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.
Publicis Groupe APAC Launches AI Development Hub in Singapore to Upskill Marketers
Publicis Groupe APAC has opened an AI Development Hub in Singapore, backed by the Singapore Economic Development Board, to train talent and build AI‑driven marketing tools. The centre targets a 20‑30% cut in manual campaign time and will support capabilities for nearly 4 billion identities worldwide.
Programmatic Ads for Retail: Best Practices for Scalable Growth
Programmatic advertising is emerging as a scalable, data‑driven channel for retail brands seeking new‑to‑brand customers and omnichannel growth. The guide explains how demand‑side platforms automate real‑time bidding across the open web, apps, and connected TV, and contrasts off‑site programmatic with...
Traffic’s High, Sales Low? Fix the Conversion Leak
You’re getting traffic But not getting sales That’s not a reach problem That’s a conversion leak
Angry Chickz VP Tonya McCoy Fuels 63% Sales Surge with Data‑first Marketing
Tonya McCoy, Vice President of Marketing for the Angry Chickz franchise, has leveraged data‑driven tactics to lift territory unit sales by 63% and oversee multi‑million‑dollar marketing budgets. Her 28‑year food‑service marketing career underscores Angry Chickz’s people‑first, performance‑focused culture.
Advertisers Are Flying Blind on ChatGPT Ads — Adthena Wants to Change That
Adthena unveiled ChatGPT AdBridge, a tool that transforms existing Google Ads accounts into ready‑to‑run ChatGPT advertising campaigns. The platform automatically generates keyword and negative lists and surfaces competitive brand data, while its AI assistant Arlo enables side‑by‑side performance comparisons. Early...
Pinterest Is Ready For Its CTV Debut
Pinterest closed its acquisition of tvScientific in February and has begun feeding its CTV platform with Pinterest’s audience data, enabling advertisers to target Pinterest users on connected‑TV devices. This integration marks the first time the visual‑search platform’s high‑intent audience can...
Predictive Analysis And Performance Go Hand In Hand
At the POSSIBLE conference, Nielsen introduced Predictive Sales Lift, an outcomes‑based tool that forecasts sales lift and incremental revenue for video ad campaigns on its Nielsen One Ads platform. The solution, initially available in the U.S. next month for connected...
Pub.Call: Need Revenue Now? Make Q2 Your New Q4
Publishers facing immediate revenue pressure are being urged to execute fast‑track monetization ideas that can launch in days, not months. The Pub.Call highlighted shifting from page‑level RPM to revenue‑per‑session metrics, using AI, web‑push, and refresh‑economics to extract more value from...
TikTok Tests Hotel Metasearch Cards That Redirect Users to Expedia, Booking.com
TikTok is beta‑testing hotel metasearch cards that appear in users' For You feeds and link directly to major online travel agencies such as Expedia, Booking.com and Trip.com. The cards display a property photo, name and real‑time rate options, with a...
YouTube Adds Side-by-Side Ads for Live Streams on Mobile, Muting Stream Audio During Breaks
YouTube is rolling out a new side‑by‑side ad format for mobile livestreams, placing ads next to the video feed instead of replacing it. During the ad break the video stays visible but the stream’s audio is muted in favor of...
IAS LAUNCHES IAS TOTAL TV SOLUTIONS GIVING MARKETERS ‘LINEAR-LIKE’ TRANSPARENCY FOR CONNECTED TV
Integral Ad Science (IAS) unveiled IAS Total TV, a suite that brings linear‑TV‑style transparency to the fragmented Connected TV (CTV) ecosystem. The platform delivers real‑time, show‑level insights across major streaming services such as Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount and Prime Video, while...
Townsquare and Columbus’ NABCO Ignite Digital Ad Partnership
Townsquare Media’s Ignite division announced a digital‑advertising partnership with North American Broadcasting Company (NABCO) in Columbus, Ohio, marking its latest addition to the Ignite Media Partnerships program launched in 2024. The deal grants NABCO white‑label access to Townsquare’s proprietary programmatic...
Microsoft Adds Contextual Offer Highlights to Copilot Ads
Offer Highlights in Copilot -> Microsoft Merchant Center Now Supports 'Highlights for Copilot' From Microsoft Ads: "We’re introducing Offer Highlights, new ad experiences that enable brands to promote key product differentiators within the context of Copilot conversations. More than showing traditional...
Warehouse-Native CDPs vs Standalone Platforms Explained
The article compares warehouse‑native CDPs, which run on Snowflake or BigQuery, with traditional standalone platforms such as Tealium and BlueConic. It highlights how native solutions centralize data, lower duplication, and enable deep customization, while standalone tools offer pre‑built activation features...
The Upfront Has Mutated. And Most of the Market Missed It.
The traditional TV Upfront has fundamentally shifted from selling premium inventory to selling proven business outcomes. By 2026, media buyers demand closed‑loop measurement, with retail media becoming the yardstick for performance across linear, streaming, and digital channels. Programmatic platforms now...
Kriti Sanon Turns ‘SPF Police’ in Hyphen’s New Ad
Hyphen launched a new campaign featuring actress‑entrepreneur Kriti Sanon as the whimsical “SPF Police,” reinforcing sunscreen as a daily habit. The short film shows Sanon stopping a gym‑goer from leaving without sunscreen, while Blinkit appears to deliver the product instantly...
TikTok Campaign Shows How Brands Turn Reach Into Real Traffic
A TikTok campaign for pet‑care franchise Camp Bow Wow, run with Scorpion, proved that native, lo‑fi creative paired with interest‑based targeting can drive measurable traffic at scale. The effort generated 23,000 landing‑page views at $2.01 each, over 50,000 clicks at...
AI Max Generates Custom Ad Copy Using Existing Text
Interesting, AI labels for AI-generated ads? I'm assuming this is tied to AI Max campaigns... but maybe someone on the ads side could provide more info. From the AI Max Google documentation: "Text customization: This uses text from your existing ads,...
Even PayPal Ads Has Its Own ID Now
PayPal announced the PayPal Ads ID, an omnichannel identifier built on its and Venmo’s credit‑card‑linked customer base. Unlike cookie‑based graphs, the ID is free for any data or ad‑tech vendor that maintains a commercial relationship with PayPal Ads and can...
Experiential Marketing Trend of the Week: Double-Decker Buses
Double‑decker buses are emerging as mobile stages for experiential marketing, turning a simple vehicle into an immersive brand environment. Recent conversions include No7’s Derm Solutions Skin Rehab Tour bus in Orlando, which offered personalized skin screenings, digital quizzes, and a...
Albertsons Media Collective Brings Retail Signals to YouTube with Google’s Commerce Media Suite.
Google’s Commerce Media Suite now integrates Albertsons Media Collective’s first‑party shopper data into YouTube and Display & Video 360. The partnership lets brands reach high‑intent Albertsons customers across YouTube and premium publisher inventory while receiving SKU‑level sales attribution. Early adopters such as Keurig Dr Pepper...
China Blocks Meta's Manus Deal, Creating Messy Unwind
China block’s Meta’s months-old acquisition of Manus. Unwinding the acquisition at this stage would be messy. And Meta has already substantially integrated Meta’s agents into its advertising manager suite.
Google Ads Demand Gen Image Approvals Facing Delays
Google @adsliaison confirms delays with Google Ads Demand Gen Image ads approvals https://www.seroundtable.com/google-ads-demand-gen-image-ads-approval-delays-41216.html via Matthew Skelton #googleads #ppc #google
Stagwell Builds TV Ad Platform with FreeWheel
Stagwell has teamed with Comcast-owned FreeWheel to create a unified TV advertising infrastructure that spans connected TV, linear broadcast and live sports. The deal integrates FreeWheel’s Curation Hub and Buyer Cloud into Stagwell’s media acquisition layer, powering the new Stagwell...
Fully Automated AI UGC Ads Delivered in Eight Minutes
Everyone preaching “AI UGC ads” is straight-up lying. They call it automated… But they’re still: • Writing the scripts • Hunting for clips • Fixing the voiceovers • Manually stitching the final video That’s not automation. That’s just faster manual work. I built the real thing: One custom system powered...
Customers Want Personalized Marketing. Why Can’t Most Brands Deliver? By Adobe
Adobe’s 2025‑2026 AI and Digital Trends reports reveal a gap: while 71% of consumers expect personalized, seamless experiences, fewer than half of brands consistently deliver. The root cause is fragmented customer data that hinders real‑time insight sharing across channels. Adobe...
Jack Daniel’s Appoints 22feet as Its Creative Agency of Record for India
Jack Daniel’s has appointed 22feet, an Omnicom India agency, as its creative agency of record for the Indian market. The integrated mandate spans brand strategy, digital, social, packaging, experiential and retail communications for the entire Jack Daniel’s portfolio, including its...
VaynerX Launches Tamara Group, Betting Production-Led Is the New Agency Model
Gary Vaynerchuk’s VaynerX unveiled Tamara Group at the POSSIBLE conference in Miami on April 27, debuting a production‑led agency model. The new firm launches with roughly 100 employees and early clients Ulta Beauty, Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day, and Method. Tamara...
Brands Can Now Deploy Their Own Agents Inside Publisher Chatbots
Dappier unveiled Sponsored Conversations, a new ad format that inserts brand‑specific AI agents into publisher chatbots. The agents engage users in real time, pulling from the site’s own content and, for brands like Miku, driving qualified leads with roughly 50 %...
Cumulus’ Bob Walker Releases AI Media Planning Guide for Radio
Cumulus Media Operations President Bob Walker released an AI media‑planning guide aimed at local advertisers and radio sales teams. The playbook outlines five best‑practice prompts for large language models such as ChatGPT, emphasizing precise questioning, source verification, and platform awareness....
Engage Listeners Throughout the Commercial
Jeffrey Hedquist argues that modern radio commercials must fight audience distraction by weaving constant audio variation throughout the spot. He advises creators to manipulate pace, tone, volume, accents, and effects, treating a single voice like a multi‑character storyteller. Adding layered...
Guide to eBay Video Ads Promoted Listings
eBay has launched video ads for Promoted Listings using its priority strategy, currently in beta. Sellers can attach a 5‑60 second video that autoplays in eligible placements, with no change to cost‑per‑click pricing. The new format adds video‑specific metrics such...
Invisible Marketing: Keeping Your Brand Relevant When Screens Disappear
Brands are confronting a rapid shift from visual web experiences to screenless, voice‑first interactions. Ambient Computing Marketing leverages voice assistants, smart home devices, and predictive algorithms to keep products top‑of‑mind without a traditional UI. Marketers must restructure data for headless...
Goodway Group and Optable Partner to Feed AI Agents Cleaner Data
Optable has partnered with Goodway Group to layer Anthropic Claude‑powered AI agents on its data clean‑room platform, unifying first‑party, third‑party and campaign data. The rollout currently reaches about 70 of Goodway’s 350 employees, primarily in media planning and analytics, to...
Vaseline Wants to Protect Your Nipples
Vaseline stepped into the 2026 TCS London Marathon as the "Official nipple protector," turning its long‑standing "safe from the chafe" claim into a high‑visibility activation. The brand set up "Nip stops" along the 26.2‑mile course and distributed petroleum jelly to...
News UK Turns The Times’ First-Party Data Into Synthetic Audiences for Advertisers
News UK has launched "Times ExplorAItion," a synthetic‑audience tool that converts The Times' first‑party subscriber data into AI‑generated audience models for advertisers. Powered by Electric Twin, the platform creates privacy‑safe, persona‑level segments that can be surveyed and tested in seconds,...
Media Buying Briefing: Agencies Turn Creators Into Test Labs for Campaigns and Product Innovation
Agencies such as Horizon Media are turning creators into live test labs, using them to pressure‑test and even shape campaign concepts and product features. SharkNinja’s partnership with Blue Hour Studios exemplifies this approach, where creator feedback informs launch strategy and...
Marketers Join OpenAI’s Ad Pilot, Nudged by FOMO
OpenAI launched a paid‑ads pilot inside ChatGPT in early February, attracting brands such as Williams‑Sonoma, Target, The Knot Worldwide, DSW and BEHR. Within six weeks the program generated an estimated $100 million annualized revenue, while ad prices fell from $60 to...
Consumer Brands Take the Leap Into Influencer Marketing
Consumer brands are moving influencer marketing from a side project to a core media channel. Vaseline’s "Vaseline Verified" effort teamed with 450 creators, racking up hundreds of millions of views and a sales lift, while the Dettol #HandWashChallenge in India...
Streaming Services Give TV Adverts a New Lease of Life
Streaming giants Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video have introduced ad‑supported subscription tiers, reviving TV‑style advertising on their platforms. While linear TV remains pressured, TV ads still account for 85% of video ad viewership, and ad‑supported streaming revenue is accelerating,...
Marketers Tackle Risks and Opportunities on Social Media
Social media remains essential for advertisers, but recent moderation rollbacks at Meta and X have heightened brand‑safety risks. Marketers are feeling pressure from geopolitical instability and inflation to prove return on ad spend, prompting a shift toward tighter campaign execution....
Creator‑run Ads Slash CPA and Boost CTR
Partnership Ads are quietly becoming one of the highest-leverage easy changes in our clients' accounts. Same creative. Same offer. Same landing page. The only difference: running from the creator's handle instead of the brand's. The results across our book: > 19-30% lower CPAs (on...
Let Meta’s Algorithm Choose, Stop Manual Ad Forcing
“Still forcing Meta to spend on your ‘favorite’ ads? Yeah… that’s probably the problem.” This episode breaks down why the best media buyers in 2026 are doing the opposite and letting the algorithm lead. Take a listen: https://t.co/EujE658OFq
Human Security Extends Agentic Visibility to Marketing, Integrates with Adobe Experience Platform
Human Security announced on April 21, 2026 that its Agentic Visibility capabilities are now available to marketing and commerce teams, delivering AI‑agent analytics natively within Adobe Experience Platform. The move addresses a widening gap as AI‑driven traffic grows eight‑fold faster...
SiriusXM Prepares Q1 2026 Earnings Amid Analyst Optimism From 2024 YouTube Deal
SiriusXM is set to release its first‑quarter 2026 earnings, a test of expectations that were raised in 2024 when Guggenheim and Rosenblatt upgraded the stock after the company secured an exclusive U.S. audio‑advertising role for YouTube. Analysts had lifted price...
Commerce Media Awards Spotlight Growth, Fragmentation and Trust Challenges
The Drum’s first live Commerce Media Awards in Miami brought industry leaders together to flag growth as the sector’s toughest test. Executives warned that rapid expansion is creating fragmentation, while a lack of uniform measurement erodes trust and hampers accountability.
Hershey Deploys Real-Time AI Marketing Mix Model to Optimize Media Spend
Hershey announced that its AI-enabled marketing mix model will go live in May, giving the company real‑time visibility into sales and media performance. The system replaces a three‑times‑yearly planning cycle with monthly updates, ingesting hundreds of thousands of data points...
Adding Extra Attribution Cuts CPM 27% and CPA 13%
We ran a massive A/B test over the last 3-4 weeks to test the change in attribution and its impact across accounts. Roughly $500K in spend across 11 brands in different vertices / AOV. What we found: 7DC vs 7DC/1DE/1DV CPM: Showed an average...
What Is Marketing Data Integration? How To Use Marketing Data
Marketing data integration consolidates information from social, web, and ad platforms into a single source of truth, letting marketers see what happens after a click. By unifying first‑, second‑, third‑, and zero‑party data, businesses can compare channel performance, identify cross‑sell...
Adobe Unveils Autonomous AI Agents at Summit to Automate Marketing Campaigns
Adobe announced at its 2026 Summit a suite of autonomous AI agents—including Firefly AI Assistant and CX Enterprise Coworker—designed to orchestrate end‑to‑end marketing campaigns. The rollout comes as CEO Shantanu Narayen prepares to leave after 18 years, positioning Adobe as...