Today's Advertising Pulse
X’s ad revenue plummets to $2.3 bn, far below Twitter’s peak
X reported advertising revenue of $2.3 bn in 2023 and projects $1.7 bn for 2024 and $1.8 bn for 2025, a sharp decline from the $4.7 bn generated in Twitter’s final public year. Its share of the U.S. digital‑ad market slipped to roughly 1% in Q1 2026, down from a near‑10% peak in 2016, and former NBCUniversal sales chief Linda Yaccarino exited the CEO role in July 2025 after modest performance.
Trade Desk Growth Slows to Lowest Rate Since Covid; Publicis Talks Ongoing
Trade Desk reported Q2 revenue of $689 million, a 12% year‑over‑year increase that beat estimates but marked its slowest growth since the 2020 Covid‑era downturn. Adjusted EBITDA rose to $206 million, reflecting a 30% margin, while earnings per share missed forecasts, sending the stock down 15% in after‑hours trading. Growth was driven by connected TV, audio‑video, and news products, and the company unveiled AI‑powered agents for media planning in a pilot with Stagwell. Ongoing acquisition talks with Publicis add strategic uncertainty.
Your Creative Woes Stem From Weak Offers, Not Ads
Most brands think they have a creative problem. They don't. They have an offer problem dressed up as a creative problem. Here's what I mean: You're testing 15 new creatives a week. Rotating hooks. Swapping thumbnails. Trying UGC vs. static vs. carousel. And nothing moves. CPAs stay...
MNTN Wants Its AI Video Ad Generator To Stand Apart From Its CTV Platform
MNTN unveiled QuickFrame AI 3.0, an AI‑driven video ad generator that lets users craft multi‑scene narratives and reuse assets across projects. The tool is sold as a standalone subscription aimed at small‑ and mid‑market advertisers and individual creators, separate from MNTN’s...
Truthset Integrates with Unified ID 2.0
Truthset has integrated its Data Rated Audiences with Unified ID 2.0, the privacy‑first identifier created by The Trade Desk. The integration enables a one‑to‑one match between validated demographic segments and UID2 IDs, allowing advertisers to activate audiences across CTV, mobile and...
Why Signal Quality Is Shaping the Future of Streaming Media Performance
Streaming has become a premier digital‑advertising venue, with Disney reporting a 5% rise in ad revenue in Q2 2026 as budgets shift to video and connected TV. However, the explosion of data signals—metadata, audience segments, and third‑party classifications—often creates overlap and...
Why Chasing Vanity Metrics Is Killing Your Social Strategy
Viral Nation EVP Richelle Batuigas argues that likes, views and impressions are poor indicators of marketing success. She unveils the Cultural Relevance Score, a framework that measures awareness, affinity and velocity to tie social activity directly to business outcomes. The...
![Keyword Research Has A New Strategy & It’s Getting Local Businesses Into AI Results [Webinar] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://cdn.searchenginejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/3-3-837.png)
Keyword Research Has A New Strategy & It’s Getting Local Businesses Into AI Results [Webinar] via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell
The Search Engine Journal webinar reveals that modern local SEO hinges on turning keyword research into "trust signals" that feed AI-driven business recommendations. By embedding keyword‑rich language in Google Business Profile posts, reviews, and responses, agencies can influence the AI...
People Inc. Boosts Digital Revenue as Google Traffic Falls 63%
People Inc., the rebranded IAC publishing arm, posted an 8% year‑over‑year increase in Q1 digital revenue to $253 million despite a 63% collapse in Google‑referenced traffic. The growth stems from off‑platform audience expansion, AI licensing deals and a new contextual ad...
EVERSANA Appoints Mike Guarino as CEO of Global Agency INTOUCH
EVERSANA announced that Mike Guarino, former CCO of IPG Health, will become chief executive of its global agency EVERSANA INTOUCH. The move is designed to accelerate data‑ and AI‑powered commercialization for life‑sciences brands.
Google Disables Back‑button Trigger for Vignette Ads
And there you go! I knew they would just remove the back button trigger for vignette ads. Great move by Google. A win for all users. :) "Google explained that the back button trigger will no longer work after June...
Rakuten Advertising Unveils Mirai, First AI‑Driven Affiliate Marketing Optimizer
Rakuten Advertising has launched Mirai, the industry's first AI‑driven optimization agent for affiliate marketing. The conversational platform lets advertisers create and fine‑tune offers through natural language, cutting manual effort and delivering real‑time performance gains. The rollout marks a strategic shift...
ANA Town Hall: 'How About Nothing -- Is Nothing Good For You?'
At the ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference, executives highlighted that media now represents roughly 80% of agency service costs, shifting the compensation debate from traditional fees to principal media buying. In this model, agencies purchase media outright and resell it...
Google Adds AI-Powered Bidding and Demand-Led Budgeting to Search and Shopping
Google is extending its AI automation suite to Search, Shopping and Performance Max with Journey‑aware Bidding, Smart Bidding Exploration, and demand‑led budget pacing. The new tools let the algorithm ingest full‑funnel signals, target incremental queries and shift spend in real...
New AI-Powered Bidding and Budgeting Innovations in Search and Shopping
Google announced a suite of AI‑driven tools for Search and Shopping ads, including journey‑aware bidding, Smart Bidding Exploration, and demand‑led pacing. Journey‑aware bidding feeds the algorithm with the full lead‑to‑sale funnel, while Smart Bidding Exploration expands reach by targeting less...
Scene-Level Targeting Unlocks CTV Performance, Cuts Waste
How much is your CTV strategy leaving on the table by sticking with broad audience targeting? In the first episode of our From Show to Scene series, sponsored by @wurlctv , @LJayNYC of @KERV_ai joins us to challenge legacy...
11 Google Ads Best Practices to Maximize Return on Ad Spend
Google’s latest best‑practice guide outlines eleven tactics to stretch return on ad spend across Search, Shopping, YouTube and other formats. It stresses starting with clear goals, conversion tracking and a well‑structured account before selecting the appropriate campaign type. The guide...
First-Party Data Begins with Consent
First‑party data has become the cornerstone of digital marketing as browsers block third‑party cookies and privacy laws tighten. Deloitte’s 2023 report, commissioned by Meta, shows 82% of marketers now prioritize first‑party data to deliver immediate customer value. However, the effectiveness...
TikTok Targets Australian E-Commerce Brands With Ecommerce Equation Partnership
TikTok Australia has teamed up with e‑commerce education platform Ecommerce Equation to help local online retailers grow on the app. The partnership launches a “TikTok Bootcamp” that teaches organic and paid media tactics and provides members with exclusive ad‑credit rewards....
Rufus, ChatGPT, and the Agentic Ad Convergence
Amazon disclosed that roughly 20% of shoppers who engage with a sponsored brand prompt in its AI assistant Rufus keep the conversation going, marking the first concrete performance metric for ads inside an AI shopping interface. Rufus’s monthly active users...
Hybrid Monetization Drives 59% Ad Revenue Surge
AppLovin Q1 2026 earnings: 59% ad revenue growth, the hybrid monetization opportunity for games "In prepared remarks, AppLovin’s CEO highlighted a trend of mobile games adopting a hybrid monetization model (ads and in-app purchases), given the opportunity to monetize through advertising...
No Industry if Fully Transparent, But There Needs to Be a Level Playing Field
The ad industry’s transparency debate resurfaced as ad‑tech vendors and agency‑holding groups face accusations of opaque business practices. Jonathan Lucas‑Lucas, Managing Director of JLL Media and agency auditor, says transparency has improved over time but full openness is unrealistic. He...
Bing Shifts To
It's New 5/7: Bing On Indexing For AI Grounding vs Traditional Search via @mordyoberstein GA4 data API update by @TheMarketingAnu Google Ads AI Max more exclusions coming by @gregfinn and Bing Places for Business is mobile friendly - We Search...
Magellan AI Promotes Jim Ballas to President, Measurement
Magellan AI promoted Jim Ballas to President of Measurement, tasking him with leading strategy, product development, and growth for its measurement business. Since joining in 2022, Ballas has expanded the division, launching Broadcast Radio Attribution in March 2026 to unify...
Papa Johns’ CMO on Driving Cultural Relevance with a ‘Toy Story’ Tie-Up
Papa John’s has struck a global partnership with Disney and Pixar to promote the June 19 release of “Toy Story 5.” The campaign, rolling out in more than 40 countries, features three limited‑edition collectible pizza boxes, character‑inspired menu items such as the new Rootin’ Tootin’...
The ROI Problem With AI Traffic Nobody Is Measuring Correctly via @Sejournal, @DuaneForrester
The article argues that measuring ROI of AI‑driven traffic with traditional click‑through metrics is flawed because large language models provide answers in place rather than routing users. While AI referral traffic hovers around 1% of total visits, overall organic search...
Claude Agents End Programmatic’s Black‑box Era
30 years of the “Black Box” era of programmatic are over. Remember when buying ads meant normalizing everything to the lowest common denominator? Trapped in sandboxes. Rigid formats. No first-party data. Those days are gone. Why “buy efficiently” through programmatic… When you can buy intimately using Claude-powered...
Pubstack’s Q1 2026 State of Programmatic Benchmark Shows UK Publishers Facing Sharp Volume Pressure, While eCPM Holds
Pubstack’s Q1 2026 State of Programmatic Benchmark reveals UK publishers endured an 18.6% YoY revenue decline as impression volumes fell sharply, yet eCPM modestly rose 0.9% to £1.30 (≈$1.65). The report frames the downturn as a volume‑pressure issue rather than a...
OpenAI Unveils Self‑Serve Ads Manager for ChatGPT with CPC Bidding
OpenAI has launched a beta self‑serve Ads Manager for ChatGPT, letting U.S. advertisers buy ads with cost‑per‑click (CPC) bids and track conversions. The move expands access beyond agency‑managed pilots and adds familiar performance tools to the AI chat environment.
Platforms Poised to Capture $16.1B in Influencer Boosts by 2028
Brands are set to spend $16.1 billion on paid amplification of creator posts by 2028, edging out the $15.71 billion they currently allocate to creator‑produced sponsored content. The shift reflects a growing preference for platform‑driven boosting, especially on TikTok and Instagram, and...
Proximity Beyond Audiences Reimagines Performance Metric For TV
Blockgraph and the 4As released a report urging advertisers to replace audience‑first TV buying with proximity‑based targeting. The study shows 93% of shoppers travel less than 20 minutes to a store, and households within a brand’s conversion radius respond far...
SEO Stays #1 ROI; Email Outperforms,
30 distribution insights for 2026: 1. Website/blog/SEO remains the #1 ROI-generating channel for marketers, followed by paid social media at 26%. 2. 40.65% of website traffic still comes from organic search in 2026, compared to just 0.26% from AI-referred traffic. 3. 50% of...
Marin’s Meta Ads Tips You Must Hear
Marin shared so much sauce here. You need to listen if you run meta ads.
How I’d Charge $5k–$10k Selling AI Voice + AI Ads To Local Businesses
A new tutorial video outlines how to sell AI‑powered voice callers bundled with paid advertising to local service businesses. The creator proposes charging $5,000‑$10,000 per client by delivering a complete lead‑generation system that captures prospects, calls them instantly, qualifies them,...
Criteo Shares Plunge 20% as Q1 Revenue Falls 6% Despite $1B Ad Spend
Criteo reported first‑quarter revenue of $425 million, a 6% year‑on‑year decline, even as advertisers spent more than $1 billion on its platform. The company also cut its 2026 revenue guidance, prompting a 20% slide in its share price.
OpenAI Is Opening the Window on Its Ad Ambitions
OpenAI has begun beta‑testing a full‑featured Ads Manager in the United States, giving marketers the ability to create, budget, launch and track ChatGPT ad campaigns. The rollout adds CPC bidding, a conversions API and pixel‑based measurement, bringing the platform in...
Amazon Sees Strong Upfront Market, Launches LinkedIn Ad Pact
NEW: Amazon projects 'strong' upfront market, though many cautious signals abound. Streamer also unveils new programmatic ad pact with LinkedIn... https://t.co/jQvAiiZlpT
Google’s Quality Threshold Is Quietly Killing Scaled AI Content via @Sejournal, @TaylorDanRW
Google’s evolving Quality Threshold is curbing the long‑term success of large‑scale AI‑generated content. While AI can deliver a quick traffic surge thanks to Google’s freshness boost, the boost fades as the algorithm evaluates deeper quality signals. Sites that flood the...
8 GEO Metrics to Track in 2026
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is emerging as the next evolution of search visibility as AI‑driven answers replace traditional click‑throughs. The article outlines eight core GEO metrics—AI citation frequency, Share of Model Voice, answer inclusion rate, entity recognition, sentiment, prompt coverage,...
Digital Video Spend Surges Past $80 Billion, Leaving Linear Behind
The Interactive Advertising Bureau reports U.S. digital video ad spend will surpass $80 billion in 2026, outpacing traditional linear television for the first time. Growth is driven by programmatic buying, higher CPMs on streaming platforms, and advertisers’ shift toward audience‑centric formats....
Marketers Fail on Reddit by Ignoring Its Unique Culture
Most marketers suck at Reddit marketing because they’re obsess with treating it like traditional marketing.. https://t.co/48vBH1jdeI
Magnite Says It’s Not Afraid Of The Agentic Era – Or Of Google
Magnite reported first‑quarter revenue of $164.4 million, up 6% year‑over‑year, driven primarily by CTV and an 80% surge in March Madness ad spend. Its DV+ exchange posted a 5% decline, though mobile and app revenue grew 8%. The company is embedding AI...
Kargo Announces Integration with ChatGPT, Unlocking Access to Emerging AI-Native Advertising Opportunities
Kargo has become an OpenAI technology partner, integrating its adtech platform with ChatGPT to deliver AI‑native advertising formats. The move lets brands place adaptive, localized creative directly within conversational AI experiences, extending Kargo’s Creative Science® engine to this emerging surface....
Don't Kill Campaigns, Fix High CPA, Low ROAS
Sooooooo you wanna turn off ads because the CPA is too high or ROAS is too low? Welp...
How To Leverage AI Ad Placements And Are They Worth It? – Ask A PPC via @Sejournal, @Navahf
Advertisers can access AI ad inventory either by buying directly on AI‑first platforms or by integrating AI surfaces into existing campaign types such as Performance Max. Metrics for these placements differ from classic search ads, with internal Microsoft data showing...
Amazon, LinkedIn Help Advertisers Reach Professionals via CTV Ads
Amazon Ads and LinkedIn have launched a collaboration that integrates LinkedIn’s first‑party audience data into Amazon’s demand‑side platform for connected‑TV inventory. Through Microsoft’s Monetize SSP, advertisers on Amazon DSP can now target LinkedIn’s 1 billion‑plus members by job title, industry and...
NYT Hits 13 Million Digital Subscribers, Adds 310,000 in Q1 as Video Push Gains Momentum
The New York Times announced it surpassed 13 million digital‑only subscribers in the first quarter, adding 310,000 new users. The milestone came with a 12% rise in revenue to $712.2 million and a 31.6% jump in digital ad sales, underscoring the paper’s shift toward...
Google Ads AI Max Adds Account‑level Content Exclusions
Google will be bringing content and titles related exclusions to the account level to Google Ads AI Max later this year says @adsliaison https://t.co/u8zCVVGJtv https://t.co/TmGatjzuZE
Google Ads AI Max Content & Titles Exclusions On Account Level Coming
Google announced that its AI‑driven campaign type, Ads AI Max, will gain account‑level exclusions for content and titles later this year, likely within six months. The new setting lets advertisers block any undesired page elements across all campaigns, extending the platform’s...
InMobi Acquires MobileAction to Strengthen iOS Advertising Business
InMobi announced the acquisition of MobileAction, an AI‑powered iOS app growth and analytics platform, to bolster its advertising capabilities across the iOS ecosystem. While the purchase price was not disclosed, the deal adds MobileAction’s extensive data set—covering more than 90 million...
Google Ads Auto-Enables Call Recording Unless You Opt Out
Google Ads to default call recording to YES/ON if you do not select an option yourself https://t.co/PhHEcTEFm9 via @AnthonyHigman https://t.co/XOgAaiTgun