Digest: Spotify Tests New Ad Exchange

News in brief: Spotify gets into the ad exchange business; Nvidia expanding into India's AI market; LinkedIn fined for breaching privacy rules

Spotify is testing a new ad exchange, called Spotify Ad Exchange (SAX), to boost its automated ad offerings, focusing on video initially. The platform aims to capture more ad revenue from small- and medium-sized businesses while helping existing clients, including big brands, spend more efficiently. SAX connects advertisers to Spotify's inventory via demand-side platforms (DSPs), with The Trade Desk as its first DSP partner, having begun testing last week.

LinkedIn has been fined €310 million by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission for violating privacy rules related to its tracking ads business. The penalties, around $356 million, were issued under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The regulator found LinkedIn’s data processing lacked lawfulness, fairness, and transparency. LinkedIn’s legal basis for tracking ads was deemed invalid, and the company failed to properly inform users about how their data was being used.

Nvidia is expanding into India's AI market through partnerships with major Indian firms. CEO Jensen Huang announced collaborations with Reliance to build AI infrastructure, and with Tech Mahindra to develop Indus 2.0, an AI model in Hindi. Tata Communications and Yotta Data Services will purchase tens of thousands of Nvidia H100 chips.