The U.S. Justice Department’s three year old antitrust suit against Google finally reached trial yesterday. Of all the suits facing Google, this is the big one, focused squarely on its dominance of the search advertising market and possibly requiring a break-up of its business should Google lose. You can expect several more years of fun before anything is resolved.
This members-only IAB report documents the growth and frustrations of the retail media market. Criteo is trying to help with a new buying platform, Commerce Max DSP, that combines access to onsite and instore media buys. They’ve supplemented it with a trio of tools based on previous acquisitions of Mabaya (marketplace tactics and formats), Brandcrush (offline inventory), and Gradient (insight and data tools).
Popular ride-hailing super-app Grab has taken a leap into the world of web3, offering its users a range of blockchain-enabled features. Grab users can now set up web3 wallets, participate in blockchain rewards programs, and even make payments using NFTs. The company has also collaborated with the Monetary Authority of Singapore to introduce NFT vouchers for various popular dining and experiential offerings within the city.
Nearly one-third of major news publishers have blocked generative AI tools from reading their content. But that’s a drastic measure which could also exclude their results from conventional search engines. Microsoft has just given publishers the option to block access by Bing Chat without also removing their content from search results. We’ll see if competitors do the same.