The news: TikTok renewed its Lionel Messi-focused live broadcast deal with Major League Soccer (MLS) after a successful 2024 livestream, per a blog post. TikTok will partner with Apple TV to broadcast four select matches in the current MLS season, with a dedicated camera angle focused on Messi during each match. Our take: TikTok and Apple TV’s newest move is another bid to capitalize on a well-known athlete in a profitable genre, where advertising opportunities are plentiful and success is essentially guaranteed. Sports are one of the most reliable ad environments, offering scale, loyalty, and global reach.

Our midyear report revisits the top trends we named in early 2025 to see what’s shaping the market, evolving fast, or fading in the rearview mirror.

The news: Amazon is acquiring AI wearables company Bee, opening up a path for the Big Tech player to reenter the wearables field. The startup sells $49.99 AI-powered watches, which record and transcribe all conversations. Amazon said all Bee employees have been offered roles at the company. The value of the deal wasn’t disclosed. Our take: With Bee’s technology—and its endlessly refreshed user data—Amazon could incrementally improve its beleaguered Alexa or train future products. If the company plans to keep Bee running, rather than cancel the product and use its software elsewhere, it could have substantial competition in the AI wearables space—especially if OpenAI launches an AI device.

The news: ChatGPT isn’t just leading the chatbot race—it’s dominating it. With rapid growth and billions of daily prompts, it remains the go-to generative AI (genAI) tool for both businesses and consumers despite rising competition. The stats: Figures on the AI leader’s user growth are debated, but the most consistent recent number for weekly active users (WAUs) is 500 million—an increase from 100 million WAUs in November 2023, a year after its debut. That number tripled to 300 million by December 2024. Our take: As genAI evolves from a novelty product to a routine tool in workflows and daily life, ChatGPT is maintaining its role as an industry leader. To stay ahead, OpenAI should focus on improving ChatGPT as a core product and prove it can scale profits sustainably before racing to outbuild its rivals.

GenAI will reach about 51% of US internet users by 2029 as growth stabilizes, with search dominating use cases and Gen Z leading adoption. Amid rising competition from Google and others, ChatGPT will maintain dominance. Brands must adapt to AI-mediated customer relationships.

The news: Despite global cuts in ad budgets, several companies are diving head-first into their own ad offerings to diversify revenues. HP is reportedly pitching HP Media Network, an ad network highlighting laptop and desktop ads. The move includes ads on HP computers and apps, offsite ads, placements in social and email campaigns, and a free ad-supported TV service. Our take: Introducing ad offerings isn’t necessarily a lost cause—but knowing how to position new ad products is key to succeeding in a time when advertisers are increasingly hesitant to invest without measurable results.

AI is upending every aspect of marketing, from neuro-contextual ads that read emotions to autonomous shopping agents that make purchasing decisions. As tech giants consolidate control of the sector, six pivotal trends are reshaping advertising, search, and commerce.

Privacy regulations are mounting. Signal loss is accelerating. Omnichannel advertising has become impossibly complex. These forces are driving marketers back to MMM for holistic, privacy-safe measurement.

The news: ByteDance is working on lightweight mixed-reality goggles that could directly challenge Meta’s products, per The Information. Our take: If ByteDance can leverage its content ecosystem, creator network, and powerful algorithm, it could carve out a foothold with younger, social media–savvy users. Brands could sponsor AR lenses and place products within digital overlays to turn everyday activities into shoppable moments.

The news: Messaging ads are gaining traction as a key opportunity to reach customers at critical moments after Meta debuted ads in WhatsApp. In an exclusive conversation with EMARKETER, Grant Parker, president of omnichannel ad platform Innnovid, offered his take on the future of the messaging medium. Our take: The path forward for messaging ads relies on how well the format integrates with the user experience rather than interrupting it—necessitating that advertisers invest in this opportunity while accounting for consumer attitudes.

The news: Google snatched AI coding startup Windsurf’s IP out from under OpenAI in an acqui-hire that includes Windsurf’s CEO, co-founder, and some R&D employees. Our take: Google’s nonexclusive licensing approach could help it avoid regulatory pushback, though employees not involved in the deal may be left out to dry. Deals like this show that control over developer tools is becoming a major strategic advantage for tech companies and could indicate that the Big Tech fight for AI talent and executives is only just beginning.

Social video’s momentum continues as advertisers direct the majority of their social network budgets toward it. Lines are continuing to blur between streaming platforms and social networks, especially as the latter increases its emphasis on video.

The news: Meta is refusing to change its “pay or consent“ model in the EU, per Reuters, risking fines to protect its ad-targeting capabilities. The company argues it’s being singled out and that “a user choice between a subscription for no ads service or a free ad-supported service remains a legitimate business model for every company in Europe—except Meta,” per Reuters. Our take: This is a battle for user data, and with the DMA’s prior victories over Meta, it’s one fight that Meta may not win. Marketers should track Meta’s changing compliance stance, prepare for restrictions on user-level data, and consider spending on platforms with fewer regulatory risks.

Social search is gaining ground. Roughly two-thirds of US consumers search on at least one social platform in ways that can influence every part of the consumer journey.

The news: Meta is facing an investigation from the French Competition Authority for allegedly limiting access to ad verification partners and exploiting its ad market dominance. Meta is required to implement interim measures, including the development and disclosure of updated guidelines governing access to and maintenance of “viewability” and “brand safety” partnerships. Our take: While France doesn’t account for a massive portion of Meta’s ad revenues, the company could still be subject to substantial consequences if found guilty. Antitrust fines from the French Competition Authority can be as high as 10% of a company’s global annual turnover.

The news: Meta purchased a $3.51 billion stake in eyewear maker EssilorLuxottica, signaling its long-term commitment to AI-powered smart glasses. It now holds about a 3% share but is considering a larger investment that would increase its share to 5%, per Bloomberg. EssilorLuxottica’s stock rose about 6% Wednesday after the announcement. Our take: Marketers should view smart glasses as more than a casual consumer device. Start developing internal tools such as training and simulation applications and user-facing offerings like personalized experiences and voice-activated product walkthroughs.

The news: WPP slashed its 2025 outlook in an earnings update, citing declines in client spend and net new business—exacerbating the agency’s turbulence over recent months and sending WPP stock to its lowest point since 2009. WPP now expects an annual revenue decline of 3% to 5%, up from its previous forecast of 2%. Our take: WPP’s woes indicate that the traditional agency model is struggling to adapt to shifting client demands, AI-led marketing, and digital disruption.

The news: Sports-centric streaming service Fubo has agreed to pay $3.4 million to settle a lawsuit claiming it illegally distributed customers’ personal data to advertisers without consent. The lawsuit alleged that Fubo went against the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) in 2023 by collecting personally identifiable information (PII), including data on consumers’ viewing history and location, and sharing this information with third party advertisers. Our take: Fubo’s lawsuit echoes growing concerns over how platforms approach data privacy and questions over the legality of using sensitive information to serve personalized ads—requiring that advertisers shift their strategies.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss the second biggest digital ad player’s (Meta) vision for the future of ads, if it will lead to money saved or more commercials, and why the 30-second AI-made TV ad for Kalshi matters more than most. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Senior Director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman, and Principal Analyst Yory Wurmser. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

The news: Meta announced numerous updates to its messaging ad options, with a heavy focus on WhatsApp. Meta is expanding Ads Manager to include WhatsApp campaigns, centralizing multi-campaign management across its platforms. The feature allows businesses to upload subscriber lists to use Advantage+ to optimize ad budgets or manually choose messages for additional placements. Our take: The ongoing potential for divestiture could have significant implications for advertisers that rely on Meta’s ecosystem—but the new features will still make WhatsApp a more appealing option for those that haven’t considered it as a key ad channel.