Major web publishers, including Reddit, Yahoo, Medium, and Quora, are joining forces to push for a new content licensing system for AI publishers. The group is backing Really Simple Licensing (RSL), an open standard that lets publishers dictate how AI bots scrape their content and includes payment and royalty requirements. If publishers’ collective action can successfully enforce licensing terms for content scraping, regulators may follow with broader mandates. Visibility inside generative engines could change, pushing marketers to further prioritize generative engine optimization (GEO) strategies and comprehension of how AI responses source, cite, and surface branded content.
Advertisers are missing opportunities to capitalize on strong connected TV (CTV) engagement from diverse audiences, per LG Ad Solutions’ “The Inclusive Screen 2025” series. Targeting ads to diverse audiences stands to benefit brands by tapping into consumers who are likely to take action when they feel represented—but a tailored strategy over a one-size-fits-all approach is critical.
YouTube’s NFL Brazil broadcast was a massive success, breaking livestream records in the country with over 17.3 million average-minute-audience (AMA) members, including more than one million non-US viewers. YouTube’s record-breaking NFL success proves that, for advertisers, the marketing playbook is moving to platforms where reach, relevance, and results converge.
As the number of podcast listeners grow, giving them options for both listening to or watching the latest episodes has become key to maintaining audiences. More than half of US podcast consumers (53%) prefer watching podcasts over just listening on YouTube, per the Podcast Landscape 2025 report from Sounds Profitable and Signal Hill. YouTube’s connected TV (CTV) and podcast dominance presents a unique opportunity for brands to advertise in a variety of formats, whether that’s sponsored episodes, partnerships, digital video ads, or pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll audio spots.
Roblox is expanding with TikTok-style videos, bigger creator payouts, and new AI tools—while scaling its ad business. Users can now scroll gameplay clips, react with emojis, and jump directly into experiences, per TechCrunch. The platform is morphing from a gaming hub into a short-form media platform—challenging TikTok, YouTube, and Twitch. For advertisers, Moments offers a new layer where branded clips can sit alongside gameplay. Brands should balance paid ads with creator collaborations to preserve authenticity. For example, they could integrate brands and products into game content while sponsoring individual gamers creating short-form content on Roblox.
Social media (27%) and streaming video (25%) have the highest percentage of time spent on gaming-related content, per May 2025 data from Bain & Company.
A federal judge rejected Anthropic’s agreement to pay at least $1.5 billion to settle a landmark lawsuit brought by a group of authors. Judge William Alsup expressed concerns that the ruling would be forced “down the throat of authors,” per Bloomberg Law. The case could set a legal precedent for future copyright battles between creators and AI firms. If approved, the settlement could set a legal precedent for future copyright battles between creators and AI firms. It could also push regulators to be more stringent in requirements for content licensing deals and cause AI companies to move more carefully when scraping data, considering the costs of legal proceedings.
For podcasts that run under 15 minutes, an average of 21.8% of the play time is ads, according to an August 2025 report from Magellan AI.
The news: Microsoft will avoid a major EU antitrust fine by agreeing to sell its Teams app separately from Office 365 and Microsoft 365. Brussels is set to approve the deal after a positive market test, with no strong objections from rivals or customers, per Bloomberg. As part of the settlement, Microsoft must not only unbundle Teams but also lower prices on Office packages without it and improve interoperability with rival apps such as Zoom, Slack, and similar productivity tools. Our take: Microsoft sidesteps a fine but loses its bundling edge. The move levels the playing field for Slack, Zoom, and others—while showing the EU’s playbook is evolving from punishing fines to behavioral change.
The news: The EU fined Google $3.5 billion for abusing its dominance in digital advertising. Regulators say Google used its control of the ad tech supply chain to shut out rivals, squeeze publishers, and limit advertiser choice, per The New York Times. Our take: Google can still cut deals to soften compliance terms, but the trend points toward tougher oversight and fewer compromises. For advertisers, that means preparing for a future where Google’s ad stack may be pried open—whether by negotiation or by mandate.
Linear TV ad spending will drop more than 11% in 2026, reaching $139.1 billion, per a World Advertising Research Center study cited by MediaPost. Linear has dropped 28% in absolute dollars in a 12-year period. The format’s share of global media has plummeted: Spending now accounts for 12.4% overall, compared with 41.3% in 2013. Ad spending shifting away from linear might align with consumers’ shift to digital, but linear’s potential to generate action remains stronger than CTV, which means brands need to use a diversified channel strategy.
The news: Connected TV (CTV) is overtaking linear as television’s growth engine. Once the undisputed king, linear TV has fallen to just 12% of global ad spending, while CTV is on pace to exceed 40% by 2030, per WARC Media’s Global Ad Trends report. CTV already accounts for nearly half of viewing hours, fueling billions in ad revenues for Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube. The shift signals not just changing audiences but also a fundamental rewiring of how ads are bought, measured, and monetized. Our take: CTV is moving from experimentation to expectation. With US spending expected to balloon in the next few years, the question isn’t if brands should shift budgets—it’s how fast. CMOs who lean into retail integration and creative innovation while demanding accountability will set the pace in a US CTV market projected to reach $51 billion by 2029. Those who wait risk losing share as CTV matures into advertising’s most measurable channel.
The NFL is challenging Nielsen’s ratings accuracy, with chief data and analytics officer Paul Ballew telling the Wall Street Journal the firm is “systematically undercounting” millions of viewers. Nielsen countered that its new “Big Data + Panel” product—combining set-top box data with digital signals from 45 million homes—makes this season the most accurate yet. The dispute highlights mounting pressure on Nielsen as streaming reshapes sports viewership. While rivals gain traction, Nielsen remains the dominant measurement firm, but slow integration of first-party data from streaming services leaves major partners like the NFL frustrated. The debate underscores urgency in modernizing TV ratings.
NFL RedZone will bring ads to the current NFL season, stepping away from its commercial-free roots for the first time. Ads will initially only account for 1 minute of RedZone’s seven hours of content but could expand to 2 minutes during the season, per AP News. With attention shifting to digital live sports and RedZone’s availability on ESPN’s new DTC streaming service, advertisers have the opportunity to tap into broad audiences in a format that is likely to be more tolerable to viewers than traditional TV ads.
Black adults in the US spend 45.9% of their total TV time on streaming platforms—more than both cable (22.4%) and broadcast (21.8%) combined, according to July 2024 data from Nielsen.
The news: Even before the IFA 2025 show floor opens in Berlin, brands are flooding Europe’s CES with announcements pushing AI beyond PCs and phones into the smart home. Ambient intelligence promises proactive tech: Manufacturers unveiled ecosystems that link appliances, security, lighting, and entertainment—using “ambient intelligence” to replace voice and app commands with proactive, intuitive service. Our take: The race to ambient intelligence shows where innovation is headed—invisible systems that anticipate needs. But over-automation risks eroding consumer control and deepening dependence on walled gardens.
As the connected TV (CTV) market matures, new ad formats are giving brands tools to capture attention in cluttered streaming environments. India’s Smart TV OS CloudTV launched a 3D ad unit on Thursday across its OS-powered devices, with the goal of providing a premium user experience and outperforming traditional ad formats in attention capture. CTV is a critical investment for advertisers looking to capitalize on the shift to digital, and 3D ad formats’ innovative ability to engage fragmented viewers will become increasingly important as the market expands.
The news: Roblox will expand its age-checking procedures to all users by the end of the year, per a press release, building on its efforts to protect children online. Users will need to verify their age to access many features—including Party Voice and chat without filters—by submitting either a selfie or government-issued ID. Roblox will then analyze the selfie’s facial features to estimate the user’s age. The platform is rolling out new systems that limit communication between adults and minors unless they already know each other in real life. Our take: Roblox’s stricter age-verification policies stress the growing need to balance reach, compliance, and trust on youth-focused platforms. Marketers should prepare for smaller, more segmented audiences as age checks filter out unverified users and privacy-conscious adults. Long-term success may depend on building campaigns rooted in creativity and authentic value over hypertargeting.
The news: Atlassian—maker of Jira, Confluence, and Trello—willbuy Arc and Dia creator The Browser Company for $610 million in cash, per TechCrunch. The deal could transform Arc from a niche experiment into an Atlassian-owned gateway for enterprise work, much like how Chrome became a container for Google’s services. Our take: Chrome’s continued dominance could lead to a more concentrated browser market—pushing competitors to seek smaller niches to control. With over 300,000 customers worldwide, Atlassian has the reach to seed Arc across enterprises as the “work browser.” If it succeeds, the shift could pressure Chrome’s dominance, at least for business use, and signal a broader redefinition of browsers from neutral gateways to productivity ecosystems.
Streameast, the world’s largest illegal sports-streaming hub, has been shut down in a coordinated sting led by Egyptian authorities and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment. The operation dismantled more than 80 domains that drew 1.6 billion visits over the past year. The crackdown comes as soccer and NFL seasons begin, underscoring how piracy disrupts rights holders by siphoning revenues from subscriptions and ads. Yet piracy remains resilient: copycats are already emerging to tap fans frustrated with fragmented, costly streaming options. With digital sports viewership surpassing pay TV, the industry faces an urgent challenge to keep audiences in paid ecosystems.