CMO TLDR: Market Share, Market Shock

Tech Giants Solidify Market Dominance

Amazon's DSP Push Sends Trade Desk Stock Tumbling 40%

Amazon has been aggressively building its demand-side platform since 2022 with a goal to overtake Google and The Trade Desk in the automated ad-buying market, hiring top talent from rivals and undercutting competitors with fees as low as 1% compared to the industry average of 10% to 20%. The strategy appears to be working as The Trade Desk's stock suffered its largest-ever single-day decline this month, falling nearly 40% as analysts cited intensifying competition from Amazon's expanding adtech capabilities. Amazon's advertising services now account for nearly 10% of the company's total revenue and grew 23% year-over-year, bolstered by exclusive Prime Video inventory and major partnership deals with Disney and Roku.

Read more at Business Insider 

Google Keeps Core Search Business Intact Despite Antitrust Ruling

A federal judge ordered Google to share limited search data with competitors and establish an oversight committee, but allowed the tech giant to maintain its most profitable operations, including $20 billion annual payments to Apple for default search placement on iPhones. The ruling preserves Google's control over the Chrome browser and its vast advertising revenue engine, with investors driving the stock up over 8% in after-hours trading. While Google must provide some search results data to rivals like Microsoft and OpenAI, it avoided having to share its most valuable datasets that power its search dominance.

Read the full article at The New York Times 

Signals and Servers

Conversion APIs Become Must-Have for Digital Advertisers

Conversion APIs, which allow brands to share customer data directly with advertising platforms like Meta and LinkedIn, have rapidly evolved from optional tools to essential infrastructure for digital marketing. These server-to-server connections help advertisers reduce costs and improve campaign performance by up to 400% in some cases, while giving brands more control over their data sharing compared to traditional tracking pixels. Despite proven benefits, adoption has plateaued as roughly half of major brands remain hesitant to share customer information with third-party platforms.

AdExchanger 

Leaked Document Reveals Retail Media Pricing on Trade Desk Platform

A leaked document shows The Trade Desk works with 49 retailers to sell off-site advertising using their customer data, with pricing ranging from 15% to 55% of media costs depending on the retailer and audience type. Major retailers like Walmart charge 20% to 30% of media spend for their audiences, while Walgreens commands up to 55% for premium predictive models, with most requiring minimum campaign spends between $50,000 to $100,000. The pricing structure reflects the growing value of retail media networks as advertisers seek first-party data for targeting amid the decline of third-party cookies.

Read more at AdWeek 

Agency Holding Companies Unknowingly Fund Rival Publicis Through Ad Buys

Major advertising networks, including WPP, IPG, Dentsu, and Havas, have inadvertently purchased digital ad inventory through Publicis Groupe's Epsilon supply-side platform without realizing it, raising concerns about funding a competitor and exposing sensitive campaign data. The transactions occurred through "multi-hop reselling," where ad impressions pass through multiple platforms before reaching buyers, giving Publicis access to rival agencies' bidding strategies and audience targeting information. Several media buyers have now blocked Epsilon SSP entirely, with one calling it a "massive" conflict of interest for the only major ad platform owned by an agency holding company to have visibility into competitors' campaign data.

Check out AdWeek for the full article 

Quick Links

The creator economy wants to be a mature media channel, but measurement is holding it back

Despite U.S. brands expected to spend $13.7 billion on influencer marketing by 2027, the sector lacks standardized measurement systems like CPMs found in traditional media channels, forcing agencies to build proprietary frameworks, while fragmented attribution tools create data silos that prevent consistent campaign optimization.

Depop's Biggest U.S. Campaign Aims to Make Resale Fashion a Cultural Norm

Etsy-owned resale platform Depop launched its largest U.S. advertising campaign, created by Uncommon Creative Studio, targeting audiences beyond its Gen Z base as the global secondhand apparel market is projected to reach $367 billion by 2029.

Streaming investments are rising, but media buyers drive hard bargains over CPMs and fees

While marketers are increasing their streaming ad budgets by double digits, they're successfully pressuring platforms like Netflix and Disney to slash cost-per-thousand rates from $60 to as low as $25 in exchange for larger spending commitments, creating a buyer's market despite strong advertiser demand.

Key Article Takeaways - TLDR

• Don’t frame adtech as ‘open’ vs. ‘walled gardens’ anymore. The real battle is over who owns the customer data pipes. Survival depends on either controlling a pipe or being indispensable in connecting to them. Amazon is the case in point: it owns CTV content and distribution, runs both an SSP and a DSP, and controls brick-and-mortar and online retail data. The Trade Desk faces a long-term question: how can it compete without bold moves to match that breadth?

Subscribe to CMO TLDR for your weekly shortcut to the most critical marketing and advertising insights across media, tech, and strategy!