X rebuilds its ad core: A ground-up AI overhaul aims to fix targeting and ROI as revenues lag far behind pre-Musk levels.

After multiple false starts, Musk is hoping high APRs and app stickiness gives X a shot at superapp status

As PayPal’s stock tumbles, Stripe is reportedly interested in buying some or all of the company.

Half its founding team is gone, raising doubts about Grok’s pace as rivals lock in enterprise AI deals.

Automation is now table stakes in social advertising. Platforms are pushing AI-driven campaigns at scale. But advertisers still demand control, transparency, and brand safety—and it’s all reshaping how performance media gets bought.

CEO neutrality carries brand risk; OpenAI and Anthropic leaders’ cautious political responses are an illustration of how hedging on values can erode trust rather than protect it.

Regulatory pressure and political alignment are now influencing programming stability, deal viability, and advertiser confidence one year into Trump's second presidency.

Threads beats X in daily active users on mobile as Meta’s established ad stack makes Threads a safer long-term bet for community-driven social ads.

AI deepfakes are sparking a global crackdown after Grok’s explicit content scandal triggered UK probes and stricter safeguards--raising governance stakes for AI tools.

Deepfake scandal clouds enterprise rollout, raising flags on brand safety and buyer trust.

Last week, Tesla and Rivian approved two of the most aggressive CEO compensation plans in history—Elon Musk’s potential $1 trillion payout and RJ Scaringe’s $4.6 billion plan. Both hinge on hitting decade-long performance and valuation targets tied to EV production, AI innovation, and market capitalization growth. Why it matters for brands and marketers: This compensation era spotlights the rise of the personality-driven company. Musk and Scaringe are seen not just as CEOs, but as brand assets whose visibility and vision influence valuation. For advertisers, the message is that leadership narratives can serve as marketing multipliers that help drive brand identity and, for better or worse, brand reputation.

Elon Musk’s X has lost another key figure in its advertising business, with ad chief John Nitti announcing his departure last week after joining just ten months ago, per the Financial Times. Another key loss signals that X’s ad strategy remains turbulent—and until its AI-powered ad focus proves valuable, ad investment should be executed with an air of caution.

X has updated its NFL Portal for the 2025-26 season as sports discussions gain momentum on the Elon Musk-owned platform, with features aiming to get advertisers reinvested. X’s enhanced NFL Portal is a calculated effort to double down on one of its strongest differentiators to keep users engaged and advertisers invested: Real-time sports conversations.

The news: Elon Musk tried to enlist Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a $97.4 billion takeover of OpenAI in February, per court filings in OpenAI’s ongoing countersuit against Musk. The failed bid was Musk’s response to OpenAI’s potential shift to a for-profit model, which he claims broke its founding mission. Our take: The initial phase of the AI boom, defined by research breakthroughs and experimentation, is giving way to a more aggressive era of market consolidation, legal entanglements, and power politics. Litigation is emerging as the last resort when innovation stalls or acquisition paths close—an indicator that the AI industry could be entering a defensive phase where court battles stand in for competitive breakthroughs.

Elon Musk plans to sell paid placements within Grok’s AI-generated answers, marking his first major advertiser pitch since Linda Yaccarino’s departure. Grok, X’s in-house AI assistant built by xAI, will integrate ads directly into responses, offering brands high-intent, context-driven targeting. The move comes as X’s global ad revenues, projected at $2.26 billion in 2025, remain roughly half of pre-Musk levels. Musk says Grok will eventually automate the full ad-buying process, from creative grading to personalization, aiming to improve efficiency and performance. With user growth declining in every major region, the strategy hinges on whether brands trust Musk’s AI-led vision enough to re-engage.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss why Ms. Yaccarino left X, the expectations for its advertising business in the short and long term, and how realistic its chances are of becoming an “everything app”. Join our conversation with Senior Director of Podcasts and host, Marcus Johnson, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Jasmine Enberg, and Analyst, Marisa Jones. Listen everywhere you find podcasts and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

The news: Tesla’s Q2 earnings disappointed as fallout continues from Elon Musk’s political spotlight, highlighting the risks of a brand being tied to its leader’s actions. Revenues reached $22.49 billion and deliveries hit 384.1 million, down 12% and 13% YoY, respectively. Between January and June, EU car sales declined 44% YoY, per the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. Our take: While complicated to execute, brand equity should be as independent as possible to avoid tying company identity to a single leader. When CEOs make mistakes, companies can rebuild trust through honesty and accountability and by highlighting assets other than leaders, like employees, partnerships, or key products. Tesla seems to be on the path to recovery, but it may have a long road ahead.

Tesla is officially in the restaurant business following the much-hyped opening of the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles. The futuristic concept could be the template for additional openings in the US as well as abroad, CEO Elon Musk said—helping the company boost brand awareness, engagement, and sales. The diner’s launch—and the accompanying wave of press and social media posts—could help reset consumers’ perceptions of the Tesla brand at a particularly tumultuous time for the company. But it could also, given the company’s increasingly polarized reputation, become a focal point for protests, which might deter would-be customers from stopping in.

The news: Forecasters are mixed on the future of Elon Musk-owned platform X after CEO Linda Yaccarino, whose experience as an advertising executive at NBCUniversal helped X reclaim some ad revenues, stepped down. But things aren’t all gloom and doom: We forecast that X’s ad revenues will increase by 25% YoY in 2025. Our take: While X’s ad revenues will likely grow in the short term, the shift toward AI could alleviate long-term struggles resulting from a turbulent few years for the platform—and even if some advertisers shift away, many will feel pressured to stay or face consequences.

The news: Fox News is seeing a rise in ad revenues as advertisers look to curry favor with the Trump administration, per a Financial Times report. Advertisers are hoping to reach “an audience of one,” per Fox’s head of ad sales, after it was revealed that President Trump is a regular viewer of the channel. Our take: Ad spending is becoming increasingly political, influenced by who holds power, what media they consume, and how brands position themselves in a partisan media environment. Brands are increasingly expected to take a stance—even if it means aligning themselves with controversy.