Paramount Skydance’s first full quarter under CEO David Ellison wasn’t flashy—but it was confident. Revenues were roughly in line, shares jumped over 10%, and management struck a new tone: Paramount is (re)building. Ellison and president Jeff Shell raised synergy targets to $3 billion, boosted film and TV output, and reaffirmed streaming growth through UFC integration on Paramount+. Ellison teased “buy versus build” ambitions amid merger chatter with Warner Bros. Discovery, signaling offense over defense. The message landed: Paramount’s next act is about agility and intent—a media giant betting it can grow faster by cutting smarter.

Amazon’s Prime Video maintains an average monthly ad-supported reach of more than 315 million viewers globally, the company announced at its 2025 unBoxed event. Amazon’s high-intent shopper base and ability to lead users through the entire marketing funnel offer a distinct advantage.

Connected TV (CTV) engagement is growing steadily, with engagement per impression reaching 1.94% in Q2 2025, up from 1% in Q2 2024, per our industry KPI data provided by BrightLine. Consistent growth in audience engagement with interactive CTV ads means advertisers who haven’t jumped on the interactivity bandwagon risk losing an opportunity to make positive impressions on vast CTV audiences.

The Trade Desk posted another strong quarter, with revenue up 18% to $739 million and EBITDA margins above 40%, but CEO Jeff Green’s focus remains philosophical. On the Q3 call, Green said the company’s “AI-first” Kokai platform and new tools—Open Ads, Deal Desk, Audience Unlimited, and Trading Modes—position TTD as the infrastructure layer of an open, transparent internet. CTV now accounts for half of total revenue, with Disney and Hearst partnerships lifting publisher yields by 23%. Yet Green acknowledged the open web’s challenges, calling the vision “more aspirational than factual” as walled gardens tighten control.

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) posted rocky Q3 results, with US ad revenues falling 16% YoY to $1.4 billion, largely attributed to linear TV audience declines. WBD’s current ad struggles indicate that significant changes are ahead—but regardless of whether WBD splits or sells, the shift will inevitably deliver greater value to advertisers.

Mid-market marketers (companies with 10 to 499 employees) have high expectations for artificial intelligence and see AI as a productivity lever for lean teams, according to new data from WARC and MailChimp—but adoption lags behind enthusiasm. AI is still in its early days, leaving a wide gap between the largest companies with capital to invest in proprietary resources and smaller teams with more limited resources.

AppLovin beat expectations again, delivering a blowout quarter that affirmed its place among the most profitable players in adtech. Even as the company faces ongoing scrutiny over data practices and an SEC probe, its financial momentum appears unaffected. AppLovin is proving that controversy doesn’t always kill momentum. Its ability to execute quarter after quarter suggests marketers may be more pragmatic than moralistic, following results over rhetoric.

Media effectiveness platform DoubleVerify rolled out streaming TV products on Thursday designed to improve transparency and advertising quality in connected TV (CTV). DV’s new tools offer hope to marketers who are relying on CTV more amid shifting viewing habits but who struggle with placement and measurement.

Podcasts are emerging as the most credible, persuasive arm of the creator economy. According to Acast, 84% of listeners have changed their mind because of a podcaster, yet 75% don’t view them as influencers—proof that credibility, not celebrity, fuels podcast influence. Two-thirds of listeners say they’ve purchased something a host recommended. Despite the rise of video, most podcast engagement remains audio-first, underscoring the medium’s intimacy and staying power. For advertisers, podcasts offer a rare trifecta—attention, authenticity, and conversion—at a time when influencer fatigue and algorithmic feeds erode audience trust elsewhere.

Snapchat revenues and users grew in Q3—but the company warned that age verification laws would have unpredictable results on its business. While innovative ad tools and a new partnership with Perplexity could offer more value, stagnant growth and new policies that would restrict access to over 18% of Snapchat’s audience make the social platform a riskier investment than those with ad businesses less reliant on a youth-oriented audience like Instagram.

LiveRamp CEO Scott Howe says marketers are now fighting a “war for signals”—a race to collect, clean, and connect data fast enough to prove every dollar’s impact. Speaking alongside Q2 earnings of $200 million (up 8%), Howe described marketing’s new reality as “precision and proof.” LiveRamp’s clean room tech now lets brands merge data across partners like Netflix, Uber, and PayPal to tie spend directly to transactions. With AI acceleration and data collaboration redefining performance, Howe says growth depends less on scale and more on signal speed: “Access to better data gets the flywheel going—and determines who wins.”

Pinterest reported Q3 2025 revenue of $1.1 billion, up 17% YoY and slightly ahead of forecasts, as global user growth and AI-driven ad features continue to lift engagement. Monthly active users climbed 12% to 600 million, with international markets up 16% and driving most of the gains. Yet softer Q4 guidance spooked investors, sending shares down 20%. CFO Julia Donnelly cited “moderating ad spend” among US retailers facing tariff pressures. Globally, Pinterest’s AI tools—visual search, generative creative, and shoppable feeds—are strengthening its position as the web’s most frictionless bridge between inspiration and purchase. Consistency remains Pinterest’s quiet advantage.

Spotify’s Q3 2025 results show a company redefining success around efficiency and engagement rather than scale. Revenue rose to $4.62 billion, with 713 million monthly active users and 281 million premium subscribers, up 12% YoY. Gross margin reached 31.6% as AI integration, subscription pricing, and product diversification drove profitability. The company’s upcoming leadership transition—Daniel Ek to executive chairman, Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström to co-CEOs—signals continuity through maturity. While ad sales grew just 7%, Spotify’s dominance in user time and audio engagement positions it as the anchor of digital audio. The next chapter: sustainable margins, smarter growth, and steady leadership.

Uber partnered with ad measurement firms Kantar and Adelaide to launch a custom attention metric for in-ride ads and Uber Eats checkout screens, the companies announced Tuesday. The partnership is Adelaide’s first custom, platform-specific attention metric partnership. As the ad industry inches toward universal standards, Uber’s launch shows the challenges in creating a one-size-fits-all approach. Even post-standardization, advertisers will have to navigate an ecosystem with multiple platform-specific offerings.

Coca-Cola is putting out another AI-generated holiday advertisement, its second after an AI ad campaign last year that drew mixed reactions from audiences. While attitudes toward AI in ads are mixed, smaller brands are at a higher risk of receiving negative impacts from creating ads entirely using AI.

Netflix and iHeartMedia are discussing a deal that would allow the popular streaming platform to license iHeartMedia’s video podcasts, shortly after Netflix inked a similar deal with Spotify, per Bloomberg. An expanded video podcast portfolio will unlock new opportunities for marketers if Netflix chooses to sell ad space on podcast content.

StackAdapt is overhauling programmatic out-of-home advertising with tools that let buyers see exactly where their ads will appear. The new platform experience includes real-world map views, screen previews, and venue-level pricing, solving one of OOH’s biggest pain points: visibility. VP of Inventory Development Gregory Joseph said the update responds directly to advertiser demand for proof of placement and transparency. As agencies push for unified reporting across CTV, mobile, and OOH, StackAdapt’s approach gives digital buyers the data and validation they expect. For advertisers, it marks a turning point—OOH can finally be planned, measured, and optimized alongside digital media.

Reddit COO Jen Wong told EMARKETER that the platform has evolved from explaining itself to advertisers to proving it can deliver results. “We’ve shown Reddit can drive real business outcomes,” she said, noting that nine of fifteen verticals grew ad spend by at least 50% YoY. Wong emphasized discovery as Reddit’s next frontier—especially in underexposed sectors like parenting and sports—and said product improvements will make communities easier to find. With ad revenues projected to climb 46.6% in two years, Reddit’s opportunity is one of scale and visibility, driven by authenticity and high-intent engagement.

Disney channels, including ESPN and ABC, have officially been removed from leading pay TV platform YouTube TV after Disney and Google failed to resolve a distribution dispute. Even as YouTube TV gives subscribers access to a large number of non-Disney channels, its ad effectiveness could be harmed without as broad of a sports portfolio—necessitating cautious investment.

Sell-side company Magnite announced a private marketplace in collaboration with ITN on Thursday that will enable programmatic access to local linear TV, representing a new milestone in linear. The private marketplace represents a new opportunity in linear that helps reignite its relevance for brands. Automation helps modernize linear programmatic advertising, delivering the same efficiency capabilities that are standard in digital.