Hey, everyone, happy Friday.

It’s your last weekend to get your party on before the work starts up again—not that it ever ended.

We’ll round out the week with a look at what’s going on amongst the ad agencies (a lot, if you haven’t been paying attention) and the world of retail media as it gears up for the coming holiday splurge. Plus, buyers talk about negotiating with Disney for Super Bowl inventory, andthere ares layoffs at The Trade Desk.

Let’s get started.

Ryan Joe, editor in chief

Must Reads

1. The Trade Desk Sheds 15% of Staff on Heels of Lackluster Q2 Showing

Following a year of headwinds, demand-side platform The Trade Desk is trimming its global headcount by 15%, CEO Jeff Green told staffers Thursday.

The company previously employed around 3,900 staffers; the 15% reduction in force equates to roughly 585 jobs.

Kendra Barnett unpacks the memo Green circulated to staff.

2. ADWEEK TV Advantage: Buyers Detail Involved Super Bowl Negotiations and a Complex Upfront

The upfront usually isn’t all about the Super Bowl, but for Disney this year, it was. Of course buyers bristled at Disney’s asks, Bill Bradley reports, but what do you expect from a company that has the most valuable ad inventory in the world? Bill also has some other insights that speak to the future of linear TV advertising.

Back on the subject of upfronts, retail media networks like Home Depot, Albertsons, Instacart, and more recently had their own previews at the Ascendant Network’s Showcase event in New York.

Our deputy editor of commerce, Lauren Johnson, was there and noted that retailers are pushing value props that go beyond performance and are transforming themselves structurally as they mature. A lot of this comes from the need to compete with the two retail giants, Walmart and Amazon, neither of whom was represented at the event.

Agentic ad buying is happening. Not at scale, not en masse, but it’s happening. Trishla Ostwal tells the story of DTC brand Rouge Care, which sells red-light therapy devices, that ran a $25,000 Q2 CTV ad campaign largely managed by Klever Programmatic and PubMatic’s AI agents. AI agents planned and executed the buy, though humans ultimately pulled the trigger. Read Trishla's story for the results.

Google Dodged a Breakup, but Experts Say Alternatives Are Misdirected

Despite running illegal monopolies in its ad exchanges and publisher ad server, Google will not have to break up its adtech business, per Judge Leonie Brinkema’s ruling. Kendra Barnett took stock of adtech insiders’ opinions, and they are sharply divided. Check My Ads' Arielle Garcia thinks the outcome is weak. AppNexus cofounder Brian O'Kelley said a breakup wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Mediaocean's Bill Wise says the remedies should target the buy-side, not the sell-side. And Marketecture's Ari Paparo thinks the changes Google will be compelled to make will open competition to rivals like Index Exchange.

The Round Up

Nvidia confirms $13B Hugging Face buy (ADWEEK).
OpenAI prepares to launch Astra, its first AI model with ‘critical’ cyber abilities, (Wired).
Adobe announces Anil Chakravarthy as new CEO (Reuters).
Morning news ratings and… (ADWEEK)
Evening news ratings (ADWEEK).
Barilla buys Goodles (ADWEEK).
How Delta, Peanuts, and Yahoo use nostalgia to reconnect brands with culture (ADWEEK).
TikTok backs out of House meeting to avoid kid safety questions (Bloomberg).
USA Today cuts stuff and reorgs audience team (Ben Mullin).
Is OpenAI’s next big model AGI? (The Verge).
Gloria Steinem’s farewell interview to stream on Netflix (Variety).
Suno scraps Mary J. Blige ad (THR).
Elon Musk starts spending his midterm millions (CNBC).
Why the courts don’t punish tech giants (NYT).
Volkswagen to cut 50,000 jobs (AP).

Revolving Door

Maria Bartiromo out at Fox News Media (ADWEEK).
Norah O’Donnell returns to morning shift at CBS News (ADWEEK).
Disney taps Jennifer Creagan to lead martech (ADWEEK).

Ads of the Week

Hershey's, Cheez-It, Allstate, BMW, Amazon, and more are behind the week’s most notable ads

One More Thing

Before you go, some agency analysis from our reporter Christopher Cicchiello identifies signs of hopeful growth from holdcos S4 and WPP.

Both saw stock jumps after Q2 earnings. WPP is in the midst of a massive restructuring and has boasted some new wins, including Estée Lauder and Airbnb. S4, meanwhile, relies very heavily on marketers’ adoption of AI, which seems to be happening.

That being said, we’ll need to see how both companies do in Q4. And even though WPP and S4 had a positive quarter, rivals like Publicis Groupe, Havas, Stagwell, and Accenture did too. We’re just not talking about them as much because they aren’t in the midst of massive recovery operations.

Have a great Labor Day weekend. We'll be back on Tuesday.

1. The Trade Desk Sheds 15% of Staff on Heels of Lackluster Q2 Showing

2. ADWEEK TV Advantage: Buyers Detail Involved Super Bowl Negotiations and a Complex Upfront

3. Brand Dollars, Befriending Rivals, and Looming Consolidation: How Retailers Are Plotting the Next Phase of Commerce Media

4. Wellness Brand Rouge Care Let AI Agents Buy Its TV Ads, and Made 5x Its Money Back

5. Google Dodged a Breakup, but Experts Say Alternatives Are Misdirected