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.
Adstra has launched ID Connection Strength, a scoring framework designed to verify identity link quality for programmatic CTV campaigns. The initiative aims to reduce budget waste by evaluating identifiers like HEMs, UID2s, and CTV IDs based on signal stability metrics instead of standard match rates.
RZR, formerly known as Aarki, has launched a new platform tool called Audience Builder that integrates user acquisition, retargeting, and CTV advertising into a single management system. Leveraging deterministic signals from partners like LG Ads, the platform claims to identify high-value users at risk of churning and optimize campaign performance to improve long-term value.
Ofcom experts are recommending that ad platforms provide trusted third parties with access to representative random samples of active ads to combat fraud and verify integrity. The report also suggests that platforms should proactively flag fraudulent ad activity to users rather than treating it as a solely user-reported issue.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is developing a new Attribution API within its Private Advertising Technology Working Group to standardize browser-based ad measurement. The proposed standard aims to enable cross-site performance tracking while limiting the collection and exposure of individual user-level data.
Electronic Arts has launched EA Advertising, a proprietary platform designed to monetize in-game placements across its sports franchises using a Frostbite-engine-integrated ad server. The platform offers tiered buying models for brands and utilizes Integral Ad Science for measurement, aligning with IAB gaming measurement frameworks.
One Touch Intelligence reports that the U.S. FAST sector is maturing, with channel counts growing by 6% year-over-year to 2,027 while ad load frequency has stabilized at approximately five breaks per hour. Data shows a shift toward increased content differentiation, with nearly 42% of channels exclusive to a single platform and improved ad uniqueness metrics across leading providers.
Perion CEO Tal Jacobson argues that current industry layoffs are deliberate financial restructurings to fund AI infrastructure rather than immediate workforce replacement. Jacobson also outlines Perion's multi-channel ad tech strategy, noting that human oversight remains central to their AI-driven investment recommendation platform.
This article outlines methodologies for conducting CTV incrementality tests, emphasizing the move toward account-based rather than individual-based measurement. It details the necessity of control groups, statistical significance, and proper data suppression to accurately attribute B2B sales pipeline impact to streaming ad spend.
A market report from Omdia and MiQ projects that Brazil will become the world's second-largest international FAST market by 2029 with $14.4 billion in annual online video revenue. The data highlights a strong consumer shift toward ad-supported models and increasing complexity in cross-platform measurement for Connected TV.
Wunderkind Ads is expanding its programmatic CTV ad business by centralizing fragmented OEM requirements into a single deal ID for pause and home screen ad formats. The company aims to provide advertisers with non-interruptive, high-impact placements as demand grows beyond traditional in-stream inventory.
Apple has updated its advertising terms of service, signaling a potential expansion into third-party websites and applications beyond its own ecosystem. This shift could require significant infrastructure changes to Apple's existing AdAttributionKit and proprietary Ads Attribution API to facilitate cross-platform measurement.
WARC Media reports that YouTube's advertising revenue reached $40.4 billion in 2025, though year-on-year growth is decelerating due to competition from TikTok and Netflix. The platform is increasingly focusing on connected TV and podcast inventory to capture larger advertising budgets despite the shifting competitive landscape.
A report from the VAB analyzed Meta's transparency data, revealing that the platform banned 3.5 billion fake accounts in 2025. The analysis suggests that the persistent presence of scam advertisements and the current account-ban threshold system continue to present significant brand safety risks for advertisers utilizing the platform's ad infrastructure.
FIFA's strategic broadcasting partnerships with TikTok and YouTube for the 2026 World Cup allowed rights holders to distribute short-form content and live match snippets to drive audience traffic to their primary OTT services. These social media integrations generated significant engagement, including 465 million views for broadcaster live streams on TikTok.
The article details a strategic shift for publishers moving away from pageview-based metrics toward monetizing verified first-party audience data. It argues that publishers must build activation infrastructure to compete with walled gardens by offering targeted segments to advertisers across diverse environments including CTV.
Kargo has been named the designated programmatic supply-side platform for HP Spotlight, shifting the desktop-native ad format from a direct-sales model to an automated programmatic one. The integration enables international advertisers to purchase inventory across HP’s hardware-based advertising network using Kargo's ad-tech stack.
Brand Engagement Network (BEN) has invested $1 million into Accelevate Solutions to launch a joint software platform, the Transportation Media Network. The system uses computer vision and generative AI to leverage existing fleet hardware, such as cameras and screens, to build an automated, real-time ad-insertion network for transit environments.
Broadcasters including NBC, ABC, and CBS are adopting shoppable QR code segments within morning news programs to offset declining ad revenues by capturing a percentage of sales. These integrations leverage direct-to-consumer commerce platforms to provide a new revenue stream as traditional broadcast and cable ad spending has decreased 23% since 2022.
An Oxford Economics report estimates the US YouTube creator ecosystem contributed $60 billion to the US GDP in 2025, driven by the platform's long-form revenue-sharing model. The findings highlight the economic impact of the platform's monetization architecture compared to shorter-form competitor alternatives.
Glance has integrated National Media Onderzoek's (NMO) Total Video measurement dataset into its services to provide cross-platform audience analysis for the Dutch market. This partnership allows clients to track linear, time-shifted, and on-demand viewing behaviors across multiple devices and platforms.
Nielsen is implementing seven methodological updates to its National Big Data + Panel measurement product by August 31, 2026, to maintain Media Rating Council accreditation. These technical revisions to data modeling and weighting will recalibrate audience estimates for multi-screen advertising transactions ahead of the fall television season.
A study conducted by identity resolution firm Adstra and agency InterMedia Advertising reports that only 23% of IP-based CTV ads effectively reach their intended geographic household. The research suggests this targeting failure causes roughly $7.4 billion in annual wasted programmatic spend, prompting industry calls for improved data validation and deterministic identifiers.
DoubleVerify is shifting its focus toward social feeds, CTV, and AI-driven platforms, anticipating these sectors will comprise 50% of its revenue in the mid-term. The company is actively deploying AI-based verification tools to address risks like low-quality AI-generated content while targeting the growing LLM-based advertising market.
DoubleVerify's 2026 Global Insights report analyzes consumer receptivity to ad frequency and repetition during live sports streaming. The findings suggest that targeted ad repetition during major events like the World Cup can enhance brand awareness without significantly increasing viewer fatigue.
The IAB's latest report identifies a shift in U.S. digital video advertising, noting that social video spending has surpassed CTV as marketers prioritize targeting and performance measurement. The findings highlight persistent advertiser concerns regarding CTV fraud, transparency, and the lack of robust lower-funnel attribution in streaming environments.
Netflix reports that its advertising-supported tier is expanding but still trails standard subscription revenue, prompting a strategic shift toward programmatic advertising and AI-driven ad tools. The company is simultaneously integrating publisher partnerships and live event content to improve yield and inventory access.
Publisher referral traffic is declining as AI search overviews increasingly capture user attention, impacting programmatic revenue models. The article argues that publishers must shift from a commodity programmatic display approach to valuing loyal, direct-access audiences to maintain sustainable revenue.
DoubleVerify reports 92% year-over-year growth in social activation revenue and a 28% increase in CTV measurement impressions for the first quarter of 2026. The company is actively scaling AI-driven tools like SlopStopper to combat ad fraud and maintain market share despite ongoing pricing pressures in its core ad-tech business.
The author examines the negative consumer perception surrounding highly targeted programmatic advertisements on CTV platforms like Roku, noting that hyper-precision in intent tracking can feel invasive. The article advocates for a shift in ad strategy that prioritizes brand awareness over intrusive performance-based targeting to improve user experience.
A report from Xsolla highlights a 26% year-over-year growth in direct-to-consumer (D2C) gaming revenue for 2025 in the US, contrasting with near-flat growth in the broader mobile market. The industry shift is driven by publishers seeking to bypass platform commissions and establish direct player relationships through owned commerce channels as regulatory landscapes evolve.
The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) has formed a new task force to address the growing data gap between children's streaming consumption habits and current ad-industry measurement tools. The initiative aims to align ACR, gaming platform data, and identity solutions to improve investment accuracy and address regulatory compliance issues.
GumGum has launched the Mindset Agent, an AI-powered tool within its Mindset Portal that enables advertisers to turn campaign briefs into custom targeting segments. The launch features an exclusive partnership with The Trade Desk, allowing these AI-generated segments to be directly activated across the open internet.
Parallel's Customer Suitability Report, based on digital twin simulations of 200,000 viewer responses, suggests that optimizing ad placement based on customer resonance outperforms traditional context-based category targeting. The study demonstrates that aligning ads with specific 'need-states' rather than contextual categories like sports content can increase ad resonance by nearly 50%.
Streaming and ad-tech platforms are increasingly facing direct consumer pushback against intrusive ad formats and non-consensual AI data training. Consumer-driven signals such as opt-outs, support queries, and platform migrations serve as more reliable indicators of user sentiment than traditional behavioral modeling for product and policy teams.
Beehiiv has launched programmatic advertising and community-building features for its newsletter-focused platform, with plans to expand these capabilities to video and podcasts later this year. The platform serves as a B2B infrastructure tool for multichannel creators and is positioning itself as an all-in-one content business suite.
Data from Edison Research reveals that YouTube has surpassed Spotify to become the most-used podcast platform in the UK, with 29% of weekly listeners. This trend aligns with broader shifts toward video-led podcasts and increased smart TV consumption, prompting media agencies to categorize YouTube as a key Connected TV (CTV) advertising platform.
TV News Check is hosting a webinar on August 6 featuring advertising leaders from Dentsu, Hearst Television, Viamedia, and SureWaves to discuss the adoption of AI in media planning, ratings estimation, and advertising workflows. The session will address industry anxieties regarding job displacement and the practical application of AI in local television ad ecosystems.
Stagwell has launched Stagwell Curate, an AI-powered platform designed to bring ad-inventory curation in-house for its media agencies. The tool aims to reduce reliance on third-party DSP and SSP marketplaces by using AI to vet CTV and video supply, potentially lowering tech fees and increasing transparency.
Georgia-Pacific has shifted its programmatic and social media buying in-house, moving away from a traditional agency-only model to increase transparency and data control. The company utilizes Yahoo as its primary DSP for national campaigns while maintaining partnerships with OMD for linear TV and certain CTV buying requirements.
Nielsen and VideoAmp have withdrawn their respective omnichannel measurement solutions from the Media Rating Council accreditation process to reassess methodologies. Separately, TikTok Shop is facing brand pushback over the prevalence of AI-generated affiliate videos, with brands like SharkNinja threatening to withhold commissions for such content.
WARC Media reports that while YouTube's annual ad revenue reached $40.4 billion in 2025, year-on-year growth is decelerating due to increased competition from platforms like TikTok and Netflix. The industry data highlights a strategic shift toward connected TV and long-form content to capture traditional TV ad budgets as the platform matures.
Research from Gen's Scam Ad Machine reveals that over 300 million fraudulent ad impressions occurred across the EU and UK within a 23-day period in mid-2026. The findings illustrate a shift toward short-lived, disposable advertiser accounts that exploit existing platform moderation gaps to deliver malicious content.
Roku is promoting its Action Ads format and AI-driven home screen features to attract bottom-of-funnel performance marketing budgets. By enabling remote-control interactivity and signaling, the company aims to divert spend from traditional search and social platforms toward its connected TV ecosystem.
tvScientific by Pinterest has launched a Certified Measurement Partner Program featuring initial partners INCRMNTAL, Measured, Singular, and WorkMagic. The program provides advertisers with third-party tools for attribution, incrementality, and media mix modeling to enhance campaign performance verification on connected TV.
The Trade Desk, Inc. reported that Connected TV and video now account for over half of its business as advertisers increasingly shift budgets from linear television to programmatic CTV. The company credits this growth to strategic partnerships with premium publishers like Disney, NBCUniversal, and Netflix, alongside advancements in AI-driven decisioning and measurement.
The 2026 U.S. TV upfront market has concluded with media buyers successfully resisting long-term commitments in favor of year-round flexibility, reflecting a shift as advertising budgets move from broadcast and cable toward streaming. Media companies face continued pressure for rate rollbacks amid a surplus of streaming inventory and a decline in traditional TV spending.
PubMatic has selected Playwire as its recommended partner for publishers transitioning away from its OpenWrap Web service. This move allows PubMatic to focus on its omnichannel monetization strategy while Playwire assumes responsibility for the header bidding technology and ad operations formerly handled by OpenWrap.
Executives from Paramount and Tatari are tempering expectations for automated 'programmatic TV' within premium media environments like live sports. The commentary highlights that major streamers are prioritizing direct transactional models over open auctions to prevent channel conflict and preserve the value of marquee advertising inventory.
INVIDI Technologies has announced a collaboration with Google to integrate Google Ad Manager and Display & Video 360 to support addressable advertising on unconnected set-top boxes. The initiative aims to enable programmatic ad delivery in linear TV environments, starting with a focus on the Indian market.
Locality is promoting a transition from national-first advertising strategies to local-market planning by leveraging return-path and ACR data to integrate broadcast and streaming inventory. This approach aims to provide advertisers with more precision by optimizing media mix and frequency at the designated market area (DMA) level.
