Signal & Noise

Signal and Noise
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Tech News
  • Updated Monthly

Join advertising industry veterans Brett House and Rio Longacre as they share regular updates and analysis on the changing world of data, tech, and AI. You’ll hear real talk from thought leaders across industries about the latest trends having the biggest impact on our jobs… and lives. Signal & Noise means no BS - only straight talk and first-hand insights from leading operators, creators, and founders.

  1. Cannes Lions 2026 | Day 4 With Rio Longacre, Krish Raja & Brett House

    1d ago

    Cannes Lions 2026 | Day 4 With Rio Longacre, Krish Raja & Brett House

    Day 4 marks the final chapter of Signal & Noise’s first Cannes Lions together as a team—and what a way to close out an unforgettable week. Across four days at Hearst House, we recorded conversations with some of the brightest minds in advertising, media, identity, AI, cybersecurity, consulting, and marketing transformation. Cannes 2026 felt bigger, busier, and more energized than ever, with AI moving from theory to implementation and nearly every discussion centered on what happens when intelligent systems begin participating directly in media, commerce, and customer experiences. In this Day 4 compilation, Rio Longacre, Brett House, and Krish Raja sit down with an exceptional group of founders, CEOs, technologists, and industry operators to unpack the trends shaping the next decade of marketing. Featured guests include: • Michael Beebe, CEO of Dstillery, joined by David Bell, for a candid discussion on transparency, principal media, agency business models, ad tech taxes, and whether AI will finally expose which vendors are truly creating value. • Guy Tytunovich, Founder & CEO of CHEQ, on fighting ad fraud in an era of AI agents, malicious bots, and non-human traffic—and why marketers may need entirely new approaches to identity and trust online. • Mansoor Basha, CTO of Stagwell Marketing Cloud, on composable marketing systems, data infrastructure, and the evolving role of AI inside enterprise decision-making. • Alina Vandenberghe, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Chili Piper, discussing growth, customer experience, and how AI is reshaping B2B engagement. • Justin Bell, Global CEO of Credera, sharing his perspective on transformation, enterprise AI adoption, and why consulting firms are increasingly helping clients rethink operating models—not just technology stacks. • Rob McLaughlin returns to Signal & Noise for a wide-ranging conversation touching on curation, supply-side innovation, containerization, publisher monetization, and why Cannes remains the industry’s most valuable gathering. And to close out the week, Lou Paskalis delivers one of our favorite observations from Cannes: “The only thing worse than having to come to Cannes is not getting to go to Cannes.” From fraud detection and AI agents to transparency, identity, curation, and the future of marketing as an enterprise operating system, Day 4 captures the optimism, curiosity, and collaborative spirit that made Cannes Lions 2026 one of the most exciting events we’ve attended. Thank you to everyone who joined us at Hearst House, stopped by the studio, shared ideas, challenged assumptions, and helped make this such a memorable week. This is the final Cannes Lions 2026 compilation episode from Signal & Noise—but the conversations are only getting started. 🎧 Available now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. 📺 Individual interviews from Cannes Lions 2026 will continue to roll out on YouTube in the coming weeks. #CannesLions #AI #AdTech #MarTech #Identity #Cybersecurity #AgenticAI #SignalAndNoise #HearstHouse #Advertising #MarketingInnovation

    3h 43m
  2. Signal & Noise at Cannes Lions 2026 – Day 3 Compilation With Rio Longacre, Brett House & Krish Raja

    4d ago

    Signal & Noise at Cannes Lions 2026 – Day 3 Compilation With Rio Longacre, Brett House & Krish Raja

    Day 3 at Cannes Lions 2026 may have been the hottest day in French history, but it also delivered some of the most thoughtful conversations of the week. Recorded live from Hearst House in Cannes, this Signal & Noise compilation brings together founders, CMOs, product leaders, publishers, identity experts, and healthcare innovators to discuss what’s actually changing in advertising, media, data, and AI. A recurring theme throughout the day was that we’re entering a new phase of the AI era. The prototypes are everywhere, but deployment is hard. Brands are still wrestling with fragmented data, trust, context, measurement, and figuring out how agentic systems fit into real business workflows. At the same time, publishers are rediscovering the value of premium relationships, healthcare marketers are embracing AI-driven disruption, and identity is becoming strategically important again. 🎙 Sarah Robertson – Chief Product Officer, ExperianTrusted data, identity as infrastructure, MCPs, consumer agents, and why product teams are being pushed to build capabilities the market isn’t quite ready to consume. 🎙 Christian Monberg – CTO, Zeta GlobalAthena, agentic marketing, the new partnership with Palantir, and why brands still haven’t solved their data foundations despite years of investment in martech stacks. 🎙 David Sandström – CMO, KlarnaHow Klarna transformed itself from a B2B payments provider into a consumer brand, designing financial experiences for real people instead of “tech bros,” and why shopping remains an emotional experience that agents won’t fully replace. 🎙 Jim Weiss – Founder & Chairman, Real ChemistryThe future of healthcare marketing, precision medicine, longevity, physician influence, and why healthcare may be the industry most ripe for AI disruption. 🎙 Matt Krepsik – CEO, MediaRadarMMM, metadata, trust, context, speed, creative effectiveness, and how AI may finally make marketing measurement actionable in near real time. 🎙 Mathieu Roche – Founder & CEO, ID5Identity as advertising infrastructure, the implications of the Publicis acquisition of LiveRamp, and what happens when consumer agents begin acting as extensions of ourselves online. 🎙 Melissa Gordon-Ring – Global President, Omnicom Media Group HealthHealthcare’s emergence at Cannes, AI’s impact on clinical development and commercialization, and why pharma marketers may ultimately benefit most from agentic technologies. 🎙 Lisa Ryan Howard – Global CRO, Hearst MagazinesPublishers are back. Hearst discusses premium audiences, first-party data products, AI-powered sales tools, direct relationships, and why quality content is becoming more valuable in an era of infinite AI-generated noise. This was our third day together at Cannes Lions 2026, and the themes were impossible to ignore: • AI is exposing weaknesses in existing technology stacks.• Trusted data matters more than ever.• Identity isn’t dead—it’s evolving.• Publishers may finally have leverage again.• Healthcare is becoming one of the most exciting categories in marketing.• Creativity still outperforms algorithms when it comes to moving people. More Cannes conversations are coming soon, including our Day 4 recap and additional individual interviews from Hearst House. Subscribe to Signal & Noise on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and watch individual sessions as they are released here on YouTube.

    3h 20m
  3. Cannes-Lions 2026 | Days 1 & 2: Agentic Media, AI-Native Agencies, Self-Service TV, and the Reinvention of Creativity

    6d ago

    Cannes-Lions 2026 | Days 1 & 2: Agentic Media, AI-Native Agencies, Self-Service TV, and the Reinvention of Creativity

    With Rio Longacre, Krish Raja & Brett House Signal & Noise is on the ground at Cannes-Lions 2026. This year marks the first time Rio Longacre, Krish Raja, and Brett House have attended Cannes together as a team under the Signal & Noise banner. While each of us has been to Cannes in previous years, experiencing it together—and recording conversations live from Hearst House—made this year’s festival something special. And what a year to do it. Cannes Lions 2026 felt bigger, busier, and more energized than ever. The familiar faces from advertising, media, and publishing were all here, but what stood out most was the influx of AI founders, product leaders, engineers, and technologists who are increasingly shaping the future of our industry. This special compilation brings together our Day 1 opening conversation along with every interview recorded during Days 1 and 2 at Hearst House. Across these sessions, we explored some of the biggest themes emerging from Cannes: • Agentic media buying and autonomous analytics• The transformation of agencies into AI-native operating models• Self-service television and the future of premium video advertising• AI-powered measurement, causal modeling, and MMM• The reinvention of creative workflows• Healthcare marketing, discoverability, and the changing physician experience• The role of creators, influencers, and culture in modern brand building 🎙 John Hoctor — CEO & Co-Founder, Newton Research; Founder of Data Plus Math John discusses analytics agents, causal modeling, MMM, and how Newton is helping agencies such as Horizon Media and Dentsu build toward an agentic future for planning, measurement, and buying. 🎙 Robyn Freye — President, Court Avenue Robyn shares her perspective on enterprise AI transformation, organizational redesign, and what it means to build an AI-native agency designed for the intelligence economy. 🎙 Daniel Druger — VP Product, Comcast Advertising / Universal Ads Daniel walks through Universal Ads, Comcast’s effort to bring self-service buying to premium television, making TV advertising accessible to millions of businesses that historically couldn’t participate. 🎙 Brian Vaughan — Executive Creative Director, Shadow Brian explores how creativity is evolving in the age of AI, why culture-first campaigns still matter, and how PR, creators, celebrity partnerships, and social storytelling can work together to create moments that break through the noise. 🎙 Andrea Palmer — CEO, PHM (Publicis Health Media) Andrea discusses healthcare marketing’s evolution from compliance-driven communications to discoverability, influence, and helping physicians and patients navigate an increasingly complex information ecosystem. This compilation episode is available in full on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, while each individual conversation will also be released separately here on YouTube. And we’re only halfway through the week. Days 3 and 4 are coming soon, featuring even more founders, product leaders, agency executives, publishers, and technologists helping define what comes next for media, marketing, AI, and advertising. Stay tuned. 🎧 Full compilation available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify📺 Individual interviews dropping soon on YouTube Featured Guests 📰 More Cannes coverage, articles, and episodes at SignalAndNoise.ai

    2h 28m
  4. SIGNAL BREAK: Tejas Manohar, Co-CEO of HighTouch Talks LiveRamp Data Purchase Proposition (from Publicis)

    Jun 19

    SIGNAL BREAK: Tejas Manohar, Co-CEO of HighTouch Talks LiveRamp Data Purchase Proposition (from Publicis)

    For weeks, reports that Publicis was exploring a relationship with Hightouch following its acquisition of LiveRamp circulated as an industry scoop. Until now, no one involved had publicly confirmed it. In this special Signal & Noise Signal Break, we sit down with Hightouch co-founder and CEO Tejas Manohar, who confirms that Hightouch has in fact been in discussions with Publicis. That confirmation adds an important new dimension to one of the biggest stories in adtech this year. What would a partnership between Publicis, LiveRamp, and Hightouch mean for identity, activation, clean rooms, and the future architecture of customer data? Rio Longacre, Brett House, and Tejas unpack the implications in a fast-moving, high-energy conversation between three practitioners deeply involved in modern marketing infrastructure. We discuss composable CDPs, warehouse-native activation, agentic workflows, and why the industry's center of gravity may be shifting yet again. To be clear, Hightouch is a sponsor of Signal & Noise, but sponsorship played no role in our interest in covering this story or inviting Tejas to join us. This discussion was driven entirely by the significance of the news and our belief that it deserves broader industry attention. This isn't the long-form Tejas episode we originally planned. That's still coming. Consider this an early dispatch—a Signal Break—to share an important confirmation with the market while it's still unfolding. Topics discussed:• Tejas confirms Hightouch has spoken with Publicis• What a Publicis–LiveRamp–Hightouch relationship could look like• Why composable architectures continue gaining momentum• How identity, activation, and measurement may evolve post-acquisition• The growing role of AI and agentic systems in marketing operations If you're trying to understand where the future marketing operating system is headed, this is one conversation you won't want to miss.

    40 min
  5. Can DSPs Save Publishers? Keith Petri and Rich Hyden on Viant Publisher Solutions, Identity, and the Future of Monetization

    Jun 18

    Can DSPs Save Publishers? Keith Petri and Rich Hyden on Viant Publisher Solutions, Identity, and the Future of Monetization

    Signal & Noise Exclusive Publishers create the content. Publishers build the audiences. Publishers bear the costs. Yet somehow, after two decades of digital advertising innovation, many publishers capture only a fraction of the value they create. In this Signal & Noise exclusive, Rio Longacre and Brett House sit down with Keith Petri, SVP of Data, Identity & Supply at Viant, and Rich Hyden, SVP of Publisher Solutions at Viant, for a deep discussion on one of the most important questions facing the open internet: Can publishers reclaim their economic future—or are the economics of digital media fundamentally broken? This conversation coincides with Viant's major announcement of Viant Publisher Solutions, a new suite of capabilities designed to improve transparency, signal quality, monetization, identity activation, and supply-path efficiency for publishers while simultaneously improving advertiser outcomes. It represents one of the most significant publisher-focused initiatives launched by a major DSP in recent years. But this episode goes far beyond a product launch. Together, Keith and Rich unpack the realities of modern publisher monetization, the hidden inefficiencies inside today's programmatic supply chain, why signal quality increasingly determines revenue, and how identity has become one of the most valuable assets publishers possess. The discussion explores how technologies such as SupplyIQ, Direct Access, Household ID, and IRIS_ID aim to create a more direct relationship between buyers and sellers while reducing friction, duplication, and information loss throughout the advertising ecosystem. Along the way, the conversation tackles some of the biggest debates in advertising today: Why premium publishers continue to struggle despite creating enormous valueWhether supply-path optimization helps publishers—or hurts themThe role of identity in driving publisher revenueWhy signal quality may be the new currency of digital advertisingHow CTV is reshaping publisher economicsThe growing power of walled gardens versus the open internetWhy contextual intelligence is becoming increasingly importantHow AI and agentic media buying may transform programmatic advertisingWhether DSPs can play a meaningful role in helping publishers thriveWhat the future of publisher monetization looks like over the next decadeKeith and Rich also share a fascinating perspective from inside one of the industry's most innovative DSPs, explaining why better advertiser outcomes and healthier publisher economics may no longer be competing objectives. For anyone working in digital media, ad tech, publishing, identity, programmatic advertising, retail media, CTV, measurement, or AI-powered marketing, this is a conversation packed with practical insights and big-picture thinking. The future of the open internet may depend on whether buyers and sellers can become more aligned. This episode explores what that future could look like. Guests Keith Petri, SVP Data, Identity & Supply, ViantRich Hyden, SVP Publisher Solutions, ViantHosted By Rio LongacreBrett HouseTopics CoveredPublisher Monetization • Programmatic Advertising • Supply Path Optimization (SPO) • CTV • Identity Resolution • First-Party Data • Household ID • Contextual Targeting • Publisher Data Strategy • AI Advertising • Agentic Media Buying • Open Internet Economics • Ad Tech Infrastructure • Signal Quality • Media Quality • Digital Advertising #SignalAndNoise #AdTech #ProgrammaticAdvertising #Viant #PublisherMonetization #CTV #IdentityResolution #DigitalAdvertising #RetailMedia #AIAdvertising #OpenInternet #MarketingTechnology Enjoy!

    1h 2m
  6. Life After AdTech: What Happens When You Stop Optimizing Clicks and Start Building Aircraft?

    Jun 15

    Life After AdTech: What Happens When You Stop Optimizing Clicks and Start Building Aircraft?

    What happens when an early Amazon engineer who helped pioneer automated advertising leaves AdTech behind to build the world's fastest commercial airliner? In this episode of Signal & Noise, Brett House and Rio Longacre sit down with Blake Scholl, Founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, for a wide-ranging conversation about innovation, entrepreneurship, aviation, AI, and why some of the world's biggest opportunities are hiding in plain sight. Before launching Boom, Blake helped shape early internet advertising at Amazon, worked through the hypergrowth years at Groupon, and experienced firsthand the rise of AdTech, recommendation engines, and large-scale customer acquisition systems. Then he made an unlikely leap: leaving software behind to tackle one of the hardest problems in engineering—bringing commercial supersonic flight back from the dead.  The discussion explores what Blake learned from Amazon, why he believes Groupon missed a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and how short-term thinking can destroy even the most promising companies. Along the way, he shares stories about crashing Google AdWords, building the world's largest spam operation at Groupon, and getting some of his toughest lessons directly from Jeff Bezos.  The conversation then shifts to Boom Supersonic's mission, the history of the Concorde, the regulatory decisions that stalled aviation innovation for decades, and Blake's controversial view that technological progress didn't slow because the problems became harder—it slowed because society stopped pursuing them.  Blake also reveals the behind-the-scenes story of Boom's near-collapse, the seven-year pursuit of a partnership with Rolls-Royce, and how a failed engine deal ultimately led to one of the company's biggest breakthroughs: building its own propulsion technology and creating a new turbine business that may help fund the future of supersonic travel.  The episode closes with Blake's thoughts on AI, entrepreneurship, and why the biggest impact of AI may not be job replacement—but the creation of millions of new builders capable of turning ideas into reality.  Blake Scholl's journey from Amazon and Groupon to Boom SupersonicEarly AdTech, automated advertising, and internet growth storiesLessons from Jeff Bezos and Amazon's long-term thinking cultureGroupon's rise, fall, and missed platform opportunityWhy innovation in aviation stalled after ConcordeRegulatory capture and the history of supersonic flightBuilding Boom Supersonic from scratchThe failed Rolls-Royce partnership and Boom's engine strategyTurbine power generation, AI infrastructure, and data centersThe future of commercial supersonic travelWhy AI may create more entrepreneurs than ever beforeLong-term thinking, risk-taking, and building hard-tech companiesWhether you're interested in aviation, startups, AI, AdTech, or the future of innovation itself, this is a fascinating conversation about what happens when someone decides to stop optimizing digital systems and start building physical ones. #SignalAndNoise #BoomSupersonic #BlakeScholl #Aviation #SupersonicFlight #AI #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #Amazon #Groupon #AdTech #MarTech #HardTech #Technology #FutureOfWork #CommercialAviation #ArtificialIntelligence #StartupLeadership #Engineering #DigitalTransformation

    57 min
  7. Ads in AI: Karsten Weide on Advertising, Agentic Commerce, and the Future of AI Monetization

    Jun 11

    Ads in AI: Karsten Weide on Advertising, Agentic Commerce, and the Future of AI Monetization

    What happens when the technology that powers advertising becomes the thing consumers interact with directly? In this episode of Signal & Noise, Rio Longacre and Brett House sit down with industry analyst Karsten Weide to explore one of the most important—and controversial—questions facing the digital economy: how AI will ultimately make money. From advertising inside chatbots to agentic commerce, autonomous media buying, and the future of the open web, Karsten shares why he believes AI will reshape advertising more profoundly than any technology shift he has witnessed in more than three decades covering media, technology, and digital advertising.  The conversation examines the rapid emergence of agentic AI across the advertising ecosystem, the growing role of automation in media planning and optimization, and why the traditional programmatic supply chain may be heading toward a fundamental transformation. Karsten explains how platforms, DSPs, SSPs, publishers, agencies, and brands are all racing to build their own agentic operating systems—and what that means for the future structure of the advertising market.  The discussion also tackles one of the industry's most debated topics: advertising inside AI products. Will OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and Perplexity eventually embrace advertising as a major revenue stream? What will AI-native ad formats actually look like? And can advertising coexist with the trust users expect from conversational interfaces?  The conversation then turns to agentic commerce—the emerging world where AI agents shop, compare products, negotiate prices, and make purchases on behalf of consumers. If agents become the primary buyers, what happens to search advertising, performance marketing, and the broader digital advertising ecosystem? Karsten offers a provocative perspective on why this future may create a surprising renaissance for brand advertising, display, video, audio, and out-of-home media.  Along the way, the group discusses: Why AI adoption in advertising is still in its earliest stagesThe rise of autonomous media buying and agentic workflowsHow Amazon, Google, Meta, and emerging ad tech players are approaching AI-powered advertisingThe future of SMB advertising and self-service media buyingThe battle between open standards and proprietary AI ecosystemsWhy the programmatic supply chain may look dramatically different in five yearsThe opportunities and risks of AI-driven creative productionWhether AGI is actually closer than most people thinkHow AI could reshape agency operating models and industry employmentIf you've been wondering how advertising, commerce, media buying, and consumer behavior evolve in a world increasingly shaped by AI agents, this episode provides one of the most thoughtful and grounded discussions available today. The future of advertising may not be humans buying from brands. It may be agents buying from agents. And the implications are enormous.

    1h 10m
  8. News, Trust, & Polarization: Vanessa Otero on the Fragmented Media Era

    Jun 8

    News, Trust, & Polarization: Vanessa Otero on the Fragmented Media Era

    What happens when a society can no longer agree on basic facts? In this episode of Signal & Noise, Rio Longacre and Brett House sit down with Vanessa Otero, Founder and CEO of Ad Fontes Media and creator of the influential Media Bias Chart, to explore the growing crisis of trust, polarization, and information quality in the modern media landscape. Vanessa's Media Bias Chart began as a personal project during the 2016 election cycle and has since evolved into one of the most widely recognized frameworks for evaluating media bias and reliability. Today, Ad Fontes Media has analyzed tens of thousands of articles, podcasts, and news sources to help consumers, educators, advertisers, and publishers better understand the fragmented information ecosystem.  The conversation explores how the industry arrived at a moment where millions of people consume different versions of reality, why social media algorithms amplify outrage and identity over truth, and whether objective journalism is still possible in an era dominated by platforms, creators, and AI-generated content. Vanessa shares her perspective on the collapse of trust in institutions, the economics of journalism, and why the survival of high-quality reporting matters far beyond the news business itself.  The discussion also dives into the business challenges facing journalism. As local newspapers disappear, digital advertising consolidates around a handful of technology platforms, and AI reshapes content discovery, many news orgs are struggling to sustain the costly work of original reporting. Vanessa explains why journalism functions as critical societal infrastructure, how advertising incentives have unintentionally weakened the news ecosystem, and why she believes advertisers have a role to play in preserving high-quality information.  Rio and Brett challenge Vanessa on whether audiences actually want objective reporting, the role of algorithms in reinforcing worldviews, and whether we're witnessing a return to a more fragmented media environment reminiscent of the pre-broadcast era. Together they explore the tension between engagement and truth, the rise of podcasts and creator-driven media, and whether consumers are becoming more aware of the ways technology influences their perception of reality.  The episode also examines the future of advertising against news content. Vanessa discusses Ad Fontes Media's work helping advertisers identify high-quality news environments, the importance of context and trust in media buying, and why she believes many brands have made a mistake by avoiding news altogether. The conversation touches on CTV, media quality signals, brand safety, and the emerging role of AI in both improving and undermining the information ecosystem.  Whether you're a marketer, publisher, journalist, technologist, policymaker, or simply someone trying to make sense of today's media environment, this conversation offers a thoughtful and nuanced look at one of the most important challenges facing modern society. The origin story of the Media Bias ChartWhy people increasingly live in separate realitiesTrust, misinformation, and disinformationThe collapse of local journalismSocial media, algorithms, and outrage economicsWhy advertisers stopped buying newsThe business model crisis facing publishersAI-generated content and the future of journalismPodcasts, creators, and media fragmentationNews quality, media trust, and brand safetyCTV advertising and Ad Fontes Media's partnership with ViantWhether objective journalism is still possibleVanessa Otero is the Founder and CEO of Ad Fontes Media, the company behind the Media Bias Chart. A former patent attorney, Vanessa launched the chart during the 2016 election cycle to help people better understand media bias and reliability. Today, Ad Fontes Media provides media quality ratings used by advertisers, publishers, educators, researchers, and consumers seeking greater transparency in the information ecosystem.

    1h 24m
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Join advertising industry veterans Brett House and Rio Longacre as they share regular updates and analysis on the changing world of data, tech, and AI. You’ll hear real talk from thought leaders across industries about the latest trends having the biggest impact on our jobs… and lives. Signal & Noise means no BS - only straight talk and first-hand insights from leading operators, creators, and founders.

Information

  • Creator
    Signal and Noise
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    51
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Signal and Noise
  • Show Website
    Signal & Noise

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