Ad tech rebuilt itself around identity resolution and clean rooms once third-party cookies disappeared. Coverage here spans SSAI, programmatic CTV, ad-supported tier economics, frequency capping, and the measurement approaches replacing the old playbook.
Political advertising spending on radio has reached $101 million for the 2026 cycle, with total political ad spend across all media formats, including connected TV and digital, forecasted to hit $11.6 billion. The recent Supreme Court ruling on coordinated spending between candidates and political parties is expected to further influence campaign budget allocations among broadcast and digital platforms.
The proposed £1.6bn acquisition of ITV Media & Entertainment by Sky could consolidate addressable TV technology with sophisticated retail data matching capabilities. The combination aims to link Sky's household-level ad targeting with ITV's existing partnerships that utilize retail loyalty data for campaign measurement.
Eyeota has partnered with Buzzsaw Media to integrate 1.4 billion consumer records into its data marketplace. The integration aims to provide advertisers with deterministic audience segments for programmatic and CTV campaigns as the industry shifts away from traditional identifiers.
Google and Meta have leveraged open-source Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) tools, specifically Meridian and Robyn, to influence industry-standard ad measurement as third-party cookies decline. While Meta has reportedly reduced development on its tool, Google is actively integrating Meridian into its analytics ecosystem and incentivizing its adoption among advertisers.
Triton Digital EVP Spencer Brown highlights a structural need for audio publishers to standardize their data infrastructure and metadata for 'agentic' AI-driven media buying. The article argues that audio inventory must be machine-readable to remain competitive as autonomous systems take over ad placement decisions.
Magnite has received JICDAQ certification for its CTV and omnichannel inventory in Japan, providing third-party verification for brand safety and invalid traffic prevention. This move underscores the company's regional quality standards amid broader industry shifts regarding the role of independent ad-verification frameworks like TAG.
The first half of 2026 marked a shift toward standardized advertising infrastructure within AI-native platforms like ChatGPT and Google Search. Major adtech and agency partners are integrating tools for self-service buying, measurement, and automated creative production to support AI-enabled media ecosystems.
Fora Soft provides a technical comparison of server-side (SSAI), client-side (CSAI), and server-guided (SGAI) ad insertion methods for OTT providers. The guide evaluates build-versus-buy trade-offs for ad insertion infrastructure in the context of increasing ad-block usage rates.
The IAB Tech Lab has introduced the Agentic Real Time Framework (ARTF) and Agentic Audiences protocol to facilitate containerized bidding in advertising. These standards aim to enable AI-based contextual inference directly within the browser or server-side auction environment, potentially reducing latency by 80%.
Teads has entered into a strategic partnership with TiVo Ads to embed its native HomeScreen masthead inventory into the Teads Ad Manager platform. The integration enables advertisers in the US, UK, and Canada to execute automated, AI-powered omnichannel campaigns including CTV placements through a single workflow.
Omnicom Media and NBCUniversal have announced a partnership to launch a Dynamic Contextual Content solution for Connected TV. The platform uses AI to map creative assets to specific programming signals, allowing for real-time ad optimization and dynamic messaging.
Happydemics and Adzymic have announced a strategic partnership to integrate independent, real-time brand lift measurement into their omnichannel advertising campaigns across the APAC region. The collaboration connects Adzymic's agentic DCO advertising suite with Happydemics' survey-based feedback platform to optimize creative and media performance across CTV, display, and digital out-of-home channels.
The 2025 IAB Europe AdEx Benchmark report shows a 10.5 percent growth in the digital advertising market, fueled by social and streaming video. Industry experts warn that the adoption of automated, self-serve advertising platforms by small businesses is fundamentally threatening traditional agency business models.
Google has announced the depreciation of Display & Video 360 Structured Data Files (SDF) versions v9, v9.1, and v9.2, effective January 28, 2027. Advertisers managing bulk campaign operations must migrate to SDF v10 to avoid service interruptions, as requests using the older version strings will return connection errors after the sunset date.
Integral Ad Science (IAS) released a report indicating that invalid traffic and Made for Advertising (MFA) activity remained 30% above seasonal forecasts during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, suggesting such traffic is hiding within higher volumes of legitimate user engagement. The report advises advertisers to account for these inflated baselines and adjust pre-bid verification settings to favor premium inventory.
AdsWizz has renewed its exclusive agreements to serve as the sole sales representative for audio advertising inventory for SoundCloud and Sonos in 14 European markets. These deals reinforce AdsWizz's position as a centralized ad-tech and programmatic marketplace provider for major audio platforms in the region.
Perion Network has been selected as the technology partner to modernize Best Buy Canada's in-store digital signage across 308 locations. The partnership replaces a legacy fixed-loop signage model with Perion's full-stack programmatic advertising solution, including an ad server, supply-side platform, and header bidding infrastructure.
Ten European media and telecom companies have launched the European Media Marketplace to offer a unified, GDPR-compliant platform for purchasing premium CTV and digital video inventory. Built on Equativ's Maestro infrastructure, the initiative aims to increase publisher revenue share by reducing intermediary fees and utilizing consented telecom-derived identity signals.
Wpromote and Giant Spoon have integrated Smartly’s AI-powered media activation and creative tools into the Polaris IQ operating system. The partnership follows a pilot phase, aiming to optimize budget allocation and measurement across social, Google, and connected television ad channels.
AI shopping app Phia has been suspended by Impact.com following a Bloomberg investigation that found the startup used browser extensions to override affiliate links and claim unauthorized commissions. The incident has raised concerns regarding technical due diligence for venture capital investors who provided $43.5 million to the company.
Netflix has secured content licensing deals with major publishers including Penske Media, Condé Nast, and Hearst to launch short-form video series on August 3. This initiative aims to increase ad inventory and boost engagement by leveraging a higher frequency of ad-supported short-form viewing sessions.
A survey conducted by CTV platform Jamloop indicates that while 50% of marketers have increased their connected TV budgets, only 33% express full trust in platform-reported performance metrics. The industry continues to face challenges regarding measurement, attribution, and inventory verification as advertisers demand more accountable performance-based models.
Adform has released 29 read-only agentic skills designed for the Adform FLOW demand-side platform via the Model Context Protocol. These skills allow AI systems to perform reporting, auditing, and forecasting tasks without executing direct changes to campaign settings.
The Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) is emphasizing research that claims authenticated television viewers generate 42% more revenue than unauthenticated ones. This effort serves as a counter-argument to the limitations of IP-based targeting, which is increasingly viewed as inaccurate for deterministic household identification.
DuckDuckGo has launched a default-on YouTube ad-blocking feature for its desktop and mobile browsers, utilizing open-source filter lists to bypass pre-roll and mid-roll advertisements. This implementation marks a shift toward browser-level ad suppression that maintains user account history while specifically targeting YouTube's primary revenue stream.
HUMAN Security has disrupted a large-scale CTV ad fraud operation dubbed NewsJunkie, which generated up to two billion invalid bid requests daily by spoofing premium inventory via server-side ad insertion and residential IP routing. The analysis highlights significant vulnerabilities in the programmatic CTV supply chain stemming from limited client-side signal visibility.
The European Commission has issued a preliminary finding that Meta breached the Digital Services Act due to addictive design elements on Instagram and Facebook, such as infinite scroll and autoplay. If finalized, the ruling could force Meta to redesign its recommender systems, potentially impacting ad inventory volume and engagement metrics for European advertisers.
A survey of 120 marketers by Jamloop indicates that while CTV spending is growing, only 33% of respondents fully trust platform-reported performance data. The findings highlight a critical need for standardized, defensible measurement and attribution models to facilitate continued budget allocation from lower-funnel channels.
A Jefferies survey of 30 e-commerce and web advertisers reveals that AppLovin increased its share of advertiser budgets by 169 basis points to 11.1% in Q2 2026. The report attributes this growth to advertiser adoption of AppLovin’s generative AI video tools and improved prospecting campaign performance.
Farmer Boys worked with influencer platform Linqia to convert creator-led vertical content into a CTV-ready format, leading to a 20% increase in campaign sales. The campaign highlights a growing strategy of designing creator-made assets specifically for repurposing as low-cost broadcast advertising pipelines.
Lidiane Jones has succeeded Lisa Utzschneider as the new CEO of ad-verification firm Integral Ad Science (IAS), following the company's $1.9 billion acquisition by private equity firm Novacap. Under its new leadership, IAS plans to prioritize trust infrastructure for AI-generated content, focusing on cross-platform verification and contextual suitability for brands across CTV and emerging media channels.
Yospace analyzed World Cup 2026 viewership data to illustrate how live sports events, including hydration breaks and penalty shootouts, drive significant, rapid fluctuations in concurrent traffic. The analysis suggests that broadcasters should leverage advanced prefetch technology within dynamic ad insertion workflows to effectively manage these surges and maximize ad revenue.
OpenAI is expanding its ChatGPT advertising pilot across Europe and Singapore, recruiting regional sales leadership and introducing a custom audience feature. Concurrently, Intuit is reviewing its US media investment account as it shifts creative strategy, despite ongoing market volatility.
Vista Equity Partners and Quinti Capital are reportedly pursuing a takeover of ad tech firm Criteo at a 50% premium. Additionally, LiveRamp has initiated a connected TV brand campaign on Netflix focused on data collaboration and identity solutions.
U.S. political campaigns are increasingly utilizing log-level data from streamers and DSPs to link CTV ad exposure to voter turnout outcomes for the 2026 midterms. Firms like Data Trust and FreeWheel are deploying identity frameworks to optimize ad frequency and improve measurement in a segment where streaming ad spend is projected to reach $2.7 billion.
The Supreme Court overturned coordinated spending limits in NRSC v. FEC, granting party committees access to Lowest Unit Rate pricing for political advertising on broadcast and cable. This ruling may compress broadcast inventory for commercial advertisers and drive spillover political ad budgets into CTV and OTT platforms during upcoming election cycles.
A Citi Research report from Cannes Lions 2026 highlights a strong advertising environment across CTV and search channels. The report notes an industry-wide transition toward agentic AI workflows and Generative Engine Optimization, as marketers increasingly prioritize AI-ready commerce models.
Attekmi has integrated HUMAN MediaGuard and FraudSensor into its platform, enabling pre-bid and post-bid ad fraud validation for streaming and programmatic stakeholders. The update provides users with granular reporting, configurable sampling logic, and scanner statistics to improve ad inventory quality.
Ace Hardware has integrated its proprietary retail media network, RedVest Media, with Pacvue and Epsilon, allowing advertisers to manage cross-retail campaigns alongside other marketplaces. The move simplifies campaign activation for programmatic video, CTV, and shoppable ads targeting Ace’s 70 million loyalty members.
Adform announced its integration of the IAB Tech Lab's Agentic Advertising Management Protocols (AAMP 2.0) and Agentic Real-Time Framework (ARTF) into its advertising platform. The initiative aims to facilitate interoperable, standard-based workflows for AI agents across programmatic advertising, moving away from fragmented proprietary systems.
Walmart has announced the acquisition of CTV ad platform Vibe.co for $1.2 billion to integrate into its Walmart Connect advertising business. This move aims to leverage Walmart's first-party retail data and Vizio hardware assets to enable performance-driven, self-serve advertising for small and medium-sized businesses.
Snowflake has announced the general availability of ML Jobs within its Data Clean Rooms, enabling distributed Python ML workloads for privacy-compliant data collaboration. The tool targets ad-tech use cases such as incrementality measurement and propensity scoring, allowing organizations to train models on combined datasets without moving raw records.
Integral Ad Science has published its 21st Media Quality Report, revealing that mobile web display environments account for roughly 72% of Made-for-Advertising (MFA) impressions. The report also highlights a growing quality gap between video and display, with video showing significantly higher viewability across major global markets.
Attention intelligence platform xpln.ai has launched 'Ideal Attention Time,' a metric using eye-tracking and computer vision to determine the minimum exposure required for brand recognition. Early client AXA utilized this data to optimize video creative, successfully reducing its cost per attentive second.
Warner Bros. Discovery is migrating its end-to-end ad tech stack to AWS, utilizing agentic AI for audience forecasting, measurement, and automated media-buy stewardship. Meanwhile, major streamers including Netflix and Disney are vying for future FIFA World Cup rights as FIFA considers unifying language-split broadcast licenses.
Weigel Broadcasting has launched MeTV Audience Intelligence, an advertising platform for its multicast networks that replaces traditional demographic targeting with audience-based segments. The platform integrates with data and measurement providers DatafuelX, VideoAmp, and OpenAP to enable interest-based ad planning, activation, and measurement.
Glance has partnered with Samsung to integrate a generative AI-powered shopping agent directly into the Tizen OS for smart TVs. The agentive commerce experience allows viewers to browse products and fashion recommendations natively within the TV interface, requiring only a mobile device for payment.
The short-form video 'clipping' economy is increasingly plagued by structural bot fraud, as illicit server-farm scripts artificially inflate view metrics used for ad-payout calculations. Industry marketplaces are now responding with API-based verification tools, geographic filtering, and transition to downstream conversion tracking to mitigate the financial impact of fake engagement.
AppsFlyer's 'State of Fraud for Marketers 2026' report identifies a shift in fraudulent activity toward organic traffic, which now accounts for 52% of all fraudulent installs globally. The report highlights that organic benchmarks are being artificially inflated to mask fraudulent paid installs, particularly impacting finance and gambling mobile applications.
Adobe Advertising has launched a new Custom Algorithms product that allows advertisers to use their own first-party data from Adobe Analytics to train ad-bidding models within the company's DSP. The tool aims to provide a transparent alternative to the proprietary, closed-loop algorithmic models offered by major walled gardens like Google and Meta.
