Programmatic
AI Tightens Big Tech's Grip on Ad Growth
AI-driven automation is concentrating ad spend inside Google, Meta and Amazon's walled gardens, squeezing the open programmatic supply chain that publishers, SSPs and independent DSPs depend on.
Uros Jojic
DoubleVerify
DoubleVerify: AI Slop Tops 500M Impressions in H1 2026
DoubleVerify reports AI-generated 'slop' inventory surpassed 500 million impressions in the first half of 2026, exposing a fast-growing quality and fraud vector across the open programmatic supply chain.
AI Advertising
AI Platforms to Manage 27% of US Ad Spend by 2030
A new forecast projects AI-driven buying platforms will control 27% of US ad spend by 2030, reshaping how programmatic media—including video and CTV—is planned, bid on, and optimized across the ecosystem.
Amazon Ads
Amazon and OpenAI Target ChatGPT's US Ad Users
Amazon Ads and OpenAI are teaming up to reach ChatGPT's US users, signaling a new conversational-AI ad surface that could reshape retail media targeting, measurement, and addressability strategies for the wider ad-tech ecosystem.
Ad Spend
Ad Spend Forecasts Rise as AI Handles More Budgets
Analysts are revising 2025 ad spend forecasts upward as an increasing share of budgets flows through AI-driven buying tools from Google, Meta, Amazon, and independent platforms — a shift with real implications for programmatic and video supply.
CTV
NBCUniversal AI Engine: Early Branding Lifts Recall 2.8x
NBCUniversal's AI creative analysis finds ads that surface brand identity in the opening seconds drive 2.8x higher recall, sharpening how creative optimization ties into CTV and video ad delivery.
Ad Fraud
Bot and AI Traffic Surge Rattles Ad Measurement
Rising bot and AI-agent web traffic is forcing marketers and publishers to rethink invalid traffic filtering, viewability, and monetization strategies as automated visitors blur the line between fraud and legitimate demand.
Programmatic
Agencies Build Audit Tools to Rein In AI Ad Agents
As agentic AI moves deeper into media buying, agencies are constructing audit layers to verify that autonomous agents don't overspend or misroute programmatic budgets—raising fresh transparency questions for the DSP and exchange supply chain.
CTV
AI Agents Bought Rouge Care's TV Ads, Returned 5x ROAS
Wellness brand Rouge Care handed campaign execution to AI agents that autonomously bought and optimized its TV and CTV ad inventory, reporting a 5x return — an early signal of agentic media buying entering programmatic video.
The Trade Desk
Trade Desk's Zuma Update Brings AI Automation to Kokai
The Trade Desk's Zuma update layers a host of AI-powered automation tools onto its Kokai DSP, aiming to simplify campaign setup, optimization, and reporting for programmatic and CTV buyers.
IAB
IAB Builds a Framework for AI Advertising Measurement
The IAB is developing an industry framework to standardize how AI-driven advertising is measured, aiming to bring consistency to metrics as AI reshapes buying, creative, and attribution across digital and video ad supply.
IAB
IAB Revisits AI Disclosure Rules as Laws Multiply
The IAB is revisiting guidance on AI disclosure in advertising as a patchwork of state and international laws creates new compliance obligations for advertisers, agencies, and platforms handling AI-generated creative.