Rewinding 2025: The Biggest Stories in Ad Tech From This Year
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Pathlabs Marketing |
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December 10, 2025 |
If you plan media for clients, 2025 felt less like a normal year and more like a software update that ran during a live presentation. Courtrooms questioned the pipes that move ad dollars. Platforms retired tools that once felt permanent. AI walked into the creative department and pulled up a chair.
This was not just another year of headlines. It was a reset of how media is bought, sold, measured, and managed. For independent agencies and performance marketers, the operating model you run now matters more than any single platform or tactic.
Below is a look at the moments that defined 2025 and what they signal for how you run media in 2026.
Google Found Guilty of Operating an Ad Tech Monopoly
The year opened with a tremor. Google was ruled to be operating an ad tech monopoly.
For years, many in the industry suspected that one company controlling both sides of the ad stack created an uneven playing field. The ruling made that concern official.
This is more than legal theater. It shapes how auctions will work, how fees will flow, and how much leverage any single platform will have over your plans. As clients start paying closer attention to these rulings, the questions you will need to answer include:
How much of our media investment flows through Google Ad Serving and exchange products today?
Where can we diversify our stack with independent ad servers, exchanges, and measurement partners without losing performance?
How might a forced separation of Google’s tools change auction dynamics, reporting, and transparency for our campaigns in 2026?
What is our plan if structural remedies or appeals create short-term volatility in open web pricing and supply?
Those who can explain this landscape in simple terms, and who already have alternative paths tested and ready, will be in a stronger position as the case moves from courtroom arguments to real changes in how the pipes are wired.
Microsoft Closes the Xandr DSP
Not long after the Google verdict, Microsoft announced that it would close its Xandr DSP, noting that it no longer fit with the company’s long-term focus on artificial intelligence.
The Xandr announcement was a reminder that some of the tools you rely on belong to someone else. Owners can decide to retool their factories, and when that happens, agencies must scramble to migrate campaigns, rebuild execution plans, and explain sudden changes to clients.
The bigger pattern is clear. Large technology companies are shifting investment away from traditional ad platforms and toward AI products that can power a range of use cases. For media teams, this means:
Platforms you consider core can be deprioritized or discontinued with limited notice.
The most durable advantage is how you structure operations, rather than which single DSP you use.
You need a plan for evaluation, migration, and contingency long before a platform announces a sunset.
The lesson from Xandr is that stack volatility is now a permanent feature. Resilient operations are no longer optional.
AI Tools Begin to Reshape Ad Creation
Artificial intelligence became one of the defining forces in advertising during 2025. What began as a set of experimental helpers has evolved into complete production systems that generate concepts, copy, and creative assets in minutes. Industry data shows that generative AI will reach 40% of all ads by 2026, and nearly 90% of advertisers are already using it for video ads.
AI’s impact extends beyond creative. Media buying platforms and analytics tools now use machine learning to adjust bids, budgets, and audience targeting in real time. AI can also summarize campaign performance, identify underperforming segments, and recommend next steps, freeing media teams from repetitive analysis so they can focus on strategic planning.
But progress brings new challenges. More than 70% of marketers report issues with AI outputs, including bias, hallucinations, or off-brand content, yet only about one-third plan to invest more in AI governance or creative oversight this year.
As 2026 approaches, media leaders should consider:
Where can AI eliminate repetitive work without reducing quality or compliance?
How will AI-generated assets be reviewed before they go live?
Which tools belong in everyday workflows and which should remain in testing environments?
How will teams document AI-driven decisions to maintain transparency for clients?
Streaming And CTV: Alliances Redraw The Map
While the courts and codebases shifted, streaming and CTV quietly redrew the media map. Inventory that once came from isolated apps and platforms began to cluster in new alliances.
Roku and Amazon Form a Streaming Alliance
Roku and Amazon Ads announced a partnership to combine their reach and audience data. Imagine two neighboring cities deciding to share roads, traffic lights, and transit passes. For performance marketers, that shared infrastructure promises:
Broader audience reach from a single planning lens.
More consistent measurement across environments that used to feel separate.
Stronger attribution for campaigns that span both ecosystems.
The opportunity is significant, especially for brands that rely on streaming to drive measurable outcomes rather than just awareness. The challenge is avoiding double-counting and making sure frequency and reach remain under control.
Disney Fully Integrates Hulu Into Disney+
Disney announced its full integration of Hulu into Disney+, phasing out the standalone Hulu app. In practical terms, Disney turned two separate storefronts into one large flagship location.
A single entry point means simpler planning and buying. It also creates a more consolidated pool of premium inventory. The tradeoff is that Disney gains even more leverage when it comes to packaging, pricing, and data access. Clear frameworks are needed for:
How Disney fits within a broader CTV and premium video strategy.
What role will Disney data play in segmentation and measurement.
How to compare Disney's performance to other high-value environments on equal terms.
Netflix Begins Selling Ads Through Amazon DSP
Another major headline arrived when Netflix partnered with Amazon’s DSP to sell its ad inventory. Netflix brought premium streaming audiences. Amazon brought a powerful buying engine and rich commerce data.
This partnership is like a boutique theater deciding to sell tickets through a major online marketplace. The theater keeps control of the experience inside the venue. The marketplace makes discovery and purchasing easier for millions of buyers.
This partnership means:
Access to Netflix audiences through a familiar buying interface.
New opportunities to connect streaming exposure to downstream commerce behavior.
A greater need to understand how Amazon’s optimization logic prioritizes different objectives.
The question for 2026 is how Netflix inventory fits within a broader Amazon strategy that may already include retail media, search, and display.
YouTube Remains The Top Streaming Platform
Through all of this, YouTube remained the most-watched streaming platform in the United States. While others formed alliances and integrated apps, YouTube continued to function as both a television network and a massive creator marketplace.
If CTV is a city of curated neighborhoods, YouTube is the main square where everyone passes through. It offers:
Massive reach at every stage of the funnel.
Formats that range from short vertical clips to full-length episodes.
Performance capabilities that tie video views to site visits, conversions, and sales.
Even as CTV alliances evolve, YouTube remains a cornerstone of any serious video strategy. The task is to design plans where YouTube, CTV partners, and retail media complement rather than compete with each other.
Netflix and Paramount Battle for Warner Bros
Late in the year, the streaming wars turned into a takeover battle. Netflix reached a deal to acquire Warner Bros’ studio and streaming assets, including HBO and HBO Max. At the same time, Paramount Skydance responded with a hostile all-cash bid for the entire Warner Bros Discovery company, including its cable networks.
For media planners, it is useful to think of this less as two bidders at an auction and more as two architects arguing over who gets to redraw the entire streaming city grid. Where the deal lands will shape:
How concentrated premium inventory becomes.
Where HBO and Warner ad dollars live in your plans.
How stable your CTV roadmap really is.
Agencies that have flexible CTV and premium video frameworks, with clear rules on concentration risk and contingency plans for major mergers, will be better positioned no matter how the Warner Bros fight ends.
What 2025 Really Changed For Agencies
On the surface, 2025 looked like scattered headlines.
Look closer, and you see one theme: fragmented media operations became expensive. When platforms change course, tools disappear, or AI moves faster than your process, your team feels it first.
Pathlabs is built for this reality. Our Media Execution Partner (MEP) model gives you a dedicated media team that strengthens your in-house operation with the people, workflows, and technology to plan, launch, optimize, and report on digital campaigns.
You gain instant execution capacity, access to best-in-class tools without heavy tech investment, and more time for growth work such as pitches and high-level planning.
Heading into 2026, ask yourself: are your current people, processes, and platforms ready for the next shift, or is it time to bring in a Media Execution Partner?
