Below is a roundup of last week’s notable industry news, with summaries and our opinions. 3 of the top 4 programmatic ad buying platforms introduced agents. The 6th biggest agency holding company allegedly made a bid to acquire a stake in the 5th biggest agency holding company. And the 2nd largest ad company in the world staved off a breakup.

Meta wins FTC antitrust trial that focused on WhatsApp, Instagram
Source: CNBC
November 18th, 2025

Summary: A judge ruled that the FTC failed to prove Meta has monopoly power, despite the FTC’s claims that Meta's 2012 Instagram acquisition ($1B) and 2014 WhatsApp purchase ($19B) were anti-competitive and should be unwound. 

The judge's reasoning: The social media landscape has drastically evolved to include TikTok and YouTube as direct substitutes for Facebook and Instagram, leading users to reallocate "massive amounts of time" away from Meta's platforms. The shift toward video content has been particularly significant—the judge noted that "the most-used part of Meta's apps is thus indistinguishable from the offerings on TikTok and YouTube."

Rather than operating as an insulated monopolist, Meta has been forced to "invest gobs of cash to keep up" with competition, according to the ruling, contradicting the FTC's monopoly claim.

Next up: Apple’s antitrust case, Amazon’s antitrust case, and Google’s ad tech antitrust case remedies.

Opinion: Sooo … Meta has TikTok and YouTube to thank for winning its five-year battle with the FTC. Just like Google had ChatGPT and AI to thank for winning its search antitrust battle with the DOJ (okay Google technically didn't win, but the remedies were so weak that Google essentially WON).

It seems like antitrust law, as written in the US, can't really touch Big Tech. The government needs to prove monopolies have harmed competition. It needs to prove they have harmed consumers through higher pricing and / or worse products. That's nearly impossible to do with companies like Google, Meta, and Amazon—their services are free or cheap, and (most) people love them.

The judge’s reasoning in this case: "Sure you bought competitors, but new ones emerged anyway." Counterpoint: We'll never know what Instagram or WhatsApp could have become as independent companies! Another likely reason, which remains unspoken: No judge wants to trigger the messy process of unwinding fully integrated products. It’s expensive, slows innovation, hurts the economy, and pisses off consumers. (Well played, Zuck) 

Big Tech is watching these cases closely. The rulings are emboldening them. The playbook is clear: acquire threats early, integrate quickly, amass market power, and wait for the legal system to come after you after you’ve already won and the government is helpless.

None of this is good for marketers. Big Tech will get bolder: Less transparency, more forced adoption of black-box AI tools, and platforms increasingly dictating terms to advertisers with zero leverage. The walled gardens’ walls are about to get higher.

Could AI be the great equalizer for upstarts? Maybe. But it's tough to bet against these giants in AI as well, as they are already dominating AI infrastructure, talent, and capital.

A Few More Q3 earnings!

Perion (👍): Revenue was up 8% to $110.5M, beating estimates and marking the company's first return to growth in six quarters. CTV revenue surged 75%, DOOH was up 26%, and retail media revenue was up 40%, offsetting an 11% decline in web revenue. Perion confirmed full-year guidance. Shares rose 14.5%.

Nexxen (👎): Revenue was up 5% to $94.8M, meeting expectations. Programmatic revenue grew 10%, but CTV revenue fell 17%. Nexxen lowered full-year guidance due to lower-than-expected activity from a third-party DSP in its open marketplace and private marketplace channels. Shares fell more than 20%.

Disney (👎): Revenue was down slightly to $22.46B, missing estimates. The entertainment unit fell 6%, dragged down by linear TV networks. Streaming operating income rose 39% to $352M, while linear networks operating income dropped 21%. Disney+ added 3.8M subscribers to 131.6M. Shares fell 7%.

Dentsu (👎): Organic revenue was up 1.4% and up 0.3% for the first nine months of the year. The Japanese agency holding company is still considering “strategic alternatives” for its international operations, including a potential sale. Dentsu predicts organic growth to be flat for the year. Shares fell. 

Omnicom Allegedly Pivoted A Chunk Of Its Q3 Spend From The Trade Desk To Amazon - Two sources told AdExchanger that they've seen Omnicom agencies move a double-digit percentage of their programmatic spending from The Trade Desk's DSP to Amazon DSP this year, particularly in Q3. Some expected this type of move since Omnicom won Amazon's US marketing business last year and Amazon has been undercutting The Trade Desk's take-rate. The Trade Desk denied losing Omnicom spend, while Omnicom declined to confirm any strategy changes. The Trade Desk's strong Q3 earnings suggest either the shift hasn't materialized yet or other clients are compensating. Q4 numbers could be a real test of whether Amazon is genuinely disrupting DSP market share or just winning business from already-close agency partners.

Havas Reportedly Exploring a Deal with WPP🔒- Havas CEO Yannick Bolloré tried to quell speculation that the French holding company is in talks with WPP, a few days after it was reported that Havas might take a minority stake in its British rival. The speculation sent WPP shares up 11%—the biggest jump on the FTSE 100 that day. The rumored deal would position Havas and WPP as stronger challengers against the combined Omnicom-IPG entity (closing this month) at a time when WPP's market value has collapsed. While Bolloré shut down the rumour and said Havas remains focused on smaller "bolt-on" acquisitions, he left the door open to larger deals "aligned with our strategy." The denial doesn't change the underlying reality: WPP is vulnerable, and Havas needs scale to compete with Omnicom-IPG. The 11% share price spike shows investors want consolidation to happen. 

WPP Slapped With $100M 'Retaliation' Lawsuit - Former GroupM global content CEO Richard Foster alleges that he was fired for raising concerns about $1.5B-$2B in media rebates that should have been returned to clients but were kept by WPP. Foster spent 17 years building GroupM's content division and claims he repeatedly warned executives that rebate-driven deals were "unsustainable, unlawful, and a significant threat" to the company. The lawsuit coincides with GroupM's May rebranding to WPP Media, which Foster alleges was "pretextual cover" for terminating him in retaliation. This lawsuit puts the industry's longstanding rebate controversy back in the spotlight at the worst possible time for struggling WPP. 

Google offers ad-tech changes in EU antitrust case but a breakup is not one of them - Google would let publishers set separate minimum prices for different bidders in Google Ad Manager and make its tools work better with competitors' systems as part of a potential settlement in its European Union antitrust case. The EU already fined Google $3.5B for abusing its dominance in digital advertising. Google's proposed remedies are similar to what it has offered in its US antitrust case, which it lost in April (remedies in that case are expected to be announced in early 2026). The European Commission will now assess whether the changes end Google's "self-preferencing practices" and address conflicts of interest. Although the EU has often been a tougher regulator than the US (though that may be changing🔒), we doubt either one will force Google to break up its ad tech business.

Google rolls out new AI agents as it looks to further automate its ad platforms - Google's Ads Advisor agent creates personalized suggestions for Performance Max campaigns including headlines, descriptions, keywords, and fixes for unapproved ads. Analytics Advisor generates tailored reports on website performance and optimization guidance. Advertisers can view the specific metrics that prompted hi each recommendation. The tools are designed for both resource-constrained small businesses and large enterprise marketing teams.

Amazon’s Ads Agent Is Here, Alongside a New Ads Interface🔒- Amazon has combined Amazon DSP and its Sponsored Ads Console into a unified Campaign Manager powered by AI agents. Ads Agent handles campaign planning and targeting through natural language prompts. Ads Agent also helps advertisers maximize Amazon Marketing Cloud for measurement and analytics, and can review thousands of audience segments to recommend precise targeting. Creative Agent manages asset production across video, audio, and image. Amazon’s ad platform UIs were never all that user-friendly anyways. Agents to the rescue!

Yahoo Is Quietly Testing 6 AI Agents for Advertising🔒- The AI agents being tested within Yahoo DSP could help advertisers automate their ad campaigns, boost campaign performance, and measure performance.

Google, Amazon, and Yahoo DSP all are introducing agents. Hmm. One platform seems conspicuously absent from this list…

YouTube TV and Disney Reach Deal Ending Two-Week Blackout of ESPN, ABC - Under the deal, YouTube TV subscribers will be able to access ESPN’s full lineup of sports and ESPN Unlimited content. 

Agentio secures $40 million from Forerunner as it scales its creator marketplace beyond YouTube - Agentio, now valued at $340M, is an ad tech platform that helps brands connect with YouTube creators for sponsored videos. 

Nextdoor Gives Its Local Ad Platform An AI-Powered Upgrade - Local advertisers can use Nextdoor's AI tools to automate campaign optimization, use weather-based ad targeting, and develop custom creative.

Peter Naylor Joins Nielsen as Chief Client Officer - Naylor most recently led Netflix's global ad sales before leaving last year. He has also held executive roles at Snap, Hulu, and NBCUniversal. 

The IAB Tech Lab Releases Its First Framework For Agentic Ad Buying Standards - The Agentic RTB Framework aims to create the foundational protocol for efficient agentic media buying.

NBCUniversal to launch new sports TV channel on November 17 - The NBC Sports Network cable channel will launch on YouTube TV before moving to Comcast's Xfinity platform.

Agencies are racing to offer zero-click analysis tools, but monetizing them isn’t easy🔒- Publicis Groupe business’s UK arm and Digitas have created zero-click search analysis tools to help brands understand how they're showing up in AI-powered search. 

Tim Cook may leave Apple as soon as next year. Here’s who could replace him -

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