| All about price |
| Google will not be forced to sell-off its ad exchange but must make its adtech tools work with rival exchanges, a US federal judge has ruled. The decision comes after Google was found to have illegally monopolized adtech. (Bloomberg) Meanwhile, a new study of Google’s AI-driven search experience found that ad prices were 21.6% more expensive on AI Mode than in traditional search for the same product. (The Media Leader) |
| Amazon systematically inflated auction prices for advertisers without their knowledge, costing them upwards of $20bn, a US Federal Trade Commission lawsuit has alleged. The FTC, alongside a bipartisan group of 22 US states, told a federal court in Washington state that Amazon illegally raised prices for advertisers by surreptitiously raising the minimum price required to place ads to promote their products. (Wall Street Journal) |
| To AI or not |
| The Wall Street Journal said billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller did not violate any of its policies when he used AI to write an op-ed that was published earlier this week. It said: “The question for us is whether what we publish from contributors reflects an author’s original argument, and if the author has the standing and credibility to make it.” (The Hill) Meanwhile, a study using AI detector Pangram showed that 10 out of 310 guest columns published by Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and New York Times over the past month were at least 80% AI-generated, with a further 40 partially AI. (Semafor) |
| The Trump administration has intervened in a legal battle between The New York Times and OpenAI, siding with the AI firm over claims of copyright infringement. The newspaper sued OpenAI in 2023, alleging it used copyrighted material without permission to train its chatbot. In a filing, the Justice Department argued that restricting the use of copyrighted texts to train AI models could hinder innovation and economic prosperity. The New York Times accused the administration of siding with major AI companies at the expense of creators. (FT) |
| Vogue goes to the dogs |
| The publisher of a seven-year-old dog fashion magazine Dogue has countersued Condé Nast after the Vogue owner accused it of copyright infringement and launching a high-end dog grooming title of its own. The publisher said: “Vogue copied my idea so I’m barking back.” Dogue print magazine has a tiny total circulation of under 100 copies per issue. It is sold exclusively for $25 per copy at a single independent newsstand in Beverly Hills, California. Condé Nast claims that Dogue’s name, layout, and logo are nearly identical to Vogue and were intentionally designed to mislead readers into thinking the independent dog magazine is affiliated with the fashion brand. (Times of London) |
| The Workweek B2B data platform raised $17mn last month, bringing its total fundraising to $36.5mn. Background. |
| The Information said the US subscription tech news site will grow revenues to “eight figures” in 2027. It has announced a second video series, focusing on AI, following the launch of daily live show on TITV last year. (Axios)Background |
| UK Out of home (OOH) ad revenue grew 12.7% year-on-year in Q2 2026, to a record £402.6mn. The figures, collated by PwC, reveal that digital out of home (DOOH) revenue grew by 14.6% and traditional OOH by 8.8%. (The Media Leader) |
| The Guardian is closing its UK recruitment platform, Guardian Jobs after more than 20 years, during which it had once captured more than 60% of the country’s jobs market and been the news brand’s largest revenue stream. (Press Gazette) Background |
| Burghclere, the private investment vehicle of Charlie Kerr (founder of With Intelligence, sold last year to S&P Global) has acquired a majority stake in Voltility, a six-year-old data platform for the energy storage and data center power markets. Background |
| The 38-year-old satirical magazine The Onion, which reintroduced its print edition in 2024, now has 85,000 subscribers (@$99), making it one of the five largest newspapers in the US. (NiemanLab) |
| BBC director general (CEO) Matt Brittin has suggested opening up the BBC’s iPlayer app to YouTube-style user-generated content as he backed the idea of a “public service algorithm free from the interests of US tech companies”. (Guardian) |
| Print exit after 205 years |
| For more than two centuries, The Saturday Evening Post has chronicled American life in its pages, enshrining a homespun national identity and publishing some of the country’s most celebrated writers. The January issue will be its last in print. The magazine, which launched in 1821, will continue to publish online. (New York Times) |
That Was The Week That Was – 4 Sept
