MadTech Daily: Advertisers Eye 2026 Media Budget Shifts; ChatGPT to Offer Target Shopping; Meta Cleared of Monopoly Claims

In this episode of the MadTech Podcast, Nicole Pruess, freelance presenter and educator at U of Digital, joins ExchangeWire editor Aimee Newell Tarín and COO Lindsay Rowntree.  They discuss Meta profiting from fraudulent ads on its platforms, TikTok’s and Netflix’s podcasting push, and transparency in CTV advertising.

In today’s MadTech Daily we cover Perplexity launching a tool to simplify online shopping, a Spanish court ordering Meta to pay $550m to digital media firms, and new EU probes into Meta.

In today’s MadTech Daily, we cover shifts for advertisers in 2026 media budgets, ChatGPT offering target shopping via OpenAI, and OpenAI striking a deal with Intuit for personal finance integration. We also discuss Meta being cleared of monopoly claims over Instagram and WhatsApp.

In today’s MadTech Daily, we look at Channel 4 launching an AI ad tool for SMEs, Jack Dorsey backing diVine, a Vine reboot featuring its video archive, as well as Jeff Bezos becoming co-CEO of Project Prometheus.

In today’s Digest, we look at Havas entering talks over a potential WPP stake, Dentsu accelerating its global restructuring amid revenue declines, and a German court ordering Google to pay €572m in a price-comparison case.

In today’s MadTech Daily, we discuss the IAB launching a faster ad auction protocol, NBCUniversal preparing to debut its new NBC Sports Network, and Alibaba rolling out an AI tool to streamline sourcing.

On this week's podcast, Samara Hocihara of the Telegraph joins John Still and Rachel Smith to discuss AI litigation, Reddit's big moment and the new Browser Wars. *Check out the winners from The Wires Awards 2025*

In today’s MadTech Daily, we cover the EU planning a new probe into Google over news rankings, Tencent’s profit jumping 19% on AI gains, and 58% of UK households holding fewer than three streaming services.

In this special episode of the MadTech Podcast, ExchangeWire CEO Rachel Smith is joined by Bastiaan Spaans, Chief Commercial Officer at digitalAudience, and Remco Steen, Manager of Advertising Technology at Mediahuis Netherlands, to discuss their companies' latest partnership. They look at data distribution and collaboration between publishers, brands, and agencies, tools like data clean rooms, and how publishers are experimenting with their monetisation strategy. 

In today's MadTech Daily, we look at the latest announcements from ITV’s Palooza event, Reddit reeling in advertisers with the launch of a new ad format, plus Microsoft making its behavioural analytics tool mandatory for publishers.