Deals & Moves

Taboola acquired Connexity, a performance-based e-commerce advertising platform, for approximately $800 million. The acquisition expands Taboola's presence in e-commerce advertising and product recommendation technology, adding shopping-specific ad inventory and capabilities.

Innovid acquired TVSquared, a TV attribution and measurement platform, for $160 million to create a comprehensive CTV and linear TV advertising measurement solution. The combined platform provides cross-screen measurement and attribution for converged TV advertising.

Epsilon, Publicis Groupe's data and technology division, appointed Shawn Higa as CEO, succeeding Bryan Kennedy. Higa previously led Epsilon's technology and innovation efforts and the transition focuses on accelerating the company's identity and data platform strategy.

Horizon Media acquired Chalice Custom Algorithms, a data science and AI-powered optimization platform for media buying. The acquisition enhances Horizon's programmatic capabilities with custom algorithmic bidding and campaign optimization technology.

Scibids, an AI-powered programmatic optimization platform, raised $22 million in Series B funding to expand its custom bidding algorithms and campaign optimization technology. The platform uses machine learning to optimize programmatic advertising across DSPs.

Walmart's advertising business, Walmart Connect, reached $3.4 billion in annual revenue, marking significant growth in the retail media space. This milestone positions Walmart as the third-largest retail media network in the US behind Amazon and Instacart. The growth was driven by expanded advertiser adoption and new ad products including sponsored search and display.

Snap acquired Th3rd, an AR shopping platform, to enhance its augmented reality advertising capabilities for e-commerce. The acquisition enables brands to create immersive AR shopping experiences within Snapchat and supports Snap's AR Enterprise Services division. This move strengthens Snap's position in AR-powered advertising as brands seek more interactive ad formats.

Instacart launched its Ads API, enabling programmatic access to its retail media network for advertisers and agencies. The API allows automated campaign management, real-time bidding, and integration with third-party advertising platforms. This launch makes Instacart's $740M+ advertising business more accessible to enterprise advertisers and demand-side platforms.

Roku launched Roku Ads Manager, a self-serve advertising platform that enables small and medium-sized businesses to create and manage connected TV campaigns. The platform provides access to Roku's 70+ million active accounts with simplified campaign setup and measurement tools. This democratizes access to CTV advertising previously available only to larger advertisers.

DoorDash officially launched DoorDash Advertising, a self-serve ad platform enabling restaurants and CPG brands to promote products through sponsored listings. The platform leverages DoorDash's first-party transaction data across 32 million users. Initial products include sponsored search placements and display ads within the DoorDash marketplace.

Target rebranded its advertising business from Roundel to Target Media Network and announced major expansion of its retail media capabilities. The rebrand includes new off-site advertising products, enhanced measurement tools, and programmatic access through partnerships with major DSPs. Target Media Network serves over 2,000 advertisers with access to Target's 100+ million guests.

The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit to block the proposed $24.6 billion merger between Albertsons and Kroger, citing antitrust concerns. The merger would have created the largest retail media network combining Albertsons Media Collective and Kroger Precision Marketing with nearly $3 billion in combined advertising revenue. The FTC raised concerns about reduced competition in both grocery retail and advertising markets.

Spotify launched Spotify Advertising Marketplace, a programmatic platform enabling real-time bidding for audio ad inventory across its 500+ million users. The platform integrates with major DSPs and provides advanced targeting using Spotify's first-party listening data. This launch represents Spotify's major push into programmatic audio advertising beyond its self-serve Spotify Ad Studio.

CVS Health launched CVS Media Exchange, a retail media network leveraging its pharmacy and healthcare data across 100 million customers. The platform offers sponsored product ads, display advertising, and healthcare-specific targeting capabilities. This marks the expansion of retail media into the healthcare vertical with unique compliance and privacy considerations.

Uber announced its advertising business surpassed $1 billion in annual revenue, driven by sponsored listings, display ads, and journey ads across Uber and Uber Eats platforms. The advertising division grew over 80% year-over-year with over 700,000 active advertisers. This milestone establishes Uber as a significant player in the mobility and delivery advertising space.

Lyft officially launched Lyft Ads Platform, enabling brands to reach riders through in-app and in-ride advertising formats including sponsored locations and display ads. The platform leverages Lyft's first-party data on 20+ million active riders and their travel patterns. This launch positions Lyft to compete with Uber's advertising business in the mobility advertising space.

DoorDash acquired Bbot, a restaurant ordering and marketing platform, for approximately $150 million to enhance its advertising technology for restaurant partners. Bbot's technology enables restaurants to manage their own ordering channels and customer data, complementing DoorDash's advertising platform. The acquisition strengthens DoorDash's position in restaurant technology and advertising services.

TikTok officially launched TikTok Shop in the United States, integrating e-commerce directly into the social media platform with shoppable video ads and live shopping features. The launch created a new social commerce advertising channel combining content, community, and transactions in one platform.

Marketing platform Skai secured strategic investment from Sequoia Capital to expand its omnichannel advertising platform capabilities across retail media, paid search, and social. The investment supports Skai's evolution from search marketing specialist to comprehensive commerce media platform.

Amazon expanded Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC), its clean room solution, to all advertisers globally, enabling privacy-safe analysis of advertising campaign performance across Amazon properties. AMC allows advertisers to analyze pseudonymized signals across Amazon's advertising and shopping data to optimize campaigns without accessing individual-level data.

Publicis Groupe acquired Profitero, a leading e-commerce analytics platform, to strengthen its retail media and commerce capabilities within Publicis Commerce. The acquisition provides Publicis clients with enhanced e-commerce insights and optimization tools across retail media networks.

Privacy-focused browser Brave launched Brave Search Ads, introducing search advertising that doesn't track users or build profiles. The ads are matched to search queries locally on the user's device, representing a new privacy-preserving approach to search advertising that challenges Google's model.

Snap announced plans to reduce its workforce by 20% and restructure its advertising business amid declining revenue growth and increased competition from TikTok. The restructuring included consolidating ad products and refocusing on direct response advertising and augmented reality ad formats.

IAB Tech Lab released the Global Privacy Platform (GPP) specification, creating a unified framework for managing user privacy preferences across different regional privacy regulations. GPP consolidates multiple consent frameworks (TCF, CCPA, etc.) into a single technical standard for the AdTech industry.