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 its interesting it’ll be here.

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Adalytics has uncovered how YouTube creators are bypassing Content ID to upload pirated movies, shows, and live sports, often racking up views and ad revenue before quietly removing or replacing the videos. While YouTube claims over 90% of flagged content is approved by rights holders, the report shows many uploads are clearly unauthorized. Even more troubling: YouTube campaign reports frequently redact key data or lump spend into a “Total: Other” bucket, making it hard for advertisers to track where ads ran. Tests found that refunds for ads on pirated content were rare, and YouTube’s algorithm continues to promote this content. Studios are even paying to target viewers who watched their stolen content.

Read AdExchanger

Cloudflare is pushing brands to block AI bots like those from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic unless they pay to crawl their sites. The company says these bots are scraping tons of content to train their models but giving nothing back. For example, OpenAI crawled Cloudflare’s site 1,700 times for every visitor it sent. That means brands lose traffic, data, and potential customers.

Publishers are already fighting back, with major names blocking bots and asking for compensation. Cloudflare says brands should do the same. In my holy opinion, sites should absolutely block AI bots. Whats being done is not fair for publishers and in a space thats under major pressure I’d highly suggest they pressure AI solutions to compensate them fairly for the content.

Read AdAge

Amazon’s new Retail Ad Service lets rival retailers use its ad tech, giving them access to its advertiser base and making cross-network campaigns easier for brands. But if you work in retail media tech, Amazon is now your biggest threat. Vendors like Criteo will need to move fast to stay relevant. Lock in contracts and differentiate your offerings—Amazon’s not just dominating retail media, it’s aiming to power the entire market.

Read EMarketer

The Stories Ad Tech Is Sleeping On This Summer

As 2025 hits its midpoint, several key digital media and privacy issues are flying under the radar. Regulators are cracking down on data use that doesn’t align with what’s stated in privacy policies, as seen in Healthline’s CCPA case. Many companies still lack proper Data Processing Agreements and have misconfigured CMPs, basic errors that are now leading to real enforcement.

AI-driven audience tools like “vibe targeting” raise transparency risks, with regulators viewing them as profiling. Bigger questions are also emerging around who controls user data, whether to move away from UIDs without similar pressure on walled gardens, and the rise of class-action enforcement in the EU.

Meanwhile, debates around AI regulation, copyright in training data, and the fallout from the TikTok ban are heating up. These issues may not grab headlines yet, but they could reshape the industry in the coming months.

Read The Monopoly Report

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