Zac Wang

1 week ago | thecurrent.com | Zac Wang

Europe’s digital ad market has hit a major milestone, surpassing €100 billion in annual spend for the first time last year. The growth was largely driven by connected TV (CTV) and retail media. That shift — outlined at IAB Europe’s Interact conference in Brussels last week — is coming partly at the expense of search budgets, according to Daniel Knapp, chief economist at IAB Europe. The news landed against a backdrop of economic uncertainty.

2 weeks ago | thecurrent.com | Zac Wang

At this year’s U.S. upfronts, streamers leaned hard on live sports — but that play doesn’t work everywhere. NBCUniversal may have locked in U.S. rights to the Super Bowl, Winter Olympics and FIFA World Cup, but in Britain, major sports rights are already tied up by local broadcasters. That leaves global platforms like Netflix, Disney+ and Warner Bros. Discovery with a different challenge: to win over advertisers through standout content, smarter ad tech and stronger measurement.

3 weeks ago | thecurrent.com | Zac Wang

At this year’s OMR conference in Hamburg — Europe’s largest gathering of marketing and tech leaders — one theme emerged: Advertisers are growing increasingly skeptical of the AI-automated world envisioned by Big Tech. Many are also starting to rethink performance marketing’s outsized role in the mix. From the rising demand for transparency to the growing appeal of podcasts, the mood at OMR 2025 was one of recalibration. Here are the key takeaways.

1 month ago | thecurrent.com | Zac Wang

European regulators have often set the pace when it comes to reining in Big Tech. Now, after a historic U.S. antitrust ruling, leading European competition lawyers expect the European Commission to underscore that it’s game over for advertising monopolists. “This ruling makes it more likely that the European Commission will seek a structural remedy in its Google ad tech investigation,” says Thomas Höppner, partner at Hausfeld law firm.

1 month ago | thecurrent.com | Zac Wang

Sky Media is enabling real time, biddable programmatic buying for live sports — starting with one of the most prized assets in British media: The Premier League. It’s the world’s most famous domestic soccer, er, football league. Sky Media says the move marks the first time advertisers can buy some live Premier League matches programmatically, offering premium, flexible reach across a highly coveted media property.