Marketing

Can 2026 be the year advertisers finally let go of their keyword blocklists? News publishers sure hope so. Even brand-safety platforms want advertisers to abandon the antiquated practice of keyword blocking, which is the blunt instrument often blamed for preventing ads from appearing in the news. Arbitrarily avoiding URLs that contain words like “shoot” or

AI is changing search, shifting it away from short keywords toward longer, more detailed questions, and that change is starting to affect how ads are shown and how brands are discovered. At a recent media session on AI, search, and advertising, Dan Taylor, Vice President, Global Ads, Google, said these changes are already visible in how

Compliance is coming. Sustainability is about to become your advantage.

The industry has spent years debating third-party cookies, but AI has settled the debate. AI decision engines optimized for outcomes (sales, retention, lift) require deterministic identity, clean feedback loops and governable data lineage.  First-party data isn’t just preferred; it’s structurally necessary. And the capital is already moving: IAB’s State of Data report found that 71%

DSPlease Brand marketers and agency buyers are skeptical of DSPs’ transparency claims. After Publicis announced last month that it’s no longer recommending The Trade Desk to its clients, other DSPs saw an opportunity to strike. Since then, other DSPs (Viant being “the most aggressive,” according to one media buyer) have been reaching out to TTD

The Trade Desk has been testing new automated buying modes with select clients that streamline campaign management but roll media, data and tech fees into a single price. The new “Trading Modes”, currently in closed beta for select clients, as confirmed to Digiday by four ad execs, offers advertisers two ways to run campaigns.  Performance