Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Two years ago, retail media networks were at a crossroads. At the time they were weighing whether to become traditional walled gardens or allowing the programmatic ecosystem open access to data. Retailers are long past that point. Hundreds of store operators launched retail media businesses in the past couple years alone. And most of the…
Beginning next week, the search giant will face off against the US Justice Department over allegations that the company’s adtech practices are anti-competitive. In a historic trial set to begin on Monday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) will take on Google, challenging the way it monetizes advertising and accusing it of stifling competition in…
A new study underscores the urgent need for more effective brand safety tools to ensure that brands can reliably prevent their ads from appearing alongside harmful content. A report published today reveals that ads for hundreds of the world’s biggest brands – including Meta, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Amazon, Disney, Nestle, Mercedes, Walmart, Marriott and…
Google to kill cookies with consent Google yesterday announced that it no longer intends to deprecate third-party cookies in its Chrome browser. From its blog post, A new path for Privacy Sandbox on the web (emphasis mine): Early testing from ad tech companies, including Google, has indicated that the Privacy Sandbox APIs have the potential to…
TikTok collected data about its users’ views on sensitive topics and censored content at the direction of its China-based parent company, the Justice Department said Friday, making its most forceful case to date that the video-sharing app poses a national-security threat. The sensitive topics TikTok tracked included the views of its U.S.-based users on gun control,…
Former UM privacy chief Arielle Garcia knows the $700bn global digital ad industry is founded on trading “useless, garbage data” because a) she spent a decade in media ops and compliance and b) she’s accessed her own profile from adtech vendors. The result? 500 laughably contradictory audience segments where she is simultaneously woman and man,…
“Uncovering Earth’s Secrets: A Journey Into Its Deepest Hole” That’s the title of a made-for-arbitrage (MFA) article about a failed Soviet-era scientific expedition to drill a hole tens of thousands of feet into the Earth’s crust. But it could easily double as a headline for the latest ad tech exposé. The story referenced above appears…
Sales are way up and ROAS is through the roof across search, social and ecommerce. At least, that’s what the ad platforms claim. But dig into the CRM, a brand’s primary source of actual sales data, and site traffic and engagement coming from search and social aren’t jumping. This is a relatively normal occurrence for…
Compliance is not a choice. But companies have some choice in how they tackle it. There are two main approaches. Businesses can implement a compliance program on a state-by-state basis, essentially devising different data strategies to meet the legal requirements in each state where they have customers. Or they can take a national approach by…
Palantir, the controversial software company with ties to intelligence agencies, is turning to the agency world as part of its continued efforts to grow its commercial business. The company, which was co-founded by venture capitalist Peter Thiel, has pitched advertising agencies on utilizing its year-old AI platform AIP, according to two executives from different agencies…