Instagram to Sell Reels Ads for Viral TV and Movies Content, ‘Cultural Moments’ Like NFL Games and Black Friday
Meta announced that Instagram’s Reels Trending Ads will now include a "TV & movies" category and dedicated line‑ups for cultural moments such as NFL games, Black Friday and Fashion Week. A limited‑alpha reserve‑buy option will let brands secure up to 24‑hour high‑visibility slots during peak events. The company also upgraded its Advantage+ generative‑AI tool to produce UGC‑style videos from single images, adding avatar, voice‑over and translation features. Catalog‑driven video ads on Reels are reported to boost conversions by roughly one‑third.
Multiply Raises $9.5M, Focused on B2B Self-Learning Ads
Multiply, an AI‑native media agency for B2B firms, emerged from stealth with a $9.5 million Series A led by Mayfield. Its self‑learning advertising platform links Google Search and LinkedIn campaigns to sales call recordings, CRM data, and performance metrics, automatically generating and...
Upgrade Your Creative Performance with March’s Demand Gen Drop.
Google’s Demand Gen platform now includes AI‑powered Veo, which turns static images into video ad variations, helping advertisers achieve “Excellent” ad strength. The suite also expands creator partnerships, enabling authentic YouTube Shorts content that lifts conversion rates by roughly 30 %....
Looking to Generate Better B2B Leads? Why Industrial Companies Are Refining Their Strategy
Industrial manufacturers are moving from traditional trade‑show outreach to sophisticated, digital‑first lead generation. Because industrial sales involve multi‑million‑dollar contracts and multiple stakeholders, companies must align precise technical messaging with buyers’ pain points. The article highlights how data‑driven tactics—intent monitoring, account‑based...
Colruyt Partners with Retail Media Platform in Which Ahold Delhaize Holds a Stake
Colruyt Group has teamed up with advertising platform Adhese to accelerate its retail media services, aiming to deliver omnichannel campaigns that leverage first‑party data. The partnership will provide the retailer with technology infrastructure, onboarding support, and scalable campaign management tools....
Podscribe Announces Airchecks for RON Campaigns and Turnkey Tealium Integration
Podscribe unveiled two major upgrades: airchecks that now capture run‑of‑network (RON) podcast campaigns and a turnkey server‑to‑server integration with Tealium’s customer data platform. The RON airchecks use pixel activity and expanded transcription to verify ad placement, deliver brand‑safety signals and...
The Platform Updates You Need to Know From March
Meta will count only link clicks for click‑through attribution, moving likes, shares and saves to a new “engage‑through” category. Spotify launches an interactive BTS ARIRANG campaign and introduces SongDNA, a discovery‑focused music experience. Anghami adds AI‑generated metadata to 2.5 million songs,...
How To Avoid Top Down SEO Systems Failures With The Visibility Governance Maturity Model via @Sejournal, @Theshelleywalsh
Ash Nallawalla warns that most SEO breakdowns stem from missing governance, not poor practitioners. He illustrates the danger with a case where 22 million orphaned pages would take 310 billion years for Googlebot to crawl. To address this, he created the Visibility...
MessageGears Delivers Warehouse-Native Revenue Tracking for Enterprise Marketers With New Cross-Channel Conversion Analytics
MessageGears unveiled a warehouse‑native conversion reporting suite that links campaign performance directly to an organization’s data warehouse. The new capabilities deliver real‑time revenue and purchase attribution across email, SMS, push, in‑app and embedded messaging without adding extra tools. By reading...
Wyndham And Goop Are Using AI To Scale Creative And Avoid Burnout
Wyndham and lifestyle brand Goop have partnered with Adora, an AI‑driven performance‑marketing platform, to automate creative generation and real‑time ad optimization. The system produced over 90 ad variants for Wyndham, tailoring imagery and messaging to 15 audience segments and boosting...
Q4 2025 EMEA Ad Viewability Trends Report
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...
Q4 2025 APAC Ad Viewability Trends Report
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,...
Q4 2025 CTV Ad Supply Chain Trends Report
Pixalate’s Q4 2025 CTV Ad Supply Chain Trends Report, based on over 7 billion programmatic transactions, shows Roku commanding the largest market share of voice (SOV) in North America (32%) and Latin America (30%). Samsung leads in EMEA with 24% SOV while...
Lengthy Middle East War ‘to Cost Ad Industry $93.9bn’
A new WARC study warns that a prolonged Middle East conflict could erase $49.9 bn of advertising growth in 2026 and total $93.9 bn over the next two years. The baseline forecast still expects a 10.4% rise to a $1.32 trn global ad...
VideoWeek Podcast: #56 Rhys McLachlan, ITV
In the latest VideoWeek podcast, ITV’s Director of Advanced Advertising, Rhys McLachlan, detailed the broadcaster’s evolving programmatic strategy. He highlighted ongoing challenges such as fraud and waste in the ecosystem and warned about the "enshittification" of social media platforms. The conversation...
Lipton Drafts in Ice-T to Kick Ass and #RespectThePeach
Lipton has tapped legendary rapper Ice‑T to lead its pan‑European #RespectThePeach campaign, aiming to correct the widespread misuse of the peach emoji for butt references. The initiative rolls out a video message, a new “buttmoji,” TikTok‑friendly audio remixes, and digital...
Are We Due Another Florida-Style Update? Via @Sejournal, @TaylorDanRW
The article warns that the surge of AI‑generated, low‑value pages is recreating conditions that triggered past Google algorithm overhauls such as Florida, Allegra and Brandy. Google’s current suite of continuous signals—Helpful Content, SpamBrain and ongoing core updates—has shifted from single‑day...
Google Ads API Version 23.2 Now Available
Google has launched version 23.2 of the Google Ads API, introducing a new VideoEnhancement resource and refreshed HotelSettingInfo fields. The update follows a rapid release cadence, with version 23.1 arriving in February and earlier versions rolled out monthly since October 2025. Developers must...
Menopause Claims Back Under the Spotlight Following ASA Review
The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has flagged three menopause‑focused supplement brands—Lunera, Minerva Wellness and Nova—for making unauthorized health claims in paid social media ads. The advertisements suggested the products could treat menopause symptoms such as weight gain, hot flushes,...
ChatGPT’s Ad Platform Cannot Tell You If Your Money Is Working: What That Means for Affiliate Budgets
OpenAI will roll out its ChatGPT advertising product to all U.S. free and lower‑cost tier users, but the platform provides virtually no performance data, no automated buying tools, and no reliable attribution. Advertisers must negotiate deals manually and rely on...
![[Industry News] DIVA Agency Launches New Community and Creator Division Dedicated to Fan Engagement, Creator Partnerships and Community Building](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://mcvuk.com/wp-content/uploads/div.png)
[Industry News] DIVA Agency Launches New Community and Creator Division Dedicated to Fan Engagement, Creator Partnerships and Community Building
Diva Agency is launching a dedicated Creator and Community division in March 2026, led by Charlotte Willis, who grew the firm’s influencer business by 300% in 2025. The new team will serve the agency’s global games and entertainment clients, acting as...
HAVAS Red Middle East Launches CRed to Bridge Brands and the Creator Economy
HAVAS Red Middle East has launched CRed, a new creator‑marketing practice that integrates the agency’s PR, influencer and experiential capabilities. CRed aims to shift brand‑creator collaborations from short‑term transactions to long‑term, credibility‑driven partnerships rooted in regional culture. The service will...
Report: CTV Accounts for 50% of Ad Views Across Europe
The FreeWheel Video Marketplace Report for H2 2025 shows Connected TV (CTV) now drives 86% of premium video ad views in the US and 50% in Europe, with ad view volume up 11% year‑over‑year across both regions. European CTV ad views...
Above Digital Shifts Focus to Outcomes-Driven Performance Marketing in 2026
Dubai‑based Above Digital is pivoting from ecommerce to an outcomes‑driven performance‑marketing model that emphasizes revenue‑focused campaigns for service‑based firms, B2B brands, the aesthetics sector and events. The agency is de‑prioritising vanity metrics, instead tracking lead‑to‑sale conversion and actual revenue impact,...
Crunchyroll Drops New Brand Film Featuring Rashmika Mandanna and Shubman Gill
Crunchyroll has launched the second installment of its “Ready to Anime?” brand film in India, starring actress Rashmika Mandanna and cricketer Shubman Gill. The spot dramatizes Gill’s disappointment at an anime’s ending and Mandanna’s reassurance that more content awaits, underscoring the platform’s...
Hashtags Aren’t Dead, They’re Just ‘on Life Support’ as AI Reshapes Discovery
Hashtags remain on platforms but have lost their discovery power as AI-driven algorithms now interpret content directly. TikTok and Instagram prioritize engagement signals, context, and viewer behavior over manual tags. Industry experts say performance hinges on relevance, timing, and the...
Report: Local CTV Reshaping US Ad Market
AdImpact’s first local CTV ad trends report examined 511,000 advertisers across 210 U.S. TV markets in 2025. Markets outside the top 50 generated 52.5% of local CTV impressions while representing only 33% of the TV population. Quarterly data showed Q4...
TXT ‘HAPPY’ to 414: Skinny Turns Customers’ Calls Into Ads in New Campaign via Colenso BBDO
New Zealand telco Skinny, partnered with Colenso BBDO, launched a four‑week campaign that inserts short pre‑recorded ads into customers’ phone calls. Participants text “HAPPY” to 414, opt‑in, and receive up to 10‑second ad breaks during calls, earning entries to win...
Walmart Isn’t Just a Retailer Anymore — It’s an Advertising Powerhouse
Walmart’s advertising division, Walmart Connect, has evolved into a major revenue engine, posting $4.4 billion in 2024—a 27% jump from the prior year. The platform capitalizes on Walmart’s massive first‑party shopper data, delivering ads across its e‑commerce site, in‑store screens, and...
Sachin Malik: How First-Party Data Is Redefining Precision Advertising
First‑party data has become a strategic asset as third‑party cookies disappear, reshaping advertising infrastructure. Sachin Malik, Block’s VP of revenue strategy, cites his experience at Uber, Walmart Connect, and Block’s Cash App and Afterpay to illustrate how transaction‑level signals turn...
Russia Postpones Telegram and YouTube Ad Ban, Easing Pressure on Online Marketing
Russia’s Federal Anti‑Monopoly Service (FAS) has delayed the enforcement of its advertising ban on Telegram and YouTube until December 2026, after pushback from lawmakers and the online‑business sector. The postponement grants a three‑year grace period while the ban on Instagram,...
Allen Media Group To Deploy Anoki ContextIQ
Allen Media Group announced it will integrate Anoki’s ContextIQ AI platform across its streaming assets, covering live news, weather, sports and premium entertainment. The technology provides scene‑level, real‑time content analysis, allowing advertisers to place brand‑safe ads while preserving high‑attention inventory....
Tambourine Reimagines Nevis for a New Era of Luxury Travel, Honored with 2025 Adrian Award
Tambourine, a Fort Lauderdale hospitality marketing firm, earned a Silver 2025 Adrian Award for its comprehensive rebrand and digital overhaul of Nevis. The initiative lifted mobile engagement by 84%, hotel leads by 75%, and restaurant leads by a staggering 2,281%,...
Spectrum Reach Joins DoubleVerify's Certified Transparent Streaming Program
DoubleVerify announced that Charter’s ad‑sales arm Spectrum Reach has become the first partner in its Certified Transparent Streaming program, delivering verified show‑level reporting for streaming TV and CTV inventory. The initiative embeds program‑level data—covering news, live sports, weather and business...
What TikTok’s Volatility Means for Retail Media Planning
TikTok’s uninstall rates have surged roughly 150% as U.S. regulatory uncertainty intensifies, prompting retailers to reassess video spend. The spike highlights the risk of concentrating advertising budgets on a single social feed during critical back‑to‑school and holiday periods. Marketers are...
YouTube Just Lowered the Bar for Affiliate Earnings—Now Creators With 500 Subscribers Can Cash In
YouTube has lowered the entry barrier for its Affiliate Shopping program, now allowing creators with just 500 subscribers to earn commissions on product tags. Eligible creators must also meet YouTube Partner Program criteria, such as three recent uploads and either...
How Lowe’s Creator Network Is Winning over the Next Generation of Shoppers
Lowe’s has rolled out a Creator Network, partnering with top influencers such as YouTuber MrBeast to reach Generation Alpha before they become homeowners. The program, launched in June 2025, offers creators personalized storefronts on Lowe’s site and commissions on sales,...
Meta Expands AI Commerce and Launches Small Business Initiative to Accelerate Adoption
Meta announced AI‑driven commerce upgrades for Facebook and Instagram, adding real‑time summaries of user reviews, brand insights, and product recommendations within ads. The company also rolled out an updated in‑app checkout powered by Stripe and PayPal, with future integrations planned...
Google Analytics Launches Scenario Planner and Projections via @Sejournal, @Brookeosmundson
Google Analytics has introduced two new beta tools—Scenario Planner and Projections—to help advertisers model and monitor paid‑media budgets across Google and non‑Google channels. Scenario Planner lets users simulate future budget allocations and forecast impacts on conversions, revenue, or ROI, while...
Rebuilding Signal, Proving Privacy, and Preparing for Agentic Advertising at Signal Shift NYC 2026
At Signal Shift NYC 2026, IAB Tech Lab highlighted a privacy‑first, agentic‑driven future for digital advertising. The company unveiled its Privacy Standards Portfolio—GPP, TCF, Privacy Taxonomy, DDRF and Accountability Platform—to let firms prove compliance, and introduced the free Privacy Lab...
From Impression to Install: CTV Attribution and the Leadout That Doesn’t Get the Glory
The YouAppi‑Kochava 2026 CTV Growth Guide reveals that connected‑TV (CTV) ads precede search in 96% of install paths and social in 94%, positioning CTV as the true origin of user intent. Despite capturing 17.9% of U.S. media consumption, brands allocate...
Comcast: ‘Redefining Performance TV’ At IAB NewFronts
Comcast Advertising used its IAB NewFronts slot to unveil a new "performance TV" product that unifies targeting and attribution across its premium linear and streaming inventory. The solution promises advertisers more precise audience reach and clearer measurement of campaign outcomes....
5 Ways to Collaborate with Our Agentic Advisors
Google’s suite of AI‑driven advisors—Analytics Advisor and Ads Advisor—lets marketers interact via natural language to extract data insights, troubleshoot campaigns, and generate creative assets. The tools remember prior conversations, delivering increasingly personalized recommendations and surfacing hidden trends without explicit queries....
WealthReach Launches AI SEO and AEO Engine for Advisors
WealthReach has unveiled Attract, an AI‑driven SEO and answer‑engine optimisation (AEO) platform built specifically for registered investment advisors. The tool continuously scans a firm’s website, local search trends and content gaps, then drafts locally‑targeted landing pages and refreshes existing material...
Canto Content Innovation Summit 2026
Canto’s Content Innovation Summit 2026 is a free, one‑day virtual event on April 28, 2026, aimed at marketing, creative, and technology professionals. The summit will explore scaling content operations, human‑centered storytelling, AI‑driven workflow automation, and ecosystem management for multichannel distribution....
Best Klaviyo Alternatives for Revenue Growth and Advanced Analytics
Klaviyo remains a leading CRM for e‑commerce, but its cost and complexity can deter startups. The article highlights three cost‑effective alternatives—Maestra, Brevo, and Omnisend—that deliver advanced analytics and multi‑channel performance tracking. Each platform offers customizable attribution, granular revenue dashboards, and...
Comcast Advertising Launches Outcomes+, a Next Gen Targeting and Attribution Solution Across Traditional and Streaming TV
Comcast Advertising unveiled Outcomes+, an AI‑driven targeting and attribution platform that spans its linear TV, streaming and addressable inventory. The solution leverages deterministic data from over 30 million households—more than 100 million authenticated viewers—and integrates new partnerships with Mastercard, Clarivoy, DISQO, Fandango,...
Independent Agencies Gain Advanced Agentic Media Buying Through New PubMatic and Untapped Growth Collective Partnership
PubMatic and Untapped Growth have partnered to embed independent agencies’ proprietary buyer agents into PubMatic’s AgenticOS platform. The integration gives agencies instant access to billions of premium CTV, mobile and video impressions, over 250 data partners, and GPU‑accelerated infrastructure. Early...
VideoAmp and O-N-X Integration to Bring Data-Driven Buying to Local Broadcast TV
VideoAmp announced an integration with O‑N‑X, embedding its nationwide audience‑measurement dataset into the automated transaction platform for local broadcast TV. The partnership enables predictive delivery intelligence and more stable guaranteed‑impression transactions across all 210 U.S. markets. O‑N‑X, already licensed in...