Today's Digital Marketing Pulse
Ad tech vendors pivot to cloud‑hardware ownership to cut latency and costs
Vendors are splitting between owning their own cloud infrastructure and renting from public clouds such as AWS, Google Cloud and Azure. SSPs PubMatic and Index Exchange introduced containerized solutions—Decision Fabric and Index Cloud—that let DSPs run models on‑premise, lowering latency and data‑transfer expenses. The shift balances cost savings against control of the stack.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Accenture Song acquires influencer marketing agency Whalar
Channel 4’s Digital Ad Transformation Is Ahead of Schedule
Channel 4’s 2025 annual report shows the broadcaster ahead of its Future4 digital‑ad targets, with digital advertising generating roughly $440 million – 34% of total revenue – up from 30% in 2024. Non‑advertising revenue hit the 10% goal, while streaming views rose to 1.9 billion, falling short of the planned double. YouTube has become a key growth engine, delivering a 54% jump in full‑episode views and nearly doubling its revenue contribution. The company now aims for digital ads to represent half of its revenue by 2030.
Fermenta Scales Its YouTube Presence Across Three Brands With Popcorn.co: DGR Case Study
Fermenta, a health‑nutrition company, adopted Popcorn.co’s autonomous video platform to scale short‑form YouTube publishing across its three brands. The system produced over 40 videos in six weeks, maintaining a cadence of two to three posts per brand without hiring additional...
'Injured' And 'Strike' Among the Words on Advertiser Blocklists as World Cup Approaches
Research from the UK advertising trade body reveals that agencies are increasingly using blocklists to prevent ads from appearing alongside content containing words such as “injured”, “strike”, “shoot” and “attack”. The move intensifies as the FIFA World Cup approaches, with...
ADW Capital Invests $28 Million in Stagwell, Boosting Confidence in Martech Holding
ADW Capital Management disclosed a new $27.96 million position in Stagwell, acquiring 5 million shares that now represent 12.22% of its 13F assets. The investment follows Stagwell’s record‑breaking $141 million net‑new‑business win and solid Q1 earnings, signaling optimism about the firm’s digital‑transformation platform...
What Is PPC? A Starter Guide to Pay-per-Click Advertising
Pay‑per‑click (PPC) remains a fast‑acting digital advertising model, but rising cost‑per‑click rates and AI‑generated search overviews are shrinking paid real‑estate on SERPs. While platforms like Google Ads, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok and LinkedIn still dominate, advertisers must focus on relevance, quality...
ACM Links with Passendo to Overhaul Newsletter Advertising
Australian Community Media (ACM) has partnered with Passendo to overhaul its newsletter advertising across more than 80 regional, rural and suburban titles. The integration makes ACM the first Australian publisher to use Passendo’s end‑to‑end ad‑serving technology inside email. By leveraging...
Google Search Expands Agentic Capabilities with Information Agents and Universal Cart
Google unveiled new agentic features for Search at I/O 2026, rolling out Information Agents to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers and launching Universal Cart on Search and Gemini in the U.S. this summer. Information Agents continuously scan the web after a...
Booking Holdings to Sell Ads Across All Three OTA Brands for the First Time: Exclusive
Booking Holdings is launching BKNG Ads, a unified advertising platform that lets partners place campaigns across its three OTA brands—Booking.com, Priceline and Agoda—through a single interface. The new service consolidates what were previously separate ad relationships into one streamlined process....
OpenAI Gives ChatGPT Ads a Visual Upgrade
OpenAI is piloting a visual upgrade to its ChatGPT ad units, adding larger images and optional dynamic call‑to‑action buttons. The company also introduced a dedicated e‑commerce format that can appear in portrait or landscape orientation and supports carousel‑style placements. A...
Publicis’ $3.9B LiveRamp Deal Sparks Industry Questions Over Data Neutrality & AI Power Play
Publicis Groupe announced a $2.55 billion acquisition of data‑activation firm LiveRamp, with the deal slated to close by the end of 2026. LiveRamp will keep its existing leadership and operate as a neutral, interoperable platform, while Publicis frames the purchase as...
Topsort Adds TikTok Offsite Ads, Unifying On‑Site and Social Commerce Media
Topsort unveiled TikTok Offsite Ads, a capability that lets marketplaces and vendors launch TikTok campaigns directly from the Topsort platform. The move extends the AI‑native commerce‑media infrastructure into short‑form video, aiming to simplify workflows and attribution across on‑site and off‑site...
What Google’s AI Optimization Guide Means for Your GEO Strategy
Google released an AI search optimization guide that stresses the same SEO fundamentals—high‑quality, first‑hand content and solid technical health—while debunking popular GEO myths. It clarifies that structured data and content chunking are not required for AI Overviews, but warns against...
Vistar Media Shows 3D Motion Lifts DOOH Brand Awareness by 67%
Vistar Media’s "Science in Motion" report shows that adding motion to digital out‑of‑home (DOOH) ads lifts ad recall by 33% and brand awareness by 50% versus static creatives. Among motion formats, 3D delivers the strongest results, boosting top‑of‑mind awareness 67%...
Mediaocean Names Iván Markman President and COO to Drive AI‑Powered Ad‑Tech Operations
Mediaocean announced Iván Markman as its new President and Chief Operating Officer. Reporting to CEO Bill Wise, Markman will oversee global operational alignment as the firm accelerates AI‑centric advertising solutions. The hire underscores Mediaocean’s push to turn AI research into...
Google’s AI Search Overhaul Could Crush Startup SEO
Google unveiled an AI‑driven overhaul of Search at I/O, adding an AI Mode interface, background information agents, and integrated booking tools. The new experience will read, summarise and organise web content, shifting results from a list of links to AI‑generated...
Built‑Right Digital Launches Scalable Martech Platform for Home‑Service Franchises
Built‑Right Digital introduced a new enterprise‑grade marketing platform that lets home‑service franchise networks combine corporate brand standards with hyper‑local SEO, paid‑media and web‑development. The solution replaces static templates with granular geo‑targeting and flexible micro‑sites, promising higher lead quality for individual...
Unity Vector Expands to D28 ROAS Ad Revenue and Hybrid Monetization Models
Unity announced that its Vector platform now supports two new D28 ROAS campaign types—Ad Revenue ROAS and Hybrid ROAS—completing a full suite that covers in‑app purchases, ad revenue, and mixed monetization. The D28 models predict a user’s 28‑day revenue potential...
‘Momfluencers’ for Hire: Meta’s Campaign to Reshape Its Child Safety Image Faces Scrutiny
Meta has launched a paid Instagram influencer campaign, dubbed "momfluencers," to promote its Teen Accounts safety features amid a wave of child‑safety lawsuits. Influencers like Sadie Robertson Huff and Leroy Garrett posted glowing endorsements, often with only minimal paid‑partnership disclosures....
The New Rules of Search: Key AEO & Content Marketing Trends for 2026 via @Sejournal, @Hethr_campbell
Conductor’s Shannon Vize and Pat Reinhart outlined a roadmap for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) in 2026, emphasizing tactics that boost AI‑generated citations and brand authority across fragmented AI search platforms. The on‑demand session highlighted high‑impact content types, new KPI frameworks,...
Gemini Powers Smarter, Scalable Ads Across Search & YouTube
Incredible to see the announcements out of #GML2026 today, I always think of it as our Ads I/O! Everything we know about marketing is changing right now, and it’s actually a wonderful thing. We’re making Gemini work a lot harder...
Attribution Models Explained: How To Choose and Implement the Right Approach for Your App
Attribution models dictate how app marketers assign credit for installs, in‑app actions, and revenue to specific marketing touchpoints. The guide outlines single‑touch (first‑click, last‑click) and multi‑touch (linear, time‑decay, position‑based) approaches, highlighting how lookback windows and reattribution rules reshape reported performance....
Businesses Boost ROI by Hiring PPC Specialists for Google Ads
Firms are increasingly outsourcing Google Ads to dedicated PPC specialists, with PPC Pros reporting a 100% rise in paid leads in just 1.5 months while lowering cost‑per‑click. The shift reflects a broader demand for data‑driven performance marketing that directly ties...
Shirofune Integrates with ChatGPT Ads
Shirofune, a digital advertising automation platform, has integrated ChatGPT Ads into its suite of supported channels. The new capability lets advertisers manage budgets, bids, creative, and reporting for ChatGPT Ads alongside search, social, and retail media from a single dashboard....
Four Simple LinkedIn Steps Yield $200K/Month
The simplest LinkedIn strategy I've ever seen is also one of the most profitable. @Laraacostar hit $200K/month with just LinkedIn. She did these 4 things consistently, every single week. 1. Education content (positioning) Two specific breakdowns Two broad business tips...
Marketers Admit 90% of Online Trends Are Bot‑Generated, Fueling ‘Dead Internet’ Theory
Industry insiders from agencies like Floodify and Chaotic Good Projects disclosed that the majority of trending content is manufactured by networks of dummy accounts. The revelations bolster the “Dead Internet” theory and threaten the credibility of digital‑marketing metrics.
Google Introduces New Ad Formats In AI Mode via @Sejournal, @Brookeosmundson
Google unveiled two AI‑driven ad formats—Conversational Discovery ads and Highlighted Answers—at its Marketing Live event. Both formats run on the Gemini model and embed sponsored content directly within AI‑generated search responses and recommendation lists. The ads feature an independent AI...
Meet Ask Advisor, Your New AI-Powered Collaborator
Google announced Ask Advisor, an AI‑powered collaborator that unifies data from Google Ads, Analytics and Merchant Center. The tool delivers proactive, personalized recommendations and can launch campaigns from natural‑language prompts, aiming to simplify marketing for both experts and novices. Ask...
Fuel Your Next Wave of Growth on YouTube with Demand Gen
YouTube’s new Demand Gen suite blends AI‑driven video creation with creator partnerships, letting advertisers produce high‑impact ads faster. The platform now supports dynamic product videos via Google Merchant Center and expands inventory to Google Maps, checkout links in nine markets,...
OpenAI Is Allowing Financial Services Brands Into the ChatGPT Ads Pilot
OpenAI is expanding its ChatGPT ads pilot to include financial‑services brands such as Robinhood and BestMoney, marking the first foray into a heavily regulated vertical. The pilot, which launched in February for free and Go‑tier users, originally featured travel advertisers...
Google Reveals First AI Mode Usage Numbers After One Year via @Sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Google’s AI Mode has crossed the 1 billion monthly active user threshold worldwide, with query volume doubling each quarter since its debut. Users now type searches that are three times longer than traditional queries, and follow‑up interactions are rising by more...
The Architecture Behind Trustworthy AI Agents in Advertising
The IAB Tech Lab unveiled AAMP 2.0, delivering production‑ready Buyer and Seller Agent SDKs that embed AI‑driven media buying into existing ad standards. The SDKs provide a shared Events Bus and State Engine, enabling transparent, auditable, and resilient agentic transactions across...
Reddit Dominates B2B Keywords, Exposing Strategy Gap
Reddit is outranking B2B vendors on 4,225 keywords. That’s 957,540 monthly searches where buyers see a thread before they see your brand. We analyzed 8,566 keywords across 14 SaaS domains. In 3 of 4 verticals, Reddit owns 40 to 45 percent of top...
Snapchat Updates Attribution Model, With Focus On App Advertisers
Snapchat is rolling out a beta "Unified Attribution" model that consolidates multiple touchpoints across the consumer journey, giving app advertisers a single view of real‑time performance data. The system syncs Snap’s own metrics with those of mobile measurement partners, enabling...
How Toters’ Unified App Strategy Increased App Opens by 503%
Toters, a Southeast Asian on‑demand delivery platform, consolidated its web, iOS and Android experiences into a single unified app. By leveraging Branch’s deep‑linking and attribution SDK, the company streamlined user journeys and eliminated fragmented onboarding flows. The overhaul triggered a...
Scaling Startups From Zero to Thousands with SEO
When people ask me what's my favorite SEO gig: Taking Startups from Zero to One. Getting a project from a few users to 100s or 1000s of users in a short amount of time is one of my biggest satisfactions. Then, training a...
AI Mode Adds Ads, Gemini Explainers, and Lead Chatbot
Ads coming to AI Mode and Gemini custom explainers next to ads. Also, Business Agent for Leads - lets leads chat with a chatbot based on your website and potentially be turned into leads. Interesting. https://t.co/u9L9MLypZc https://t.co/eW5hC60mXW
Omio Taps Appier’s Agentic AI to Acquire Users in 21 European Markets
Omio has teamed up with AI‑as‑a‑service firm Appier to roll out Agentic AI‑driven paid‑media campaigns across 21 European markets. Within twelve months the travel platform expanded from a single‑country test in Spain to a continent‑wide growth engine, consistently hitting cost‑per‑acquisition...
JPG Designs Marks 15 Years Boosting Rhode Island Businesses' Online Visibility
JPG Designs, a Rhode Island‑based digital‑marketing agency, celebrated its 15th anniversary, highlighting more than 145 five‑star Google reviews and a portfolio spanning construction, legal, healthcare and nonprofit sectors. The milestone underscores the firm’s adaptability to evolving search and AI trends.
Snap Stops Grading Its Own Homework
Snap announced Unified Attribution, a beta product that merges its own first‑party data with mobile measurement partner (MMP) data, starting with AppsFlyer. The feature lets advertisers choose a dual‑optimization mode that credits both Snap’s internal attribution and the MMP’s view....
How to Get Your Brand Recommended by AI: AEO with Julian Lopez
In this episode, Anthony hosts Julian Lopez, a leading expert on Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), to explain how brands can surface as recommended solutions within AI-driven answer engines and generative search experiences. Julian outlines the shift from traditional SEO awareness...
Google’s AI Search Guidelines: What Affiliates Need to Know
Google’s new AI Search guidelines make clear that AI‑generated overviews still depend on traditional SEO signals such as crawlable pages, trustworthy content, and structured data. The documentation warns affiliates against shortcuts like forced content chunking, llms.txt files, and fake brand‑mention...
Mobile Measurement Set the Standard. Web Is Finally Catching Up.
AppsFlyer launched Web Performance Measurement, extending its mobile‑grade attribution infrastructure to web campaigns. The new suite delivers independent, server‑to‑server conversion postbacks, unified reporting across walled‑garden networks, and cross‑platform cost‑and‑revenue tracking. By closing the loop between mobile, desktop and web, marketers...
Q1 2026 Malformed & Fraudulent CTV Bundle IDs Risk Report
Pixalate released its Q1 2026 Connected TV (CTV) Malformed and Fraudulent Bundle IDs Risk Report, covering Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, LG Smart TV, and Samsung Smart TV. The analysis of roughly 2 billion programmatic impressions shows that malformed or unidentified...
When Data Becomes Surveillance: What Meta’s Instagram DM Change Means for Marketers
Meta stripped end‑to‑end encryption from Instagram direct messages on May 8 2026, shifting DMs to standard encryption that the company can read. The move aligns with the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which pressures platforms to monitor exploitative content. While Meta has not announced advertising...
StackAdapt Unveils Next Evolution of AI-Powered Proactive Marketing at Conversion 2026
StackAdapt announced a suite of AI‑driven features at Conversion 2026, including the real‑time Command Centre, the conversational Ivy Studio workspace, a beta AI Video Builder, cross‑channel attribution, and programmatic direct mail for U.S. marketers. The tools aim to cut manual workflow,...
Skillz Q4 2025 Revenue Jumps 67% YoY as RZR Segment Fuels Growth
Skillz Inc. announced Q4 2025 GAAP revenue of $30 million, a 67% year‑over‑year increase and an 11% sequential rise. Adjusted EBITDA loss shrank to $10 million, and the company highlighted a $420 million false‑advertising verdict that could exceed $1.2 billion, while $130 million of debt...
24/7 Digital Marketing Launches Autopilot Enquiry System to Deliver 20‑30 Qualified Leads per Month
24/7 Digital Marketing announced the Autopilot Enquiry System, a six‑pillar AI‑powered platform that guarantees 20‑30 qualified sales enquiries each month for small‑ and mid‑size businesses. The launch marks the agency’s shift from task‑based services to a fully automated revenue engine.
Viant Taps Ad Fontes Media to Bring ‘News Bias’ Targeting to CTV
Viant’s demand‑side platform has partnered with Ad Fontes Media to embed the firm’s reliability‑and‑bias scores into connected‑TV (CTV) inventory. The integration, now live, lets advertisers target individual news shows rather than whole apps or domains. It is the first CTV solution...
How Townsquare and Bonneville Are Playing the Digital Slowdown
Townsquare Media reported a 7% rise in digital advertising in Q1, with programmatic revenue jumping more than 20%, pushing digital to 59% of total revenue and 63% of profit. Borrell’s 2026 Benchmark shows local digital ad growth has decelerated sharply,...
MakeMyTrip Promotes AI Travel Assistant Myra with Aparshakti Khurana in New Ad
MakeMyTrip has rolled out two digital films starring Aparshakti Khurana and Manjot Singh to promote Myra 2.0, its AI‑powered travel assistant. The ads highlight Myra’s ability to manage itinerary choices, accommodation requests and payments through a conversational, voice‑enabled interface. Myra now supports eight...