paid-ads

Pop-art illustration of a black box labeled PMax with an unsold inventory tag spilling out advertiser invoices, a magnifying glass searching for placements.

Named Buyers Calling PMax 'Unsold Inventory' Just Handed You QBR Leverage

A May 11 Digiday piece quotes named brand and agency buyers calling Google's Performance Max "shit inventory" they're forced to buy, Meta's Advantage+ a black box, and The Trade Desk's transparency complaints almost quaint by comparison. The leverage here is

Pop art Gmail inbox showing a Google Ads rep email stamped with a red CAN-SPAM warning and a $53,088 penalty notice, with the missing opt-out link circled.

A LinkedIn Post Just Put Google's Own Ads Reps on a $53,088-Per-Email Hook

Emmanuel Flossie, a Google Ads Diamond Product Expert, publicly accused Google Ads representatives on May 11, 2026 of sending unsolicited commercial emails to advertisers without a CAN-SPAM-compliant opt-out. The FTC sets civil penalties at $53,088 per individual email in violation, and the statute holds the company whose product is

Pop-art illustration of a Microsoft Advertising PMax placement report with three highlighted columns labeled clicks, conversions, and spend over a publisher URL.

Microsoft Just Beat Google to PMax Placement Transparency

Microsoft Advertising added clicks, conversions, and spend to its Performance Max Website URL publisher report on May 7, 2026. Until then, advertisers running PMax on Microsoft could see which sites their ads ran on but not what those placements actually returned. Google's equivalent "Where Ads Showed"

Pop art collage of an Amazon-branded Trojan horse rolling onto a Beacon Theatre stage carrying boxes labeled DSP, AMC, and Rufus while a holdco executive signs a multi-year contract.

Amazon Repurposed the Upfront Into a Multi-Year DSP Sales Cycle

Amazon used its 2026 upfront on May 11 to pitch holdco leaders on DSP, Amazon Marketing Cloud, Rufus ads, and a new unified buying system, not just primetime AV inventory. Ad tech contracts run on multi-year enterprise software cycles, which means the upfront's room of senior agency leaders

Pop-art image of Netflix UK ad inventory layered with Amazon shopping carts and a May 18 calendar, illustrating Amazon DSP CTV targeting on Netflix

Amazon Owns Netflix UK Shopper Targeting From May 18 With No Independent Match

Amazon will switch on Netflix UK ad inventory targeting through Amazon DSP on May 18, 2026, layering Amazon shopper data onto Netflix viewers in the UK and across EMEA. The same capability went live in the United States on April 13. Independent DSPs, including The Trade Desk, cannot replicate Amazon&

Pop-art Google Ads dashboard with a giant passkey symbol overlay, calendar dates July 15 and July 8 highlighted, and a comic speech bubble reading 'Sensitive Action Blocked'.

Google's 7-Day Passkey Delay Quietly Moves the July 15 Deadline to July 8

Google Ads will require a passkey to confirm sensitive actions starting July 15, 2026, including account linking changes, user access edits, billing updates, and unusual bulk operations. New passkeys carry a seven-day security delay before they can authorize those actions, which means an agency that waits until July 14 to