Marketing tech

Marketing tech

Less than a month before Netflix was set to debut its in-house ad server, VP Nicolle Pangis chatted with our own executive editor, Sarah Sluis, at CTV Connect in March. (Since then, both have taken on new titles: Sluis as editorial director of ad tech and emergent media, and the event as Convergent TV World for 2026.) In addition to finally revealing a name - Netflix Ad Suite, or NAS for short - Pangis also teased what buyers could expect once they were able to buy Netflix ads through the new product.

Scott Brinker's Martech for 2026 report offers a lucid map of the terrain GTM teams must now navigate: a marketplace no longer defined by sequential buyer journeys, increasingly shaped by agentic AI, destabilized by volatility and governed by nonlinear patterns of evaluation and decision-making. Yet during the same period in which martech blossomed into a sophisticated, multi-layered discipline, GTM effectiveness collapsed.

Google also said it does not pre-announce core updates or quality updates. Gemini 3 Flash now powers Google AI Mode. Google Search Live gets a conversational language upgrade with the help of Gemini. Google's Danny Sullivan and John Mueller spoke about SEO for AI and more. Nick Fox from Google said optimizing for AI Search is the same as for traditional search.

marketers face a growing question: How do you make sure your brand shows up in the answers? Semrush thinks it's found an answer - and it's launched an award program to highlight the brands leading the way. The newly announced AI Visibility Awards recognize the companies most cited, recommended, and surfaced in AI-generated responses, drawing from Semrush's AI Visibility Index - a dataset built on over 2,500 real prompts run through ChatGPT and Google's AI Mode.

This offer, which will be available initially in eight markets worldwide including France, the USA, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Singapore and Mexico, will allow advertisers to buy drive-to-store campaigns both on JCDecaux's OOH network, and on mobile using S4M's platform. By using both mediums, brands can target catchment areas around their stores, reaching more prospects than they would with one channel alone. S4M's drive-to-store capabilities also allow advertisers to easily measure the footfall delivered by their OOH and mobile campaigns.

Over the past year, Roblox has become harder for brands to ignore - not because it has resolved the challenges of digital commerce, but because of the scale at which younger consumers already use it. The platform now reaches 151 million daily active users who spend close to three hours a day inside its experiences, which will equate to more than 88 billion hours of engagement in 2025.

Advertising giants like Publicis, WPP, and Omnicom aren't the only companies deploying roll-up strategies and shaking up influencer marketing. Humanz, an Israeli influencer marketing platform that expanded to the US in 2024, is going "full acquisition mode" through 2026, CEO Liran Liberman said in an interview. The company exclusively told Business Insider that it recently raised $15 million from an undisclosed group of venture capital investors to fuel several M&A deals.

Before applying for a position, job seekers often want to know factors beyond the role's responsibilities, like a company's values, employee experience, and growth opportunities. Like many areas of the workforce, artificial intelligence can help with this. Brand image "sets the tone for how people view your company long before they ever interact with you," she adds. It gives job candidates "clarity, confidence, and a sense of direction" about whether an organization is a good fit.

AI has reimagined the whole advertising ecosystem, a big part of that being creative. As AI develops, more options present themselves: we've now reached a point where it's possible to let AI execute the majority of the processes involved in carrying out an ad campaign, with just minimal human intervention here and there. And the requirement for any human interaction is diminishing.

Marketing budgets in 2025 have stayed the same, yet expectations keep rising. CMOs report budgets stuck at roughly 7.7% of company revenue, which means teams are expected to do more with the same dollars. In that context, the most practical use of AI is not a moonshot, but a set of clear fixes to everyday bottlenecks that slow teams down and drive costs up.

Loop Marketing is HubSpot's modern growth framework, designed for the AI-driven marketing landscape. The marketing framework reshapes the traditional linear funnel with a continuous cycle of four interconnected stages: Express - defining brand identity Tailor - personalizing messaging at scale Amplify - diversifying across channels where buyers actually are Evolve - optimizing in real time Loop Marketing software is an integrated technology stack that addresses each stage through a unified system.

Tuesday's reorg "is part of our mission to constantly ensure we have the right skills and experiences in place to drive innovation and value for the world's biggest advertisers in what is a fast-evolving ad tech environment," the TTD spokesperson said. "And as part of that, a handful of folks are moving on from The Trade Desk." The restructuring comes almost exactly one year after The Trade Desk underwent what CEO Jeff Green as "the biggest reorganization" in the company's history.

Meta is informing some users that they will soon be restricted in how many link posts they can share each month, unless they pay for its Meta Verified subscription service. As you can see in this explainer email, which was re-shared by social media expert Matt Navarra, some Page and professional mode profiles are being informed of the new organic link limit.

Social media adoption and performance: Social media is a near-universal channel across EMEA, with 90% of advertisers active on social platforms and 87% in the UK. Confidence in performance is strong: 75% of EMEA marketers say social media feeds outperform campaign baselines, increasing to 81% in the UK. Meanwhile, 77% of advertisers in EMEA and 75% in the UK believe reels perform better relative to campaign baselines.

Pinterest intends to buy tvScientific to turn its intent-rich audience data into a performance engine that extends beyond its own app and onto the connected TV screen - effectively using CTV to close the loop between inspiration, intent, and measurable outcomes. Announced last week, Pinterest expects that the purchase will give it immediate access to one of the few remaining pure-play performance CTV businesses, at a time when advertisers are demanding that television behave more like search and social.

Recent figures show that, worldwide, there are 4.52 million podcasts and 584.1 million listeners (up 6.83% in 2025 from the previous year), who spend about seven hours a week plugged in to shows. Arthur Larrey, co-founder at Audion, says: "RedCircle offers premium podcasting inventory across thousands of shows. This new partnership reflects the growing trend for global podcast networks to seek simplified, scalable access to monetisation beyond their core markets, while reinforcing Audion's position as a leading podcast marketplace connecting premium international supply with strategic demand."

Create a new account and start with a $1,500 first bet on the NFL or any other sport. If that bet loses, players will receive up to $1,500 back in bonuses. New users in select states can bet $10 to get $150 in bonuses with a win (MI, NJ, PA, WV only). We expect to see a lot of interest in Monday Night Football, but these BetMGM promos apply to a wide range of markets.

Advertisers that buy Samsung inventory through the Amazon Ads DSP can use both companies' data to target CTV campaigns, as well as measure post-campaign results. This inventory includes ad spots on Samsung TV devices and the Samsung TV Plus network of FAST channels. In other words, a marketer trying to reach a particular type of shopper - parents who buy diapers, for example - can match that interest to segments within Samsung's network where those types of shoppers are highly likely to appear.

YouTube has unveiled plans to introduce genre‑based subscription packages for its YouTube TV service in the US early next year, underscoring the platform's growth in the pay‑television market and its clear tilt towards sports enthusiasts. The forthcoming "YouTube TV Plans" will comprise more than ten themed bundles, with a dedicated sports package featuring heavyweight channels such as ESPN, FS1 and NBC Sports Network.

Has anyone seen any improvement in their CTV transparency in their buys at all, anywhere? Is it still just everyone's not getting any feedback of data, what episode you ran on [in] streaming, anything, no transparent pricing? Anyone found any solutions to address that other than yelling into the ether?

WPP Media will receive access to more data on YouTube creators and content as part of an expanded partnership with the Google-owned video platform, according to a press release. Proprietary creator insights will be used to help WPP Media match clients with the right talent on YouTube and drive more measurable campaign outcomes. The offering is available across the agency's marketing technology stack and through its dedicated influencer shop, The Goat Agency.

This trend ignited a "Humans vs. Machines" narrative where efficiency clashed with emotional connection. The public took to social networking platforms to slam the AI-driven campaigns for feeling "soulless" and lacking a human touch. For example, the use of a fully AI-created model in a Guess ad in Vogue was met with unease, raising questions about identity in the fashion world. Similarly, Coca-Cola's AI-generated holiday campaign with animated animals really fired up the online mob.