Artificial intelligence is transforming how brands navigate media buying, with digital ad buyers using AI for processes like ad personalization, audience insights, and creative ideation. In a conversation with EMARKETER, Mike Hauptman, CEO of cross-DSP manager AdLib, discussed how AI is altering the media buying landscape. Marketers are operating in a landscape where AI is a necessity—but as challenges are expected to persist for years to come, those who thrive will be the ones who find a happy medium.
TikTok is mandating that sellers buy ads using its new tool, GMV Max, in order to participate in Black Friday and other holiday promotions. At the same time, it is making it harder for sellers to drive sales to platforms outside its system. The company is limiting merchants’ ability to advertise videos linking to their websites and other outside sources. TikTok’s attempts to tie sellers to its platform make sense given parent ByteDance’s ambitious US ecommerce goals—but such efforts will only be successful if TikTok can prove its importance as a sales channel.
Search advertising is entering a new era where Amazon and other retail media players are reshaping how discovery and intent are monetized. Brands must revisit their “search mix.” Google may remain indispensable, but allocating more spend to retail media will future-proof campaigns against cookie loss and capitalize on where shopping intent now begins.
The New York Times is adding a Watch tab to its app Wednesday in an effort to boost engagement and usher in more advertising business. The tab will feature a mix of short-form, swipeable, vertical video content, per Adweek. In early 2026, the publisher plans to open video ad placements within the tab to brands through a beta program, per Axios. As publishers introduce vertical video ad inventory, marketers should rethink their media mix to include premium placements that mirror the engagement of social video—while considering how those ads may appear alongside hard news or opinion content.
Netflix reported a strong Q3 on Tuesday, increasing revenues 17.2% YoY, in line with the forecast issued in Q2. The company stated that it is on track to double its ad revenues in 2025, claiming Q3 was its strongest quarter yet for ad sales—proving that momentum is largely being driven by Netflix’s maturing ad offerings. Marketers can capitalize on audience appetite for ad-supported tiers, but should focus their investment in platforms with proven results as less dominant connected TV (CTV) providers are likely to struggle in Q3 and beyond.
AdsGency, which bills itself as the first agentic operating system for advertisers, is working to unify the entire advertising process in a single ecosystem. Its large language models (LLMs) target the ideal audience, create the ads, and automate the ad-buying process. AdsGency is breaking down siloes and democratizing advertising for smaller teams that don’t have the talent budget of larger companies. But at the same time, it’s taking over for humans and can easily miss the nuance that people can provide. Brands could adopt systems like AdsGency for targeting, placements, and analytics but leave the content to human creatives.
Marketing measurement is entering a new phase of speed and precision. InMarket’s Michael Della Penna told EMARKETER that marketers are moving beyond static reports toward real-time insights—fusing marketing mix modeling (MMM) and multi-touch attribution (MTA) to understand what drives incremental sales as campaigns run. AI-powered models now forecast lift, optimize spend, and connect awareness to conversion through unified platforms. With 56% of marketers prioritizing sales lift and nearly half investing in MMM, the focus is clear: decision speed over dashboards. InMarket’s end-to-end system exemplifies this shift, reframing measurement as a continuous feedback loop rather than a quarterly report.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss how much TV streaming is really going on around the world, in which countries radio is holding its own, and short-form video’s place in the social media world. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host, Marcus Johnson, Principal Analyst, Paul Briggs, Vice President of Research, Jennifer Pearson, and Chief Insight Officer at GWI, Jason Mander. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is regaining cultural and commercial relevance as digital environments grow more synthetic and less trusted. OAAA’s Anna Bager and Vistar Media’s Lucy Markowitz told EMARKETER that OOH’s greatest advantage is its permanence—it’s “literally there.” As misinformation and algorithmic fatigue reshape consumer behavior, physical media has become a trust signal that can’t be faked or filtered. Modern OOH blends this credibility with interactivity, using 3D creative, AI-assisted design, and viral social moments to amplify campaigns beyond the street. For marketers, OOH isn’t just awareness—it’s proof of authenticity in an era of artificial everything.
Foot traffic to indoor malls surged 6.3% YoY in May, outpacing outlet malls (3.5%) and open-air shopping centers (4.7%), according to a September report from Placer.ai.
As pharma marketers and ad agencies begin to shift ad dollars from traditional linear to digital CTV, media buying is moving from programs and broad demo buys to data-driven audience targeting. Healthcare and pharma marketers have long relied on the broad reach and frequency of linear TV, but need to recognize the growing power of CTV. Marketers shouldn’t think of CTV as a replacement, but as a performance layer on top of linear’s scale and reach.
As CTV ad spending accelerates, buyers are shifting focus from convenience to performance—zooming in on ad quality, viewer experience, and actionable signals that drive measurable impact. Nearly half of global agencies and demand-side platforms (47%) prioritize ad quality and a positive user experience, per BCG and Google. Easy integration, responsive customer support, and platforms’ ease of use rank far lower. Marketers should push for consistent data-sharing and collaboration with publishers to turn CTV from an experimental channel into a predictable growth engine.
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is evolving into a dynamic, data-rich medium that blends physical and digital engagement. Speaking at Advertising Week New York, OAAA’s Anna Bager and Vistar Media’s Lucy Markowitz described how AI, measurement, and social media are redefining OOH’s role in omnichannel marketing. Digital formats now make up over 36% of total OOH revenues, while programmatic buying and AI-driven creative optimization are transforming static screens into responsive canvases. Partnerships like TikTok’s “Out of Phone” show how viral content can extend into public spaces. The next phase of OOH will be defined not by size, but by intelligence and interactivity.
Google updated ad arrangements across its Search interface globally, potentially amping up competition for visibility and user attention. Users can now hide sponsored content by collapsing text ads to only see organic results. The “Sponsored Results” label is pinned to the top of the search screen as users scroll, making that section more apparent even when collapsed. Brands that rely heavily on search visibility need to rebalance paid and organic SEO strategies. They should test how collapsed ads change click-through rates and revise bidding tactics to maintain a share of user attention in increasingly competitive results pages.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss how linear TV ad dollars are still managing to outweigh CTV ad dollars, what’s primarily responsible for driving growth in out-of-home ad spending this year, and if some new high-profile print media initiatives can stem the print ad spend bleeding. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host, Marcus Johnson, Senior Analyst, Ross Benes, and Senior Forecasting Analyst, Zach Goldner. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) reportedly rejected a proposed acquisition from Paramount Skydance, claiming that its offer of $20 per share was “too low,” per Bloomberg reporting. WBD’s rejection signals that some legacy media players see more value in restructuring themselves than in merging on the cheap.
Perplexity is taking a step back from its advertising initiatives amid struggles to monetize AI search. Marketers should pause planned investments in AI search until search ads are measurable and proven to be effective. AI adoption may be growing, but there remains no clear evidence that ad formats in AI search provide returns.
The biggest banks will spend $6 billion or more on marketing in 2025, or 0.10% of their total asset value, per an analysis of the American Bankers Association Bank Marketers Survey in the ABA Banking Journal. On average, 32% of banks’ marketing budgets were allocated to new customer acquisition—more than any other allocation. Bank marketers are clearly focused on digital advertising, and with greater resources and scale, the largest institutions won’t find it hard to drive awareness, attract new customers digitally, and dominate the conversation. Community banks will need to be scrappy.
Pharma linear TV ad spending totaled $1.25 billion in Q3, with prescription drug commercials taking the leading share of national TV ad spending for the quarter, according to iSpot.tv. Pharma marketers are reallocating more of their budgets toward digital—especially connected TV (CTV) and social media—for more precise targeting and measurement gains. However, linear TV is still important for Big Pharma, especially for mainstream events like live sports, to drive board awareness of common health conditions. We expect linear TV’s scale, trust, and cultural relevance will keep it in the mix for the foreseeable future.