Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) has introduced a new suite of off-site capabilities, aiming to help small- to mid-sized brands navigate the complexities of programmatic channels.
Paid search clickthrough rates for healthcare ads plummeted 51.4% year over year—the steepest drop across all industries measured, according to our Industry KPI data provided by Skai. The rise of AI-generated health info and consumer burnout from constant drug ads are likely driving down engagement. Healthcare and pharma companies need to ensure their online content is tailored for AI relevance. They must also continuously review whether their ads are being over-exposed to the same audience.
Meta is in discussions with Google to use Gemini as a benchmark for its own content understanding systems. The social media giant wants to test its systems against Gemini, not integrate the AI model, to help support its ad targeting and recommendation systems. Findings could show Gemini is stronger, or that Meta’s own systems already match or surpass it. Stronger content understanding could yield more nuanced insights and richer ad tooIs, enabling better campaign planning, targeting, and measurement. It highlights that AI in ads is less about flashy features and more about the invisible infrastructure that shapes outcomes.
EMARKETER recently published its “Field Guide to AI-Powered Programmatic Platforms,” created in partnership with MiQ. It examines how AI is enhancing programmatic advertising platforms and offers marketers a guide to choosing between these adtech tools. This FAQ explores key questions from the report.
OpenAI is preparing to turn ChatGPT into an advertising platform, posting a new role for an engineer to build systems for ad integration, campaign management, and attribution. The move could position ChatGPT as a new challenger to Google, Meta, and Amazon’s ad businesses. Already a major driver of referral traffic to retailers like Walmart, Etsy, and Target, ChatGPT has clear potential to evolve into a commerce and ad engine. But execution will be critical: Poorly integrated ads risk undermining user trust, even as AI-driven ad formats are projected to grow at triple-digit annual rates in the coming years.
Global ad spending is now expected to rise 7.4% to reach $1.17 trillion in 2025, driven by social media and digital investments, per WARC’s updated forecast. Advertisers aren’t slashing budgets, but instead rethinking spending as economic uncertainty accelerates the shift to digital channels, performance campaigns, and newer formats like influencer marketing.
Disney is raising streaming prices again; Disney+ ad-free will climb to $18.99 per month, Hulu’s ad tier will rise to $11.99, and bundles will increase by up to $3. The hikes follow similar moves by Apple TV+ and Peacock, as subscription inflation outpaces consumer budgets. Nearly half of US adults have altered streaming subscriptions in the past six months, with two-thirds of cancellations tied to high costs. Disney can point to premium franchises, ESPN, and bundles as value, but modest daily engagement gains make retention a tougher challenge in a saturated market.
Over half (51%) of US teen boys say they’ve made a purchase after watching a YouTube Shorts ad, compared with 43% of teen girls, according to June 2025 data from Precise TV.
Condé Nast-owned magazine Wired is promoting an out-of-home (OOH) campaign for its upcoming politics issue in a massive brand marketing effort spanning cities including New York, Los Angeles, Austin, and Washington, DC. Wired’s omnichannel approach highlights how combining trust, talent visibility, and multi-format reach drives stronger engagement and brand outcomes.
The EU is investigating whether Apple, Google, and Microsoft are doing enough to curb online financial scams, per Ars Technica. The European Commission (EC) will send formal requests for information under the Digital Services Act (DSA), targeting fake apps, fraudulent search results, and scam accommodation listings on Booking.com. Ad campaigns appearing in search results, mobile apps, or Bing ads could face more scrutiny or be caught up in regulatory nets. Brands that lead with transparency and consumer protection will not only comply, but also gain an edge should platforms tighten controls.
Google’s ad tech remedies trial kicked off Monday as the search giant looks to prevent an ad tech breakup that would fundamentally alter the future of the open internet. If successful, the DOJ’s case against Google would reshape how open-web ads are bought and sold. Multi-billion dollar opportunities will open for competitors, potentially creating a more competitive—but less predictable—ad tech landscape for advertisers.
President Trump delayed TikTok’s ban until December 16 and claimed Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, and Marc Andreessen are among investors preparing to acquire its US operations. The potential buyer group—stacked with conservative media and tech moguls—raises concerns over political bias on a platform where left-leaning influencers currently dominate. For advertisers, TikTok’s massive 116.6 million US user base remains critical, but ownership politics could shift user trust and open the door for rivals.
EMARKETER recently published, “From guesswork to greatness: How marketers are redefining effective creative at scale in digital advertising.” The report, created in partnership with TripleLift, analyzes findings from a June 2025 survey of 164 US marketing professionals about their approaches to creative effectiveness in programmatic advertising. This FAQ explores some key questions addressed by the report.
TikTok’s US operations may soon be spun off into a new entity majority-owned by American investors, with Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz, and Silver Lake leading the deal. The framework, aimed at complying with the 2024 divest-or-ban law, would give US investors roughly 80% control while ByteDance retains under 20%. The sticking point remains TikTok’s algorithm—whether ByteDance licenses its technology or a US-controlled version is rebuilt. For marketers, continuity is key: any disruption in recommendation performance, targeting, or data oversight could alter ad outcomes on one of their most important platforms.
Marketers agree creative drives results, but many still struggle to define and scale it. Taylor Stewart, global head of retail media engagement at TripleLift, joins EMARKETER’s Arielle Feger to discuss how brands are closing the creative gap by using AI, testing roadmaps, and full-funnel strategies to turn ideas into measurable performance.
Jimmy Kimmel Live has been pulled off the air after FCC chair Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, threatened Disney and ABC over the host’s political monologue. Carr called Kimmel “talentless” and suggested the FCC could leverage broadcast license renewals to punish Disney, a move critics see as regulatory overreach. The standoff highlights the growing risk of political retaliation in broadcast media. Advertisers and networks now face new uncertainty: satire has long defined late-night programming, yet even the suggestion of FCC intervention could pressure networks to self-censor and brands to reconsider ad placements.
Amazon Ads has unveiled an agentic AI tool inside Creative Studio, designed to serve as a real-time creative partner for advertisers. Through a conversational interface, brands can brainstorm, storyboard, and generate professional-quality video and display ads in hours instead of weeks—at no extra cost. Powered by AWS models like Amazon Nova and Anthropic Claude, the system combines retail insights with automation to democratize high-quality ad creation once limited to big-budget brands. Early testers, including Nestlé Health Science, praised its ability to surface new insights and scale campaigns, underscoring how platforms like Amazon, Meta, and Google are redefining advertising.
YouTube is piloting Edit with AI, a remixing tool that turns raw smartphone footage into draft Shorts. The system automatically selects highlights, adds transitions, suggests music, and even generates voiceovers in English or Hindi. The goal is to give creators a starting point for Shorts rather than making them edit from scratch, per TechCrunch. For advertisers, this creates a twofold opportunity: more ad inventory and a larger, more engaged audience than on TikTok. Marketers should prioritize Shorts in their media mix now. Test campaigns to remain competitive and build creative strategies that balance AI efficiency with human authenticity.
Google, the latest Big Tech company to reach a $3 trillion market cap, is committing £5 billion ($6.39 billion) to expand its UK footprint and anchor AI and cloud growth in one of its most important ad markets. Google expects the expansion to help drive as much as £400 billion (about $511 billion) in AI-related economic activity for the UK by 2030 while supporting about 8,000 local jobs annually. By building infrastructure, tech giants are laying the groundwork for ad expansion across Europe. Each multibillion-dollar bet buys influence, regulatory goodwill, and a stronger grip on the region’s digital backbone.
Meta Connect, the company’s annual developer conference, will highlight how it’s weaving AI, VR/AR hardware, and ad technology across its platforms. Meta is expected to shift its multibillion-dollar bet from VR to smart glasses. Meta is shifting from experimental hardware to AI as the company’s true growth engine. Smart glasses may grab headlines, but the near-term payoff—and competitive edge—will come from campaigns built on AI. The bigger test is whether Meta can fuse its hardware, AI, and ad products into a cohesive platform that justifies its massive spending and persuades both consumers and advertisers to buy in.