Thursday, October 1st, 2026 – 3:31 pm

During our Programmatic IO conference Tuesday, AdExchanger Senior Editor James Hercher got a tip and followed leads, then tapped out a story in the green room and posted it before we closed out the conference.

The story? Apple updated iOS, which blocked The Trade Desk from serving ads on Safari, the open web – ironic timing given that Hercher wrote it at a conference about, in part, the growth of an open web.

The move by Apple reflects how deeply unbalanced the power dynamic is between the open web and walled gardens. It’s time for the pendulum to swing back in the direction of openness, James (a heavy hitter in stories this week) argues in his piece “Who Will Stand Up For The Open Web?,” published on Monday. The high prices on walled gardens are making buyers go back to the open web, albeit with quality guardrails, to drive performance.

For that programmatic fix, buyers are also looking to other channels that offer the data, automation, personalization and measurement popularized by programmatic. Programmatic IO included content focused on many channels being transacted in a programmatic way, from CTV and retail media to agentic advertising, mobile app, audio and more. Sessions centered on more mature programmatic channels, like display, focused on rigorous supply-chain quality, while sessions that centered on newer programmatic channels focused on acclimating buyers to new ideas (shoppable TV) and the value of exporting different setups.

In the second half of the episode, we discuss AI, including what OpenAI revealed during Editor-in-Chief Allison Schiff’s fireside chat and how Microsoft described its agentic advertising platform during day two. In short, there are still many more questions than answers when it comes to agentic AI product direction.

Tools like OpenAI’s sponsored chats with brands are being developed as consumers are still in the early adoption phases of AI. What appears to work may have some unexpected trust and safety pitfalls. While OpenAI states consumer trust is paramount, it’s hard to see around the twists and turns of agentic AI – that much is clear.