The Big Story: Ad Tech Fight Club

Ad tech titans face off with each other this week as The Trade Desk takes a stand against Google, the FTC fines Facebook and TikTok… well, I suppose its denizens talk about invading #Area51.

First up, Sarah Sluis broke wide open a scuffle about standards – namely, how will Google’s exchange bidding product be defined by the industry? Under certain new and developing ad tech specs, exchange bidding is classified as an intermediary because it takes a cut from each transaction. And that definition creates potential problems for Google as many advertisers don’t want to deal with intermediaries, which could lead them to avoid using exchange bidding.

But what is exchange bidding if not an intermediary? As The Trade Desk moves to get the spec passed and ratified in a format that doesn’t do Google any favors, many ad tech insiders are cheering it on.

Who would have thought that standards could have so much drama?

Also, the team talks about TikTok, the hot Bytedance-owned app that’s currently having an inordinate influence on youth culture. Now, marketers want in (of course).

It’s too early to tell whether TikTok will claim a spot in the advertising ecosystem. But Allison Schiff stayed up well past midnight last night because she couldn’t stop watching tik toks, and lurched into the podcast studio to hash out the pros and cons of diving into the TikTok ecosystem.

Finally, we take a brief look at the FTC’s $5 billion Facebook fine. We all knew it was coming, but now that it’s here, what does it mean for the social media giant?

This post was syndicated from Ad Exchanger.