In the final 2025 episode of Datalicious, Carsten Sander joins Anton Priebe, editor-in-chief of Adzine, to look back on the key developments in the digital industry. From AI-powered technologies to retail media and the consolidation of large companies, this episode highlights the challenges and opportunities of the past year and looks ahead to the trends for 2026.
This episode discusses:
- Annual review 2025: The monthly highlights at Datalicious and Adzine show which developments and technological advances are driving the industry.
- AI and its role in advertising: From AI-powered search technologies to AI agents that could revolutionize media buying
- Retail media and Connected TV: Growth of these advertising channels and their importance for the industry
- Open web and identifier solutions: Challenges and progress in establishing privacy-compliant technologies and standards.
Takeaways from this episode
- AI as gamechanger: In 2025, artificial intelligence significantly changed the advertising industry – from search to new targeting technologies such as psychographic contextual targeting.
- Consolidation as trend: Large acquisitions and mergers are shaping the industry, while smaller players are defending their niches.
- The importance of data quality: Data clean rooms and first-party data are becoming increasingly important for enabling privacy-compliant targeting and strengthening the open web.
- Retail media and CTV as growth drivers: Both channels offer new possibilities for precise targeting and innovative ad formats.
Chapters
00:00 – Intro to the annual review and personal changes
03:12 – Welcome and overview of the year’s topics
08:16 – January: Outstream and Ströer news
22:31 – February: Digital turning point and Netflix opens assets for additional DSPs
33:15 – March: Curation as the new AdTech currency and Google’s AI Overviews
42:19 – April: Attention as the new currency and ROI of social media advertising
51:48 – May: The future of podcast advertising and Microsoft discontinues DSP
56:48 – June: Retail media as “trend of the year” and Telekom’s ad platform
01:01:11 – July: The impact of AI search and agentic AI on the media industry
01:04:30 – August: Growth of Connected TV and consolidation in the TV market
01:08:07 – September: DMEXCO and Online Ad Summit
01:16:00 – October: Psychographic targeting and the end of Google Privacy Sandbox
01:21:00 – November: Open web, Agentic Commerce Protocol, and Ad Context Protocol
01:26:09 – December: Looking ahead to 2026 – trends and developments