The lead  ·  01

Midterm Ad Spend Is Heading for $11.6 Billion. October Is When CTV Publishers Feel It

AdImpact projects a record $11.6 billion in US midterm advertising once every vote is counted, ahead of the $11.2 billion of the 2024 presidential cycle.

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The week in one paragraph

This was the week the calendar, the court and the browser each set a deadline publishers did not choose, and the useful response was to prepare records and tests rather than rebuild. AdImpact projects a record $11.6 billion of US midterm advertising, and Digiday reports that October carries 46% of political CTV spend. Google and the DOJ filed competing proposed final judgments in the ad tech case, agreeing on the core remedies but not on whether AdX connects to Prebid within six months or twelve. AppLovin sued Unity over auction data collected by its Ad Quality SDK, with Unity’s defence resting on publisher permission, and The New York Times described how it makes every SSP earn its place. On the buy side, NBCUniversal, FreeWheel, Carat and Newton put outcome-based buying agents on streaming inventory, while one agency’s account showed agentic CTV buying still runs as a loop with a person approving each change. Apple’s Safari blocklist stayed the thread underneath: publishers began testing IAB Tech Lab’s Trusted Server, and an iOS 27.2 beta removed The Trade Desk’s serving domain while the identity vendors stayed blocked.