Follow the developments that change your market view.

Paramount Agrees to Keep Pluto TV Running in Merger Deal

As part of the consent decree for the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, a group of state attorneys general secured a requirement that the combined company, often called 'ParaBros', must continue operating a free, ad-supported streaming service under the name Pluto TV or a comparable successor brand for at least five years. The agreement also stipulates that service and quality standards must not fall below current levels. Other conditions include boosting U.S. production, creating an editorial independence board for CBS News and CNN, and keeping cable carriage negotiations separate. Pluto TV is currently the only free, ad-supported service in either company's portfolio, with usage around 1% of U.S. TV viewing. The goal is to preserve a low-cost viewing option for consumers.

• •Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery agreed to a consent decree with 12 state attorneys general.
• •The combined company must keep operating a free ad-supported service named Pluto TV or a comparable successor for five years.
• •Service and quality standards must be at least equal to those at the time the decree takes effect.

Amazon Blocks Meta's Muse AI Agent from Shopping

Amazon has blocked Meta's Muse AI shopping agent from accessing Amazon.com, citing unauthorized access and failure to disclose its use of customer credentials. Users attempting to shop via Muse encounter a pop-up stating that continued access violates Amazon's Conditions of Use. Amazon asserts that third-party agents must operate transparently and respect service provider decisions. This move escalates tensions in agentic commerce, as Amazon has previously targeted other AI agents like Perplexity's Comet and those from Google and OpenAI. Meta has not yet responded. The standoff occurs despite Amazon's existing business ties with Meta, including product sales integration and a multibillion-dollar chip deal.

• •Amazon has blocked Meta's Muse AI agent from accessing its store.
• •Users see a popup stating unauthorized AI agent access violates Amazon's Conditions of Use.
• •Amazon claims Muse captures and stores customer credentials without identifying itself.

Henry’s Verstappen showdown

Daily Mail Sport goes racing

AppLovin Platform Ad Spend Rounds to $20 Billion Annual Run Rate

During the All-In Summit 2026, AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi revealed that the company's platform ad spend grew 60% year-over-year to approximately $20 billion annually. He emphasized the scale of mobile gaming, with over a billion daily players, and estimated that total mobile gaming ad spend across all companies exceeds $50 billion. Foroughi argued that personalized ads offer greater economic expansion potential than chatbots, advocating for relevant ads despite privacy regulations. He also discussed AppLovin's past struggles, including a stock decline in 2022, and the strategy of buying studios as a data play before divesting.

• •AppLovin's platform ad spend grew 60% Y/Y to approximately $20 billion annually.
• •AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi spoke at the All-In Summit 2026.
• •Foroughi estimated that total mobile gaming ad spend across all companies is around $50 billion per year.

Google Fined €400 Million for Location Data Misuse

Google has been fined €400 million by the Italian competition authority for the misuse of location data. The authority found that Google did not clearly inform users about how their location data is collected and used for advertising, and that the company engaged in aggressive practices to obtain consent. This fine represents a significant regulatory action against Google's data collection practices, with potential implications for the broader digital advertising industry.

• •Google was fined €400 million by an Italian authority.
• •The fine is related to the misuse of user location data.
• •Google was found to have not clearly informed users about data collection.

Permutive and TransUnion Partner to Enhance Sell-Side Curation

Permutive has integrated with TransUnion's identity graph, enabling publishers to match their first-party audience data with TransUnion's consumer profiles for more effective sell-side curation. This addresses the challenge of limited addressability (only ~30% of traffic is addressable). The integration allows publishers using Permutive's DMP to activate audiences against TransUnion's data, which includes information on 250 million consumers. An initial test with a financial services advertiser showed a 12x increase in addressable impressions and a 170% overshoot of the KPI target. The partnership aims to provide advertisers with a viable alternative to walled gardens, reduce data fees, and monetize previously unsold inventory.

• •Permutive and TransUnion announced an integration on Monday.
• •The integration allows publishers to match their audiences to TransUnion's ID graph.
• •Only about 30% of web traffic is currently addressable via cookies or alternative IDs.

ZoomInfo Launches Talent Autopilot for Recruiting

ZoomInfo, the Go-To-Market Intelligence Platform, announced the launch of Talent Autopilot, its most advanced technology for recruiting. This new platform leverages ZoomInfo's professional and company intelligence combined with autonomous reasoning and action to help talent acquisition teams discover and engage qualified candidates that traditional search methods might miss. Instead of relying solely on titles, keywords, and filters, recruiters provide role context, and Talent Autopilot reasons across skills, experience, career paths, and company intelligence to surface non-obvious candidates. The platform supports the entire recruiting workflow from discovery to initial engagement, offering features such as natural language feedback, candidate management, personalized outreach via connected email accounts, and integration with existing applicant tracking systems. The launch underscores ZoomInfo's evolution of its Talent Solutions, aiming to improve recruiting outcomes through better data and automation.

• •ZoomInfo launched Talent Autopilot, a recruiting platform combining its data with autonomous candidate discovery and engagement.
• •Talent Autopilot uses context from recruiters rather than relying primarily on titles, keywords, and filters.
• •The platform supports candidate discovery, natural language refinement, personalized outreach, and integration with applicant tracking systems.

Numerator Launches Conversational Consumer Insights In-Platform and Across Client AI Environments

New Nexa Agent and Numerator Connect Now Live, Expanding Trusted Numerator Data Across In-Platform and Client AI Workflows.

Amazon Invests Another $1.9 Billion in the Delivery Service Partner Program with New Safety Initiatives and AI-Powered Technology

Amazon announced a $1.9 billion investment in its Delivery Service Partner program, including new safety initiatives and AI-powered technology. Additionally, Amazon raised minimum starting pay for full-time core operations employees to $20/hour, with average pay reaching nearly $24/hour, and launched grocery discount and lifetime banking benefits.

Google Antitrust Remedies: Practical Effects on Ad Ecosystem

Ari Paparo analyzes the practical implications of the Google antitrust remedies for publishers, ad exchanges, agencies, and advertisers. Publishers may gain the ability to switch ad servers more easily, as AdX will be required to bid into other ad servers and Prebid, and the removal of Unified Pricing Rules (UPR) will allow them to manipulate demand pricing in GAM. Ad exchanges could benefit from non-discriminatory access to Google Ads demand, though technical and operational hurdles remain. Agencies with supply-path optimization strategies may find new leverage, and the exclusion of DV360 from remedies could create bidding differences between Google's DSP and ad network. The article outlines potential opportunities and challenges across the digital media ecosystem.

• •Google antitrust remedies include allowing AdX to bid into other ad servers and Prebid, enabling easier ad server migration for publishers within six months.
• •Unified Pricing Rules (UPR) in Google Ad Manager will be removed, restoring publishers' ability to set pricing preferences across exchanges.
• •The remedies require non-discriminatory access to Google Ads (AdWords) demand, potentially shifting bids from AdX to other exchanges.

Announcing Petal, a First-of-its-Kind Transoceanic Subsea Cable

Meta announces Petal, a first-of-its-kind transoceanic subsea cable, along with other new product launches including Meta One subscription service, Muse personal AI agent, and WhatsApp bill payments in India.

Quartile Becomes Technology Partner for ChatGPT Advertising

Quartile, a retail media optimization platform, announced it has become a technology partner supporting advertising in ChatGPT. This partnership enables participating advertisers to access ChatGPT Ads through Quartile's existing tools and workflows, expanding its AI-powered advertising capabilities into conversational discovery. ChatGPT, with over 1 billion weekly active users, is increasingly used by consumers for product discovery and purchase decisions. The integration allows brands to incorporate advertising in ChatGPT into their broader media strategies, leveraging Quartile's technology and expertise. Quartile emphasizes its 'experts + AI' approach, combining AI-driven scale and speed with strategic human judgment. The company supports thousands of brands and manages billions in annual ad spend across major commerce and digital advertising channels.

• •Quartile announced a technology partnership supporting advertising in ChatGPT.
• •ChatGPT has more than 1 billion weekly active users.
• •The partnership enables advertisers to access ChatGPT Ads through Quartile's tools.

Huawei Unveils Ascend 960 Chips, Claims System-Level Parity with Nvidia

At Huawei Connect in Shanghai, Huawei unveiled its next-generation AI accelerators—the Ascend 960DT and 960PR—scheduled for Q1 and Q3 2027, respectively, about three quarters earlier than planned. Designed for training and inference of advanced open-weight models, these chips power the Atlas 960E SuperPoD, a system connecting 4,096 processors with 8 EFLOPS FP8 and up to 1 PB of high-speed memory. Huawei emphasizes system-level integration and open-source ecosystems, with over 40 models pre-trained on Ascend, including GLM-5. However, per-chip performance still trails Nvidia's Rubin generation, though system-level parity is closer. DeepSeek has ordered at least 160,000 Ascend 950DT chips for inference but still trains on Nvidia hardware. Huawei's in-house HBM development addresses US export restrictions, and the company projects a 100,000-fold increase in AI token processing by 2035.

• •Huawei will release Ascend 960DT in Q1 2027 and Ascend 960PR in Q3 2027, three quarters earlier than planned.
• •The Atlas 960E SuperPoD connects 4,096 AI processors, delivering 8 EFLOPS FP8 and up to 1 PB of high-speed memory.
• •DeepSeek has ordered at least 160,000 Ascend 950DT chips for inference but still trains on Nvidia hardware.

Meta's AI Agent 'Muse' Tops App Store, Surpasses ChatGPT

Meta has launched a new AI agent app called Muse, which quickly climbed to No. 1 in Apple's App Store, surpassing ChatGPT. Muse is designed to handle everyday tasks such as making dinner reservations and appointments, and Meta plans to take a small percentage cut from transactions. The app's popularity has contributed to a $170 billion increase in Meta's market cap since its unveiling. Muse leverages Meta's vast user base and data, potentially enhancing ad targeting and pricing. A hands-on test by the author showed Muse successfully booking a dinner reservation in under a minute, outperforming Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini. The article also covers other topics including EU-Canada trade tensions and Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.

• •Meta's new AI agent app Muse reached No. 1 in Apple's App Store, ahead of ChatGPT (No. 2), Gemini (No. 8), and Claude (No. 13).
• •Muse is free with subscription plans for heavy users and is designed to handle everyday tasks like making reservations and purchases.
• •Meta plans to take a percentage cut from transactions made through Muse.

Oura Launches IPO, Targets $14.1B Valuation

Oura, the Finnish-American smart ring maker, launched its IPO on the Nasdaq under the ticker 'OURA', offering 50 million shares priced at $40-$44, aiming to raise up to $2.2 billion at a valuation of approximately $14.1 billion. Most shares are sold by existing shareholders, led by Forerunner Ventures offloading its entire 9.3% stake. The company expects net proceeds of $532.6 million, largely for tax obligations from RSU vesting. In the first nine months, revenue surged 74% to $1.214 billion, with net income of $60.8 million. Subscription revenue hit $240.5 million, with 94% of activated rings converting to paid memberships, and the company projects 5.7 million paying members by year-end. Risks include patent disputes with Samsung, reliance on contract manufacturers, and high customer concentration.

• •Oura launched its IPO on Nasdaq under ticker 'OURA', offering 50 million shares at $40-$44, targeting up to $2.2 billion and a valuation of ~$14.1 billion.
• •Forerunner Ventures is selling its entire 9.3% stake (~28.7 million shares), valued at about $1.2 billion at the midpoint.
• •Oura expects net proceeds of $532.6 million, with most used for tax obligations from RSU vesting.

Nscale Files for US IPO Targeting $30B Valuation

British AI infrastructure company Nscale has filed its IPO prospectus with the US SEC, aiming to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker 'NSCL'. The company seeks a valuation of around $30 billion, as reported by CNBC via Reuters, a significant jump from its last private round valuation of $14.6 billion. Nscale, which transitioned from Bitcoin mining to AI compute, reported first-half 2026 revenue of $140.6 million, a 1,252% increase, but also a net loss of $1.02 billion. Its order book stands at $103.4 billion, with Microsoft and Anthropic contracts totaling $88.4 billion. The company recently secured $3.1 billion in convertible notes, with Nvidia as a key investor. Nscale faces high customer concentration, a going-concern note, and dependence on a few suppliers. Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Morgan Stanley are lead underwriters.

• •Nscale filed an IPO prospectus with the SEC to list on the NYSE under the ticker 'NSCL'.
• •Targeted valuation is approximately $30 billion.
• •First-half 2026 revenue was $140.6 million, up 1,252% year-over-year; net loss was $1.02 billion.

Adlyse launches agentic AI platform for campaign management

Adtech startup Adlyse has launched a platform that uses AI agents to automate and optimize paid media campaigns across multiple advertising platforms, aiming to reduce manual workload and improve performance. The platform connects advertising channels, business data, and tools, with agents monitoring campaigns 24/7, analyzing performance, and recommending or executing actions with human approval. CEO Anna Stepura highlights that the platform can improve performance by 10-15% in well-managed accounts and reduce manual work by 55-60%, with potential ROAS increases of 150% for poorly managed accounts. Adlyse is targeting mid-sized to enterprise companies with monthly ad budgets starting around $100,000. The company is backed by investors including ZAS VC, Accel, and Boot64, and is pursuing SOC 2 compliance.

• •Adlyse has developed an AI-agent platform for cross-channel paid media management.
• •The platform integrates with six advertising platforms and over 3,000 marketing tools.
• •Adlyse reports up to 60% reduction in manual work and 150% ROAS improvements in certain cases.

Revolut Confirms Dual IPO on Nasdaq and LSE

Revolut's co-founder and CEO Nik Storonsky confirmed plans for a dual IPO on both the Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange. The company is currently valued at $115 billion privately, with internal targets of $150B to $200B at listing. The announcement comes after years of Storonsky criticizing London's market as 'irrational,' and the article analyzes why London is considered the 'best available deal' rather than a true vote of confidence. The piece also discusses Wise's LSE-to-Nasdaq migration as a precedent, and separately covers Meta's launch of its 'Muse' connector, positioning Meta as a potential 'App Store for Agentic Commerce' following its acquisition of Stilla. The newsletter includes bonus content on Revolut's recent data breach and reasons for bullishness on the fintech.

• •Revolut confirmed plans for a dual IPO on Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange.
• •Revolut's private valuation is $115 billion, with internal listing targets of $150-200 billion.
• •CEO Nik Storonsky previously criticized London's stock market as 'irrational'.

Why CTV Matters But Not Alone: How Planners Miss The Conversion Layer

New blog post added: 'Why CTV Matters But Not Alone: How Planners Miss The Conversion Layer' published on September 21, 2026.

China's AI Gap Splits Three Ways: Code, Video, Copying

The article analyzes the AI capability gap between China and the US across three dimensions: coding, video generation, and model distillation. On Terminal-Bench 4.0, the best Chinese model (GLM-5.3) scores 41.8% versus OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra at 58.2%, but on DeepSWE, Kimi K3 matches Codex at 68%. In video generation, Chinese models dominate top rankings, while in image editing they lag. The article also highlights Nvidia's use of DeepSeek's R1 for training and Anthropic's allegations against Chinese labs for extracting Claude capabilities. It questions the role of compute, platform ownership, and licensing in shaping these gaps.

• •As of September 19, 2026, the best Chinese model on Terminal-Bench 4.0 (GLM-5.3) scores 41.8%, while OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra scores 58.2%.
• •On the DeepSWE benchmark, Kimi K3 and OpenAI's Codex both score 68%.
• •Chinese models hold five of the top ten spots on LMArena's image-to-video leaderboard.

Google Ad Tech Remedies Decision Unsealed; Taboola Acquires Rival

This article covers two major developments in the ad tech industry. First, a court has unsealed the remedies decision in the Google ad tech antitrust case, a significant legal development that could reshape Google's advertising technology business. Second, Taboola, a content recommendation platform, has acquired a rival company. The article provides details on the court's decision and the implications for the advertising ecosystem, as well as the strategic rationale behind Taboola's acquisition. The publication date is September 21, 2026.

• •A court has unsealed the remedies decision in the Google ad tech case.
• •Taboola has acquired a rival company.
• •The article was published on September 21, 2026.

BCN and PubMatic connect publisher signals directly to programmatic deals

At DMEXCO, BCN introduces its 'Signals Agent', an AI system that makes over 1,500 audience and contextual signals accessible via natural language. In collaboration with PubMatic, selected signals can be directly converted into bookable programmatic deals. The agent's data basis includes over 80 million profiles with consent from more than 50 premium domains, offering over 900 audience segments and 600+ context categories. The agents communicate via Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Ad Context Protocol (AdCP) to autonomously create PMP deals, reducing manual setup and negotiation time to minutes. Policies and brand safety are checked automatically. This marks the first direct agent-to-agent implementation in the German advertising market.

• •BCN launches 'Signals Agent' at DMEXCO, providing access to 1,500+ audience and context signals via natural language.
• •PubMatic integrates with the agent to automatically create and activate targeted PMP deals.
• •The system accesses over 80 million consented profiles from 50+ premium domains.

OpenAI Ads Manager expands with new formats, Google unlocks AI Mode keywords, Microsoft adds Copilot Shopping Ads

This week's SEA news covers major updates from OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft in paid search. OpenAI announced global updates to its Ads Manager, including impression-based billing with conversion optimization, flexible attribution windows, granular platform targeting, Shopify and HubSpot integrations, automatic text optimization, Event Quality Score recommendations, and testing of a new 'Sponsored Agents' ad format. Google confirmed that all keyword match types (exact, phrase, broad) are now eligible in AI Mode, revised AI Max keyword prioritization rules, rolled out the Promotion Mode beta with daily budgets, introduced Local Customer Optimization for PMax, launched Store Sales in Data Manager, and is testing Product Value Optimization. Microsoft integrated Shopping Ads into Bing Copilot and published new transparency rules for AI-generated content in ads.

• •OpenAI announced global Ads Manager updates including impression-based billing, flexible attribution windows, platform targeting, Shopify/HubSpot integrations, and Event Quality Score.
• •OpenAI is testing a new 'Sponsored Agents' ad format.
• •Google confirmed that all keyword match types (exact, phrase, broad) are now eligible in AI Mode, removing previous restrictions.

SEC Opens Door to Tokenized Stocks; Bitcoin Rebounds

The SEC issued a five-year innovation exemption allowing specialized trading platforms to trade tokenized U.S. stocks without registering as traditional exchanges. The decision, announced last Thursday, permits venues to list up to 75 large or 250 less liquid stocks, with volume caps and conditions including automatic trading halts and public smart contracts. Bitcoin climbed above $81,000, partly driven by this news and a short squeeze. Tokenization firms like Securitize, Bullish, Coinbase, and Robinhood saw share gains. The article also discusses privacy coin rallies and NEAR's routing role in token swaps, but the core news is the regulatory shift.

• •The SEC issued a five-year innovation exemption for trading tokenized securities venues.
• •Venues can list a maximum of 75 large U.S. stocks or 250 less liquid names.
• •Bitcoin rose to around $81,500, up 1.3% in 24 hours.