Ad Tech Briefing: Start-ups are now table stakes for the future of ad tech

It’s arguably a sign that “startups are sexy again.” Pithy sayings aside, it points to a more fundamental repositioning within ad tech.

Earlier this year, Index Exchange revealed that its investment arm, IX Labs, signed a “multimillion-dollar” partnership deal with investment fund First Party Capital, a further sign of scaled ad tech companies looking to startup investments to future-proof their strategies.

As part of the tie-up with IX Labs, Index Exchange has committed to a decade-long partnership with FirstPartyCapital, with the ad tech outfit also offering to collaborate with outfits within the fund’s portfolio.

Meanwhile, Index Exchange, which rebranded from Casale Media in the mid-2010s to signal its next iteration — i.e., becoming one of the industry’s largest supply-side platforms — is characterizing the partnership as an important indication of its intent to evolve further. 

IX Labs’ latest partnership mirrors similar moves from its peers in the ad tech sector, with DoubleVerify making a $1 million commitment with FirstPartyCapital earlier in the year. 

Meanwhile, The Trade Desk’s 2023 investment in Sincera, via its investment arm TD7, later evolved into a rare purchase from the demand-side platform earlier this year after execs there felt a full-on acquisition would aid its push to encourage buying ads on the “premium internet.”

For some, these three parallel actions signal the need for scaled ad tech companies to maintain the right relationship with startups, especially at a time when the sector is experiencing ongoing disruption due to AI.

What we’ve heard 

 “I always joke about how it gives me PTSD from high school chemistry.” 

– A Digiday town hall participant quips at how The Trade Desk’s Kokai campaign management tool, which has frustrated many media buyers with its resemblance to the tabular display in the classic Periodic Table of elements. Still, two years in, and it seems to be yielding results, if not garnering love.

Numbers to know 

• 10-30%: The annual fall in CPMs in private and open marketplaces, despite a rise in CTV spend.
• 44.8%: The amount of time streaming represented for all TV viewership last month, per Nielsen.
• 2%: Organic revenue growth for the five major holding companies, per an Ad Age agency report.
• 6 minutes: The commercial air-time ad-supported U.S. Max packages contain per hour.

What we’ve covered:

In Graphic Detail: eMarketer forecasts how digital marketing will evolve in 2025, and beyond 

In a June 17 presentation, eMarketer’s Zia Daniell Wigder emphasized that, despite widespread hype, AI search ad spending will grow slowly — reaching just 13.6% of total search spend by decade’s end. In contrast, retail media continues to surge, already surpassing social and search in growth rate. Wigder called retail media the “third big wave” in digital advertising, forecasting it could hit nearly $61 billion this year — even amid tariff concerns — underscoring its more predictable, linear ascent compared to the still-nascent, uncertain monetization path for AI platforms.

CMOs say AI platforms’ low profile at Cannes won’t happen again

At Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity this year, AI firms like Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Anthropic maintained a low profile while quietly meeting with marketers to lay the groundwork for future ad strategies. Executives from all three companies held private talks with agencies and brands, signaling eventual monetization plans driven by the high cost of running AI models. 

However, marketers expressed concern that aggressive ad pushes could erode the speed, trust, and utility that made these platforms valuable in the first place.

What we’re reading

Four Guys Who Built Publisher Ad Servers Are Out To Fix Publisher Ad Servers

Fronted by SpringServe co-founders Joseph Hirsch, Matt Dearborn and Rich Lin, as well as Frans Vermeulen, Swivel (formerly PilotDesk) aims to ease the pain of ad ops professionals, writes AExchanger. 

AI coding tools upend the ‘buy versus build’ software equation and threaten the SaaS business model

AI coding tools like Bolt, Replit, and Cursor are reshaping enterprise software by blurring the line between buying and building, reports Business Insider. With AI lowering development barriers, non-traditional “software composers” can now create custom apps, shifting the economics and accessibility of in-house software development.

Overview and key findings of the 2025 Digital News Report

News consumption across online platforms continues to fragment, with six online networks now reaching more than 10% weekly with news content, compared with just two a decade ago. Around a third of our global sample uses Facebook (36%) and YouTube (30%) for news each week. Instagram (19%) and WhatsApp (19%) are used by around a fifth of users, while TikTok (16%) remains ahead of X at 12%.