MadTech Daily: Stagwell Acquires Freestar in Supply-Side Push; Anthropic Files for IPO as Losses Mount
The MadTech PodcastShow Notes
In today’s MadTech Daily, we discuss Stagwell acquiring Freestar to expand further into the supply side of ad tech, Anthropic filing for an IPO and revealing rapid revenue growth alongside heavy losses, and Instacart reportedly exploring a sale, with DoorDash and Uber among the potential buyers.
More from The MadTech Podcast
In today’s MadTech Daily UK ad spend is forecast to hit £14.0bn in Q4 as the full-year forecast climbs to £51.3bn, Meta promises full consultation with publishers as backlash over its scraping terms grows, and Alphabet posts 25% revenue growth on cloud and AI demand, but shares slide after hours.
In today’s MadTech Daily, we discuss Anthropic’s IPO filing revealing that its advertising spend rose to USD$147m (£112m) in 2025, Meta planning a USD$95bn (£71.73bn) stock raise to fund its AI push as Elon Musk warns of a shakeout among AI cloud providers, and Comcast moving FreeWheel and Universal Ads under NBCUniversal.
In today’s MadTech Daily, Anthropic teams up with Hg to launch a European AI consultancy, DeepSeek raises $15bn as it tries to close the gap with US AI rivals, and WPP’s chief AI officer says shopping bots could reshape who brands are selling to.
What does a reimagined approach to targeting look like? Is a new prediction economy emerging in advertising? In this mailbag edition of The MadTech Podcast, ExchangeWire CEO Rachel Smith and COO Lindsay Rowntree join John Still, head of content, to answer our listeners' burning questions on ad tech and media. They also examine Apple's explanation of its latest ad tech restrictions... Thank you to Azerion's Roxanne Harley and DAIVID's Barney Worfolk-Smith for this month's questions!
In today’s MadTech Daily, we cover Netflix expanding its ad measurement capabilities, Spotify reaching 306 million paid subscribers in Q3, and Meta growing revenue by 26% as Muse costs mount.