- Carl’s Jr. And Hardee’s Marketing Goes Regional With Amazon Ads’ Streaming MediaThe age-old question for streaming TV advertisers is, how to target the viewers they want while reaching the scale their businesses need. The quick-serve restaurant operator CKE, which owns Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s and the Red ... read more
- OpenAI Hires Former Meta Ad LeadOpenAI has hired David Dugan, a former ads lead at Meta, as the AI firm's vice president and head of global ads solutions. The move identifies the dominance large language models will have on advertising ... read more
- At SXSW, The Real Headliner Was A Crisis Of TruthFor most of modern history, we operated with a shared baseline of reality. That baseline is eroding in real time. ... read more
- Google Unveils Agentic Media-Buying Tools At NewFrontThe new media-buying capabilities focus on integrating Google's Gemini AI model more fully into the Google Marketing Platform to help marketers better predict consumers' next steps and use agentic technology more effectively to match brands ... read more
- Google Is Pitching Buyers On Gemini And YouTube Creators At The NewFrontsGoogle got to talk about its two favorite things during its presentation at the IAB’s NewFronts on Monday: AI and creators. It announced multiple new features coming to YouTube and DV360 for CTV and video ... read more
- Google Is Pitching Buyers On Gemini And YouTube Creators At The NewFrontsGoogle got to talk about its two favorite things during its presentation at the IAB’s NewFronts on Monday: AI and creators. It announced multiple new features coming to YouTube and DV360 for CTV and video ... read more
- Publicis Is (By Far) New Biz Champ For 2025COMvergence reports the Groupe's total new business (including wins, losses and retentions) was nearly $10.5 billion, dwarfing all competition. ... read more
- What Happens When A Brand Fails To Deliver On Its Basic PromiseFedEx delivers more than 15 million packages per day in the US. It runs one the largest, most time-sensitive logistics networks on planet Earth. Last year, it had a 95.3% on-time score for package delivery ... read more
- It’s Time For CTV To Fix Its Accuracy ProblemWhen Truthset revealed that IP-to-postal matches are accurate only 13% of the time, it exposed an uncomfortable truth about connected TV advertising: The industry has been optimizing for the wrong metric. Somewhere along the way, ... read more
- AI Just Replaced Your Media Plan With Vibes, Chat WindowsBrands still close the sale, but AI gets the first date and sometimes picks the outfit. ... read more
- 'The Bachelorette' Pulled: Brands Buying Into Iffy Future Unscripted Content?"Unscripted" TV shows are a challenge for brands, especially ones following real-life characters where real-life behavior before or during productions cause problems for producers. ... read more
- Ill-Fated Bachelorette Joins Rogues Gallery Of Reality TVFrankie Taylor Paul went from flying high on Sunday to crashing on Thursday. ... read more
- The New Data Buyer In Town; The Old Agency Buyer Of AIThe FBI wants your data; Agency-owned AI platforms may not be long for this world; and how much data is too much, anyway? The post The New Data Buyer In Town; The Old Agency Buyer ... read more
- Media Buying Briefing: Horizon’s Bob Lord on the ways agencies have to adapt to survive todayThe word transparency is bandied about across the media and marketing world, with marketers demanding it (or so they say), and agencies and tech firms insisting they deliver it. But it all feels sometimes like ... read more
- A year after Unilever, the ad-funded creator economy is still catching up to its own ambitionThe creator economy had been waiting for a moment like this. For years, influencer marketing had occupied an awkward position on media plans – big enough to matter, not established enough to defend. The measurement ... read more
- News/Media Alliance signs AI licensing deal to unlock recurring RAG revenue for small and mid-sized publishersThe News/Media Alliance is testing a new path to AI revenue, signing a licensing deal that lets its 2,200 publisher members opt in to monetizing RAG-driven enterprise demand. The deal is with AI startup company ... read more
- Publicis vs. The Trade Desk isn’t really about transparency – it’s about who gets the marginThe standoff between Publicis Groupe and The Trade Desk is widely viewed as a transparency dispute, but that’s only the surface; deeper analysis shows it’s indicative of tectonic plates shifting. Related Insights ... read more
- What happens when agency execs negotiate against AI agentsWhat really happens when AI agents are enlisted to negotiate ad deals? To find out, I created an interactive game that has actual Gemini-powered AI agents represent buyers and sellers in an advertising deal. Then ... read more
- Joint signings highlight growing convergence between creator and Hollywood agenciesCreator agency Reign Maker Group and Hollywood talent agency Paradigm announced a series of joint signings, underscoring how representation models are evolving as agencies seek to diversify both their talent rosters and revenue streams. The ... read more
- Alibaba targets $100B in AI and cloud revenue over 5 years as its vision for the agentic era comes into focusThis story was first published by Digiday sibling Modern Retail. Change is afoot at one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies as it shifts its business model to adapt to the agentic AI era. During ... read more
- 'Project Hail Mary' Throws $80M Movie Box Office TouchdownThe science-fiction adventure film - expected to deliver $50 million to $60 million - became the top-grossing domestic movie of the year so far. ... read more
- 'Project Hail Mary' Receives $80M Box Office TouchdownThe science-fiction adventure film - expected to deliver $50 million to $60 million - became the top-grossing domestic movie of the year so far. ... read more
- 'The New York Times' Seeks To Have Pentagon Press Passes Restored After Court VictoryA federal judge has ruled that key parts of the Defense Department’s media policy are unconstitutional, the New York Times reports. The Times, which filed a lawsuit accusing the Pentagon of violating the First and Fifth Amendments, is ... read more
- Advertisers Urged To 'Quantify Exposure' In Wake Of Publicis-TTD SpatThe squabble erupted into public view last week when a Publicis Groupe memo leaked that indicated it was no longer recommending that clients use The Trade Desk for DSP and related services. ... read more
- Stagwell Teams Up With Applovin To Help Advertisers, PublishersStagwell has chosen Applovin’s Axon in an effort to provide clients with a transparency measurement and reporting tool for mobile campaigns, Insider Monkey reports. Axom reaches 1 billion users per day via mobile apps and ... read more
- WordPress To Allow Agent Agents To Write, Publish Web ContentWordPress.com will allow AI agents to draft, edit and publish content on clients’ websites, the firm announced on Friday, TechCrunch reports. The web hosting platform will also let users manage comments, update metadata and manage comment. This ... read more
- Intuit Wins Ruling Throwing Out FTC Decision On Its Turbo Tax SoftwareIntuit won a legal victory on Friday when the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out a Federal Trade Commission barring Intuit, the maker of the Turbo Tax tax preparation software from advertising the ... read more
- CBS Radio Goes Silent: Network Is Being Closed In MayThe entire staff is being laid off, putting more journalists on the street. ... read more
- Three Pillars for Retail Media Network Success in a Crowded MarketU.S. omnichannel retail media is projected to generate $71.67 billion in 2026, as retailers work to unify in-store and digital operations. But, with more than 240 networks now vying for advertiser dollars, retail media is ... read more
- Wunderkind’s Adam Gendelman: Pause Ads Drive 79% Lower Cost Per Action Than Other CTV FormatsSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Pause ads might just be the ultimate form of advertising kindness to both marketers and CTV viewers alike.. “The results we saw is our pause ad experience drove 79% lower ... read more
- What White House AI Policy Means For AdvertisersThe White House released policy guidelines on Friday calling for blocking state laws that regulate AI. It also recommended safeguards for children and consumer protections for energy costs. ... read more
- Oops… Nielsen Did It Again! Delays Recalibrated Gauge Until SeptemberNielsen, which delayed a recalibrated version of its monthly Gauge from this week to next, is now delaying it until September. ... read more
- Google Ventures Europe Mostly Invests In AI-Related Start-upsEighty percent of Google Ventures investments in Europe are in AI or AI-native companies that seem to be doing something new or in a way that could not have been done before. ... read more
- Bluesky Announces It Raised $100M To Scale DevelopmentBluesky announced that it raised $100 million in a Series B funding round last April, allowing the company to add developers and build out its protocol functionality. ... read more
- Bluesky Announces $100M Raise To Scale DevelopmentBluesky announced that it raised $100 million in a Series B funding round last April, allowing the company to add developers and build out its protocol functionality. ... read more
- Free Speech Watchdogs Urge FCC Chair To Withdraw Threats To Broadcasters"The Communications Act explicitly denies the Commission any 'power of censorship' or power to 'interfere with the right of free speech,'" the ACLU and others say in a letter to FCC Chair Brendan Carr. ... read more
- Gen Z Leading AI Agent ShoppingShopping queries on AI platforms are growing faster than any other category and referral traffic is converting at higher rates,. This shows advertisers must tackle another new channel, according to marketing agency Skai. ... read more
- Court To Decide If Users Can Sue Facebook Over Fake AdsA federal appellate court has granted Meta Platforms' petition to review a ruling requiring the company to face claims by Facebook users who say they were duped by fraudulent ads. ... read more
- Google AI Pivot Chases OpenClawGoogle's quest to create a universal assistant could be the reason it reportedly restructured the team behind Project Mariner, a research prototype browser extension from Google DeepMind and AI agent for the Chrome browser that ... read more
- AdExchanger and The Women in Programmatic Network Renew Partnership for 2026 Events to Elevate Women’s Voices in Ad TechNew York, NY — Friday, March 20, 2026 — AdExchanger has renewed its partnership with the US chapter of The Women in Programmatic Network (TWIPN) for 2026, expanding collaboration across its flagship industry gatherings and ... read more
- Your Agency Is Officially A Seller — Time To Start Treating Them Like OneStop treating your agency like a traditional partner. If they are selling you "owned" inventory, the rules of engagement must change. ... read more
- It's The Pumps, StupidIn a matter of weeks, the only perceived economic bright spot for American voters - gas prices - has gone from not-so-bad to not-so-good, finds Ipsos' tracking team. ... read more
- Vincent Bollore To Stand Trial On Political Corruption ChargesThe trial will focus on allegations that Bollore provided discounted communications services via Havas to two African country presidential contenders (both won) in exchange for contracts to run shipping port concessions. ... read more
- Radio Tops Other Media In Trust, Report ShowsRadio is the most trusted medium, with 85% of Americans finding it trustworthy or very much so, Radio Ink reports based on Katz Radio Group’s 2026 Media Trust Study. It is followed by newspapers (77%), ... read more
- Traffic May Be Declining, But The Verge Is ThrivingTraffic is plummeting for seemingly resilient publications, including Digital Trends (97%) and The Verge (-85%). But traffic decline doesn’t necessarily mean business decline, Fast Company writes. The Verge, an early questioner of AI’s impact on content, is pursuing a four-point strategy that includes a ... read more
- Nexstar-Tegna $6.2B Deal Approved, Challenges RemainThere are lawsuits from eight state governments with antitrust concerns, as well as legal filings from Newsmax, DirecTV and the Communications Workers of America, among other lawsuits. ... read more
- Beyond Programmatic: A New Model For Buying Premium CTV InventoryIf you buy CTV advertising, you’ve likely encountered two approaches to securing premium inventory: programmatic guaranteed (PG) and buying direct, also referred to as direct IO (DIO). Both are effective in different ways, but each ... read more
- Chatbots Are Great Listeners. Maybe Too Great, Says Study On Synthetic RelationshipsPeople who linger longer with chatbots reported higher loneliness, less interaction with actual humans and more signs of emotional dependence. ... read more
- Streamers, Brands Reach Far And Wide For Sports ContentA report from SponsorUnited says that in 2025, women's sports leagues including the WNBA, NWSL, WTA, and LPGA had a combined 5,372 sponsorship deals --- three-and-a-half times the growth rate of men's sports leagues and ... read more
- Fox Prays For 'Faithful' Miniseries MiracleFox's plan to tee up a three-part, six-hour Bible-based miniseries could be seen as an experiment aimed at determining if there is an audience for religious storytelling in prime time. ... read more
- America’s Test Kitchen Puts Direct And Programmatic Access On Its MenuAmerica's Test Kitchen introduced direct and programmatic buying for its free ad-supported TV channels – marking the first time it’s selling ad inventory as a standalone package. The post America’s Test Kitchen Puts Direct And ... read more
- The Media Spend SkimPrincipal-based buying is on the rise, and it’s causing conflict between agencies and ad tech partners. Plus: What are sell-side agents, and how could they help publishers? The post The Media Spend Skim appeared first ... read more
- Comic: OverfrequencyEnjoy this weekly comic strip from AdExchanger.com that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem … The post Comic: Overfrequency appeared first on AdExchanger. ... read more
- The JavaScript Overload; Whatever, AI Will Handle ItPublishers’ Porky Pages News publishers overloading their sites with ads, plus the ever-growing technical requirements for running ad auctions, have given rise to a new online phenomenon: the 49MB web page. To put that bloat ... read more
- Why Parker Thatch transformed its strip-mall storefront into a livestreaming studioThis article was first published by Digiday sibling Modern Retail. Livestreaming is more than just a social media strategy for the husband-and-wife team behind the eight-figure luxury handbag and accessories brand Parker Thatch. It’s also ... read more
- Macy’s, Inc. is looking to leverage AI ahead of a cautious outlook for 2026This story was first published by Digiday sibling Glossy On Wednesday, Macy’s, Inc. posted its fourth-quarter and full-year results for 2025. The department store giant and owner of Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury reported a 1.5% growth ... read more
- Future of Marketing Briefing: Agency operating systems face a differentiation problemAgencies have spent years betting that proprietary AI platforms would set them apart. A Gartner note published last week put a deadline on how long that bet has to pay off. WPP developed WPP Open ... read more
- Costco Updates Its Retail Media Network To Fuel Personalized ShoppingCostco has introduced what it calls personalized “digital end caps” in an upgrade to Costco Velocity, its retail media network, Supermarket News reports. The platform, which is powered by Moloco’s commerce media technology, uses machine learning trained ... read more
- New Layoffs Hit The Entertainment FieldLayoffs in the entertainment industry are continuing this year after an avalanche of job cuts in 2025, Deadline reports. Among the more recent ones are a 3% staff reduction at William Morris Endeavor announced the day after ... read more
- The Trade Desk Petition To Dismiss Shareholder Suit Is DeniedA group of investors filed suit against the Trade Desk last year, alleging violations of securities laws related to the company's AI-driven programmatic ad-buying platform Kokai. ... read more
- Perplexity Launches iOS Browser App With Google As Default Search EnginePerplexity launched its browser app Comet for iOS with Google as the default search engine and medical and health search features that will gain support and feedback from a newly formed Perplexity Health Advisory Board. ... read more
- TikTok To Premiere Creator-Led Series On TubiTikTok and Tubi have announced a "Creatorverse Incubator" partnership designed to promote original shows made by TikTok creators on the free streaming service. ... read more
- Compass Drops Lawsuit Against ZillowThe legal clash, dating back almost a year, centered on how home listings can be marketed online. ... read more
- Journalists Sound Off: They Worry About Disinformation, Other IssuesJournalists have plenty on their minds - but they like their jobs and are confident in their career prospects, Muck Rack reports. ... read more
- Legacy Ad Industry: Consolidation, Or 'Spiders In A Jar'?Today the ad industry as we know it has entered its "spiders in a jar" phase, when, like spiders, they kill each other until there is only one left. ... read more
- Judge Questions Whether Android Users Consented To Meta Tracking"If I tell a friend she can stay at my house and treat it as her own, I would be upset if she went through my underwear drawer, because her actions exceeded the scope of ... read more
- Google, American Airlines Use AI To Create More Sustainable Flight PathsThe research and trial are a sustainability initiative that can significantly impact how the companies market their environmental efforts and services and which airlines ad industry execs use to travel and support brands. ... read more
- Meta To Rely More Heavily On AI For Content ModerationMeta plans to deploy more advanced AI systems across its family of apps that will reduce the tech giant's reliance on third-party vendors for content moderation. ... read more
- Press Group, First Amendment Watchdogs, Others Blast California Deep Fake LawThe law "would impoverish public discourse by interfering with the ability of journalists to gather and publish information online," the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press argues in a proposed friend-of-the-court brief filed Wednesday ... read more
- Watchdogs: California Deep Fake Law Would 'Impoverish' Public DiscourseThe law "would impoverish public discourse by interfering with the ability of journalists to gather and publish information online," the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press argues in a proposed friend-of-the-court brief filed Wednesday ... read more
- ID Comms: Publicis-TTD Dispute Exposes Broader Industry Issues"While TTD certainly has questions to answer regarding its supply path and fee structure, we suspect this is also a case of the holding company deflecting accountability," Denford wrote in a client note on the ... read more
- Robinhood Launches Social Platform For Trading, Markets DiscussionRobinhood has begun beta-testing a social-media platform designed for users interested in making in-feed trades, following leading investors and staying up to date on the markets. ... read more
- Agents Ran Entire Butler/Till Campaign, They Share ResultsAs industry conversation focuses on whether AI will actually run media buying, this real example will give advertisers and media buyers a glimpse into how it works. ... read more
- Disney+ Is Company's 'Digital Centerpiece,' New CEO SaysIncoming CEO Josh D'Amaro said Disney+ would essentially be a "portal" for Disney's entire ecosystem, aligning the "One Disney" philosophy with the goal to create a direct line between new digital experiences and physical experiences ... read more
- Nielsen 'Blind Spot' Gets A Little Blinder, Will Cease Monitoring Many TV Markets"As Nielsen continues to evolve its local TV measurement strategy to prioritize Big Data integrated with a representative panel, we are updating our operational workflows to reflect the primary measurement drivers," Nielsen said, calling over-the-air ... read more
- ANA Finds Principal Buying Continues To Grow, Except For DigitalFollowing up on its 2024 benchmark study on principal media buying, the Association of National Advertisers has released a new one showing the practice has become far more prevalent among big advertisers. ... read more
- X Hit By Service Outage On WednesdayX suffered an outage on Wednesday, going down just before noon, the New York Post reports. Data from Downtector indicates that complaints spiked in just a few minutes, with tens of thousands of reports coming in. X users ... read more
- The End Of Easy Measurement: Building An Evidence-Based System For Marketing ROIMarketers are projected to have invested nearly $400 billion in US media in 2025, based on estimates from MAGNA and eMarketer. About half of that will go toward finding new customers. Yet, as marketing investment grows, clarity on ... read more
- As D'Amaro Steps In, Big Changes Ahead For Disney – Including Linear TV?New CEO Josh D'Amaro may need to revisit the idea of selling/spinning off Disney's cable TV networks - including ESPN. ... read more
- What Does A Beta Test Of A Sell-Side Agent Look Like?Using machine learning to automate and optimize ads is familiar to publishers. For years, this tech has helped publishers tune floors and serve the best ads behind the scenes. Now, publishers are exploring automation and ... read more
- Why Programmatic Quality Control Needs To Focus On The Bid Request, Not DomainsFor years, “inventory cleanup” (or “rationalization”) meant one thing: curating the domain list. Whitelists, blacklists, inclusion lists, MFA lists, premium lists, “approved publisher” lists. The industry uses them to reduce risk, improve quality and create ... read more
- To Buy Or Build Your Bot; No Horizon On The HorizonMarketers debate whether to build or buy their tools; Meta is shutting down the VR version of Horizon Worlds; and influencer marketing strives for authenticity. The post To Buy Or Build Your Bot; No Horizon ... read more
- Brands turn niche news creators into a new earned media engineEarned media used to mean landing a headline in a major news publication. Now, it’s more likely a mention from a TikTok news explainer or creator-led podcast. As audiences increasingly turn to social media for ... read more
- Media Briefing: What to expect at the Digiday Publishing Summit, March 2026 edition This week’s Media Briefing covers what to expect from Digiday’s Publishing Summit in Vail, Colo., next week, with publishers strategizing for the AI era and revealing their biggest hurdles in developing creator networks. BuzzFeed’s ... read more
- The real winners of March Madness? Brands that move fast on NIL dealsThis article was first published by Digiday sibling Modern Retail. Consumer brands and retailers aren’t sitting on the sidelines this March Madness. Companies across sectors, from footwear to personal care, are racing to sign college ... read more
- Cloudflare’s compliant crawler highlights tension – and opportunity – in the emerging AI content market Cloudflare is pushing to create a market for licensed AI content, offering a compliant crawler aimed at giving publishers more control and reducing inefficient site crawls — even as some question the irony of the ... read more
- DIRECTV Loses NFL Sunday Ticket Access As NFL Moves To Streaming ModelDIRECTV is losing its long-time role distributing NFL Sunday Ticket to bars, restaurants, and other businesses as the NFL shifts to a streaming-only model via EverPass Media, according to Cord Cutters News. Years earlier, the NFL shifted residential ... read more
- GEICO Doubles Down On Women's SportsAs part of that push, the company has produced (with Religion of Sports) a new docuseries timed to the NCAA basketball tournament called "Miles That Matter." ... read more
- Postal Armageddon: The USPS Could Collapse In Less Than A YearPublishers that mail their products could be hurt by rate increases or an inability to deliver. ... read more
- Inside A MMM Intended To Fix OverspendingResearch led Prescient AI to develop and launch new marketing mix models intended to fix the problem of overspending on budgets and misattribution in traditional models. ... read more
- Sen. Wyden Calls For Law Prohibiting Feds From Buying Consumer DataSenator Ron Wyden on Wednesday reiterated his call for a new federal privacy law after Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel testified at a hearing that the agency purchases "commercially available" data. ... read more
- Meta Payout Program Aims To Lure More Creators To FacebookTo persuade more creators to focus on Facebook, the platform announced a "Creator Fast Track" program designed to help creators grow their audience and increase monetization from short-form videos. ... read more
- How new infrastructure, like the Model Context Protocol, is reshaping marketing workflowsAI agents are now becoming central to marketing workflows. These agents are designed to handle manual, repetitive and time-consuming work, executing tasks inside systems like CRMs, analytics environments and marketing automation tools. However, agentic AI ... read more
- Why You CAN Spell 'Air' Without AIRewatching the movie "Air," I saw a lesson in how our business will always require real people to make it work. ... read more
- NetChoice Battles Virginia Over Time Limits For Social Media"Under Virginia's logic, it could restrict minors from spending more than one hour a day playing alluring video games on Xbox Live," NetChoice tells the 4th Circuit. ... read more
- NetChoice Battles Virginia Over Social Media Time Limits"Under Virginia's logic, it could restrict minors from spending more than one hour a day playing alluring video games on Xbox Live," NetChoice tells the 4th Circuit. ... read more
- Shoppers Let AI Pick The Shoes But Not The Price TagAbout 38% of Americans say they have already completed a purchase directly inside ChatGPT. ... read more
- Publicis, Trade Desk Battle Over Transparency, Hidden FeesPublicis has urged clients to stop using The Trade Desk, saying it failed audit, charges hidden fees and more. TTD has strongly denied the claims. ... read more
- Trust Is the Real Currency in Commerce Media: Chase Media’s Lauren GriewskiSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — In an industry obsessed with signals, identity graphs and whatever acronym dropped this morning, Lauren Griewski has a simpler thesis. “Trust is always going to be the most important currency ... read more
- Infolinks Media’s Bob Regular: Real-Time Intent Signals Are ‘Precious’ Compared to ‘Stale’ Modeled DataSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Live engagement signals that capture actual audience presence and activity provide superior value compared to modeled data that becomes stale over weeks of appending and processing. “The beautiful thing about ... read more