Music PublishersAnthropic's use of lyrics to train its large language models is a "fair use" that doesn't infringe on music publishers' copyright, tech industry organizations argue in court papers filed this week. ... read more
- X Overhauls Its Ad Platform With AIX has announced another Ads Manager overhaul rooted in artificial intelligence that is rolling out now. ... read more
- X Overhauls Ad Platform, Again — This Time Via AIX has announced another Ads Manager overhaul rooted in artificial intelligence that is rolling out now. ... read more
- Meta Shows Q1 Decline In DAUs, Boost In Ad ImpressionsMeta lost daily active users for the first time in over 20 years, but showed sizable increases in revenue and ad impressions as it continues to invest heavily in AI. ... read more
- Social Media Law 'Promotes Robust Young Workforce,' Business Group Argues"During work, young employees are distracted by their phones, have shorter attention spans, and struggle to navigate social interactions with customers and coworkers," says the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce. ... read more
- Amazon Ads Spend Jumps 22% In Q1The jump in revenue, led by AI tools like Creative Agent and Rufus, helped to push Amazon's ad revenue to $17.2 billion in Q1 2025. ... read more
- American Eagle: Less Like a Brand, More Like a Streaming ShowSydney Sweeney, Ella Langley, Travis Kelce for AEO: CMO Craig Brommers isn't booking talent -- he's writing season arcs. ... read more
- NBA Playoffs Soar, Incremental NBC Broadcast Coverage CitedNBA playoff viewership is up 20% through the first week-and-a-half, while NHL playoffs viewing has leaped by 82% through the first nine days, with 1.1 million on ESPN and TNT Sports. ... read more
- Stagwell Reports 3.6% Q1 GrowthThe company's total revenue for the period including acquisitions was up 8% to $704 million, but missed the consensus analysts' estimate of $717.5 million. New business set a quarterly record. ... read more
- POSSIBLE 2026: Can AI Help Agencies Finally Break Down Those Silos?At POSSIBLE 2026, conversations about AI went beyond the typical talking points about how much time and money AI can save. AdExchanger had one of those deeper discussions about AI with Domenic Venuto, the indie ... read more
- X upgrades its ad platform in long overdue overhaulOpenAI isn’t the only platform rethinking its ads manager. X just rolled out what it’s calling the biggest overhaul of its advertising tools in the platform’s history. The revamp, framed invariably as an AI-powered upgrade, ... read more
- Consumer Media Spending Relatively Flat, Lack Of 'Game-Changing' Tech CitedWhile AI is gaining consumer adoption, it is still seen only as "nice-to-have" and has not impacted discretionary spending yet, PQ Media finds in its just-released report. ... read more
- Influencers And Independent Creators Are A Major News Source, Study ShowsInfluencers and independent creators are a growing source of news in the U.S, according to a study by the Media Insight Project, Medill reports. Among all Americans ages 13 and older, 57% say they get ... read more
- Zefr Builds A New Front Door For YouTube BuysAd tech doesn’t suffer from a shortage of acronyms – but it does suffer from fragmented workflows. Brand suitability provider Zefr is trying to fix some of that fragmentation by using Model Context Protocol (MCP) ... read more
- The Rundown: Google expands AI Max as automation shifts upstreamThe agentic era of the internet is well and truly underway, with the accompanying quest on how to monetize it, i.e., the AI ad wars, occurring simultaneously. OpenAI’s advertising pilots in ChatGPT have garnered much ... read more
- Google Touts Its AI Ad Tech Adoption And New AI Max FeaturesThe past year has been momentous for AI search engine ads. That’s partly due to ChatGPT’s foray into advertising. But the big AI search ad platform in action right now is Google, which, on Thursday, ... read more
- Google Unveils Brand 'Brief' Feature In AI MaxAmong several tools introduced Thursday, the standout feature mirrors an agency service - allowing advertisers to build AI-driven briefs to maintain a brand's tone and message in AI Max campaigns. ... read more
- 'Time' Posts Roster Of 10 Most Influential Media/Communications CompaniesTime has released a list of the 10 most influential companies in media and communications in 2026. They include: Nielsen, T-Mobile, AST Mobile, Publicis Groupe, Patreon, Discord, Letterboxd, TikTok, iHeartMedia and Telegram. In its coverage, ... read more
- Most Individuals Worldwide Believe The Media Are Free To ReportA majority of people worldwide feel that the media in their country have a lot of freedom, Gallup reports. In 2025, 64% of respondents in 131 countries said this, versus 30% who disagreed. The total ... read more
- New Service To Check On Journalism Is Backed By Peter Thiel, VC FirmsObjection, a new service for checking journalistic facts, was launched on Wednesday with “multiple millions” in seed funding from Peter Thiel and Balaji Srinivasan, and venture capital VC firms Social Impact Capital and Off Piste Capital, TechCrunch reports. Founder ... read more
- Roku's Low-Priced 'Howdy' Platform Wants To Make FriendsRoku's Howdy platform costs $2.99 a month for ad-free movies and TV shows. Antenna says Howdy has steadily grown to reach one million subscribers. ... read more
- Netflix 'Man On Fire' Thriller Packs A PunchNetflix's new limited-series thriller "Man on Fire" burns like a furnace in the third act of the first episode, and from there, it is off and running. ... read more
- Agencies And Tech Providers Sitting In A Tree; Closing Time For The Open Web?Let’s Make A Deal When marketers select an agency to work with, there’s a chance they’re also selecting a tech provider – they just might not realize it. Many media accounts are tied to specific ... read more
- Possible Day 2: Breaking down agentic’s impact on marketing, including multiculturalThe 7,500 attendees of year four of Possible have wrapped their meetings, and the booths are being dismantled as you read this. But day two of Possible gave Digiday the chance to catch up with ... read more
- Media Briefing: Publishers rewire sales teams for the outcomes era This week’s Media Briefing will explore how publishers are reshaping their sales teams, where client success or client services employees are getting more involved in the sales process to assist with more complex, direct deals. ... read more
- Uncertainty is the real cost of the Middle East war for advertisersWhat began as a regional conflict is now a compounding drag on the advertising industry — not catastrophic, but persistent enough that many CMOs are starting to feel it. While the economics of war travel ... read more
- How former college athlete and Airbnb host turned Love Island fame into widespread successIn 2024, college athlete TJ Palma had around 5,000 followers on Instagram and close to 15,000 on TikTok. He amassed a healthy following posting videos of himself playing baseball at University of Tampa and showcasing ... read more
- Meta’s Ad Machine Is Purring, So Why Did Its Stock Drop?Listening to Mark Zuckerberg speak during Meta’s Q1 earnings call on Wednesday, you could almost forget that Meta makes the majority of its money from advertising. He spent his opening remarks on “personal superintelligence,” custom ... read more
- Alphabet Exceeds $100 Billion In Q1 And Its Profits Almost DoubledWall Street investors know that in the advertising business, Q1 is generally the poorest-performing period of the year. And this is a particularly poor macro-economic time. Alphabet is operating in a different reality. Or so ... read more
- Google, Microsoft Prove AI, Cloud Driving Ad RevenueQ1 revenue reported by Alphabet and Microsoft demonstrates how strong ad and search services drive the companies' revenue-generating AI capabilities, with increased efficiency and monetization across core digital platforms. ... read more
- Vine Video-Sharing App Relaunches As AI-Free 'Divine'Video-sharing app Vine is being reimagined as "Divine." The new mobile app will be a hub for "authentic, non-AI-generated media," ultimately valuing "creativity and constraint over engagement for an ad algorithm." ... read more
- Meta opens its ad ecosystem to third-party AI toolsIn a break from its walled garden approach, Meta is opening its ad ecosystem to third-party AI tools. The tech giant is introducing Meta ads AI connectors in open beta to all eligible advertisers globally, ... read more
- Tech Group Seeks To Block Minnesota Law Mandating Social Media WarningsA Minnesota law requiring social platforms to display cigarette-style warning labels violates the First Amendment, NetChoice alleges in a lawsuit filed Wednesday. ... read more
- Tech Group Seeks To Block Minnesota Social Media Warning MandateA Minnesota law requiring social platforms to display cigarette-style warning labels violates the First Amendment, NetChoice alleges in a lawsuit filed Wednesday. ... read more
- I've Got 86 Problems But 47 Ain't OneIn American pop culture, "86" most commonly means to eject someone from the premises. But it has grown conflated with a similar-sounding mobster term "eight miles out, and six feet deep." ... read more
- I've Got 47 Problems But 86 Ain't OneIn American pop culture, "86" most commonly means to eject someone from the premises. But it has grown conflated with a similar-sounding mobster term "eight miles out, and six feet deep." ... read more
- CTV Performance Grows Faster Than Buyer Measurement ToolsMIAMI BEACH, FL -- Many marketers still rely on attribution models that undercount TV's contribution, according to a panel discussion at POSSIBLE. ... read more
- LinkedIn Allows Marketers To Run Promotions For Off-Platform EventsLinkedIn is expanding its Event Ads format to allow brands to promote webinars, field events, hybrid experiences and other event types beyond the social platform. ... read more
- LinkedIn Enables Marketers To Run Promotions For Off-Platform EventsLinkedIn is expanding its Event Ads format to allow brands to promote webinars, field events, hybrid experiences and other event types beyond the social platform. ... read more
- Parents Fight To Reinstate Suit Against Google, TikTok Over 'Choking Challenge'A group of parents are urging a federal appellate court to revive a lawsuit alleging that Google and TikTok wrongly failed to remove potentially dangerous content, including videos that depict people strangling themselves until they ... read more
- Parents Fight To Reinstate 'Choking Challenge' Suit Against Google, TikTokA group of parents are urging a federal appellate court to revive a lawsuit alleging that Google and TikTok wrongly failed to remove potentially dangerous content, including videos that depict people strangling themselves until they ... read more
- Heads, Hearts, AIThe notion that AI is all facts, no emotion is belied by the connection between humans and chatbots. If this seems odd, it's no different than brand love, superfans, or evangelists. ... read more
- Meta Is Having A Difficult WeekFacebook and Instagram, both owned by Meta, were charged Wednesday with breaching landmark EU rules - not doing enough to block kids under 13 from accessing the social networks. ... read more
- The Agentic Agency Is Coming For Consultants, TooThe agentic agency model doesn't just change who can compete. It changes the entire look of the competition. ... read more
- Retail Media Wants Your Budget, But It Needs to Earn It: Bayer’s Ryan VerklinNEW YORK – At the IAB Connected Commerce Summit, Ryan Verklin, paid media and retail media senior lead at Bayer, delivered a useful reminder to an industry that sometimes treats every dashboard as a victory ... read more
- Advertisers Can Begin Migrating Google Ads Into ChatGPTAdthena has launched a free migration tool that converts Google Ads campaigns into formats accepted by the ChatGPT Ads platform. ... read more
- The promise and threat of AI, as understood through the eyes of PossibleThe fourth annual Possible conference ends today, having undergone a surge of attendance in the last year — which was palpably felt in the crowded hallways and million-decibel lobby of Miami’s Fontainebleau Hotel. According to ... read more
- The CW Forges New Program Partnerships With Roku Channel, ESPNThe CW has made a major shift by adding key live sports content to its prime-time schedule, enabling it to charge premium ad pricing. ... read more
- Rivian Appoints Former Uber Exec As Top MarketerAfter seven and a half years at Uber, Jenny Lewis joined The Knot in March 2022, where she led the company's rebrand in 2023. ... read more
- Stagwell Promotes 'Agent Cloud' With New ToolkitDesigned for SMBs, the toolkit targets what the company says is the friction between developing a high-level strategy and bringing it to market. ... read more
- Cumulus Media Reports Q1 Revenue Decline And Lower Net LossCumulus Media reported Q1 net revenue of $164.4 million -- a 12.2% decline YoY -- and a net loss of $16.9 million, a 47.9% improvement over the prior year, Stock Titan reports. Total broadcast radio ... read more
- Omnicom Routinizes Agentic Buys, Compresses Media Supply Chain"We've already tested the pipes and have been able to have money flow through to actually buy inventory available on certain publishers," says CTO Paolo Yuvienco. ... read more
- WPP Wins Expanded Remit From Henkel Consumer BrandsWPP Wins Expanded Remit From Henkel Consumer Brands ... read more
- Poll Shows Many Democrats and Independents Often Avoid News About TrumpAlmost a third of U.S. adults — some 31% — often avoid stories about President Trump, according to a new poll by the Media Insight Project survey, Associated Press reports. Of those surveyed, 38% of ... read more
- FCC Demands Early Review Of Disney's Broadcast LicensesThe Federal Communications Commission has ordered Disney to file for an early renewal of the broadcast station licenses of ABC-owned stations, CNBC reports. A letter from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr expresses concerns about Disney’s diversity, equity and ... read more
- 'Fortune' Appoints Rachel Ventresca As Director Of Audience, Social GrowthFortune has named Rachel Ventresca director of audience and social growth, Talking Biz News reports. Ventresca had served as senior editor of distribution and social video, and prior to that, as senior audience. Previously, she was manager ... read more
- Supplement Brand Ritual Taps Chord To Help Understand Its Historical DataThe tech stacks brands were using 10 years ago probably aren’t suited for today’s fragmented ecosystem, where advertisers are struggling to keep track of and unify the data they’ve accrued over years. As supplement brand ... read more
- How I Actually Learned Ad Tech.bh__table, .bh__table_header, .bh__table_cell { border: 1px solid #C0C0C0; } .bh__table_cell { padding: 5px; background-color: #FFFFFF; } .bh__table_cell p { color: #2D2D2D; font-family: 'Helvetica',Arial,sans-serif !important; overflow-wrap: break-word; } .bh__table_header { padding: 5px; background-color:#F1F1F1; } .bh__table_header p ... read more
- A New Standard For Transparency In CTV: What Advertisers Should ExpectAs connected TV (CTV) matures, advertisers aren’t just raising expectations; they’re resetting them. And, increasingly, transparency isn’t a value-add; it’s the cost of entry. Our latest 2026 CTV/OTT advertiser survey makes that shift clear: 92% ... read more
- Kimmel: A New Political Comedy Battle – Or Something Else?One might guess under a new Disney leadership, the company is a bit more battle-tested. Kimmel has continued, with his political satire. ... read more
- Disney's Jimmy Kimmel ProblemKimmel's ratings have been falling for a long time. Focusing on abusing Trump every night is part of the reason. ... read more
- Netflix Has Lowest Movie Ad Time Among StreamersMovie viewers see an average of 36 minutes of uninterrupted film content between ad breaks vs. 14 minutes for TV series episodes, Ampere Analysis finds. ... read more
- WPP Taps Former IKEA Leader To Serve On Its BoardAgnefjall served at Ikea for two decades, leading the company from 2013 to 2017. ... read more
- What’s Really Possible; The New Home TakeoverPOSSIBLE is over the AI hype; real estate is going tech; and Snap dips its toes into branded agents. The post What’s Really Possible; The New Home Takeover appeared first on AdExchanger. ... read more
- Stop Scaling Mediocre Ads: How AI Can Actually Elevate Performance MarketingIn a largely creative industry like advertising, performance marketing can seem a bit soulless. Algorithms, tracking and optimization can help us reach targets quicker and more efficiently. But the creative used in performance campaigns can ... read more
- ‘That is an objective’: Omnicom tests AI agents to cut out the ad tech middlemenOmnicom has started using AI agents to buy media. On its Q1 earnings call on Tuesday, the holding company said it has already executed live buys for several clients through an agent-to-agent framework. In practice, ... read more