Data + Privacy

Buyer beware: The sins of digital display and the reckoning of impression viewability are coming back to haunt the podcast advertising industry.  I stopped buying display advertising in 2016, and viewability was a big part of why. Advertisers had spent years buying impressions before it became evident that an ad being served didn’t mean a […]

Editor’s note: After this column published, AdExchanger reported that Apple’s WebKit blocklist has expanded well beyond the initial handful of companies — potentially to hundreds of ad tech, martech and data vendors. Read more. When Apple’s AppTrackingTransparency framework took effect in April 2021 with the release of iOS 14.5, the ad industry treated it like […]

Is the open web growing, dying or transforming? Plus: Apple’s iOS update is blocking The Trade Desk from serving ads on Safari browsers, and how that fits into programmatic’s next chapter.

Let’s talk acquisitions! The WarnerMount merger is close to being in the clear, after California and 11 other states settled their antitrust lawsuit against the merger. Plus: Taboola bought Dianomi. Infillion bought Foursquare. We get into what all three of these companies will look like post-acquisition.

The California legislature has passed the compromise version of SB-690, leaving most of the private right of action provisions of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) in place. Thanks to massive lobbying efforts by Big Tech, other states have lost out on their own opportunities for privacy laws enforceable by individuals via civil lawsuits. […]

Everybody wants to make the most of agentic AI in advertising. The winners will do it with purpose. Here’s how to make a plan, step by step. Get specific Pick a clear goal. A media buying agency might aim to reduce the cost of producing an approved campaign plan by 25% within 90 days, while […]

The Trade Desk’s recent reduction of 15% of its workforce comes after nearly two years of challenges on Wall Street, leadership turnover and bumpy product decisions. Independent analyst Richard Kramer comes on to dissect how Wall Street views TTD – and what it got wrong in the first place.

Meta’s recent settlement with almost every US state – in which the company will pay between $17 billion and $18 billion over the next 10 years to settle claims its platforms are harmful to kids and teens – puts the ecosystem on notice: determine who among your audience is under 18 and design your engagement […]

BMW recently placed a promotion for the new Spider-Man film on its vehicles’ dashboards. When drivers started the car, a banner appeared on the control display. Tapping it launched a 19-second animation with music and a light show delivered through the car’s ambient lighting system. Many owners were not amused. Some objected to receiving promotional […]

Two Big Tech moments capped the summer: The FTC sued Amazon over its kinda-sorta second-price auctions, alleging deceptive practices. And Judge Brinkema declared that Google will not have to spin off its ad server.