DIGIDAY+ MEMBER EXCLUSIVES
Marketers put up guardrails as AI agents reshape programmatic buying
As AI agents enter programmatic advertising, marketers are adding guardrails to maintain oversight, transparency and control.
OpenAI's ads program matures
Media
The case for and against agentic media buying
Agentic media buying promises a reinvention of the programmatic ecosystem, but experts are divided on whether it could help – or hinder – accountability.
Inside Expedia’s year-long partnership with mega creator IShowSpeed
Expedia partnered with mega creator IShowSpeed on a record-setting livestream and year-long campaign to target Gen Z audiences.
Mega creators find that their personalities alone aren’t scalable as standalone businesses
Successful creators like Alex Cooper or MrBeast are creating media companies, to varying degrees of success and struggle.
Marketing
Marketers strain to juggle media budgets, AI and high expectations from CEOs
A new survey reveals sustained pressure on budgets as CMOs struggle to deliver on marketing goals and AI objectives.
Digiday+ Research: Marketers optimize GEO strategies amid the effects of zero-click search
While AI-generated search results are still relatively new compared to traditional search results, marketers are deeply feeling the effects.
‘Google doesn’t care that it’s terrible’: Brand, agency execs air frustrations with The Trade Desk, Google’s Performance Max, Meta’s Advantage+
Think transparency is hard to come by in programmatic advertising? Well, get a bunch of brand and agency executives in a room, and they’ll get super transparent about how opaque the digital ad market has become.
Future of TV
Future of TV Briefing: The upfront glossary, 2026 edition
This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at the terms on the tips of ad buyers’ and sellers’ tongues when talking about the upfront market.
Future of TV Briefing: Ad tech’s pod bidding push moves CTV toward advancing the live sports ad model in 2026
This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how ad tech companies including Comcast’s FreeWheel, Index Exchange and The Trade Desk are preparing CTV’s programmatic supply chain for upgraded auction dynamics amid an influx of live sports ad inventory.
Pinterest debuts audience extension offering on CTV
Advertisers can now purchase Pinterest audiences on third-party properties via its TV Scientific offering.
Media Buying
Ad Tech Briefing: Accountability in adland’s agentic era?
Contractual clarity and guardrails are non-negotiable when the machines take over running ad camppigns.
Why Duluth trusts AI agents with bidding, but not brand storytelling
Brands like Duluth are in the middle of the agentic debate, leveraging AI for automated ad bidding while keeping brand voice human-led.
Media Buying Briefing: Takeshi Sano is making the rounds for Dentsu — is it enough?
Dentsu just retained Heineken’s global business, and apparently the new CEO was involved. Should he take the heat for losing Microsoft? Most say no.
Annual research reports
Podcasts
Research
Upfronts
‘There’s a big shift’: Amazon is turning the upfront into a pitch for its ad tech, not just primetime
The upfront is no longer just a shop window for content Amazon owns, it’s now one for its ad tech too.
As upfront negotiations near, buyers chart path through complex sports market
The DOJ’s NFL probe highlights how sports rights complexity can be ‘good for pricing, but hard on strategy’ for brands and buyers.
Human-led service is an AI differentiator for independent agencies
While AI speeds up media buying, it’s also exposing cracks in how agencies execute. As campaign complexity grows, agency leaders are getting pulled back into the weeds. But clients don’t see process breakdowns — they see unmet expectations. Instinct is generally to juggle more platforms, data and expectations as retail media and programmatic spend surge. […]
There’s a race underway to collect and analyze consumer health and wellness data — and Google just pulled ahead. On May 19, Google parent company Alphabet will begin a global rollout of its new AI-powered health coach in an effort to centralize a user’s health data collected through wearables, labs, telehealth and doctor visits.
There’s a race underway to collect and analyze consumer health and wellness data — and Google just pulled ahead. On May 19, Google parent company Alphabet will begin a global rollout of its new AI-powered health coach in an effort to centralize a user’s health data collected through wearables, labs, telehealth and doctor visits.
Amazon replaced its Rufus chatbot with a new AI assistant called Alexa for Shopping this week as AI search becomes a bigger part of its online store.
Amazon replaced its Rufus chatbot with a new AI assistant called Alexa for Shopping this week as AI search becomes a bigger part of its online store.