Advertisers often worry that automated systems like Google Performance Max (PMax) are placing ads in undesirable locations.  After months of claiming that exclusions can only be specified manually, Google has acknowledged that PMax actually allows advertisers to specify them using an API.  There’s a good chance that this will result in more exclusions and, thus, less inventory for Google to sell.

In-store audio platform Qsic has raised $25 million in Series B funding. Qsic offers localized in-store audio ads reaching some 100 million shoppers at point of purchase, with 70,000 speakers set to deploy over the next year. Qsic uses generative AI to create localized audio ads in real time, based on retailer data with details like local pricing, inventory and weather conditions.

They didn’t call it a CDP, but Meta just launched a product to “connect your first-party data from any sources to any destination, streamlining your data handling processes and unlocking valuable insights to optimize your marketing campaigns.” The name of this miracle cure is Signals Gateway, and pricing seems to start at $30 per month. Data is hosted in Amazon Web Services and, at least in theory, Meta can’t see it.