This year, it's estimated that nearly 47% of the world's population will use the Internet, whether through a desktop or mobile device, at least once a month, according to eMarketer. The digital researcher raised its estimates for the number of global internet users for 2016 to 2021 due to increases in China, Central and Eastern Europe, and Western Europe.

In another sign of the times for ad tech, the content recommendation firms Taboola and Outbrain are close to merging, according to a report in TechCrunch. This development isn't all that surprising, since they reportedly began talking in late 2015. Outbrain has been conspicuously quiet for months and Taboola has been busy announcing partner/publisher deals that focus on scale.