Know What's Happening in Advertising
Know What's Happening in Advertising
CFOs Push Incrementality Testing as Key to CTV Spend Validation
CFOs are tightening scrutiny on connected‑TV spend because traditional metrics like impressions and modeled ROAS fail to prove incremental revenue. The article argues that incrementality testing, which isolates lift through holdout groups and deterministic transaction data, is emerging as a differentiator for proving true CTV impact.
Singular released its 2026 ROI Index, the most extensive mobile‑marketing benchmark built on trillions of impressions, billions of clicks and installs. The report adds the first multi‑touch attribution (MTA) leaderboards, revealing that Meta delivers up to 50% higher ROAS and Snapchat 20% higher ROAS when credit is distributed across the full conversion path. Four ad networks—Google Ads, Meta, Mintegral and TikTok—each logged 29 leaderboard appearances across operating‑system splits, verticals and attribution models. The index also introduces three MTA‑specific metrics: Exclusive Reach, Assist Power and MTA Uplift, while confirming iOS performance stability post‑ATT.
Purchase‑based segmentation is reshaping TV advertising, letting brands move beyond reach metrics to drive sales. Circana’s data shows that targeting 126 million U.S. households with past‑purchase signals can boost incremental sales, as demonstrated by Roku’s 35 % lift with half the impressions....
Bitly has launched two AI‑powered features—Bitly Assist, a conversational chat assistant, and Weekly Insights, an automated performance‑highlighting report—aimed at speeding up marketers' data‑to‑action workflow. Assist lets users query link and QR‑code metrics and create assets through natural language, delivering answers...
Triton Digital announced that NBC Sports has chosen its platform to power the network’s podcast hosting, audience measurement, and advertising monetization. NBC will deploy Omny Studio for enterprise hosting, the Triton Ad Platform for programmatic ad sales, Podcast Metrics for...
Integral Ad Science (IAS) launched an open‑beta Low‑Quality GenAI Avoidance feature, integrated with its Context Control Avoidance suite, to block ads next to low‑quality AI‑generated content. The tool scores AI‑slop in near real time and works pre‑bid via a ready‑made...
Publicis Media has won Microsoft’s global media business, a contract valued at over $1 billion, adding to its recent acquisition of Microsoft‑owned LinkedIn. Both accounts were taken from Dentsu, stripping the Japanese holding company of its strongest international media line‑up. The...
Swivel and CTV platform Olyzon have partnered to create an agentic marketplace that uses the open‑source AdCP protocol for buy‑side and sell‑side communication. The system lets AI‑driven agents handle trafficking, yield optimization, and seller functions, allowing advertisers to access inventory...
Click fraud can masquerade as normal performance issues, making it difficult for paid‑media managers to identify true waste. The article outlines a three‑step approach: audit placement and targeting settings, understand platform‑level fraud protections, and deploy mitigation tools when invalid clicks...
Artificial intelligence is reshaping every stage of the advertising value chain, from concept creation to media execution, according to new research by Madison & Wall. The study, presented by CEO Brian Wieser, Managing Director Luke Stillman, and Adobe’s Principal AI...
Digital‑ad platform Basis unveiled Compass, an agentic campaign‑planning tool that integrates with its DSP and other buying platforms. The solution synthesizes advertisers’ first‑party data with broader market signals to generate omnichannel media strategies, while allowing a conversational back‑and‑forth with the...
In this episode, host Michael Stelzner and co‑host Jerry Potter sit down with LinkedIn ads authority AJ Wilcox to unpack LinkedIn’s new visibility mechanics—from AI‑driven content discovery and semantic markup to revamped ad personalization tools and stricter rules on automated...
Attekmi CEO Roman Vrublivskyi outlines the five ad‑tech trends shaping 2026, highlighting first‑party data and AI as the top drivers. He explains that privacy‑driven first‑party data is replacing third‑party identifiers, while AI now powers bidding, creative generation and forecasting. Supply‑path...
Spotify just released a report: The Sound-On Era It includes tips for marketers on building a sonic identity, which might mean: 🎙️ A distinctive voice or tone 🎙️ A consistent music world 🎙️ A repeatable sonic mnemonic or signature https://ads.spotify.com/en-US/news-and-insights/sound-on-era/
Sydney Zoo has appointed Sandbox Media to manage its digital and above‑the‑line media planning and buying after a competitive pitch. The partnership leverages Sandbox Media’s decades of experience in attractions and ticketing, aiming to boost visitation through data‑driven, locally relevant...
Sea Cleaners and JCDecaux have launched Reverse Media Schedules, a model that treats littered branded packaging as negative outdoor advertising. The system blends litter audits, audience data and media modelling to estimate how many people see branded waste and its...
In multiple accounts we're having the delivery status show preparing or in review but they are spending just fine. Anyone else seeing this? https://t.co/rDihGnGjDd
In a recent episode of Conversations with MarTech, Nexxen CPO Karim Rayes explains how the adtech industry has moved from early machine‑learning optimizations to today’s emerging "agentic web" where AI agents automate audience research, insight generation, and creative production. While...
Google Ads has introduced an auto‑apply setting for its Experiments feature, turning it on by default. Advertisers can select directional results or statistical confidence levels, with a built‑in guard that prevents auto‑application if the chosen success metric declines. The feature...
Jones Road Beauty teamed with ad‑measurement startup Haus to pilot a new causal media‑mix model (MMM) that anchors forecasts in real experiment lift rather than historical correlations. By testing spend levels on Google Demand Gen, Meta Advantage+, and branded search, the...
Bing is trialing a double‑row carousel for sponsored products within its shopping results, dramatically expanding the ad footprint compared with the current single‑row format. The test, first spotted by marketer Sachin Patel, pairs the larger carousel with organic product cards...
AI‑driven ad bidding systems are outpacing conversion tracking, leading many advertisers to overload accounts with low‑intent micro‑conversions. This excess creates noisy signals that steer algorithms toward cheap, high‑frequency actions, inflating reported CPA and ROAS while eroding true revenue. Platforms like...
Pixalate has launched the Connected TV (CTV) Seller Trust Index 2.0, an independent, quarterly‑updated benchmark that rates more than 20 programmatic CTV ad sellers on arbitrage and invalid‑traffic risk across Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung TV and LG...
Pixalate launched the Mobile Seller Trust Index (STI) 2.0, a free quarterly benchmark that rates more than 200 open‑programmatic mobile app sellers in over 100 markets. The index uniquely separates arbitraged inventory from authorized‑direct traffic and adds sophisticated invalid‑traffic (SIVT) and...
Google Ads places “Eligible (Limited)” restrictions on accounts in housing, employment, credit, healthcare, and legal services, blocking remarketing, Customer Match, and custom audiences. The limits arise from U.S. anti‑discrimination laws and ethical concerns about intrusive, privacy‑invasive ads. Advertisers can still...
Mary Meder, president of Harmelin Media, publicly condemned the practice of agencies pocketing media rebates, urging advertisers and peers to reject the opaque fee structures. She argues the rebates undermine client trust and inflate campaign costs. Meanwhile, Meta has assembled...
AI‑driven automation has lowered the barrier to launch PPC campaigns, but it also creates blind spots that require human oversight. Marketers face two core challenges: explaining campaign performance and preventing unchecked machine decisions. Companies can choose an all‑in‑house model or...
Scotts Miracle‑Gro is reshaping its marketing to treat gardening as a year‑round activity, allocating $25 million to media, digital and R&D. The company reported a 4% drop in U.S. consumer net sales to $328.5 million in Q1 2026, yet beat estimates and expects...
WPP Media, in collaboration with Google, launched YouTube 5K (YT5K), an AI‑driven solution that automates channel curation and creative versioning for YouTube advertising. The platform scans channels to generate a refreshed list of over 5,000 brand‑safe options and automatically creates...
Jeep has launched a second‑year humor‑driven advertorial campaign on UK cheap‑channel television, featuring comedian Iliza Shlesinger and the tagline “We Will be funny” from agency Highdive. The spot replaces the typical long, product‑heavy infomercials with a comedic format that aims...
Adzymic, in partnership with OMD, is powering McDonald’s Singapore’s Grimace Shake launch through an omnichannel campaign that blends digital out‑of‑home, premium programmatic display, and dynamic creative optimisation. The activation places gamified DOOH screens at high‑traffic Gen Z hubs, offering a...
Shirley Marschall argues that recommendation widgets, not native advertising itself, are the primary cause of low‑quality, click‑bait ads that appear alongside premium editorial content. These widgets are engineered to maximize clicks, often delivering sensational or unsettling content like "toenail fungus"...
The Australian Olive Oil Association has relaunched its ‘Get Drizzling’ campaign for Autumn 2026, running from mid‑March to mid‑May. The two‑month, social‑first initiative pairs paid digital media with short‑form creator content to make olive oil a finishing step in everyday...
Australian agency Herd MSL, together with Publicis Groupe ANZ, has launched Elevate, an AI‑driven search visibility and authority service. Elevate combines category‑level search intelligence, AI‑optimized content structuring, and earned‑owned authority building to help brands shape how they appear in AI‑generated...
Test THIS concept in your next hook: Ever heard of Spin The Bottle? 👉 No matter where the bottle lands, grab your product! Just like this one we made for Tobio's Kits ⤵️ https://t.co/iibQnZoN0C
Three years after ChatGPT’s debut, advertisers are moving from questioning AI to deploying it at scale. WPP’s "WPP Open" initiative has centralized AI governance at the holding‑company level, streamlining creative, media and production workflows. Yum Brands has built an "AI...
OpenX introduced OpenX Attention Targeting, a real‑time capability that lets advertisers bid on CTV inventory identified as high‑attention by TVision’s measurement platform. The partnership enables predictive attention data to be applied during the buying process, rather than only in post‑campaign...
Pixalate’s March 2026 recap highlights that Roku captured 31% of global open‑programmatic CTV ad spend in Q4 2025, though its share slipped for the second straight quarter. The report also reveals that 36% of mobile‑app traffic was classified as invalid, underscoring persistent...
Seedtag’s new neuroscience study shows that ads displayed alongside relevant editorial content generate 3.5 times more neural engagement than non‑contextual placements. Using real‑time EEG, the research proves that emotional tone and intent of the surrounding article drive attention far more...
Afterverse, the Brazilian studio behind PK XD, added Singular’s multi‑touch attribution (MTA) to its TikTok user‑acquisition campaigns in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. MTA revealed TikTok’s return on investment was twice the level reported by last‑click models, with a 70% assisted‑install rate,...
Marketers are paying a growing "fragmentation tax" as scattered, low‑quality signals across platforms, channels, and tech stacks erode confidence and waste budget. AI does not solve this problem; instead it magnifies the impact of bad or incomplete data, leading to...
Pixalate released its Q4 2025 programmatic ad viewability report for the EMEA region, covering the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Israel. The study shows non‑viewability rates ranging from 21% to 50% across mobile web, mobile in‑app and desktop web platforms, with...
Pixalate released its Q4 2025 Asia‑Pacific programmatic ad viewability report for India, revealing that 46% of mobile in‑app ads, 30% of mobile web ads, and 36% of desktop web ads were not viewable. The study, based on 106 billion global open‑programmatic impressions,...
