On this week’s episode of The MadTech Podcast, ExchangeWire’s Lindsay Rowntree and Ciaran O'Kane are joined by Tom Ollerton, founder of Automated Creative, to discuss the latest news in ad tech and martech.

In this week’s episode:

- Walmart has launched a new omnichannel analytics offering to strengthen its advertising platform. The new solution allows brands to track the success of campaigns both online and in store, with performance dashboards monitoring the progress of individual marketing efforts. The offering is currently only in beta, but many are curious to see whether the collation of online and offline data will set a new model for fellow incumbents, as well as boost the US retail giant above its closest competitor, Amazon.

- Marketers have been experimenting with running TV ads within video games that are played on consoles, reports the WSJ. The move is believed to be an attempt to reach predominantly younger consumers, who typically watch less TV than their older counterparts. TV ad firm Simulmedia is the first company to be trialling this method in partnership with EA, and has been running ads within one of the gaming behemoth's latest wrestling games. At present, the ads are 15-30 seconds long and optional, with players receiving rewards in return for watching them. It remains to be seen how gamers will respond to this new approach, with some critics arguing that the tactic will be too disruptive to game play.

- Apple has drawn the ire of Microsoft and Google after barring games from their Cloud X and Stadia platforms from its App Store. Whilst both platforms are available via the App Store, the games hosted on each platform will not appear until they have been individually approved by the iPhone developer firm. Apple defends its decision by arguing that allowing the games to go live without a review will put their content beyond Apple's control. The Tim Cook-led tech firm already charges developers who host their products on the App Store 30% of their in-game revenue and has its own gaming platform, Arcade. The move has drawn criticism from all angles of the tech world, and highlights a pattern of behaviour that many are calling on to be more heavily scrutinised.

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