On this week's episode of The MadTech Podcast, Matt Bennathan, senior vice president, global data at Zeotap, joins ExchangeWire research lead Mat Broughton and COO Lindsay Rowntree to discuss Infillion's purchase of MediaMath, TikTok's growth, UK AI law, and more.

Infillion acquires MediaMath for a fraction of former value

What does the future hold for the revived MediaMath? What do MediaMath’s recent trials tell us about the current state of the ad tech industry?

MediaMath, the veteran demand side platform who declared bankruptcy in July, has been acquired by Infillion. The digital advertising firm picked up the flailing DSP for USD$22m (~£17.5m), a steep drop from MediaMath’s previous valuations, which at one point climbed to USD$1bn (~£796.4m).

Investment fund AperiumVentures reportedly advised on the new deal, fuelling speculation that Joe Zawadski, Aperium’s owner and the founder and past CEO of MediaMath, may be looking to reconnect with his former company.

Time spent on TikTok rises above Instagram, but ad spending remains lower

As the battle for attention heats up, will TikTok be able to convert time spent into advertising revenue? How significant are these figures for brands and advertisers?

The time US adults spend on TikTok is estimated to have hit around 4.43 billion minutes per day. The figure, reported by Business Insider, exceeds the time spent on rival social media platform Instagram, which is believed to sit at 3.91 billion daily minutes, despite the Meta-owned company’s larger user base (118.4 million monthly adult users compared to TikTok’s 82.3 million).

Despite taking the lead in time spent, TikTok still trails when it comes to advertising revenue, with Instagram’s anticipated ad revenue per adult user per hour forecast to exceed TikTok’s sixfold in 2023. However, the ByteDance-owned app could narrow this gap if it continues to acquire more users and more of their time; with minutes spent on the platform forecast to surpass Facebook in 2025, TikTok could attract the interest (and budgets) of more advertisers.

CTC expresses fear that UK could lag on AI regulation

Should the UK government (and those of other countries) be taking a stricter legal approach to AI? What challenges are holding back the widespread regulation of AI?

MPs have expressed concern that the UK could fail in its ambition to become a pioneer in regulating artificial intelligence if new legislation is not introduced soon. Members of the Commons Technology Committee (CTC) have warned that the UK could end up trailing the EU unless the government ensures that AI legislation is included in the King’s Speech, which will take place on 7th November.

A government spokesperson pointed to its £100m investment in an AI task-force and the UK’s plans to host an international AI summit in November as evidence of Rishi Sunak’s commitment to the safe development of AI. However, they remained tight-lipped over whether the government plans to impose any new legislation within the coming months. In a report published last week, the CTC warned that the UK could risk missing the boat on shaping AI policy if it does not act soon, with the next opportunity to pass such a law as far away as 2025.