The week the open web blinked
This wasn’t a “feature launch” week but it was a pressure week.
The Trade Desk stock cratered.
WPP’s principal trading model exploded into public litigation.
The Google ad tech remedy ruling looms.
Search budgets are visibly shifting and getting disembowelled by AI, and they money is moving into social + omnichannel programmatic
DOOH infrastructure just quietly levelled up.
Individually? Headlines. Collectively? Structural strain on the open ecosystem.
Let’s break it down. The stories that caught my attention this week
STORY 1: The Trade Desk just fell 16% — and it’s not about one quarter
The Trade Desk reported Q4 2025 revenue of $847m, beating consensus. So far so good, as their guidance was c. $842m
But guidance for Q1 2026 — “at least $678m” — implied growth slowing to roughly 10% YoY. The DSP layer is under massive pressure -…
