On this week’s episode of The MadTech Podcast, ExchangeWire’s Ciaran O'Kane and Rachel Smith are joined by Lara Izlan, director of advertising data, ITV, to discuss the latest news in ad tech and martech.

On this week’s episode:

- Widely available on the Chrome blog and YouTube were highlights from the Chrome developer summit last week. The key discussion being the future of third party cookie tracking in the browser and Chrome's approach to user privacy. Repeated on stage at Liveramp's Ramp Up event in London this week, was the message that Google intends to work with the web standards community to ensure the preservation of an open and free internet, but one that doesn't rely on tracking users. They have said they don't intend to remove cookie tracking for now, but how long before this becomes an inevitability and do they have the advertising community's best interests at heart here? Of course user privacy should be protected above all else, but what solutions does the Privacy Sandbox offer which would see the intended preservation of ad funded free to access content on the internet, and more specifically consumed in the chrome browser, in a fair way?

- Tim Armstrong's DTC umbrella company, DTX announced the launch of DTC Friday on November 15, to rival Black Friday and become a modern 'challenger brand/digitally native' shopping holiday. The idea behind this, is obviously to bring some attention to DTX, but also to grow the DTC 'movement' and replace legacy retail brands' and business' understanding of shopping and consumer behaviour. In keeping with one of the core audiences of many DTC brands, younger zllenials and millenials, $5 from every purchase was donated to a charity of purchasers' choice - engendering the idea that DTC brands and shoppers are consuming more mindfully and for different purposes. Yet another reason that more traditional brands might struggle to connect with these consumers. Is there a genuine business model here? What will DTC Friday achieve, in reality? What does can DTX do for the DTC brand and business community that will help them build and grow their businesses? And what technology tools will be deployed in these efforts?

- Hotly anticipated by fans and streaming rivals alike, was the launch of Disney Plus in the US last week, widely considered a direct competitor to Netflix and Apple TV Plus. So many people subscribed that the platform become unavailable for a period of time. Where will we see this particular streaming war go? Are Disney going to be able to rival Netflix in user numbers and audience size, on an international scale, or will this be a US war won? What impact will this have on Netflix and where is the scale for both businesses, here - is it in original content, audience share, size of subscription base? Is there an ad funded opportunity here as the battle intensifies?

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