The Saturday Signal: A Weekly Digest of Top Stories from Around the Industry

The Saturday Signal is a curated newsletter intended to separate the signal from the noise for streaming media and ad tech leaders. We've curated the top headlines from the past few weeks so you can catch up quickly on the news that matters most to you, your role, your team, and your business.

Think we missed something? We probably did. Email us with the news you think should make next week's recap - news@stateofstreaming.com

People Moves & Agency Appointments

• The Trade Desk Appoints Vinny Rinaldi as Vice President of Client Strategy & Growth Advertising technology company The Trade Desk has hired former Hershey executive Vinny Rinaldi as Vice President of Client Strategy & Growth.

• Are Media Appoints Bruce Levine as Director of Technology and Product Bruce Levine transitions from Australian Community Media to join Are Media as its new Director of Technology and Product.

• Cummins&Partners Names Former WPP Executive Tom Willson as Head of Media Independent agency Cummins&Partners expanded its leadership team by appointing Tom Willson to oversee its media division.

• Raymond Lifestyle Appoints AT Kearney to Oversee ₹300-Crore Integrated Agency Review Raymond Lifestyle hired consulting firm AT Kearney to manage a massive, ongoing review of its integrated agency partnerships.

• Kedar Ravangave Exits Kotak Mahindra Bank As Head of Marketing After nearly two years in the role, Kedar Ravangave announced on LinkedIn that he is stepping down as Kotak Mahindra Bank's Head of Marketing.

• BBDO Group India Appoints Ankit Singh as National Strategy Director BBDO Group India strengthened its strategic leadership by naming Ankit Singh as its new National Strategy Director.

• YAAP Group Appoints Sambit Mohanty as Chief Creative Officer Sambit Mohanty joined YAAP Group to lead and expand the agency’s creative capabilities as its new Chief Creative Officer.

• Pret A Manger Appoints Anita McDonnell As International President Anita McDonnell was appointed to lead Pret A Manger’s business operations across Europe, Asia, and Africa starting in late August.

• Stellantis Appoints Industry Veterans to Strengthen Regional Leadership Stellantis restructured its leadership in the China and Asia-Pacific region to accelerate execution of its Value Creation Program.

• PepsiCo Appoints Tanvi Swami as Marketing Director for Pepsi, 7UP and Mirinda Tanvi Swami announced her new role as PepsiCo's Marketing Director overseeing the Pepsi, 7UP, and Mirinda brands.

• Hello Appoints Former Stan and Uber Executive David Griffiths as Managing Director Digital marketing agency Hello appointed David Griffiths as Managing Director to further solidify its leadership team.

• AU Small Finance Bank Elevates Yogesh Jain as Deputy CEO India’s largest Small Finance Bank promoted Yogesh Jain to the position of Deputy CEO.

• Jubilant FoodWorks Elevates Ashish Gupta to DGM – Growth Marketing for Popeyes Ashish Gupta shared on LinkedIn that he has been promoted to handle growth marketing for Popeyes at Jubilant FoodWorks.

• UM Secures Mark Anthony Brands International’s Global Media Mandate Following a competitive review, Omnicom Media Group’s UM was named the global media agency of record for Mark Anthony Brands International.

• Thinkerbell Wins Creative Partner for Endeavour Group’s Dan Murphy’s and BWS Thinkerbell was selected as the lead brand strategy and creative partner for retail brands Dan Murphy’s and BWS.

• Omnicom’s OMD Secures Qantas Group’s APAC Media Mandate Across Asia OMD won a competitive pitch to handle media planning and buying for Qantas and Jetstar across key Asian markets.

• Subway Expands Tonic Communications’ PR Mandate to Australia Subway deepened its existing relationship with Tonic Communications by naming it the public relations partner of record for Australia.

• Omnicom Media’s Fuse India Brings Mercedes-Benz India to Indian Padel Tour Mercedes-Benz India launched a multi-year title partnership with the Indian Padel Tour for the 2026–27 season.

• Unilever Foods Indonesia Appoints McCann Studio Indonesia as Social Media Partner Unilever Foods Indonesia expanded its partnership with McCann Studio Indonesia by granting them a new social media mandate.

• AI Personalised Campaign by Azerion & Digitas: 70% of Listeners Act on Wella’s Nioxin Audio Ads Wella successfully utilized omnichannel audio advertising to run a highly personalized campaign that drove action from 70% of listeners.

Live Sports & Streaming Rights

• FIFA Chases $4B as Media Rights Bidding for Future World Cups Begins FIFA is looking to secure $4 billion as it officially opens the media rights bidding process for upcoming World Cup tournaments.

• UEFA Emergency Meeting: FIFA Investment, Infantino UEFA held an emergency meeting to address concerns surrounding FIFA investments and Gianni Infantino's leadership.

• How Visa Used One World Cup Sponsorship to Fuel a Partner-Powered Ad Network Visa leveraged its World Cup sponsorship not just for logo placement, but to create a comprehensive ecosystem for partner campaigns and co-marketing.

• Adidas’ World Cup Win Comes at a Cost as Q2 Marketing Spend Tops $1 Billion Adidas heavily invested in the World Cup tournament, pushing its second-quarter marketing expenditures past the $1 billion mark.

• Sweetgreen Tapped Atmosphere TV To Introduce World Cup Viewers To Its Wraps Sweetgreen partnered with video advertising startup Atmosphere TV to broadcast video ads in public spaces during World Cup matches.

Ad Tech

• Netflix in Amazon DSP: The Setup Guide for Running Amazon Audiences on It A Reddit discussion details the process and setup required for activating Amazon audiences on Netflix inventory.

• Nexxen Accelerates First-Party Data Activation with New DSP Onboarding Capability Nexxen launched a new first-party data onboarding feature directly within its demand-side platform to streamline audience activation.

• Programmatic Novice: Private Deals Setup in DV360 A programmatic buyer seeks advice on transitioning from Open Auction to setting up Private Deals via Display & Video 360 in the UK.

• PMP vs Open Exchange vs PG: What’s the Difference? This guide breaks down the core differences, access levels, and pricing models between Private Marketplaces, Open Exchanges, and Programmatic Guaranteed deals.

• Verizon Secures Over $1 Billion Google Dark Fiber Deal to Power AI Data Centers Verizon and Google entered a massive dark fiber agreement to support the rapid infrastructural expansion of AI data centers.

• Amazon Crushes Earnings And Reaches Almost $20 Billion In Q2 Ad Revenue Amazon reported a 26% year-over-year increase in its Q2 advertising business, generating nearly $20 billion in revenue.

• Amazon’s Ad Revenue Hits $76B Over the Past 12 Months Boosted by initial successes from Sponsored AI Prompts, Amazon's trailing 12-month advertising revenue has climbed to $76 billion.

• Prisma > TTD (The Trade Desk Workflow Discussion) A programmatic professional voices their frustration over the slow, clunky process of bulk updating ad groups within The Trade Desk's interface.

• Netflix Now Available Amazon Ads Advertisers on Reddit discuss the newly available Netflix inventory on Amazon Ads and inquire about creative approval timelines.

• The Trade Desk “System Auto for Win Rate Exclusion” Error Troubleshooting A trader seeks help regarding a system-applied optimization error in The Trade Desk that completely halted delivery for their display campaigns.

• Missing Ads.txt Lines An SSP professional discusses the monetization challenges caused by publishers who send supply requests without proper ads.txt verification.

• Independent Edge: How AI Is Reshaping the Programmatic Landscape OpenX hosted a panel at Cannes to explore how AI and agentic technologies are actively transforming programmatic advertising.

• What Advertisers Should Ask Before Choosing a Digital Display This article outlines the crucial location, audience, and screen-placement questions advertisers must evaluate before launching a digital out-of-home campaign.

• Everything You Need to Know About Programmatic In-Housing An overview detailing the operational benefits and structural challenges of bringing programmatic advertising in-house.

• Omnicom Investors Cheer IPG Sell-Off, Despite Weak Ad Spend In Q2 Omnicom's stock reached a one-year high as investors reacted positively to its broader financial standing despite a dip in Q2 advertising revenue.

• The Quiet Retreat of Sustainability in Ad Tech An industry founder analyzes why environmental sustainability initiatives seem to be taking a back seat in the current ad tech landscape.

• Assertive Yield Secures Multi-Year Agreement with Trusted Media Brands (TMB) Assertive Yield announced a long-term partnership to provide monetization solutions for Trusted Media Brands properties like Reader’s Digest.

• Tier-2 and Tier-3 Cities Emerge as India’s Next Growth Opportunity A Kantar report reveals that India's consumption boom is increasingly being fueled by a surging affluent population in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.

• Adtech Hiring, Remote? (Discussion) An India-based AdOps Analyst asks the Reddit community for insights regarding the current state of remote hiring in the ad tech industry.

• In-Person Interview Tips? (The Trade Desk) A candidate asks for advice on how to successfully deliver an in-person panel presentation for an interview at The Trade Desk.

Measurement & Currency

• MediaRadar Builds Toward a More Connected Advertising Ecosystem with Expanded VideoAmp Integration MediaRadar added VideoAmp viewership data to its platform to help advertisers better understand share of voice and competitive positioning.

• Marketing Measurement and Attribution: How to Drive and Demonstrate Advertising Effectiveness This piece outlines strategies for marketers to holistically track short- and long-term performance across an increasingly fragmented media landscape.

• FOX Advertising and iSpot Deepen Measurement Partnership Following a Year of Proven Outcomes FOX Advertising extended its collaboration with iSpot to continue offering advertisers advanced measurement and optimization capabilities.

• XR and AdImpact Partner to Bring Cross-Channel Measurement to Political Campaigns Extreme Reach and AdImpact joined forces to deliver comprehensive data insights for political advertisers across local TV and digital channels.

• X and WFA Settle, but the Brand Safety Wars Are Far From Over The settlement of a massive legal dispute between X and the WFA highlights the ongoing, complex evolution of brand safety standards.

• Performance Marketing’s Biggest Success Created Its Biggest Blind Spot An article arguing that while better targeting and attribution have redefined success, they may have inadvertently narrowed marketers' strategic vision.

Platforms & Distribution

• DoubleVerify Reports 39% Growth in CTV Impression Volume in the UK DoubleVerify released new data showing that connected TV adoption and ad impression volumes are growing rapidly across the EMEA region.

• CTV Pause Ads: Experiences and Opinions A programmatic buyer initiates a discussion seeking peer experiences and best practices for running pause screen advertisements on CTV.

• CTV Self-Serve Platforms: Anyone Actually Running Spend Through These? A media buyer questions the pricing transparency and actual placement quality of slick, self-serve CTV ad managers.

• Is Anyone Using AI-Powered Tools to Improve CTV Campaign Results? A struggling marketer asks the programmatic community if integrating AI tools is a viable strategy to boost their CTV campaign performance.

• Leveling Up With Show-Level Data; Step Outside The Box Ad tech platforms are actively testing workarounds to deliver show-level reporting for CTV campaigns despite streamer pushback.

Deals, Growth & M&A

• UK Ad Spend Jumps 9.3% in Q1 2026; Unilever Raises Full-Year Guidance A roundup of financial news highlighting strong UK ad spend growth, Unilever's robust sales, and updates from Netflix.

• Digital Publisher Revenues Fall 4.55%; Shein Swings to $99M Quarterly Loss A news summary covering the decline of digital publisher revenues due to AI disruption, Shein's quarterly financial losses, and Amazon Ads growth.

• esbconnect Announces Four New Customers for its Optivo Email Retargeting Platform Customer acquisition specialist esbconnect onboarded four new clients to its UK-first email retargeting tool, Optivo.

Think we missed something? We probably did. Email us with the news you think should make next week's recap - news@stateofstreaming.com