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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Inside The Trade Desk’s POV on the future of open internet monetization (Digiday)
AI Ad Tech ‘Land Grab’ Pits Salesforce Against Google, Microsoft, and Amazon (The Information)
California bill targeting loud streaming ads signed into law by Gov. Newsom (CBS)
Fox Advertising announces strategic partnership with Mobian centered on innovative, AI-powered measurement and targeting (PR News)
New PubMatic-MNTN Deal Gives Small Advertisers Access to Big Streaming Platforms (Adweek)
The Evolution of Advertising: Amy Lanzi on Strategy, Creators, and Change
Amy Lanzi, CEO of Digitas North America, shares her unique journey from a finance major to a leader in the advertising industry. She discusses the evolution of client needs, the balance between creativity and data, and the impact of AI and synthetic audiences on marketing strategies.
The Future of Live Sports: Streaming with NBCUniversal
Ryan McConville, Chief Product Officer at NBCUniversal, discusses the shift of live events from traditional TV to streaming platforms, highlighting NBCUniversal's leadership in this transition. He shares insights on the impact of programmatic advertising in live environments and the challenges and opportunities it presents for advertisers.
Rich Media Club Sues Top Publishers Over Online Ad Tech
Rich Media Club LLC has launched a wave of patent infringement lawsuits against major publishers, including Comcast, Guardian Media Group, Gannett, News Corp’s UK arm, and MediaNews Group. The company claims these outlets use ad technologies like “lazy loading” and “ad refreshing” that infringe on its patents.
Legal experts say the cases resemble a “patent troll” strategy, though Rich Media Club insists it’s protecting inventions developed by its founders. The suits follow a similar case settled by DMG Media earlier this year and could each cost publishers over $1 million to defend. The cases come as digital publishers already face shrinking ad revenues and fewer options to challenge patents before the U.S. Patent Office.
My take: This feels 100% trolly and probably won’t go anywhere.
TikTok’s U.S. Spin-Off Sparks New Uncertainty as AI Rivals Enter the Short-Form Video Race
AI-generated video platforms like OpenAI’s Sora and Meta’s Vibes are getting buzz for their automated feeds, but advertisers are wary. With no ads, unclear brand safety standards, and entirely synthetic content, it’s hard to see how these apps sustain real engagement or revenue. Sure, Sora’s topping the App Store now, but that doesn’t mean it’ll last.
Personally, I think this is the dumbest trend yet. Like countless flashy video tools before it, Sora will probably fade once the novelty wears off. That’s just my opinion.
Publishers' Last Stand
Google’s ad tech trial featured wikiHow CEO Elizabeth Douglas to highlight small-publisher perspectives, but the real issue lies elsewhere. Even if Judge Brinkema orders Google to divest AdX, the author argues that AI Overviews pose a far greater threat to publishers by cutting web traffic. The case underscores a key limitation of antitrust law — it targets market structure, not the broader disruptions reshaping digital publishing.
The Trade Desk Makes Its Move on the Sell Side with PubDesk
The Trade Desk has officially leaped into sell-side territory with PubDesk, a new dashboard that gives publishers visibility into how buyers value their inventory. Framed as a “publisher tool,” PubDesk lets sellers see spend flows, bid duplication, and SSP take rates across The Trade Desk’s ecosystem. But despite company claims that it’s “not going to the sell side,” in my opinion this is a clear expansion beyond its buy-side roots.
By controlling how supply is evaluated and optimized, The Trade Desk is positioning itself as a key intermediary for both advertisers and publishers, a role traditionally held by SSPs. Whether this push leads to greater transparency or tighter TTD control over the programmatic supply chain remains to be seen.
Everything is an ad network.
PubMatic Teams with NVIDIA for 5x Faster AI Ad Infrastructure
PubMatic has launched an AI-powered infrastructure upgrade through a multi-year partnership with NVIDIA, delivering 5x faster ad decisioning and 85% fewer auction timeouts. Per the article, the system can now process trillions of bids in microseconds, matching walled garden performance. Advertisers get faster insights and reduced setup time, while publishers recover revenue lost to latency with automated AI yield tools.
By owning its infrastructure rather than relying on the cloud, PubMatic claims to have a major advantage over rivals like Magnite, Equativ, and Yahoo. Honestly, I have no idea what half of this means or if it actually adds value — but it definitely sounds cool.
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