Although the actual second word begins with the letter “s” and ends with the letter “t”, Dr. Ellie Arroway isn’t being profane, she is simply reacting with all the wonder and amazement one would expect of a person who has just made a discovery she has spent a lifetime pursuing.

The post Amplifying Signal to Measure Audio’s Impact appeared first on IAB.

Strong Turnout at Summit Signals Industry Unity on Key Policy Issues

IAB hosted its 2025 Public Policy & Legal Summit in April in an event that brought together legal experts, policymakers, and leaders from across the digital advertising ecosystem. With major changes looming in privacy, AI, competition, and advertising standards, the Summit served as a timely forum for thought leadership, building industry relationships and engaging with regulators to help shape the future of responsible digital policy.

One of the day’s standout moments came during a fireside chat between IAB General Counsel Michael Hahn and Christopher Mufarrige, the newly appointed Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. Mufarrige signaled a shift toward a more measured, evidence-based approach to enforcement, urging regulators to look past charged terms like “surveillance advertising” and instead focus on actual consumer harm. He emphasized the need for policies rooted in objective data and a clearer understanding of how digital advertising serves both consumers and the broader economy.

That focus on practicality and nuance carried through in a panel of legal experts, who broke down recent FTC enforcement actions involving sensitive data, location tracking, and vendor oversight. From there, discussions expanded to address the fast-changing state privacy landscape. Leaders from Paramount, Foot Locker, Samsung Ads, LVMH, and others offered real-world strategies for navigating new state privacy laws. Breakout sessions explored the European privacy environment, the future of responsible AI, and the evolving role of consumer privacy signals in the U.S.

As the only trade association that brings together the full digital advertising distribution chain, IAB is proud to create space for these important conversations. Our commitment to equipping members with the insights, tools, and advocacy they need remains stronger than ever.

Digital Advertising Fuels 28.4 Million U.S. Jobs and $4.9 Trillion in Economic Activity

As conversations turned to the real-world stakes, IAB released new data to underscore the industry’s role in powering jobs and growth.

According to the study Measuring the Digital Economy: Advertising, Content, Commerce, and Innovation, the digital economy now contributes $4.9 trillion to U.S. GDP—18% of the total—and supports 28.4 million jobs across all 435 congressional districts. Since 2020, digital employment has grown nearly 12 times faster than the broader labor market. Full-time creator jobs alone have surged from 200,000 to over 1.5 million.

And these gains aren’t confined to Silicon Valley or big tech brands. While the top 10 congressional districts have higher concentrations of internet-based employment, they account for just one-eighth of the total. Job growth is coming from small businesses, platform workers, ecommerce entrepreneurs, and independent creators using digital tools to drive revenue and local hiring in communities nationwide.

As Congress debates new rules around privacy, AI, and competition, these numbers serve as a vital reminder: responsible digital advertising is not just an industry—it’s a jobs engine and a pillar of American economic strength. Later this month, IAB will take these findings to Capitol Hill to ensure lawmakers have the facts they need to craft thoughtful, forward-looking policies that protect innovation and consumer trust.

IAB Urges Congress to Enact National Privacy Law That Balances Privacy Protection and Innovation

That urgency is guiding IAB’s top legislative priority: securing a strong, clear national privacy framework.

Previous proposals like the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA) and American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) gained momentum but ultimately fell short. Key sticking points included whether federal law should preempt state laws, whether individuals should be allowed to sue for violations, and how to divide enforcement authority between federal and state agencies. IAB and others also flagged the risk that vague language or overly broad restrictions could hurt small businesses, nonprofits, and creators who rely on responsible data use to grow.

Most recently, the launch of a new House Energy & Commerce Working Group offers fresh momentum. While the effort isn’t yet bipartisan, it’s a promising step—and IAB is hopeful that leaders from both parties will come together to create a privacy framework that protects consumers while balancing innovation and the ad-supported internet.

IAB submitted a detailed letter outlining practical recommendations. We called for clear definitions of data roles—like controllers and processors—modeled on successful state laws. We urged Congress to preempt conflicting state standards and avoid disrupting key use cases like loyalty programs or culturally relevant advertising. On data minimization, we emphasized the need for a reasonable, purpose-based standard—one that limits collection to what’s necessary for disclosed uses and meets reasonable consumer expectations, but avoids overly rigid frameworks that could undermine personalization, innovation, and consumer choice. We also recommended that enforcement remain with expert agencies like the FTC and state attorneys general—not through a sweeping private right of action that could overwhelm courts.

The formation of the new working group shows that Congress is taking privacy seriously. IAB stands ready to partner with policymakers to help pass a law that protects consumers, supports businesses, and keeps the digital economy strong and fair for all.

As always, IAB is doing the work on the ground. More than 1,300 companies already rely on the IAB Multi-State Privacy Agreement to navigate nearly 20 different state privacy laws. It’s clear evidence that the business community is committed to protecting privacy while finding practical ways to operate across a fragmented legal landscape. But it also underscores the need for a more unified, workable national framework.

Small Businesses Head to Capitol Hill to Defend the Ad-Supported Internet

As lawmakers debate the future of the digital economy, Internet for Growth (I4G) is making sure small business and creator voices are part of the conversation. An initiative of IAB, I4G champions the role of digital advertising in helping entrepreneurs build brands, reach new markets, and grow jobs in communities across the country.

In May, I4G brought small business owners and creators to Washington, D.C., for its annual National Small Business Week Fly-In. Representing industries from hospitality and construction to media, fashion, and interior design, the group met with 21 congressional offices—including Speaker Mike Johnson (LA), Senators Shelley Moore Capito (WV), John Kennedy (LA), and Raphael Warnock (GA), and Representatives Buddy Carter (GA-1), Lucy McBath (GA-7), and Riley Moore (WV-2).

During meetings, coalition members stressed that digital advertising isn’t just a tool for Big Tech—it’s a vital engine for small businesses, creators, and startups. They urged Congress to pass a strong national privacy law that preempts state regulations and protects the responsible use of personalized advertising. Members also discussed new digital ad taxes that would disproportionately hurt small firms and local media outlets.

With thousands of supporters across the country, I4G has facilitated nearly 200 meetings with federal and state lawmakers and reached a nationwide audience through digital campaigns and earned media—amplifying the value of advertising, media, and marketing to every American.

And we’re just getting started. Internet for Growth will continue building connections between policymakers and the small business community—ensuring that Main Street voices help shape the future of the internet

IAB Urges Supreme Court to Clarify Outdated Video Privacy Law

Also in May, IAB joined the National Retail Federation in filing an amicus brief in National Basketball Association v. Salazar, urging the Supreme Court to clarify the scope of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) and align the law with modern technology and consumer expectations. Originally enacted in 1988 to protect the privacy of physical video rental records, the VPPA is now being stretched to cover digital platforms—raising significant legal uncertainty for publishers, advertisers, and content providers across the internet.

At issue is whether websites and apps that host or embed video content and use standard tools—such as pixels, cookies, or analytics software—can be considered “video tape service providers” under the law. Conflicting court rulings and a growing wave of class-action lawsuits have exploited ambiguities in the statute.

In its brief, IAB argues that these expansive interpretations go far beyond the law’s original intent and could have serious consequences. A broad application of the VPPA could discourage platforms from offering video features, limit personalized advertising, or lead to the removal of free, ad-supported content—especially harming smaller publishers and businesses that rely on these tools to grow and compete.

IAB supports strong privacy protections, but they must be rooted in legal clarity and reflect how digital platforms actually function today. We’re urging the Court to hear the case, resolve the split between the circuits, and restore the VPPA to its intended scope.

FTC Delays “Click-to-Cancel” Rule, Reflecting IAB’s Ongoing Advocacy

After nearly two years of pushing back on the FTC’s proposed overhaul of subscription service rules, IAB welcomed the Commission’s recent decision to delay its sweeping “Click to Cancel” mandate. Officially known as the Negative Option Rule, the regulation was set to take effect last month but has been postponed until July 14, 2025, following strong industry concerns and legal challenges.

At first glance, the rule may seem simple—to make subscription cancellation as easy as signing-up. But in practice, it creates major challenges, limiting how businesses can offer consumers additional choices, incentives, or helpful information during the process.

These restrictions would disrupt proven customer retention strategies and penalize legitimate businesses that rely on subscriptions to deliver value. Many ad-supported services depend on flexibility to personalize user experiences and keep pricing accessible. A rigid, one-size-fits-all rule banning win-back offers or loyalty incentives could degrade the user experience and reduce access to digital tools that benefit everyday consumers.

We’ve explained that digital subscriptions are vital for creators, small businesses, and direct-to-consumer brands. They support jobs, provide flexible access to essential services, and help keep the internet affordable and open. The FTC’s rule, if left unchanged, could put that progress at risk. That is why IAB and other organizations filed a legal challenge, which is now under review by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The FTC’s postponement is a welcome signal that the agency may be open to revisiting key concerns. While the rule is set to take effect on July 14, 2025, the Commission has indicated it may consider amendments if enforcement reveals unintended consequences or practical challenges. IAB will continue advocating for a clearer, more balanced framework—one that targets bad actors without stifling innovation or placing undue burdens on responsible businesses.

IAB Defends Innovation in the States as Privacy Rules Multiply

While federal privacy law remains a top priority, IAB is engaged in state-level policymaking—working with trade partners to shape smart digital advertising rules. Right now, California and New York are demanding particular attention due to sweeping proposals that could affect nearly every digital business.

In California, IAB submitted comments on proposed regulations for Automated Decision-Making Technologies (ADMTs) under the state’s privacy law. We urged regulators to focus safeguards on truly high-risk uses—like employment or credit decisions—and to clarify that “significant decisions” should apply only to individual consumers, not businesses. As written, the rule is vague enough to extend into business-to-business contexts, stretching beyond the California Consumer Privacy Act’s intent. We also raised concerns about an overly broad definition of “sensitive location,” which could impose compliance burdens on routine marketing. The draft rule sweeps in locations like schools, pharmacies, food pantries, union halls, political offices, and legal aid centers—meaning basic location-based ads, like an ad for a coffee shop near a college or a campaign flyer near a polling site, could trigger regulatory obligations and chill lawful commercial or political speech. We also objected to a proposal to make the currently optional “Opt-Out Request Honored” disclosure mandatory—a confusing and costly shift for small and mid-sized businesses, especially without a clear standard for what qualifies as a valid signal.

California’s DELETE Act also remains a serious concern. In comments submitted last week, IAB and other ad trade groups warned that proposed rules implementing the DELETE Act could exceed the state’s legal authority and lead to unintended harms. The regulations would expand the definition of “data broker” so broadly that many consumer-facing brands could be forced to register, even if they have a direct relationship with the consumer—undermining the law’s intent. Additional provisions could enable mass deletion requests by unauthorized agents, invite security risks, and conflict with existing privacy regulations. Taken together, the rules may jeopardize consumer trust, erode free expression, and hinder basic advertising and analytics functions that support a free, open internet.

Meanwhile, in New York, the proposed New York Privacy Act (S3044) would impose sweeping new restrictions on data-driven services without clear standards or enforcement clarity.

The bill introduces vague and inconsistent definitions for key terms that deviate from those used in nearly 20 other states—making it difficult for businesses to adopt a uniform compliance approach. It also imposes rigid data minimization requirements that could limit routine personalization, product improvements, or fraud prevention efforts. On top of that, the bill would require processes for New York residents—driving up compliance costs and increasing legal risk. IAB joined leading ad and media organizations in a letter of concern, warning that the bill would hurt consumers, disadvantage smaller publishers, and conflict with existing state and federal frameworks. As drafted, the legislation could undermine access to free, ad-supported content and create a fragmented patchwork of compliance obligations across states.

As more states consider their own approaches to data, advertising, and AI, IAB remains a trusted voice on the ground—engaging with policymakers, educating stakeholders, and fighting for rules that empower consumers without cutting off the digital tools they rely on every day.

The post IAB Public Policy Newsletter: Digital Advertising Fuels Jobs, Growth appeared first on IAB.

The Fluid Movement of Culture

One of the most fascinating developments revealed at IAB PlayFronts was the flow of cultural trends between gaming environments and other digital spaces. A prime example of this was “The Glitch” brand-customized world by Twitch and Look North World. One of the more popular brand integrations was with Domino’s. Players can come across a Domino’s pizzeria inside this world and have a “pizza party” to regain health. The gaming community and pizza have always been allies. It showed how Gen Z and Gen Alpha absorb trends from social media and recreate them in games like Fortnite. These gaming-adapted trends are subsequently influencing social media content in return.

Discord exemplifies this dynamic by evolving from a gaming communication tool into “the social infrastructure where gaming, internet culture, and fandom converge.” With 93% of Discord users having played a game in the past month and generating 1.5 billion hours of gameplay across 8,000 different titles, the platform has become a central hub in gaming culture while simultaneously serving as a vital connection point to broader internet communities.

Redefining Media Strategy for the Connected Consumer

The traditional marketing funnel is becoming increasingly out of date in this converged landscape. Today’s connected consumers move fluidly between platforms with 73% of weekly gamers engaging across two or more gaming platforms alone, according to Activision Blizzard Media. This platform fluidity extends beyond gaming as audiences seamlessly transition between social media, streaming content, gaming environments, and commerce throughout their day.

This behavioral shift demands a fundamental rethinking of media strategy. As Vertiqal Studios highlighted, the longstanding disconnect between creative and media functions has diminished brand impact for decades. The converged gaming ecosystem is naturally forcing these elements to recombine, as effective engagement requires consistent creative expression across multiple touchpoints while leveraging platform-specific capabilities.

The Blurring Lines Between Content and Commerce

Perhaps nowhere is this convergence more evident than in the dissolving boundary between content and commerce within gaming environments. Super League emphasized that brands must move beyond merely surrounding content to actually becoming the content itself through playable experiences. This evolution represents a shift from interruption-based advertising to value-adding brand integration.

The implications extend beyond traditional advertising metrics. When brands become an organic part of the gaming experience, the entire customer journey transforms. Mobile gamers now represent a powerful demographic of “halo shoppers” who demonstrate strong purchasing behaviors across both grocery and retail sectors. They are also spending more in these sectors than non-gamers, according to Zynga (Mobile Gamer Shopping Habits Research, April 2025). The integration of shoppable ads within gaming contexts creates frictionless pathways from engagement to purchase.

Community is Gaming’s Engine

Underlying all these convergence trends is the critical importance of community. As Playwire noted, community engagement is the fundamental factor that will continue to unify and sustain the gaming ecosystem. The most successful brands in this converged landscape will be those that prioritize authentic community connections rather than treating gaming as simply another media placement opportunity.

This community-centric approach requires brands to develop a deeper understanding of gaming culture. Fandom’s research revealed that for Gen Z, gaming is far more than entertainment. It’s a vehicle for self-expression (75% use games this way), stress relief (71%), and finding happiness (77%). These emotional connections create opportunities for brands to forge meaningful relationships by aligning with gamers’ core motivations rather than interrupting their experiences.

Strategic Implications for Marketers

For marketing leaders navigating this converged landscape, several key strategies emerge:

1. Dissolve Internal Silos: Organizations must break down the walls between social media, gaming, influencer, and commerce teams to create unified strategies that reflect how consumers actually engage across the digital ecosystem.
2. Embrace Platform Fluidity: Rather than creating platform-specific campaigns, develop adaptable creative concepts that can flow between environments while maintaining consistent brand positioning.
3. Prioritize Interactive Engagement: As passive advertising loses effectiveness, brands must invest in creating participatory experiences that invite active engagement rather than passive consumption.
4. Build Community Ecosystems: Successful brands will develop living communities that span multiple platforms rather than focusing on isolated campaign activations.
5. Measure Cross-Platform Impact: Traditional platform-specific metrics must evolve into integrated measurement approaches that capture the complete consumer journey across the converged ecosystem.

The most successful brands will be those that recognize gaming not as a separate vertical but as the connective tissue binding diverse digital experiences together. The question for brands is no longer whether to participate, but how quickly can they adapt to this converged future.

The post How Gaming is Unifying Marketing Channels appeared first on IAB.

Four futuristic trends are now becoming realities:

1. AI Dictates Discovery, Eroding Search’s Impact

For the better part of the last three decades, consumers have relied upon search engines to find products. Now, with tools like ChatGPT offering shopping features, users can describe what they want and get tailored recommendations, without scrolling through ads or multiple search results. Take a look through Reddit debates about the advantages of ChatGPT versus traditional search and you’ll see the stickiness that these AI models have on consumers is growing steadily.

These AI assistants refine recommendations based on prior interactions, whether through remembered user preferences (as with ChatGPT’s memory) or direct access to past purchase behavior in commerce platforms like Amazon.

2. Agents Enable The Buy Button

Visa and Mastercard are exploring AI-enabled payment systems designed to streamline purchases, allowing AI agents to initiate transactions with user-set parameters. And PayPal announced its plan to build a Financial Operating System tailored for AI agents. These tools can handle everything from buying groceries to booking travel with minimal input from the user.

For brands, this means that the traditional sales funnel is no longer linear or manual. The key moment is now upstream, when the AI chooses what to suggest before the shopper is even aware of a need.

3. The New Loyalty Is Relevance

AI-driven shopping doesn’t eliminate brand-building, but it expands the audience requirements. Brands now need to appeal to humans and the AI agents filtering information and enabling buying actions. That requires clean, structured product data including pricing, availability, robust attributes, and reviews, ensuring it’s easily accessible to AI systems through feeds, APIs, or direct platform integrations.

When AI agents can easily parse this data, they can surface timely, personalized recommendations that drive utility such as reminding parents to restock baby formula or suggesting outfits for an upcoming event. In this new landscape, loyalty stems from that kind of usefulness.

4. What’s Old Is New Again: Native Ads And Affiliate Programs Will Power Monetization

As AI agents guide more shopping decisions, platforms will likely monetize through integrated affiliate links and sponsored product placements. Rather than display ads or promoted search results, these systems will embed product recommendations directly into conversations, presented as helpful suggestions, not interruptions.

Some platforms, like Perplexity, are currently experimenting with new ad formats, such as sponsored follow-up questions and contextual media placed alongside answers. While some of these resemble display in layout, they aim to feel more integrated and utility-driven.

The long-term trend favors native monetization, earning revenue through contextually relevant suggestions rather than distractions. Platforms can profit through affiliate partnerships, especially as AI agents become central to the shopping journey. Systems that surface recommended products based on robust data integration and strong alignment with user preferences will create outsized advantage. When an AI suggests a product mid-conversation, it creates a new, premium form of ad inventory: personalized, embedded, and closer to the point of conversion than ever before.

What Marketers Should Do

As AI reshapes online shopping, marketers must communicate effectively with both people and machines. Here’s how to stay ahead in the second half of 2025:

• Test the AI shopping experience yourself. Start your next online purchase by using an AI platform like ChatGPT or Perplexity to discover and then narrow your product choices into the consideration phase. Observe how you search, and evaluate. Use that experience to understand how and when consumers will engage in similar journeys.
• Optimize for AI discovery. As AI agents increasingly influence purchasing decisions, ensuring your content is structured for machine comprehension is crucial. Start by implementing schema markup and prioritizing structured data formats that AI systems can easily parse. Avoid hidden text or dynamic rendering that AI agents may overlook, and provide comprehensive product feeds to marketplaces and AI-integrated platforms to maintain visibility in AI-driven searches.
• Create trust with both humans and agents. Ensure your brand appears reliably across the web with transparent, structured data that highlights product details, values, and policies. Strengthen this through third party expert reviews, credible media mentions, and authentic customer feedback to reinforce trust signals that AI agents rely on when recommending products.

AI influencing commerce has significant downstream implications in commerce, from technology stacks to the future of commerce media to advertising formats in AI. For an even more comprehensive exploration into the strategic shifts marketers must consider, check out Brands Need to Stand Out as Bots Begin Buying.

As AI-driven commerce evolves, the brands that succeed will not only deliver quality products but also master the nuances of AI optimization. In a landscape where algorithms increasingly shape purchasing decisions, visibility and relevance are no longer just marketing priorities, they’re business imperatives.

The post AI Is Taking the Wheel: How Four Trends Will Redefine Shopping appeared first on IAB.

Ecotonos are a transitional space where two ecosystems meet. It’s not a hard line, not a clean break. It’s the space where species from both ecosystems coexist. Just like where the forest meets the field, or where the river fades into the seaside, we’re witnessing a meeting of two worlds: the precision of digital meets the emotion of storytelling, the past comfort of traditional media collides with the complexity of AI-driven platforms. This is not just a change. It’s a metamorphosis.

At the 2025 NewFronts, five dominant forces emerged—each representing a fault line between what marketing was and what it’s becoming. Here’s how to navigate this fertile, messy, exhilarating middle ground.

1. Creators Are the Keystone Species of This New Ecosystem
Creators have become the dominant force in media, overtaking traditional conglomerates by leveraging their authentic, community-driven content.

Platforms are expanding tools, analytics, and monetization opportunities specifically for creators like:

• YouTube’s expanded Partner Program for Shorts offering revenue sharing. New features make it easier for creators to partner with brands through YouTube BrandConnect.
• Meta’s Reels Trending Ads, which allow brands to place ads next to top-trending creator-generated Reels, categorized by topics like beauty, sports, and fashion.
• MyCode’s Creator Platform & Culture Suite is a new community-driven network that supports emerging creators who are deeply connected to their cultural niches.
• Mirror Digital operates a digital publishing platform and creator network with over 1,000 diverse publishers, influencers, and podcasters.
• Future Today is expanding with Bigger, Bolder Baking Network – a 24/7 baking channel led by creator Gemma Stafford, focusing on lifestyle and creator-led programming.

Brands now join narratives rather than just buy impressions, aligning with creators who command audience trust and cultural influence.

2. Retail Media: The Root System Linking Content to Commerce
Retail media has evolved into a crucial link between content and commerce, allowing seamless consumer journeys from awareness to purchase. Major moves include:

• The acquisition of Vizio enables Walmart to directly connect retail data with TV ad exposure, offering shoppable ads and closed-loop measurement (linking ad views to purchases).
• YouTube’s expansion of shoppable Shorts and creator integrations. Brands can partner with creators for direct-response ads linked to product feeds.
• LG is prioritizing shoppable ads featuring QR codes and add-to-cart functionality, turning the TV into a full-funnel commerce channel.
• Tubi Shop now allows commerce-centric advertisers to create storefronts where viewers can purchase products inspired by their favorite shows, directly from their mobile devices.
• TikTok shared data on its influence over consumer behavior: 25% of users go to TikTok first for shopping inspiration.
• Upwave provides real-time insights for campaign adjustments, measures emerging ad formats like shoppable ads and QR codes, improving effectiveness in outcomes.

All of these innovations illustrate how commerce and media are now deeply intertwined.  In the ecotone, performance and storytelling no longer live in silos. Brands must grow where retail data, media placement, and cultural context intersect. It’s a new root system—and it’s thriving.

3. AI Is the Sunlight Fueling Growth
Artificial intelligence is central to transforming media and marketing, enhancing content creation, optimization, and measurement.

• YouTube showed how AI helps advertisers customize assets for different formats and audiences. For example, Kraft Heinz used YouTube’s AI to localize creative effectively.
• The launch of Accelerate by LinkedIn, an AI-driven campaign creation tool, helps advertisers quickly build and optimize video campaigns with real-time insights, now available globally.
• Yahoo News improved its offering as a trusted guide, with advanced AI-powered personalization and editorial curation.
• Amazon debuted a host of AI-Powered advertising solutions including Performance Plus used to predict and optimize real-time conversions across channels Brand Plus which optimizes reach and frequency and delivery and Complete TV which plans, manages and measures streaming TV across owned and other properties.
• Cadent, which acquired Adcuratio last year, claims to have the most advanced predictive tech in the market, scoring 143 billion impressions daily with 22,000 models refined over 14 years.
• Snapchat introduced Sponsored AI Lenses that allow brands to create interactive, shareable experiences using just a few images.

Marketers who integrate AI as a creative partner will thrive, using its capabilities to drive efficiency and scale.

4. Current Landscape: Streaming, Ads and Partnerships
Ad-supported streaming has surged in relevance, with Netflix, Samsung, LG, Amazon, and others enhancing brand integration into content. New creator-driven and branded content partnerships are forming, including: The myth that only the large players can provide partnerships

Partnership(s) Announced: 

Samsung TV : Mark Rober, Jonas Brothers, David Letterman
LG: Curtis “50 Cent” Action Channel
Tubi:  We Got Time Today, Sidelined Intercepted and The Goats
Reach TV:  New Branded Content Studio
LatiNation Univision, Telemundo & Fuse
Future Today: Chuck E Cheese Streaming Network
Mirror Digital: Disney (partnering with HBCUs & Lyric Born
Yahoo Sports: One Football, The Athletic, Hockey News, On The Ground & Boardroom
Tik Tok: Live Nation (Sub X – Artists on Tour)
Snapchat: Live Nation (Under the Ghost – Intimate Sessions)

The myth that only the large players can provide partnerships is dying. In this new terrain, partnerships with smaller players is not a compromise, it’s a convergence. Marketers must relearn how to grow in this hybrid habitat.

5. If it’s Valuable, You Map it!
The ecosystem is changing and everything is becoming even more measurable

• YouTube doubles down on third-party measurement and transparency: Collaborations with Nielsen, iSpot.tv, and Comscore.  Push for cross-platform comparability in attention and outcomes.
• T-Mobile announced a TVision Partnership offers advanced attention and viewability insights for CTV and cross-platform video.
• Samsung’s automatic content recognition (ACR) technology now tracks ad exposures across streaming apps and FAST services enabling advertisers to measure reach and frequency more accurately across linear and streaming platforms.
• Amazon introduced the Amazon Publisher Cloud, a clean room for publishers to safely combine their first-party data with Amazon’s signals, optimizing campaign relevance/
• New partnership with Nielsen One Ads enables Reach TV inventory to be measured and bought alongside CTV, mobile, and streaming platforms.
• Leveraging deep research with Accolade and Lucid, Teads has identified the right attention thresholds by channel for optimal brand KPI delivery.
• New York Times highlighted its proprietary first-party data capabilities, allowing brands to reach specific demographics with precision.

While the measurement companies were mostly aligned on the issues:

• Cross-Platform Clarity and Audience Nuance are essential to move forward.
  • Both Nielsen and Comscore emphasized the urgent need for holistic, cross-platform measurement to navigate the fragmented media landscape.
  • Nielsen pointed out the disconnect between perception and actual channel performance, revealing that platforms like radio and podcasting are undervalued, despite performing comparably to video and social. They also stressed that brands are under-investing in digital display and video by as much as 66%.
• Transparency and Fraud Prevention in CTV need to be addressed.
  • DoubleVerify spotlighted the persistent transparency and fraud challenges in CTV advertising. They revealed that only 50% of CTV impressions are transparent at the app level, and that 25% of CTV ads are played while the TV is off, leading to massive wasted spend.
• Elevating Media Effectiveness with Smarter Measurement Tools would help.
  • All three companies leaned into the narrative that better measurement leads to better media decisions. Nielsen advocated for nuanced audience targeting, including cultural and behavioral segments.

The Call to Action: Thrive in the Transition
We are living in a transitional media “ecotone,” a space where old and new paradigms collide, creating both chaos and opportunity. To thrive, brands must embrace creators, integrate retail media, harness AI, expand into streaming partnerships, and prioritize advanced measurement. This new environment demands adaptability, narrative alignment, and deeper investment in holistic strategies.

The post Welcome to the Ecotone: Five Forces Reshaping Marketing at the 2025 NewFronts appeared first on IAB.

In Q4 2024, the IAB released the report, Connected TV (CTV) Ad Format Landscape: How Standardization Can Drive Programmatic Growth and Innovation. The report revealed just how fragmented the current landscape is. Based on industry-wide research, the report identified 15 ad formats that are supported by more than 40% of providers—yet the majority of these are only available through direct deals. While 75% of CTV inventory is transacted programmatically, 92% of the most innovative formats are locked in non-programmatic channels.

Advertisers and publishers alike are pushing the boundaries of creativity, yet programmatic infrastructure hasn’t caught up. This gap between innovation and scalability is not just a technical challenge—it’s a business blocker.

That’s where IAB Tech Lab steps in. In 2024, IAB Tech Lab launched the Ad Format Hero initiative, a first-of-its-kind effort to standardize emerging CTV ad formats that are already common enough to warrant shared definitions in the bid stream and consistent telemetry data. The goal? To enable “build once, serve everywhere” ad formats that reduce friction and increase efficiency across platforms.

The industry has responded enthusiastically. By the close of submissions in January 2025, more than 100 ad formats had been submitted by 36 companies, reflecting a wide spectrum of innovation and creative potential. These were reviewed by a newly formed Ad Format Hero Task Force, composed of over 20 companies spanning DSPs, SSPs, SSAIs, broadcasters, and MVPDs.

Out of the review, seven key CTV ad format types and one feature were identified as priorities for standardization:

1. Pause Ads
2. Menu and Home Screen Ads
3. Screensaver Ads
4. Overlay Ads Over Content
5. In-Scene Insertion Ads
6. Ads Alongside or Adjacent to Content
7. Squeeze Back Ads Within Ad Breaks
8. (Feature): Immersive and extendable elements

These units represent a cross-section of the formats advertisers are most eager to scale—which viewers increasingly engage with.

As IAB Tech Lab prepared to launch during IAB’s Newfronts week (May 5-9) all the technical standards of these units and features, you can see below examples of how these creatives function in real-world settings.

In an industry where innovation often outpaces infrastructure, the path to sustainable growth lies in standards. Through collaborative efforts like Ad Format Hero, IAB Tech Lab is helping the CTV marketplace transform from fragmented opportunity into scalable, programmatic reality.

The post CTV’s Creative Boom Needs Standards to Scale: How IAB Tech Lab’s ‘Ad Format Hero’ Initiative Is Driving the Next Wave of Innovation appeared first on IAB.

• “What ad played where?”
• “Was the frequency cap respected?”
• “How did the ad perform across screens and platforms?”
• “Did it align with content that was brand safe?”
• “Did we effectively reach our targeted audience?”

As advertisers invest massive budgets into converged TV— with nearly $90 billion projected across linear and CTV by 2028 according to eMarketer — these seemingly simple questions remain difficult to answer due to platform fragmentation, inconsistent creative tracking, and incompatible data systems. Advertisers still struggle to stitch together a clear picture of their campaign performance.

In 2024, IAB Tech Lab, with the help of many industry leaders including FreeWheel, GroupM, NBCUniversal, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery developed a universal ID framework for digital video creatives called Ad Creative ID Framework (ACIF). ACIF adoption enables every ad to be identifiable and trackable across platforms, systems, and devices. Comparable to a digital passport, each ad creative carries a consistent ID through the supply chain — from agency to publisher to measurement vendor —enabling frequency management, reconciliation, brand safety controls, and campaign performance analysis.

According to NBCUniversal analysis of all brand creatives received in 2024, 2/3 of linear creatives used a unique AD-ID, however under 20% of digital ads carried that same identifier. This inconsistency highlights a processing gap that contributes to wasted spend, redundant exposures, and unreliable multi-platform measurement. ACIF bridges this divide by applying the tried-and-true practices of linear creative management to the CTV and digital video ecosystem making it possible to answer the most essential campaign questions.

Today, AD-ID is already integrated and available for implementation. It allows any system to validate a Universal AD-ID in real-time. There is no additional login, API work or cost needed — just clean, efficient validation.

Key registry partners like AD-ID in the U.S., Clearcast in the UK, and ARPP in France have already integrated this API into their systems, helping unify ad validation around the globe. This standardized program both confirms that a creative ID is valid and provides uniform ad metadata (advertiser, brand, language, duration) to enhance campaign automation and creative reconciliation.

ACIF is no longer a concept — it is a live functional infrastructure that works. One of the most telling proof points of ACIF’s operational feasibility resulted from a test including GroupM, NBCUniversal, FreeWheel and VideoAmp.

A Simple Change, a Big Result

GroupM’s ad operations team made one strategic change – ensuring the correct placement of the AD-ID of a CTV buy within their ad-serving template. No extra software. No system overhauls. Just a minor shift in the process.

On the publisher side, NBCUniversal partnered with FreeWheel to ensure their system could surface that ID in its ad logs and push it through NBCU’s data warehouse. From there, the ID was visible in files passed to the measurement provider, VideoAmp.

The outcome? For the first time, NBCUniversal and GroupM could verify a specific ad delivery across both linear and digital using the same creative AD-ID.

This was a full-circle moment — with GroupM’s client already an AD-ID subscriber – there was no special campaign needed, no added spend – just the right field filled in correctly, and a harmonized backend setup. It enabled unified reporting, proving that ACIF can power cross-platform measurement today.

Behind the Scenes—but Game-Changing

This success resulted not from a new or massive marketing campaign, but a simple technical backend enhancement. NBCUniversal worked with GroupM’s ad operations team to make minor adjustments to its reporting pipeline and ID placement that supported the AD-ID’s visibility. FreeWheel then enabled it within their system logs. And in the following weeks, the campaign data flowed end-to-end without error. VideoAmp could then see the same AD-ID in both their linear and CTV reporting, enabling more accurate delivery tracking, frequency insights, and performance analysis.

This test showed the process change works independently and cost is already baked in—a creative ID exists, but they’re often placed incorrectly in the digital shuffle.

Lessons from the Field

• ACIF works with today’s infrastructure. Most platforms support the necessary fields.
• The biggest gap is the current process, not technology. The AD-ID is often there—it’s just in the wrong place.
• Measurement becomes easier and more reliable when the AD-ID flows through consistently.
• Publishers are ready, but more buy-side education is needed to drive adoption.

What’s Next

As both IAB Tech Lab and IAB continue their push for industry-wide adoption, this case study will serve as a north star. While many publishers have the proper technical capabilities ready, more education is needed to allow agencies and brands to make this necessary low lift shift.

Most agencies are already implementing the US registry of AD-IDs in linear and, if the same creative is used for digital, neither ACIF nor AD-ID require new dollars or tools—just new discipline – the same AD-ID is unique to each creative, regardless of linear or digital implementation. This is a decisive first step forward that proves the case to brands on reconciliation, frequency management and cross-channel measurement.

For more information, check the ACIF Playbook here and the ACIF AdOps Guide, here. And, if you are not already working with AD-ID, please reach out to cs@ad-id.org.

The post Cracking the Code: How ACIF is Transforming Creative Management in CTV appeared first on IAB.

This slowdown signals a critical shift: while advertisers continue to see value in commerce media proximity to commerce, closed-loop measurement, and integration with broader retailer buys, challenges such as fragmentation, lack of standardization, and rising costs are leading to more cautious investments. As retail media matures, its future depends on the industry’s ability to deliver consistent performance, measurement clarity, and operational efficiency.

Structural and Economic Headwinds

​In recent times, several economic challenges have emerged, influencing both consumer behavior and retail operations:​ inflationary pressures, escalating (and shifting) tariffs, and record consumer debt. These economic factors lead to tighter consumer budgets, prompting retailers to adjust strategies to maintain sales and profitability. Re-adjustment can look like tightening inventory buys, focusing on top SKUs, and prioritizing capital for quick commerce investments over commerce media improvements.

Additionally, the retail media ecosystem remains fragmented, making it challenging for brands to achieve standardized measurement and interoperability across networks. While leading commerce media networks are adopting IAB measurement standards, adoption is uneven, slowing progress toward the transparency and accountability that brands demand.

Competing for Ad Dollars: The Commerce Media Power Divide

Despite the proliferation of Commerce Media, sometimes called Retail Media Networks (RMN), the majority of ad spend is concentrated among a few players. According to eMarketer data from Q4’24, Amazon and Walmart alone command 84% of commerce media investment, leaving only 15% to be distributed across an ever-growing number of smaller retail networks.

For mid-sized and niche retail media networks, differentiation is becoming critical. Some are focusing on unique audience insights, category-specific offerings, or premium media placements, while others are struggling to hit their revenue forecasts. The long tail of networks will likely see consolidation or strategic partnerships as brands and agencies streamline their investments into fewer, higher-performing platforms.

Retailers vs. Brands: Diverging Views on Commerce Media Value

Sentiment around commerce media is highly dependent on the audience. Retail and shopper marketing teams often view commerce media as more effective than other digital media, while traditional brand marketers and agencies remain skeptical. According to the July 2024 ANA CMO survey, most marketing leaders still see commerce networks as a “have to invest” rather than a “want to invest”—suggesting lingering doubts about their effectiveness versus necessity.

Additionally, organizational silos remain a challenge. Many brands are restructuring internal teams to better integrate commerce and marketing, but retailers themselves remain siloed—impacting RMN efficiency and execution. Moves like Walmart merging commerce and media functions could set a precedent for broader industry shifts.

AI, Self-Service, and the Future of Commerce Media

Beyond economic and structural factors, technology is reshaping the commerce media landscape. The rise of agentic AI—where consumers interact with intelligent systems for shopping decisions—could disrupt traditional search-driven advertising models. For example, Perplexity AI’s integration of shoppable links hints at a future where AI-powered commerce recommendations compete directly with commerce media placements.

Simultaneously, the shift from managed service to self-serve platforms is lowering operational costs for retailers but increasing complexity for brands, especially mid-sized advertisers who struggle with high minimum investment thresholds. The next phase of commerce evolution will likely involve streamlined, more accessible self-service tools that cater to a broader set of advertisers.

The Path Forward: What’s Next for Commerce Media?

While growth is slowing, commerce networks are far from declining. Instead, they are entering a phase of necessary evolution, where success will hinge on:

• Stronger performance validation – Brands need cross-retailer, standardized and transparent measurement to justify continued investment.
• Greater accessibility for mid-market advertisers – lowering barriers to entry to unlock new growth.
• Smarter cross-channel integrations – they must connect with CTV, social, and search for a seamless consumer journey.
• AI-driven shopping experiences – The retail AI revolution will challenge traditional commerce media models, forcing adaptation.

Retail media is maturing. The next chapter of Commerce Media will be defined not by promise but by performance, standardization, interoperability and strategic alignment with the broader advertising ecosystem.

The post Commerce Media: At the End of the Beginning? appeared first on IAB.

The Energy Squeeze: AI’s Growing Appetite for Power

Data centers are among the largest energy consumers in the U.S., and demand is growing rapidly. By 2030, they could consume up to 9% of the country’s total electricity, nearly doubling from 2024 levels. This surge is fueled by artificial intelligence, which requires immense computational power. Training just one large language model (LLM) consumes as much energy as thousands of homes in a year.

Energy costs are tightly linked to oil prices, which remain volatile due to geopolitical tensions and supply disruptions. As fuel prices rise, the cost of electricity follows, putting cloud-reliant Ad Tech firms in a tough spot. Unlike industries that can adjust operations to absorb energy cost fluctuations, digital advertising platforms must maintain speed, scale, and uptime to stay competitive.

Infrastructure Costs in an Uncertain Economy

Beyond the unpredictable impacts on critical ad tech infrastructure, there is another layer of financial strain: supply chain disruptions are driving up costs across multiple sectors. Servers, networking equipment, and semiconductors—critical to programmatic advertising—are already facing pressures with semiconductor shortages potentially worsening as well. Cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure may pass these increased costs to customers, further squeezing budgets.

For Ad Tech, infrastructure is the backbone of real-time bidding, audience modeling, data processing and programmatic efficiency. Rising costs could force recalibration of business models, especially for Ad Tech, that depend on high-volume, high-speed data processing.

The Domino Effect on Digital Advertising

With cloud pricing poised to rise, the impact on digital advertising budgets could be significant. Higher CPMs are likely as infrastructure costs trickle down, making ad placements more expensive. Tighter margins across platforms, agencies, and publishers will add further strain. Brands already scrutinizing their ad spend may push back on rate hikes, leading to more intense negotiations.

Meanwhile, platforms like Meta and Amazon could feel ripple effects from economic shifts. For example, if e-commerce giants reduce their U.S. marketing spend in response to rising operational costs, performance-driven advertising could take a hit.

What Comes Next

Ad Tech is entering an era where infrastructure costs are no longer predictable. They are a moving target shaped by global trade patterns and energy markets. While there’s no immediate solution, companies that rely on cloud computing may need to rethink efficiency, whether by optimizing machine-learning models to reduce unnecessary computational waste, exploring lower-cost energy regions for data center operations, or reevaluating business models to account for fluctuating operational expenses.

With mid-year expected to be the most volatile period, brands and agencies are preparing to tighten their belts, negotiate flexibility, and focus on measurable results in an uncertain economic climate.

The post Economic Uncertainty, Energy Costs, and the Financial Squeeze on Ad Tech appeared first on IAB.

In 2023, the OpenRTB specification reinforced these guidelines with stricter definitions. Then finally in Q2’24 Google adopted these standards. Given their scale, publishers and video platforms were forced to adjust, as inventory that once commanded higher prices may no longer qualify under the new rule.

If you are a buyer, why should you care? These standards ensure video ads appear in high-quality, consumer-intended environments, reducing wasted spend on placements that don’t meet your expectations. So, let’s talk about how to think about In-stream moving forward.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All
In-stream video advertising has long been regarded as the gold standard of digital video ads. In-stream ads command attention and benefit from the credibility of high-quality publishers. However, just because buyers might prefer in-stream, it doesn’t mean alternative formats are ineffective. In fact, options like accompanying content, interstitials, and even no-content environments each offer unique advantages that can drive meaningful impact for advertisers.

The Power of In-stream Video
In-stream video ads—whether pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll—are directly embedded within video content that users have intentionally chosen to watch. This placement makes them highly valuable, as they are viewed in a setting where audiences are already engaged.

Benefits of in-stream video include:

• High engagement: Users are more likely to watch since they are already invested in the content.
• High-quality inventory: Typically found on trusted publisher sites and platforms.
• Strong brand association: Aligning with well-produced content enhances credibility.

However, the high cost and limited inventory of in-stream placements can push advertisers to explore other video ad options.

Accompanying Content (AC): A Balanced Approach
Accompanying content placements—such as adjacent video ads, native video ads, and in-feed autoplay formats—allow advertisers to reach audiences outside of traditional in-stream environments. These ads appear within articles, social feeds, or as standalone units within publisher pages.

Why consider accompanying content?

• Greater flexibility: More inventory availability than in-stream.
• Less disruption: Blends into the user experience rather than interrupting viewing.
• Strong viewability: Many formats only play when in view, ensuring higher completion rates.

Interstitials or Between Content (BC): High Impact, High Visibility
Interstitial video ads are full-screen placements that appear between content transitions—such as between levels in a game or when loading a new webpage. While some users may perceive them as intrusive, interstitials deliver undeniable impact.

Key advantages of interstitials:

• Unmissable presence: Full-screen format captures user attention.
• Optimized for engagement: Often designed with interactive elements to encourage participation.
• Desired placement opportunities: Especially effective in mobile gaming and app environments.

No-Content Environments (NC): The Minimalist Approach
While less traditional, video ads placed in no-content environments—such as digital signage, lock screen ads, or ad-only placements—can still be effective in capturing attention. These placements rely on strategic targeting and repetition to drive brand recall.

Why use no-content video ads?

• Low competition: Less cluttered ad environments mean greater focus on the brand message.
• Broad reach: Can appear in unique spaces such as rideshare screens, retail displays, or connected devices.
• Non-disruptive: Users are not expecting other content, making the ad itself the focal point.

Conclusion: It’s About the Right Fit
While in-stream video remains a highly desirable advertising format, alternative placements are not inherently lesser—they are simply different. Accompanying content offers seamless integration, interstitials deliver high impact, and no-content environments provide creative opportunities for brand visibility. The key is aligning the ad format with campaign goals, audience behavior, and platform context. By embracing a diversified video ad strategy, advertisers can maximize reach and effectiveness beyond traditional in-stream placements.

The post Beyond In-stream: Exploring Video Ad Alternatives appeared first on IAB.