Future of TV Briefing: Ad tech’s pod bidding push moves CTV toward advancing the live sports ad model in 2026

This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how ad tech companies including Comcast’s FreeWheel, Index Exchange and The Trade Desk are preparing CTV’s programmatic supply chain for upgraded auction dynamics amid an influx of live sports ad inventory.

  • Primetime for podding
  • The FCC’s ABC license review, the NFL’s FCC charm offensive, MrBeast’s harassment lawsuit and more

Primetime for podding

Mark your calendars for Aug. 31. That’s the target date for streaming ad tech’s next step toward realizing its promise of evolving the traditional TV ad model.

This is a member-exclusive article from Digiday. Continue reading it on digiday.com and subscribe to continue reading content like this.

,Read More

The rise of deepfakes poses a new trust challenge for publishers

As AI deepfakes spread faster and become more difficult to detect, publishers are caught in the crosshairs, with fact-checking teams working harder to verify what’s real and protect their organization’s credibility in an internet flooded with AI-generated content.

Fresh data shows the deepfakes are spiking. A new report from IdentifAI, a startup focused on detecting deepfakes and other AI-generated or AI-altered content, identified 3,165 incidents of deepfakes in March 2026 alone, up from just four in January 2020.

The report, which was based on 10,000 deepfake incidents, spotlighted a clear escalation: synthetic media and manipulation have entered a more dangerous phase globally, with deepfakes fueling political instability, enabling large-scale financial exploitation, and shaping public perception. The incidents were often amplified by social media algorithms, according to the report.

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.

,Read More