ExchangeWire on Big Tech's Ad Revenue, News Habits, and Agentic Media Buying

In this episode of The MadTech Podcast, ExchangeWire's head of marketing, Grainne Reid, is joined by COO Lindsay Rowntree and John Still, head of content.The first story this week is the four tech giants collectively earning over $100bn in ad revenue in Q1 of 2026, with Alphabet in the lead. The team discuss areas of growth for the walled gardens and the 'squeeze' of the open web. The second dives into generational differences in news consumption habits, and how news brands can turn that trust into value for advertisers and agency partners. Finally, Omnicom has been testing live media buys with AI agents, cutting out the ad tech middlemen. What does this mean for agencies, and how dramatically could it change the ad tech landscape?0:00 Introduction0:58 How much did Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon earn in ad revenue in Q1?9:45 How are different age groups accessing news?20:01 How is agentic media buying changing the ad tech landscape?