The Big Story

Keep the cookies; hold for consent. We unpack Google's reversal on third-party cookies and what it means for the ad industry, which was preparing for a cookieless future.

We set the scene for Google's upcoming antitrust trial in September, including details from the recently released witness list, a who's who of the ad tech world.

For our 300th episode, we do a post-mortem (don't do a brand safety block on us for using this term!) on Oracle's ad business. Then, we go through the ins and outs of reaching LBGTQ+ audiences online, a category that requires extra attention to data privacy.

This week, we bring on the CEO and CTO of privacy tech startup Anonym, which was acquired by Mozilla, to talk about PETs (privacy-enhancing technologies) and how Mozilla plans to use its tech to create a more private internet.

At the Cannes Lions, generative AI applications for advertising were out in force. Plus: takes from the Croisette on retail media and cookie conspiracies.

The move from in-store to digital shopper marketing continues, as United Airlines, Costco, PayPal, Chase and Expedia make new retail media plays. Plus: what the DSP Madhive saw in advertising sales software company Frequence.

SPO is moving from efficiency to curation to ranking the top 500 publishers. We talk through industry reactions to The Trade Desk's SP500+ product. Plus: Seedtag acquired Beachfront, a deal that's emblematic of multiple trends in CTV, privacy and the rise of contextual.

The open web is getting smaller, with the squeeze happening in two directions. Curated deals are skimming the cream off the open web, and exposed made-for-advertising websites are shuttering.

Our other "a-ha" moments from the conference, including observations on CTV, the state of commerce media, programmatic transparency – and the lack thereof. (Oh, and as an aside, somebody at the show told me they'd fed my AdExchanger articles into an LLM that could practically reproduce my work in a snap. Which is cool. Not.)

Made-for-advertising sites are roosting in reputable publishers' subdomains. IDs are declared inconsistently. And the established third-party measurement companies are sitting on the sidelines.