Axios

Everyone seems to be getting into the advertising business these days as more industries realize they can turn attention into revenue.

Why it matters: The industry needs new strategies and standards for an era where new players like AI firms and ride-sharing apps join traditional advertisers in monetizing attention.

Publishers are investing more in contextually aligned advertising with new ways for brands to reach people in relevant moments.

Why it matters: Contextual is gaining traction as streaming services and major publishers spend more on high-profile events and sports rights.

The onslaught of AI slop has made it easier for bad actors to game digital platforms with spam and scams designed to make money.

Why it matters: The spam economy has been a part of the internet ecosystem since its inception more than three decades ago. But now it's reached a level of whack-a-mole that's made it hard for consumers to trust what's real.

Over the past two years, AppLovin has become a rare ad tech darling on Wall Street, with its stock surging over 1,200% to $568 per share as of Jan. 16.

Why it matters: The company's investments in AI have made its ad tech platform the go-to monetization tool for mobile gaming marketers and beyond.

In officially killing its Privacy Sandbox initiative, Google has signaled to the ad industry that a unified privacy standard is too difficult to coalesce around.

Why it matters: Without a national privacy law or industry standard, the ad market is self-governing by moving toward contextual-based marketing strategies that don't require internet tracking cookies.

In finding Google guilty for abusing its ad tech monopoly last year, a U.S. district judge must now determine which remedies to impose on the tech giant, possibly redefining the power balance across the digital ad ecosystem.

Why it matters: Sell-side platforms, such as Magnite, PubMatic and OpenX, all stand to benefit significantly should Google be forced to spin off its "network" ad business, which sells ads on other publishers' inventory.

As more clients bring marketing in-house using AI tools, big ad holding groups face pressure to consolidate in order to retain and attract clients.

Why it matters: Zero-based budgeting has pressured agencies to work harder on renewals.

Amazon's ad empire is expanding fast, with its demand-side platform landing a slew of big publishing partners in recent months.

Why it matters: The momentum, combined with its first-party data and AI-powered tools, has put pressure on and caused investor skepticism of incumbents like The Trade Desk.

The ever-expanding definition of an ad network, combined with the convergence of digital and traditional marketing, is putting pressure on Madison Avenue to redefine itself.

Why it matters: Sprawling interests across an array of companies have forced the industry's leading trade group, Interactive Advertising Bureau, to change the way it engages members.

OpenAI's ChatGPT previewed the future with its chatbot release in late 2022. Anthropic's latest Claude AI takes you there.

Why it matters: Claude Opus 4.5 — which powers Anthropic's agent tools, Claude Code for developers and the newly released Cowork — lets anyone quickly turn an idea into a functioning program or app, using plain English.

It was a busy week in the always-shifting AI race, with OpenAI signaling ads are coming to ChatGPT and Anthropic debuting a tool that could dramatically reshape the workplace.

The big picture: Decisions by OpenAI, Anthropic and Google are starting to shape how consumers, workers and investors experience the AI boom.

Yes, national average power prices have risen, but no, not as much as President Trump said.

Why it matters: With plug prices the political term du jour this election year, sifting through arcane power price data will be important to find the facts.

A federal judge ordered ICE agents to stop retaliating against peaceful protesters and observers in Minnesota.

Why it matters: Minnesota officials have banked on federal courts stepping in to deescalate tensions around the Trump administration's increasingly forceful immigration enforcement campaign in the Twin Cities.