Mergers And Operating Systems Are Reshaping TV Ads

Authenticity. Outcomes. Workflow….and containerization? After a week sweating on the Croisette, the AdExchanger team offers you a sweat-free synopsis of the 2026 Cannes Lions.

Linear TV is grabbing attention once again. The broadcast and streaming worlds are being pulled together by a wave of major M&A, from Fox's $22 billion acquisition of Roku to Paramount's merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. TV Land, naturally, is watching closely, and so are we.

How can companies put ads in new places, but still get the user experience right? Smart TV home screens, like Samsung, are adding programmatic ads. Roblox will show ads to kids under 13. We look at the challenges and opportunities faced by platforms expanding their ad footprint.

A word of caution to digital advertising companies, as they go all in on AI algorithms: They need to build these solutions with ownership, governance and accountability from the start – or AI could sink them with a single mistake.  

TV piracy of sports streams is siphoning away millions of viewers. Then: Vox Media and BuzzFeed found new owners this spring, punctuating the end of the pageview era.

Recorded live in Las Vegas at Prog AI, the AdExchanger team tackles a tricky question: As AI floods the feed with chaotic, addictive content and people engage with it, what does "premium" even mean anymore?

This year's TV Upfronts buzzwords are in: performance, dynamic, AI and fandom We explain why this quartet of phrases wove their way through the presentations.

If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a sound? And if a UID2 doesn't work -- does anyone notice? Inside a UID2 mix-up that has a publisher questioning the value of alt IDs. Then, what Kochava's settlement with the FTC means for any ad tech company that handles location data.

Take your sunglasses off for this one. Fresh off the POSSIBLE conference in Miami, our reporters debrief on how the marketing industry addressed the subject du jour: AI. Plus: the topics that were conspicuously absent from the conference.

Programmatic infighting reached a new peak last fall, as LinkedIn flame wars erupted over transaction IDs. OMD Worldwide Chief Media Officer Ben Hovaness, leader of a new programmatic peacekeeping group, talks through the org's goal to encourage more conversation and less conflict.