This week, the advertising industry saw major shifts in investment, competition and media buying, as Big Tech earnings revealed the growing cost of AI ambitions and advertising platforms continued to expand their commercial reach. In today’s MadTech Daily, we discuss Anthropic reportedly striking a licensing deal with the Associated Press and Tubi teaming up with TikTok to produce 10 original series.

Alphabet had a difficult week on Wall Street after its shares plunged 13%, wiping approximately USD$500bn (£377.5bn) off its market value in one of the largest single-day losses in stock market history. The sell-off followed third-quarter results that revealed negative free cash flow of USD$9.1bn (£6.87bn), as capital expenditure climbed to USD$51.3bn (£38.73bn). 

Meanwhile, consolidation continued across the ad tech landscape. Perion Network agreed to be acquired by India's Affle in an all-cash deal worth approximately USD$420m (£317.1m), giving Affle greater exposure to connected TV, retail media and other digital advertising channels. 

Retail media also made further inroads into connected TV. Walmart has brought its first-party shopper audiences into Vibe, allowing advertisers to build CTV campaigns using insights drawn from customers' online and in-store purchasing behaviour. 

Amazon, meanwhile, continues to demonstrate the commercial strength of its advertising business. The company generated USD$19.64bn (£14.83bn) in advertising revenue in the third quarter, representing 12% year-on-year growth and bringing its quarterly advertising business close to the USD$20bn (£15.1bn) mark. 

The AI and analytics space also saw further consolidation, with e-commerce analytics startup Chord acquiring business intelligence platform Zenlytic in an all-stock deal valued at approximately USD$5m (£3.78m). 

Elsewhere, the UK news industry is making a fresh appeal to advertisers through the launch of #AskForNews, a campaign by the News Alliance challenging brand safety assumptions that often keep advertising away from journalism. Timed to coincide with Journalism Matters Week, the initiative highlights that 96% of UK adults consume news and urges marketers to reconsider the role of news publishers in their media plans.

Finally, OpenAI is taking another step towards expanding ChatGPT's advertising business. The company has partnered with independent ad exchanges Magnite and PubMatic to sell unsold advertising inventory programmatically. The move brings ChatGPT further into the established programmatic advertising ecosystem.