Data-Driven Thinking Archives - Page 2 of 20

The AI Chat Ad Frontier: What LLMs Change About Brand Safety And Control

ChatGPT ads are here, and brands are testing the waters. This marks the true start of LLMs as a new advertising channel, reshaping the customer journey and introducing a new surface for brand safety and suitability. It’s a real inflection point for advertising. Impressions, searches and even transactions that once traveled through websites will increasingly […]

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Data-Driven Thinking

On Neutral Ground: Why Content Licensing Needs Independent Settlement And Verifiable Payments

The content licensing economy has arrived faster than anyone expected. Microsoft and Amazon have both entered the marketplace business. Venture-backed startups like TollBit and ProRata have built infrastructure for publishers to license their content to LLMs. And, in 2025, AI companies committed an estimated $2.9 billion in licensing fees to a relatively small number of […]

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Data-Driven Thinking

A “Pay-For-Performance” Ad Industry? Brands And Agencies Will Need A Referee

The very concept of AI and its impact on select industries is enough to cause dramatic swings in stock market sectors and wild future-of-work predictions. But when the world’s largest ad agency talks about changing its revenue model – and trots out a real-world client example to back it up – people pay attention. In […]

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Data-Driven Thinking

Stop Scaling Mediocre Ads: How AI Can Actually Elevate Performance Marketing

In 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 often look or feel … off. When there are metrics to hit and placements to fill, creative often takes a […]

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Data-Driven Thinking

The DROP Is Coming: Why Fines Under California’s Delete Act Are About to Spike

By now, most ad tech professionals should be familiar with California’s data broker registration requirements under the Delete Act. Any entity that is a “business,” as defined by the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and that knowingly collects and sells to third parties the personal information of a consumer with whom the business does not […]

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What Happens When The Attribution Cartel Meets Advertising’s Halo Effect?

With everything else going on in 2026, at least we don’t have Google’s “Privacy Sandbox” to worry about. The high-profile project is over. Or is it? Not quite. Now, instead of one browser introducing its own ad features while the others sit back, browser vendors are collaborating to move ads under browser control piece by […]

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Why CTV Is Becoming The First Real Test Of Agentic Advertising

Connected TV demand is strong, budgets are growing and premium inventory continues to command attention. Yet, for publishers, the growth of CTV has complicated how deals get done. That’s because CTV never fit cleanly into campaign execution models built for RTB-based trading. Programmatic trading introduced efficiency for commoditized inventory, but CTV has always been defined […]

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The Creativity Trade-Off: What Marketers Risk Losing In The Age Of AI

We used to have a saying at the first agency I worked for: “Money flows to new.” Back then, “new” meant things like QR codes, mobile video and social media. Then, tech really took off and programmatic advertising, augmented reality and data-driven insights became the new “new.” AI was also a thing, but it wasn’t […]

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Data-Driven Thinking

From Trend Spotters To Strategic Translators: How AI Is Reshaping The Marketing Scientist Role

The role of the marketing scientist has never stood still, but artificial intelligence has hit fast-forward. Once the quiet architects behind dashboards and reports, marketing scientists are now at the epicenter of creativity, technology and strategy. Machines can now flag anomalies, surface trends and spin insights in seconds. Nearly everything at the observational level can […]

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Five Questions To Ask Before Handing The Keys To Your Programmatic Partner

If you’re evaluating a programmatic partner right now, the demo probably looks great. The pipes connect, the UI is tidy, and the road map sounds like it was written for your exact pain points. That’s the easy part. The harder part is admitting what your checklist can’t tell you. Plugging in cleanly doesn’t reveal whether […]

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