POSSIBLE 2026: Industry Experts Dish On AI – And Other Trends To Watch
At POSSIBLE 2026 in Miami, ad‑tech leaders acknowledged that AI is shifting from hype to practical workflow integration. Executives highlighted how generative and agentic AI are accelerating campaign measurement and optimization while also adding new media‑buying complexities. The dialogue also focused on persistent industry pain points such as proving performance, cutting through data noise, and balancing creative storytelling with algorithmic targeting. Panels featured voices from Crossmedia, Goodway Group, Horizon Media and others, underscoring a consensus that AI will both simplify agency‑client collaboration and deepen fragmentation challenges.
Fox’s Refreshed Pitch to Advertisers Connects Fandoms to Outcomes
Fox Advertising unveiled a refreshed brand platform and visual identity that consolidates its five verticals—Fox Sports, Fox News, Fox Entertainment, Tubi and Fox One—under the tagline “Turn Passion into Performance.” Developed with agency Sibling Rivalry, the new system highlights energy,...
What Does the TikTok Sale Mean for Advertisers?
On January 22, 2026 TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC—backed by Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX—acquired majority control of TikTok’s U.S. operations, while ByteDance retained a 20% stake. The platform’s ad infrastructure, auction mechanics and creator ecosystem remain active for its...
The Moment Is the Medium
Retail media must adapt to an AI‑driven, fragmented path to purchase, focusing on influencing shoppers at the exact moment they decide to buy. While large‑language models shift intent signals outside retailer ecosystems, the actual transaction still often occurs within a...
Will OpenAI’s New Measurement Tools And Ads Manager Prove Its Worth As An Ad Channel?
OpenAI unveiled a self‑serve ads manager and a conversion API (CAPI) alongside a cost‑per‑click (CPC) bidding model, shifting from its earlier high‑minimum, CPM‑only approach. The new platform eliminates the $200,000 minimum spend—now fully removed after a recent $50,000 reduction—making ChatGPT...
Will OpenAI’s New Measurement Tools And Ads Manager Prove Its Worth As An Ad Channel?
OpenAI has unveiled a self‑serve ads manager and a conversion API (CAPI) alongside a cost‑per‑click (CPC) bidding option for ChatGPT ads. The new platform eliminates the previous $200,000 minimum spend, later reduced to $50,000, allowing smaller advertisers to buy directly...
Connecticut Passes Law Banning Sale Of Location Data, Regulating Ad Volume
Connecticut lawmakers passed Senate Bill 4, a privacy measure that bans the outright sale of precise geolocation data and imposes new limits on surveillance‑based pricing and ad volume in streaming. The bill also requires data brokers to register with the state...
Just The FACs, Ma'am: ANA Unveils Its Own New Ad Tax
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) unveiled a new "Fractional Advertising Contribution" (FAC) fee tied to its Aquila cross‑media measurement platform. The fee is set at 0.075% of media‑buy spend with a hard cap of $750,000, effectively limiting the charge...
Magellan AI: Podcast Advertisers Are Buying Blind In 2026
Magellan AI’s new guide, produced with True Native Media, reveals that most podcast advertisers are still planning campaigns without reliable audience data or attribution. Analysis of over 60,000 podcasts shows that 86.5% of podcast households are unique to the platform,...
CIMM, TVB Release Local TV Currency Measurement Guidelines
The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) and TVB have issued new “Guidelines for Local TV/Video Currency Measurement” along with a Buyer’s Guide to standardize evaluation of local TV and video measurement solutions. The framework centers on three principles—Inclusive, Transactable,...
Townsquare Ignite Lights Up Broadway With Latest Digital Pact
Townsquare Media’s Ignite division has signed a digital‑advertising partnership with Broadway Media, a Salt Lake City operator of seven radio stations and an outdoor network. The deal adds Broadway to Ignite’s Media Partnerships white‑label service, which already includes recent agreements...
Lay’s World Cup Marketing Strategy Focuses on ‘Scaled Intimacy’ with Fans
Lay’s has entered the FIFA World Cup arena as a global sponsor, launching the second phase of its “No Lay’s, No Game” platform. The campaign pairs star‑studded ads—featuring David Beckham, Lionel Messi, Steve Carell and others—with a real‑world watch‑party stunt in...
Lemonada Selects Flightpath to Power Forecasting, Sales Optimization, and Scalable Growth
Flightpath, a predictive analytics platform for on‑demand media, has partnered with Lemonada Media, one of the U.S.’s top independent podcast publishers. The deal gives Lemonada’s revenue team centralized traffic management, inventory forecasting and real‑time performance insights. By consolidating inventory across...
Digital Video Ad Spend To Climb 11% To $82B In 2026: IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau projects U.S. digital video ad spending to reach $81.9 billion in 2026, an 11% year‑over‑year increase that outpaces the overall advertising market by 20%. Social‑media video is set to grow 13% to $31.9 billion, overtaking connected TV (CTV)...
Kochava Announces New Yahoo DSP Workspace Now Available on StationOne, the Integrative AI Hub by Kochava
Kochava unveiled a Yahoo DSP workspace on its StationOne AI hub, marking the first demand‑side platform integrated into the system. The new workspace bundles AI‑driven Skills, Agents and a dedicated Yahoo DSP Connector, letting marketers buy, manage and optimize programmatic...
Think Small. (Agencies, that Is).
Craig Crawford, a former Leo Burnett creative, launched the boutique agency Black Noise in 2024 and this week placed paid open letters in trade publications and on LinkedIn aimed at CMOs in automotive, travel and quick‑service restaurant sectors. The letters...
Trust Is the Real Innovation in Agentic Advertising
PubMatic argues that trust, not technology, is the key to scaling agentic advertising. Early adopters report 87% faster campaign setup, 70% quicker issue resolution, and sub‑millisecond response times that beat manual optimization. The company’s AgenticOS builds on its Activate platform,...
Inside WBD’s New Pitch to Advertisers Amid Paramount Shakeup
Warner Bros. Discovery is staging a May 13 upfront to reassure advertisers as it navigates a pending $110 billion merger with Paramount Skydance. Ad‑sales chiefs Ryan Gould and Bobby Voltaggio highlighted the breadth of WBD’s portfolio—from news and sports to streaming and...
Clio Health Champions: Jordan Snyder, SVP of Data Intelligence – BBDO Chicago
Jordan Snyder, SVP of Data Intelligence at BBDO Chicago, leads the integration of data and creativity across the agency’s health and wellness portfolio. He emphasizes using large datasets to uncover human‑focused patient segments and leverages AI as an accelerator, not...
Turn Your Data Into Decisions: 3 Things Your Business Needs for Growth in the AI Era
Google announced a suite of updates aimed at simplifying data measurement for marketers in the AI era. The refreshed Data Manager will visually map connections across platforms like BigQuery, HubSpot and Shopify, while a no‑code visual tag upgrade lets existing...
U.S. Digital Video Ad Spend to Surpass $80B in 2026; Growing 20% Faster Than the Total Ad Market, According to...
The Interactive Advertising Bureau projects U.S. digital video ad spend to top $80 billion in 2026, an 11% year‑over‑year increase that outpaces the broader ad market by roughly 20%. Digital video—encompassing CTV, online and social video—will claim more than 60% of...
How To Test A New Bid Strategy In Google Ads
Google’s AI‑driven Smart Bidding continues to dominate paid‑search, but even top‑performing campaigns eventually hit a plateau. The article outlines a data‑driven framework for deciding when to test a new bid strategy, choosing between native experiments and manual sequential tests, and...
Social Video Ad Spending Is Set to Outpace CTV in Growth Rate This Year
The IAB projects social video ad spend to grow 13% year‑over‑year in 2026, surpassing CTV’s 11% growth. Total U.S. digital video investment is expected to reach $80 billion, with platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Reddit capturing a larger share of...
Digest: OpenAI Lays Groundwork For ChatGPT Ads in EU; Blackstone, H&F, Goldman Back AI Venture; Musk Settles Twitter Lawsuit Paying...
OpenAI is preparing to launch ChatGPT advertising in the European Union by adding a consent‑management pixel and updating its privacy policy to permit sharing purchase data with advertisers. Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman and Goldman Sachs are backing a new Anthropic‑led...
How China’s Fragmented Search Ecosystem Is Reshaping SEO in 2026
China’s search landscape in 2026 is a fragmented, intent‑driven ecosystem where Baidu still commands roughly 70% of mobile searches, but users increasingly turn to super‑apps, e‑commerce platforms, and generative AI assistants for discovery. New LLMs such as Doubao, DeepSeek, and...
Brand Storytelling Is Evolving Into Micro-Dramas and Agencies Need to Keep Up
Brand storytelling is shifting from long‑form narratives to bite‑size "micro‑dramas"—15‑30 second video loops that dominate TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Snapchat. Agencies that once relied on traditional copywriters now face a talent gap as brands demand rapid pacing, cinematic visuals, and...
Google Ads Data Retention Policy Updated
Google announced that its Ads performance reporting data will have extended retention periods. Hourly, daily and weekly metrics will be kept for 37 months, while monthly, quarterly and annual data will be stored for 11 years. The change, communicated via...
Why American Family Insurance Made a Reality Competition Series for Hulu
American Family Insurance partnered with Disney Advertising to launch “Designed To Last,” a four‑episode reality competition premiering May 5 on Hulu. The show pits architects, engineers and inventors against design challenges focused on home‑preparedness for threats like wind, fire and ice,...
Stop Picking Sides: Let ‘Living Data’ Power Total TV
Matt Bryan of Samsung Ads argues that CTV success hinges on "living data"—a continuously refreshed blend of first‑party screen signals and third‑party intent data. Samsung smart‑TV analytics show Europe’s viewing split 55 % streaming, 45 % linear, underscoring audience fragmentation. Research indicates...
How Californian Grocer Stater Bros. Shines a Light on the Future of In-Store Retail Media Globally
Stater Bros., the largest privately owned grocery chain in Southern California, has partnered with In‑Store Marketplace (ISM) and Mood Media to launch a programmatic in‑store audio advertising platform, with digital screens slated for later rollout. The solution uses ISM’s centralised...
Admiral Highlights How Travel Cover Can Bring the Thrills
Admiral Insurance has rolled out the “Ready for Anything” campaign, developed by McCann Bristol, to promote its travel insurance offering. The campaign leverages the brand’s animated Admouth characters and focuses on the excitement and anticipation of travel rather than potential...
Manscaped’s Whole‑Body Media Strategy
Manscaped’s CMO Marcelo Kertész is steering the brand from a niche ball‑trimmer into a whole‑body grooming platform, a shift summed up as “from ball to all.” The company invested a multimillion‑dollar Super Bowl spot featuring anthropomorphic hair balls to signal...
Popkorn Wins Creative Mandate for The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf India
Ekaagra, the master franchisee for The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in India, has selected popkorn as its agency of record after a competitive multi‑agency pitch. The new mandate tasks popkorn with leading local creative strategy, development and integrated campaigns...
Maintaining Brand Safety and Integrity in the AI Slop Era
A recent AD Week House Possible panel, co‑hosted by Silverpush, highlighted the surge of low‑quality AI‑generated content—dubbed “AI slop”—and its threat to brand safety. Speakers from Silverpush, Best Friend Animal Society, and Crispin urged brands to create bespoke guardrails that define...
Borrell: Local Digital Ad Growth Slows as Share Wars Begin
Borrell Associates’ 24th annual Local Digital Advertising report shows that growth in local digital ad revenue has slipped to low single‑digit percentages, the slowest pace since the Great Recession. Digital now accounts for 72% of local ad spend, totaling about...
Silverpush Brings Broadcast-Quality YouTube Buying to EMEA Advertisers with SilverScreen™
Silverpush has launched SilverScreen, an AI‑driven classification layer that tags YouTube channels as broadcast‑quality for EMEA advertisers. The tool lets media planners treat YouTube inventory like linear TV, using production standards, cadence and co‑viewing signals to curate TV‑grade content. A...
Attribution Gap in Agentic Search: How to Close It
A growing share of purchase decisions now occurs inside AI tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Mode, creating an “attribution gap” where analytics cannot record the influence. The gap appears as invisible brand mentions in AI answers and...
Why Direct Advertisers Are Making a Comeback in iGaming Affiliate Marketing
The iGaming affiliate landscape is seeing a resurgence of direct advertiser relationships, moving away from the traditional network‑centric model. Affiliates are opting for fewer, tightly managed offers to gain faster negotiations, flexible deal structures, and shorter feedback loops with product...
Principal Trading Is “Muddying the Cost” Of Media
Independent UK agency the7stars announced it will no longer use principal media trading, a model that bundles media buying with undisclosed fees. Founder and CEO Jenny Biggam argues the move restores full transparency, giving clients clear insight into spend, placement and...
Koddi and Comcast’s Universal Ads Ink Deal to Target Streaming Ads With Commerce Data
Koddi, a commerce‑media adtech firm, has partnered with Comcast’s self‑service platform Universal Ads to let advertisers purchase streaming inventory using first‑party shopper audiences. The integration opens access to ad slots from more than 20 publishers, including DirecTV, Fox, NBCUniversal, Paramount,...
The 2026 Creative 100: Media, TV & Streaming Innovators Know How to Win
The 2026 Creative 100 Media, TV & Streaming Innovators list spotlights leaders who turned bold ideas into measurable business results. Ali Brown’s teams secured four Super Bowl spots and earned Production Company of the Year, while Bloomberg Media Studios generated double‑digit...
A “Pay-For-Performance” Ad Industry? Brands And Agencies Will Need A Referee
WPP announced it will pivot toward fee structures tied to sales and brand performance, citing Jaguar Land Rover as a proof point. By 2026 the firm aims to generate 25% of Monks agency revenue from subscription‑based solutions rather than hourly...
A “Pay-For-Performance” Ad Industry? Brands And Agencies Will Need A Referee
WPP announced a strategic shift toward fee structures tied to measurable sales and brand performance, using Jaguar Land Rover as a pilot. By the end of 2026 the firm aims to generate 25% of Monks agency revenue from subscription‑based solutions rather than...
Some Micro Influencers Find Promising Security in Brand Ownership over Sponsorships
Micro influencers are turning to brand ownership and equity stakes as a hedge against platform volatility. Creator Colin Rocker recently invested seed capital in Favikon, hoping for a future IPO or acquisition, while the broader creator economy sees $13.7 billion in...
The End of the Walled Garden? Analysing Meta’s Strategic Pivot to Open AI Connectors
Meta is dismantling its traditional walled‑garden by releasing AI Connectors that use the open Model Context Protocol (MCP) to let third‑party agents manage ad accounts, diagnostics and product catalogs via natural‑language commands. This shift moves digital advertising from isolated generative...
Havas Thailand Scores Marketing and Media Mandate for Budweiser 0.0 FIFA World Cup 2026™
Havas Thailand has been named the lead marketing and media partner for AB InBev’s Budweiser 0.0 FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign in Thailand. The agency will combine data intelligence, media strategy and cultural insight to deliver a locally resonant yet globally consistent brand...
Reddit Releases New Small Business Marketing Guide
Reddit unveiled a 13‑page guide aimed at small businesses seeking to leverage its growing advertising suite and highly engaged subreddit communities. The release follows a Q1 report showing Reddit’s ad revenue jumped 74% year‑over‑year, underscoring the platform’s rising role in...
Adthena Launches Industry-First Tool for ChatGPT Ads Campaigns
Adthena unveiled ChatGPT AdBridge, a free migration tool that converts existing Google Ads campaigns into keyword and negative‑keyword lists ready for the new ChatGPT Ads platform. The solution uses AI to enrich keywords, broaden coverage and streamline negatives, then delivers...
Dear Marketers: There’s No ‘Average’ Grocery Shopper Today
Schaefer’s new research divides U.S. grocery shoppers into three distinct groups—social‑first, TV‑first and streaming‑first—each demanding its own media mix, creative style and measurement approach. Brands are currently over‑spending on linear TV, under‑spending on streaming, and mis‑measuring social impact by focusing...
AI Brands Are Pumping Ad Dollars Into Linear TV
Leading AI companies are pouring tens of millions of dollars into linear television advertising to shape public perception and drive adoption. By April 20, 2026, OpenAI has spent roughly $64.9 million, Google $81.7 million, Microsoft $34.4 million and Meta $64.2 million, amounts that nearly...