The Big Story

Abstract: Google’s Performance Max performs – but with a caveat. Marketers can’t control their campaigns and have no say over where their ads run or even, in some cases, what the creative looks like. And flying blind can lead to problems. Plus: Digital media layoffs and a recap of Google Ad Manager’s recent outage.

Fingerprinting, an alternative to third-party cookies, uses a constellation of browser signals to identify a person. The browsers don’t like it, but can they actually stamp it out? Plus: Advertising will grow, albeit slowly, in 2023, according to recent ad agency forecasts.

Brand safety has a hypocrisy problem. Violence that gets a pass when it’s a fictional TV show becomes flagged if it’s part of an online news story. But to what end? Plus: what Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales results portend for retailers’ prospects in Q4 and beyond.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we're sharing a recent episode of our sibling podcast, AdExchanger Talks. With a sharp but empathetic perspective on the responsibility that technology providers have to their users, this interview with The Markup’s CEO, Nabiha Syed, is one you don't want to miss.

Android has a Privacy Sandbox, too, and it’s going into open beta next year. Learn why this initiative isn’t generating the same ruckus as its close Chrome cousin, which is being hashed out at the W3C. Plus: a rundown on transparency (or the lack thereof) and the related data land grab in CTV.

Facebook’s ad platform is still misfiring and ad buyers are resorting to desperate measures, including a pay-for-access fee scheme that led to the firing of multiple Meta employees. Plus: It’s ad tech earnings week … and the category isn’t doing too hot.

The state of advertising at Twitter is a hot mess. And advertisers are starting to react. Plus: a primer on the Google Analytics deadline delay and changes to Google’s clean room, Ads Data Hub.

Political advertising is in full swing for the US midterm elections. We go deep into where candidates are spending their digital ad dollars and how they’re using data, with special guest Grace Briscoe, who oversees some 850 ad campaigns as head of political business for Basis.

Transparency. Privacy. Signal Loss. Coming out of Programmatic IO New York, the full editorial team debriefs on the hottest topics driving ad tech conversations in 2022.

Once you start looking, dark patterns are everywhere – and the FTC is determined to do more about enforcing against these unfair and deceptive design practices. Also: Brands are using incrementality measurement to transform their marketing plans and boost performance.