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Ad-tech

Desk brief

State of Play

Revised Nov 1, 2026

The moment. Search is paying for the AI that is replacing it. Adweek’s Kendra Barnett reports Alphabet’s Q3 search revenue growth slowed to 12% from 17% the quarter before, with executives citing AI Mode’s lower ad monetization, and TechCrunch has Google taking AI Mode ads international anyway. Google is also moving to personalize those ads with signals from Gmail and Photos. Meta rebuilt the engine underneath its feed: AdExchanger’s Allison Schiff reports an LLM-based ranking model and a retrieval overhaul letting Andromeda score more than a billion ads per second. OpenAI kept building its ad business in public, taking ChatGPT ads to 26 more countries for 89 in all, adding an automatic bid strategy, and applying creative enhancements to existing ads from October 30 unless an advertiser opts out. The FTC cleared Publicis’s LiveRamp acquisition under a consent order with a five-year data firewall.

The tension. The platforms are editing the work and moving the liability to the buyer. Adweek has Meta’s AI reworking creative without being asked, and Meta’s new terms make advertisers solely responsible for whatever it generates, a change Meta pushed from October 30 to November 20 after publisher trade bodies objected. Identity is closing in one browser and opening in another inbox: Apple confirmed it has broken identity resolution vendors’ tracking on Safari, while Google’s policy now lets Gmail, Drive and Photos data feed ads once a user connects them. CTV’s plumbing is still the weak joint: The Measure’s Jon Lafayette reports Wurl finding 89% of CTV ad requests lack a usable program name, and executives from Magnite to The Trade Desk name frequency waste as the problem nobody has fixed. Indie agencies now ask aloud whether they need a DSP at all.

Who’s moving. Google, with search growth at 12% and AI Mode ads going global. Google again, on Gmail and Photos signals in AI Mode ads. Meta, scoring every impression with an LLM. Meta again, delaying its terms to November 20. OpenAI, at 89 countries. The FTC and Publicis, on a five-year firewall around LiveRamp. Apple, closing the Safari workarounds. Wurl, on CTV requests with no program name. Skydance, weighing Google over FreeWheel. FreeWheel, following NBCU in the Comcast split. Madhive, adding AdImpact spend data across 210 markets. Pinterest, launching Programmatic Deals with Magnite.

What the desk is watching. Whether Meta’s November 20 date holds, and whether AI Mode’s ad load closes the gap in Google’s search growth or widens it.

Horizon research: AI’s ‘neutral’ halo is cracking as ads creep into answers

Ad Age’s Michele Donati reports that Horizon Media research found 44% of consumers don’t know brands can pay for AI recommendations, while 47% say a “sponsored” label lowers trust.

Meta bans TikTok parent ByteDance from advertising on its apps

The Ankler’s Sean McNulty notes that Bloomberg reported Meta has banned ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, from advertising on its apps across seven countries.

Meta adds agentic AI controls and Shopify checkout to its ad tools

eMarketer’s Grace Harmon reports that Meta unveiled AI ad tools at Advertising Week New York, including natural-language audience discovery, genAI video from static assets, and a Shopify-powered checkout inside Meta Business Agent on Messenger.

OpenAI adds visual ad format, measurement tools to ChatGPT ads

Marketing Brew’s Jasmine Sheena reports that OpenAI unveiled a new visual ad format plus measurement and brand suitability tools for ChatGPT Ads around Advertising Week.

Meta to charge companies for Facebook link posts, for now sparing publishers

Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter reports that Meta is moving ahead with a plan requiring companies to pay to post external links on Facebook pages, a policy that currently exempts publishers.

Revlon’s Amazon interactive video push nearly 10x’d click-through rate

Marketing Dive’s Chris Kelly reports that Revlon used Amazon’s Dynamic TV Creative and Interactive Video Ads in June to bridge upper-funnel awareness and lower-funnel conversion.

Teads exec: CTV inventory access is undifferentiated, so simplicity wins

VideoWeek’s Tim Cross-Kovoor reports that Teads’ Bastian Sarott says most CTV ad tech players have similar access to in-stream inventory, making them replaceable, with the same fragmentation now spreading to the home-screen market as TV makers use varied technologies.

How agentic buying actually works in CTV, via one early-adopter agency

AdExchanger’s Victoria McNally reports that agency InterMedia now runs agentic CTV buying through Claude, using Vibe.co’s MCP integration and Olyzon’s API-based orchestration layer to analyze campaigns and execute changes.

OpenAI says intent, not identity, will power ChatGPT ad targeting

Digiday reports that OpenAI’s Samantha Jacobson told Advertising Week New York that ChatGPT ads target what users ask, not who they are, calling identity-based profiling something that “felt really creepy.”

Why AI agents’ virtual computers may ditch the desktop look

The New Things’ Joanna Stern reports that AI agents like OpenAI’s Dot, Meta’s Muse and Instinct run on cloud virtual machines built to mimic human computers, complete with operating systems and browsers, even though agents don’t need human-style interfaces to work.

Agentic ad buying moves from pitch to small, real dollars

Adweek’s Trishla Ostwal reports that agentic ad-buying platforms like Apostra, PubMatic’s AgenticOS, and Magnite moved real money in September.

TikTok expands AI ad tools for search, creative and merchant campaigns

MediaPost’s Colin Kirkland reports that TikTok is expanding its Search Ads and GMV Max tools with AI, plus a new Creative Selection feature that organizes an advertiser’s AI-generated, owned, and creator assets.

Sony picks PubMatic for PlayStation live TV programmatic ads

The Measure’s Jon Lafayette reports that Sony named PubMatic as its preferred platform for programmatic access to Live TV on PS5, the FAST service it launched in August with over 100 live channels and logged-in PlayStation audiences.

Discord bets video quest ads can finally scale gaming advertising

Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Discord is rolling out self-serve video quest ads this week, as VP of Advertising Adam Bauer argues gaming is a “behavior,” not a vertical, even as the IAB pegs gaming at under 3% of US ad spend.

Locala launches CTV Planner to tailor investment market by market

ExchangeWire reports that Locala has launched CTV Planner, a tool that helps media teams set CTV investment levels and media pressure based on each market’s specific business and audience conditions.

PubMatic becomes preferred programmatic partner for PS5’s Live TV

Advanced Television reports that Sony Pictures Entertainment named PubMatic its preferred programmatic advertising partner for Live TV on PS5, connecting Sony’s inventory and authenticated audience data to brands and agencies through existing DSPs or PubMatic’s platform directly.

Discord’s ad chief: treat gaming as behavior, not a vertical

Next in Media’s Mike Shields talks with Discord Global VP of Advertising Adam Bauer, who argues marketers should target gaming as an active consumer habit and details the platform’s self-service Ads Manager and real-time PlayQuest+ reward tools built for opt-in, Gen Z-friendly campaigns.

OpenAI publishes step-by-step guide for its new Ads Manager

Help.OpenAI.com is documenting the full workflow for OpenAI Ads Manager Beta, covering guided and bulk-CSV campaign creation, ad group setup, creative specs, validation checks and post-launch monitoring.

Adwave licenses AI ad platform to DOOH operator Evergreen Digital Media

Advanced Television reports that Adwave has formed a strategic partnership with Evergreen Digital Media Corp., under which EDM will fund continued development of Adwave’s WaveRunner AI ad platform and take a preferred license to run it for the local advertisers on its digital-out-of-home networks.

ChatGPT’s ad stack gains features, but transparency gaps remain

eMarketer’s Grace Harmon reports that ChatGPT’s advertising technology stack is catching up to advertiser demand with new tools, yet transparency gaps still persist.

ChatGPT adds visual ads as marketers press for proof AI advertising works

eMarketer’s Marisa Jones reports that OpenAI has introduced visual ad formats inside ChatGPT, expanding beyond text-based placements as it builds out a commercial layer for the chatbot.

TikTok opens off-platform ad network to US advertisers

Adweek’s Trishla Ostwal reports that TikTok is opening TikTok Ad Network, its off-platform audience network formerly known as Pangle, to advertisers targeting US users, spanning nearly four hundred thousand apps globally.

OpenAI adds display ads to ChatGPT image generation results

TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez reports OpenAI is adding visual display ads beside ChatGPT image generation results, starting this month in the U.S. with an initial test group of advertisers, alongside expanded measurement partnerships and brand suitability pilots with DoubleVerify and IAS.

OpenWeb, once valued at $1.5B, is heading into bankruptcy

AdExchanger reports that publisher tech firm OpenWeb, backed by The New York Times and Samsung, faces insolvency with a $20 million lien from creditor Mars Growth Capital plus $32 million owed elsewhere, and a reorg would need another $19 million.

TikTok launches global ad network, rebranding Pangle

Digiday’s Krystal Scanlon reports TikTok unveiled its Ad Network at Advertising Week, letting U.S. advertisers extend campaigns across nearly 400,000 “premium” apps worldwide, rebranding its existing Pangle network under the TikTok name.

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