U of Digital Newsletter - 5/21/25 (premium)

May 14th-May 20th // Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Below is a roundup of last week’s notable industry news, with summaries and our opinions. RIP Microsoft Invest (fka Xandr, fka AppNexus).

SELLING OUT FAST: The first AI certification by and for digital ad professionals, from U of Digital. Workshops start on June 16th.
Early bird code EarlyBirdsAreSmart expires May 23rd.

Email [email protected] for team discounts. ENROLL NOW!

`Top Stories 👁️

Microsoft Advertising is closing the Xandr DSP, layoffs pending🔒
Source: Digiday
May 14th, 2025

Summary: Microsoft Advertising will sunset its DSP, Microsoft Invest (formerly known as Xandr) by February 28, 2026, per a company blog post. Microsoft’s embrace of AI is behind the decision; the company says the demand-side platform (DSP) model doesn’t align with its future vision of "more private and personalized advertising experiences for a conversational and agentic world." Layoffs are part of the move.

Microsoft is consolidating its buy-side capabilities into the into the Microsoft Advertising Platform, a more simple, self-service buying tool (not too dissimilar from Google Ads and Meta Ads Manager). As part of its strategic shift to AI, Microsoft has integrated generative AI into its ad tools with Copilot. 

Microsoft will continue to provide access to its ad inventory through third-party DSPs and will continue to prioritize its sell-side tech for publishers Microsoft Curate and Microsoft Monetize. 

The Xandr DSP has a notable history, originating as AppNexus🔒before being acquired by AT&T in 2018 and rebranded as Xandr. Microsoft then acquired Xandr from AT&T in 2021.

Opinion: When Microsoft cites "a conversational and agentic world" as incompatible with "the industry's current DSP model," they're essentially declaring the death of complex programmatic UIs. The future of media buying won't involve humans meticulously adjusting bid parameters in DSP dashboards. It will be AI agents having conversations with other AI agents to execute campaigns.

The economics make this pivot inevitable. Transparent DSPs operate on razor-thin margins with high operational costs and fierce competition. Meanwhile, black-box solutions like Google's Performance Max and Meta's Advantage+ (and the soon-to-be-launched Microsoft PerformanceAdvantageMax+++Turbo) already deliver fantastic performance with minimal human intervention. Because their promise is performance and ease-of-use, they are able to justify obscuring cost and taking high margins. Microsoft is simply the first major player with the courage to admit that continuing to invest in traditional DSP infrastructure makes little business sense when the entire industry is racing toward AI-powered automation. (To be fair, it's convenient courage, as Xandr has been losing market share and clout in the DSP sector for a while.)

This decision becomes even clearer when you consider Microsoft's booming $20B ad business—much of it driven by LinkedIn's walled garden. Why pour resources into a struggling open web DSP when your fastest-growing ad revenue streams don't even rely on it? LinkedIn's success demonstrates that controlled environments with proprietary data and simplified buying interfaces are where the real money is. 

What's telling is Microsoft's decision to retain their publisher-focused tools like Curate and Monetize, which will enable them to continue monetizing the open web using their data. This signals where the real value lies in tomorrow's ecosystem: controlling premium inventory access (supply) rather than facilitating its purchase (demand). In a post-cookie, agentic-AI world, where third-party data is less valuable and algos / UIs become increasingly commoditized, the moat comes from being the gatekeeper to quality inventory and first-party data, not necessarily the buying layer.

For the industry, this temporarily accelerates consolidation around the remaining major DSPs—The Trade Desk, Amazon, Google DV360, Yahoo, and other incumbents will absorb Invest’s displaced enterprise business. But the bigger story is how quickly we're returning to black-box buying models that DSPs were supposed to replace—just with "AI" as the new justification for opacity. 

Buyers, beware!

Two Final Q1 Earnings Reports!

Walmart (👍): Revenue was up 2.5% to $165.6B, missing estimates. Global ad revenue grew 50%, and its US retail media arm, Walmart Connect, grew 31%. Ads are offsetting margin pressure from tariffs and inflation. The retailer affirmed its cautious full-year guidance. Shares closed slightly lower.

Dentsu (👍): Net organic revenue was up 0.2%, driven by strength in Japan. The Japanese agency holding company believes it will bottom-out in H2 before returning to growth this year, but warned of macro economic challenges (yup, tariffs). Dentsu affirmed its 2025 full-year guidance of 1% organic revenue growth. Shares rose by single digits.

Other Notable Headlines

The Legality Of RTB In Europe Has Been Settled, And Nobody’s A Winner - After years of legal battles, a Belgian appeals court has finally settled the GDPR case targeting the IAB Europe's Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF). The court affirmed that IAB Europe is a joint data controller, which means it must get consent alongside other vendors when collecting data for ad targeting. The court ruled that TC Strings (the annoying consent pop-ups) constitute personal data and upheld a previous $281,000 finle. The good news for publishers and ad tech companies using TCF is that they don't need to change their current practices because the ruling only applies to an older version of the framework which has since been updated. Here’s Tony Katsur, Head of the IAB Tech Lab, with helpful clarification.

DoubleVerify Sues Adalytics, Alleging Defamation🔒- At issue is an Adalytics report from March claiming that DoubleVerify's pre-bid filters sometimes fail to block even self-disclosed bot traffic. DoubleVerify says the implication that advertisers are being charged for invalid impressions is false and misleading. DoubleVerify contends that the report was published with "actual malice" to intentionally harm its reputation and promote Adalytics' own commercial services. Adalytics maintains its research is in the public interest and intends to vigorously defend its work. The lawsuit follows other critical reports from Adalytics and rebuttals from DoubleVerify, including DV previously publishing its own analysis to debunk Adalytics' methodologies and threatening legal action against Adalytics collaborator, CheckMyAds. Adalytics is also facing a separate defamation lawsuit from Colossus SSP, the subject of a separate Adalytics report. Let’s … not sue each other?

Chase’s Ad Business Drove $12B in Customer Spend Last Year🔒- The financial giant's advertising arm, Chase Media Solutions, drove $12B in customer spend by serving 18B targeted "Chase Offers" through its app and website. That's a 31% year-over-year increase in attributed purchases by its 71M digital banking users. Built from the 2022 Figg acquisition, Chase's platform operates on a pay-per-conversion model. To stand out in the crowded commerce media landscape, Chase Media Solutions emphasizes its ability to leverage spending insights from across multiple retailers—unlike single-retailer platforms—and target offers for both online and in-store sales. Plans are underway to further personalize these deals and expand their promotion into Chase's physical branches and ATMs. It is also exploring major sponsorships through its Madison Square Garden billboard in New York.

Netflix upfront focuses on new ad tools powered by audience data and AI🔒- Netflix detailed the US rollout of the Netflix Ads Suite, its in-house tech designed to give marketers global reach and precise targeting. Ad chief Amy Reinhard announced new clean room integrations with partners like LiveRamp, Experian, and Acxiom, and confirmed the platform will now leverage its extensive viewing history for ad selection and develop its own brand lift metrics. The initiative also introduces new formats, including shoppable mid-rolls and AI-powered dynamic product placement within hit shows. Netflix's ad tier, launched in late 2022, now has 94M global monthly active users. The streamer is betting that its vast data assets can make its ad business as compelling as its content. 

Cable Megadeal: Charter to Buy Cox In $34.5 Billion Merger - This major acquisition will see Charter Communications take over Cox Communications, creating a new cable giant. Charter is the nation's second largest cable company, and Cox has 6 million subscribers. Charter CEO Chris Winfrey will lead the combined company, which will adopt the Cox name while continuing to use Spectrum as its consumer-facing brand; Cox CEO Alex Taylor will become board chairman. The deal aims to provide significant scale in broadband and video to compete more effectively with tech giants and streamers. The transaction is expected to close in 2026 pending regulatory approvals. Executives say they face a difficult regulatory environment, so all eyes will be on government approval.

Other Notable Headlines
(that you should know about too) 🤓 

Omnicom's Wren Set To Step Down From CEO Perch In 2028 - Wren will trade his $1M salary for a hefty stock option package that will tie his pay to company performance. In 2028, he’ll become executive chairman of Omnicom’s board.

Meta quietly provides new transparency on retail media costs🔒- Advertisers sometimes pay a markup of 50% or more when they buy Meta inventory through retail networks. Now, Meta will tell them what the markup is.

Streaming Ad Tiers Catch Fire, Make Up Nearly Half Of U.S. Subscriptions For SVODs That Offer Them, Study Says - Ad-supported streaming plans are driving 71% of net subscriber growth on premium streaming on-demand services, according to Antenna.

YouTube introduces an interactive product feed for shoppable TV ads - YouTube's new CTV ad format lets you browse and select products with your remote, then scan a QR code or send a link to your phone to buy.

Apple is placing warnings on EU apps that don’t use App Store payments - If you're in the EU, expect "cautionary" messages from Apple on App Store listings if an app doesn't use its payment system. Critics call it a scare tactic.

HBO Max Lives! Max to Change Its Name Back After Two Years - Guess "Max" just didn't have that HBO ring to it. Doh!

Trump’s U-turn on data privacy - The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will no longer seek to block data brokers from selling consumers’ personal data such as Social Security numbers to third parties.

AppsFlyer adopts Unified ID 2.0 and ID5 - Companies are still charging ahead with alternative identifier integrations to power ad campaigns.

Dick's Sporting Goods is buying Foot Locker for $2.4 billion - The nation's largest sports retail chain will pick up 2,400 Foot Locker stores across 20 countries.

Databricks Unveils Data Intelligence for Marketing - The new platform unifies all marketing data and uses AI to let even non-technical marketers self-serve insights for better campaigns.

Chuck E. Cheese Launches Branded Media Network - Leveraging its 40M annual visitors, Chuck E. Cheese has rolled out a digital out-of-home network in its 500+ locations, soon expanding to streaming. Mechanical rat pizza, child casino, and ad sales—what a combo!

The Onion has opened a creative agency - Marketing is about to get a whole lot funnier.

That’s It For This Week 👋

The U of Digital Weekly Newsletter is intended for subscribers, but occasional forwarding is okay!

To subscribe visit Uof.Digital/Newsletters or contact us directly for group subscriptions.

And remember, U of Digital helps teams drive better outcomes through structured education on critical topics like programmatic, privacy / identity, CTV, commerce media, AI, and more. Interested in learning more about how we can supercharge your team?