In the recent earnings call for Publicis Groupe’s for Q1 2026, Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer stated that every vendor is audited by PwC, and that they pass the audit to our clients. In this case, Ebiquity ran the audit and that they found that The Trade Desk did not pass it.

“The only thing we have done, and that we will always do, is that we have informed our clients of the finding, as we believe it is our responsibility, and it is our responsibility,” he said.

Moreover, he noted that they have no intention to build a competitive offer to The Trade Desk, as they want to keep in their position as an advertising holding company.

“We don’t have any competing offer when it comes to self-serve DSP product that could be a direct competitor to The Trade Desk, and we are not planning to build any,” he added.

When asked by an analyst why Publicis Groupe isn’t planning to create its own DSP despite having data marketing firm Epsilon in its portfolio, Arthur said that while they will see some growth over its clients using Epsilon, it is not a priority for them to accelerate in principal media.

“Our number one priority is to build product and services that can help our client growth in this AI world. It’s not by building another platform that we’re going to help our client more. It’s about connecting our capabilities. It’s about bringing new capabilities in place,” he explained.

It should be recalled that The Trade Desk had denied failing the audit, with a spokesperson telling MARKETECH APAC that as a platform that strives to be ‘transparent’ in the industry, their reporting and billing processes are supported by an independent SOC 1 compliance.

“In this case, the request included asks for data that would violate customer and partner confidentiality agreements. We look forward to working with Publicis to provide workable alternatives to this particular request, including information at an even more granular level than requested,” the spokesperson said.

In the same earnings call, moreover, Arthur commented on Publicis Groupe’s recent win of Microsoft’s media pitch, as well as the extension of their strategic partnership since the co-creation of the AI pltaform Marcel in 2016.

“I think what you should take out of this partnership is that it started by us sitting down with Microsoft and looking at how we can offer to our common clients an agentic solution. We have seen how well our capabilities were fitting together. The second reaction of Microsoft was to say, “This looks great. Let’s put it on Microsoft as client zero.” This is why we have been honoured and lucky to start the relationship with them,” he said.

As part of this partnership, Publicis is putting Microsoft 365 Copilot in the hands of all 114,000+ employees worldwide. They have also selected Microsoft Azure as a preferred cloud provider. 

By working with Microsoft, which offers the most scalable and secure cloud and AI platform in the industry, Publicis is strengthening its ability to deliver personalization at scale and expanding Marcel’s role from pioneering AI in marketing to powering the next generation of enterprisewide AI. 

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nexAI DSP Assistant capabilities are expanding from mid- and post-campaign reporting and analytics to include:

• Pre-campaign set-up and quality assurance (“QA”) to launch campaigns confidently with automatic misconfiguration checks
• Deal troubleshooting and diagnostics to quickly identify, diagnose and resolve delivery issues
• Mid-campaign optimisation through natively embedded nexAI insights to provide built-in recommendations for campaigns mid-flight

Alongside, Nexxen is launching a new DSP user interface (“UI”), creating strategic operational efficiencies and offering a streamlined and intuitive workflow in the platform. The AI-native interface lays the foundation for seamless integration of future innovation, while speeding up user onboarding and campaign launch, and reducing the need for training.

“Deterministic, high-fidelity signals – like real behavioral data in Nexxen Discovery, transaction-level insights and exposure data tied to outcomes in the Nexxen Data Platform – consistently outperform large but noisy datasets. AI models trained on weak or proxy signals simply optimise faster toward the wrong outcomes,” said Karim Rayes, Chief Product Officer, Nexxen. “Nexxen has spent years securing unique data assets and building research, planning and measurement solutions on top of them. Now, we have layered in AI to drive performance and automated these processes for streamlined workflows and better outcomes.”

“Nexxen’s AI-native DSP and enhanced nexAI DSP Assistant represent meaningful steps forward in how agencies can connect data, planning and activation within a single workflow. What stands out is how the assistant connects live campaign data with Nexxen’s knowledge base in a way that is actually actionable,” said Joey D’Alesio, Manager, Platform Partnerships, Division-D. “We are already seeing value across the campaign lifecycle — from answering feasibility questions in pre-campaign planning, to surfacing optimisation opportunities in-flight, to accelerating post-campaign analysis. It is rare to see AI implemented in a way that enhances trader decision-making rather than replacing it, and that balance of innovation and control is what makes this especially compelling for our teams.”

Forthcoming product development on the nexAI DSP Assistant will include:

• Optimisation recommendation agent to drive stronger campaign performance with clear recommendations through adjustments to bids, budgets, audiences and supply
• Audience discovery agent to create audience segments leveraging Nexxen Discovery and Nexxen’s robust data marketplace
• Advanced data integrations with Nexxen Discovery and the Nexxen supply-side platform (“SSP”) to apply holistic signals for improvement at every stage of campaign planning and activation
• Open connections to third-party application programming interfaces (“APIs”) to onboard data valuable to informing planning, performance, measurement and optimisation

Critically, even as the sophistication of its capabilities grows, the nexAI DSP Assistant remains autonomous only to the extent that users choose, keeping traders in full control and maintaining complete transparency into campaign adjustments and optimisation.

“We are seeing increased frustration in the market with the current roll-out of fully autonomous AI tools that de-center the very people who know their business best: the planners and traders. At Nexxen, we are building people-first DSP technology that saves time on manual tasks and launches campaigns to market faster, but leaves the decision-making power fully in our clients’ hands, to the degree they want it,” said Rayes.

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In a statement to MARKETECH APAC, a spokesperson for The Trade Desk has confirmed floating questions regarding Publicis’ leaked memo, but stressed that they have not failed it.

“In this case, the request included asks for data that would violate customer and partner confidentiality agreements. We look forward to working with Publicis to provide workable alternatives to this particular request, including information at an even more granular level than requested,” the spokesperson said.

They also added that as a platform that strives to be ‘transparent’ in the industry, their reporting and billing processes are supported by an independent SOC 1 compliance.

Moreover, they also stated that they are committed to providing the ‘highest level of industry transparency and strong controls’ in how they report and bill.

“When we provide contractual audit rights, we stand by those rights, based on customary accounting procedures, such as with big 4 accounting firms. In this case we have proposed a range of options to Publicis,” the spokesperson added.

The Trade Desk’s statements follow multiple media reports saying that Publicis told clients allegedly that an audit found that The Trade Desk applied its DSP fee to additional charges billed to Publicis and some of its clients for tools they were automatically enrolled in, without evidence that these purchases had been authorised. 

The memo also stated that The Trade Desk did not provide sufficient information for auditors to verify whether media and data costs were billed at cost, without any markup, in accordance with the agreement.

It should be noted that The Trade Desk and Publicis have formed a partnership back in April 2021, where it saw interoperability between Epsilon CORE ID and Unified ID 2.0, enabling clients to engage with consumers on an individual level across all channels.

In a subsequent post on LinkedIn following the reports, The Trade Desk founder and CEO Jeff Green remarked how it seemed that there are those who want to wave the flag of transparency publicly, but run from it in practice as they arbitrage in the inefficiencies of programmatic.

“It bothers me when leaders of non-transparent business models are critical of those of us who are setting the bar—especially when they advocate for moving dollars to more opaque platforms and transaction methods,” he said.

Recent developments have also put pressure on The Trade Desk’s OpenPath offering, after major holding companies Dentsu and WPP reportedly pulled back from the direct-to-publisher buying solution. OpenPath, which was designed to give advertisers more efficient and transparent access to publisher inventory, has instead faced scrutiny over fee visibility and clarity around ad placements.

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The company said the integration responds to increasing demand for CTV solutions as investment in streaming continues to grow. According to Smartly, more marketers plan to increase their streaming budgets over the next year, while seeking improved personalisation, agility, and measurable results. The integration is available globally, with additional features expected to roll out later in 2026.

Through the integration, advertisers can activate streaming TV campaigns within their existing Smartly workflows. The offering introduces three core capabilities: AI-powered creative optimisation and personalisation from social channels to streaming, campaign management for Amazon DSP within the same workflow used for social advertising, and real-time performance visibility across channels.

Smartly stated that the new capability is designed to address creative production bottlenecks that have limited CTV activation for some advertisers. It also allows cross-channel measurement of incremental reach and supports budget reallocation based on performance insights.

“As CTV matures, entertainment, commerce, and social are merging into one experience,” said Melissa Yang, SVP of ecosystems & AI applications at Smartly. “This integration gives marketers the performance precision and creative intelligence they’ve long expected in CTV, enabling personalisation at scale, real-time optimisation, and full-funnel impact. With intelligent creative and direct access to Amazon’s premium supply, Smartly brings the rigor and accountability modern marketers rely on.”

Erin McGee, director, partner and advertiser growth marketing at Amazon Ads, said the partnership is intended to help advertisers drive measurable outcomes across channels.

“Driving impactful business outcomes across channels is key for advertisers and this partnership brings CTV and social campaigns together for maximum, measurable impact,” McGee said. “Through this integration with Amazon DSP, advertisers and agencies who work with Smartly can now extend their proven social creative to premium streaming inventory in a fraction of the time—driving efficiency, expanding reach, and making streaming TV activation as simple as their social advertising.”

Smartly said that as performance expectations for CTV continue to rise, advertisers are seeking greater visibility into cross-channel creative performance. The company added that its platform aims to connect creative insights, activation, and measurement in a single system to support brands navigating what it describes as a converging media landscape.

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Through Pacvue, brands in these regions now have self-serve access to a full suite of programmatic media solutions to elevate their growth strategies. Markets in APAC who can have access to these solutions include Australia, India, Japan, and Singapore.

Previously, Pacvue’s Amazon DSP customers outside North America only had access to reporting capabilities. Now, advertisers in these regions are able to leverage the Pacvue platform to reach Amazon Ads audiences via Amazon DSP. This expansion includes campaign creation and management, budget, bid and dayparting automation controls.

With this rollout, Pacvue has introduced several new features for customers in expanded regions. These include a combined dashboard for Amazon Sponsored Ads and Amazon DSP, providing a unified view of campaign performance. 

Additionally, AMC audience creation enables seamless transitions from insights to action by directly integrating with Amazon DSP campaigns. To enhance automation, Pacvue offers tools like dayparting, which allows for precise optimisations throughout the day, as well as automated budget management to control monthly and daily spending without requiring manual oversight. 

Lastly, advanced reporting and analytics, powered by Amazon Ads performance data and Pacvue’s cutting-edge technology, provide deeper insights to drive better advertising outcomes.

Melissa Burdick, president and co-founder at Pacvue, said, “Our partners around the globe have been eagerly awaiting access to Amazon DSP tools, so we’re excited to be among the first platforms to unlock these new capabilities for them. Access to Amazon DSP tools brings greater capabilities and reach for advertisers in these regions, as well as opportunities for growth from a wider variety of ad types, channels and audiences.”

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