Latest Marketing & Advertising News
Google expands AI Overview search ads to 11 more countries
Google has expanded **ad placements inside AI Overviews** to 11 additional English-language markets including Australia, Canada, India, and Singapore. Ads are now served based on both query intent and the AI-generated summary context, cannot be opted out of, and lack isolated reporting, forcing marketers to rethink targeting, bidding, and measurement for AI-mediated search.
Global ad market growth upgraded, but concentrated in big tech platforms
WARC’s latest Global Ad Trends analysis reports **stronger-than-expected ad market growth**, now forecast in the high single digits and driven largely by big tech and AI-related investment. Growth is uneven, with large platforms capturing a bigger share of spend and three-quarters of ad revenue now coming from a fragmented long tail of direct advertisers, Chinese platforms, and SMEs.
AI agents and commerce media poised to reshape advertising economics
Industry leaders on WARC’s podcast highlight **AI agents and commerce media** as forthcoming disruptors of consumer journeys and retail media revenues. They predict potential shifts in power among major aggregators like Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and new AI hardware players as AI-driven discovery and buying mature.
IAB Tech Lab publishes roadmap for agentic AI ad standards
IAB Tech Lab has released an **agentic AI roadmap** to extend existing standards such as OpenRTB, AdCOM, OpenDirect, and VAST with protocols like Model Context Protocol and Agent2Agent. The initiative aims to prevent fragmentation as platforms roll out competing AI advertising systems, enabling more interoperable autonomous media buying and measurement.
Yahoo launches Axon autonomous media-buying platform with Netflix inventory
Yahoo has introduced **Axon**, an AI-driven buying platform that taps into Yahoo ConnectID’s 232 million US logged-in users and premium inventory integrations, including Netflix. The roadmap includes progressively more “agentic” features through 2026, signalling a shift from human-managed optimization to proactive autonomous ad buying that will require new workflows and guardrails for brands and agencies.
CTV and streaming emerge as the central TV advertising battleground for 2026
New analysis of **CTV advertising trends** shows that streaming screens, not traditional channels or cord status, are now the core of TV audience and budget strategies. Marketers are focusing on converged TV planning, integration with retail media, and AI-powered creative and measurement to capture shifting viewing behavior across platforms and devices.
Brand safety fears grow around AI-generated content in digital video and social
US digital media experts rank **digital video and social** as top ad investment priorities for 2026, but many remain wary of adjacency to risky or genAI content. Research cited by eMarketer notes that the surrounding content genre shapes perception of ads for 64% of global consumers, and roughly half of US adults say they would reduce social use if AI content proliferates, pushing brands to tighten placement controls and contextual targeting.
Retention and email marketing pivot to AI-driven hyper-personalization
Promodo’s 2026 outlook finds **retention marketing** rising in importance as acquisition costs climb, with AI enabling hyper-personalized segmentation and predictive models in real time. Email, SMS, push, and messaging apps are being orchestrated into unified omnichannel strategies, where automated, behavior-triggered flows drive most repeat purchases and long-term engagement.
Quad forecasts rise of AI-powered discovery and multichannel direct marketing
Quad’s 2026 predictions argue that SEO is shifting from traffic generation to **earning inclusion in AI-powered pathways to purchase** as consumers “ChatGPT it” instead of “Google it.” They also expect integrated, signal-based multichannel direct marketing—combining triggered direct mail with digital channels and dynamic personalization—to become central, while brands balance AI optimization with demand for authentic, human content.
Marketers double down on social and digital video innovation despite risk
A new eMarketer brief shows **social media is a top investment priority for 84% of US digital media experts**, with many seeing it as the biggest innovation opportunity for 2026. To capitalize while managing brand risk, advertisers are leaning more on placement optimization tools, contextual targeting, and independent media-quality metrics like viewability and attention.
Enterprise marketers refocus on content orchestration over volume in the AI era
The Content Marketing Institute’s 2026 enterprise trends discussion emphasizes **content orchestration and alignment** rather than sheer output as AI tools proliferate. Large organizations are being urged to separate efficiency from effectiveness, design operating models that prioritize cross-team coordination, and use data and ABM to create more relevant, consistent experiences at scale.