Can ad tech’s server-side shift save it from Apple and Google?

Apple has reminded ad tech how much power the browser holds. Ad tech’s reaction: Get out of the browser. With iOS 27, Apple’s Safari browser has begun blocking domains tied to identity resolution providers, such as The Trade Desk and ID5, that link people’s browsing to their email addresses. In response, ad tech firms and IAB Tech Lab are pushing to move ad calls server-side, including through the latter organization’s Trusted Server technology, which would limit the browser’s control over ad tech firms’ actions. Meanwhile, the remedies ruling in Google’s ad tech antitrust trial has given Prebid an opening to flip the programmatic auction. Instead of Google’s ad server getting final say on the winning bid, Google’s ad exchange would have to bid into Prebid’s server. But is the server-side shift a long-term solution? And is it the right one? Digiday’s executive editor of news Seb Joseph and senior ad tech reporter Ronan Shields joined the Digiday Podcast to hash out ad tech’s Game of Thrones amid the server-side shift.