The IAB’s 2025 Creator Economy report shows creator marketing has become a full-fledged media channel—one projected to reach $37.1 billion in spend next year, growing 26% YoY and outpacing the broader ad market by a factor of four. Nearly half of advertisers now call creators a must-buy, yet workflows remain fragmented across budgets, discovery tools, and measurement systems. With AI accelerating both production and complexity, the report lays out the emerging mandate: treat creator marketing as its own discipline with centralized budgets, standardized vetting, unified measurement, and formal AI governance. For marketers, real performance now requires real structure.
The Trade Desk heads into Q4 facing simultaneous pressure from Amazon’s fast-expanding DSP and agency frustration over its forced migration from Solimar to Kokai. Amazon’s 0–1% fees, new offsite inventory, and closer ties to Omnicom have sparked reports of meaningful budget shifts away from TTD—an inflection point that challenges its premium pricing. At the same time, agencies describe Kokai as unstable and harder to use, with bugs affecting campaign launches during the most execution-heavy quarter of the year. The convergence raises a key question for marketers: Is TTD’s longstanding grip on open-web programmatic still durable, or beginning to loosen?
Reddit and mobile apps were the fastest-growing US ad channels in Q3, showing their emerging importance to advertisers. Ad spend on Reddit increased 46% YoY, per Sensor Tower’s Q3 Digital Market Index report, and mobile app ad spend grew 42%. Reddit is becoming a high ROI opportunity for early movers. Its growth suggests that highly engaged micro-communities (subreddits) are offering more precise targeting and less competition. That makes Reddit a strong testing ground for community-based and brand awareness campaigns for consumers who are actively looking to discover new content and products.
Creative supply-side platform TripleLift announced an expansion of its programmatic pause ads offering on Thursday, giving publishers a one-stop shop for scaling the innovative connected TV (CTV) ad format. Investing in new capabilities like TripleLift’s expanded programmatic pause ad opportunity will prove critical as the format continues to drive measurable action. But as more brands turn to pause ads, those that stand out will be the ones who listen to user preferences.
A federal judge handed Meta one of its biggest legal wins in years, ruling that its Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions do not violate US antitrust law. The decision leaned heavily on how TikTok and YouTube now compete for the same user attention Meta once dominated—proof, the court said, that the company cannot be considered a monopoly. The ruling arrives just as Reels accelerates across Instagram and platforms converge on short-form video and AI-driven discovery. For marketers, the outcome underscores a simple reality: user attention sits across the big three video platforms, and planning must follow that distribution.
Less than 3% of consumers in India recall digital ads they see despite spending an average of 2.17 hours daily consuming videos on mobile devices, per a report from RK Swamy Centre for Study of Indian Markets. Digital advertising is an essential part of a well-rounded campaign strategy in the digital-first era. But with ad effectiveness low, advertisers must carefully tailor strategies to drive the best outcomes.
Broadcast TV’s share of viewing declined YoY in October despite inching up slightly from the prior month thanks to the NFL season, per Nielsen’s total TV/streaming estimates. Meanwhile, streaming continued to increase its viewership share—highlighting how live sports viewers are increasingly shifting to digital. Those who thrive in the shift to digital will steadily increase budgets for sports streaming while still maintaining some investment in cable and broadcast to reach the many live sports viewers who continue to watch through traditional channels.
Magnite launched a Live Scheduler tool on Tuesday, an industry-first asset that enables media owners to seamlessly plan, execute, and evaluate ad campaigns around live events. Live Scheduler turns chaotic, real-time tentpole events into a predictable, scalable, and programmatic marketplace—giving advertisers the opportunity to capitalize on major cultural moments without as much unpredictability.
Albertsons Media Collective and NBCUniversal introduced a closed-loop measurement capability that promises to give advertisers better insight into CTV ad performance. While the partnership benefits both companies, there’s arguably more at stake for Albertsons. Like the vast majority of retail media networks, it is looking for ways to keep its ad business competitive as the majority of dollars flow to Amazon and Walmart. Albertsons aims to stay competitive by leaning into fast-growing CTV, strengthening its loyalty program, and leveraging its store footprint for in-store activations.
WPP is reportedly eyeing a merger with holding company Havas and private equity firms KKR and Apollo, per the Times. A merged WPP and Havas would provide more value to advertisers by giving access to a broader mix of services.
LinkedIn’s AI-driven people search lets users type plain-language queries like “marketing leaders with AI experience” and instantly find matches—even if those exact words don’t appear on a profile, per TechRadar. The upgrade, available to US Premium subscribers, makes LinkedIn far more context aware—and strengthens its role as a precision targeting engine at a time when its ad business keeps climbing. For marketers on LinkedIn, the implications are significant and offer improvements in precision targeting, campaign efficiency, and intent-driven discovery.
Mozilla SVP Suba Vasudevan argues that digital advertising’s next frontier isn’t automation—it’s accountability. In her view, trust is no longer a soft metric but a measurable driver of performance. As advertisers recoil from fraud, opacity, and unsafe inventory, Firefox Ads positions itself as the premium alternative: a clean, privacy-first space where engagement aligns with user consent. The data backs her up—CPMs are climbing, and brands are paying more for quality—but the shift remains uneven. Many still prize efficiency over ethics. For marketers, the new equation is clear: trust and performance are converging, and only one will sustain the other.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss the three big questions surrounding Meta in Q3 and beyond: How will AI-generated social video affect social media? What’s the biggest takeaway regarding Meta using AI chatbot conversations to target ads? And do Meta's new smart glasses really have a future? Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Analyst Emmy Liederman, and Principal Analyst Minda Smiley. Listen everywhere, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
Google offered remedies to settle an antitrust case in the European Union following a nearly €3 billion ($3.5 billion) fine arguing that Google abuses its dominance in digital advertising. The EU’s tough stance signals that the global regulatory environment is intensifying.
Rising CPMs, algorithmic volatility, and audience fatigue are flattening social’s growth curve as marketers run into diminishing returns on Meta, TikTok, and Google. That ceiling is forcing brands to seek fresh reach—and connected TV (CTV) is stepping into that void with premium screens, measurable outcomes, and higher emotional lift. As social hits its natural saturation point, CTV delivers the attribution clarity and emotional weight brands can’t get from feeds anymore. Advertisers should make CTV a central line item—not an extension of social video—and use AI-powered optimization to drive efficiency and real-time tuning.
Video consumption behaviors are shifting across generations, according to a Deloitte study. Over one-third (35%) of overall consumers spend more time watching video on social media than streaming platforms. For cohorts like Gen Z, that figure is even greater: 58% of their time with video is spent on social media. Advertisers must adjust their definition of “TV” to account for different preferences for digital video consumption and adapt budgets accordingly.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss the three big questions surrounding Google in Q3 and beyond: How much of a competitor to Google Chrome is OpenAI’s new browser, Atlas? What’s the main takeaway from the remedies hearings about Google’s ad tech business? And what’s the significance of Google’s first $100 billion quarter? Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Senior Director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman, and Principal Analyst Yory Wurmser. Listen everywhere, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
Jack Dorsey is reviving nostalgic short-form video culture with diVine, a Vine reboot designed for authenticity at a time when AI-generated creator content is surging. The new app launched with over 100,000 restored Vine videos. Vine gives diVine an emotional head start—but survival will hinge on converting that sentiment into fresh creative momentum. Brands that lean into authenticity will find diVine a clean slate—one where trust and creativity drive engagement. Still, it must overcome one hurdle: persuading audiences to make room for one more app in an already-saturated attention economy.