Welcome to The Refresh, your weekly download of what actually matters in advertising. Brought to you by Marketecture Media and written by AdTechGod.
Every Thursday, we bring you the latest news, commentary, and memes that speak the truth about this industry. If it's happening in AdTech, media, or marketing and it’s interesting, it’ll be here.
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Accelerate your brand’s growth at the 2026 IAB Annual Leadership Meeting—where AI breakthroughs, commerce media, and cross-channel accountability reshape performance. Connect with industry leaders, uncover new revenue opportunities, and position your company for strategic growth.
Ben Jaffé confirmed as deputy CSO of AMV BBDO and Owen Lee as creative president (Campaign)
SuperAwesome Acquires Starglow Media, the World's Largest Ecosystem of Premium Kids and Family Audio Content (Business Wire)
Meta Plans Reality Labs Job Cuts, Pivots Further Away From Metaverse Focus (MediaPost)
Dentsu shares slump 11% as buyers walk away from sale of international unit (Campaign)
Agentic AI dominated CES—but competing standards could fracture ad tech (Ad Age)
Ad Tech Doesn’t Just Have A Transparency Problem. It Has A Courage Problem (AdExchanger)
Airtory Joins the Viant Partner Ecosystem (MarTech Cube)
Leadership Insights with Julie Van Ullen, President and CRO at iSpot
Julie Van Ullen, President and CRO at iSpot, discusses her journey through leadership roles at IAB, OpenX, Freewheel, Rakuten Advertising, and Rakuten Rewards.
Inside Sweet Suites: CES 2026
Sweet Suites at CES 2026 brought high-energy suite walkthroughs and candid conversations with leaders from Life360, Sojern, LG Ad Solutions, and Affinity Solutions, digging into the latest shifts in data, identity, CTV, commerce, travel, and consumer trust.
Inside Sweet Suites: CES 2026
Sweet Suites by The Advertising Forum was back at CES. If you know anything about Sweet Suites, you know it’s not your typical exec interview. We filmed inside a private suite with quick walkthroughs and real, candid conversations with the leaders shaping what’s next in advertising.
Check them out!
Turning Real Purchases Into Real Advertising Performance
Sponsored by Affinity Solutions
The Art and Science Behind LG Ad Solutions’ CTV Strategy
Sponsored by LG Ad Solutions
Travel, Trust, and Timing: Brad Nelson from Sojern on What Comes Next in Advertising
Sponsored by Sojern
Designing Peace of Mind at Scale: Inside the Life360 Acquisition of Nativo
Sponsored by Life360
Liftoff Mobile Files for IPO as Mobile AdTech Continues to Mature
Liftoff Mobile has publicly filed for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, signaling its intent to go public as market conditions allow. The performance marketing and monetization company has not yet disclosed the number of shares, pricing range, or timing for the offering. If completed, Liftoff plans to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol LFTO. Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, and Morgan Stanley will serve as joint lead book-running managers, alongside a large group of supporting banks.
Liftoff positions itself as a growth and monetization platform for the mobile app economy, powered by its AI-driven Cortex platform, which integrates marketing, creative, and monetization tools to help advertisers drive user growth and enable app publishers to maximize revenue across the app lifecycle.
Agentic Ad Tech Takes Over CES — but Clarity Is Still Missing
Agentic AI has dominated early 2026 ad tech conversations, fueled by CES and a surge of new protocols from companies and industry bodies. Despite the momentum, definitions remain unclear and adoption unproven. Industry leaders describe a crowded landscape where frameworks promise transformation but risk adding complexity rather than reducing it.
A core debate has emerged between rebuilding the ecosystem from scratch or evolving existing programmatic infrastructure, with many favoring the latter due to scale and network realities. While experimentation is active and interest is high, agentic ad tech has yet to move beyond demos into meaningful, widespread deployment.
Accelerate your brand’s growth at the 2026 IAB Annual Leadership Meeting—where AI breakthroughs, commerce media, and cross-channel accountability reshape performance. Connect with industry leaders, uncover new revenue opportunities, and position your company for strategic growth.
Marketecture Live III
Marketecture Live Agenda Now Live
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This speaker lineup reflects what Marketecture Live does best: real people, real experience, and honest perspectives on what it takes to succeed in a world where the consumer is in control.
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