Generative AI was the shiny new thing this year (despite having been around for quite a while). Curious consumers wrote poems with ChatGPT, created masterpieces with Midjourney, and browsed Google’s and Microsoft’s AI-chatbot search functionalities. As the hype clears, which generative AI applications will be most relevant for business? And how can marketers put those applications to use?

What’s happening? Apple announced in June that iOS 17 would provide “even greater protections against trackers,” in a move that will affect links shared from Mail, Messages, and in Safari’s private browsing mode.

The end of third-party cookies is nigh: Despite advertisers’ hopes for another delay, Google is beginning its pivot to the Privacy Sandbox.

Following three consecutive quarters of ad revenue losses, YouTube faces an urgent need to restore growth. This could present marketers using YouTube with opportunities to target audiences on both connected TVs and smartphones.

The US ad market grew for the first time in 11 months this May, according to Standard Media’s US Ad Market Tracker. Now the question is if expansion can continue. June and the start of July brought a host of ad updates that could help continued growth, including ad tools enhancements from Google and Microsoft, retail media opportunities from Roku and Uber, and more. Here’s a breakdown of what’s new.

On today's episode, we discuss what the current patchwork of privacy legislation looks like in the US, what the most protective state privacy laws include, and whether a federal privacy law is on the horizon. "In Other News," we talk about the countdown to comply with the West's toughest content law and the significance of Gannett suing Google. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf.

Five US states currently have comprehensive consumer data protection laws in effect. With five more state privacy laws on the horizon, advertisers need to get up to speed with compliance.

Apple set to inconvenience marketers yet again: Stripping tracking parameters from URLs could cause major short-term headaches.

Google continues to lose ground to Amazon: Amazon is holding steady as shoppers’ search engine of choice for products, even as TikTok and other social platforms attract Gen Z consumers.

Retail media, connected TV (CTV), and search will play key roles in the future of digital advertising. This shift has retailers like Amazon aiming to expand CTV and social network companies like Meta leaning into search. Here are five predictions, according to our analyst Andrew Lipsman, that were shared during our virtual summit earlier this month.

Omnicom will integrate Google’s generative AI into its ad tech stack: With Omnicom and WPP backing generative AI, the rest of the industry will be swift to follow.

This report is a guideline to help marketers understand connected TV through market size estimates, growth projections, and analysis of the complex landscape of ad buyers and sellers.

Search is pivoting toward AI chat. Google has its Search Generative Experience (SGE) and Bard. Microsoft has its new Bing and a partnership with OpenAI. These fundamental changes to search will change user behavior and monetization. Here’s how the new era of search will affect advertising for brands, retailers, and publishers.

Social search is growing, fueled by consumer behavior and AI—and so are the search ad opportunities on TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and others. But search on social media isn’t the same as traditional search. Here’s what advertisers should know.

To succeed in digital advertising at a time when consumers worldwide split their time between seven social platforms each day, simple, scaled, AI-powered creative campaigns are key.

Amazon presses forward with new generative AI tools: The retailer is determined to show clients and investors it can keep up with OpenAI and Google despite a slow start.

TikTok and Amazon join the ranks of Google (and to a lesser degree Microsoft) as places where consumers start their searches. Meanwhile, audience-based targeting is becoming a more privacy-compliant way to reach consumers. And of course, generative AI will change search as we know it, though no one can be sure of how—yet.

Amazon sits at the top of US ecommerce, accounting for 37.6% of sales this year, according to our forecast. In addition to generating billions of dollars in sales, Amazon’s ecommerce business propels its other ventures, including retail media and B2B ecommerce. By harnessing the power of generative AI, Amazon could leave its retail competition even further in the dust, and possibly catch up to the Google and Meta duopoly.

Key stat: Google’s share of US nonretail search ad spend has declined since 2021, when the company saw $57.49 billion in US search ad revenues, according to our forecast. Among Google’s rivals outside of retail, both Microsoft and Apple are growing their search revenues faster.

“If you want to dominate the digital landscape, you’ve got to win or be a clear leader on the three core pillars: media, advertising, and commerce,” our analyst Andrew Lipsman said during our recent “Attention!” summit.