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.
AI SEO Punishes Lazy Marketing Strategies by Brick Marketing
Brick Marketing warns that AI‑driven SEO is exposing lazy, siloed marketing tactics. The article explains that AI search pulls brand signals from a wide array of online sources—social media, directories, press releases, and more—making a website just one piece of a larger ecosystem. Marketers must shift to an intentional, cross‑channel strategy that presents consistent messaging and expertise. Brands that fail to broaden their digital footprint risk being eclipsed in AI‑generated answers and losing organic visibility.
AI SEO Punishes Lazy Marketing Strategies by Brick Marketing
Brick Marketing warns that AI‑driven SEO is reshaping digital marketing by rewarding brands with a cohesive, cross‑channel presence. Traditional tactics that focus solely on website optimization are losing ground as AI pulls data from social media, directories, press releases, and...
Snap Launches Promoted Places, Transforming the Snap Map Into Real-World Discovery
Snap Inc. introduced Promoted Places, a new ad product that embeds sponsored locations directly into the Snap Map. The feature debuted in Saudi Arabia, where brands like Almarai and Starbucks used it in Ramadan campaigns to drive in‑store visits. Promoted...
The Science of Attention: Creating Short-Form Videos People Won't Skip
In this episode, Michael Stelzner talks with Hilary Billings, a psychology‑trained content strategist and founder of Attentioneers, about the science behind short‑form video that captures attention. Hilary shares how she moved from a failed PhD pursuit to viral video success...
Amazon Bets AI Can Rewrite the Upfront Playbook in a Fragmented TV Market
Amazon is revamping its upfront pitch by marrying premium streaming content with AI‑driven ad technology. The company’s DSP now reaches roughly 90% of U.S. households through an authenticated graph and has added LinkedIn’s CTV inventory, tapping over a billion first‑party...
Emerging Channels, Cleaner Pipes: Assembly’s Tom Cogan on Where MENA Programmatic Is Heading
Tom Cogan, programmatic associate director at Assembly Global, says MENA advertisers must broaden beyond Google and Meta by embracing emerging channels such as connected TV, digital audio, programmatic DOOH and AI‑driven search. He points out that less than 10% of...
Sainsbury’s Tech and Data Chief to Steer Future of ISBA
Mark Given, Sainsbury’s chief technology, marketing and data officer, has been appointed president of the Institute of Search & Business Advertising (ISBA), succeeding Pete Markey. He will chair the ISBA Council, guiding the trade body as AI and generative AI reshape...
Digest: ChatGPT Ads Manager Opens to All US Advertisers; Amazon Targets Supply Chain; Publishers Sue Meta Over AI Copyright
OpenAI has opened its ChatGPT Ads Manager to all U.S. advertisers, eliminating the previous $50,000 (≈ $49,000) minimum‑spend threshold to attract small and midsize brands. The beta now includes cost‑per‑action bidding and plans for third‑party measurement, signaling a push toward a...
Mumbrellacast: High-Flyer Hugh Marks, Dentsu Joins the Merging Lane, and Kyle Strikes Back
The latest Mumbrellacast episode spotlights several media‑industry shake‑ups. ABC managing director Hugh Marks accepted a Qantas Chairman’s Lounge membership, raising questions about the broadcaster’s editorial independence. Dentsu Australia announced it will retire the Carat and iProspect brands, consolidating under a...
Omar Oakes: Advertising Has Reached Peak Self-Delusion
The UK advertising market reported a 6.4% increase last year, reaching £46.7 bn (about $58 bn). However, two‑thirds of that spend now flows to three Big‑Tech platforms—Alphabet, Meta and Amazon—leaving roughly £15 bn ($18.6 bn) for the rest of the industry. Growth is concentrated...
From Sneaky Kisses To First Jobs: Scentre Group Says Westfield Gives Punters The Feels & Drives Better Performance For Brands
Scentre Group used its BrandSpace Upfront event to rebrand Westfield as an emotional, experience‑driven ecosystem, unveiling the "World of Wonder" positioning for its media arm. The company reported 540 million customer visits in 2025, 99.8% occupancy and record partner sales, underscoring...
A Publisher Didn’t Get Its UID2 Setup Right. The Trade Desk Didn’t Notice. What Went Wrong?
Publishers are under pressure to embed The Trade Desk’s Unified ID 2.0 (UID2) in CTV bid requests, but a major national publisher discovered that its UID2 tokens were incorrectly encrypted for three months. The Trade Desk, which both administers UID2...
Canva Survey Finds 98% of UK Marketers Plan to Boost AI Budgets
Canva's latest study reveals that 98% of UK marketing leaders intend to increase AI spending, with 92% already using AI daily. The report also highlights a consumer backlash, as most prefer ads crafted by humans despite the efficiency gains AI...
How We Gained 15K IG Followers in 4 Days
we grew Malbon Home's IG to 15k followers in 4 days. this entire episode breaks down exactly how we did it.
Westpac NZ Brings People-Powered Rescue Chopper to Life in First Campaign via Goldilocks
Westpac New Zealand has partnered with Goldilocks, its Omnicom‑run agency model, to launch the first “Chopper Appeal” campaign. The centerpiece is a 60‑inch hero TV commercial that shows a rescue helicopter assembled entirely from people, symbolising community “people power” rather than...
Adobe and OpenAI Link GenStudio to ChatGPT for AI‑Powered Ad Creation
Adobe and OpenAI unveiled an integration that lets enterprise marketers assemble, approve and activate ads directly inside ChatGPT using Adobe GenStudio for Performance Marketing. The workflow promises to cut creative production from days to minutes while preserving brand governance.
Dollar General Unveils Integrated On‑Site/Off‑Site Retail Media Platform
Dollar General announced a new retail media solution that links its DG Media Network on‑site inventory with off‑site activation through The Trade Desk, using Kevel’s ad‑serving technology. The integration promises advertisers a single framework for planning, activating and measuring campaigns...
OUTFRONT Media Inc (OUT) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Outfront Media reported first‑quarter 2026 revenue up 10%, propelled by a 22% surge in transit and a 7% rise in billboard sales. Consolidated OIBDA jumped 56% to roughly $100 million and AFFO more than doubled to $61 million, aided by $13.5 million of...
BoAt's Mother's Day Ad Holds up a Mirror to the Impatient Indian Son
boAt released a Mother’s Day commercial that shows a mother struggling to get her son to change her WhatsApp profile picture. Frustrated, she turns to an AI assistant she calls “AI beta,” which dutifully fulfills her requests and even orders...
Google Shares How Brands Should Use AI Creative To Stand Out via @Sejournal, @Brookeosmundson
Google highlighted its AI‑creative suite on the Ads Decoded podcast, emphasizing tools that expand creative variation while keeping advertisers in the loop. New controls—text guidelines, AI briefs, and Asset Studio—let brands steer AI‑generated assets, supporting up to 40 custom rules...
Meta Adds More Insight Tools to Edits to Enhance Video Projects
Meta’s Edits video‑editing app rolled out a suite of new insight tools that surface engagement rates, peak viewing times, and follower‑versus‑non‑follower metrics for Instagram Reels. The update also adds comparative performance data, letting creators see how each Reel stacks up...
Google's Query Length Claim Overblown; Data Shows <3% Shift
Maybe this is totally innocuous, but it's still weird. Left: Datos numbers on query length in Google (10M+ devices, this is not a small sample set) Right: Public statement by Google's Liz Reid (via SearchEngineLand) Feels like a mild exaggeration by Google, but...
LinkedIn Certification Program Aims To Link Marketers With Experienced Agencies
LinkedIn has introduced an “Agency Certification” program that flags agencies with proven expertise in LinkedIn Ads. The certification requires a Business Manager account and completion of LinkedIn Marketing Academy courses, after which agencies earn a badge and promotional toolkit. Harmelin...
AI Lets Solo Founders Launch Billion‑dollar Startups
A GLP-1 telehealth company reportedly did $401M in 2025 and could hit $1.8B in 2026 with one employee. That’s the signal. Matthew Gallagher allegedly started with $20K, used AI to write code, produce website copy, generate ads, and scale the operation with...
Google AI Max Spurs 15% Rise in Search Budgets, Pushes CPC Higher
A year after Google rolled out AI Max for Search, advertisers report a 7‑10% year‑on‑year lift in spend and a 10‑15% jump in cost‑per‑click. The AI‑driven bidding model is expanding query coverage but also inflating budgets, prompting marketers to rethink...
Samba TV Elevates Jaya Aswani to CTO, Adds Ramzi Nasr as VP of Engineering
Samba TV announced that Jaya Aswani, who joined in 2021, will become chief technology officer, while Ramzi Nasr, PhD, will serve as vice president of engineering. The moves aim to accelerate the company’s AI‑centric media intelligence platform as advertising shifts...
Dataline Launches Wodwo, AI‑Powered Self‑Serve Audience Builder for Marketers
Dataline introduced Wodwo, an AI‑driven self‑serve platform that creates custom digital audience segments in less than an hour. Leveraging a database of 230 million profiles, the tool promises faster, cheaper audience building for brands and agencies.
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Does The Right Buyer Even Know You Exist? Our LinkedIn Restructure That Took High Quality Lead Rate From 32% to...
The piece introduces a three‑stage LinkedIn framework—Be Seen, Be Believed, Be Chosen—to move B2B advertising from pure conversion to a full‑funnel approach. A healthcare client’s restructure cut quarterly spend from $64,000 to $33,000, lifted click‑through rates over 100×, and raised...
Linkless Posts Achieve Tenfold Reach Across Platforms
Great little example of ZCM: Post 1 - no link, 16k+ impressions Post 2 - same topic, but with a link, 1.9k impressions As usual, ~10X the reach with linkless content (this is LinkedIn, but we've seen the same pattern on Threads,...
AI Promises Creative Scale. Marketers Discover They Now Need 10 Times More Ads
Marketers are confronting an unprecedented demand for creative assets as AI platforms enable rapid production at scale. A joint Ipsos‑Smartly study finds brands are now creating roughly ten times more ads to stay competitive, yet effectiveness hinges on combining high...
Wayfair Teams with Perplexity, OpenAI and Google to Embed Agentic AI Across Its Platform
Wayfair disclosed that it is working with Perplexity, OpenAI and Google to integrate agentic AI into its shopping experience and ad units. The retailer also said it is testing AI‑driven advertising with Meta and Pinterest, signaling a broad push into...
Yahoo Teams with Kochava to Launch Agentic AI DSP Workflow Platform
Yahoo has partnered with Kochava to embed a dedicated Yahoo DSP workspace inside Kochava's StationOne platform, creating an AI‑driven “agentic” workflow for programmatic buying. The move signals a shift toward autonomous media‑buying tools and could redefine how demand‑side platforms operate.
Organic Power Drives Sales, While Ad Attribution Conflicts
Lately, around 2 months ago, an established brand came to us after replacing 2 agencies. They were spending around ₹6 lakh/month and generating ₹36 lakh in Shopify sales. But nearly ₹24 lakh was coming from organic traffic and the strength...
Despite Enthusiasm over Its ChatGPT Tie-Up, Criteo’s Shares Slide on Downgraded Revenue Forecast
Criteo announced a partnership with OpenAI that generated excitement, but its Q1 results fell short of expectations, prompting a share‑price decline. Revenue dropped 6% year‑on‑year to $425 million, with retail‑media revenue plunging 31% to $41.3 million. The company cut its 2026 revenue...
Bigger Agency ≠ Better: Creative Fatigue Hurts Performance
One of our clients swapped to a larger well known agency around 6-7 months ago but kept us on as view access to the account. 6 months later and our ads are still spending 45% of the total budget. Very little...
Google Analytics Data API Adds Cross-Channel Conversion Reporting (Alpha)
Google has extended its Analytics Data API to include cross‑channel conversion reporting, now available in an alpha release. The new endpoint mirrors the Conversion performance report in the Analytics UI, delivering paid and organic conversion data via programmatic calls. Developers...
YouTube Faces Inevitable Consolidation Amid Ad Reach Pressures
𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲, and since #YouTube is self-proclaimed 📺 “Television”*, consolidation might also be coming to the world’s most-consumed “TV network” (as per data from #Nielsen’s The Gauge) — including but not limited to the following two structural...
Meta Optimizes Only What You Tell It: Feed Quality Signals
Too many advertisers give Meta weak signals, so it optimizes poorly. When Meta optimizes poorly, advertisers trust it less. Give Meta better signals, it optimizes better, you trust it more. Giving Meta the right signals is hard. The advertisers who trust Meta most are...
Adobe and OpenAI Integrate ChatGPT Ads Into GenStudio for Performance Marketing
Adobe and OpenAI announced that Adobe GenStudio for Performance Marketing now integrates ChatGPT ads, letting marketers create brand‑approved copy and assets and launch them in ChatGPT with a single click. The workflow pulls assets from Adobe Experience Manager or third‑party...
Ask Three Questions Before Pausing High‑CPA Meta Ads
Do your Meta ads consistently spend with high CPA's? Before you turn them off, ask yourself these three questions:
Invest in Reddit Now to Capture B2B Intent
The best time to invest in Reddit was last year. The second-best time is now. B2B buyers openly compare tools there every day. Install the Reddit Pixel. Retarget pricing-page visitors. Run always-on ads. Capture intent while competitors wait. https://t.co/OF7FNXFH4b
Entravision Q1 2026 Revenue Jumps 204% in Advertising Tech Segment as Media Grows 4%
Entravision Communications posted a 204% jump in its Advertising and Technology Services revenue for Q1 2026, while overall media revenue rose 4% year‑over‑year. The growth was driven by AI‑enhanced platform upgrades and higher monthly active advertisers, offset by a dip...
LinkedIn Evolves Into Powerful Ad Network for Software Buyers
Everything is an ad network, and LinkedIn is getting *really smart* about how to leverage authority and creator audiences there. I think we're going to see more brands lean into this, esp. in the software space, because it's *the* social network...
Google Launches Data Manager Map View, GeoX and Meridian Studio to Revamp Ad Measurement
Google announced a trio of measurement tools—Data Manager’s new Map View, GeoX geo‑experimentation, and Meridian Studio MMM—ahead of Marketing Live 2026. The upgrades aim to simplify data integration, prove incremental impact and speed up media‑mix modelling, with early adopters reporting...
Teads & Lumen Research Bring Proven Attention Science to CTV for Omnichannel Impact
Teads announced an expanded partnership with Lumen Research to embed attention‑measurement technology into its connected‑TV (CTV) HomeScreen inventory. Lumen’s eye‑tracking models generate an industry‑first attention prediction for CTV, giving advertisers a quantifiable view of how viewers engage with ads across...
Co-Viewing For The Big Screen: How Big A Deal Is This Now?
Nielsen’s latest co‑viewing pilot, using wearable devices, recorded a 4.2% lift in total viewers for February—a month packed with marquee live TV events such as the Super Bowl, Olympics ceremonies, and the NBA All‑Star Game. The wearables provide a more...
How to Use AI to Write Better Meta Ad Copy Without Losing the Human Touch
In this episode, SmartMarketer’s senior paid performance specialist Dominique Noble walks listeners through a repeatable, AI‑driven process for crafting Meta ad copy that retains human insight and brand voice. She emphasizes three core rules: feed AI detailed brand context, be...
Pixalate Releases Global Q1 2026 Rankings For Connected TV Free Ad-Supported TV (FAST) Bundle IDs With Highest IVT Rates: ‘Sling...
Pixalate released its Q1 2026 rankings of Free Ad‑Supported TV (FAST) bundle IDs with the highest invalid‑traffic (IVT) rates across Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV and Amazon Fire TV. The study examined over 4 billion global impressions from more than 7,000 CTV apps. Sling TV led Roku...
StackAdapt Announces AI-Powered Marketing Capabilities Through Ads in ChatGPT Pilot
StackAdapt announced it will serve ads within OpenAI's ChatGPT as part of a pilot program. The AI‑powered placement lets marketers reach users while they research and compare products, with ads clearly labeled and context‑driven. StackAdapt adds vertical expertise, cross‑channel orchestration,...
Google Ads Adds Automatic Site Visits Metric
Running Google Ads? -> Google Officially Introduces Site Visits Asset "Site visits is an automated asset that shows how many times your website has been visited. This non-clickable text appears directly in your ads, giving potential customers a clear...