WPP Media is pitching clients an AI interface for answering questions about campaign performance and improving media plans, its US Chief Client Officer Angela Steele told AdExchanger’s Alyssa Boyle.
Steele described its “business intelligence” offering:
“The product is an interface that spits out answers in response to direct questions from the client, which is much more user-friendly than your traditional client-side dashboard. Clients can ask questions about how to enhance their media plans for the best results, how well their campaigns are working and what can be done to optimize campaigns in-flight.”
Read: “WPP’s Angela Steele On AI, CTV And The ‘Trusted Growth Partner’ Pitch” (Nov. 11) – AdExchanger
The interface echoes Google’s Ask Advisor and Meta AI business assistant, which let advertisers ask questions about performance and get recommendations… you know, like an agency.
From tipsheet: Steele describes recommendations here, without specifying whether the interface can execute campaign changes.
Marketers and agencies alike are watching AI reshape advertising services and wondering how any savings will be split between lower client fees and higher agency margins.
PLATFORMS
Analyst floats Magnite–Trade Desk deal
Following The Trade Desk’s better-than-expected Q3 results Monday, Needham analyst Laura Martin raised a more dramatic possibility: Magnite could acquire The Trade Desk.
Martin maintained her Buy rating after the earnings report while calling for significant changes. From Benzinga:
“‘We believe TTD should make a transformational acquisition, or cut its take rate by 30%-50%,’ the analyst wrote. Magnite Inc. could potentially acquire Trade Desk within two years, she further stated.”
The Trade Desk’s fourth-quarter guidance implies an 11% year-on-year revenue decline and an approximately 30% drop in adjusted EBITDA, Martin noted. The company also reduced its workforce by 15%.
During trading yesterday, The Trade Desk’s market capitalization reached approximately $7.5 billion, compared with $4.2 billion for Magnite.
A Magnite acquisition of The Trade Desk would combine a major sell-side platform with the largest independent demand-side platform — a significant shift for companies whose pitches emphasize their respective sides of the transaction. For now, it’s an analyst’s scenario.
Read: “Trade Desk Q3 a ‘Step In The Right Direction,’ 5 Analysts Raise Price Targets” (Nov. 10) – Benzinga
From tipsheet: Martin’s take-rate suggestion raises an interesting AI question: Should The Trade Desk charge less to capture more spending and become the place where advertisers’ agents coordinate buying, data and measurement? The bet would be that lower fees attract enough additional spending to strengthen its role in agent-driven buying. The challenge: proving its technology deserves a continuing cut as agents take on more of the work.
CONNECTED TV
Skydance puts AI to work merging streaming stacks
Skydance aims to bring Paramount+ and HBO Max onto a common technology platform in roughly a year, with AI helping accelerate the integration, CEO David Ellison said on Monday’s Q3 2026 earnings call with Wall Street analysts.
The company previously spent about 18 months moving Pluto TV onto the Paramount+ platform and integrating BET+ into Paramount+.
“Using that experience, we have an ambitious target to converge Paramount+ and HBO Max in roughly a year,” Ellison said. “This is possible because of the latest tools in artificial intelligence.”
The company plans to offer a Paramount+ and HBO Max bundle in early 2027 as a first step toward a unified offering.
Read: Skydance Q3 2026 earnings call transcript (Nov. 9) — Yahoo Finance
From tipsheet: AI coding tools could help media companies consolidate the infrastructure behind their streaming businesses faster. Skydance has set a timetable to watch, though management hasn’t detailed how the integration will affect its advertising technology.
LLMs & CHATBOTS
ChatGPT Ads needs feedback
OpenAI has attracted more than 100,000 advertisers to test ChatGPT Ads, but earning recurring budgets may be harder, Business Insider’s Lara O’Reilly reports.
Adthena said 52% of 30 enterprise advertisers it studied struggled to recoup their ChatGPT ad spending in July through September, while 26% matched or beat Google ads.
But performance marketing company Natural Intelligence, which operates comparison sites including Top10[dot]com and BestMoney[dot]com, has moved ChatGPT Ads from its test budget to its “growth budget.”
Its head of strategy, Jonathan Vardi, pointed to ads addressing specific customer problems and accurate conversion reporting:
“If you don’t tell ChatGPT what users are doing on your site after they click your ad, you’re not allowing the ads algorithm to learn which users actually engage with what you have to offer and become paying customers.”
Announced in May, OpenAI’s Conversions API (CAPI) lets advertisers send conversion data directly from their servers, providing one way to supply the feedback Vardi describes.
Read: “ChatGPT Ads got brands to bite. Now comes the hard part.” (Nov. 11) – Business Insider
From tipsheet: Can OpenAI’s new conversion bidding tools, informed by better data, turn experiments into repeatable returns?
COMMERCE MEDIA
United shuts out AI booking agents
From The Wall Street Journal yesterday:
“[United Airlines] said Wednesday that it will prevent personal artificial-intelligence assistants from accessing its systems to book tickets. United cited concerns that the bots could expose customers’ sensitive information or make unintended purchases. It also said automated AI actions could violate Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Department rules governing the information airlines must present to customers. An AI agent can’t, for example, attest during check-in that bags don’t contain explosives.”
United CEO Scott Kirby put the commercial concern more plainly: “To be honest, I don’t want to create another middleman.”
Read: United Airlines Is Banning AI Bots From Booking Flights (Nov. 11) – The Wall Street Journal (subscription)
From tipsheet: Agents can still show United’s flight options and prices. The boundary is completing the purchase — and controlling that transaction preserves the airline’s direct customer relationship. Agentic commerce depends on merchants agreeing to let someone else’s agent through checkout.
LLMs & CHATBOTS
Developments
MORE
-
- Ads for AI: “Many AI companies will adopt advertising: Criteo CEO” (Nov. 11) – AFP via Yahoo Finance
- This morning: Ad tech firm Nexxen reports Q3 results – Nexxen
- Froth: “1 takeaway coming out of LUMA / Aperiam events: The agentic advertising / UMP space has been frothy. Seems like there will be an equivalent froth cycle around DATA companies. Aqfer, Datalinx, Shopsense, etc.” (Nov. 11) – Joe Zappa, Sharp Pen Media on X
- Related: “Businesses can also build a Business Agent that customers can choose to chat with right from the profile.” (Nov. 11) – Vijaye Raji, CTO of Applications, OpenAI on LinkedIn
- Pay-per-click: “Google Ads introduces new ValueTrack parameter to identify AI Max traffic” (Nov. 11) – Search Engine Land