Spotify launches listening activity and Request to Jam in Messages on January 7, 2026, enabling real-time music sharing for 40 million messaging users.
by Luis Espada
YouTube today hosts the 98th Academy Awards with four official livestreams, as the platform prepares to become the exclusive global broadcaster of the Oscars from 2029. Over 3 billion views of Oscars-related content accumulated in the past 12 months.
Aller Media, Bonnier News, and Schibsted endorsed IAB Sweden's expulsion of Meta on March 12 over fake ads, citing SEK 136 billion in fraud revenue and consumer harm on Facebook.
MCP adoption, IAB Sweden expels Meta, NBCU Olympics programmatic expansion, Trade Desk's AI bets, and Google search volatility define the week in ad tech.
IAB Australia's 10th annual Audio Advertising State of the Nation report reveals $339m in 2025 spend, 69% of buyers plan podcast increases, yet fragmentation blocks scale.
The Trade Desk's closed beta lets advertisers build campaigns through Claude, raising real questions about defaults, optimization logic, expertise, and transparency in programmatic buying.
IAB Europe's CTV Working Group says cross-device attribution and fragmented identifiers still block CTV's shift from brand to performance channel in 2026.
Jeff Green's $150M TTD stock purchase sparked rare candour on AI chat ads, agentic campaigns, retail media, and why Amazon's DSP may not last five years.
Google Ads product managers reveal smart bidding best practices for 2026, covering Smart Bidding Exploration, journey aware bidding, and campaign total budgets.