In this team episode of the MadTech Podcast, ExchangeWire head of marketing Grainne Reid is joined by head of content John Still and COO Lindsay Rowntree.

They look at Apple Maps moving towards ad monetisation, Comcast making their linear TV inventory available programmatically for advertisers, and the launch of the new Ad Context Protocol (AdCP).

They discuss Apple's and Google’s relationships with long tail businesses, the state of the TV landscape for media buyers, and the adoption of ad tech industry standards.

This week's stories:

Apple plans ads for Maps (Bloomberg) 

Apple Maps users could start seeing ads in the app as soon as next year, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The move will allow restaurants and other businesses to pay to have their details featured more prominently within the app’s searches. Apple intends to leverage AI to ensure that results are relevant and useful to users.  

Comcast intros biddable and programmatic for linear TV (AdExchanger) 

Comcast Advertising announced that the cable provider’s linear TV inventory will now be available on a targetable, biddable basis for advertisers who want to buy inventory programmatically. For the moment, the inventory is only available through FreeWheel, Comcast’s video ad platform. In the future, Comcast intends to also offer its programmatic linear inventory via other buy-side platforms as well as eventually allowing other publishers to make their linear inventory available through FreeWheel. 

What the Ad Tech Industry Makes of the AdCP Agentic AI Standard (EW) 

A number of ad tech industry members have come together to launch the Ad Context Protocol (AdCP), an open standard designed to support AI agents in planning, transacting, and optimising advertising campaigns.

AdCP defines a standardised interface for agent-to-platform and agent-to-agent communication, allowing buyers and sellers to connect their agentic systems. The shared infrastructure functions as a common language between different players within the ad ecosystem, bringing the entire marketplace together.