386 signals

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.

Google AI Max reporting update could give marketers insight into search ad delivery

eMarketer’s Marisa Jones reports that Google is updating AI Max reporting to show marketers more detail about how their search ads get delivered across AI-powered surfaces.

PubMatic launches episode-level targeting for CTV ads

eMarketer’s Asa Hiken reports that PubMatic has rolled out an offering enabling episode-level ad targeting for connected TV, letting buyers align ad placement with specific show content rather than broader contextual or audience segments.

Silverpush, PubMatic launch episode-level contextual CTV targeting

ExchangeWire reports that Silverpush and PubMatic are launching episode-level contextual CTV segments, letting buyers pre-bid target specific episodes by genre and mood across PubMatic’s supply, including 28 of the top 30 global streamers, without cookies or user-level data.

PubMatic adds episode-level contextual targeting for CTV buyers

AdExchanger’s Alyssa Boyle reports that PubMatic now offers episode-level contextual targeting on its supply-side platform for streaming TV, built through a partnership with Silverpush, which standardizes metadata about show content.

Nexxen brings programmatic Smart TV home screen ads to EMEA

ExchangeWire reports that Nexxen has expanded its Nexxen TV Home Screen product across EMEA, letting advertisers programmatically buy native Smart TV home screen inventory on VIDAA-powered sets via the Nexxen DSP, with PHD EMEA already running campaigns for Uber Eats.

eMarketer: AI now shapes purchases outside brands’ ad reach

eMarketer’s Grace Harmon reports that AI tools are influencing consumer purchase decisions in ways that fall outside the paid advertising channels brands have traditionally used to control messaging.

Fox exec: pregame ads outperform, but supply-path trust is the real premium test

Fox VP Meagan Myers argues live-event value now extends to pregame, highlights and shoulder content. Fox-commissioned MediaProbe research found World Cup pregame ads drew the highest emotional engagement, but she warns unauthorized programmatic supply threatens that premium economics.

OpenAI’s ad business hits $1 billion run rate, but advertisers still unimpressed

OpenAI’s ChatGPT ad business reached a $1 billion annualized run rate in August, seven months after launch, per the Journal. Ads target conversation intent rather than cookies, and new “sponsored agent” formats let users chat directly with branded bots.

Taboola to acquire finance adtech rival Dianomi for up to $36.1 million

Taboola has agreed to buy UK adtech firm Dianomi for £19 million upfront, roughly $25.4 million, rising to £27 million if performance targets are met.

Criteo shares first ChatGPT Ads performance data from early advertisers

Criteo says its ChatGPT Ads integration now runs in 51 markets with over 2,000 brands live, and early click-through rates run two to three times higher than comparable formats.

Google gives marketers a view into website ad-load experiences in Chrome

Google is rolling out a new Chrome feature that lets marketers and publishers see how many ads load on a given webpage and how that load affects the user experience, per emarketer’s report on the update.

Pinterest adds Visual Search Ads, expands Performance+ for AI-era pitch

Pinterest unveiled a suite of new ad tools at its “Pinterest Presents” event, including Visual Search Ads that let brands appear in search results and Pin close-ups.

Google’s 106-page ad tech remedies decision unsealed, unchanged

Judge Leonie Brinkema’s full remedies decision in the government’s ad tech antitrust case went public unredacted, matching the sealed version filed two weeks earlier. Neither Google nor the DOJ flagged any confidentiality concerns during their 14-day review window.

Meta’s Muse opens to developers, becomes de facto platform bid

Muse topped App Store charts and Meta opened it to outside developers via a connector platform. Shopify added Shop Pay support, Stripe powers payments, while Amazon has blocked Muse from parts of its shopping site.

Permutive, TransUnion team up to power sell-side ID curation

Permutive integrated its publisher data platform with TransUnion’s identity graph, letting publishers match logged-in audiences against TransUnion’s data on 250 million consumers.

Gaming ad spend still trails its audience, IAB PlayFronts told

At IAB’s PlayFronts, the IAB’s Cintia Gabilan noted gaming’s audience and engagement have been enormous for years while ad dollars haven’t followed.

Amazon blocks Meta’s Muse from shopping its site

Amazon is showing users of Meta’s Muse a warning that the AI agent violates its conditions of use, and has asked Meta to remove Amazon’s marketplace from Muse entirely.

IAB Tech Lab floats seven programmatic rules, do they matter?

The IAB Tech Lab sets the standards for ads. But when it proposed seven ground rules meant to clean up programmatic ad buying practices across the supply chain, it was caveated as voluntary, with no enforcement mechanism to compel exchanges, SSPs, or DSPs to actually comply.

Google’s ad tech remedies leave DV360 and measurement moats untouched

Ronan is always on the case with new insights-- this time his piece on Justice Brinkema’s ruling forces Google to open AdX, add Prebid interoperability and stop tying AdX to DFP, but skips forced divestiture. Sources tell Digiday the deeper moats around demand, signals and measurement remain intact.

American Public Media launches national digital audio ad network

Inside Radio reports that American Public Media’s new Inform Media Network unites 33 public radio stations’ livestream and podcast inventory, over 55 million monthly impressions, into one national buy, with measurement from Magellan AI and infrastructure from StreamGuys.

Fire TV, Roku dominate open CTV programmatic on large screens

MediaPost’s Wayne Friedman reports that Smart TVs take 57% of U.S. open CTV programmatic spend versus 43% for mobile and tablets, per a Pixalate report. Amazon Fire TV leads large-screen share at 30%, ahead of Roku’s 18%, Samsung’s 5%, and Apple TV’s 4%.

Google tests sponsored suggestions in AI Mode amid early stumbles

eMarketer’s Asa Hiken reports that Google is trialing a sponsored suggestions ad format inside AI Mode, its conversational search experience, according to EMARKETER’s report. Early signs point to growing pains as the format tries to fit ads into AI-generated answers.

OpenAI adds Shopify, HubSpot ad integrations and ‘Sponsored Agents’ to ChatGPT

Mobile Dev Memo’s Eric Benjamin Seufert reports that OpenAI expanded its ad platform with direct integrations letting Shopify and HubSpot customers launch ChatGPT ads from within those tools. It also introduced “Sponsored Agents,” which open product conversations right after a user clicks an ad.

OpenAI launches conversational ads and CRM, ecommerce integrations for ChatGPT

OpenAI is testing Sponsored Agents, which let users click into a conversation with a business-sponsored agent after seeing an ad in ChatGPT.

Alphabet, Meta, Amazon to drive 13% US ad growth in 2026

VideoWeek’s Dan Meier reports that Madison and Wall forecasts global ad spend growing 11 percent YoY in 2026 to top $1.3 trillion, with North America at 38 percent of that total and US revenues up 13 percent, led by search, social and commerce.

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