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Welcome to The Refresh, a weekly newsletter from AdTechGod and Marketecture. Every Thursday we’ll bring you the latest advertising news, commentary, and memes.

• Disney Advertising announces a bunch of stuff (The Walt Disney Company)

• Magnite and Playwire partner to scale high-impact ad formats in programmatic (Magnite)

• Roku unveils data cloud (BusinessWire)

• DirectTV launches Out-Of-Home ad network (TV Technology)

• Experian launches third-party data marketplace (Ad Exchanger)

• Adtech M&As skyrocketed. What else is in store for 2025? (AdWeek)

Did Amazon just kill the retail media star?

Amazon’s new Retail Ad Service is definitely going to disrupt things for other Retail Media Networks. By offering an all-in-one, easy-to-use ad platform directly to retailers, Amazon is using its massive tech resources and rich data to provide something that third-party vendors might struggle to compete with. This could take some market share away from existing players, as retailers might prefer Amazon’s solution over juggling multiple partnerships. Plus, Amazon’s claims they have a stronger focus on data privacy and advanced targeting sets a high bar, pushing competitors to step up their offerings. To stay in the race, other tech providers will probably need to innovate fast, whether that means forming strategic alliances or adding unique features that make them stand out from Amazon’s offering. Overall, Amazon moving into this space is ramping up the competition, forcing everyone else to improve if they want to keep and attract retailer clients.

Ari’s View: Offering the technology to power a RMN is a smart play. I want to know how much advertising demand comes along with it, and how that works for retailers that do not fulfill using Amazon’s logistics.

Read Marketing Dive

Comcast announces Universal Ads

Comcast announces Universal Ads for SMBs. Now, i don’t normally claim to be GOD (or maybe I do) but i called it in December on my 2025 predictions! You can see the post here: 2025 predictions

By making it easier to buy ad time on streaming platforms, Comcast is challenging the dominance of social media like Meta and TikTok. This move could lure advertiser dollars away from those big tech platforms by offering a more streamlined and user-friendly experience, similar to how you’d purchase ads on social media. It’s pretty smart because many small and medium-sized businesses find traditional ad buying processes complicated and expensive.

With Universal Ads, Comcast is lowering those barriers, making premium advertising more accessible. Plus, the partnerships with major media companies like NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery, and others create a robust network that advertisers can tap into, increasing their reach and effectiveness.

Ari’s View: The rise of SMB advertising in streaming is a topic I’ve covered before and one that I’m excited about through my personal involvement with Vibe.co. This announcement follows a similar one from Roku last Fall. The big picture here is who is not doing this — Google and Facebook.

Read CNBC

Infosum launches Contractless Collaboration

InfoSum’s launch of “Contractless Collaboration” is a big win for businesses eager to move quickly in today’s sometimes overwhelming fast paced industry. By removing the hassle of lengthy contracts, companies can now partner up and activate campaigns almost instantly, which is perfect for grabbing those real-time marketing opportunities. This move could push other data platforms to innovate and simplify their own processes to keep up.

Ari’s view: They’re spinning this as a big win, but in reality many other clean room providers offered this from the get-go. This is about removing an obstacle that Infosum had put on itself through its original vision of “bunkers” among peer companies.

Read PR

Yahoo DSP integrates with Roku, boosting advertiser control and transparency

Is it me or is Yahoo cool again? Yahoo DSP is seriously stepping up its game with these new integrations, making it way easier for advertisers to get the most out of their budgets. By teaming up with top partners like Jounce, Peer39, and Scope3, Yahoo is giving advertisers awesome tools to fine-tune their campaigns-better targeting, detailed reporting, and smarter supply path segmentation. This means your ads are landing in the right spots, more sustainably.

The partnership with Roku is a huge win too, simplifying the TV ad buying process and tapping into Roku’s massive CTV audience just when connected TV is booming. Plus, collaborating with TAG and ANA shows Yahoo is all about transparency and trust, which is super important right now.

Ari’s view: The Yahoo PR team is trying to spin this as “buy side curation” which is a bit much for me. Nevertheless, the substance of the announcement is interesting and Yahoo DSP is an important player.

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