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.
ADSQUIRE Launches First Lawyer Ad Inside ChatGPT, Opening AI Legal Marketing Frontier
ADSQUIRE announced it has placed the first lawyer advertisement inside OpenAI's ChatGPT, marking a historic entry for legal marketing into conversational AI. The campaign promotes Pennsylvania personal‑injury education and showcases the agency’s push to claim early inventory on emerging AI platforms. The move could reshape how law firms acquire leads as consumers shift from search engines to chat‑based discovery.
GlobalGPT Launches Open-Access AI Content Suite
Ok this is kind of wild. GlobalGPT just quietly added Seedance 2.0 and Wan 2.7. No invite code. No regional barrier. No waiting list. You can now generate AI ads, comic videos, dance clips, cinematic shots, and running videos from one tab. https://t.co/XaLDs2Qr5c
AI Adoption Hits 16.3% Globally, Prompting a Strategic Shift in Digital Advertising
Microsoft’s 2025 Global AI Adoption Report finds 16.3% of the world—about one in six people—now use AI tools daily. Yeahmobi says the milestone is reshaping ad targeting, with mature markets moving toward performance‑driven messaging and emerging markets focusing on accessibility...
Google Drops FAQ Rich Results From Search via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Google announced the deprecation of FAQ rich results, ending their appearance in Search on May 7, 2026. The Rich Results Test and reporting in Search Console will be removed in June, with API support ending in August. While the FAQPage schema...
How to Buy Podcast Ads: A 2026 Playbook
Podcast advertising has moved from experimental to a core media category, with global ad revenue reaching $4.02 billion in 2024 and U.S. spend at $2.57 billion. The playbook outlines how B2B marketers can treat podcast buys with the same rigor as paid...
OpenAI Rolls Out Self‑serve Ads Manager for ChatGPT, Adds CPC Bidding
OpenAI has launched a beta self‑serve Ads Manager for ChatGPT in the United States, letting advertisers buy placements directly and introducing cost‑per‑click pricing alongside its existing CPM model. The rollout brings major agency holding groups and tech partners into the...
DoubleVerify Flags 140% Jump in AI‑driven CTV Fraud, Warning Advertisers of Rising Risk
DoubleVerify’s 2026 Global Insights report reveals AI‑powered fraud schemes on connected TV grew 140% in Q1 2026 versus Q1 2025. The surge spans bot and data‑center attacks, hits both direct and programmatic buys, and underscores the need for verification tools...
PubMatic Expands Agentic AI to Indirect Programmatic Deals, Sparking 80% YoY Revenue Surge
PubMatic announced that its AgenticAI platform will now handle end‑to‑end programmatic deals beyond direct publisher contracts. The move helped the company post an 80% year‑over‑year rise in its AI‑driven revenue segment, lifting total Q1 revenue to $62.6 million. Executives say the...
Teads Posts 7% YoY Revenue Dip as Video‑ad Market Tightens
Teads announced Q1 2026 revenue of €266 million, a 7% year‑over‑year drop, as the programmatic video marketplace feels pressure. The company offset the decline with 5% growth in gross profit, a 50% surge in CTV revenue, and a 20% cut in...
AI Will Separate Strategic Agencies From Basic Set‑ups
AI won’t kill Meta ad agencies. It will expose the ones that only sell basic setup work. Businesses still need humans for strategy, positioning, creative thinking, and profitable scaling. But agencies ignoring AI will absolutely fall behind, because speed and execution...
OpenAI Skips Agency-First Mistake, Learns From Google
OpenAI Read the Google Playbook. The Question Is Whether Marketers Did Too. Misunderstood Marketing - : Every Ad Platform That Went Agency-First Had to Walk It Back. OpenAI Didn't Wait. https://t.co/4yvevGcvYH
ASI Study Finds Promo Products Yield $0.006 Impressions, Beats Digital Ads
The Advertising Specialty Institute released a 2026 Global Advertising Impressions Study showing promotional products generate brand impressions at just $0.006 each, a fraction of the cost of TV and digital media. The findings, based on surveys of nearly 5,000 consumers,...
AI Deduces Personal Traits From Ad Exposure Alone
AI can infer personal traits from ad exposure patterns alone, turning everyday advertising streams into detailed profiles without direct access to private data https://t.co/2QKj8k2XtP
TV Shifts Focus From Viewers to Foot Traffic
TV has long been an industry based on eyeballs. Now media companies are winking more at feet. TV networks are eager to strike ad deals based on connecting commercials to driving foot traffic in showrooms, sales of movie tickets and requests...
Maruti Suzuki Extends WPP Media’s Rs 1,200 Crore Media Mandate
Maruti Suzuki India has extended its partnership with WPP Media for another year, retaining a media mandate valued at roughly ₹1,200 crore (about $145 million). The automaker’s FY2025 advertising spend climbed to ₹1,127.5 crore ($136 million) as it leaned on marketing to counter slowing...
Ad Trackers Shared State Health Insurance Data with Social Media
Social Media Sites Got Information from Ad Trackers on US State Health Insurance Sites https://t.co/H2b2XTF5jg
ChatGPT Reveals Key Insight on Attribution Modeling
Nice little gem ChatGPT popped out during a conversation on multi-touch attribution (MTA), marketing mix modeling (MMM), and incrementality testing. https://t.co/aBXe4iLE3u
Maury Povich Came Out of Retirement to Star in a New Campaign for This AI Tool for Creatives
Maury Povich, the 87‑year‑old former daytime‑talk host, returned from retirement to front Air’s new AI‑enhanced creative‑team platform campaign, "On Air with Maury Povich." Air, a cloud‑based operations and asset‑management service launched in 2021, has raised more than $70 million from investors...
Unity Posts 17% Revenue Rise to $508M, Shifts Focus to AI Creation Tools
Unity Technologies announced Q1 2026 revenue of $508 million, a 17% year‑on‑year increase, driven by AI‑enhanced advertising and engine tools. The growth comes as the company finalizes the shutdown of IronSource and records a $347 million net loss tied to one‑time impairment...
Adidas Just Dropped Its Best World Cup Ad in 20 Years
Adidas unveiled its new World Cup commercial, “Backyard Legends,” on May 7 via Timothée Chalamet’s Instagram. The five‑minute spot assembles a street‑soccer dream team that includes Trinity Rodman, Jude Bellingham, Lamine Yamal, Lionel Messi and Bad Bunny, while Chalamet narrates the quest to dethrone an unbeaten crew...
Unlock Growth with a Spotify Advertising Agency
Brands increasingly view Spotify as a core growth channel, with advertising revenue projected to hit $2.2 billion by 2027 and delivering five times higher ad recall than other platforms. However, the platform’s fragmented buying paths, ambiguous measurement, and internal priorities make...
Leading Hotels of the World Selects Journey to Power Digital Services for 425 Luxury Properties
The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) has named UK‑based hospitality platform Journey as its preferred digital partner, giving more than 425 member hotels in 80 countries access to web development, marketing and conversion tools. The move, part of LHW’s...
Pixability Launches Pixability360 to Unify YouTube Paid, Organic and Creator Work
Pixability introduced Pixability360, a single dashboard that merges YouTube advertising, organic channel management and creator collaborations. The platform responds to a study showing that while 90% of agencies think these functions should align, fewer than one‑third actually do, and early...
MNTN Launches QuickFrame AI 3.0 Video Ad Tool as Q1 Revenue Rises 25%
MNTN introduced QuickFrame AI 3.0, a monthly‑subscription AI video ad generator that operates independently of its CTV platform. The launch coincided with a first‑quarter revenue of $73.7 million, a 25% year‑over‑year increase, underscoring the company’s growth in performance TV and AI‑driven...
BetMGM CMO Casey Hurbis Leaves After 18‑Month Tenure
BetMGM announced that chief marketing officer Casey Hurbis will leave the company after an 18‑month stint. Hurbis highlighted a best‑ever financial year, a brand identity overhaul and AI‑driven creative work, signaling a possible shift in the operator’s acquisition strategy.
Instacart Posts $1 Billion Q1 Revenue, Rolls Out AI‑Powered Ad Platform
Instacart announced $1 billion in first‑quarter revenue and unveiled a new AI‑driven advertising suite that now serves 9,000 brands across 310 Carrot Ads retailer partners. The grocery‑delivery leader also acquired fulfillment platform Instaleap to accelerate its international push.
Google Faces Advertiser Pushback Over AI Max Automation vs Dynamic Search Ads
Google's AI Max automation is drawing criticism from advertisers who say the tool limits their ability to manage Dynamic Search Ads. The company has responded by outlining new controls, but the debate highlights a broader clash over transparency in AI‑driven...
Veronika Höller Talks on a Perfectly Set-Up but Poor Performing Campaign
Veronika Höller revealed that a seemingly flawless PPC campaign was generating clicks and conversions but no revenue, exposing a deeper positioning flaw. Competitor research showed the brand’s messaging blended in, prompting a complete rebuild with new creative, anti‑ICP targeting, and...
Upfronts 2026 Offer An Anxious Industry A Chance To Tune In For A Repeat; Here’s The Lineup & Schedule
The 2026 media upfronts will run May 11‑13 in Manhattan, featuring eight major players such as NBCUniversal, Disney, Amazon, and Netflix. Over three days, advertisers will watch celebrity‑hosted presentations, including Seth Meyers at NBCUniversal and Jimmy Kimmel at Disney. Total upfront spending slipped...
Google Shopping AI Bidding Slashes E‑Commerce CAC by 61% and Boosts ROAS
Google’s new Performance Max for Shopping Campaigns 2.0 has cut e‑commerce customer acquisition costs by an average 61% and lifted conversion rates 43%, according to internal data. Early adopters like CookCraft and StyleLink report dramatic CAC drops and ROAS jumps,...
Anthropic Takes On Local Search, Challenges Google
Anthropic’s Claude chatbot now leverages Google Maps and Places APIs to answer local queries such as hotel searches. The integration ranks results using star ratings, reviews, and relevance, and Claude can pull data from over 200 daily connectors like TripAdvisor,...
Invoca Integrates ChatGPT Ads to Track AI Search Revenue
Invoca announced a no‑code integration with OpenAI's ChatGPT Ads Conversions API, enabling marketers to attribute leads, appointments and sales directly to AI‑search ad spend. The move positions AI search as a measurable paid media channel alongside Google and Meta.
Don't Kill Ads by Ad‑level CPA Alone
I've audited hundreds of accounts in the last year alone. The single most common mistake I see, across budgets big and small: advertisers turning off ads based on ad-level CPA. It's not their fault. The data makes it look obvious. But...
From Reddit to Revenue: Building Real Community That Drives Sales and AI Visibility via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell
Search Engine Journal hosted an on‑demand webinar where OGS Media CEO Bartosz Goralewicz and Reddit advisor Brent Csutoras revealed a five‑stage Reddit strategy that lifted AI visibility by 2,000% within 90 days. The session detailed how Reddit‑driven trust signals feed...
Amazon Is Leveraging Its Sports Rights in Pursuit of Advertising Domination
Amazon reported $17.1 billion in advertising revenue for Q1, surpassing Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount combined, and disclosed $70 billion in ads revenue over the trailing twelve months. Prime Video, now profitable, shifted to an ad‑supported model last year, giving users the...
This Company Boldly Asks You to Replace Human Workers with AI. Its Strategy Is Working Well, in One Way
Artisan, an AI startup, launched a provocative billboard campaign that urges companies to replace human sales reps with its AI agent, Ava. The ads, displayed in New York City and San Francisco, feature messages like “Fire Steve. Hire Ava” and have sparked a...
More Data Points, Deeper Research Beats Generic Ads
📷 Six frameworks from this creative bundle that I'm stealing immediately: 1/ 160-200 data points per creative brief vs. the 10-15 most agencies use. @oliverblackshaw's research system: → Amazon reviews for real objections → Social listening for language patterns → Competitor analysis for gaps → Customer...
Programmatic Ads Now Drive over a Third of Spotify Revenue
Interesting data point from Spotify’s $SPOT earnings call last week: more than 1/3rd of its advertising revenue is now generated from “biddable” (programmatic) buying. https://t.co/iO6L7ngsmh
Google Ads Surfaces Tag Manager Controls Inside Its Interface
Google Ads has introduced a new “Manage” option in its Data Manager that opens Google Tag Manager controls directly within the Ads interface. The integration lets advertisers view connected data sources and adjust tag triggers without switching platforms, streamlining measurement...
Chatbot Ads Slip By? Users Say They’ll Notice
This Article Claims You Probably Wouldn’t Notice if a Chatbot Slipped Ads Into Its Responses Well, I would certainly notice and would not like it at all https://t.co/aRMvQtJavM https://t.co/i2qsfiAfxf
Google Ads Smart Bidding Now Offers More Budget Pacing Options
ICYMI: Google Ads Smart Bidding Exploration and budget pacing works in more ways https://t.co/gg4gBv5bXg https://t.co/izMFKytnFp
Cathay Pacific Creates OOH Campaign Using Ethical AI Platform Artfair by Bria
Cathay Pacific has rolled out a new out‑of‑home (OOH) advertising campaign created by Publicis London. The campaign leverages Artfair, an ethical AI platform developed by Bria, which automatically credits and rewards the visual artists whose work appears on the billboards....
Ads in LLMs Spark Need for Trusted Subscription Model
As they add ads to LLMs this will be an even bigger problem. Creates an opportunity for a trusted LLM brand that can deliver on customer value. Maybe it has to be a subscription.
FTC Appears Indifferent as AI/UGC Ads Flood Market
It truly feels like the FTC straight up dgaf at all because these types of AI and UGC ads are rampant and there’s quite literally zero oversight.
Google to No Longer Support FAQ Rich Results
Google announced that FAQ rich results will be discontinued on May 7, 2026, ending the display of FAQ snippets in organic search. The change also removes the FAQ appearance from the Rich Results Test and the Search Console report in June 2026, with...
AI Reveals Decade-Long Surge in Home‑Plate Ads
Some people are using AI to automate their daily work tasks. Naturally, I used it to help me visualize just how many ads have been added behind home plate at each MLB stadium over the last 10 years. Results (and interactive...
See What Happens when Creative Legends Use AI to Make Ads for Small Businesses.
Google today unveiled The Small Brief, an initiative that teams three advertising legends—Jayanta Jenkins, Tiffany Rolfe and Susan Credle—with local businesses to produce studio‑quality campaigns. The creatives were given unrestricted access to Flow, Google’s AI‑driven creative studio, to craft ads...
Leo Chicago Corrals Aldi's Supermarket Savings
Leo Chicago, a Publicis Groupe agency, unveiled a new Aldi advertising series featuring a cowboy narrator in two 30‑second spots titled “Bread Sage” and “Cart Coral Cowboy.” The campaign runs on TV, connected TV, online video and social platforms, emphasizing...
Google Ads Mandates Passkeys for Sensitive Actions July 15
Google Ads to require passkeys for certain sensitive actions starting on July 15 https://t.co/ERPAYU10eg https://t.co/q4LeLR7byl
Duluth Trading Launches Cheeky Underwear Marketing Campaign
Duluth Trading Company unveiled a cheeky underwear campaign featuring its new mascot, Max Gluteus, timed with March Madness. The initiative leveraged humor to position low‑priced underwear as a gateway product, driving first‑time purchases and long‑term loyalty. On Meta the campaign...