AdTech AdTalk

Adam and Gareth

Buy Side Meets Sell Side. Live Q&A with CEOs telling the truth about where Ad Tech is headed.

  1. 2 DAYS AGO

    2026 Predictions

    Happy New Year and welcome to 2026! In the first episode of the year, Adam and Gareth kick things off with their boldest predictions for the future of ad tech.From the rise of the "Ad Tech Singularity" (where DSPs, SSPs, and data companies finally merge) to the inevitable comeback of open web banners (yes, really), the duo covers it all. They debate whether retail media networks are just selling "fancy value-click" inventory, why performance CTV is bringing IP-address attribution "home to roost," and why AI won't make investors rich (but might make you rich).Plus, Gareth explains why Elon's unhinged tweets might actually be good for Grok's credibility, and predicts the end of the "trust era" in inventory quality. It's a jam-packed episode to set the stage for a wild year ahead.00:00 - Intro & Pontiac Intelligence Shoutout02:59 - The Joys of Parenting Toddlers (AKA "First Principles of Humanity")06:53 - Post-Mortem: The Looming Retail Media Scandal10:04 - Is Retail Media Data Actually Any Good?15:50 - Elon, Grok, and the Future of Truth on X24:35 - Adam vs. DigiDay: The Trade Desk Whisper Campaigns36:58 - Adam's Prediction #1: The Revival of the OLV Market40:34 - Adam's Prediction #2: New AI-Native Agency Models44:01 - Adam's Prediction #3: AI "Gravity" & The Valuation Reality Check46:07 - Adam's Prediction #4: Muscular Behavioral Remedies for Google47:40 - Gareth's Prediction #1: The Ad Tech Singularity (Unbundling is Over)54:46 - Gareth's Prediction #2: Performance CTV & The Return of IP Attribution1:01:17 - Gareth's Prediction #3: The Banner Market Will Grow in 20261:04:13 - Gareth's Prediction #4: Amazon Will Not Beat The Trade Desk1:09:30 - Gareth's Prediction #5: Disappointment with LLM Ad Revenue1:11:44 - News: Marketing Layoffs Due to AI Pressure1:17:27 - Outro

    1h 19m

  2. 19/12/2025

    5 Buy & Sell Side Myths, BUSTED.

    In the final episode of 2025, Adam and Gareth look back at a chaotic year in ad tech and look forward to the "fewer, better pages" of the future. The duo tackles the persistent myths plaguing the industry, from the zombie-like return of domain spoofing (it's solved, guys) to the shady practice of ad stuffing via carousels.Adam rails against the concept of "scale" as a software problem (it's not) and the wasted time of digital media planning, while Gareth makes the case that video placement misdeclaration is the #1 issue we need to kill in 2026. They also debate whether agentic AI is just a fancy way to automate sales houses and if guaranteed deals are obsolete in a programmatic world.Plus, a look at Pinterest's move into CTV, why LiveRail ruined ad tech M&A for a decade, and a special shoutout to the LinkedIn Year-In-Review spam.0:00 Intro & Pontiac Intelligence Shoutout 02:18 Holiday Party Anxiety & The "Irish Exit" 04:47 The AI Year in Review: Trials & Tribulations 08:23 Did The Trade Desk Actually care about Performance in 2025? 13:12 MYTH BUSTING SEGMENT BEGINS 15:26 Myth #1: Domain Spoofing is Still a Huge Problem 19:45 Myth #2: Resellers & Ad Stuffing (Carousels) 25:14 Myth #3: Video Placement Misdeclaration (In-Stream vs. Out-Stream) 30:33 The Future of Open Web: Fewer, Better Pages 39:40 Myth #4: "It Doesn't Scale" (The First Principles of Audience) 43:40 Myth #5: Privacy Laws Prevent Reach Measurement 45:49 Myth #6: You Need DoubleVerify for Brand Safety 47:48 Myth #7: Digital Media Planning is Essential 50:14 Myth #8: Agentic AI Benefits Advertisers (Where's the Value?) 52:02 Why Guaranteed Deals Don't Make Sense Programmatically 54:58 StinkedIn: The Worst Year-End Wrap-Ups 57:34 AI Phishing Emails Getting Too Good 58:45 Outro & 2026 Preview

    1 hr

  3. 12/12/2025

    Perfectly Honest and Completely Untrue

    In this episode of AdTech AdTalk, Adam and Gareth break down the big news of the week: Pinterest acquiring TV Scientific. Is it about CTV tags, or is it really about IP address stuffing to juice attribution?The duo goes deep on the AI wars, debating whether Google’s "stack" strategy will crush open standards, the "vertical integration" lesson from the browser wars, and the suspicious claim that Gemini 3 has no ads (yet). They also tackle the "passive voice" of the Irish exit, the surprising economics of OnlyFans chatbots, and why SaaS investors are panicking about AI.Plus, a look back at the "Vast Arbitrage" era, why LiveRail ruined ad tech acquisitions for a decade, and why nobody can name a single piece of "new knowledge" generated by an LLM.0:00 Intro2:12 The "Irish Exit" & Holiday Party Anxiety04:08 AI Standards vs. The Google Stack06:40 The Browser Wars & Vertical Integration 11:34 The "Architects of AI" & Godzilla Battles 15:28 The ROI of AI: Application Layer vs. Infrastructure 19:02 AI Won't Make Investors Rich (But Might Make You Rich) 23:11 The Service Industry Boom & The End of SaaS Playbooks 28:43 Pinterest Acquires TV Scientific: Attribution Gaming? 39:08 The "LiveRail Chill" on Ad Tech M&A 44:37 Post-Mortem: Google's "No Ads in Gemini" Claim 50:05 Post-Mortem: Vast Arbitrage & Waterfalls Explained 54:58 Post-Mortem: Can AI Create New Knowledge? 59:43 Q&A: Affiliate Links in Custom GPTs 1:01:23 OnlyFans Chatbots & The Future of Influencer AI 1:02:46 Outro & Hanukkah Wishes

    1h 7m

  4. 05/12/2025

    Designated *sshole (ft. Hillary Slattery, IAB Tech Lab)

    In this episode of AdTech AdTalk, hosts Adam and Gareth are joined by Hillary Slattery, Director of Product Management at IAB Tech Lab and the "designated asshole" charged with shepherding OpenRTB.They dive deep into the granular realities of programmatic advertising, from the importance of OpenRTB's 107-page spec to the contentious debates around video ad placement definitions and the widespread misuse of the buyer UID field. Hillary explains why deal IDs are often a "band-aid" for poor OpenRTB implementation and the challenges of standardizing creative across platforms.The trio also discusses the implications of the Omnicom/IPG merger, the $16 billion Facebook makes from scam ads, and why users actually prefer ad-supported content to paying for it.Chapter Timestamps0:00 Intro & Pontiac DSP Shoutout 01:22 Happy Birthday to Gareth & Marley! 02:03 Meet Hillary Slattery 06:09 What is OpenRTB? 08:55 The Role of Agentic AI in Ad Tech 16:43 Standardizing Creative with Ad-ID 21:52 The "Designated Asshole" of OpenRTB 26:23 The Debate Over "In-Stream" Video 28:02 The Buyer UID Field Controversy 38:28 Agency Holdcos & The "Bonus Malus" Trap 45:22 Why You Should Use Deals in CTV 50:02 Deal IDs vs. OpenRTB Implementation 55:08 Post-Mortem: "No Such Thing as Server-Side Header Bidding" 58:44 Post-Mortem: Facebook's $16 Billion Scam Ad Problem 1:03:01 News: Trade Desk's Bad Creative Preview 1:04:54 News: Meta Wins Antitrust Case & User Ad Tolerance 1:08:56 News: Omnicom/IPG Merger & The End of Scale 1:12:34 Outro

    1h 14m

  5. 28/11/2025

    Let the Bodies Hit the Price Floor

    It’s a special Thanksgiving episode of AdTech AdTalk! Adam and Gareth are holding down the fort solo, ready to dive into the latest ad tech news, from Google's ongoing antitrust saga to the impending IPG/Omnicom mega-merger. The duo explores the competitive landscape of header bidding management, why it’s such a tough business, and the unique position of Index Exchange’s new containerization project. They also field listener questions about the new "Agentic RTB" standards, how brands like Bayer can leverage them, and the uncomfortable truth about using IP addresses for measurement in CTV. Plus, the hosts debate the effectiveness of price floors, roast a viral LinkedIn post about TV's "passive screen" experience, and analyze a clip of Sergey Brin cutting through Google's infamous bureaucracy. 0:00 Intro & Pontiac Intelligence Shoutout 02:37 The Header Bidding Knife Fight 07:19 Index, Attentive & Resellers 11:34 Index Exchange’s Containerization 14:06 Why It's Called "Agentic RTB" 19:02 Will Big Tech Adopt the Standards? 24:13 Brands & Agentic Workflows 30:37 The Truth About IPs & CTV Measurement 37:22 Why Telcos Failed at Ad Tech 41:26 Why Price Floors Work (Sort Of) 50:12 Post-Mortem: TV’s "Passive Screen" 57:34 Google’s Gemini 3 & Sergey Brin 1:09:27 IPG & Omnicom Merger 1:11:56 Google Antitrust Closing Arguments 1:18:44 Don't Sleep on Google 1:19:15 Outro

    1h 20m

  6. 21/11/2025

    I Love Grok & Trolls

    In this "old school" episode of AdTech AdTalk, Adam and Gareth fly solo (mostly) to vent about the industry and answer chat questions without the pressure of being nice to a guest. The duo dives deep into the technical weeds of PMP duplication, explaining the bizarre reality where sending the same deal ID five times actually results in more spend due to DSP throttling and QPS caps.They also tackle the controversy surrounding The Trade Desk’s Kokai update, debating whether the loss of trader control is worth the aggressive pacing algorithms. The conversation shifts to the philosophy of measurement, the generational shift in caring about inventory quality, and why coupons are the original performance marketing.Plus, a surprise visit from "Senator AdTech" (who looks and sounds suspiciously like a famous Vermont politician) to rail against the "rigged auction" of the bid request system. Finally, the hosts roast Grok’s sycophantic description of Elon Musk’s physique and play a round of Hot Sh*t or Horsesh*t featuring Quantcast’s new "self-driving" AI claims.00:00 Intro & Pontiac Shoutout 02:32 Live in Denmark 03:20 The PMP Duplication Hack 10:29 How DSP Sampling Works 19:30 Why Traders Hate Kokai 26:12 The Shift to Quality 30:30 Senator AdTech Skit 35:00 Measurement & Coupons 42:45 Post-Mortem: Fake Metrics 46:40 Grok’s Love for Elon 52:04 Naming the Grok Segment 53:30 Hot Sht or Horsesht: Quantcast 59:00 Outro

    1h 1m

  7. 07/11/2025

    There Will Be Blood (ft. Joe Zawadzki, GP, Aperiam Ventures)

    Adam Heimlich and Gareth Glaser kick off the "Post Mortem" segment with the "deadly serious" LinkedIn breakup of Jeff Green and Brian O'Kelly, complete with a surprisingly high-quality, AI-generated musical tribute. The episode's main guest is Joe Zawadzki of Aperiam Ventures, who shares his "typosphere" investment strategy, how he uses AI as a "product collaborator," and the nuances of AdTech coopetition.The group dives deep into the plumbing of AdTech, breaking down the buy-side and sell-side reasons for the messy proliferation of PMPs and Deal IDs. Finally, the crew tackles "Hot Sh*t or Horsesh*t," giving a unanimous "hot" rating to OpenAI, and analyzes the latest earnings reports from The Trade Desk (TTD), Meta, Google, and Amazon.0:00 Intro 0:48 Welcome & Banter 1:51 Postmortem: The LinkedIn Breakup 5:16 Guest: Joe Zawatski 6:20 Joe Zawatski on AI & Investing 10:47 Coopetition & Founder Mindset 19:22 The PMP & Deal ID Problem 36:01 Hot Sh*t or Horsesh*t: OpenAI 46:05 Earnings: The Trade Desk 51:56 Earnings: Meta, Google & Amazon 56:25 Gareth's Startup Idea 57:35 Wrap Up

    59 min

  8. 31/10/2025

    Meet the Moment (ft.Stephanie Layser, AWS)

    In this "Meet the Moment" Halloween episode, hosts Adam Heimlich and Gareth Glaser welcome Stephanie Layser of AWS to unpack the industry-shaking announcement of AWS RTB Fabric.Stephanie explains how "customer obsession" led AWS to build a superstructure for ad tech containerization, designed to slash the massive "egress" costs that have historically plagued real-time bidding. They dive deep into how Fabric’s "modules" will lower the barrier to entry, break down integration queues, and create a more efficient, competitive ecosystem beyond the handful of dominant legacy platforms.The discussion also covers the failure of the 2013 App Nexus marketplace, the future of Prebid Server on Fabric, and how this new infrastructure differs from past attempts like BidSwitch. The show concludes with the debut of a new segment, "Postmortem," analyzing the week's spiciest ad tech social media posts.0:52 Halloween Intro & Sponsor: Pontiac1:47 Why We're Talking About "Fabric"2:32 The "Egress" Cost Problem4:44 The Rise of Containerization6:48 Welcome Stephanie Layser (AWS)7:51 The Origin Story of RTB Fabric11:14 What Are "Modules"?13:50 Failed Precedent: App Nexus Marketplace17:40 The Power of Filtering (for RMNs)22:48 How Fabric Architecture Works27:30 Q&A: Examples of Modules33:51 Hardball: How is this not BidSwitch?37:12 The Future of Prebid on Fabric41:54 Amazon Ads (DSP) as Launch Partner42:55 AWS Clean Rooms vs. AMC50:12 IAB Containerization Standard?51:38 New Segment: "Postmortem"51:58 Post 1: "Is RTB Dying?"57:29 Post 2: Spicy Take on Gartner1:00:40 Post 3: Who Created Bid Duplication?

    1h 7m
See All (31)

About

Buy Side Meets Sell Side. Live Q&A with CEOs telling the truth about where Ad Tech is headed.

Information

  • Creator
    Adam and Gareth
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    31
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Adam and Gareth
  • Show Website
    AdTech AdTalk

You Might Also Like