Yahoo has unveiled new partnerships and advertising tools at the centre of its DSP innovation roadmap at its 2025 Newfronts event in Sydney on Thursday.
The announcements included access to exclusive new data and tools, a new partnership with Afterpay to create a market-first finance-led commerce media network, as well as a suite of AI-powered enhancements to supercharge its advertising technology tools.
Going into Q4, Yahoo DSP’s clients will also have access to Fetch TV and Are Media, with more publishing partnerships to be announced soon.
John McNerney, managing director AUSEA for Yahoo DSP, said: “As the digital ecosystem gets ever more complex, Yahoo DSP is committed to simplifying it while continually innovating for the future. Our solutions and new partnerships are focused on fostering meaningful connections between advertisers and customers in a sustainable way, across the open web.”
McNerney led the Newfronts event alongside Yahoo’s AUSEA executive team, including director of data and insights AUSEA, Dan Richardson; director of commercial and platforms AUSEA, Andrew Gilbert; and head of commercial, Australia, Maddie Basso.
John McNerney
Key announcements from this year’s event include:
New Partnerships and Advanced Technology
In Q4 of this year, Yahoo DSP will support the launch of the Afterpay Media Network, which will allow brands to access Afterpay’s unique shopping insights — while keeping customer identities private — to better connect with their target audiences across multiple online and physical shopping channels. Through this network, brands will be able to deliver personalised ads, track sales, measure campaign performance, and gain insights to refine their strategies in a much more insightful manner—all in a privacy-first way.
Additionally, Yahoo ConnectID, which uses consent-based, first-party data to support cookie-less advertising, has now been integrated across premier Australian publishers, including News Corp, Seven West Media and The New Daily and is now also live across its major SSP partners.
Yahoo is also enhancing its overall offering with Yahoo Blueprint, an AI-powered tool designed to optimise performance across channels. The tool delivers a 40% efficiency boost for both branding and performance campaigns by analysing data to drive better results. It also supports omnichannel personalisation through Yahoo Creative, a recently launched creative marketing solution helping advertisers tailor their messaging across multiple platforms for more effective engagement.
Andrew Gilbert, director of commercial and platforms at Yahoo DSP, said: “The launch of the Afterpay Media Network and the expansion of Yahoo ConnectID mark major steps forward in our commitment to providing seamless solutions at scale.
“By integrating AI-driven tools like Yahoo Blueprint and Yahoo Creative, we’re ensuring that advertisers have the technology they need to engage audiences efficiently across all channels.”
Andrew Gilbert
Data State of Play and Privacy Leadership
Yahoo DSP supports advertisers with strong governance, compliance, and best-practice approaches. Through the recently launched Data Maturity Pulse, a program designed to assess brands’ data fluency and sophistication, Yahoo is helping brands develop realistic roadmaps for campaigns in response to the technological and regulatory changes. The Data Maturity Pop Quiz, launched alongside Pulse in July 2024, acts as a quick and fun foray for brands into identifying areas of improvement in their data practices.
Yahoo’s Identity Solutions have scaled significantly in Australia, offering secure, consent-driven methods for targeting and measurement, empowering advertisers to navigate the complexities of a cookie-less environment more effectively.
With its Next Gen Solutions, Yahoo enables advertisers to measure their campaigns in both addressable (targeted) and non-addressable (broad reach) environments. This helps advertisers utilise Yahoo’s first-party data to adapt to the changing landscape of identity and targeting.
PurpleLab, Yahoo’s dedicated research platform developed in partnership with Qualtrics, has allowed brands to re-imagine market research by helping them secure access to representative data at speed. The Australian market is the first to have access to this platform, which uses data from real panels that is fraud and AI bot free.
Dan Richardson, director of data and insights, AUSEA for Yahoo DSP says: “Data is not just a ‘nice-to-have’ – it’s the driving force behind meaningful brand connections. Our focused investment in delivering localised and scalable data, Identity and insights services is visibly paying off.
“Tools like Data Maturity Pulse and PurpleLab are a reflection of our dedication to being human and helpful and ultimately help brands deliver real business outcomes. We’re committed to helping our partners turn data into actionable results, making the complex simple and the uncertain clear.”
Innovation, Agility and Sustainability
Yahoo recognises the challenges faced by marketers with the fragmentation in TV buying. This has driven the company to create Yahoo Unified TV Solutions in a new partnership with Samba TV – a suite of tools that integrates media planning, buying, and measurement across traditional TV and digital channels.
This further exemplifies Yahoo’s client-first approach for the coming year, addressing key challenges such as fragmentation in TV buying and measurement.
Maddie Basso
This year, Yahoo is simultaneously simplifying programmatic advertising and championing sustainability through Yahoo Backstage – a supply path optimisation (SPO) tool which reduces advertisers’ carbon footprints while simultaneously promoting a more responsible way of advertising. Backstage also drives advanced supply path optimisation for agency groups seeking to create a marketplace investment approach.
Maddie Basso, head of commercial, Australia for Yahoo DSP, said: “We’re continuing to push boundaries and deliver for our clients. In just a few months, I’ve seen more partnerships, launches, and innovation than I could have imagined.
“We’ve listened to the challenges advertisers are facing, and we’ve built solutions like Yahoo Backstage, Unified Solutions, and Blueprint to help them navigate the complexities of the market. I’m incredibly excited about what’s in store for 2025.”