Perplexity blocks Time’s ads served to AI agents, calling them ‘deceptive’

August 11, 2026 Time is selling ads to AI agents. Perplexity refuses to let them work. Less than two weeks after Digiday reported that Time had started serving ads inside the markdown versions of its webpages, aimed at AI agents rather than human readers, Perplexity confirmed that it blocked those ads from influencing its own search index. TOP STORY AI Revenue Generation Perplexity blocks Time’s ads served to AI agents, calling them 'deceptive' Perplexity has blocked Time’s markdown agent ads from influencing its AI system. Advertisement OTHER THINGS TO KNOW Instead of experimentation, marketers are testing ideas fast and scaling what’s successful. By prioritizing AI that works alongside marketers, leaders are improving workflows, reducing burnout, ensuring consistency — all while maintaining the human component of their creative. Partner insights from Contentful. Many purported paradigm shifts have come and gone. While most are simply old ideas with new packaging, there’s a genuine signal front and center that the industry has consistently underutilized: carrier data. Partner insights from Blis. There are only 14 passes left for the Digiday Publishing Summit, taking place Sept. 14–16 in Miami. Join execs from Reuters Digital, Axios, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and more for three days of candid conversations, networking and practical insights. BUSINESS OF AI AI Revenue Generation S4 and Monks are trying to get ahead of rising AI token costs Monks is considered a leader in AI marketing services, but “exploding” use of AI tokens poses difficult questions for execs focused on keeping costs down. PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM SWAP The emergence of agentic storefronts According to Salesforce data, AI and agents drove 20% of all retail sales and accounted for $262 billion in holiday spend during the 2025 holiday shopping season. MARKETING The Programmatic Marketer Experian retires the Audigent brand, folding it into Experian Marketing Services The Audigent brand is gone. So, increasingly, is the idea of curation as a category. The Programmatic Marketer Why agentic media buying is becoming a client-by-client configuration job Butler/Till is expanding its agentic media buying tests, highlighting the challenge of adapting AI to different client needs. PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM MOLOCO Advertisers are taking different approaches to CTV incrementality When measurement frameworks don’t suit specific channels, campaigns that are working get defunded and campaigns that aren’t get scaled. Advertisement PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM TALON.ONE What makes agentic commerce so important now? Up to $385 billion in U.S. e-commerce spend could be influenced by AI agents by 2030, according to Morgan Stanley. That means purchase decisions will increasingly be made by AI agents. DIGIDAY + Ad Tech Briefing: More take-private deals are on the horizon, here's what to look out for The largest public names on the public markets are plateauing, prompting further speculation. Written by Jim Cooper and Sara Jerde Were you forwarded this email? Sign up to get it daily. Advertise | Digiday+ | Events | Awards Update your email | Unsubscribe | Privacy policy