To explain Forrester’s latest creative ad tech wave, we bring on author, Senior Analyst Nikhil Lai. Then, the untold story of how Prebid.org became an independent industry organization.

We discuss the rise of curation in programmatic buying and the current backlash. Is curation an ad network with new window dressing? And will it save or undermine the open web?

From the Amazon Ads Unboxed conference, AdExchanger reports on the ad tech products it’s building. Plus, why brand safety and news publishers remain at odds with each other, and what each side is doing about it.

As The Trade Desk grows more powerful, it’s attracting more attention – and frustration – from independent ad tech. Plus: an update on Google Chrome’s user choice mechanism.

 It’s a wrap on the US v. Google antitrust case, at least for now. Then, behind the IP infringement claim on the OpenRTB spec that ruffled feathers at the IAB Tech Lab.

Hear what the ad tech industry is saying about Google’s antitrust trial. Then, a rundown on how the election is playing out for political advertisers and news publishers.

After eight days of the antitrust trial, who’s in the lead: the DOJ or Google? Details on the most gripping testimony so far with guest Arielle Garcia, director of intelligence for Check My Ads.

Index Exchange CEO Andrew Casale, fresh off the witness stand for US v. Google, and AdExchanger’s courtroom reporter, Allison Schiff, join us to analyze the ad tech trial of the century.

 Inside a cloaking scam that funneled ad spend to piracy websites. Then: your AI agency assistant is here, and it’s ready to build your media plan.

Just two weeks before Google’s antitrust trial, we discuss revelations from a cache of documents released in advance of the trial – plus, a primer on what’s ahead as header bidding goes to the stand.

Special guest and prolific ad tech investor Eric Franchi of Aperiam Ventures discusses his firm’s recent bet on attention metrics startup Adelaide. Plus: What’s up with Meta’s new third-party attribution partnerships?

Inside Publicis’ play to be both an agency and an ad tech company. Plus: the dissolution of GARM and what it means for the future of brand safety.

 Google is a monopolist. We bring on a guest that’s both a lawyer and a CEO of a search ad business to offer his perspective on the antitrust ruling, and what happens next for Google in light of this decision.

What will Chrome's third-party consent look like? We offer our best guess based on existing information (which is thin). Plus, we spotlight the controversy around ID bridging. The tactic supplies IDs for cookieless inventory through a spectrum of approaches, and not all of them are buyer approved.

Keep the cookies; hold for consent. We unpack Google’s reversal on third-party cookies and what it means for the ad industry, which was preparing for a cookieless future.  

We set the scene for Google’s upcoming antitrust trial in September, including details from the recently released witness list, a who’s who of the ad tech world.

For our 300th episode, we do a post-mortem (don’t do a brand safety block on us for using this term!) on Oracle’s ad business. Then, we go through the ins and outs of reaching LBGTQ+ audiences online, a category that requires extra attention to data privacy.

This week, we bring on the CEO and CTO of privacy tech startup Anonym, which was acquired by Mozilla, to talk about PETs (privacy-enhancing technologies) and how Mozilla plans to use its tech to create a more private internet.

At the Cannes Lions, generative AI applications for advertising were out in force. Plus: takes from the Croisette on retail media and cookie conspiracies.

The move from in-store to digital shopper marketing continues, as United Airlines, Costco, PayPal, Chase and Expedia make new retail media plays. Plus: what the DSP Madhive saw in advertising sales software company Frequence.

SPO is moving from efficiency to curation to ranking the top 500 publishers. We talk through industry reactions to The Trade Desk’s SP500+ product. Plus: Seedtag acquired Beachfront, a deal that’s emblematic of multiple trends in CTV, privacy and the rise of contextual.

The open web is getting smaller, with the squeeze happening in two directions. Curated deals are skimming the cream off the open web, and exposed made-for-advertising websites are shuttering.

Our other “a-ha” moments from the conference, including observations on CTV, the state of commerce media, programmatic transparency – and the lack thereof. (Oh, and as an aside, somebody at the show told me they’d fed my AdExchanger articles into an LLM that could practically reproduce my work in a snap. Which is cool. Not.)

Made-for-advertising sites are roosting in reputable publishers’ subdomains. IDs are declared inconsistently. And the established third-party measurement companies are sitting on the sidelines.