Yahoo tells advertisers to call off the search
At a loose and light-weight upfront in Sydney, Nathan Jolly witnessed Yahoo made a compelling case for relevance in 2026.
Maddie Basso, head of Yahoo DSP, managed to fire up a crowd of advertisers on Thursday afternoon - despite it being late in the upfront season (Mumbrella)
Another day, another upfront. Another company explaining why its ad stack is the only ad stack in town, why it has the biggest reach, the deepest data, the most sensible ad investment options.
On Thursday afternoon, Yahoo reminded Australian agencies and marketers that not only it still exists, it has access to an impressive amount of ad inventory and targeting tech.
The digital network that began life as a hand-curated directory in 1994 has had many iterations over the years: search engine, email extension, news site, the logo that popped up at the end of Packed To The Rafters episodes in the late 2000s. However, its future in Australia seems to be as a demand-side platform (DSP) for data-led advertising.
Yahoo is offering a one-stop shop for advertisers to tip their marketing dollars into, with the reassurance that their brand message will be both widespread and minutely targeted. This is basically the same pitch that advertisers heard from Nine, Seven, ARN, SBS, Foxtel, and others — but Yahoo wrapped it up in a neat 45 minutes, managed to present case studies that flowed like conversations rather than sales pitches — and weaved a bit of nostalgia in there to remind folks of when Yahoo ruled the land and the internet wasn’t such a scary place. Plus, there was a lot of purple at the event, which Gretchen Rubin books say is a calming colour.
Lots of calming purple (Mumbrella)
The various Yahoo logos from yore that flashed on screens behind the speakers recalled a time when the internet was a world of possibilities — rather than a dystopian wasteland where your identity will be stolen and your children play out The Hunger Games on social media. The message was: don’t worry, Yahoo is still a safe space.
Practically speaking, Yahoo announced partnerships with Netflix, Spotify, Foxtel, Vevo, LG, and Disney+ (the latter through ESPN, and currently the only way to get ads on the family-friendly streamer) plus a commerce media partnership with Endeavour Group.
A crowd of screaming Yahoo fans in Sydney on Thursday afternoon
The deal with Mix In, the retail media business division of Endeavour Group, was by far the most impressive announcement from the event.
The company owns the Dan Murphy’s and BWS chains, which span over 1,600 stores nationally. There are more BWS stores in Australia than there are McDonald’s — let that sink in for a moment.
On top of this, Endeavour Group owns 350 hotels and pubs, the Jimmy Brings delivery app, the Cellarmasters bottle shops, and the Premium Wine group. That’s a lot of reach, and not just for alcohol brands — it uses Mix In’s vast customer base and loyalty card holder data to target millions of Australians, based on social behaviour, location, and the usual demographics.
Lorraine Donnelly, Yahoo’s head of data offers some purple prose
Or, as Yahoo’s head of data Lorraine Donnelly put it, “by combining online and offline purchase insights with Yahoo’s advanced targeting and measurement capabilities”.
Yahoo also debuted new campaign automation tools which Maddie Basso, the head of Yahoo DSP Australia, claimed reduce tasks “that once took hours to just minutes”.
The tool automates campaign packaging, targeting, budgeting, creative distribution, and supports connected TV, online video, display, digital out-of-home, audio, and streaming from a single touchpoint.
As Basso explained, the company aims to make “campaign creation faster, smarter, and more intuitive. Our 2026 focus is on practical innovation, by giving marketers more control, more time back, and better visibility into what’s working across every channel.”
Maddie Basso got an audience of advertisers to do the ‘Yahoo’ yodel
Through Yahoo, advertisers can access Netflix’s premium inventory, programmatically place audio, video, and display ads within Spotify’s music and podcast inventory, advertise across Foxtel’s various platforms, and access ESPN on Disney+ inventory (this will launch in Australia in the coming months).
Yahoo is also offering easy-to-understand, provable measurement through marketing mix modelling (MMM) partnerships with Mutinex, and data clean rooms including Snowflake.
“These developments enable advertisers to securely connect their customer data with Yahoo DSP’s ecosystem, delivering a clearer picture of campaign effectiveness, from media exposure to real-world outcomes,” explained Donnelly.
It’s hard not to make talk of data integration and audience targeting sound dry, but Yahoo’s presentation, led by Basso, managed to excite the room like it was a live Oprah taping. The light-hearted vibe and soft sell worked a treat after two-hour presentations from networks insisting they can advertise directly to 120% of all Australians that have ever lived.
Spirits were high (and purple). There was applause and whooping for clean data rooms and first-party data — and Basso even led the audience in a spirited “Yahoo” yodel. There were purple alcoholic drinks and food with purple garnishing and a claw machine with Yahoo merch giveaways in the corner.
The tight presentation even wrapped with an under-the-seat giveaway of five Yahoo-branded hoodies — prizes that elicited a similar level of excitement to when Oprah gave everybody a car. No wonder Yahoo has an exclamation mark at the end of its name!
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