What’s new in the realms of paid search and social media? This month, Erik Chellberg, VP of Social Media Investment, and Nick Tuttle, Director of Search Media Investment, compiled all the latest news, trends, and resources that advertising pros need to know.
THE NEWS: Elizabeth Reid, Head of Google Search, said in a recent interview with the Financial Times that AI Overviews (AIOs) are giving publishers “higher-quality clicks”—i.e., clicks that result in more time spent on a publisher’s site.
THE CONTEXT: Google’s position on click quality comes amid growing scrutiny over AI overviews. Multiple studies have shown that click-through rate is negatively impacted when AIOs are present. One online education company has even filed a complaint against Google, alleging that AIOs are retaining web traffic that would have gone to its website, thus hurting its business.
EXPERT POV: To mitigate the impacts on organic traffic, marketers can focus on two key strategies. First, create complementary content that answers the next logical question(s) a user might have. Even if this content doesn’t rank in the top 10 traditional search results, it still has a chance of being cited in an AI Overview. Second, don’t treat ranking in search and appearing in AIOs as an either/or scenario. Instead, optimize for both. Then, track your presence in both areas to get a comprehensive picture of your search visibility. – Nick Tuttle | Director, Search Media Investment
Check out How Advertisers Can Adapt to Google’s AI Overviews for more guidance around adapting paid and organic strategies in response to AIOs!
THE NEWS: OpenAI may be planning to introduce advertising within ChatGPT by 2026, despite earlier comments from CEO Sam Altman suggesting the tool would remain ad-free. Internal documents indicate the company expects to generate approximately $1 billion in revenue in 2026 from what it referred to as "free user monetization," a figure projected to reach nearly $25 billion by 2029.
THE CONTEXT: This news comes as analysts praise Google for making clear progress in monetizing generative AI, while others point to Adobe’s slower path to AI monetization as a likely reason for a recent dip in its stock price.
EXPERT POV: The introduction of ads could transform ChatGPT into a more commercially viable platform, offering advertisers access to its estimated 600 million monthly users. It’s important for advertisers to closely monitor the evolution of advertising across generative AI tools to stay abreast of any new opportunities that come down the line. – Heather Crider | VP, Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: In an effort to enhance user experience, YouTube is testing AI Overviews in its search results. This new feature uses AI to find highlights from videos it believes are relevant to a user’s search, displaying them in a carousel format within the results. Currently, this feature is being tested with a small group of US-based YouTube Premium subscribers and is limited to certain English-language queries. YouTube is collecting user feedback through thumbs-up and thumbs-down ratings to assess the feature's effectiveness.
THE CONTEXT: Google, YouTube’s sibling company under Alphabet, initially stumbled through the launch of its text-based AI Overviews due to the feature’s penchant for providing incorrect—and sometimes bizarre—responses. How AIOs on YouTube will be received is to be determined.
EXPERT POV: Announcements made at Google Marketing Live on May 21 showcased the company’s intent to fully integrate paid ads anywhere AI Overviews can be found, which means that advertising opportunities in AIOs on YouTube are likely forthcoming. – Heather Crider | VP, Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: Google is rolling out AI Max for Search campaigns in beta to all advertisers globally, touting a suite of targeting and creative improvements powered by Google AI. Key features include predictive search term matching to surface new high-performing queries, adaptive text asset generation, final URL expansion, location-based targeting, brand controls, and a new URL parameter that provides greater visibility into search terms.
THE CONTEXT: In a Q&A with PPC Chat, Google Ads liaison Ginny Marvin fielded a question about AI Max for Search potentially resulting in a broader range of auctions—raising the risk of inflating advertisers’ annual costs. In response, Marvin said the goal of this new feature is to generate more conversions from new queries at a similar cost. She emphasized that advertisers play a key role in defining the value of a conversion and providing the system with information about their business and customers, thus enabling it to achieve those conversions more quickly and effectively.
EXPERT POV: The implementation of AI Max creates further opportunities to leverage the vast amount of data Google has to grow campaigns beyond what has historically been a keyword-based paid media channel. Think of this as a Performance Max-like upgrade to traditional search campaigns. Advertisers should A/B test AI Max against existing campaigns and monitor performance, keeping an eye on search terms and creative that Google automatically generates to ensure relevance. – Nick Tuttle | Director, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: On the heels of last month’s international launch of ads on Threads, Meta announced at this year’s NewFronts that it will begin testing video ads on the platform. In this beta testing period, a small number of advertisers will trial placing video ads between organic posts in the Threads feed.
THE CONTEXT: The beta follows Meta’s recent announcement that Threads now tops 350 million monthly active users, an increase of 30 million over the previous quarter. In the same NewFronts presentation, Meta also introduced its Reels trending placement, which allows ads to appear attached to the most popular Reels—be it individual videos or trending topics like sports and beauty.
EXPERT POV: Meta has confirmed that they are intentionally keeping the volume of ads in Threads low for now as they test and learn. As a result, advertisers opting into Threads should expect delivery to be low. – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Reddit is introducing human verification checks to combat the rise of AI-generated profiles and content. The move comes in response to a recent study showing that AI bot profiles on the Reddit platform swayed users' opinions on divisive topics. This initiative aims to preserve Reddit's core value of genuine, human-driven discussions, which is increasingly threatened by the proliferation of AI bots and synthetic content.
THE CONTEXT: While the platform seeks to “keep Reddit human,” other social platforms have taken the opposite approach—for example, Meta has experimented with creating its own AI character accounts (which received significant backlash) and shared visions of AI chatbots becoming integrated into users’ online social networks. Meanwhile, generative AI continues to drive the spread of low-quality online content, and several social platforms have rolled back or eliminated their content moderation initiatives.
EXPERT POV: Reddit's implementation of human verification checks is a significant step toward preserving the platform's integrity and user trust. For advertisers, this move ideally enhances the quality of engagement and ensures a safer, more authentic environment for brand messaging. – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: X (formerly Twitter) recently hit a big milestone: One million users are now actively contributing to its Community Notes submission and approval process. This feature relies on crowd-sourced fact-checking, allowing approved contributors to flag posts as false or misleading by adding contextual notes for clarification.
THE CONTEXT: Both Meta and X have significantly changed their content moderation policies, including Meta’s introduction of a Community Notes-like feature in the US. However, one former Twitter executive says there is little to no evidence that Community Notes is effective for harm reduction.
EXPERT POV: Despite the program's growth, studies indicate that a vast majority of submitted notes are never displayed due to the requirement for cross-ideological agreement among contributors, a limitation that can delay or prevent the correction of misleading content. Therefore, while Community Notes represents X's effort to enhance content reliability, advertisers must navigate its implications carefully to optimize their presence and effectiveness on the platform. – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: LinkedIn’s Wire program, which allows brands to place video ads next to trusted publisher content, has been rebranded as BrandLink and expanded to include placements alongside influencer content. The change is driven by the rise of video consumption on the professional social network and the opportunity to monetize that growing engagement.
THE CONTEXT: In addition to LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok each offer unique approaches to creator monetization, and platforms are constantly finding ways to evolve their already robust offerings.
EXPERT POV: LinkedIn's BrandLink expansion is a strategic move that aligns with the platform's professional feel while embracing the growing dynamics of creator-driven media. For advertisers, this presents a new opportunity to engage with LinkedIn’s highly targeted audience through credible and engaging content. Interested advertisers can research the results of the previously tested beta (which produced strong results across the board) and reach out to their LinkedIn representative to determine if BrandLink is right for their brand or clients. – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: After a 26-day ban that began on January 19, 2025, TikTok was reinstated on both major US app stores. The app's return follows President Trump’s executive order granting TikTok a 75-day reprieve to resolve ownership issues. Discussions are ongoing, with a final decision expected before the extension expires in April.
THE CONTEXT: President Trump has also said he wants the app to be owned by at least 50% US investors. The president’s promises to save TikTok represent a 180-degree turn from him backing its ban in his first term.
EXPERT POV: This news should be seen as a small confidence boost for advertisers previously worried about a TikTok ban. Campaigns have continued running as usual, and user growth will likely continue to grow as downloads resume from Apple and Google stores. While the long-term future of the platform is still uncertain, the current administration has shown an eagerness to keep the platform active. That said, it may be prudent to have contingency plans in place in case of future disruptions. – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Meta is undergoing a significant restructuring to prioritize AI development. So far, this shift has involved laying off approximately 4,000 employees, accounting for about 5% of its global workforce. Concurrently, Meta is expediting the recruitment of AI engineers.
THE CONTEXT: This move aligns with Meta's broader strategy to integrate AI across its platforms. The company has been investing heavily in AI, with plans to spend $65 billion on AI development this year. In addition to workforce changes, Meta is reorganizing its business structure, including merging the Facebook and Messenger teams and integrating the Reality Labs division more closely with its main operations.
EXPERT POV: Restructuring and re-prioritization at Meta presents advertisers with both opportunities and challenges. On the positive side, advertisers should see increased efficiencies as expanded AI-driven ad solutions focused on reducing manual workload hit the platform (i.e., Advantage+ shopping). Conversely, these layoffs may cause a temporary slowdown in Meta’s ad services and support. As a result, advertisers should be cognizant of possible delays in communication around technical issues and platform updates. – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: In conjunction with Safer Internet Day, TikTok introduced a new Digital Safety and Privacy Guide to inform users about how to enhance their security and privacy in the app. Accessible within the app by typing "check my settings" in the search bar and selecting "learn more" on the banner, the guide offers a comprehensive overview of available safety features, including practical tips to help users—especially parents—manage privacy settings and establish appropriate usage guidelines for their children. This initiative aims to alleviate concerns about the platform's safety by empowering users to customize their experience according to their preferences.
THE CONTEXT: TikTok's safety initiative comes amid continued scrutiny of social platforms' effects on users, especially younger ones, as well as a looming lawsuit against Meta, filed by 33 US states’ attorneys general, accusing Meta of fueling teen mental health problems. TikTok's approach follows similar moves by Meta and Snap, which have published and updated their safety measures and available resources.
EXPERT POV: While improved safety and privacy for users is undoubtedly a net positive overall, advertisers should monitor for any potential impacts on targeting and data. If large segments of users adjust their privacy settings to be more restrictive, there could be future rollbacks to audience targeting capabilities. – Erik Chellberg VP | Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google has released updates to Performance Max designed to increase transparency and advertiser controls. Key updates include added controls for guiding AI in campaigns, enhanced search reporting, and new segmentation options for asset group reporting.
THE CONTEXT: So many of last year’s Performance Max updates favored Google’s AI and machine learning over advertiser oversight. Whether it’s an olive branch, a tug-of-war, or a cat-and-mouse game, this newest move is likely a strategic response to advertisers’ frustration over losing that oversight and their desire for more control and transparency.
EXPERT POV: If its lack of transparency has limited Performance Max investment for some advertisers, now may be the time for them to give it another test. That said, it remains to be seen if these changes will truly provide the transparency and control advertisers want. – Jesse Foley | VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Microsoft Advertising introduced several enhancements to its Performance Max campaigns, many of which were available for other campaign types. The enhancements include LinkedIn profile targeting, conversion value rules, new customer acquisition goal strategies, and new reporting features with more granular detail by audience segment and asset.
THE CONTEXT: While Microsoft’s ad business is relatively small, the company is hoping to make its Performance Max offering more attractive to advertisers via regular updates like these.
EXPERT POV: While Microsoft Ads has a smaller audience, it tends to be more affluent, meaning that it can be a great area of investment for higher-ticket price retailers. So, if limited capabilities have been holding you back, Q2 is a great time to test Microsoft's version of Performance Max. – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google has improved the Google Merchant Center by restoring filtered product downloads, returning a needed efficiency to inventory management.
THE CONTEXT: After a previous update that removed the filtered product download option, clients had to sift through large data exports to troubleshoot specific product listings, optimize categories, and analyze portions of their inventory. With this update, they can now export only the necessary product subsets instead of downloading entire product feeds, making the process easier to manage.
EXPERT POV: This update simplifies product data management within Google Merchant Center, reducing reliance on third-party tools like Feedonomics. With filtered product downloads, advertisers and merchants can efficiently manage their feeds, focusing on optimizing specific product subsets without navigating large data exports. This leads to faster troubleshooting, improved inventory management, and more precise category optimization, ultimately enhancing ad performance and efficiency. – Sofia Petrovsky | Director of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Starting in March, Demand Gen campaigns will gain additional placements and inventory options, including the ability to serve vertical video ads on YouTube Shorts and extend reach through Google Display Network. New product feed experiences, designed to drive deeper product discovery, will also become available.
THE CONTEXT: This appears to be an evolution of last year’s announcement that Video Action Campaigns would merge into Demand Gen campaigns in early 2025. The update is likely meant to help Google compete for social advertising dollars—Google touts Demand Gen campaigns as ideal for social advertisers thanks to the reported trustworthiness of YouTube ads and the fact that consumers frequently use the platform to research products and brands.
EXPERT POV: These updates to Demand Gen campaigns present new opportunities for advertisers to expand reach and engagement across key platforms. The ability to serve vertical video ads exclusively on YouTube Shorts allows for more tailored, mobile-first creative strategies, while expanded inventory on the Google Display Network increases visibility and awareness. Additionally, new product feed experiences will enhance product discovery, making it easier to connect with high-intent audiences and drive conversions. – Sofia Petrovsky | Director of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Pinterest is launching new product features to help users find, save, and shop for their holiday gifts, including the ability to create personalized, shoppable wish lists and share gift ideas within the platform. Pinterest is also offering shoppers more than a thousand curated gift guides across 27 categories by partnering with celebrities, creators, and brands.
THE CONTEXT: Pinterest has been working to ride the growing wave of shoppable social media for years now, releasing several new product features and advertising opportunities. The platform’s efforts appear to be paying off, with Q3 2024 revenue increasing by 18% year over year.
EXPERT POV: “Pinterest’s new product features align with the mindset of its user base, people on a journey of seeking inspiration. We see this to be especially true around the gift-giving and holiday-hosting season. Brands can take advantage of these features from both an organic and paid standpoint. With features like "quick save," Pinterest is streamlining the process for users to save products they've discovered, and brands can capitalize on that with tactics like pin engagement retargeting or promotional creative messaging to help users continue down the path to purchase and increase overall conversion opportunities.” – Jenny Lewis | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Meta is revising its ad-free subscription option in Europe to comply with the European Union’s evolving data protection requirements. In response to regulatory pressures, Meta has lowered the subscription cost by 40. Additionally, it’s added an option allowing free-tier users to opt for "less personalized" ads. The new option limits data sharing, but also comes with unskippable ad breaks and less relevant ads, which may ultimately prove to be less appealing to users.
THE CONTEXT: These revisions come after EU regulators called Meta’s subscription offer a “pay or consent” scheme and a breach of the Digital Markets Act, saying it doesn’t give users much of a choice at all between paying a monthly fee or giving more personal data to Meta for targeted advertising.
EXPERT POV: “Advertisers using Meta in the EU should be cognizant of lower potential reach among target audiences compared to historical initiatives, given that a larger percentage of the more than 400 million Meta users in Europe may be tempted to begin paying the smaller monthly fee to avoid ads within their daily scrolling. Additionally, be mindful of possible performance dips due to Meta giving nonpaying European users the option to see ads that are less personalized. It is doubtful that Meta will publicize how many users ultimately opt into this feature. Still, we would not be surprised if cost metrics—especially CPMs—start to increase across campaigns that target a potentially dwindling pool of European users.” – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google announced it will no longer display political advertisements in the European Union, adding the EU to a growing list of regions where the company has already halted the practice, including France, Canada, and Brazil. The decision is in response to the EU's new Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulations—which are intended to curb election interference and enhance voter decision-making—that Google says will create operational and legal challenges.
THE CONTEXT: This is far from Google’s first scrape with EU policymakers, including an ongoing investigation over anti-competitive practices and, in a rare win, Google getting a €1.49 billion antitrust fine overturned. And that’s to say nothing of Google’s ongoing legal headaches in the US.
EXPERT POV: “This move won't affect most American advertisers, but it's something EU political advertisers must certainly keep in mind. In general, those advertisers should review the reach and targeting opportunities in other channels while, at the same time, maintaining their awareness of government and platform policy changes, as the risks for noncompliance are high.” – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: As we enter the holiday shopping season, consumers can now search for specific products within Google Maps and find nearby stores with that product in stock. Product categories available to search include home goods, electronics, apparel, and grocery store items. Google Maps pulls from Google Merchant Center product feeds to serve these results, expanding the inventory of shopping results from just Google Search and Google Shopping to now include Google Maps.
THE CONTEXT: This expands the available inventory for a business’ Google Merchant Center product feed beyond Google Search, Shopping, Images, and YouTube. It’s also one of several recently released Google Maps features or feature improvements, many of which are beneficial for route planning and more informed driving.
EXPERT POV: “This update to Google Maps now makes it even more important for advertisers with brick-and-mortar locations to keep their Google Merchant Center feed current. Shoppers on the go can easily discover what’s available in local stores, so ensuring your product feed is up to date—especially during the busy holiday season—helps make your inventory more visible to shoppers nearby who are ready to purchase.” – Alyssa Theo | Director, Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: Google has introduced confidential matching, a feature that leverages confidential computing to enhance the security of advertisers' first-party data. This technology processes data within Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), ensuring that even Google cannot access the information during processing. Confidential matching is now the default for Customer Match, requiring no additional action from advertisers.
THE CONTEXT: Data privacy continues to be a top concern for consumers, advertisers, and legislators alike, as consumers’ trust in tech companies diminishes, those companies try to earn it back, and privacy-focused digital advertising regulations continue to evolve.
EXPERT POV: Privacy concerns are a real and relevant concern for advertisers (your search team has likely mentioned "enhanced conversions” a hundred times!). As privacy concerns war with the need for data, any step in the direction of providing that data in a privacy-safe way is a good one. – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Earlier this month, X officially launched a beta version of X TV. This new TV app is X's move toward positioning itself as a video-first platform. Ad offerings are not available yet, though X has noted that they will be rolled out soon.
THE CONTEXT: Amidst the fragmenting/merging/“great rebundling” of streaming services, YouTube now tops the share of time spent with TV in the US. Not so coincidentally, X’s new offering looks a lot like the YouTube TV app.
EXPERT POV: Ad revenue on X has steadily declined from its peak in 2022, and with many projecting a continued decline year over year given the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the company, I hypothesize X will aim to monetize its new video platform sooner rather than later. Advertisers, stay tuned! - Erik Chellberg | VP of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: As a new way to encourage engagement on Instagram, Meta is rolling out comments on Stories. These comments will be visible to anyone who views the Story content, and will be displayed along the bottom of the frame so as not to be intrusive to users. If post creators prefer, commenting on their Stories can be switched off.
THE CONTEXT: Over the years, Instagram has continuously added features like these to formats like Reels and Stories to encourage engagement, and perhaps also to reduce passive scrolling. Engagement is good for business: More ways for users to interact means more ways for Instagram to understand user behavior and preferences, tailor content accordingly, and ultimately keep users on the platform for longer periods of time.
EXPERT POV: For anyone who has been paying attention to the updates Meta has been making to its suite of products over the past half-decade, this update comes as no surprise. Time on site rules supreme for social media platforms, and with Instagram already producing an average stay-on-site of over 3 minutes, the ability for users to comment on Stories may yield even more time on site for the average user. For any advertisers historically averse to running on Instagram Stories, now would be a good time to test out this placement, as doing so will open additional avenues for user interaction, which can lead to improved brand affinity and stronger paid efforts. - Erik Chellberg | VP of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google Ads plans to merge its Video Action Campaigns (VAC) into its Demand Gen campaign type in Q2 2025. This will offer advertisers expanded reach, creative flexibility, enhanced audience targeting, and more.
THE CONTEXT: Whereas Video Action Campaign ads typically ran on Google’s video-friendly sibling channel, YouTube, this fold-in to Demand Gen will expand inventory across Google platforms and into external partners and outside properties. No telling if this in response to questions of Google’s video ad quality or the antitrust lawsuit leveled against Google by the US Department of Justice, which in part accuses the tech giant of favoring its own ad inventory—or if it’s simply another case of Google’s affinity for infusing AI into its newest ad products.
EXPERT POV: Google will introduce a migration tool in Q1 of 2025 and will force migration in Q2 2025. Migrating manually and adding assets for the additional ad formats Demand Gen offers will expand reach into available inventory. Testing and optimizing Demand Gen campaigns with video and image assets ahead of the migration could make results more efficient in preparation for when Video Action Campaigns are officially sunset. - Alexa Dillon | VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google Ads’ Enhanced CPC (eCPC) bidding option will be removed for new Display and Search campaigns in October 2024, and all remaining campaigns using the strategy will transition to Manual CPC bidding by March 2025. This change effectively removes advertisers’ ability to lightly experiment with automated adjustments of campaigns set to manual bidding, in favor of newer Google Ads machine learning options and advanced automated bidding strategies.
THE CONTEXT: Google made the same move with Shopping campaigns last year, claiming that new, more advanced strategies like Target ROAS, Maximize Conversion Value, and Performance Max helped achieve the same or improved results, thanks to its enhanced technology. This is part of a larger trend of platforms pulling back on the manual controls they offer advertisers, instead pushing them towards more automated and AI-driven tools.
EXPERT POV: Rather than automatically migrating eCPC campaigns to manual CPC, consider testing the more advanced automated bidding strategies first. Determine whether click, conversion, or conversion value bidding is most in line with your objective and begin an experiment to measure whether a fully automated bidding option can improve your performance. The experiment results can inform whether to move fully to an automated bid strategy or migrate to manual CPC. - Alexa Dillon | VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Starting in November, advertisers with Google’s Gambling and Games certification must be recertified if they have undergone significant changes to applicable product offerings, regulatory compliance, or licensing. Failure to do so will lead to immediate Google Ads account suspension.
THE CONTEXT: The timing of this announcement lined up with the start of the NFL season and has direct effects on many of today’s popular online betting and gambling websites. The change also comes amidst concerns over traditional and some nontraditional gambling advertisers targeting younger consumers and other vulnerable populations.
EXPERT POV: Advertisers in the gambling industry should closely review the Google Ads Gambling and Gaming policy and understand which segments of the policy are applicable to their business. If certification is required and there are significant changes to product offerings, regulatory compliance, or licensing, be transparent with your advertising partners so they can help submit new certifications when applicable and prevent the risk of account suspension. - Alexa Dillon | VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: As a new way to encourage engagement on Instagram, Meta is rolling out comments on Stories. These comments will be visible to anyone who views the Story content, and will be displayed along the bottom of the frame so as not to be intrusive to users. If post creators prefer, commenting on their Stories can be switched off.
THE CONTEXT: Over the years, Instagram has continuously added features like these to formats like Reels and Stories to encourage engagement, and perhaps also to reduce passive scrolling. Engagement is good for business: More ways for users to interact means more ways for Instagram to understand user behavior and preferences, tailor content accordingly, and ultimately keep users on the platform for longer periods of time.
EXPERT POV: For anyone who has been paying attention to the updates Meta has been making to its suite of products over the past half-decade, this update comes as no surprise. Time on site rules supreme for social media platforms, and with Instagram already producing an average stay-on-site of over 3 minutes, the ability for users to comment on Stories may yield even more time on site for the average user. For any advertisers historically averse to running on Instagram Stories, now would be a good time to test out this placement, as doing so will open additional avenues for user interaction, which can lead to improved brand affinity and stronger paid efforts. - Erik Chellberg | VP of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: A shorter season (five fewer shopping days) between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year means one thing for marketers: It's crunch time! Consumers are already planning their holiday purchases, and here, Google provides insights—geared around what the company calls a consumer mindset framework—to help advertisers stay ahead of their holiday strategy.
THE CONTEXT: While the number of days between Thanksgiving and Christmas is short (26, to be exact), consumers’ holiday shopping season essentially starts on October 1, meaning Google’s “deliberate” planning mindset is just on the horizon. Marketers who start planning now will be better positioned to earn their share of expected retail sales growth, forecast between 2.3% and 3.3%, if not as much as 4.8%.
EXPERT POV: While Cyber Week is the highly anticipated peak of holiday season purchases, more consumers are beginning to shop and hunt for deals early. A holistic approach to reaching customers throughout their research and purchase journey, then, is key during the holiday season. Pairing campaign types—such as Search, YouTube, and Shopping or Performance Max—that support different phases of the purchase funnel will help you stay top of mind with consumers through their whole journey. - Alexa Dillon | VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Despite competition from generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Microsoft's Copilot, recent data suggests that Google Search traffic has not only held steady, but grew by 1.4% from May 2023 to May 2024.
THE CONTEXT: While Google is still the dominant force in the search space, it’s battling several threats to that dominance—a significant one being its recent loss of the DOJ’s antitrust suit against it, which found that the company illegally leveraged its power to suppress competitors and hinder innovation in the search space. While Google doesn’t appear to be losing traffic as a result of genAI platforms yet, several experts believe AI is more of a threat (or at least more of an urgent threat) than the antitrust suit loss, with Gartner forecasting a 25% drop in search engine volume in just two years thanks to chatbot-like applications.
EXPERT POV: Google continues to innovate its search experience in an effort to stay relevant in the face of AI—for example, by creating snackable results that engage consumers (and younger consumers at that) on Google itself. I think it’s going to be years before we see a true impact on Google on both the “generative AI taking away a large share” and “effects of a pending lawsuit” fronts. - Lindsay Martin, Group VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google’s AI Overviews (formerly Search Generative Experience, or SGE) search results now match its organic top 10 results a whopping 99.5% of the time. An algorithm update appears to be responsible for this change, as Google may now be incorporating more traditional search ranking signals as part of its custom Gemini AI model.
THE CONTEXT: This is a major turnaround from earlier this year, when the answers generated by SGE didn’t match links from the top 10 organic search results a majority of the time, which resulted in less authoritative and trustworthy content.
EXPERT POV: The verdict is still out as to what these AI Overviews mean for clicks and click-through rates. I’m eager to see how Google chooses to monetize these results, knowing that it’s on the roadmap. - Lindsay Martin, Group VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google has provided several back-to-school shopping options that include virtual clothing try-on experiences, photo-based product searching options, and high-ranking product results that display the discounts and sale prices shoppers seek.
THE CONTEXT: With the rise of shoppable media—as evident by consumer adoption, the additions of shoppable features on Pinterest and TikTok, and agency pros’ beliefs that shoppable video and AR/VR are “the next frontier”—it’s no surprise that Google wants in the game.
EXPERT POV: Features such as Google Lens and Circle to Search could be seen as “shortcuts” for consumers to identify products of interest. In other words, consumers may buy with fewer clicks. Keep in mind that these experiences are optimized towards mobile; therefore, the mobile purchase experience—including fast load times and mobile-friendly storefronts—is key. Optimized product feeds and high-quality photos and videos are also important. Lastly, take advantage of sale price annotations and local inventory ads to help stand out in highly competitive periods. - Lindsay Martin, Group VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Meta has now removed detailed targeting exclusions as an option for all new campaigns. Detailed targeting exclusions allowed advertisers to exclude people from their target audience based on demographics, interests, and/or behaviors. The intent for those exclusions was that advertisers would better refine their audiences, but Meta found through its own testing that they limited ad effectiveness rather than improved performance.
THE CONTEXT: Advertisers were made aware of this change months ago… sort of. In May, some Meta advertisers received an alert stating that detailed targeting exclusions would be removed in June. Meta claimed the alert was the result of a bug and that the company had no plans for immediate changes.
EXPERT POV: This shift in targeting abilities may cause some concern, but Meta’s AI system is becoming more advanced by the day. Meta shared that, in its own testing, the median cost per conversion for ad campaigns improved by 22.6% when detailed targeting exclusions were removed. Rest assured, if excluding audiences is of high priority, there are alternative exclusion options that can be set within account-level advertising settings. However, I recommend advertisers hold off on applying any settings to see how their campaigns do. You never know: Performance may come as a pleasant surprise. - Lauren Brown, Director of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Meta has unveiled plans to update its approach to ad campaign measurement and attribution. These updates include adding segment-level conversion values within campaigns, a new opt-in attribution setting that optimizes for incremental conversions, and the option to integrate data directly from a CRM to give Meta more insights for targeting. The company says these updates will help connect advertisers’ Meta ads to conversions while also giving Meta more data points to work with for campaign optimization.
THE CONTEXT: These changes appear to put some of Meta’s levers back in the hands of advertisers, which may be a welcome change for advertisers concerned that Advantage+ has taken away too much of their control.
EXPERT POV: With any big change, there is usually a period of adjustment, and that’s likely what’s going to happen here. Advertisers will likely see a dip in performance as Meta’s system ramps up with this update. Don’t panic: The numbers will adjust themselves and hopefully show the improvement Meta intends. - Lauren Brown, Director of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google announced new insights for AI-powered campaigns, including Performance Max, taking the stance that creative is likely the largest opportunity to maximize the success of this campaign type. Insights include conversion data at the asset level, which can inform future creative development; improved image-editing capabilities using AI; and new creative partnerships with brands like Canva and Typeface to help with creative development at scale.
THE CONTEXT: Google isn’t the only platform encouraging advertisers to use its genAI tools for content creation—many others, including Meta, LinkedIn, and TikTok, have rolled out AI-powered ad creative tools for image and text generation in the past year. Of course, as these tools and technologies are still relatively new and come with distinct risks, advertisers should set up quality control systems for any AI-driven content creation.
EXPERT POV: We know that Performance Max has left brands and marketers with very little control over campaign optimizations or how and where their ads serve. Creative reporting within PMax is also still a challenge regardless of this update, and we’re still waiting for Google to consider adding features that help advertisers match their brands’ creative styles and guidelines. At the same time, Google has made fantastic strides in PMax campaigns in terms of performance, and I would recommend this ad format for any CPA- or ROAS-based advertiser. - Lindsay Martin, Group VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Reddit has introduced its own Lead Gen Ads option, allowing marketers to collect prospective customer information directly through their in-app promotions. Reddit also revealed a new integration with Zapier, which will simplify the process of transferring lead information from Reddit directly into your preferred CRM.
THE CONTEXT: With a growing monthly average user base of incredibly engaged and passionate Redditors, the platform’s leaders have stated aspirations to lead in various advertising types and targeting techniques, including efforts in performance and measurement beyond branding and community growth.
EXPERT POV: While lead gen ads are not a new product in the social world, this is a big leap forward for Reddit as it continues to grow its product offerings and become more competitive against other social platforms. While Redditors are extremely loyal to Reddit, that doesn’t mean advertisers should dive right in without a strategy. The last thing you want is a flock of Redditors giving you a thumbs down on your ad. - Lauren Brown, Director of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: After years of shifting promises and timelines, Google won't deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome after all. Instead, the tech giant is working on a “new experience” that will let users make informed decisions about cookie use and privacy across their web browsing, with settings they can adjust any time.
THE CONTEXT: Despite this change in Google’s cookie plans, consumers, regulators, and tech platforms alike are still pushing our industry towards a privacy-first paradigm. Bonus: Check out this video for even more context around Google’s announcement and what it means for advertisers.
EXPERT POV: This is undoubtedly a huge pivot for Google, but it doesn’t change the fact that advertisers still need to embrace cookieless solutions and privacy-first advertising. Google’s enhanced conversion tracking, which uses hashed first-party data to help supplement cookie-based conversion tracking, is one option that I’d recommend advertisers test and learn on. – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Italy’s competition and consumer watchdog group is investigating Google, saying the company uses misleading practices to collect user data and link it to other data across its platforms including Google Search, YouTube, Chrome, and Maps.
THE CONTEXT: In early March, Google became subject to the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which sets guidelines for how internet platforms like Google, Meta, and others are allowed to collect and use consumer data. Shortly after the Digital Markets Act took effect, the EU began an investigation into Google’s parent company, Alphabet, for what they characterize as anti-competitive business practices. This is all part of a larger trend of regulators cracking down on Big Tech.
EXPERT POV: This is the fourth time Google has been charged with antitrust law violations and, unless they change their practices, the investigations are likely to continue. It’s a high-stakes issue for Google, as 77.8% of its income is from advertising. It’s important to stay up-to-date on these types of regulatory developments, as the results of these investigations could have significant impacts for advertisers. – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Meta has launched Llama 3.1, the largest open-source AI model, claiming it outperforms GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet. With 405 billion parameters, it was created using over 16,000 Nvidia GPUs and will be integrated into WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Quest headsets. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expects it to surpass ChatGPT in popularity by year-end.
THE CONTEXT: Meta has been in rapid AI development mode this year, rolling out several new generative AI features for advertisers in addition to Llama 3.1. Marketers will, of course, still want to apply human intervention to confirm the accuracy of these features’ output.
EXPERT POV: I expect the biggest players in tech and data to release shiny new variations of their generative AI tools while the AI market grows. That said, brands and advertisers should closely monitor the integration of these tools, especially as Meta continues to develop and promote generative AI tools that dramatically impact ad creation and delivery at the auction (Advantage+ comes to mind). As Meta enhances both user- and advertiser-focused AI tools, both audiences must approach these new capabilities with cautious optimism, leaning into proven strengths and avoiding the pitfalls that often riddle early versions of these tools. – Bryan O’Loughlin | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: On July 1, Apple extended its 30% fee on Facebook and Instagram ad purchases through iOS devices to advertisers globally, a measure that could impact digital advertising costs and strategies in significant ways. Advertisers can avoid the fee by using desktop web browsers, with Meta updating its web platforms to match mobile app functionality.
THE CONTEXT: Critics label the fee as anti-competitive, while Apple defends its right to charge for access to its platform's audience. One of the fee’s critics is Meta’s Director of Privacy & Fairness Policy, Pedro Pavón. He notes that European Union investigators have determined Apple’s fee is in breach of the EU’s Digital Markets Act and that a US federal judge has criticized Apple for not complying with a court order related to its fee structure.
EXPERT POV: Marketers who use an iPhone or iPad to boost an organic post will face the 30% fee, which I anticipate will primarily impact small advertisers and business owners who rely on mobile for convenience and ease of use. Given that this upcharge on ads and boosted posts is avoidable—which may not be obvious to a busy small business owner without context or background for how these platforms work—it's more important than ever that brands work with trusted partners to ensure they can stretch their dollar as far as possible. – Bryan O’Loughlin | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Younger generations are increasingly moving to visually engaging content on social media platforms like TikTok to find what they're looking for, rather than traditional search engines. And it’s not just younger generations: Nearly a quarter of Americans primarily use social media for searches.
THE CONTEXT: This trend echoes another recent report that shows brand discovery on social media outpacing both search and word of mouth, and yet another specifying that Gen Z prefers product discovery through video content (more easily viewed on social) over search. It’s important for advertisers to keep track of significant shifts like these in younger generations’ digital habits in order to reach them effectively.
EXPERT POV: This change is a long time coming and has significant implications for planning and buying, as it blurs the lines between search and social. From a practical perspective, I recommend that marketers focus on video content, especially short form, including vertical video for both TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Advertisers shouldn't skimp on creative or media planning efforts on these platforms, especially as it relates to vertical video and/or keyword planning. With this trend, integrating a marketing approach across search and social is now more important than ever. – Bryan O’Loughlin | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Deloitte’s new report details the impact of the creator economy from the perspectives of creators and influencers, brands, and consumers. One takeaway of note for advertisers: The report found that bonds between consumers and their favorite creators can lead to increased trust between consumers and the brands those creators partner with.
THE CONTEXT: Brands are upping their investment in the creator economy, with 92% planning to increase their spend on creator marketing this year, and 36% planning to spend at least half their entire digital marketing budget in the space.
EXPERT POV: Marketers can no longer afford to sit out on creator marketing. Creator content, whether owned, organic, or sponsored, is here to stay and is fast becoming the key to winning new customers. As we look at investment across social channels, advertisers may need to be wary of platform-managed creator marketplaces, where exclusive contracts can limit brand usage rights across the open internet. – Jess Kaswiner | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Global ad spend across social media platforms is up by a whopping 14.3% year-over-year, making it the leading media channel in the digital ecosystem. This surge is fueled mostly by advertising spend on Meta platforms, which is set to surpass linear TV for the first time in history. The report attributes some incremental increase in social spend to artificial intelligence, suggesting that new tools that automate creative development and media planning, such as Meta Advantage+, are growing in popularity.
THE CONTEXT: The surge in social media ad spend comes on the heels of a rough couple of years for many of the biggest players in the social space, which were marked by plummeting stocks and missed revenue expectations. However, things haven’t turned around for all the major players: While Meta, Pinterest, TikTok, and Snapchat are forecast to enjoy double-digit growth this year, the report notes that X’s revenue woes will continue.
EXPERT POV: Brands show no signs of slowing down their social ad investments. To ensure the social presence of a business acts as a buttress rather than a mere prop, advertisers must understand what that businesses’ audience wants to hear/read/see, while simultaneously differentiating from competitor content. – Jess Kaswiner | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: After screenshots surfaced on social media, Meta confirmed that it’s testing a non-skippable ad unit on Instagram. These new ad breaks will display a countdown timer that stops users from being able to browse through more content on the app until they view the ad. The functionality is similar to YouTube, which requires users to view some ads in full before and in the middle of watching videos. Information about the test is limited, such as where the test is running from a geographic standpoint, or how long the test will run.
THE CONTEXT: With 44% of consumers preferring to learn about products and services through short-form video (where Instagram excels), and 87% of marketers reporting that video has directly increased sales, an unskippable ad unit would likely strengthen the impact of Instagram’s video ad offerings for advertisers.
EXPERT POV: Should this “forced view” ad unit on Instagram become available more broadly, advertisers will have the opportunity to fully capture a user’s attention with guaranteed visibility, which will help to drive awareness and engagement. Brands will want to ensure the content of the unskippable ad is engaging, with clear messaging and CTAs. – Laura Kubiesa | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Young people are increasingly using social apps—TikTok and Instagram in particular—to find products. Gen Z users search social apps primarily for fashion, beauty, food, and craft-related trends, but turn to Google for bigger purchases, places to go, and professional services.
THE CONTEXT: Whether looking to drive sales from younger or older consumers, there’s gold in those social media hills: Both product discovery and purchase happen on social media at rates higher than on messaging apps, video, or through influencers. This trend goes hand in hand with the rise of social search, with over 25% of 18 to 54-year-olds preferring to perform their online searches via social media.
EXPERT POV: The integration of generative AI into search and social platforms is likely to further blur the lines between different types of product discovery channels. By staying informed about these consumer trends, marketers can better navigate the shifting landscape of product/brand discovery and optimize their strategies for maximum impact. – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google announced the launch of the Google TV Network, a network aimed at leveraging Google's vast audience to distribute and monetize TV content. This network is available within the Google Ads platform through YouTube and display campaigns and currently focuses on the six-second bumper ad format, with more formats coming. The platform offers a range of content, including sports, news, and entertainment, and focuses on personalized recommendations and targeted advertising.
THE CONTEXT: This move from Google empowers advertisers to make the most of the rapid growth of free ad-supported television (FAST) channels like Amazon’s Freevee, Pluto, Tubi, and Roku, in light of rising subscription costs for other streaming services.
EXPERT POV: For now, my team is opting in to the Google TV Network within non-skippable and bumper YouTube campaigns. As we see more data coming from this network, we will evaluate whether performance is of high enough quality to continue opting in—I recommend other advertisers do the same. – Heather Crider, VP of Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: On August 30th, Google Ads will complete the rollout of its new design to all markets. New features include a left-side menu that organizes pages into several high-level categories, a more comprehensive search function, and an overall cleaner and more modern-looking UI.
THE CONTEXT: Google trialed two different looks in 2023 before landing on this UI, based on user feedback, for the full rollout.
EXPERT POV: You can expect all the same functionality in the new Google Ads design, but the tools and menus have moved around a bit. Users should adopt the new Google Ads UI early and get as familiar as possible with the various changes, as there will be no way to opt out after August 30th. Certain things have shifted, from tools and menus to more efficient campaign segmentation for Performance Max, and it will take some time for the new navigation to become second nature. – Sofia Petrovsky, Director of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Content at Google Marketing Live 2024 focused on AI-driven updates, including those that enhance creative production and consumer engagement. Key highlights include:
THE CONTEXT: Google has been on an AI tear as of late, adding AI-powered tools meant to help marketers with creative development, campaign management, and seemingly everything in between. Their stated purpose? To respond to an “evolution of [consumer] attention.”
EXPERT POV: This year’s GML was a continued push into AI, adding incremental features to a lot of what was released during GML 2023. Agencies and brand marketing executives should swiftly educate and integrate Google's AI-driven tools to streamline creative production, enhance consumer engagement, and optimize campaign management. By leveraging these advancements, they can achieve deeper customer connections and more efficient marketing outcomes in an increasingly AI-centric landscape. – Robert Kurtz | Group VP, Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: TikTok has been given a deadline of January 19, 2025, to shut down in the United States or sell its assets to a new owner not based in China, or else face a nationwide ban. In the meantime, advertisers and marketers are proceeding with 2025 planning, setting budgets and developing content for the new year, with the future of the popular social media app hanging in the balance.
THE CONTEXT: Coincidentally, January 19, 2025, is also the day before Inauguration Day, when President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into office. Trump has promised to “save” the social media app, which continues to see growing consistent revenue and user growth with every quarter.
EXPERT POV: “As marketers, responding to industry change is just part of the job. As a social media marketer, however, you live for the quick pivot; the “move fast and break things” motto is in your DNA. The key to preparing for a potential ban on TikTok is to have a Plan B ready to go. Be sure not to just shift dollars as a reactive solution but to make thoughtful decisions about who you’re reaching on TikTok and how to reach those segments elsewhere, the objective you’re optimizing toward and if other channels have proven track records for driving your desired action, and ensuring influencer contracts include language for TikTok organic or Spark post substitutions that fulfill their agreement and maximize your investments.” – Jess Kaswiner | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: After years of Washington lawmakers scrutinizing the platform, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that will ban TikTok in the US if its China-based parent company, ByteDance, does not sell the app within a year. Lawmakers say their main concerns are around data privacy and the perceived possibility of “espionage, surveillance, [and] maligned operations”. ByteDance has called this ruling “unconstitutional” and has promised to sue.
THE CONTEXT: If they aren’t successful in court, ByteDance says that they’d rather shut down TikTok in the US than sell the app and its algorithms to an American buyer. A shutdown would be a big deal for advertisers, particularly those working for small- to medium-sized businesses: TikTok recently released a report that claims SMBs using the platform’s free services and paid advertising contributed a total of $24.2 billion to the US GDP last year.
EXPERT POV: Advertising on Tiktok will continue to operate as usual for now. However, with TikTok having risen to the top of the list of social platforms that provide value for SMBs, its political limbo status should cause advertisers to monitor and evaluate existing similar features across other social channels, like YouTube Shorts and Meta's Reels, while also keeping an eye out for any new copycat features or channels that come down the line. – Jenny Lewis | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Since the launch of TikTok Shop in September 2023, reports have suggested that the increase in TikTok Shop content was causing a decline in overall usage of the app. However, many users say they have increased their TikTok usage since TikTok Shop rolled out. Time spent on TikTok is plateauing and new user growth is slowing, but given that the app already has 107.8 million monthly US consumers who spend immense amounts of time on the app, this simply indicates a more mature growth phase.
THE CONTEXT: While time spent on the app and user growth may be slowing, forecasts still show that US adults will spend 58.4 minutes per day on TikTok in 2024, up from 2023 numbers and ahead of every other social media platform for most US social users.
EXPERT POV: While some headlines may infer growth on TikTok is declining, users are still spending a lot of time on the app, which presents a great opportunity for advertisers. Regardless of a brand’s location in the funnel, there’s something for everyone when it comes to advertising on the platform: TopView can be leveraged for boosting reach and awareness, while Video Shopping Ads maximize sales with tailored ads. TikTok is investing in rolling out new paid opportunities and features weekly, and there’s no time like the present for advertisers to ensure they’re capitalizing on the highly active user base and ensuring their paid social strategy encompasses TikTok. – Laura Kubiesa | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: In honor of International Fact-Checking Day, Google highlighted its fact-checking tools and shared expanded features within those tools. “About this image”, for one, appears to be very similar to Reverse Image Search, with additional features that provide information about the image’s history as well as what reputable sites are saying about it. There’s also a new version of “Fact Check Explorer” that allows users to explore images as well as topics and people.
THE CONTEXT: Several of these tools and features were introduced in October 2023; since then, an academic study has questioned the sufficiency of Google’s fact-checking information for most false claims, even as the search engine’s results themselves were deemed “relatively reliable”. Fact-checking is particularly critical today for both advertisers and consumers due to the rise in AI-generated disinformation.
EXPERT POV: For better or worse, AI is becoming a bigger part of the online world, making it much easier for bad actors to create mis- and disinformation, which can quickly erode consumer trust. Tools like this can help by providing users with options to weed out that noise. However, they don't have complete coverage and the results can be unreliable. This puts the onus on advertisers to be as transparent in their messaging as possible to foster trust and prevent misinformation from spreading. – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google’s 2023 Ads Safety Report highlights their efforts to maintain a secure online environment. The search engine suspended or removed 12.7 million advertiser accounts last year—nearly two times the amount from the previous year—and blocked 5.5 billion ads for violating the company’s policies. Key violations included misrepresentation, financial services violations, and malware promotion. Google took several actions in response to these threats, including launching its Ads Transparency Center and updating its suitability controls.
THE CONTEXT: Duncan Lennox, Google VP & GM of Ads Privacy and Safety, cites generative AI as both an opportunity to improve policy enforcement and a challenge—with “bad actors operating with more sophistication, at a greater scale.” Deepfake artificial intelligence has made it cheaper and easier to launch campaigns featuring, for example, fake celebrity endorsements for products and services, which fraudsters have used to scam people out of money and personally identifiable information.
EXPERT POV: While this added safety and security good in general, we at Basis Technologies are seeing more questionable violations that require us to push for re-review. For clients in sensitive verticals like politics, health, and finance, it can make running ads more difficult and time-consuming. Be prepared to file certifications proving your identity and bona fides before your ads go live (or shortly after launch). – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: LinkedIn has confirmed that Pages Messaging is being rolled out to all businesses after initially launching the functionality with some company pages in June 2023. In addition to its direct in-app messaging expansion, LinkedIn is also partnering with various third-party platforms to facilitate company messaging via social management tools (e.g. Hootsuite).
THE CONTEXT: Adding Pages Messaging was a logical step for LinkedIn, as social media activity continues to move to private messaging, 78% of consumers surveyed say they have used a direct messaging tool to interact with a brand, and 86% of those consumers said those direct interactions positively impacted their perception of the company.
EXPERT POV: Company leaders and advertisers alike have long been anticipating this feature’s rollout on LinkedIn. The imperative now is to be ready to react, which means devoting resources to monitoring, responding, and possibly escalating customer concerns. While social media—and, increasingly, DMs on social—are a means of customer service, they can also serve as “free” listening tools to help guide other marketing and advertising efforts, like campaign themes and timely creative swap-outs. – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Instagram is testing out a new way to comment on specific images within a carousel post, with some users able to link their reply to a photo or video based on its assigned number in the display. This update is aimed at driving more focused engagement and encouraging more interaction around each content element, while also clearing up confusion around carousel post comments. Instagram is testing the new carousel tagging option with a limited number of users at this stage.
THE CONTEXT: Instagram carousels already have the highest engagement rate of all post formats. This new feature allows for even more engagement and could lead to strategic engagement opportunities and more learnings for creators, influencers, and brands.
EXPERT POV: Engagement rate rules supreme for Meta—the more a user engages with a brand, the more Meta “rewards” the brand for fostering that in-platform engagement. And with this content-specific engagement, advertisers are afforded more insight into what resonates most with their audience. They can use that information to inform other marketing and advertising collateral, from products to feature in display or shopping ads to tiles that could transfer from high-performing organic content over to high-performing advertising content. – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google’s text ads appear to be showing up at different positions relative to organic results on a search engine results page. While “top ads” have generally appeared above the top organic results, this “definitional change” means top ads may also show below the top organic search results on certain queries. The placement of top ads is dynamic and may change based on the user’s search. Importantly, this will not affect how performance metrics are calculated.
THE CONTEXT: This change seems to be a by-product of Google’s search engine results page continuous scroll functionality, which allows ads to appear in more positions among organic results than just the top, and which has prompted Google to experiment with those positions. To that point, Google has provided tips for advertisers to help improve their ad positions.
EXPERT POV: If ads appear below the top organic results more frequently following this definitional change, we’ll be monitoring for downstream effects on click-through rate and other key metrics. In the meantime, maintaining a focus on ad rank factors such as relevancy remains key to securing top placements. – Alexa Dillon | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google recently launched Solutions, a free tool within Google Ads that automates and simplifies campaign management in an accessible and user-friendly way. It comes with several pre-built automation templates for the campaign management process, including Performance Reporting, Anomaly Detection, URL Validation, Budget Optimization, and Negative Keyword Management—all of which can be customized to meet different advertising needs.
THE CONTEXT: As part of this launch, Google announced it will sunset its manual solutions library. This focus on automation comes on the heels of Google’s new AI-powered approach to displaying responsive search ads and its application of Gemini for text and image generation within Performance Max (which has not been hiccup-free). Overall, the company continues to push advertisers towards automated processes across the campaign life cycle, from creative development, to ad placement, to campaign management.
EXPERT POV: Google continues to create new tools to help free up time for paid search managers to analyze data and make strategic decisions. By starting to use the Solutions tools now, search managers can get ahead on campaign management simplification, allowing them to spend more time on optimizations and recommendations that grow paid search accounts and drive business goals. – Nick Tuttle | Director, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Performance Max (PMax) campaigns are now available globally through Microsoft Advertising. PMax is an automated campaign type that uses artificial intelligence to create ad assets and automate ad optimization across different Microsoft Advertising formats and channels. The company will soon add more automated features, including brand exclusions (for less inflated performance metrics), search insights reports (for greater visibility into user queries), and video assets (for broader creative distribution) to its PMax campaigns.
THE CONTEXT: This global release follows a closed beta launch in May 2023 that Microsoft deemed successful. Time- and resource-strapped marketers who rely on manual efforts may appreciate PMax campaigns’ automated optimizations, even as some position the campaign type, similarly available through Google, as relinquishing control and decision-making power to artificial intelligence.
EXPERT POV: Rolling out PMax campaigns globally is another instance of Microsoft competing with Google, particularly by relying on AI and algorithms that identify when and where someone is most likely to convert. When it comes to the landscape of search advertising, Google is still far and away the most dominant search engine, but Microsoft integrating ChatGPT into Bing helped increase its market share from 6.35% to 8.07% over the past year. When determining whether PMax may be a valuable, additional layer in your search investment, consider your ideal demographic (as older generations are more likely to use Bing) and your vertical (as certain industries, like healthcare and financial services, attract larger shares of older users). – Nick Tuttle | Director, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Reddit is launching a suite of tools, called Reddit Pro, for businesses looking to grow their organic presence on the community-driven platform. Currently in its beta testing phase, Reddit Pro uses AI to help brands identify trending topics and conversations, even allowing them to see when their brand has been mentioned in a subreddit. The suite of features also includes content drafting, scheduling, and reporting tools, as well as the ability to easily turn organic posts into paid advertisements. This is Reddit’s first set of free tools meant to inform businesses’ social media strategies, and the company plans to launch additional features within it later this year.
THE CONTEXT: The Reddit Pro launch came as the company prepared its initial public offering (IPO) at a stock price that valued the company at nearly $6.5 billion. Reddit is likely leveraging this new suite of free tools to entice brands to the platform and turn them into paying advertisers.
EXPERT POV: All eyes are on Reddit as the platform continues to make headlines with news of its successful IPO. Brands looking to connect with a wider audience may want to explore adding this channel to their organic and paid social portfolio. These new Reddit Pro tools—only available to brands that are active on Reddit—grant deeper insight into what Redditors are saying about brands, what aspects of products or businesses are resonating with customers, and which industry topics are trending. For brands not yet using the platform with a u/ (Reddit-speak for “username”) of their own, these new tools may incentivize them to create Reddit profiles and start an “OP” (“original post”) of their own. Pro Tip: Get to know the Reddit lingo! LSHMSFOAIDMT – Jess Kaswiner | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: TikTok has been under the US political microscope for some time, but now it’s ramping up its own political activity: TikTok users were shown a pop-up message earlier this month, urging them to call members of Congress to voice their opposition to a bill that aims to ban the app in the United States if its parent company, the China-based ByteDance, doesn’t sell it. Congress was quickly flooded with phone calls from TikTok users of all ages; the majority of calls, however, were from children. Since then, anonymous sources say some of the calls have turned threatening and concerning.
THE CONTEXT: Less than a week later, the US House of Representatives passed the bill, 352 to 65 in favor of a nationwide TikTok ban if the app isn’t sold, driven by concerns over the data security of US TikTok users. The bill’s future in the Senate is unclear, but President Biden has said he would sign the bill if Congress passes it.
EXPERT POV: While a ban on TikTok in US markets could have significant implications for brands already active on the platform—especially those leveraging it for influencer marketing and e-commerce sales—daily active usage is not showing any signs of slowing. The recent developments around TikTok highlight a continuing concern with and focus on data privacy in the digital advertising space. Taking a step back from TikTok specifically, this situation underscores the importance of diversification in media planning. In the short term, however, Committee and House votes are the beginning, not the end, of a long process. – Jess Kaswiner | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Pinterest’s recent campaign, “The P is for Performance,” touts the platform’s full-funnel approach to advertising, including lower-funnel case studies that show as much as a 28% increase in conversions and up to a 96% increase in traffic for its advertisers. Pinterest’s performance products include mobile deep links and direct links, making it easier for users to convert, plus shopping ads for greater inspiration and Pinterest API for Conversions for higher reporting visibility.
THE CONTEXT: In years past, Pinterest’s ethos of being a place for discovery has appealed to advertisers seeking upper-funnel awareness for their brands. With this campaign, Pinterest seeks to broaden its draw for advertisers who may only think of it as an upper-funnel platform. The campaign launched shortly after Pinterest released its Q4 2023 earnings, highlighting 12% revenue growth compared to the same period in 2022 and its 11% increase in global monthly active users.
EXPERT POV: Pinterest has thrived as one of the first social platforms to sit in a space that blends paid search and social channels. It’s no surprise that as a historically well-established traffic driver, Pinterest has now set its sights on also fiercely competing in lower-funnel effectiveness. Recent product releases have proven to be fairly low-lift activations for advertisers, particularly in the retail, e-commerce, travel, and professional services industries. Brands can significantly cut down the path to conversion by leveraging Pinterest to display product information, prices, and descriptions directly to their audiences’ feeds via shopping ads and simplify the consumer journey by tapping into direct links. – Jenny Lewis | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Online sales for Cyber Week 2023 were up 7.8% year-over-year, with e-commerce sales totaling $12.4 billion on Cyber Monday. Paid digital marketing was a big driver of that growth, and advertisers are relying more on automated platforms to enhance efficiencies and expedite the scaling of campaigns. On the other hand, with advancements in automation and AI, invalid traffic has become more and more sophisticated over the past three years. One advertiser explained that tackling invalid traffic led to “more stable and predictable growth across our most important paid media channels.”
THE CONTEXT: 22% of ad spend in 2023 (or $84 billion out of a total $382 billion) was lost due to ad fraud. However, $23 billion of that amount would be recoverable with fraud mitigation platforms in place. Given that political advertising for the US presidential election will drive up ad costs at the start of the holiday season, driving efficiencies by leveraging the right technologies will be especially key for advertisers this year.
EXPERT POV: Ad networks aren’t incentivized to crack down on the increased bot traffic we’re seeing due to AI advances and the corresponding ease with which bad actors can create bots. So, the onus is on the marketer to stay alert for signs of high levels of bot traffic. These include high bounce rates and traffic spikes without corresponding conversion increases. Consider ways to block or limit these, like captchas, using conversion-based goals with machine learning bidding, and optimizing landing page content to be very specific to the intended conversion. — Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: The IAB’s new comprehensive consumer privacy study found that nearly 80% of consumers would prefer to get more ads in exchange for not having to pay for websites and apps, and that 90% prefer personalized ads, but that nearly half feel websites and apps aren’t clear enough about how their data is used.
THE CONTEXT: With Google planning to fully deprecate third-party cookies in its Chrome browser by the end of this year, and signal loss across the industry as a result of data privacy concerns, figuring out how to use consumer data in ethical, transparent ways to serve personalized ads to consumers is a must for digital advertisers.
EXPERT POV: The fact that most consumers would rather receive more ads to retain their free access to websites and apps means that advertisers’ digital media investments are well-positioned to reach consumers who find them valuable. Advertisers should take a “test and learn” approach to understand which channels work best given their KPIs and to remain flexible and fluid with budget allocations based on results. —Laura Kubiesa | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google’s responsive search ads rely on artificial intelligence to combine headlines and descriptions based on consumer behavior and predicted outcomes. New AI-powered features allow Google to decide when an ad should display only one headline versus two, with the second headline appearing at the beginning of the ad’s description section. Google can now also supplement or override an advertiser’s manual assets—like images, sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets—with its own AI-generated assets if it feels doing so will help an ad’s performance.
THE CONTEXT: AI’s influence on ad placement and creative continues to grow. Search Engine Land weighed the pros and cons of Google’s update, noting that while it may serve to drive engagement and performance, it also means that advertisers are surrendering more control to Google. At the same time, artificial intelligence tools often don’t perform with 100% accuracy—and as this is a newer feature, advertisers have no benchmark for how much accuracy these specific features can provide.
EXPERT POV: With the increased focus and adoption of AI capabilities in digital media, it’s no surprise Google continues to roll out these features within their campaign types and ad formats. As the industry continues to trend in this direction, getting left behind means being unable to capitalize on the reported improved performance of these AI-powered features. However, many advertisers need to maintain control over the images and copy that run within their ads, so turning off the auto-assets feature within Google Ads may be the better option. Advertisers who aren’t comfortable giving up control can still take advantage of some of the latest updates by testing the new campaign-level headlines and descriptions and scheduling them to run during certain time frames, which can help manage time-sensitive promotional copy. — Alyssa Theo | VP, Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: AI and automation within Meta's ad products, such as its Advantage suite, helped fuel 24% year-over-year growth for Meta's ad business in Q4 2023. The social giant also shared advertiser success stories that included increased revenue and improved performance metrics for brands’ campaigns when they employed Meta’s AI ad tools. Meta plans to expand its generative AI features, including text and image variations, to further enhance advertising capabilities.
THE CONTEXT: Meta, along with every other social platform, is placing a high level of priority on building out further automation and AI solutions that work in tandem with their advertising algorithms to drive strong results for customers while making the lives of marketers easier.
EXPERT POV: In the face of ongoing question marks with Meta’s advertising platform (e.g. third-party cookie deprecation, ATT impacts, and data privacy regulations), capitalizing on AI and automation solutions integrated into the platform is an effective way to manage media campaigns efficiently, expand existing audience targeting to reach engaged new users, and create a high volume of ad iterations for easier creative testing. — Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Pinterest has begun rolling out an integration that allows ads to show on Pinterest via Google’s Ad Manager. The integration will make it so that when Pinterest users come across a Google ad, they’ll be sent to the advertiser’s website to finalize their transaction. This partnership will not only broaden the reach of advertisers using Google Ads but will allow them to engage an active, high-value consumer base.
THE CONTEXT: Pinterest’s stock dipped almost 28% in early February, but bounced back after this Google deal was announced.
EXPERT POV: For those advertisers looking to generate discovery, this new inventory source could be very beneficial. Google is rolling out this new option over the next several quarters, and it will be available within Google’s Ad Manager. As of now, Basis Technologies is waiting to see how this inventory performs to inform future recommendations. — Robert Kurtz | Group VP, Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: TikTok's Marketing Science team partnered with IPG's MAGNA Media Trials to conduct a study of digital video through the lens of TikTok’s impact on its advertisers. Contents of the report include TikTok’s positive effect on brand sentiment and consumer experience, higher engagement with skippable vs. non-skippable video ads, how contextual content adjacency increases ad view time, and the details of TikTok Pulse, a feature that guarantees ad placement next to top-performing organic content.
THE CONTEXT: TikTok has faced several hurdles in the past few years, not the least of which being several countries and US states implementing full or partial bans of the platform. And although TikTok’s growth is slowing, it still led 2023’s list of app downloads and consumer spending.
EXPERT POV: Advertisers are right to prioritize TikTok, given the time users spend on the app per day, averaging 53.8 minutes, and the platform’s abundance of out-of-the-box and accessible ad products, betas, incentives, and platform support. — Alana Putterman, Group VP, Social Media Investment
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Largely speaking, TV was simpler in the days of yore. Sure, there was the stress associated with missing the start of your favorite sitcom (in the days before DVRs or streaming), or the conflict that arose when two of your go-to shows aired opposite one another. But just a decade ago, watching TV was relatively straightforward.
Fast forward to today, and watching your favorite TV content has become an increasingly complex and decision-riddled endeavor.
First, there’s the question of what device to watch on: Your phone? Tablet? Smart TV? Laptop? All of the above (and, perhaps, all at the same time)? Then, there’s the consideration of where to watch: Hulu? Netflix? Disney+? Peacock? YouTube TV? HBO Max Max HBO Max? Or maybe even good ol’ cable? Finally, there’s the choice of just what you’re going to watch—that is, if you have enough decision-making energy left to tune into anything other than your go-to comfort reruns.
For advertisers, this shift in audience habits and emerging opportunities has invited a host of new challenges: Just where, exactly, is my audience? How do I navigate the increased fragmentation of the TV landscape across linear and streaming? And how can I best meet my audience where and when they are watching to fully capitalize on today’s TV advertising opportunities?
This complexity has all culminated in convergent TV: a new mindset for TV advertising wherein strategies extend beyond any individual channel and instead account for the proper balance between traditional/linear TV, over-the-top (OTT) streaming, and connected TV (CTV). And though OTT and CTV are increasingly establishing themselves as forces to be reckoned with among viewers, linear TV still maintains a strong foothold. By understanding the 2025 convergent TV landscape and the innovations shaping it, advertisers can strike the right balance in their TV ad investments and connect with viewers in key moments of impact.
The last few years have seen significant shifts in the convergent TV landscape, including the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes, more streaming platforms releasing their own ad-supported tiers along with new original content, Netflix launching its own in-house adtech platform, an increase in streaming-exclusive live event broadcasts (including MLB and NFL games, comedy specials, late night shows, pro wrestling, and boxing matches), and more.
Alongside these shifts in the TV landscape itself, audience viewership and ad spend trends have evolved as well:
When it comes to viewership, streaming is still on the rise: In March 2025, it amassed 43.8% of all TV usage, up from 38.5% just a year earlier. As streaming grows in popularity, more and more viewers are opting to cut the cord (or, in the case of younger viewers, have never used a cord at all).
At the same time, time spent watching traditional TV is steadily decreasing. From 2020 to 2025, the average time spent with linear TV has dropped by 43 minutes, representing a decrease of nearly 23%. It’s likely not a coincidence that, during that same time period, OTT streaming services have exploded in popularity, and that time spent with CTV has increased by more than 82%. Though connected TV is especially popular with younger generations—Gen Z turns to CTV for more than half of their TV screen time—older viewers are doing a good amount of streaming themselves.
So, just what is driving these trends? Pandemic lockdowns famously helped accelerate the shift toward streaming and drove substantial CTV adoption. And in an age when consumers have grown accustomed to content being available on-demand and on-the-go, the increased convenience and flexibility that streaming offers—not to mention the ability to watch across multiple devices—also plays a significant role.
Additionally, beyond the extensive libraries of classic content that have long lived on streaming platforms, the emergence of new original content produced exclusively for streaming services has further increased the appeal of OTT and CTV. Coupled with a significant slowdown in new scripted content on linear TV in 2023 stemming in part from Hollywood labor strife, it’s not a huge shock that linear TV fell below 50% viewing share for the first time in 2023 and continues to hover at just 44.5% in 2025.
As more and more viewers choose a bundle of streaming services over a bundle of cords, advertisers are following in kind, attempting to connect with audiences precisely where they’re consuming their TV content.
Here’s what the convergent TV advertising landscape looks like in 2025:
This growth in OTT and CTV ad spending has, unsurprisingly, coincided with increased viewership on those platforms, but their advertising appeal extends beyond just eyeballs. With signal loss and privacy-friendly advertising being key considerations for advertisers in 2025, CTV in particular can appeal as a privacy-first haven for digital advertising—after all, CTV has always allowed advertisers to connect with audiences in a targeted and privacy-friendly way.
CTV and OTT also lend themselves to highly targeted advertising, greater flexibility and customization based on user demographics and behaviors, as well as enhanced analytics and measurement capabilities. This is due, in large part, to the growth of programmatic connected TV.
As more households shift toward streaming-first habits, advertisers are gravitating toward programmatic CTV for its flexibility, scale, and efficiency. In 2025, more than 90% of both display and video ad spending on connected TV will be transacted programmatically, with advertisers enticed by its “best of both worlds” value proposition: the ability to connect with consumers on the big screen where they’re streaming, as well as the ability to place those ads in an automated, optimized way thanks to the benefits inherent to programmatic technology.
Beyond reach, programmatic CTV empowers advertisers with greater control over their campaigns, allowing advertising teams to react in real time—adjusting budgets, targeting, and/or creative based on performance. This agility is especially critical amidst today’s economic volatility, where marketers are expected to do more with less and prove results quickly. More recently, advancements in AI are improving the relevance of programmatic CTV campaigns, giving advertisers richer metadata to inform their contextual placements, as well as allowing for more granular reporting.
In the context of convergent TV, programmatic CTV brings the flexibility and precision of digital into the premium, big-screen environment of television. By enabling dynamic, data-driven campaigns, it can help advertisers navigate fragmentation, optimize performance, and build a holistic video strategy.
In 2025, convergent TV presents a significant opportunity to all advertisers—particularly as more and more consumers shift towards streaming.
Across both linear and streaming, live sports advertising continues to be a powerhouse opportunity for advertisers looking to reach large and engaged audiences. And where live events used to be available only via cable/broadcast (think: the Super Bowl being broadcast live exclusively on CBS back in 2010), these events are increasingly being streamed simultaneously via connected TV and on OTT platforms (for instance, Super Bowl LIX being broadcast on Fox, Tubi, and Fubo). Increasingly, games are even being aired exclusively through these streaming services (including NFL playoff games on Peacock and Prime Video, the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight on Netflix, an array of NCAA sporting events airing on ESPN+ and, soon, a large package of NBA and WNBA games set to stream on Prime Video).
In the year ahead, linear will continue to be a majority of viewers’ go-to home for live sports—and, in turn, a great way for advertisers to engage broad and captivated audiences in real-time. But the traditional lines are getting blurrier, and as viewers increasingly turn to streaming for sports and other live events, advertisers can experiment with targeting these audiences via tailored and contextually relevant ads—ensuring their message resonates during these high-impact moments wherever those viewers happen to be tuning in. With the forthcoming launch of ESPN’s new streaming service, those digital opportunities will only continue to expand in the months ahead.
Advertisers also have an array of new and emerging ad-supported tiers available to them on different OTT streaming platforms. Netflix’s ad-supported tier is up to 94 million subscribers, up from 70 million in just November, and Disney reports having 112 million users in the US watching ad-supported content across Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. Add in the fact that Amazon’s ad tier of Prime Video now reaches more than 130 million US customers, and this all amounts to a significant amount of high-quality inventory that advertisers can use to connect with highly engaged audiences. And, by tapping into this inventory via private marketplace deals (PMPs) and programmatic guaranteed, advertisers can align their ads with streaming content most likely to resonate with their unique audience.
Viewers today consume content across a variety of devices—and often, on multiple screens at once. To capture and hold audiences’ attention, many advertisers are embracing interactive elements in their linear TV, OTT, and CTV ads.
Innovations like shoppable ads and QR codes, in particular, can enhance the TV advertising experience and deliver value to consumers and marketers alike. Shoppable TV allows advertisers to seamlessly integrate e-commerce elements into their content, providing viewers with a direct pathway to make purchases. QR codes can play a similar role, offering a quick and convenient way for viewers to access additional information or promotional offers, and giving advertisers an easy way to meaningfully measure impact and attribution for specific ads.
Using these interactive elements allows viewers to instantly act on their interest in a product or service. And, better yet, the features seem to be resonating with audiences, with one study finding that 70% of viewers like TV ads with QR codes and 62% would scan a QR code if they saw one in a relevant ad.
By leaning into new opportunities in the convergent TV landscape to capture and maintain audience attention—and, of course, balancing linear, OTT, and CTV ads with other channels to create a holistic, omnichannel experience for viewers—advertisers can engage with audiences intentionally and elevate their campaigns.
With the waves that artificial intelligence is making across the digital advertising landscape, it’s no surprise that it is also poised to shape the future of convergent TV advertising. Generative AI, in particular, has the potential to revolutionize how ads are targeted, personalized, optimized, and integrated into content, particularly within the streaming landscape.
Take, for instance, contextual targeting. Contextual advertising has long been used in the TV advertising space to align ads with the content viewers are watching. Think: ads for kitchen gadgets during cooking shows, vacation ads during travel programming, home security systems during true crime shows, etc. Prior to recent advancements in AI, contextual targeting was less precise and relied on broader categorizations, such as whether a show was a comedy vs. a drama or was geared towards adults vs. teenagers. Now, with AI-powered contextual targeting, advertisers can tailor ads not just to specific shows, but individual scenes within a show. For example, during a heartwarming family reunion scene in a popular drama series, an AI-driven platform could identify the emotional tone and insert a commercial for a family-oriented product, such as a minivan or a family vacation resort.
At this year’s upfronts and NewFronts, several major streaming players showcased their new AI features:
Generative AI is also enabling dynamic content creation for ads, letting advertisers create countless sets of variables for ad personalization across programmatic channels. For example, a car commercial can be dynamically adjusted to feature different backgrounds, music, and even dialogue, tailored to match the viewer's preferences and viewing habits. If a viewer is watching a suspenseful thriller, the commercial might take on a darker, more intense tone, whereas the same commercial might be lighter and more playful if the viewer is watching a comedy. This level of personalization ensures that advertisements are more engaging and relevant to individual viewers, thereby increasing their effectiveness.
AI's ability to synthesize vast amounts of data and create highly personalized content extends beyond just visuals and tone. It can also adapt messaging based on demographic data, viewer behavior, and real-time feedback. This means that an ad campaign can continuously evolve, optimizing itself to better resonate with its audience. For example, if data shows that a particular segment of viewers responds better to humorous content, AI can adjust the ad to incorporate more humor, making it more appealing to that specific audience.
The next several years will continue to see evolution in the convergent TV landscape, as the shift from linear dominance to streaming supremacy continues. Advertisers who navigate this complex terrain with agility, embracing the emerging trends and opportunities, are poised to make the most of this transformative era in TV advertising.
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Looking for a deeper dive into how TV advertising fits into a holistic video advertising strategy? Explore how savvy advertising teams can leverage digital video channels effectively and cohesively to create customer journeys that engage audiences and inspire action with Video Unleashed: The Ultimate Guide to Digital Video Advertising.
Economic pressures are mounting across the advertising industry.
The sector saw its fifth straight month of job losses in April, while growth predictions for the year have been downgraded. This decline is partly driven by a steep dive in consumer sentiment, which is now 26.5% lower than at the start of the year and at the second-lowest level ever recorded. Amidst this turbulence, more than 60% of advertisers expect their budgets to shrink between 6% and 10%.
Agencies, in particular, are feeling the effects of this volatility. As marketing budgets stagnate or shrink, clients want faster results, greater transparency, and clear performance outcomes to justify their investment. It’s no surprise that these challenges are intensifying the strain on client-agency relationships.
At the same time, internal teams at agencies are stretched thin. Many are navigating siloed and disconnected systems that hinder efficiency, making it difficult to meet brands’ heightened expectations.
In the face of these challenges, prioritizing an efficient, unified tech stack is one of the most effective ways agency leaders can set their teams up for success. Tools that automate mundane and routine tasks, consolidate reporting, and provide clear performance data can improve efficiency, strengthen client relationships, and empower teams to prioritize high value work over busy work. Agency leaders who invest in the right tools in 2025 can not only stabilize operations amidst today’s economic uncertainty but also build the foundation for long-term resilience and success.
Even before the current wave of economic volatility, client-agency relationships were under significant strain. A recent study found that 51% of agencies feel their client relationships are more strained today than they were just two years ago.
This tension has only intensified with today’s uncertainty, as brands face their own internal scrutiny around marketing investments and thus expect their agency partners to be faster, leaner, and more transparent.
“Brands have long challenged how agencies operate—from pricing models and delivery timelines to showing real results and business impact,” says Michael Thill, Basis’ VP of Agency Development.
Today, agencies are operating in a high-stakes environment where trust is fragile and expectations are incredibly high. This strain is further amplified by the fact that agency professionals feel their work is getting more difficult: Annual planning cycles are giving way to quarterly pivots—in part as a result of economic uncertainty—and there’s growing demand for real-time performance updates that tie media investments directly to business results.
“When everything’s in flux, clients want answers,” says Thill. “If agencies can’t move quickly and adapt, brands will get frustrated. And since brands need to prove ROI, they won’t hesitate to switch to an agency that can help them do that.”
Agencies, then, sit at a crossroads: They can either continue to overload teams and hope for different results, or they can make meaningful changes that improve how work gets done. The smarter path forward is for agency leaders to innovate: streamlining workflows, boosting efficiency, and empowering teams to focus on the high-value, strategic work that clients expect.
One of the most effective ways to unlock that transformation? Investing in the right tech.
Today’s agencies operate in an increasingly complex tech environment. More than half of agency professionals report using eight or more tools to manage campaigns, with 40% juggling 10 or more. While each tool is intended to serve a distinct and meaningful purpose, the resulting point-solution tech stack sprawl creates costly inefficiency: fragmented workflows, redundant tasks, inconsistent data, and operational bottlenecks that slow down decision-making.
These inefficiencies come at a steep cost—especially in times of economic pressure. “When budgets are tight and every dollar matters, mistakes and delays become even more costly,” says Thill. “You simply can’t afford to waste time reconciling data across multiple platforms or managing manual processes.”
Agency decision-makers echo that sentiment, citing inefficient processes and disconnected systems as their top operational challenges. Beyond lost time, these fragmented tools cut into margins and make it more difficult to deliver the performance and transparency clients expect.
Alternatively, an integrated tech stack can help consolidate functions, eliminate redundancies, and serve as a single source of truth. Automated advertising platforms, for example, are one powerful way to unify campaign planning, execution, reporting, and optimization. By streamlining these processes, they can empower agency teams to work smarter and focus on the strategic tasks that make their jobs fulfilling.
Take, for instance, the benefits of consolidated reporting. Without a unified platform, agencies often find themselves scrambling to gather data from multiple sources when a client makes a last-minute or time-sensitive request. This process is not only time-consuming, but also prone to errors—leaving agencies vulnerable to mistakes under pressure. Alternatively, an automated platform streamlines this process by providing all necessary reports in one place, eliminating the scramble and reducing the likelihood of mistakes. This efficiency gives agencies a competitive edge, enabling them to respond to client needs quickly, accurately, and with confidence.
As the digital advertising landscape evolves, agency leaders appear to recognize the importance of investing in technology to stay ahead. More than 75% of agency leaders say they plan to invest in AI over the next 12 months, with automation being the second biggest investment priority. In this context, the right technology is no longer just a tool to improve efficiency—it’s a competitive differentiator that enables agencies to deliver better results with greater precision, allowing them to scale efficiently, differentiate their services, and remain agile amidst uncertainty.
“Tech is a stabilizer,” says Thill. “Whether you’re winning new business or navigating losses, it keeps the team moving.”
Of course, there can be understandable hesitation around making new tech investments during economic uncertainty. Why would an agency leader want to spend more at a time when they’re trying to cut costs? “There’s no denying the time and cost of investing in tech,” says Thill. “But it can address many of the challenges agencies face right now.”
While it may seem counterintuitive to invest in new technology during times of economic uncertainty, such investments can allow teams to not only survive today’s demands, but also prepare for success in the long term.
By investing in tech today, agencies can leverage these tools to become more efficient, reduce waste, and deliver higher value to clients in ways that can be a significant differentiator.
Agencies are already spending resources, whether on human capital, training, tech, or operational costs. The key is to invest wisely. With a streamlined, efficient tech stack, agencies can strengthen client relationships, demonstrate their value, ease the workload for their teams, and stay ahead of the curve.
“The technology that enhances stability today can serve as a springboard for agency growth once the economic turbulence settles,” says Thill.
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Want more insights into the state of agency work in 2025? We conducted a comprehensive survey of hundreds of professionals at leading advertising agencies to dig into current challenges, strategic priorities, and future outlooks
As economic turbulence adds to the financial pressures weighing on agencies, marketing leaders are facing difficult decisions around staffing. In just the past five months, the ad market has lost an average of 1,400 jobs each month. Yet even amidst these cutbacks, talent retention must remain a critical priority.
To begin with, as teams get leaner, holding onto experienced, high-performing employees is more important than ever. At the same time, voluntary turnover remains a concern: Over half of agency professionals say they are open to finding a new job within the next 12 months, a number that jumps to 79.5% among entry- to mid-level employees. While higher rates of job seeking are predictable for junior level talent, they also reflect agencies’ struggle to engage and retain Gen Z workers. And though economic volatility is likely encouraging many agency employees to prioritize professional stability and stay put in their current roles, it also puts all the more pressure on agency leaders to avoid the steep time and financial costs associated with turnover.
Talent retention starts with improving job satisfaction and fulfillment. With a growing majority of agency professionals (60.8%) saying digital advertising has gotten harder in just the past two years and 76.6% feeling their individual jobs have grown more challenging, agency leaders must first understand the root causes—and then find ways to help their employees feel supported and fulfilled amidst these mounting difficulties.
The increasingly difficult nature of agency work stems largely from the many challenges facing advertising agencies today.
To start, there’s the growing complexity of the media landscape. “We’ve seen a resurgence of fragmentation in the industry—take streaming services and retail media networks, for example,” says Michael Olson, EVP of Client Development at Basis. “At the same time, agencies are scrambling to figure out how they can bring unique partnerships and inventory sources to the forefront to show that they’re still power players in the industry.”
On top of media fragmentation, agencies are grappling with increased rates from media partners, decreased client budgets, and the rising cost of talent, all of which have resulted in shrinking margins. To cope, agencies are increasingly offshoring and outsourcing work to drive down costs, and can even end up overselling and underbidding to keep their businesses afloat. Unfortunately, these financial pressures and the strategies agencies are using to protect their margins are also adding to the rising difficulty of work for agency workers.
The many challenges agencies have grappled with in recent years have trickled down to their employees, making their daily tasks more difficult and less fulfilling, and reducing the quality of workplace culture at agencies.
A fragmented media landscape has led to inefficiency throughout the campaign process. Over half of agency professionals’ tech stacks consist of eight or more tools, with 40% of agency marketers relying on 10+ tools to manage campaigns. In this context, 45.1% of agency leaders name siloed and disconnected systems as one of the biggest challenges facing their organizations.
Many teams wind up doing repetitive tasks to connect these disparate systems—for example, manually standardizing and unifying data sets from multiple sources. “They’re stuck working off of antiquated software, juggling spreadsheets, and doing data entry work that’s completely unfulfilling,” says Olson.
And even as outsourcing certain types of work can free up agency employees to focus on more strategic and fulfilling tasks, it can add additional complexity as well. “It's not as simple as reassigning tasks to external teams and completely removing them from the internal team’s plate,” says Kelly Boyle, Group VP of Strategic Business Outcomes at Basis. “The internal agency team still needs to oversee and QA the outsourced work. And when you have teams working in silos, and possibly vastly different time zones, there can be breakdowns in communication and context that create complexity.”
In an effort to land clients in a highly competitive landscape, some agencies can also end up overselling and underbidding. While it may lead to new business, the practice can leave employees overextended and stretched thin. One VP-level agency veteran shared that “High workloads have a huge impact on workers’ mental health—I’ve worked at agencies where I’d see at least one of my coworkers crying on a weekly basis.”
The rise of remote work—and subsequent return-to-office (RTO) orders—has exacerbated many of these challenges, with agencies often struggling to establish strong workplace cultures in hybrid/remote-first environments. Indeed, a desire to revitalize workplace culture lies behind many agencies’ decisions to call their employees back into the office in the first place.
At the same time, those RTO mandates have been met with significant resistance. After WPP implemented a policy mandating that team members must work in-office four days per week, employees started a petition to reverse the decision, which has subsequently garnered over 20,000 signatures. And a 2024 study examining the impact of RTO mandates at Microsoft, SpaceX, and Apple found that they led to an increase in attrition, especially among senior-level employees—an outcome that, in turn, likely had significant impact on productivity, innovation, and competitiveness at those companies. More broadly, the desire for flexibility is strong: 63% of workers across industries are willing to take a pay cut to work remotely, and 43% are more afraid of returning to the office than getting a divorce.
Luckily for agency leaders, there are strategies that can mitigate these challenges by fostering more fulfillment for employees. In meeting their teams’ desire for appreciation, efficiency, flexibility, and opportunities for growth, leaders can create workplace environments where employees want to stay for the long haul.
According to Gallup, appreciation and recognition “might be one of the greatest missed opportunities” for driving performance, engagement, and company loyalty amongst employees. Despite the impact of appreciation, Gallup’s survey found that it’s common for workers to feel that their best efforts are regularly ignored. Even more, workers who don’t get the appreciation and recognition they feel they deserve are twice as likely to say they’ll quit their jobs within the next year. Agencies that take the time to acknowledge their employees’ work and demonstrate their appreciation can have an easier time holding on to their top performers and keep morale high.
“People are willing to go above and beyond in their work, especially when they feel like that work is appreciated,” says Boyle. “It can be as simple as saying, ‘I know you’ve been putting in a lot of hours lately, and I really appreciate it.’”
Research indicates that the most effective way to recognize employees’ contributions is to provide positive honest, authentic, and individualized feedback, and for managers to show appreciation for their workers at least every seven days. Better still is when praise comes from “every direction”—i.e., from their manager, from their manager’s manager, from their peers, and from high-level leaders as well.
If showing appreciation via monetary compensation is in the budget, that can be impactful as well—particularly in situations where promotions aren’t available. “If you come to an employee you don’t want to lose and say, ‘You're doing a phenomenal job. We can’t offer you a new title right now, but we’re going to give you a raise,’ that can have a huge impact,” says Olson.
Ultimately, by creating team cultures rich with appreciation and praise, agency leaders can ensure their teams feel seen and celebrated for the difficult work they’re doing.
Agencies must also ensure they’re providing work environments that are both efficient and conducive to their employees’ best efforts. For example, to bolster efficiency, leaders can set regular check-ins with clients to get clear on what deliverables are necessary.
“Agency leaders should take a step back and ensure employees are focusing their effort on things that deliver value for their clients,” says Boyle. “It’s easy to get caught in the cycle of providing the same reports and deliverables without truly understanding if they’re being utilized to their full extent.”
Leaders can also foster efficiency for their teams by building their tech stacks with employees in mind. “People didn’t get into advertising to sit behind Excel spreadsheets and fix invoices all day,” says Olson “They got into advertising to be creative, smart, strategic, and impactful.” To allow their teams’ workloads to favor those kinds of tasks, agencies can consider investing in CDPs that facilitate the collection, standardization, and usage of first-party data, or in automation technologies that streamline processes and reduce manual labor.
To retain top talent, agency leaders must thoughtfully weigh the chemistry and creative benefits of in-person collaboration with existing research and employee sentiment around return-to-office mandates. Gauging their own workforce’s preferences can not only signal that leadership values employee input, but also help mitigate the costly risks of attrition among those who are unwilling or unable to RTO.
For agencies that do ask their teams to come back into the office, leaders should consider how to make that transition as smooth and conducive as possible. “Employees will be most effective in the office if they have the proper space and technology to work and collaborate, both with others in the office and remote employees.” says Boyle. Given many employees’ reluctance to return, agencies implementing RTO mandates should thoughtfully consider how to ensure their workplaces support productivity and wellbeing.
Lastly, agencies must find creative ways to offer their employees opportunities for professional growth. Mentorship is particularly valued by Gen Z, so setting up programs to match junior-level employees with senior colleagues is one way agency leaders can foster growth. This can also give senior-level employees the opportunity to feel they’re having an impact in their work—which goes a long way, given that burnout isn’t always a result of employees having too much work, but can also occur when employees feel they aren’t having enough impact.
Offering people opportunities to become subject matter experts is another powerful way to provide both professional growth and professional impact, according to Molly Marshall, Business Outcomes Partner at Basis. “Team members can become experts on specific types of clients, or specific types of audiences,” says Marshall. “Becoming a subject matter expert gives employees another way in which they can feel special and needed—it’s something they can take pride in and even talk about with their families and friends.”
Giving employees opportunities to lead by proposing new solutions is another effective way to support their professional growth. “Just because an agency has done something the same way for years doesn’t mean it can’t be improved,” says Olson. “Agencies should welcome employee input and encourage creativity. Your top talent wants to help shape the agency’s future, and their ideas can be a major asset to the business.”
Allowing employees opportunities to own specific projects can also be impactful. "Junior employees are often so focused on meeting the expectations of their manager or clients that they rarely get to put their own spin on a project,” says Boyle. “Ownership allows them to push boundaries and show their unique way of thinking—and it’s also a great way to assess their skills and encourage innovation.”
Of course, agencies must offer career advancement through more traditional routes like promotions as well, but finding other unique ways to make team members feel that there are many opportunities for growth and advancement at their jobs can further counteract some of the difficulties agency workers face today.
A definitive 87.9% of industry professionals believe that AI will radically transform digital advertising in the next 3-5 years. However, 67% of marketing and business professionals have identified insufficient education and training as the primary obstacle to adopting AI. By offering robust training during AI tool rollouts and providing continuing AI education to their teams, agencies can better harness the technology while equipping employees with new skills that serve their professional growth.
In the face of economic volatility and other financial pressures, adopting strategies that improve talent retention must be a top priority for agency leaders. By setting up systems that provide agency workers with regular praise and appreciation, adjusting their workplaces in service of efficiency and employee preferences, and developing a variety of ways for employees to grow, agency leaders can create the kinds of businesses where people want to stay for the long term.
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Want to learn more about how agency professionals feel about their jobs, their industry, and the trends shaping digital advertising today? Check out our 2025 Advertising Agency Report for all the top takeaways from our survey of agency professionals across the US.
Google’s AI Overviews (AIOs) are quickly reshaping search marketing and advertising. As AIO prevalence grows, early data reveal effects on both organic and paid media performance. And while AIOs are still fairly new and studies on their impact are preliminary, these findings provide meaningful insights for search advertisers looking to adapt their strategies.
Since Google introduced AIOs, their prevalence has varied.
When AIOs came out in May 2024, they appeared in about 10% of all Google search queries. Since then, their appearance rate has fluctuated, dropping to a low of 7% in August 2024, but has generally increased. By late February 2025, AIOs appeared in 17% of all Google search queries.
While the prevalence of AIOs is generally increasing, it varies based on the search vertical. The industries most likely to surface AIOs have fluctuated over time, but searches related to healthcare, B2B technology, and education have had some of the highest likelihoods to date. AIO prevalence also depends on the type of query, with research finding that informational queries—specifically, searches starting with the words “what,” why,” and “how”—trigger the vast majority of AIOs, as opposed to navigational, commercial, or transactional queries. Search queries made up of four or more words were also 31.6% more likely to trigger AIO results. This is likely why queries related to healthcare, B2B, and education are more likely to surface AIOs, as many of these searches are informational.
Since the rollout of AIOs, studies have observed a general decrease in organic traffic for publishers.
A 2023 study on the effects of AIOs (then known as Search Generative Experience) across 23 websites found that organic traffic declined by 18% to 64%. A September 2024 study found that organic traffic declined by about 70% when AIOs were present in search results. Interestingly, that same 2024 study also found that links included as AIO sources saw incremental increases in organic click-through rate (CTR) compared to links not cited in AIOs (1.08% vs. 0.6%, respectively). More recently, an April 2025 study found that search results featuring an AI Overview were associated with a 34.5% lower average click-through rate.
Representatives at Google and Bing have claimed that advertisers are getting higher-quality clicks on searches that surface AIOs, since those users get a sneak peek at the page content before clicking. However, as only a few websites are linked in an AIO, only that small number are receiving those higher quality clicks.
Knowing that Google’s AIOs are driving a drop in CTR—as well as allowing more relevant (but often lesser ranked) listings to drive answers—marketing teams may want to develop a separate SEO strategy for appearing in AIOs. The strategy should focus on optimizing content, not just so that it appears as a direct answer to searchers’ inquiries, but in a way that addresses potential follow-up questions while offering context, rationale, and detailed information about the products or services being promoted.
AIOs are affecting paid click-through rates (CTRs) and cost per click (CPC) in much the same way they’re impacting organic traffic: adversely. Ads within AIOs are currently limited to mobile, and placements running on Google Search or Shopping are automatically included—although there’s currently no way to tell how often a brand’s ads are showing in AIOs without a third-party tool such as ZipTie.dev.
A September 2024 study found that AI Overviews in search results led to a sharp decrease in paid ad click-through rates: When an AIO was present, the average paid CTR was 9.87% CTR, compared to 21.27% CTR when an AIO wasn’t present. And as advertisers try to maintain their impression and click volumes in reaction to this shift, CPCs on the queries and keywords that trigger AIOs will increase in turn.
In light of this, advertisers seeking lower CTRs should prioritize conversions over preserving impression share on keywords and queries likely to trigger AIOs. Some of the recent CPC increases tied to AIOs are being driven by efforts to maintain impression volume by raising bids. Focusing on conversions ensures that ad spend is tied to tangible outcomes, rather than being inflated by efforts to maintain visibility.
From a CPC perspective, advertisers can mitigate this impact by focusing bidding strategies on conversion-based goals, like ROAS and CPA, to control the potential costs. If an AIO is present, it will often make sense for advertisers not to try to bid up on that search. While the brand may lose that click, there’s a good chance it wouldn’t have been a high-value click—for example, if the user was solely looking for a definition or doing homework.
The impact of AIOs is still developing in real-time, but early indicators suggest a clear need for strategic adaptation. By developing a strategy for appearing in AIOs—if, of course, it makes sense for the specific keyword/query and brand—as well as focusing on conversion-based goals, advertisers can better navigate shifting user behavior and manage rising CPCs in an evolving search landscape.
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Looking for more insights around how AI is transforming the search landscape? Check out AI and the Future of Search Engine Marketing for a deep dive into how AI is changing search behavior, fragmenting the search market, and impacting paid advertising opportunities.
When it comes to media plans, one of the most engaged digital ecosystems is often overlooked.
With billions of players across the globe, and particularly strong traction with younger audiences, the in-game advertising opportunity is a massive one—yet it’s still flying under the radar for many media buyers. By incorporating gaming within a holistic media mix and treating it as more than just an entertainment channel, advertising teams can both connect with audiences today and build momentum with up-and-coming generations.
Gaming offers broad reach with engaged audiences across generations. In 2025, approximately 57% of the US population is a digital gamer—with penetration being highest among Gen Zers—and average time spent with digital gaming by gamers will reach one hour and 48 minutes per day. Unlike more passive media formats, gaming usually requires players to be actively engaged, offering advertisers a chance to connect in high-attention moments that drive higher brand recall.
However, ad spend on the channel accounts for just 5% of digital advertising budgets, and ad investment still trails significantly behind other digital channels. This disconnect presents a clear opportunity for advertisers: less competition, more share of voice, and greater impact for those willing to invest.
Though gaming spans all age groups, it’s especially embedded in the lives of younger generations. Gen Z holds the highest rate of adoption, with nearly three-quarters forecasted to be digital gamers by 2027. Early indications show that Gen Alpha is also deeply invested in gaming, with 70% gaming four to five times per week. For these younger audiences, gaming is more than a pastime—it’s a social hub and a space to build community.
Reaching younger generations when and where they spend their time is critical, especially as their influence grows. Gen Z is projected to hold $12 trillion in spending power by 2030, while Gen Alpha already drives $300 billion in spending power through parental influence. For brands, building connections and fostering trust now will unlock long-term value.
Gamers aren’t just deeply engaged in gameplay—they’re highly active across the broader media landscape. In fact, weekly gamers are heavier media consumers than the global average and are more likely to engage with all major media types, especially video, streaming music, and social media.
This makes them prime audiences for omnichannel strategies. As digital natives, younger consumers move seamlessly between screens, platforms, and content types throughout the day. Since so many are also digital gamers, in-game advertising can serve as a natural and impactful touchpoint.
For instance, advertisers could reach a Gen Z gamer through in-game product placement, reinforce the message with a podcast ad, and drive conversion through a follow-up video ad on TikTok, YouTube, or another social media platform. With gaming as a core touchpoint, brands and advertisers can create cohesive, multichannel experiences that meet young audiences across multiple platforms and moments of influence.
For Gen Alpha, gaming isn’t just about entertainment. It’s where they socialize, learn, and build community. Where game enthusiasts in general still spend more time on social media than on gaming, Gen Alpha game enthusiasts spend more time on gaming than on social media. And according to the IAB, gaming is expected to become a core part of Gen Alpha’s daily life by 2030, much like social media is for Gen Z today.
For advertisers, adapting to this shift is critical. Brands looking to engage with Gen Alpha should treat gaming as a primary channel, rather than an afterthought. That means developing strategies that show up authentically in-game, aligning with the social dynamics of these platforms, and extending engagement across other digital touchpoints.
Gaming delivers scale, attention, and engagement for advertisers, but it remains underrepresented in ad budgets. Gamers, especially younger ones, aren’t just playing: They’re building community, engaging across platforms, and influencing digital culture. For advertisers, then, gaming presents a unique opportunity that bridges generations, powers omnichannel strategies, and offers a rare chance to build authentic connections in digital spaces that aren’t yet saturated.
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Looking for more insights about how to connect with Gen Alpha as they grow into the next generation of consumers? In our report, Gen Alpha: Online Habits and Media Preferences by the Numbers, we dive into their online behaviors today and what brands need to know to engage them in the future.
The TV upfronts may still be a fixture in the industry calendar, but their influence is shrinking. As streaming viewership continues to rise and more households opt for connected TV (CTV) over traditional channels, advertisers are shifting dollars away from fixed linear commitments. Even more, they’re gravitating towards the reach, efficiency, and flexibility offered by programmatic buying. The clear new winner in this evolving landscape? Programmatic connected TV.
Total CTV ad spending is projected to grow 16.8% in 2025, reaching $33.48 billion (though that growth could become stagnant this year due to tariffs set in place by the Trump Administration). And within that growth, programmatic CTV is a particularly dominant force: More than 90% of both display and video ad spending on CTV will be transacted programmatically in 2025. This shift reflects how advertisers are increasingly embracing ad-supported streaming environments and dynamic, data-driven buying models.
“The biggest change to the way that brands are approaching TV buying now is the flexibility,” says Christina Fortuna, Director of Media Investment at Basis. “With the upfronts, brands used to have to commit a large part of their budget to linear placements early on. With programmatic CTV, they can pivot quickly, adjusting strategy as they go or reacting to market changes in real time.”
In today’s landscape, TV is no longer a locked-in, ‘set it and forget it’ buy. Programmatic CTV puts advertisers in control, with the flexibility to pivot, optimize, and scale on demand. By leaning into this flexibility, leveraging AI, prioritizing brand safety, and embracing new measurement solutions, teams can maximize the programmatic connected TV advertising opportunity in 2025 and beyond.
As programmatic CTV continues to evolve, artificial intelligence is pushing rapid innovation in the space. “While AI has long powered programmatic advertising, recent advancements are enhancing its impact on programmatic CTV specifically,” says Fortuna. “It’s not only driving improved efficiency in both bidding and optimization, but also in contextual targeting and relevancy.”
Historically, the metadata associated with programming on streaming TV has been very broad. Advertisers could see the genre of a TV show, but couldn’t tell if the sentiment was more serious or comedic. “Recent advances in AI are allowing teams to dig deeper into the metadata, providing richer insights around episodes, specific topics mentioned within a show, and visual scenes within the frame. AI is giving advertisers a broader range of contextual targeting within the programmatic CTV space, allowing ads to be more personalized and relevant,” says Fortuna.
For example, providers like IRIS.TV now enable the use of AI-enriched segmenting on programmatic CTV inventory based on the content’s actual context, helping advertisers serve ads that align more precisely with what viewers are watching. And this precision matters: One study found that consumers pay nearly four times more attention to ads that are hyper-relevant to the content on screen. And compared to standard demographic-based targeting, AI-powered contextual ads delivered 300% higher aided brand recall and twice the unaided brand recall.
Additionally, solutions like Peer39 now offer more granular content-level reporting that goes beyond identifying just the app where the ad appeared. “For instance, a programmatic media buyer who previously saw only a broad category like ‘Sports’ in their reports can now access deeper insights—such as the specific sport being played, the teams involved, and even the location of the game,” says Fortuna. This more specific reporting can help teams optimize their programmatic CTV placements and maximize their spending.
As programmatic CTV continues to mature, so too do the tools and strategies available to protect brand safety. This is especially critical in the programmatic space, where automated buying at scale introduces new complexities and potential risks around ad placement. Considering this, the same AI-powered contextual targeting that allows brands to reach audiences with greater precision can support brand safety by empowering greater control over where ads are placed and what types of content they appear alongside.
Focusing on premium programmatic inventory also gives advertisers more control over where their CTV ads appear, making them all the more relevant and impactful for audiences. “In 2025, we’re seeing an increase in activity in the custom PMP space for programmatic CTV buys,” says Fortuna. “Advertisers are refining their inventory sources for programmatic buys to create curated, approved inventory lists—for example, teams can work with supply-side providers (SSPs) to include or exclude certain publishers or verticals based on a client’s specific needs.”
The key? Partner with platforms that work closely with their SSPs to ensure a clean, trusted inventory pool.
Accurate measurement and attribution have long been a challenge in the programmatic CTV space, but providers and measurement partners have made some significant strides to address these gaps.
“Before, we were backed into metrics like reach or completion rate, which don’t tell the full story,” Fortuna says. “With so many brands relying on last-touch attribution models, CTV rarely got credit—it would be search or social instead. That created a feedback loop for investment. But with more sophisticated measurement solutions available, it’s easier to demonstrate the full value of programmatic CTV.”
Some partners now offer QR code integrations to track programmatic CTV impact, while others have expanded their offerings to include outcome-based metrics like incremental lift, brand lift, and brand sentiment. Ultimately, maximizing programmatic CTV measurement in 2025 comes down to choosing the right partners and evaluating which metrics align with campaign goals. With better visibility into impact, advertisers can optimize with confidence, prove the value of programmatic CTV investment, and unlock the full potential of the channel.
Programmatic CTV offers advertisers the big screen, lean-in viewing of traditional linear TV as well as the flexibility, precision, and real-time optimization inherent to programmatic technology. By leveraging advancements in AI-driven contextual targeting and reporting, implementing a strong brand safety plan, and embracing new measurement solutions, advertisers can make the most of programmatic CTV advertising.
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Looking for even more insights on the state of CTV advertising in 2025? In our recent webinar, Mastering CTV: Strategies to Maximize Impact in 2025, Comscore’s Becca Marco joins Basis’ Noor Naseer to break down the latest trends, evolutions, and strategies to help advertisers maximize the channel in 2025 and beyond.
AI is swiftly transforming the search landscape.
As generative AI reshapes the user experience on search giants like Google and Bing and AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT and Perplexity gain traction with consumers, advertisers are preparing for a search landscape whose future looks markedly different than its past.
Although Google still dominates the market, early signs of fragmentation are emerging. Last year, Google’s market share dropped below 90% for the first time since 2015. While much of that volume went to established competitors like Bing, Yandex, and Yahoo, newer AI search agents are gaining ground as well, with Gartner predicting that traditional search engine volume will decline by 25% by 2026 due to chatbot-like applications. Gen AI pioneer ChatGPT is projected to claim 1% of search market share this year, and OpenAI’s SearchGPT—which is currently in beta—could further challenge Google’s supremacy.
Future fragmentation aside, the shift towards conversational interfaces on traditional search engines is already impacting organic traffic and advertising opportunities, leaving media teams questioning how to adapt. To succeed in today’s evolving search landscape and ready themselves for success in the future of search engine marketing, advertising leaders must understand how AI is reshaping user behavior and take proactive measures to evolve how their search teams operate.
AI is driving a fundamental change in how consumers search online. Historically, people have used keywords to search (ex. “Miami beachside hotel.”) But AI is spurring a shift from keyword searching to natural language conversations (ex. "Can you find me a beachside hotel in Miami with vacancy on May 23rd?”) This can be seen with the growing popularity of AI agents like ChatGPT and Perplexity, as well as in traditional search engines with features like Google’s AI overviews (AIOs).
The shift towards conversational interactions could also lead to a larger focus on voice search. Google appears to be embracing the possibility, with a recent update to its Gemini tool that allows users to engage with AI much like they would with another person—similar to how Iron Man talks to Jarvis in the Marvel movies. Manus, an AI agent that recently went viral, is another AI agent that offers advanced conversational voice interactivity, and OpenAI has offered an Advanced Voice Mode since Q3 2024.
As consumer adoption of generative AI increases in the coming years—and competition among companies providing AI-powered chatbots rises—the overall search market will likely grow increasingly fragmented. While we’ll eventually see a decline in the use of traditional search engines, we’ll likely also see a net positive engagement with generative AI-powered search engine-like queries.
Currently, the biggest AI-related change that marketers are seeing with their search performance is a drop in organic traffic from Google and other traditional search engines. Industry experts predict that AIOs could result in as much as a 60% decrease in organic traffic, and an April 2025 study found that search results featuring an AI Overview were associated with a 34.5% lower average clickthrough rate (CTR).
While Google could work to mitigate the drop off in organic traffic with future updates, the current outlook has advertisers and businesses concerned. Earlier this year, education technology company Chegg filed a lawsuit against Google, claiming that AIOs have negatively impacted the company’s traffic and revenue.
AIOs are also making brands feel like they have fewer avenues for effectively leveraging search advertising (at least for the time being). This change might push advertisers to invest more in programmatic, video, and other non-search channels.
In my conversations with brand and agency leaders, I’ve heard an equal amount of fear and excitement around how AI will change both the search landscape and digital advertising as a whole. Ensuring teams grow their AI expertise and increase their familiarity with these new tools is one way organizations can prepare for—and adapt to—the coming changes.
Marketing teams should use AI-powered targeting to continuously test and learn what resonates with target audiences in today’s evolving search environment. This tactic is growing even more important in the context of signal loss, offering a privacy-friendly way to reach target audiences on search platforms like Google and Bing, while simultaneously giving media teams hands-on experience with the machine learning-based systems that are increasingly shaping search. By leaning into these tools now, teams can build the agility and expertise they’ll need to stay competitive as search becomes increasingly AI-driven.
Nearly all (97.7%) advertising agencies are using generative AI today, with 38.6% of agency professionals using it daily and over 90% using it at least weekly. To make the most of the technology, marketing teams should actively experiment with various generative AI tools to better understand how and where they can make the campaign process more efficient and data driven.
At the same time, AI comes with risks such as inaccuracies and bias, and leaders must make sure to put the proper guardrails in place to minimize risk—particularly when it comes to generating creative content and analyzing consumer data.
Google’s Performance Max (PMax) is one of the most prominent examples of how AI is shaping the future of advertising, particularly when it comes to using generative AI to create ads. For instance, within PMax, an advertiser can upload a picture of their product and tell PMax to generate an image of that product on a beach at sunset. PMax will then spit out four variations of that basic image for use in an ensuing campaign. There are some enormous time- and cost-efficiency benefits to this: Advertisers can cut thousands of dollars that would typically be spent on production and go to market much more quickly. They can even download that asset and use it on other channels for greater creative continuity.
While advertisers may not love the levels of control and transparency offered by PMax, using it to test and learn will help marketing teams gain expertise with AI-driven systems and better understand their benefits and drawbacks.
The shift to AI overviews and resulting decline in organic traffic doesn’t mean that brands should deprioritize their SEO efforts. Brands that continue to invest in SEO will be better positioned to have their content featured as a source in Google’s AI overviews, which often include clickable links that drive traffic back to a brand’s site.
However, knowing that Google’s AIOs are driving a drop in clickthrough rate, as well as allowing more relevant—but often lesser ranked—listings to drive answers, marketing teams should also develop a separate strategy for appearing in AIOs. This strategy should focus on optimizing content not just to appear as a direct answer, but also to address potential follow-up questions and offer context, rationale, and detailed information about the products or services being promoted.
One of the greatest benefits that AI offers advertisers is its ability to quickly process and analyze huge amounts of data. As the technology develops, data-related insights will become more widely available, and businesses will need the infrastructure and the know-how to use those insights effectively.
Data-driven cultures prioritize using data to guide decision-making—and invest time, energy, and money into the people, processes, and tools that make it possible. For leaders, this might mean improving data quality and consolidation workflows, conducting audits of all existing data sources (e.g., social media, website analytics, customer surveys, etc.), or investing in a CDP to better capitalize on first-party data.
By investing in AI-powered tools, data-facing teams will be able to generate new insights, improve accuracy, and automate tasks. And because they’ll be using AI for data-related tasks, teams will likely grow increasingly comfortable with these kinds of tools, which will make it easier for organizations to leverage additional AI-powered solutions as they emerge.
With 67% of marketing and business professionals reporting that a lack of education and training is the top barrier to AI adoption, it’s clear that empowering teams with continuing AI education should be a priority for leaders. This is especially true given how rapidly AI is evolving, and how quickly new tools are coming to market. By partnering with vendors or consultants for tailored workshops, creating AI-focused knowledge-sharing forums, and investing in training and education platforms, advertising leaders can grow teams whose AI expertise gives them an edge over their competitors. Advertising leaders should also work to upskill their teams by prioritizing AI-related skills when hiring new employees.
Lastly, leaders should aim to stay on top of news related to how search engines are changing, monitor what new AI-driven advertising opportunities are available, and pay attention to what successes and failures their peers are having with artificial intelligence tools.
In particular, leaders must stay attuned to the potential challenges and pitfalls posed by artificial intelligence. 100% of marketers agree that generative AI presents a brand safety and misinformation risk. A hallucinating AI chatbot, for example, can make up fake “facts” and generate misinformation that can be difficult for content moderation tools to spot, and the resulting content can represent a threat to brand safety.
There are also many unanswered questions related to AI-generated content and copyright infringement—from the legality of chatbots being trained on unlicensed content, to questions around who owns AI-generated media. In the short term, be sure to keep an eye on how the regulatory landscape develops. While we don’t know exactly how governments will legislate the use of these technologies, it’s all but certain that they will eventually take regulatory action, and staying updated on those developments will be critical.
The quickly evolving search landscape asks a lot of marketing and advertising leaders. Advertisers will need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable in the coming years as artificial intelligence moves the industry towards an uncertain future. Teams that use AI to test and learn, grow data driven cultures, and stay learning will have a leg up on those who are less proactive about adapting to how AI is changing search.
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Want to learn more about how your peers are leveraging AI? We surveyed marketing professionals across brands, agencies, and publishers to find out what tasks marketing teams are using AI for, how AI tools are impacting efficiency, how they predict AI will transform the future of marketing, and more. Check out AI and the Future of Marketing for all the findings.
Advertising agencies are experiencing a period of extraordinary transformation, caught between rising client expectations, mounting operational pressures, and revolutionary technological opportunities. To better understand the industry’s greatest obstacles and opportunities, Basis conducted a comprehensive survey of 100s of professionals at leading advertising agencies. The findings offer a window into the brewing challenges, strategic priorities, and future outlook shaping the agency landscape.
Our 2025 Advertising Agency Report explores those findings while providing agency leaders with actionable, data-driven insights to navigate this changing environment and position themselves for sustainable growth in the years ahead.
Here are some of the key findings from the report:
To get more insights into the state of advertising agencies, as well as an in-depth look at key takeaways and strategic opportunities based on the findings, download the full report today.
