Bots And Games Are Back (For Ad Tech)

What’s old is new. Time is a flat circle. Trends are cyclical. Choose your idiom, because this week’s episode grapples with two topics that are back in style (so to speak): bot traffic and the tantalizing dream of scaling programmatic in-game advertising.

After the IAB Tech Lab proposed to move ad auctions from the browser to the server with its Trusted Server prototype, controversy ensued. Plus: Should data privacy be viewed as a badge of honor or a baseline?

Alphonso shareholders won their lawsuit against LG Ads, clearing the way for an IPO. Then, as TikTok counts down the days until its stay of execution expires, Oracle might buy a minority stake.

Tariffs are taking effect in the US, and advertisers are shook. Our special guest, Madison and Wall’s Brian Wieser, weighs in on the “blindingly obvious” consequences of implementing tariffs, including supply-chain disruptions that lead to a pullback in ad spend. You can’t promote what you can’t produce. Plus: the rationale behind Publicis’ acquisition of Lotame.

Programmatic algorithms optimize for performance, which can leave digital media companies floundering. Inside programmatic’s pursuit of “premium.” Plus: an ad tech acquisition forged on matchmaking buy-side and sell-side IDs.

In her last week at AdExchanger, Senior Editor Alyssa Boyle reflects on three years of change, and stasis, in the CTV space. Then, how Ozempic is changing the marketing world.

When the ad tech darling of Wall Street, The Trade Desk, misses earnings, the industry pays attention. Plus: Reddit, fueled by Google search, sputters after an algorithmic adjustment.

When an ad shows up next to illegal content, there is often not a single point of failure. Adalytics Krzysztof Franaszek walks us through why he found ad showing up next to the worst kind of criminal content -- and the simple and complex solutions to this problem.

The Google Chrome team is getting closer to deciding on its cookie consent mechanism. And  Paramount resolves its four-month standoff with Nielsen, as the mechanics behind currency change forever.

CTV transparency remains a flashpoint between advertisers who want it and broadcasters who won’t provide it. Our special guest, Jounce Media’s Chris Kane, weighs in. Plus, we examine a persistent issue in ad tech: the chronic mislabeling of instream video.