Time Inc. is reportedly considering some kind of deal with Yahoo, possibly a merger. But even Google doesn't dominate digital advertising the way Time Inc. has print, so acquiring anything like its former status seems a long shot.

In a precursor to a more programmatic solution, independent media services agency U.S. International Media has struck a new kind of unwired network television deal, combining the coverage of two of the nation's largest broadcast TV station owners -- the Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Broadcasting Co. -- into a one-stop, single invoice television buy guaranteed and posted on Rentrak's TV ratings, not Nielsen.

Programmatic technologies seem to invite greater distrust and fraud into the advertising ecosystem, according to Kevin Rettig, senior manager, personalization & customer analytics, Accenture. So Rettig says the industry needs to take a collective "wait a minute" on programmatic.