The Digiday Podcast

Apple has reminded ad tech how much power the browser holds. Ad tech’s reaction: Get out of the browser.

With iOS 27, Apple’s Safari browser has begun blocking domains tied to identity resolution providers, such as The Trade Desk and ID5, that link people’s browsing to their email addresses. In response, ad tech firms and IAB Tech Lab are pushing to move ad calls server-side, including through the latter organization’s Trusted Server technology, which would limit the browser’s control over ad tech firms’ actions.

Meanwhile, the remedies ruling in Google’s ad tech antitrust trial has given Prebid an opening to flip the programmatic auction. Instead of Google’s ad server getting final say on the winning bid, Google’s ad exchange would have to bid into Prebid’s server.

But is the server-side shift a long-term solution? And is it the right one? Digiday’s executive editor of news Seb Joseph and senior ad tech reporter Ronan Shields joined the Digiday Podcast to hash out ad tech’s Game of Thrones amid the server-side shift.

Indie agencies have client ad dollars to spend, but demand side platforms don’t seem eager to take said dollars. At least, that’s the sentiment coming from indie agencies as of late. Indies say they're fed up with DSP fees, barriers to direct access and are starting to question the value of the platforms. At the same time, AI agents promise to automate media buying and negotiations. The question is whether DSPs could lose their grip on the market. Digiday's senior marketing reporter Kimeko McCoy and Tim Peterson, executive editor of video and audio, unpack the agency backlash and what comes next for ad tech.

Publishers’ hemming and hawing over the Google Zero post-search era has reached a fever pitch. Now, they’re finally doing something about it. The publishing industry has been forced to reckon with declining referral traffic from Google as the tech behemoth prioritizes its AI-powered search, or AI Overviews. Companies like Axios, The Verge and Time have starting sprouting greenshoots, turning gripes into game plans to survive in what could best be described as a search-pocalypse. Senior media reporter at Digiday Sara Guaglione and senior media editor Jessica Davies joined a recent episode of the Digiday Podcast to discuss the greenshoots that seem the most promising.

Gone are the days of the one-size-fits all influencer deal. On one hand, creators are being treated like programmatic buys, measured on performance and scale. On the other hand, mega creators are locking down Hollywood-style brand integrations and long term equity deals. In this episode of the Digiday Podcast, Portal A co-founder and president Zach Blume breaks down what's behind the creator economy bifurcation.

Is Omnicom to the ad industry what The Brooklyn Nets are to basketball? Or maybe Omnicom is more like Blanche Devereaux of The Golden Girls. Depends on who you ask. On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, executive editor of news Seb Joseph and senior editor, media buying and planning Michael Burgi took a look at the current ad agency landscape, including Omnicom's IPG takeover, WPP's attempted comeback, Publicis dominance and Dentsu's comeup, through the lens of sports analogies and The Golden Girls.