AI took over search, ads, and discovery in 2025 as YouTube and CTV became the new centers of gravity for consumers and marketers. Our top 20 stories of the year highlight an evolution toward an AI-first world where attention and advantage move faster than ever.

In 2025, Meta shifted its weight behind AI, launching an audacious hiring spree that saw it poach top researchers from OpenAI, Google, and Apple. Even as the AI push intensified, Meta’s Reality Labs experiment continued to produce eye-watering losses. Meta enters 2026 with its fortunes wrapped tightly around advertising’s adaptability, the pace of AI innovation and whether users, marketers, and regulators will tolerate the new rules of engagement it’s writing atop the world’s largest social platforms.

Instagram's explosive EU audience growth compared with Facebook's slowing momentum means advertisers should follow suit.

The share of consumers who view generative AI as a negative disruptor in the creator economy has nearly doubled, jumping from 18% to 32% since November 2023, according to a July survey from Billion Dollar Boy and Censuswide.

Reddit ad spend is growing 46.3% YoY, more than double Instagram's growth rate and five times TikTok's, according to a November report from Sensor Tower.

TikTok has agreed to a sweeping US restructuring that creates a majority-American–controlled joint venture, fulfilling bipartisan divestment demands and reducing the threat of an outright ban. Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX will hold 50% ownership, with US-appointed directors overseeing data protection, moderation, and the retraining of TikTok’s recommendation algorithm. ByteDance will retain a minority 19.9% stake and continue managing global operations outside the US. The shift brings long-missing stability for advertisers but also creates operational distance from ByteDance’s global systems, potentially slowing innovation and altering performance patterns. The next year will be a critical recalibration period for brands and creators.