The Week in Ad Tech: November 2–8, 2026

We collected 110 stories this week. These are the stories the most outlets, and the most headlines, came back to.

The week’s biggest stories

1. What DoorDash’s Instacart acquisition says about the modern delivery platform pitch
   Digiday2 outlets
   • Here are the questions on advertisers’ minds after the DoorDash-Instacart deal Digiday
   • DoorDash’s Instacart Deal: What A Successful Integration Will Mean For Retailers AdExchanger
   • After DoorDash’s Instacart bid, here’s the case for and against consolidation in commerce media Digiday
   • DoorDash Just Bought The Ad Business It Couldn’t Build For Itself AdExchanger
2. Paid Search Shifts To New Fronts As AI Overview Ads Surge
   MediaPost2 outlets
   • In graphic detail: Six thousand brands later, ChatGPT ads still have a conversion problem Digiday
   • ChatGPT Introduces Text-to-GIF Tool For Ad Creation MediaPost
3. Google Plays Hardball With Schoolchildren; Reddit Upvotes Search Ads
   AdExchanger2 outlets
   • In Google's America, Children Have A New AI Policy MediaPost
4. AppLovin Is Back To Smashing Earnings, But Investors Are Slow To Buy
   AdExchanger2 outlets
   • AppLovin Sees Boost In Ad Spending, Advertiser ROI MediaPost
5. Nine Firms That Could Be Big Buyers Of Ad Tech Companies
   MediaPost2 outlets
   • Will The Blue Wave Midterms Put A Damper On Ad Tech M&A? AdExchanger
6. Microsoft Unveils Redesigned Content Feed
   MediaPost2 stories
   • Microsoft Redesigns Content Feed On Edge, Windows Taskbar MediaPost
7. Meta Pauses Data-Scraping Terms Following Publisher Criticism
   MediaPost2 stories
   • Meta Pauses Data-Scraping Terms Following Criticism MediaPost

The week in numbers

• 65MediaPost
• 20Digiday
• 14AdExchanger
• 11Beet TV

Day by day

• Tuesday, November 3
• Wednesday, November 4
• Thursday, November 5
• Friday, November 6

Every headline links to the original story. Search the archive.