MadTech Daily: Netflix Brings Upfront Event to the UK; Meta Ordered to Open WhatsApp to AI Rivals

In this episode of The MadTech Podcast, ExchangeWire's head of marketing, Grainne Reid, is joined by COO Lindsay Rowntree and John Still, head of content.The first story this week is MENA becoming the world's fastest-growing digital advertising market. The team discuss the biggest categories in the region and their expectations for future growth. The second covers the CMA imposing new measures on Google search, and whether this affords publishers greater protection in the AI era.Finally, UK ad exports recorded a £19.4bn milestone in 2025. Is the UK proud enough of its advertising industry, and what's being done to further promote it?•••July 8th, Sands Expo & Convention Centre. ATS Singapore 2026. This year marks fifteen years of ExchangeWire bringing together the people who actually run this industry in APAC. We’ve got some great speakers lined up, including Index Exchange CEO Andrew Casale, on stage in conversation with Ciaran O’Kane.That's before you factor in the rest of the people on stage and in the room: senior buyers, sellers, traders, and decision-makers. This is where the industry figures out what it's going to do next, and you need to be in the room.Secure your ticket now → https://events.exchangewire.com/ATSSingapore2026 •••0:00 Introduction0:53 MENA digital advertising spend hits $8.185bn6:35 Maturity of MENA ecosystem vs. other markets9:05 CMA imposes conduct requirement on Google18:16 Is Google being made an example of?21:08 ATS Singapore 2026 speaker lineup22:58 UK ad exports hit £19.4bn

In today’s MadTech Daily, we cover ChatGPT Ads landing its first Conversion API partner in LiveRamp, Seven’s parent company cutting jobs as TV earnings fall, and Amazon DSP integrating Adelaide attention targeting.

In today’s MadTech Daily, we cover Netflix bringing Upfronts to the UK for the first time, Brussels forcing Meta to allow rival AI services on WhatsApp, and Italy’s Bending Spoons filing for a US IPO.

In today’s MadTech Daily, we look at MENA becoming the fastest-growing advertising market, Whalar joining Accenture in an acquisition deal, and VCCP unveiling a new retail media offering alongside an ECD appointment.

In today’s MadTech Daily, we discuss Portugal fining telecoms companies over ad collusion, The Trade Desk’s CRO stepping down after seven months, and software buyouts falling to pandemic-era lows amid an AI-driven market rout

In today’s Digest, we cover Google introducing Search Profiles in Discover, Roblox expanding ads to children under 13, and Singtel securing AI funding through a partnership deal in Singapore. 

In today’s MadTech Daily, we cover the SPUR Coalition welcoming 30 new members at the World News Media Congress, and Peer39 strengthening its verification offering through a deal with Adloox, and Malaysia’s under-16 social media ban taking effect on 1st June.

Is the industry sleepwalking into a creative quality crisis? Why are we still building retail media on first-wave infrastructure? Are marketers ready to adopt audio as a full funnel channel?This week, we're handing the mic over to our audience for another mailbag special. We’ve gathered burning questions from across the ad tech landscape and put them to our team, who’ll dive in and answer as best they can… In this episode of The MadTech Podcast, ExchangeWire's head of content, John Still, is joined by CEO Rachel Smith and COO Lindsay Rowntree to discuss generative AI content, retail media, and audio. The conversation explores if AI is doing more harm than good to public perceptions of advertising, the pace of retail media's evolution, and measurement challenges with audio channels.Thank you to DAIVID's Barney Worfolk-Smith, VML's Kiessé Lamour, and Audion's Kamel El Hadef for this month's questions!Got a burning question for the ExchangeWire team? Send your questions over to us and we'll answer in our next monthly mailbag special...0:00 Introduction0:47 Is the industry sleepwalking into a creative quality crisis?20:46 Why are we still building retail media on first-wave infrastructure?33:53 Are marketers ready to adopt audio as a full funnel channel?

In today’s MadTech Daily, we cover Google coming under UK scrutiny over its use of publisher content in AI products, InMobi and Scope3 launching an autonomous media buying agent, and DeepSeek nearing a $7bn funding round. 

In today’s MadTech Daily, we cover UK ad exports reaching £19.4bn, Tencent readying an AI agent for China’s most-used app, and Anthropic making its public market debut amid the AI surge.