YouTube courts brands with TV-style creators: Upfront pitch pairs stars and CTV scale as linear TV time slips.

Gen Z’s audio habits are rapidly shifting as streaming, social discovery, and multitasking reshape engagement. Music still dominates, but video podcasts and always-on listening are fragmenting attention and redefining how content is found and consumed.

Meta tops $240 billion in ad revenues: AI-fueled gains and Reels lift revenues as the company cements its pull with marketers.

Global ad spending is accelerating again, despite geopolitical shocks. Digital is tightening its grip, even as traditional media gets a temporary boost from major events. The sources of growth are shifting across regions—and among platforms.

Alphabet’s AI stack fuels ad economics: Anthropic’s $200 billion deal boosts Google Cloud, while TPUs and Gemini may lower ad costs.

Instagram pushes into the living room: Long-form CTV plans could pit it head-on with YouTube’s cross-device dominance.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss the three big questions surrounding Google right now: If Google is winning at search, where is its ad machine quietly losing? Is its self-driving car unit, Waymo, a sleeping giant for the company? And are its new traditional TV-style “Stations” the right model for YouTube as it tries to take over the living room? And more. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, along with Analyst Marisa Jones and Senior Forecasting Analyst Drew Spink. Listen everywhere, or watch on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

A rebound year is taking shape in Canada’s ad market. Growth is shifting toward CTV, retail media, and social. But tighter budgets and economic pressure are forcing advertisers to rethink channel mix and performance priorities.

Roku’s ad engine hums: Q1 ad revenues jumped 27% as 38.7 billion streaming hours and premium CTV formats helped pull marketers from linear TV.

Creator content is shaping how AI answers questions. But content that’s good at engaging audiences isn’t always what AI surfaces. That’s forcing brands to rethink their creator strategies and content formats so they can show up in AI tools.

US social network amplified content ad spending will match creator sponsored content revenues at $14.15 billion in 2027 before surpassing them in 2028, according to a February forecast from EMARKETER.

Guidance clouds Spotify’s outlook: Q1 revenues rose, but lower-than-expected guidance and ad struggles rattled investors and raised monetization concerns.

SiriusXM and iHeartMedia eye scale: Merger talks aim to pool reach and ad heft as radio revenues stall and digital adoption rises.

Ad spending will surge in 2026 as AI-driven gains and a packed events calendar offset mounting economic strain. Social will lead the way as Meta overtakes Google in net revenues and the wider ad industry closes in on the half-trillion-dollar milestone.

Charter sheds 51,000 pay TV subscribers in Q1: Cord-cutting accelerates as streaming and digital redraw viewing habits, necessitating marketers adapt.

YouTube leans on SiriusXM’s ad infrastructure: The radio company is now the exclusive ad partner for YouTube audio, including video podcasts.

YouTube is the top platform for watching creators across every demographic of US children, according to a February report from Precisify.