Episode One of Signal & Noise by ADOTAT is here, and we’re starting exactly where the industry lost its mind.

This week: the Super Bowl performance delusion, why one percent conversion rates are not a strategy, and the inconvenient truth that curiosity beats QR codes every time. We unpack the reseller purge and who actually gets crushed when platforms declare moral superiority. Tubi quietly posts receipts while YouTube prints $60B and still acts misunderstood. The IAB rolls out another Greek-god measurement project. And Hearst blows a crater in the brand safety industrial complex with data that should make every media buyer uncomfortable.

It’s sharp. It’s unsentimental. And it separates what actually drives performance from the weekly panic cycle.

Sponsored by Troutman Amin LLP and Incremental.

Stay Bold. Stay Curious. Know More than You Did Yesterday.

The one where we unpack the ad industry's post-Super Bowl existential crisis, Google's "agentic commerce" power grab, Amazon muscling into Prebid like it owns the place, the IAB trying to regulate AI without admitting everything's already AI, LiveRamp's SaaS survival mode, and — oh yeah — AppLovin's growing pile of allegations, SEC investigations, and a stock down 40% while the CEO insists everything is totally fine. Plus: GEO is the new SEO because apparently we're gaming chatbots now. Welcome to 2026.

Keywords: ad tech, Super Bowl advertising, programmatic advertising, Google agentic commerce, Amazon Prebid, AppLovin allegations, AppLovin SEC investigation, AXON engine, click fraud, IAB AI disclosure, LiveRamp SaaS, GEO generative engine optimization, OOH taxonomy, digital advertising, AI in advertising, ad fraud, TCPA, privacy compliance, adtech podcast, Signal and Noise, ADOTAT

Everyone's optimizing. Nobody's in control. This week on The Weekly Reckoning by ADOTAT: Nielsen was supposed to be dead — so why is everyone still signing contracts? VideoAmp admits it owns less than 1% of the market. iSpot is quietly laying off a quarter of its staff. Netflix built a $1.5B ad business and still acts like advertising is a communicable disease. Google turned your targeting controls into "suggestions." Amazon dropped a $200B capex bomb. And Michael Kassan is back with $50M in revenue and a Cannes party. We break down what it all means, who's lying, and why control is the biggest illusion in ad tech.