Inside The Trade Desk's programmatic power struggle

More from The Digiday Podcast All episodes →

1. 

   19 May 2026 · 31 min

   Can retail media networks survive the shift to agentic commerce?

   If shoppers start turning to AI assistants instead of retailer websites, the foundation of the retail media business could begin to crack. That’s the tension at the center of agentic commerce. On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, hosts Kimeko McCoy and Tim Peterson explore how AI-powered shopping agents could reshape retail media networks, disrupt ad dollars and force retailers to rethink their role in the shopper journey.

2. 

   12 May 2026 · 37 min

   Why Duluth trusts AI agents with bidding, but not brand storytelling

   The programmatic world seems split: is AI the future of media buying, or just a tool requiring heavy supervision? Duluth Trading Company lands somewhere in the middle by leveraging agents for high-speed bidding while keeping a firm human hand on brand storytelling, Duluth’s Director of Marketing Ellie Uberto joins Kimeko McCoy and Tim Peterson live from the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit on May 6 - 8 in Palm Springs, Calif. to break down's Duluth's approach to agents in media.

3. 

   5 May 2026 · 26 min

   WTF are brand health metrics?

   Is the era of performance-only marketing over? Performance returns are dropping. Brands are chasing AI visibility as LLMs take over search. All roads point to the return of 'brandformance.' Kimeko McCoy and Tim Peterson explain the brandformance to brand health metrics rebrand, and why marketers care about it again.

4. 

   28 Apr 2026 · 38 min

   The Netflix playbook: JBPs, programmatic power, and the future of the upfront deal

   In this episode, Digiday senior marketing reporter Sam Bradley joins Digiday Podcast co-hosts Tim Peterson and Kimeko McCoy to break down Netflix's massive ad business glow up, and how the streaming giant is rewriting the streaming ad business playbook.

5. 

   21 Apr 2026 · 30 min

   Why OpenAI is moving fast to build an ads business

   The AI ad race is heating up. OpenAI is staffing up and cutting deals to win brand budgets from Meta and Google. On this episode of the Digiday Podcast, Digiday senior platforms reporter Krystal Scanlon joins hosts Kimeko McCoy and Tim Peterson to breakdown the ad business playbook.

6. 

   7 Apr 2026 · 35 min

   Mondelez overhauls its $3.5 billion digital commerce strategy in era of AI search

   Mondelez vp of global digital commerce, Andrew Lederman, joins the Digiday Podcast to talk through how the CPG giant is aggressively shifting its digital commerce strategy to optimize for AI, ensuring brands like Oreo dominate agentic search.

7. 

   31 Mar 2026 · 32 min

   Why The Guardian’s first reader-facing AI product isn’t a chatbot

   The Guardian didn’t want to build an AI chatbot. Not a reader-facing one anyway. Not at the risk of that chatbot misrepresenting the news publisher’s journalism and undermining readers’ trust. “We’re not going to die if we don’t build a chatbot tomorrow. We need to be really clear about what the threats are externally, but ultimately what we have is something that’s worth protecting,” said Chris Moran, head of editorial innovation at The Guardian, during a live recording of the Digiday Podcast at the Digiday Publishing Summit in Vail, Colorado, on March 23. While not a chatbot, The Guardian…

8. 

   24 Mar 2026 · 55 min

   How to sell an influencer agency: Lessons from Digital Voices founder Jennifer Quigley-Jones

   What does it take to sell an influencer agency right now? This week on the Digiday Podcast, Digital Voices founder Jennifer Quigley-Jones joins Kimeko McCoy and Tim Peterson to break down her agency’s sale to PMG. Plus, what it says about the booming creator economy M&A moment.

9. 

   17 Mar 2026 · 39 min

   After WPP reckoning: The case for and against principal media

   A decade after the ANA’s bombshell report, the WPP debacle has forced a new standard of clarity in media buying. This week, Digiday executive editor of news Seb Joseph and Michael Burgi, senior editor of media buying and planning, join the Digiday Podcast to discuss why agencies are leaning into principal trading, and why some brands are finally reining them in.

10. 

    10 Mar 2026 · 37 min

    TikTok after the legal fight: Why it’s coming for Meta’s ad dollars

    Since its legal woes have been resolved, and the U.S. app was spun out earlier this year, TikTok has taken a muted approach to business. Digiday senior platform reporter Krystal Scanlon joins this episode of the Digiday Podcast to discuss why what looks like business as usual on the surface is more likened to hushed plight for more ad dollars, creators and users.