Advertisers have dragged their feet on developing third-party cookie alternatives and are now under pressure to implement effective measurement solutions, our analyst Evelyn Mitchell said in a recent webinar. But new measurement options come with their own challenges, including slow adoption, lack of published test results, and limitations of first-party data.

On today's special podcast episode, we continue our monthly show where we discuss the biggest trends of the moment and the newest research, sprinkle in some analysis, and bundle it up into a quiz. Every month, three of our analysts representing their respective coverage area teams compete against each other. (We also encourage you to play along at home.) We keep a running score and will crown a winning team at the end of the year. Today, we cover retail media network investment and experimentation, the generative AI (genAI) bubble, and Google's dominance. Tune in to the discussion with this month's contestants: our vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian, analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf, and vice president of Briefings Stephanie Taglianetti.

Advertisers say Google is underselling its ad inflation: The DOJ’s suit against Google revealed that the company quietly raised prices as much as 10%.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss what to make of Google turning 25 years old, how US shoppers feel about stores, why tiered rewards are all the rage, how Hispanic people think their values are reflected by advertisers and Americans, taxi drivers turning into robots, some mind-bending facts about US geography, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our forecasting writer Ethan Cramer-Flood, forecasting analyst Zach Goldner, and director of forecasting Oscar Orozco.

TikTok integrates Wikipedia snippets into search: A move towards broader search capabilities amidst rising competition with Google.

YouTube will hit $7.36 billion in US ad revenues this year, per our forecast, compared with TikTok’s $6.19 billion. YouTube will have 236.1 million US users this year compared with TikTok’s 102.3 million.

Google isn’t looking so good as it prepares for trial with the DOJ: A historic antitrust challenge comes as Google is under fire for multiple advertising controversies.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss when attention metrics might dethrone viewability, why advertisers are tentative about them, and why using attention as a currency is TBD. "In Other News," we talk about Google limiting impressions from "unproven" advertisers and the battle between advertising groups and the "Delete Bill," a California bill that would allow consumers to request advertisers delete their personal information. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf.

Google will require strict disclosures from AI-generated political ads: The company announced the rule change ahead of the most expensive election season yet.

Retail’s resilience and its outsized role in digital ad spending will help offset the impact of a broader slowdown in growth in the US digital advertising market.

B2B digital ad spending will continue to grow at a slower pace across key industries in 2023. More B2B buyers are millennials and Gen Zers, shifting ad buys from search to display, from Google to social media, and from desktop to mobile.

Amazon’s advertising division ranked highest in our Power of Amazon in 2023 report. Its retail ecommerce division, Amazon’s biggest business by dollars, lost share between our initial rankings in 2021 and our current forecast.

The Digital Services Act enforces new rules on 19 large platforms, affecting content moderation and ads. Noncompliance could result in hefty fines or bans.

Here's how people in South Korea spend their time and money online, represented in 10 charts.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which launched at the start of July, introduced ecommerce dimensions and metrics, improved audience insights, and better app measurement.

This month’s ad platforms update is all about analytics, with Google, TikTok, and Microsoft announcing improved reporting tools. Plus, Amazon announced on-site and off-site retail media innovations. And we saw some interesting ad network updates from Lyft and Intuit. Here’s a breakdown of what’s new.

Digital ad spending growth in Canada continues apace, driven in large part by key industries tied most closely to the digital economy. Our rankings show that retail and CPG lead the way, while sectors like travel and automotive are still recovering from hard times during the pandemic.

Google issues refunds for misplaced ads: A June report claiming 80% of its third-party video ad positions didn’t meet standards raised a firestorm in the industry.

eBay recently posted ad revenues of $367 million in Q2 2023—a growth of 35% YoY—in its latest earnings. But much of that can be tied to innovation in its ad types, improved measurement capabilities, and expanded third-party ads. eBay’s market also gives it a retail media opportunity outside of consumer packaged goods (CPG). Let’s break down what eBay is doing right.