Big Tech earnings, AI ads, Roku’s FrndlyTV acquisition + what’s in & out in this year’s upfront

This week’s episode recaps Google’s latest AI-related announcements, OpenAI’s hardware plans following its acquisition of io and Publicis Groupe’s purchase of Captiv8 to bolster its influencer marketing business. Then Google vp of global ads Dan Taylor (18:03) joins the show to discuss how the search giant is transforming its search advertising business for the AI era.

Digiday senior reporter Sam Bradley joins the show this week to recap the highs and lows of last week’s Upfront Week presentations in New York City, two major pay-TV and internet providers’ merger plans and Microsoft’s decision to shut down its demand-side platform. Then (19:45) Horizon Media’s president of global investment David Campanelli breaks down the state of play as TV and streaming’s annual upfront ad marketplace gets under way.

On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, co-hosts Kimeko McCoy, senior marketing reporter, and Tim Peterson, executive editor of video and audio, talk about the new SEO playbook in the AI era, why OpenAI is poaching Instacart’s CEO; and what Netflix’s new home screen means for product recommendations and, ultimately, ad personalization.

This week’s Digiday Podcast episode recaps the gloomy Q2 outlook in Meta’s, Amazon’s and Snap’s latest quarterly earnings reports, the roll-out of ads to AI chatbots and how Roku’s FrndlyTV acquisition could set it up to be a bigger streaming aggregator. Then Digiday senior media buying editor Michael Bürgi joins hosts Kimeko McCoy and Tim Peterson (19:27) to break down what are set to be the hot topics heading into this year’s TV and streaming advertising upfront market.

On this week’s episode of the Digiday podcast co-hosts Kimeko McCoy, senior marketing reporter, and Tim Peterson, executive editor of video and audio, talk about Google’s U-turn, keeping its third-party cookies in Chrome after all and the ripple effects of its anti-trust case fallout. Also on this episode, Hillary Kupferberg, vp of performance marketing at Exverus Media, breaks down the art of the JBP (joint business plan) deal in retail media (18:58).

On the Digiday Podcast this week, hosts Kimeko McCoy, senior marketing reporter and Tim Peterson, executive editor of video and audio, discuss the ripple effects of President Donald Trump's tariffs on the marketing and advertising industry (18:20). To make sense of all the tariff talk, they are joined by senior marketing editor Kristina Monllos and senior reporter Sam Bradley. Also on this episode, Peterson and McCoy discuss big tech’s antitrust trials, including the long-awaited ruling in Google’s ad tech antitrust battle with the Justice Department, OpenAI’s rumored X-like social media network and Netflix’s latest earnings.

This week’s episode recaps the topsy-turvy tariff changes, Walmart’s rising retail media demands and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust case against Meta. Then TikTok creator Alyssa McKay (16:17) joins to discuss how Snapchat and Instagram Reels could fill the TikTok void if the ByteDance-owned platform ends up being banned.

On the Digiday Podcast this week, hosts Kimeko McCoy, senior marketing reporter and Tim Peterson, executive editor of video and audio, discuss the TikTok ban’s second extension (yes, it has been extended yet again), tariff’s trickle down effects and why agency holding companies are looking to bolster the data capabilities. Also on this episode, Amie Owen (17:28), chief commerce officer at Kinesso, a performance marketing agency within IPG Mediabrands, breaks down how economic uncertainty impacts retail media spend negotiations, otherwise known as joint business planning (JBP), as well as what’s to blame for retail media’s executive dysfunction.

This week’s episode examines the gloomy ad market outlook, Apple’s App Tracking Transparency troubles and ad verification vendors’ bot blind spots. Then Dotdash Meredith svp and gm of D/Cipher Lindsay Van Kirk joins to discuss how the publisher has enlisted OpenAI to give its contextual ad targeting product a AI-assisted boost.

Sara Jerde, managing editor at Digiday, joins this week's episode of the Digiday Podcast to talk about Apple's $1 billion streaming TV loss, Ben & Jerry's ousted CEO and of course, Perplexity's proposal to buy TikTok the countdown to the ban continues. Also on this episode, Digiday senior media reporter Sara Guaglione and senior entertainment media reporter Alexander Lee joined the Digiday Podcast to preview the hot topics likely to dominate discussions with publishers during the spring edition of the Digiday Publishing Summit (22:49).