Global ad spending is now expected to rise 7.4% to reach $1.17 trillion in 2025, driven by social media and digital investments, per WARC’s updated forecast. Advertisers aren’t slashing budgets, but instead rethinking spending as economic uncertainty accelerates the shift to digital channels, performance campaigns, and newer formats like influencer marketing.

Jimmy Kimmel’s return to Jimmy Kimmel Live! drew 6.3 million viewers, the show’s strongest 18–49 demo ratings for a regular episode in more than a decade, despite being blacked out on affiliates covering nearly a quarter of US households. His free speech monologue went viral, surpassing 19.7 million YouTube views to become his most-watched segment ever. The moment underscores both the enduring ability of linear TV to deliver tentpole audiences and the necessity of digital distribution to sustain reach. By amplifying his message, tactics to cancel Kimmel ultimately expanded his audience—proving digital video is now essential to late-night relevance.

YouTube will allow creator accounts banned for election and COVID-19 misinformation to apply for reinstatement after mounting pressure for platforms to reverse Biden-era restrictions. YouTube’s policy shift signals a new norm in online content moderation where platform rules are more fluid and politically contested.

YouTube is an effective channel for reaching Gen Zers as use and creators influence expand, per our 2025 Gen Z Social Media Usage report. Over half (56%) of Gen Z social media users are spending more time on YouTube than they did a year ago, per YouGov. YouTube’s momentum with Gen Z shows its evolution from an entertainment hub to a discovery and shopping engine. Brands need to not only show up, but also design for searchability, optimize creator partnerships, and explore cross-screen viewing and messaging outreach.

Condé Nast-owned magazine Wired is promoting an out-of-home (OOH) campaign for its upcoming politics issue in a massive brand marketing effort spanning cities including New York, Los Angeles, Austin, and Washington, DC. Wired’s omnichannel approach highlights how combining trust, talent visibility, and multi-format reach drives stronger engagement and brand outcomes.

Over half (51%) of US teen boys say they’ve made a purchase after watching a YouTube Shorts ad, compared with 43% of teen girls, according to June 2025 data from Precise TV.

Google introduced new features for Demand Gen campaigns and said it will publish monthly, newsletter-style updates to keep marketers on track with the latest Demand Gen updates. Google is moving to chip away at advertisers’ black-box concerns by adding more visibility, measurement, and testing options into Demand Gen, signaling its push toward greater transparency and control for campaign performance.

YouTube wants to be the home for both product discovery and ecommerce as it rolls out new shopping features across long-form videos and Shorts, per The Verge. Incoming additions include dynamic brand segments for swapping out sponsors, AI tagging of eligible products, and brand links in Shorts. YouTube is announcing new features—like shoppable masthead ads and text-to-video tools—at a breakneck pace, looking to capitalize on its growth across platforms. Brands should partner with both top creators and smaller influencers to boost discovery and purchases.

MrBeast’s Feastables brand is under fire after the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) flagged multiple practices that may have misled children or mishandled their data. Concerns included undisclosed promotions in videos, a misleading “blind taste test” against European chocolates, sweepstakes that encouraged bulk purchases, and collection of under-13 data via pop-ups. The case signals a broader shift: influencer-led brands are now being held to the same advertising and disclosure standards as traditional advertisers, with potential regulatory and reputational risks for creators and partners alike.

While social media drives discovery, it serves primarily as a path to purchase—not as the final destination. Over three-quarters (78%) of US consumers say their purchases are influenced by brands on social media, per Clutch’s From Scroll to Sale report. However, only 15% use social media platforms or apps to make direct purchases. The opportunity in social media commerce lies not just in driving discovery, but closing the gap between interest and action. Brands can earn trust by setting up mechanics like secure checkout to promote cybersecurity and maintaining consistency between marketing voice and website appearance to avoid confusing customers.

Social media is intertwined into Gen Zers’ day-to-day lives, used for everything from entertainment to messaging to searching. But they’re posting less than older generations and want to spend less time on it, though that’s easier said than done.

Microdramas—episodic series made for vertical viewing on phones—gained popularity in China and are now taking off in the US. Using techniques like product placement and creator partnerships, brands are figuring out how they can use this new genre.

YouTube is making livestreaming a central pillar of its platform with its most sweeping update yet. More than 30% of logged-in viewers watched live video in Q2 2025, and new features aim to boost engagement and monetization. Updates include YouTube Playables, dual horizontal and vertical streaming with a unified chat, AI-generated highlight Shorts, and side-by-side ad formats that don’t interrupt streams. The company is also enabling midstream exclusivity for members. For creators, livestreaming is now easier to scale and monetize; for brands, it’s a fresh avenue to connect with highly engaged audiences—and increasingly, to drive commerce.

YouTube creators aren’t just publishing more TV-like content; they’re reinventing the TV medium. Brands can’t just shift TV budget to YouTube; they must also shift their thinking about what “television” is.

Google is rolling out new ad tools for AI Overviews targeting retailers in a bid to curb concerns about AI responses’ impact on referral traffic and clickthrough rates (CTRs), per a blog post. Giving retailers more opportunities to show up prominently in AI results could curb worries about AI Overviews cannibalizing CTRs and traffic, but brands still need to adapt to the rise of AI responses to remain competitive.

YouTube’s NFL Brazil broadcast was a massive success, breaking livestream records in the country with over 17.3 million average-minute-audience (AMA) members, including more than one million non-US viewers. YouTube’s record-breaking NFL success proves that, for advertisers, the marketing playbook is moving to platforms where reach, relevance, and results converge.

As the number of podcast listeners grow, giving them options for both listening to or watching the latest episodes has become key to maintaining audiences. More than half of US podcast consumers (53%) prefer watching podcasts over just listening on YouTube, per the Podcast Landscape 2025 report from Sounds Profitable and Signal Hill. YouTube’s connected TV (CTV) and podcast dominance presents a unique opportunity for brands to advertise in a variety of formats, whether that’s sponsored episodes, partnerships, digital video ads, or pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll audio spots.

Our exclusive data explores how social commerce and AI are reshaping the beauty path to purchase for US consumers.

Despite persistent inequities in the US healthcare system, Black, Hispanic, and Asian consumers are more positive about health and wellness. They actively look for and buy healthcare products and information online. To effectively reach Black, Hispanic, and Asian consumers, marketers should consider the following: Reflect their positive outlook on health and wellness. Be specific about how your brand can help. Use digital channels and social media to create engaging, educational videos. Partner with health influencers to connect with these younger, culturally aware audiences.