Today's Digital Marketing Pulse
Accenture Song Acquires Whalar to Bolster Influencer Marketing
Accenture Song announced the acquisition of Whalar, adding a 170‑person global creator agency and keeping co‑CEOs Emma Harman and Jo Cronk in place. The deal also includes a three‑year strategic partnership that gives Accenture access to Whalar’s talent‑management, technology and venture assets, integrating the creator network with Accenture’s data and AI capabilities.
Social Media Takes Center Stage in Thematic TV Network Communication
Communications Director Benjamin Boiron of France’s M6 Group announced that its thematic channels Téva and Paris Première logged a combined 1.4 billion video views last year, marking a historic digital milestone. The surge was driven by aggressive distribution on Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, turning social platforms into primary discovery engines for the networks’ content. Boiron highlighted that this social‑centric approach is reshaping audience engagement and advertising models for niche television. The strategy signals a broader shift toward integrating linear TV brands with social media ecosystems.
Experiment‑Driven Strategies Grew a YouTube Channel to 14M
Diary of a CEO grew to 14 million subscribers in just a few years. Part of the engine was Grace Miller, Flightcast's Head of Experiments. In this podcast, we'll break down the experiments they ran and how to grow on YouTube in...
How Brands Can Use Creators as Cultural Translators
Creators have become cultural translators, shaping trends and consumer trust on platforms like TikTok. Brands that partner with creators see dramatically higher engagement, exemplified by CeraVe’s 15.4 billion pre‑Super Bowl impressions and a 70 % lift in click‑through rates versus traditional ads....
TF1 Pub Transforms Connected TV Advertising with New Performance Tools
TF1 Pub, the advertising arm of France’s leading broadcaster, unveiled a suite of performance‑focused tools for Connected TV (CTV) campaigns. The new platform combines first‑party audience data, AI‑driven bidding and real‑time attribution to turn CTV into a measurable acquisition channel....
Loyalzoo Unveils Integrated CRM and Advanced Loyalty Functionality for New MX™ POS Smart Terminals
Digital loyalty specialist Loyalzoo has partnered with POS provider Priority to embed its CRM directly into the new MX™ POS terminals. The built‑in solution gives merchants immediate access to customer data, AI‑powered segmentation and tiered loyalty programs without separate installations....
Average Post Views: The Underrated Consistency Metric
What's the most underrated social metric? I'd say Average Post Views. Anyone can go viral. Anyone can make a content calendar. But can your content consistently perform? Can you routinely get views on your videos and static posts? If you wanna dig...
Ahrefs Rolls Out Four Powerful February Product Upgrades
In the six months since joining Ahrefs, I've documented 130+ product updates. Each month I like to share some of my favourites, so here's four from February.... (The carousel on LI has screenshots, but I've tried to attached some images here as...
How Crumbl Leveraged CTV to Drive Mobile App Downloads
Crumbl’s inaugural connected‑TV campaign, run with Samsung Ads, delivered more than 16,000 mobile‑app downloads—213% above its goal—over a seven‑week period. The CTV‑to‑Mobile solution used machine‑learning to place ads across Samsung TV Plus, mastheads and other screen‑first environments. In the first week...
Kale’s Isha Patel: Why Fan-Powered Marketing Works Better Than Average Influencer Campaigns
Isha Patel and Luis Molina founded Kale in 2021 to turn everyday customers into a scalable, trackable marketing channel. Leveraging insights from LinkedIn’s creator ecosystem, Kale offers a fan‑advocacy platform that rewards low‑friction content and provides real‑time analytics. The company’s...
208. Lisen Zethraeus, CMO at Stratsys - How to Make Your Experts the Face of Your Brand
In this episode, CMO Lisen Zethraeus of Stratsys discusses how the company leverages its internal subject‑matter experts to become the public face of its brand, especially in the complex GRC and ESG space. She explains the dual‑track thought‑leadership strategy that...
#paid Partners With Pinterest to Connect Brands With Consumers Through Creator-Led Campaigns
#paid has become an official execution partner for Pinterest’s Idea Ads, linking its creator‑brand matching technology and Handraise workflow with Pinterest’s creator ecosystem. The integration enables creators to self‑select campaigns and produce Idea Ads that blend organic inspiration with paid...
Meta, Google Set to Launch Soon?
SMB advertisers continue to prioritize Google and Meta for ad spend, while also allocating portions to emerging AI products. Morgan Stanley reports a 4% year‑over‑year rise in Google search ad usage and a 13% boost in advertiser ROI. AI Overviews,...
Sky Media Opens Premium VOD Inventory to Programmatic Buying Through DV360
Sky Media announced that its premium video‑on‑demand (VOD) inventory is now available through Google Display & Video 360 (DV360), extending programmatic access across Sky’s owned and partner channels. The offering includes entertainment, drama, sport and news assets such as Sky Atlantic,...
Authority Through Content
Christian Ray Flores, founder of Xponential, warns that content creation is the primary barrier preventing talented leaders from gaining recognition. He introduces two proprietary frameworks—a creative process and an idea‑sticky system—designed to help busy executives produce compelling, differentiated content. A...
What Can Log File Data Tell Me That Tools Can’t? – Ask An SEO via @Sejournal, @HelenPollitt1
The article explains why SEOs should incorporate server log file analysis into their workflow, highlighting that logs capture raw bot and user interactions that other tools miss. It outlines how logs reveal crawl frequency, budget allocation, technical outages, and spoofed...
Digital Remedy Takes on the Biggest Pain in Ad Performance
Digital Remedy launched Echo, a unified measurement platform that aggregates cross‑channel ad data—including CTV, display, audio, DOOH, and search—into a single dashboard. Echo enables marketers to analyze performance at hyper‑local levels such as DMA or ZIP code, compare regional outcomes,...
Why Email Is Now Identity and Deliverability Infrastructure
Email continues to grow its share of digital marketing spend, accounting for 7.4% and delivering 10‑to‑50× ROI, making it a budget‑resilient channel. However, inbox competition and stricter authentication standards have lowered average placement to 83%, turning deliverability into a core...
We Built the Research Tool We Couldn't Find
ScoutMap launches as an on‑demand market‑research platform that delivers a full marketing intelligence report in about 60 seconds. The tool replaces costly agency engagements—often $5,000 to $50,000 and weeks long—with a self‑service solution that outputs audience segments, channel fit, messaging...
Digital Natives Wins KP Snacks Social Media Account
Digital Natives has been awarded the social media account for KP Snacks, a leading UK snack manufacturer. The agency will oversee digital strategy, content creation, and community management for brands such as Tyrrells, KP, and Butterkist. Creativebrief managed the agency...
LinkedIn Runs Two Algorithms—Marketers Must Adapt
https://sparktoro.com/blog/why-linkedin-might-have-two-algorithms-and-why-marketers-should-care/ I suspect many of you who follow me here might be interested in @amandanat's latest breakdown of the LinkedIn's algorithm, and why your posts there might not be getting the traction you expect (happens to me, too)
User Calls Out X's Invasive Ad Targeting Algorithm
OK, X ad targeting algorithm. What are you trying to say about me 🤨🤨🤨 https://t.co/WCa60E6ecR
Google: 404 Crawling Means Google Is Open To More Of Your Content via @Sejournal, @Martinibuster
Google’s John Mueller clarified that repeated crawling of pages returning a 404 status is not a problem and can even be a positive signal. Googlebot continues to revisit 404 URLs for an extended period to verify whether the content has...
McDonald’s Doc Shows Marketers Storytelling Beyond Ads
McDonald’s ‘Meal Ticket’ Basketball Documentary Offers Path for Marketers With Stories Too Big for Commercials https://t.co/EJVbiQi4xA via @variety
YouTube Powers 75% of Non‑Branded B2B Research
Here's a data point that might change your strategy: YouTube drives 47B monthly visits and is one of the top sources cited by AI search. 75% of those citations come from non-branded, educational queries. That’s buyer research fuel. Here's how B2B brands should think...
How to Use TikTok's Verified Business Account Features and Local Feed
In this episode, Michael Stelzner, Jerry Young, and TikTok expert Kenya Kelly break down TikTok’s new Verified Business Account and the upcoming Local Feed. They explain how the free verification ties a profile to a real business, unlocking features like...
Authentic Use + Newsletter Partnerships Drive Instant Conversions
Hi hello this is why if you actually use the product/tool and you do strategic newsletter partnerships, it WILL immediately convert Authenticity factor: Your audience can feel if you're slinging affiliate crap or actually using it Anyhoo I have a great newsletter...
Buying Traffic: Does It Work?
Affiliates are increasingly turning to paid traffic as organic search becomes volatile, but success hinges on a simple margin test: earnings per click must exceed cost per click. High‑ticket SaaS, finance, and insurance offers provide enough commission to absorb higher...
Traditional Channels Beat Digital as ‘Super Touchpoints’
A new DMA and Jicmail report finds traditional media outperform digital in trust, creativity, targeting, and measurement. Channels like TV, radio, out‑of‑home and direct mail—dubbed “Super Touchpoints”—deliver 25% higher effectiveness but are used in only 55% of campaigns. Effectiveness rises...
Digest: Publicis Advises Clients to Avoid The Trade Desk; Meta Misses Illegal Financial Ads; Alibaba Forms New AI Business Group
Publicis Groupe told select clients to pause work with The Trade Desk after an independent audit flagged questionable fee applications and opaque cost reporting. The Trade Desk rejected the allegations, citing confidentiality constraints on the auditor’s data requests. Meanwhile, Meta...
Data Shows Social Selling Replaces SEO and GEO
Why the data shows that social selling is the new SEO / GEO by @Timothy_Hughes https://t.co/uVT5YMhhva @DLAIgnite #SocialSelling #DigitalSelling #Sales #SalesTips #SalesLeader #Salesforce #SalesEnablement #Marketing #Leadership #SEO #GEO #ArtificialIntelligence #TechNews https://t.co/5PW10TOssf
Clarity Beats Fancy: Simple Loom Video Outperforms $5k Production
I spent $5k on a fancy explainer video. It had a 10% view-through rate. I recorded a simple screen-share with Loom. It had a 70% view-through rate and drove sales. The market doesn't care about fancy. It cares about clarity....
Traffic Is Dying as a Media Metric. What Comes Next Is More Important
Recent Growtika analysis of Ahrefs data shows tech media traffic plummeting, with Digital Trends down 97%, ZDNet 90% and The Verge 85% since their peak months. The decline is linked to AI‑driven search, which consolidates answers and reduces clicks to...
Influencer Marketing Around IPL Set to Touch ₹700 Crore in 2026: Report
Influencer marketing tied to the Indian Premier League is projected to hit roughly ₹700 crore by the 2026 season, according to Qoruz. Spending has risen from about ₹250 crore in 2023 to ₹550 crore in 2025, reflecting a 40 % compound annual growth rate....
Marketing Talent Thriving on TikTok, Even without the App
Apparently marketing skills are popping off on TikTok? I don’t even have the app 😅
What Does A Beta Test Of A Sell-Side Agent Look Like?
Publishers are piloting AI‑powered sell‑side agents that use large language models to negotiate and package ad inventory on behalf of sellers. Early adopters such as The Weather Company and Optable have built prototypes leveraging the open Prebid framework and Anthropic’s...
What Does A Beta Test Of A Sell-Side Agent Look Like?
Publishers are experimenting with sell‑side agents—LLM‑powered sales bots that negotiate ad inventory on their behalf. An open‑source framework donated by AdCP to Prebid now lets companies build and test these agents, with early pilots at The Weather Company and data‑clean‑room...
UK Programmatic DOOH Spend to Rise 41% as It Becomes Core to Omnichannel Planning
VIOOH’s 2026 UK programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) report shows the channel now appears in 34% of campaigns, up from 31% in 2024, and is projected to reach 47% within the next 18 months. Marketers anticipate a 41% increase in pDOOH spend,...
Why Programmatic Quality Control Needs To Focus On The Bid Request, Not Domains
Programmatic buyers have traditionally relied on domain‑level whitelists and blacklists to clean up inventory. The article argues that domains are merely containers and that true quality control must happen at the bid‑request level, where signals such as device, geo and...
Why Programmatic Quality Control Needs To Focus On The Bid Request, Not Domains
Programmatic buyers are shifting from traditional domain‑based inventory cleanup to bid‑request level rationalization. The article argues that domains are merely containers and that real quality resides in the signals of each bid request. By focusing on bid rationalization—prioritizing specific request...
How TikTok Shop Predicts Sales
TikTok Shop is emerging as both a discovery engine and a conversion platform for beauty brands, influencing purchases across in‑app, e‑commerce, and physical retail channels. The platform’s halo effect has generated double‑digit growth in brick‑and‑mortar sales and a measurable lift...
AdFest 2026 Releases New Batch of Finalists
AdFest 2026 announced its second round of finalists, adding ten new award categories to the competition. The new categories cover Brand Experience, Digital & Social, Direct, Effective, Outdoor, PR, Sustainable, Digital Craft, Film Craft, and Print & Outdoor Craft. Notable...
TikTok Shop Turns Shopping Into Shoppertainment in New Fishermen Integrated Spot
TikTok Shop partnered with Fishermen Integrated to launch the Ramadan‑Raya campaign “Bazar Direka Untuk …”, turning the shopping journey into a curated shoppertainment experience. The initiative runs from 1 March to 13 March 2026 and blends product curation, creator‑led content, original music and...
AEO/GEO Strategy Dramatically Boosts Impressions
SoOoOoOo the AEO/GEO strategy stuff you keep hearing about *actually* works for increasing impressions in a very big way https://t.co/WkJfoUTEc9
Transparent Ads Preserve Trust; Hidden Sponsorship Harms Credibility
“Native” advertisement, am I right. Ads are fine, as long as it’s clear they’re paid placements. Stuff like this breaks immersion and destroys author trust. Horrible practice.
EYou Secures €300K Pre‑Seed to Launch Trust‑Focused European Social Platform
Romanian startup eYou closed a €300,000 pre‑seed round led by Fil Rouge Capital, funding the development of a European‑first social network that embeds real‑time AI fact‑checking and a user‑editable algorithm. The capital will fuel product build‑out and community growth ahead...
#ThisWeek on MarkLives MEDIA: Media24’s Shift Toward Performance-Led Publishing • #NextWeek: Being Bruce Whitfield
Media24 announced a strategic pivot toward performance‑led publishing, consolidating advertising, content marketing, and data analytics into a single commercial engine. The platform is built to deliver measurable campaign performance rather than relying solely on traditional inventory metrics. By unifying these...
★ ‘Your Frustration Is the Product’
The piece decries how top news sites like The New York Times and The Guardian burden readers with massive page weights, endless ad requests, and intrusive dark‑pattern designs. A NYT article loads 422 network calls and 49 MB of data, while...
YouTube Launches AI-Powered Reimagine Option for Shorts
YouTube introduced Reimagine, an AI‑driven feature for Shorts that converts a single frame into a new eight‑second video using Google’s Veo model. The tool embeds directly into the Shorts editor, offering preset visual variations rather than freeform prompts. It aims...
LinkedIn Adds New Ways for Brands to Tap Into Creator Partnerships
LinkedIn unveiled Premium Creator Sponsorships with Top Voices 360 and expanded its BrandLink suite, giving B2B marketers new ways to partner with influential creators. The platform now lets brands place ads alongside top creator content, bundle BrandLink and Event Ads, and...
Apply Quant Trading Rigor to Paid Advertising
ive literally never thought about this before this is an extremely interesting way to think about ad spend: bringing the rigor of quant trading to paid ads