What changed

Dynamic Search Ads are being sunset and auto-upgraded to AI Max; after advertiser feedback Google moved the start from September 2026 to February 2027.

Amazon Ads partners with OpenAI so advertisers can extend Amazon Ads campaigns into ChatGPT; select US advertisers are testing it in a pilot.

Microsoft detailed Microsoft Curate, which packages curators' proprietary data and digital assets with premium supply for programmatic buyers through a centralised platform, with Copilot in Curate for reporting and troubleshooting.

Telly makes its Home Screen ads buyable programmatically for the first time through Magnite, with The Trade Desk and Teads signed on as buyers and a Five-Minute Private Marketplace for extended-duration creative.

Reddit made Max campaigns, which automate targeting, creative selection, placements and budget allocation, available to all advertisers after a beta earlier in 2026. Reddit says early tests showed 17% lower costs/CPA and over 27% more conversions; the Advertising API and Smartly now support Max campaigns.

Judge Brinkema declines to make Google sell its AdX ad exchange and accepts behavioural remedies instead. Her opinion is sealed for 14 days and the two sides have 30 days to submit a joint proposed final judgment.

Search campaigns using automatically created assets or the campaign-level broad match setting are automatically upgraded to AI Max starting in September 2026.

Amazon, disputing the FTC suit, says its Sponsored Ads auction uses a hard reserve to enter and a real-time soft reserve: a winning bid above both pays the soft reserve, a winning bid below the soft reserve pays its bid, and no advertiser pays more than its bid.

Minute Media rebranded as Minute as its B2B technology business grows alongside its sports content brands.

The FTC and 22 states sue Amazon, alleging that from 2019 it added an undisclosed surcharge, internally called a “soft reserve price”, to the auctions for Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Display ads beside search results, so advertisers paid more than the second-price auction it described.

Simon launched Simon Media Network, a commerce media platform reaching consumers across its portfolio of more than 200 shopping, dining and entertainment destinations.

ChatGPT Sponsored placements expand to 31 European markets, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, OpenAI's largest expansion to date.

Walmart completed its acquisition of Vibe.co, a self-service streaming TV advertising platform, which will help Walmart Connect offer advertisers new ways to plan, buy and measure streaming TV advertising.

Walmart completed its acquisition of Vibe.co, bringing the self-service streaming TV platform into Walmart Connect, its U.S. commerce media business.

beehiiv added programmatic ads to its newsletter ad platform on 16 July 2026, as part of its largest platform expansion (alongside Community, an AI Copilot and a visual editor). Programmatic runs alongside the existing beehiiv Ad Network sponsored-link campaigns.

Lupa Systems completed its acquisition of New York Magazine, the Vox Media Podcast Network and Vox, which continue as a Lupa subsidiary under the Vox Media name led by Jim Bankoff.

Lupa Systems, James Murdoch's holding company, completed its acquisition of New York Magazine, the Vox Media Podcast Network and Vox; the three divisions now operate as a Lupa subsidiary under the Vox Media name.

Lupa Systems, James Murdoch's holding company, completed its acquisition of New York Magazine, the Vox Media Podcast Network and Vox; the three divisions now operate as a Lupa subsidiary under the Vox Media name.

Lupa Systems completed its acquisition of New York Magazine, whose digital verticals include Vulture, together with the Vox Media Podcast Network and Vox; they operate as a Lupa subsidiary under the Vox Media name.

AppLovin opened its self-serve ad platform to all advertisers after eight months of referral-only access that began in October 2025.

AppLovin renamed its self-serve ad platform from Axon to AppLovin Ads and opened sign-up to any business without a referral code. Axon remains the name of its AI recommendation system.

Penske Media Corp. acquired Vox Media's digital brands including Eater, The Verge, SB Nation and Popsugar, housing them in its new publishing subsidiary PMX.

Penske Media Corp. acquired Vox Media's other digital brands - Eater, The Verge, SB Nation, Popsugar, The Dodo, Punch and Thrillist - and placed them in a new subsidiary, PMX.

Penske Media Corp. acquired Vox Media's digital brands including SB Nation, Eater, The Verge and Popsugar, housing them in its new publishing subsidiary PMX.

Yahoo DSP launched the Agent Network, an open framework connecting advertisers to AI agents built by third-party technology partners directly within Yahoo DSP workflows.

Penske Media Corp. acquired Vox Media's digital brands including The Verge, Eater, SB Nation and Popsugar, housing them in its new publishing subsidiary PMX.

Penske Media Corp. acquired Vox Media's digital brands including Popsugar, Eater, The Verge and SB Nation, housing them in its new publishing subsidiary PMX.

Fox Corporation agreed to acquire Roku for $160.00 per share in a combination of cash and FOX Class A common stock, valuing Roku at approximately $22 billion in enterprise value; the deal is subject to FOX and Roku shareholder approvals and U.S. and certain non-U.S. regulatory approvals.

Electronic Arts launched EA Advertising on 15 June 2026, selling brand integrations directly into gameplay and live experiences across its games, led by EA SPORTS FC, Madden NFL and College Football.

Tubi's owner Fox Corporation agreed to acquire Roku for about $22 billion in enterprise value, which would put Tubi and The Roku Channel in one company; the deal is pending.

Fox Corporation agreed to acquire Roku for $160.00 per share in cash and FOX Class A common stock, valuing Roku at approximately $22 billion in enterprise value; the combined company would include Tubi and The Roku Channel. The deal is pending.

Pinterest launched Amazon Storefront linking, letting eligible creators connect an Amazon Storefront so their affiliate link is applied automatically to tagged Amazon products. Pinterest said storefront linking with other partners would follow.

Samsung Ads opens its TV home-screen inventory to programmatic buying through The Trade Desk and Google Display & Video 360, powered by Magnite's SpringServe, rolling out across all regions from Q3 2026.

Gopuff partnered with GrowthLoop so Gopuff and BevMo! ad partners can build custom audiences and activate them via SSPs or DSPs.

Meta drops the 'Your activity off Meta technologies' setting, which let people disconnect business-shared activity from their account, and folds control into 'Activity from other businesses'; that activity now also personalizes feeds and AI responses, not only ads.

DoorDash Ads became a global commerce media platform across DoorDash, Wolt and Deliveroo, adding the Spotlight homepage ad format, global offsite reach through Symbiosys and a LiveRamp partnership.

Reddit's native Shopify integration became widely available to global advertisers, letting merchants link a Shopify storefront, set up a codeless Reddit Pixel and sync their catalog for Dynamic Product Ads.

Amazon announces Dynamic TV Creative, which personalizes Interactive Video Ads on Prime Video series and films according to each viewer's shopping behavior.

tvScientific by Pinterest launched, making it the first ad platform to offer direct access to Pinterest's high-intent audiences for CTV campaigns.

LinkedIn expanded programmatic CTV buying to Amazon DSP, letting advertisers apply LinkedIn job title, industry and seniority targeting across premium streaming inventory through Microsoft Monetize.

LinkedIn introduced an Ads Agency Certification credential so marketers can identify agencies with proven LinkedIn Ads experience.

OpenAI opens a beta self-serve Ads Manager to US advertisers, adds cost-per-click bidding and drops the $50,000 minimum spend.

Microsoft deprecates its public Prebid Cache (formerly AppNexus, prebid.adnxs.com/pbc), which Prebid.js and Prebid Server set-ups used to store and retrieve video creatives. Sites relying on it must move to another cache; Microsoft recommends local client-side caching.

AI Max, previously Search-only, is extended to Shopping campaigns and travel-specific formats, using Merchant Center feeds to answer conversational queries.

Parent company IAC announced it is renaming itself People Inc. and cutting corporate staff; Neil Vogel, CEO of the People division, becomes CEO of the whole company.

Snapchat introduced AI Sponsored Snaps, letting brands appear in Chat through AI agents Snapchatters can interact with directly. Snap said Sponsored Snaps already drive 22% more conversions with nearly 20% lower cost per action.

tvScientific by Pinterest launched Pinterest's high-intent audiences for connected TV campaigns, the first milestone since the acquisition closed in February 2026.

Taboola launched Realize+, an agentic AI system that turns advertiser goals into outcomes, and opened its platform to Claude Skills. Realize+ had spent several months in beta with phase 2 expanding in Q2.

Hearst News named Magnite its preferred deal partner for high-impact formats (web exit-intent placements and CTV pause ads) and added a SpringServe partnership for its video ad operations.

Hearst launched Hearst News (formerly Hearst Mosaic), a single programmatic marketplace for the digital inventory of its 30 daily and 50 weekly newspapers and 35 television station sites. It claims more than 80 million monthly unique users and 3+ billion monthly impressions across display, video and CTV.