the-digital-voice

Preciso Launches Ultima for Publishers Plugin

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 11:11:43 GMT

Preciso Launches Ultima for Publishers Plugin

WordPress tool will enable publishers to increase revenues using brand-safe, native advertising placements

Precisohas launched a timely new plugin, Ultima for Publishers, which enables publishers to generate additional revenues from their websites.

Ultima for Publishers is designed for sites running on WordPress, the most widely-used publishing platform. The Ultima for Publishers WordPress plugin enables publishers to choose where to place native advertising units on their sites, and monetise them with reputable, brand-safe ads which respect the user experience - with no gambling or adult advertising content, and no pop-unders or intrusive banners.

Ultima is Preciso’s targeted native advertising solution. It uses machine learning technology to create personalised campaign creatives and automatically embed them within web pages to combat banner blindness and drive meaningful engagement at scale.

In tests, Ultima has been shown to deliver a CTR of 2.1% (vs 1.84% Industry Average), an engagement rate of 65.94% (vs 60.03% Industry Average) and an Average Session Duration of 3m 46s (vs 2m 40s Industry Average).

“It has become increasingly difficult for publishers to monetise their traffic in recent times,” said Preciso CEO, Piero Pavone. “This solution offers a simple way for the huge number of publishers running on WordPress sites to increase their revenues by as much as 50%, through native advertising that adds to the user experience, rather than interrupting it - all managed by Preciso.”

Consumers have steadilybecome less tolerantof disruptive ads when browsing or shopping online, and areincreasingly blind to more traditional advertising banners. As a result, the value of native advertising has never been greater, and the global market for native is set to reach$400bnthis year.

A massive43.6% of all websites on the internetuse WordPress, including more than a third of the top million sites. More than 500 new sites are built on WordPress every day.

Ultima for publishers is available now. Any publishers interested in unlocking a new revenue stream to their site without complexity should simply install Ultima Publisher directly from their WordPress plugin and start monetising their content immediately.

Also published in: LBB Online

The Top Events to Attend During Cannes Week

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 10:48:35 GMT

The Top Events to Attend During Cannes Week

A comprehensive guide to the top networking events, mixers and must-attend moments happening across Cannes

When the industry descends on the south of France each June, Cannes transforms into a city-wide hug of creativity and conversation. Beyond the main stages and scheduled programming, the week comes alive with hundreds of additional events, from beachside breakfasts and panel sessions to brand activations, private dinners and late-night parties.

After a hugely positive response to the recent launch of our 2026 Cannes Events Calendar , we’re back with a Cannes-focused roundup to help you make the most of your time during the week.

With so much happening, knowing where to be (and when) can quickly become overwhelming, so we’ve curated our top picks of the best networking events to attend…

All times are shown as local (CEST).

Sunday

Event: ADWEEK’s Kickoff Soiree

Host: ADWEEK

Time: 19:00-21:00

A staple opening night event that sets the tone for the week, bringing together a strong mix of brands, agencies and media for an easy first round of networking.

Monday

Event: Tennis on the Riviera

Host: The Nucleus Network

Time: 07:00-10:00

An early start, but worth it. Expect a senior crowd and genuinely meaningful conversations on and off the court.

Event: ADWEEK House, Viant Cafe - Group Chats and Programming

Host: ADWEEK

Time: 09:00-17:00

A reliable daytime hub for drop-ins, informal discussions and curated sessions, ideal for filling gaps between meetings.

Event: Adtech Kickoff Lunch

Host: Limelight Inc.

Time: 13:00-15:00

A more intimate setting to connect with peers across the adtech ecosystem and kickstart the week with quality conversations

Event: The List Cannes Kickoff - Ad Age

Host: Ad Age

Time: 17:00-18:00

A curated early evening gathering known for attracting a senior, editorially-led crowd. A great pick for making strong connections.

Event: Cannes Brand Leaders Dinner

Host: Digiday

Time: 19:00

An invite-only dinner bringing together brand-side leaders for deeper conversations in a more relaxed, off-the-clock setting.

Tuesday

Event: Cannes Marketing Leaders Brunch

Host: Digiday

Time: 10:30

A popular morning meet-up with a strong mix of brands, agencies and platforms. Expect a busy but valuable room.

Event: The Marketing, Content & Commerce Leadership Lunch

Host: Martech Record

Time: 13:00-14:30

A focused, discussion-led lunch exploring the intersection of content, commerce and marketing leadership.

Event: The Cannes Social - Networking and drinks

Host: ExchangeWire & FirstPartyCapital

Time: 16:00-19:00

A more relaxed networking event that’s great for meeting a broad mix of the industry without the formality.

Event: Beet.TV 20th Anniversary Party

Host: Beet.TV

Time: 18:00-20:00

A milestone celebration set against a classic Cannes backdrop, expect a lively crowd and strong industry turnout.

Wednesday

Event: Pinterest Manifestival

Host: Pinterest

Time: 09:00-17:30

A full-day brand experience blending creativity, inspiration and networking in a distinct setting.

Event: FT Morning Insights - The Business of Influence

Host: Financial Times

Time: 11:00 - 13:00

A sharp, insight-led session exploring the evolving influence economy, with a senior, engaged audience.

Event: Catamaran Conversations

Host: Samsung Ads x Nectar360

Time: 16:00 - 18:00

Networking on the water! One of the more unique Cannes experiences, combining great views and great conversation.

Event: Ad Age Lawn Party

Host: Ad Age

Time: 17:30-19:30

One of the busiest social events of the week, bringing together a broad mix of industry players in a high-energy setting.

Event: Cocktails and Conversations - ADWEEK House Creative 100 Reception

Host: ADWEEK

Time: 17:30-19:30

A celebratory gathering recognising top creative talent, attracting an influential crowd.

Event: Campaign Final Party

Host: Campaign

Time: TBC

A classic late-week party and a chance to let loose; expect a packed room and a proper end-of-week atmosphere.

Thursday

Event: WIN Lounge

Host: Women Inspiring Network (WIN)

Time: TBC

A welcoming space focused on connection, conversation and community, with a programme designed to inspire.

Event: The List Closing Breakfast

Host: Ad Age

Time: 09:00-10:30

A more relaxed, reflective session to wrap up the week and reconnect with key contacts before departures begin.

Event: Exclusive Drinks & Networking Finale: Driving the Future of Marketing

Host: Financial Times

Time: 16:00-18:00

One of the final opportunities to connect with senior leaders and close out conversations before the week winds down.

Friday

Event: Les Monks Café

Host: Monks

Time: 08:00-15:00

A laid-back spot for informal meetings and last-minute catch-ups.

Event: The Secret Garden

Host: Dept

Time: 10:00

A calm, tucked-away setting offering a welcome break from the Croisette.

Event: Microsoft Happy Hour

Host: Microsoft Beach House

Time: 17:30-19:00

A low-pressure way to wrap up the week. Great for final drinks, farewells and those last valuable connections.

See you there?

Our team will be on the ground all week! So if you’re heading to Cannes, make sure to come and say hello. Whether you want to connect or just grab a drink, we’d love to see you there! ��

…and don’t forget to check out our full 2026 Cannes Events Calendar , we’ll be keeping it up to date in the run up to June.

Samsung Ads offers streaming ad exposure insights in Europe

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:56:06 GMT

Samsung Ads offers streaming ad exposure insights in Europe

Samsung Ads has introduced a notable planning capability to Europe with TotalView, which provides insights on which Samsung smart TV homes have been exposed to advertising within streaming services.

TotalView launched in Germany and the UK in beta last week. The product will launch in other European markets in the coming months.

The TotalView data set is already available in the US, albeit with slight differences.

“TotalView allows planners to understand where their ads were served and which audiences were reached,” the company points out.

Samsung already provides insights on which streaming apps a household watches, how often and for how long.

If they want, planners can combine these two datasets to better understand the streaming behaviours of exposed or under-exposed audiences and use this to seek incremental reach.

Planners can also use the Samsung Ads insights to retarget already-exposed households.

The company, which is the advertising arm of Samsung Electronics’ media division, has historically provided insights on ad exposure within linear broadcast TV.

TotalView means Samsung Ads can now provide a unified view of total ad reach across linear broadcast and streaming. Streaming includes broadcaster VOD (BVOD), streaming apps carried on Samsung smart TVs and FAST inventory within Samsung TV Plus.

Samsung home screen ads are also measured as part of TotalView.

TotalView will provide this unified view of broadcast and streaming reach on its 70m smart TVs in Europe. Currently this footprint includes 12m devices in Germany, 11m in the UK, 8m in Italy, 8m in Spain and 7m in France.

Samsung Ads does not disclose what this covers in terms of household reach.

Samsung Ads works with third-party data providers in its local markets (like Experian in the UK) to understand household demographics. Ad exposure measurement is enabled by Samsung’s proprietary ACR (automatic content recognition) and a combination of other signals.

Planners seeking incremental reach against linear broadcast could be pointed towards streaming services their non- or under-exposed target audience uses.

Geo targeting can be used with CTV to reach postal areas where the target group as a whole is under-exposed or to increase reach into target using postal areas that over-index against that audience.

The targeting can be achieved through Samsung inventory or buyers can go to their streaming service partners to find the geographies needed.

Finding incremental audiences

Summing up the new capabilities, Minai Bui, director of product marketing EMEA at Samsung Ads (pictured) says: “We can help find incremental audiences across streaming by showing who can be reached among non-exposed audiences.

“We do that by analysing their viewing behaviour and finding them via apps where we know they spend time.”

According to Samsung Ads, TotalView eliminates blind spots and provides a full picture of TV campaign performance.

“This new offering enhances Samsung’s existing pre-campaign insights, targeting and reporting capabilities,” it adds.

The TotalView dataset can be applied throughout the campaign lifecycle, from pre-campaign planning, where it helps identify untapped audiences and forecasts deduplicated reach, to in-flight activation for incremental reach, and post-campaign reporting

“By connecting these stages, TotalView enables advertisers to take a truly holistic and data-driven approach to planning, buying and measuring TV campaigns across the Samsung Smart TV ecosystem,” the company says.

Alex Hole, SVP and general manager at Samsung Europe and MENA comments: “Samsung has a unique vantage point on how viewing behaviours are evolving across linear and streaming.

“Our large-scale audience insights mean we understand not just what viewing behaviours look like today, but how they’re evolving over time.

“With TotalView we are empowering advertisers to navigate the new TV landscape with greater clarity and confidence.”

Also published in: The Media Leader

When the world watches together: how to measure the unified reach of global moments

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:45:41 GMT

When the world watches together: how to measure the unified reach of global moments

When events like the Winter Olympics draw families to the sofa and anticipation builds for this summer’s FIFA World Cup, something familiar happens. We huddle around the biggest screen in the house. Group chats spark into life. Half-time debates spill into the kitchen. For a few fleeting hours, it feels like the old days of mass TV are back.

But beneath that shared experience lies a very modern reality: the audience may be united in attention, but they’re still often divided in how they watch.

Since the arrival of streaming TV, the industry has asked, where has the mass audience gone? But perhaps the better question now is: how do we measure reach when mass audiences are split across linear broadcast, streaming apps and smart TV environments?

From fragmentation to unified attention

Live sport remains one of the last great ‘appointment-to-view’ moments. During tentpole events such as the Olympics, we see a marked shift back towards live viewing. Yet the pattern is more complex than a simple return to linear. Younger viewers, in particular, are just as likely to access live sport through broadcaster apps or streaming platforms as through traditional channels. When the closing ceremony ends, behaviour quickly reverts to on-demand.

In other words, the audience hasn’t disappeared, but it has certainly diversified. Therefore, the challenge for advertisers today is not a lack of scale, but a lack of visibility. If viewers are scattered across BVOD, AVOD, SVOD, gaming environments and operating system interfaces, then planning in silos risks running into issues such as duplication, wasted frequency and ultimately, missed incremental reach.

That’s why the conversation needs to move from “fragmentation as a problem” to “unified measurement as the solution”.

Rethinking CTV as ‘total TV’

One of the biggest hurdles is how we define CTV. Too often, it’s shorthand for “streaming”. In reality, it makes up the entire smart TV ecosystem: linear broadcast, streaming apps, gaming, and crucially, the home screen.

Most viewing journeys begin at the home screen. Across Europe, smart TV users return to it five or more times a day and spend around 10.5 minutes deciding what to watch. It’s the connective tissue between experiences – the only consistent touchpoint before audiences disperse into their chosen platforms.

Planning total TV campaigns means recognising this ecosystem – asking not just ‘where should I buy streaming?’, but ‘how does my linear campaign work alongside my home screen presence, and how do I top up reach, manage frequency and avoid overexposing the same households?’

When global moments command attention, brands need a measurement framework that captures combined reach across broadcast, streaming and smart TV environments. That requires deterministic data at device level, not probabilistic assumptions stitched together after the fact.

Why deterministic data matters

Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology provides a foundation for understanding real viewing behaviour. By identifying what content is on screen – whether linear programming, ads or even gaming activity – it builds a granular, one-to-one picture of how households use their TVs.

That depth of insight is essential for two reasons:

First, it enables de-duplication. If a viewer has already seen a brand’s linear spot during a live Olympic final, advertisers can use smart TV environments to manage additional frequency intelligently – either reinforcing the message or holding back to prevent fatigue.
Second, it allows for true incremental reach. In a world where younger viewers may never touch linear broadcast, deterministic TV data helps brands identify who they have not yet reached and extend campaigns into streaming or home screen placements accordingly.

Of course, as more live viewing shifts into streaming apps, visibility becomes more complex. No single player sees everything. But within the CTV environment, deterministic data brings clarity to what would otherwise remain opaque.

It also reflects a broader truth: no medium generates richer insight into viewing behaviour than the TV screen itself. When you have a data set based on more than 70 million smart TVs across Europe, this sheer scale of device-level data provides a uniquely comprehensive view of how audiences engage with content continent-wide.

The rise of ad-supported scale

Another shift reshaping global moments is the rise of ad-supported viewing. Whether through broadcaster apps, free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) services or hybrid tiers, advertising has reasserted itself as a central part of the TV ecosystem.

For brands, this opens up new ways to scale impact without relying on a single broadcaster or buying strategy. Instead of chasing one peak rating, advertisers can build unified campaigns that span linear, streaming and smart TV touchpoints.

The home screen plays a pivotal role here. During major events, brands that appear prominently on the TV interface benefit from contextual association – a halo effect that aligns them with cultural moments, even without formal sponsorship. Before viewers dive into the match or medal ceremony, they encounter a curated environment where content and advertising coexist.

It’s also an environment that invites interaction. As second-screening peaks during major live events, lean-forward formats such as QR-enabled ads and interactive units transform passive viewing into measurable engagement. The result is a shift from broad exposure to accountable outcomes.

Measuring what matters

Viewing behaviours are more diverse than ever, and technology continues to expand how and where people watch. But during global moments, scale has not disappeared – it has simply become harder to see at a glance. The real opportunity lies in measuring that combined reach across environments, so advertisers can fully understand and activate the total TV audience.

Total TV measurement, which is grounded in deterministic, device-level data, allows brands to understand combined reach, control frequency and unlock incremental audiences across the full smart TV ecosystem.

So, as the World Cup approaches and living rooms once again become arenas, the opportunity is clear. The audience may enter through different doors, but they still gather in the same room. For advertisers willing to unify their measurement as well as their messaging, global moments remain golden.

Also published in: New Digital Age

AI Isn’t Replacing Marketers. It’s Reshaping How Authority Is Earned

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:35:08 GMT

AI Isn’t Replacing Marketers. It’s Reshaping How Authority Is Earned

Consumers are no longer searching – they’re asking.

Instead of typing keywords into a search bar and scanning a page of links, they are posing full questions to AI systems and receiving synthesized answers. This is not a subtle evolution. It is a structural shift in how discovery works and how brands earn visibility.

For two decades, the internet operated in a search paradigm. Visibility meant ranking in a list of links. Today, AI systems increasingly mediate discovery, compressing what used to be multiple steps into a single response. The battle for attention is giving way to citation. It is no longer enough to be memorable. Brands must be referenced.

When a consumer asks for the best running shoes, the most reliable CRM, or the right skincare routine, the model does not invent an answer. It assembles one from existing sources – publishers, creators, reviews, comparison tools and affiliate-enabled content. The brands that appear most consistently across credible sources are the ones most likely to surface in the response.

In an AI-mediated environment, authority compounds.

The Shift From Traffic to Influence

For years, digital strategy revolved around traffic acquisition – rank in search, drive clicks, optimize conversion. But if the path to purchase increasingly happens inside the AI response itself, upstream influence matters more than downstream traffic.

This is where partnerships become strategic infrastructure, not just a performance channel.

Creators, affiliates, reviewers and referral partners are not simply conversion drivers. They are inputs into AI systems. They shape how brands are described, evaluated and recommended before a consumer ever visits a website. As AI scales, the voices it cites most often gain disproportionate visibility.

The implication is clear: marketers must understand not only who drives sales, but who shapes the narratives that feed AI discovery.

AI as a Power Tool – Not a Replacement

AI is accelerating the discovery layer, but it is not replacing human credibility.

A useful analogy is the transition from manual tools to power tools. AI increases speed, efficiency and scale. It can accelerate research, identify relevant partners, streamline content creation and personalize messaging. But power tools still require skilled operators.

AI can scale filtering. It cannot scale trust.

That distinction matters as brands experiment aggressively with generative content. These tools can remove friction and improve workflows, but they cannot manufacture lived experience, judgment or authenticity. As synthetic content proliferates, human credibility becomes more valuable, not less.

Younger consumers understand how easily content can be generated. As a result, they are often more skeptical of what feels engineered. Human presence is becoming a premium signal.

From SEO to the Citation Economy

Where AI proves most powerful is not in replacing creators, but in revealing which creators matter.

A new discipline is emerging: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). GEO focuses on how brands appear inside AI-generated answers – which sources are cited, which creators influence those outputs and how visibility compounds over time.

This is not about gaming algorithms. It is about strengthening the ecosystem of credible voices that AI systems rely on.

In this environment, visibility is earned through consistent presence across trusted sources. The brands that win are not necessarily the loudest. They are the most consistently referenced.

Authority is being recalibrated inside AI systems that determine what gets surfaced and scaled.

The Expanding Definition of Creator

At the same time, the definition of “creator” is expanding.

Beyond traditional influencers, a new class of technically fluent builders is emerging – individuals creating comparison engines, workflows and decision frameworks that shape research behavior upstream of purchase. Increasingly, their outputs feed directly into AI systems.

These creators may not look like influencers, but they influence decisions at high-intent moments.

That expansion makes transparency strategic. Brands need visibility into who is shaping discovery before traffic even occurs. In an AI-mediated ecosystem, understanding the sources behind recommendations is not optional – it is a competitive advantage.

Designing for an AI-Mediated Future

The takeaway for marketers is straightforward: the choice is not between AI and humans. It is about designing systems where AI drives efficiency and discovery, while humans remain responsible for credibility, judgment and relationships.

Culture creates attention. Creators and publishers convert attention into belief. AI systems determine which voices are surfaced. Partnerships connect that influence to measurable outcomes.

What is changing is not whether influence matters. It is where influence is evaluated.

We are entering a citation economy. Visibility inside AI-generated answers will matter as much as – and eventually more than – traditional search rankings. Being present in the sources AI trusts will increasingly determine whether a brand is part of the consideration set at all.

AI is not replacing marketers. It is reshaping how authority is earned and scaled.

The brands that adapt will invest in credible partnerships, understand how AI systems surface information, and design strategies that connect influence to outcomes – not just impressions.

AI may accelerate discovery. But trust remains human.

Also published in: Advertising Week

Beyond the rules: How financial services win the next generation with creator and content partnerships

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:30:09 GMT

Beyond the rules: How financial services win the next generation with creator and content partnerships

impact.com Regional Vice President, Customer Success EMEA Smita Pillai discusses how the partnership economy opens up a world of opportunity for the highly regulated financial sector.

Financial products are among the most challenging to market and promote, given that they exist in a landscape of strict regulation, commoditisation, low consumer trust and tough competition. So how can financial services brands cut through the noise, raise awareness, build that trust and acquire new customers - all within the boundaries of the most rigid compliance?

One answer lies in mastering the partnership economy. By collaborating with authentic creators and content partners, financial firms can navigate complex compliance challenges and build credibility with Millennial and Gen Z audiences, driving growth in ways traditional marketing cannot.

Today’s younger consumers are researchers. Before committing to a financial product, they turn to the trusted ecosystem of influencers and experts they follow. This creates a powerful opportunity for brands to connect, but it also raises the stakes for compliance. The challenge is to empower creator authenticity without sacrificing regulatory integrity. For those who master this balance, the reward is a powerful engine for customer acquisition and a strategic advantage in shaping the future of AI-driven financial recommendations.

Recruiting Partners to Reach a New Generation

For brands, recruiting the right partner is more critical than ever. The goal is to find creators and content publishers whose values align with the brand and whose voice resonates authentically with Millennial and Gen Z audiences. A good fit is essential for both campaign performance and brand safety.

Leading creators in the financial space are often inundated with partnership enquiries, allowing them to be selective. They prioritise long-term engagements with reputable brands whose products offer genuine value to their audience. This means that for a brand to stand out, it must demonstrate a clear commitment to a mutually beneficial, long-term relationship.

Building Trust and Fuelling the Future of Recommendations

The partnership economy enables brands to build trust and educate consumers in a way that feels organic, not corporate. This is especially true for younger audiences, who primarily consume content on social media. Financial conversations are already happening on these platforms, with or without brand involvement. This gives brands not only an opportunity but a responsibility to combat misinformation by supporting the growth of high-quality, educational content.

Crucially, this content now serves a dual purpose. It not only engages a direct, human audience but also strategically fuels the recommendations of Large Language Models (LLMs) and other AI-driven search tools. When a potential customer asks an AI assistant for financial advice, the model draws its answer from the vast library of existing online content. By ensuring the web is populated with accurate, compliant information from trusted partners, financial brands can directly influence future AI-driven recommendations and secure their relevance in an increasingly automated world.

Balancing Creative Freedom with Industry Compliance and Brand Guidelines

The financial sector's regulatory landscape is non-negotiable, and brands are ultimately responsible for their partners’ adherence to compliance. Yet, partnerships thrive on authenticity. Content that is heavily controlled by a corporate entity fails to connect with savvy audiences, and the most effective creators require the freedom to speak in their own voice.

Success requires a foundation of trust. Brands must empower partners who understand their audience best, allowing them the creative space to produce content that resonates. At the same time, professional creators recognise the seriousness of their obligations. They have built their own brand on the trust of their audience and understand the importance of protecting it, and their partners, through meticulous attention to regulatory detail.

Building this trust and managing compliance at scale doesn’t have to be a purely manual effort. As partnership programmes grow, leveraging technology to automate monitoring becomes essential. Modern partnership platforms offer sophisticated tools designed for this purpo se, including features for regulatory compliance that can monitor and flag partner content for violations.

By automating these checks, brands can reduce manual oversight, mitigate risk, and free up valuable time to focus on nurturing the creative and strategic elements of their relationships. This technological support allows brands to scale their programmes with confidence, knowing a layer of automated governance is in place to uphold their compliance obligations.

Developing and Optimising Long-Term Partnerships

The most successful partnerships are planned for the long term. However, a passive approach is not enough. Continuous testing, iteration, and responsiveness are vital for optimising campaign performance.

To truly understand the value of each partner, brands must focus on full-funnel performance. Some partners may excel at driving top-of-funnel awareness, while others deliver exceptionally high conversion rates despite a smaller reach. Understanding where each partner adds value is key to building strong, effective, and lasting relationships that consistently drive customer acquisition.

The strategies detailed here are more than a tactic; they are a response to a fundamental shift in how growth is achieved. Moving beyond the rules of traditional marketing requires a new framework. For those ready to lead this change, the complete guide to the Partnership Economy provides the essential blueprint for building your future revenue engine.

Also published in: Performance Marketing World

Q&A: Chris Pettit of Revving on why payment terms are choking the digital media economy

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:23:03 GMT

Q&A: Chris Pettit of Revving on why payment terms are choking the digital media economy

Chris Pettit is CEO and co-founder of Revving, a funding solution purpose-built for the digital economy, engineered to unlock cash flow and align funding with performance.

NDA recently spoke with Pettit to learn why payment terms have become such a problem in the digital economy, how Revving’s model works and why he believes the industry is ready for a more democratic approach to funding…

Why is cash flow such a particular issue for digital media companies?

There are a number of different factors at play here. First and foremost, it’s a really complex supply chain in the digital economy. If you look at ad tech specifically, there are so many layers to the supply chain — brands, agencies, DSPs, SSPs, publishers — and each of those participants has different contractual arrangements and different payment terms.

Wherever you sit in that chain, you’re suffering from the fact there isn’t a joined-up approach across the whole ecosystem.

The second thing is that the ad industry moves at lightning speed, but the infrastructure behind finance and payments is still really analogue. It’s more like a carrier pigeon than a rocket ship. So you’ve got different participants operating in completely discrete ways, and if someone at the top of the chain is paying on 120-day terms, that has a domino effect downstream.

When did you launch the business?

We set the business up just over four years ago, and we started funding customers about two years ago. We began in the UK, initially doing a lot in affiliate, integrating with publishers and networks like Awin, CJ and Rakuten. Then we started funding our first ad tech customers last year, and launched in the US in Q4, where we’re seeing a lot of growth.

How does the Revving model work in practice?

We’ve pioneered a new liquidity model called Transactional-Based Funding. What that means is that we’ve built a technology layer that plugs directly into those intermediation platforms and reads the live signals — that could be impression-level data, revenue information or commission payments.

So instead of relying on a bank looking at whether a company is a good bet for a loan or a revolving credit facility, we can connect directly into platforms like SSPs, DSPs and affiliate networks, pull the data out in real time and fund against those signals. That’s really our secret sauce.

What makes that different from traditional funding?

Traditional funding is still very much built around invoices and a pretty analogue process. We felt that didn’t fit the reality of an ecosystem where data is moving at light speed. By plugging directly into the platforms, we can immediately fund customers or enable those platforms to fund their customers instantly.

The other benefit is that we look upstream. A lot of the big companies sit at the top of these supply chains, while smaller publishers are often at the bottom and last to get paid. Because we fund against the payments coming from those bigger companies, we can provide more funding to the smaller businesses that need it most.

What kind of businesses is Revving most relevant to?

It’s really most relevant for scaling businesses. If you’re growing fast, you’re constantly recycling cash flow. You might win a test campaign, then suddenly a brand wants to run 10 million through you — but if they’re not going to pay for 90 or 120 days, and you’ve got to spend the money upfront, you’re stuck.

Those are exactly the types of businesses we help, because they’re being asked to act like a bank. They need the free cash flow to pay suppliers before they’ve actually received the money themselves.

What are your priorities for the year ahead?

We’re always looking for new integrations and better use cases for customers. One of the key priorities is making sure the industry knows who we are, because a lot of people are still learning about us and what we do.

I think there’s a real democratisation of funding here. Big companies usually know where to go and have the relationships, but smaller businesses often don’t. We want to make sure top to tail that everyone knows this exists, so if they need it, they know where to come.

Are there other sectors you’re looking at?

Yes. We’re doing more in the creator economy, helping creator intermediation platforms get creators funded more quickly. Those people are often individuals, and they really rely on quick cash flow, but they can end up waiting up to 180 days to get paid by big brands.

We’re also looking at adjacent businesses like telco. For me, it’s really about educating the industry and showing that you don’t have to suffer in silence — you can actually find ways to solve it.

What’s the main message you’d give to CFOs and finance teams?

Don’t just accept that long payment terms are part of the deal. We’ve seen examples where companies are told they can win an RFP, but only if they accept 365-day payment terms, which is nonsense. There are only a handful of companies in the world that could weather that kind of relationship.

If you can remove payment terms as an issue, smaller companies can compete with the big players. Then the best company wins, not just the company with the deepest pockets.

Also published in: New Digital Age

Samsung Ads launches TotalView solution

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:17:43 GMT

Samsung Ads launches TotalView solution

Samsung Ads, the advertising arm of Samsung Electronics’ media division, has announced the launch of TotalView, a new solution that provides a unified view of total ad reach across the Samsung Smart TV ecosystem, spanning both linear and streaming. With TotalView, advertisers can eliminate blind spots and enrich their planning, targeting, and measurement with a dataset that seeks to capture the full picture of TV campaign performance.

Advertisers will gain a unified view of their total TV reach across linear and streaming environments on Samsung’s 70 million Smart TVs in Europe. The TotalView dataset can be applied throughout the campaign lifecycle — from pre-campaign planning, where it helps identify untapped audiences and forecast deduplicated reach, to in-flight activation for incremental reach targeting on Samsung Smart TVs, and post-campaign reporting, where it can be overlaid to deliver deeper insights into audience ad exposure, performance and TV viewing behaviours. By connecting these stages, TotalView enables advertisers to take a truly holistic and data-driven approach to planning, buying and measuring TV campaigns across the Samsung Smart TV ecosystem.

“As the leading Smart TV manufacturer, Samsung has a unique vantage point on how viewing behaviours are evolving across both linear and streaming,” commented Alex Hole, SVP and General Manager, Samsung Europe and MENA. “Our audience insights at scale mean we understand not just what viewing behaviours look like today, but how they’re evolving over time — giving us a complete view of campaign reach that every media planner and buyer strives for. With the launch of TotalView, we’re empowering advertisers to navigate the new TV landscape with greater clarity and confidence, providing the insights and tools to plan, reach and measure more audiences effectively across the entire Samsung Smart TV ecosystem.”

Also published in: Advanced Television

UK consumers click less, spend smarter – esbconnect study

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 19:35:35 GMT

UK consumers click less, spend smarter – esbconnect study

Analysis of a giant cache of nearly 70 million email marketing messages has revealed how consumer behaviour has shifted dramatically from discovery to intent in 2026, as people invest in their homes and focus on reducing their bills – turning sectors such as home improvement, finance and insurance into a new goldmine of high-value leads.

Clicks and cocooning

The data, from digital marketing platform esbconnect, lays bare how UK purchasing behaviour is reverting to cocooning patterns familiar from the Covid years – and shows that while consumers are clicking less frequently than before, the intent behind those clicks is significantly stronger.

The figures also demonstrate that, in a zero-click era, other forms of engagement are clearly influencing sales, with increasing numbers of consumers responding to messages by going directly to brands’ own sites.

The data, which details 67 million marketing messages, 200k+ consumer clicks and 17,584 qualified leads, highlights three major new trends in digital marketing:

High-intent channels are outperforming broad-reach advertising

Brands targeting consumers when they are already researching purchases are seeing significantly higher conversion rates.

Lead generation is once again proving its value

Sectors focused on driving leads – such as home improvement, finance, and insurance – are generating higher-value customers than ecommerce channels that are simply trying to push a sale.

Click-to-conversion rates are increasing by between 2x and 5x in many cases, showing the value in reaching customers early in their journey.

Quality traffic is replacing cheap traffic

The data suggests the era of high-volume, low-quality acquisition may finally be at an end, as intent increases and clicks become rarer but more valuable.

Suzanna Chaplin, CEO at esbconnect, said: “Consumers are becoming more selective about what they engage with, but far more likely to convert when they do. In other words, the internet is moving from a discovery economy to an intent economy.

“Clicks are becoming rarer, but far more valuable, and brands that capture consumers when they are actively researching a purchase massively outperform those chasing cheap traffic.”

Deeper data insights by sector found that:

Home improvements are dominating revenue

With the housing market suppressed, consumers are boosting the long-term value of their homes and nesting in the face of difficult times. Their engagement goes well beyond browsing – they are booking design appointments and investing in major home upgrades.

“Consumers may be cutting back on smaller purchases, but when it comes to improving their homes the intent is extremely strong,” says Chaplin.

Financial services, utilities and telecoms drive high-volume lead generation

While home improvement generated the highest value leads, financial services brands delivered some of the highest lead volumes, with conversion rates up by between 2x and 5x for products including car finance checks, life insurance/PMI, mortgage and remortgage offers, boiler and energy switches and broadband:

“Click-to-conversion rates for a lead have doubled in the last 12 months,” said Chaplin. “Consumers are actively trying to reduce monthly household bills by focusing on remortgaging, energy switching and broadband switching – and the ongoing global situation has only increased this.”

Ecommerce brands generate engagement – but lower value

Some of the highest lead volumes came from ecommerce brands, but the time to conversion has increased – indicating a hyper-competitive market for consumer spend.

“There is still demand here, and people are spending, but you are better off getting consumers into your first-party database and nurturing, rather than focus on pushing a sale now,” said Chaplin.

“Consideration periods have lengthened, and brands need to work on their own brand awareness to ensure they are front of mind for when they do convert.”

Also published in: Mediashotz

Funding the future of the digital economy

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:57:32 GMT

Funding the future of the digital economy

Invoice factoring has been around for almost as long as people have traded. The practice of using unpaid invoices as collateral for funding can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia in 1754 BC, when it was mentioned in a Babylonian legal text written on a basalt monument that now stands in the Louvre.

There’s a reason why invoice factoring has stood the test of time so well – and it’s not just because it was engraved in volcanic rock 4,000 years ago. In a commercial world plagued by late payments, it enables businesses to access the money they are owed almost instantly, at the cost of only a relatively small commission.

But if invoice factoring is to survive another four millennia, it needs to evolve. Press coverage of a couple of recent incidents highlights a couple of persistent flaws in the practice.

In November last year, the FT reported that US prosecutors were investigating a group of telcos after a private credit unit of BlackRock claimed it had loaned them hundreds of millions of dollars against receivables that appear to be fake.

A couple of months earlier, First Brands Group, a Michigan-based auto parts supplier, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, its demise attributed to a combination of extensive “off-balance-sheet financing” – including invoice factoring – which concealed the true extent of its liabilities.

The problem is that if the only source of truth in a transaction is a piece of paper that says it happened, it’s all too easy to game the system. A supplier can ask to be paid for a piece of work they did, or for money they spent on a client’s behalf, whether or not they did the work or spent the money at all.

How transactional-based funding solves the problem
But an evolution is already taking place, in the form of Transactional-Based Funding (TBF). With TBF, invoice fraud is not possible, because the process doesn’t rely on a paper or electronic invoice. Instead, it connects directly into the source of truth the supplier raising the invoice is basing it on.

This is no small undertaking. It requires the funding provider to be plugged into all the platforms through which the client’s costs and revenues flow.

In the case of a company lending against invoices relating to digital media, this means all the major digital platforms, such as Google DV360, The Trade Desk and Microsoft Advertising, not to mention potentially hundreds more. It’s essential to integrate with them via widely-available public endpoints, and if there is no public endpoint available, to build a bespoke integration, or pull reports that allow you to ingest the data needed to verify a transaction.

Integration with these platforms offers direct visibility of what suppliers are doing, and how much they are spending on their clients’ behalf, and therefore how much they are owed.

The big-business data trail

Media spend is the most obvious candidate, but the same principle applies to creative, or indeed any other type of work. In fact, there isn’t a business of any real magnitude operating today that isn’t operating in the type of data-rich environment TBF requires.

And where a funding provider can see what’s actually happening, it can settle the supplier’s bills within days – or in some cases hours – of them being raised.

Rather than relying on an unaudited claim that a supplier spent £50,000 on media on a client’s behalf, TBF lets us see the data and the actual transaction that confirms the obligation of the payment from the buyer to the supplier. There’s no need to talk to the client to find out if an invoice exists, or if it’s a valid invoice, because we can pull the impression purchase data directly from DV360, which is the billing record of truth.

In other words, the funder is not settling an invoice, but rather, the underlying transaction – which is the ultimate record of truth for the exchange of goods or services between a buyer and a seller.

Which is why Transactional-Based Funding, the natural evolution of invoice factoring, is here to stay.

Also published in: Fintech Bloom

Retailers – there is a path to agentic commerce, but no shortcut

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:52:48 GMT

Retailers – there is a path to agentic commerce, but no shortcut

Sometimes, trends in technology move so fast that we all feel behind. AI – and AI search especially – is a defining example.

ChatGPT – the most prominent of a host of AI platforms – famously acquired a million users within five days of launching in 2022, and 100m in about two months. As of mid-2025, it was used by roughly 10% of the earth’s adult population. Search will clearly never be the same again.

But while people can leap on a trend in seconds, brands, advertisers and infrastructure builders have taken longer to move. And if a large segment of the world’s population has a new way to search, then advertisers who depend on search traffic need to figure out how to follow their audience – and fast.

So far, AI search is a space that largely exists outside the scope of marketing – but not for long. ChatGPT is, of course, bringing conversational ad units, and Particular Audience has made moves with Retail-MCP.com to build the foundations for ‘Functional’ Ad Units , but there is a bigger opportunity here than new ad formats alone.

At PA, we’ve long believed commerce eats advertising, as discovery and conversion converge everywhere an ad could have appeared. Ultimately, agentic AI offers the opportunity to collapse commerce and advertising into a single system, where ads are no longer distinct from discovery, and conversion is no longer a downstream metric, but becomes the ad product itself.

Agentic commerce needs ads

Of course, there are technological complexities here. OpenAI adopted the Model Context Protocol (MCP) as the standard for building integrations (now called ‘Apps’) for ChatGPT. MCP is an open-source standard that enables AI models to connect seamlessly with external tools and data.

Up until now, however, apps have had a distribution problem, in that filtering all apps on the basis of real-time chat hasn’t been economically viable at scale. Advertising changes the economics of this, introducing funding that makes selective, intent-driven invocation of functionality viable.

In simple terms, we want AI to be better integrated and more functionally capable, but it would cost too much to call functionality from all the brands in the world every time intent is signalled. Ad revenue can, however, foot the bill.

When that happens, with retailers building functional apps of their own, ads in AI search become functional shopping experiences. And with AI assistants as the new storefront, the entire purchase journey can play out in one place. Brand chat, the main aim of which was to offer some information and possibly a link to purchase, now provides the entire outcome you were trying to achieve, from research to conversion.

In this vision, ads stop being messages and become real-time interfaces; checkout becomes a tool, not a redirect; loyalty, order status and support are all there too. Even negotiation becomes feasible.

The technical requirements of agentic commerce

Anyone can imagine the seamless glory of agentic commerce. But to stand a chance of getting to that point, retailers and Retail Media Networks (RMNs) urgently need to ask themselves a few questions:

Do we have an MCP architecture for agentic interoperability with our systems?
Does this architecture support existing merchandising and monetisation rules to survive and thrive in AI interfaces?
What differentiated rich experiences optimise outcomes when interfaces are interactive?

While the ability to bring transactional capabilities to AI chat is essential, it is also just one function; MCP architectures need to govern decisioning and enable all ways customers might want to interact with a brand, not just facilitating payment.

For brands and retailers, using MCP to solve the specific engineering challenges of agentic commerce requires a dual-layer stack. This consists of a Transaction Layer – which standardises the handshake between the AI agent and the checkout (or other read/write system) – and an Intelligence Layer, which not only ingests your inventory but infers meaning, vectorises it, and enables business objectives to compete within the ranking cocktail that ultimately governs relevance.

In other words, when an agent requests ‘waterproof gear for high-humidity climates’, it is able to retrieve semantically accurate SKUs, rather than zero-result keyword failures or obscure token matched results, in a low latency response.

Owning the handshake

The MCP handshake – the process that establishes secure, standardised connections between AI models and external data sources or tools – is now being adopted widely across the AI industry as a standard for AI-tool communication. It is vital that retailers, not platforms, own their slice of this layer – their profitability depends on it.

The good news is that if MCP is a free-to-use open source standard, and retailers and brands only need to build their MCP tooling once. They can then traffic the intelligence into ChatGPT, Claude, and others, solving the fragmentation problem in the process.

On the other side of these layers, the opportunity is enormous – but there is no shortcut to get to it. Which is why, for brands hoping to capitalise on the imminent wave of agentic commerce, Retail-MCP orchestration is the most scalable investment they can make right now.

Also published in: Modern Retail

Five Questions To Ask Before Handing The Keys To Your Programmatic Partner

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:41:34 GMT

Five Questions To Ask Before Handing The Keys To Your Programmatic Partner

If you’re evaluating a programmatic partner right now, the demo probably looks great. The pipes connect, the UI is tidy, and the road map sounds like it was written for your exact pain points. That’s the easy part.

The harder part is admitting what your checklist can’t tell you. Plugging in cleanly doesn’t reveal whether you’re paying for a business advantage or slowly outsourcing control. The difference shows up later, when you need to explain your decisions.

If you have a niggling feeling that you’re about to give something away, you need to look past the features and into the operating model.

If you want to protect your margins, your data and your long-term strategy, here are five questions worth asking before you sign anything.

1. Who wins when you win?

Before you compare dashboards, ask: How does this company actually make money? If their margins improve when the supply path gets longer, when fees get harder to untangle or when you can’t easily audit decisions, that’s an incentive issue.

Incentive issues don’t show up in demos. They show up later, usually when a buyer is asking uncomfortable questions and you’re under pressure to explain performance.

The strongest partnerships are structured for the platform to win when the publisher or network wins. Especially in tighter markets, that alignment creates room for honest conversations about trade-offs, pricing and quality. Without it, you’re always swimming upstream.

2. Are you paying a competitor in disguise?

A conflict of interest in ad tech rarely looks dramatic. It’s subtle. It’s a business unit that trades media on the side. It’s a demand arm that quietly competes for the same inventory. It’s about sitting on both sides of the transaction “for efficiency.”

If your partner trades media, represents demand or participates meaningfully in the same auctions, assume there’s tension baked into the relationship until proven otherwise.

That doesn’t mean the relationship can’t work. It means you need clarity in writing and in practice: clear data-access rules; explicit fee disclosure; real separation between teams. When lines blur, they almost always blur in favor of the party with more power. You shouldn’t have to rely on goodwill to protect your own inventory.

3. Can you see under the platform’s hood?

“Transparency” gets thrown around like a brand value. It’s not; it’s an operational capability.

If a buyer challenges a result, can you trace the impression? Can you explain where it originated, how it was packaged, how it was priced and how money moved through the chain without filing a support ticket?

You should be able to inspect logs, interrogate reporting and validate delivery at a granular level. If visibility only appears in curated dashboards or after a back-and-forth with account support, that’s not transparency.

In today’s environment, where scrutiny from brands and agencies keeps rising, being able to explain your supply path in plain English is table stakes.

4. Does cross-channel functionality feel cohesive?

CTV, audio and DOOH aren’t experimental budget lines anymore; they’re central to how campaigns are planned and judged. Industry forecasts project that programmatic DOOH spend will reach around $2.2 billion globally in 2025, and programmatic audio about $2.3 billion. These numbers show that programmatic execution is spreading across environments with very different signals, creative constraints and definitions of success.

If your partner treats each channel like its own isolated governance model, your team ends up reconciling spreadsheets instead of improving the product you sell.

What you want is shared guardrails; consistent KPIs where they make sense; unified reporting that doesn’t fall apart the moment a plan spans web, video, CTV and audio. Cross-channel shouldn’t feel like separate planets held together by duct tape. It should feel like one operating model with nuance built in.

5. Is the automation explainable?

Platform automation isn’t optional anymore. Optimization only works if you can articulate what it’s optimizing for and what it’s willing to sacrifice. If you can’t answer those questions, you can’t defend outcomes to buyers, and you can’t protect the quality of the inventory you’re curating.

The most resilient setups blend repeatable, rules-based logic with human judgment. Rules can be tested, adjusted, rolled back and scaled across format, geography, device and time. They create consistency without removing accountability.

The real decision: advantage or dependency?

When you stress-test incentives, conflicts of interest, transparency, cross-channel governance and optimization logic, the feature list in the demo finally starts to mean something. You’re no longer buying promises; you’re choosing an operating model that gives you a competitive advantage.

Publishers and networks are increasingly expected to act as curators. That brings with it the need for accountability: proving quality, explaining performance and showing a clean path from supply to buyer outcomes.

Before you hand over the keys, ask yourself: Will this partner make those conversations easier or harder?

Because the integration was never the real risk; the incentives are.

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media.

Also published in: Adexchanger

Trust the talent: the case for engineer-led facilities management

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:29:26 GMT

Trust the talent: the case for engineer-led facilities management

Give engineers the autonomy they crave, and you’ll reap the benefits, says Joss Rennocks, Transformation Director at Bellrock

It’s a paradox that engineers are usually the smartest people in the room, but often effectively treated like the dumbest: told where to go, what to do, when to do it. The only thing they’re not told is how to do it, because this is where their specialist knowledge and training kicks in. And that is why they are such a crucial part of any facilities management operation, even in the AI era.

For certain, a sensor or a dashboard can tell you that a fault occurred, and the fault history can show frequency. But neither replaces the physical inspection and system-level thinking that an engineer delivers.

So how did we get to a place where engineers are ad-hoc troubleshooters, rather than empowered thinkers and strategic leaders? In essence, it’s all about control and utilisation, which has taken away the time engineers need to be creative and solve more complex problems. Instead, the tendency is to stack engineers’ diaries so that their productivity level is as high as it can be.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, there’s a growing movement to turn back the clock to the days when engineers would be challenged to provide an engineering solution, rather than just a quick fix. It’s about giving engineers the ability to challenge the norm, ask questions, be curious about what’s happening and why – and think outside the box when it comes to a solution.

Give engineers more control over their schedule

There are clear client benefits here. When engineers are given the freedom to think this way, clients and occupiers can quickly tell that you’re not just sitting on a problem, or firefighting it when it breaks down entirely, but actively trying to create a long-term solution.

This extends to the engineer’s diary management. There is a certain logic in strictly scheduling an engineer’s time, but there should be some wiggle room built in, especially given the sophistication of modern building management systems.

If you give engineers the autonomy to say: “I’m booked to do a PPM at Building A today, but in our team chat this morning, I learned that there’s an issue at Building B, so I’ll drop in there first and then head to Building A afterwards”, then everybody wins. The engineer enjoys the freedom to follow their instincts and manage their time, and all clients benefit from this less rigid approach to diary management.

It also makes for better interactions between engineers and clients, who recognise an engineer’s willingness to be proactive and stave off future down-time. Indeed, some of the relationships that I’ve seen our engineers build with occupiers in recent years are unlike anything I’d seen previously in my career. Proactive engineers almost become a part of the client’s own team. Each visit carried out on the engineer’s own initiative builds momentum, and builds the relationship.

Engineers benefit from autonomy

The engineers, and the companies that employ them, benefit as well: engineers like a challenge. They’re competitive too, in a good way – they like to be the one that comes up with the solution that has eluded everyone else, and they like to share what they learned in doing so.

As with any specialist, when you awaken engineers’ curiosity and independence, and restore their ability to think outside the box, their productivity increases. With this comes reduced energy costs, fewer breakdowns, and increased job satisfaction. We have certainly seen an increase in the number of engineers looking to work with us since we started on our own journey of engineer empowerment in late 2019.

Since then, we have trained our engineers to think laterally when it comes to identifying the root cause of a problem, the wider effects it might have, and the possible solutions. We’ve invested heavily in peer review and peer learning, encouraging our engineers to share problems with each other, and collaborate on solutions, without involving “management”.

We have also developed tools like Symphony, which takes a proactive approach to delivering M&E maintenance, ushering in a data-led era of predictive maintenance and real-time monitoring that puts power back in the hands of engineers.

Finally, we’ve changed the attitude towards failure from one of dread to one of opportunity; we value the opportunity to learn from a bad experience and let it inform what we do going forward.And what we’ve found is that, in addition to benefitting our engineers, it’s had a positive impact on the wider team: on how facilities managers, building managers and service delivery managers interact with each other; the freedom they have to make decisions, change priorities – whatever is going to serve the client best.

In short, when we empower our best, brightest and most skilled staff, everyone wins – not least the engineers, without whom none of our lights would stay on for long.

Also published in : Facilities Management Journal

Limelight’s Adaptive Rules Centre Delivers 4× Auction Success for Performance-Based SSP

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:21:58 GMT

Limelight’s Adaptive Rules Centre Delivers 4× Auction Success for Performance-Based SSP

Limelight Inc . published their third case study on their latest feature - Adaptive Rules Centre (ARC). The case study highlights results from a performance-based SSP who utilised ARC to resolve creative quality issues, significantly improving auction performance across its video stack.

Adaptive Rules Centre is Limelight’s rule-based optimisation toolkit that enables partners to build custom logic that reflects their own goals and trading strategy. Enabling partners to set performance and quality controls, ARC helps maintain a safer and more stable trading environment.

The SSP consistently faced issues with empty VAST creatives - outdated tags that bid on every auction but fail to deliver impressions. This led to publisher frustration, loss in revenue and decreased delivery reliability.

The performance-based SSP used ARC to deploy a "Add Creative ID to List" rule - using just this rule, the SSP was able to automate the detecting and blocking of all under-performing creatives. After seven days, if valid activity was detected, creatives were able to re-enter the auction.

The SSP saw immediate results after implementing this rule with a 4x improvement in success rate (auction wins vs impressions served) alongside a healthier auction environment, with improved revenue and traffic stability. These results were achieved without adding any additional workload and no manual effort needed to maintain the creative quality controls.

The case study showcases how Limelight’s ARC can be used not only for traffic and QPS optimisation but also to maintain and enhance auction quality and creative compliance - leading to more sustainable monetisation whilst protecting publisher relationships.

ARC enables partners to integrate their own operational and quality standards into automated workflows, driving stronger performance while retaining full control and transparency.

Also published in: ExchangeWire

‘Prime time doesn't exist anymore’: Lauren Barnett, Samsung Ads on the rise of the Home Screen

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:14:29 GMT

‘Prime time doesn't exist anymore’: Lauren Barnett, Samsung Ads on the rise of the Home Screen

The Head of UK Sales at one of the biggest players in the TV industry explains how shifting focus to the point of discovery helps brands capture attention… before a single show even begins.

As streaming fragmentation makes traditional TV buys increasingly complex, the smart TV home screen has emerged as the most critical real estate in the home.

For Lauren Barnett, Head of UK Sales at Samsung Ads, this transition from traditional ad tech to the world of Connected TV (CTV) felt like a natural evolution rather than a pivot.

With a decade of experience across AI-driven mobile platforms and premium publishing at The Times , Barnett now leads a rapidly expanding team in a landscape where streaming has officially overtaken linear viewing.

PMW sat down with Barnett to discuss the evolution of the “lean-in” viewer, the power of Samsung’s proprietary data, and why the home screen is the ultimate antidote to audience fragmentation.

Q. Can you tell our readers about your career in digital ads so far, and the ambitions of Samsung Ads for the coming year?

I’ve been in the media world now for just over 10 years, which has gone by in an absolute flash. I started my career in adtech at a company called LoopMe, where I learned a lot of what I am today in terms of speaking to clients and negotiating. I then moved to News UK looking after the digital platform for The Times newspaper, which was exciting and opened my eyes to what luxury and premium advertisers are doing. I had a short stint at Seedtag before joining Samsung.

I’ve been at Samsung for coming up to five years, and have absolutely loved it. I still feel like I’m in a new role all the time because of how quickly the industry is moving and how we’re pivoting as a company. What’s great about Samsung is that when I joined, it had that startup mentality, but you’re under the umbrella of a huge global household name.

The first few years I was an agency lead, primarily looking after Publicis. Then last year I moved into the role of Head of UK Sales, and since then, the team has doubled in size.

Q. The home screen is often described as the new landing page for the TV world. It’s becoming much more attractive to advertisers. Can its effectiveness be proven now more than it was a few years ago?

The home screen has come a long way. When people traditionally thought about CTV, they didn't even think about the home screen; they just focused on how to translate linear TV ad formats. The home screen now is CTV in its own right.

Samsung has the world’s largest TV dataset, which provides undeniable proof of the effectiveness of these campaigns. When the business launched, our bedrock was “endemic” brands – content partners like ITV and Amazon Prime. It makes sense because they want to be on that home screen. Nine out of ten people don’t know what they want to watch. I bicker with my husband every evening about what we’re going to watch! There’s a stat that people spend so long deciding that they often end up watching nothing at all and just go to bed. For content partners, that prominent home screen is fantastic because they can directly to link to content to engage users in that “lean-in” discovery mode.

Q. The Home Screen is traditionally seen as a place to promote endemic brands such as TV channels and shows – is this starting to change?

More recently, we’ve opened the home screen to “non-endemic” brands such as automotive, and luxury. We prove effectiveness for them through brand lift studies, looking at shifts in real-world metrics like brand perception and purchase intent. Something else we’ve launched is mobile. Being the OEM of both TVs and mobile puts Samsung in a unique position. Historically, we understood what people were viewing on TV; now we have a clear understanding of what they are doing on their mobile and how they are engaging with brands throughout the day.

The example I like to give is a sports client. You might think someone loves sports because they watch football, but they could be sitting there eating a pizza in tracksuit bottoms. If someone has Strava on their phone and uses it daily, they are probably an active person.

We can see the impact CTV has on a brand’s entire ecosystem. For UKTV, we ran tests last year and saw that as a result of the CTV campaign, they saw an increase of 13% in mobile app downloads.

Q: Are there other examples of how non-endemic brands can get noticed on the home screen?

It has emerged as a pivotal platform because it's such an effective way to capture attention. Fragmentation across the landscape is vast; it’s difficult to know where a user is going to be watching content. However, the home screen provides that gateway. As soon as you turn the TV on, that unit is there, so it is unmissable.

The home screen is the most visited area of the TV. In any user session, they go back to the home screen five times – and industry research shows that active attention on the home screen achieves 60% more brand recall than mobile and 34% more than desktop.

I think the other thing which is so good for brands getting noticed is that people used to talk about Prime Time, which would be more like 7pm to 10pm. Prime Time doesn’t really exist anymore. It’s now ‘consumer prime time’ – that’s what’s really key. If you’re trying to reach every user in your target audience at the time they want to watch it becomes near enough impossible because you need to know where they’re going to watch, and when they’re going to watch it – the home screen ads can combat that straight away.

Q: What is currently stopping brands from moving into CTV, and how can those problems be solved?

When I started five years ago, we got a lot more pushback than we do today. Now, brands reach out directly because they know the industry is shifting. Streaming now makes up the largest percentage of viewing.

However, there’s still a misconception about the premium nature of advertising on CTV. Some think it’s intrusive, but it’s actually embedded into the UI. Statistics show 37% of people actually want to be served ads as long as they are in line with their interests.

There is also resistance to moving budgets out of the traditional landscape. A big one is creative restraint. I spoke to a client who was required to make 300 different versions of her creative due to different specifications for all the platforms and TV models. That is unmanageable. Samsung launched its own Creative Studio to offer support and ensure high-quality advertising that aligns with platform requirements.

Q. You mentioned misconceptions, what is the biggest mistake or wrong assumption brands make when approaching Home Screen ads?

Some people assume there is a “one size fits all” for targeting. When you’re working with a company like Samsung, brands should lean into the data to find out what their audience are leaning into. For instance, using ACR (Automatic Content Recognition) data from four billion linear ad impressions tracked monthly, we can understand exactly what content households are exposed to across linear and streaming, and map how that exposure translates into app usage, brand engagement, and real-world outcomes.

The other big issue is looking at campaigns in isolation. We’re not saying linear is dead; it’s about how the two formats come together to drive incremental reach. When you complement a CTV campaign on the home screen with Samsung TV Plus and linear, incremental reach increases by 54%.

Also, make sure your creatives aren't misaligned. Film isn't just a digital asset, it's going to be on a TV that is 50 inches plus. It needs to be high-quality and designed for the living room, not for mobile or desktop.

Q: Can you share a recent success story that exemplifies how Samsung Ads works for clients?

Automotive has really been leaning in. Almost two thirds (61%) of car shoppers report that CTV influences their purchasing decisions. Last year for the Six Nations rugby, we worked with a brand that was not a sponsor. We strategically timed placements and roadblocks so that brand was the first thing people saw before they watched the rugby. We saw a staggering 66% of respondents link that brand to the tournament. It’s a clever way to get the benefits of a sports sponsorship without being a direct sponsor.

Q. “Lean in without going all in” is a great soundbite! Are there any other new formats that have worked well for brands?

We’ve recently launched the Immersive Masthead Carousel. Rather than one unit, it sweeps through different images every five seconds. Volkswagen tested this; it looks beautiful because you can see the same car in different colors or different models. It captures attention and lets them show off creative assets. From a performance point, we’ve seen view-through and click-through rates exceed benchmarks by over 50%.

Also published in: Performance Marketing World

Meet James Taylor, Founder and CEO at Particular Audience, The Company Bringing Amazon-Style Hyper-Personalisation To Every Other Retailer

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:05:27 GMT

Meet James Taylor, Founder and CEO at Particular Audience, The Company Bringing Amazon-Style Hyper-Personalisation To Every Other Retailer

Tell us about Particular Audience

Particular Audience is an AI-native retail media and personalisation company. The platform (DiscoveryOS) tackles the ‘endless aisle’ challenge by creating a unique storefront for every shopper – matching each visitor with the products they’re most likely to buy, at the moment they’re most likely to buy them.

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

I was running Asia-Pacific for a Google-backed personalisation startup, which recently sold to Publicis Group, and it was there that it occurred to me that legacy approaches to personalisation were super-manual and failed to drive improvements to the customer experiences.

As I started researching how Amazon succeeded in creating a different website for every customer, given their 300 million users and 300 million items, something clicked. Machine learning recommendation systems were foundational in enabling everything we now take for granted on the internet, from Facebook and Amazon to Netflix and Spotify, yet the majority of retailers were massively behind the curve, some still are.

We launched with what has now become the market-leading personalisation platform, powered by AI and machine learning. A year into operations, we noticed ‘Sponsored’ labels appearing across product listings on Amazon, and we were inspired. The amount of margin in selling a click is 4-10x the margin in shipping physical products, so we got to work in enabling this adtech functionality within our retail software-as-a-service.

Tell us about your core product or service

Retail Media is the topic du jour in most retail boardrooms today. The problem facing the market, however, is that nearly all software solutions in the market are strictly and simply advertising technology.

Retail media is about retail which provides real-time context of high intent consumers in transactable environments. This is immensely valuable to brands, and it is in stark contrast to ads on a news website, for example.

Most retailers face what we call a ‘multi-objective problem’ set. They may have suppliers wanting to fund promotional activity, yes, but they also have overstocks, private label items to push, spoiling and slow-moving inventory to shift, buyer-led trade agreements to honour, and visual merchandising imperatives to consider.

99% of retailers today face fragmentation both in their org chart, and especially in their technology vendors – one for search, one for personalisation, one for merchandising, one for pricing, one for retail media, etc.

Particular Audience brings this all under one decision engine, where different teams can collaborate within one unified customer experience technology. It might seem obvious, but retail is only now waking up to this. Our vertical integration of retail media with our own advanced AI-powered search and recommendation capabilities is what drastically improves ad performance vs siloed platforms. It is unique and it is immensely powerful for maturing retail media networks that face tradeoffs in ad density.

What most excites you about the retail media industry?

We are still so early in its development. Only a tiny minority of retailers, albeit some of the largest, have launched retail media networks so far, and massive agency budgets are only just opening up to retail media.

Retail media teams, often with advertising backgrounds, are quickly learning about the nuances of retail and are on the same journey that e-commerce and conversion rate optimisation teams have been on for the last decade or so. This knowledge curve is unlocking tremendous value once legacy technology is replaced.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome along the way?

I think it’s really hard to run a startup without spending 110% of your waking hours thinking and acting on the problem space you have chosen to build for, and to approach it all with first-principles thinking.

Everyone has an opinion, often informed by anecdotal experience in adjacent and therefore distinct situations. Talk is cheap. I would say my biggest challenge has been maintaining laser-focused conviction throughout the marathon. There are always bumps in the road, and you get pulled in all sorts of directions by the market, cheap advice and shiny-object syndrome.

What is your number-one piece of advice to aspiring entrepreneurs?

Resilience is what separates winners and losers. Market-leading enterprise software platforms aren’t built overnight; no startup is born enterprise-ready. Success is a product of years of client feedback and feature requests to refine a defensible compound value proposition. The trick is staying alive. Be conservative with money but take measured risks. Learn to price risk.

What can we hope to see from Particular Audience in the future?

AI-as-a-channel is an exciting opportunity we are working with a select few retailers on using what I think is the most exciting technology in the market right now: Model Context Protocol. A big question is, what happens to sponsored listings in retail media when consumers use AI assistants to shop on their behalf? Our answer is that retail media needs to be further integrated with organic discovery on websites to succeed here, and Particular Audience is uniquely positioned to make it happen for retailers.

Also published in: TechRound

A Chat With Suzanna Chaplin, Founder And CEO, esbconnect, On The Future Of Acquisition And How Email Is The New Identity Layer

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 17:58:26 GMT

A Chat With Suzanna Chaplin, Founder And CEO, esbconnect, On The Future Of Acquisition And How Email Is The New Identity Layer

In simple terms, we help brands turn email into a performance channel for acquiring new customers, not just for retention.

Most brands think of email as a CRM tool, but we flip that on its head. Using our data from 17 million opted-in UK consumers, we make it possible for brands to reach completely new audiences in their inbox and beyond.

We do this by understanding your ideal customer through Inbox Intelligence – insight into real consumer behaviour based on what people are engaging with in their inbox. From there, we build high-performing lookalikes and make those audiences targetable across email, programmatic, social, and even direct mail.

Our superpower is scale and intelligence – we can reach one-in-three UK consumers directly in their inbox, while bringing a completely new, privacy-safe channel into the acquisition mix.

We’ve built four products around this:

MirrorMail – turns your best-performing CRM emails into acquisition campaigns that reach 17 million new consumers
Inbox Extend – connects your email audiences with social, programmatic and direct mail for true omnichannel targeting
Optivo – our latest addition to the suite enables brands to retarget anonymous website visitors by email, even before they reach the basket
Customer+ – grows your first-party subscriber base with high-intent, opted-in users ready to convert.

In short, we’re redefining what’s possible with email. We’re helping brands acquire customers more intelligently, using identity rather than cookies.

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

Back in 2014, email was murky. It feels weird to say it, as this doesn’t exist today, but you could buy consumer data on a CD-ROM. In fact, there were two options – buy the data yourself and hope it was okay, or use a provider and blindly pay them, with no transparency on results. Meanwhile, in an adjacent space, programmatic buying was in full swing, which made it easier and more transparent to buy data.

We built esbconnect as we knew email delivered a better return than display, but lacked the transparency and trust. So, we figured we would build a transparent buying platform for email, where people could see the results in real time and select the audiences they wanted to target. This was the Marketplace, and to this day, this is still our most popular product – powering our MirrorMail product

However behind the scenes, we knew email’s real power was its ability to be an ID, so we have been eating all the cookies in sight for years, quietly waiting for the rest of the industry to catch up and realise it’s a genuine superpower. And now it has, and email fingerprinting now powers many of our scaling products, including Optivo, Ideo and Inbox Extend. All of these make it possible to identify a person online and tie their online identity to an email, enabling omnichannel journeys.

Tell us about your core product or service?

Broadly, it is using email to power acquisition. At our heart, we have an audience of 17m, and that is an audience we know deeply. We know their postal address, whether they have children or pets, and we see what they are doing in their inboxes – who they are clicking on and buying from. We call this data Inbox Intelligence.

Inbox Intelligence powers our ability to offer truly omnichannel journeys. A brand can suppress its current customers, and build a lookalike of its next best customers, targeting them in social, programmatic, postal and in their inbox.

Of our core two products, one is MirrorMail – the ability to use email like Meta to acquire new audiences – select your audience, upload an email creative, and we handle the delivery and optimisation, driving you leads and sales. The other is Optivo – it’s the step before cart abandonment, enabling you to retarget with an email the 90% who never reach the cart and leave your site, encouraging them to subscribe/purchase.

What most excites you about the adtech industry?

It is a cliché but it is AI – but really the ability for websites to become a very personal space for an individual, especially if you think down the line to how the metaverse and VR could play into it. But imagine, you get driven to a website and instead of it being a search box, it’s an avatar of your personal shopper – they remember what you bought before, what your preferences are and they have curated a personalised selection of products that you can virtually try them on and purchase. That excites me.

And what excites me more are the ways brands can move towards this by growing their CRM base. The more you can connect data back to an individual, the better your models and the more personalised the experience. By owning the email address, you can control that conversation and educate them on the value exchange of providing more data. First-party data is king and you should be focused on partners that can help you grow it.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome along the way?

Education – it is easy to spend on Meta, on Google – nobody is going to fire you for doing that. But email isn’t thought of as an acquisition channel, so we continuously have to educate people about its value. Then, even when we do convince people, where do we sit? The CRM team? Or paid media? Or brand? Or performance?

What is your number-one piece of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Well… I’ve got a few. First, plan to fail. Second: your gut knows best in hiring and firing. If you think someone isn’t working out, make that decision quickly. Then, get a good accountant, as cashflow is king. And finally, know your weaknesses and hire for that.

What can we hope to see from esbconnect in the future?

Retargeting is going into its third wave and Optivo from esbconnect will be pivotal for that – when people think of retargeting site abandoners, they will think Optivo.

Also published in: TechRound

Hakan Özal joins impact.com as Sales Director, DACH

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 11:52:52 GMT

Hakan Özal joins impact.com as Sales Director, DACH

Impact.com , a world leading commerce partnership marketing platform, has appointed Hakan Özal as Director Sales DACH, supporting the company’s continued growth across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Özal will lead sales strategy in the region, focusing on enterprise advertisers managing complex, cross-channel partnerships.

His role will include helping brands integrate affiliate, creator, referral, and B2B partnerships within a single platform to gain a clearer view of the customer journey across partnership channels.

Hakan Özal

Özal brings extensive experience in performance marketing. His career spans leadership roles at Groupon, Awin, DKB, and bunq.

As part of the executive management team at financeAds, he led the company’s international expansion and established it as a leading specialist in affiliate marketing for financial services.

He also served as Chairman of the Affiliate Marketing Committee within the German Association for the Digital Economy (BVDW), actively shaping industry quality standards.

The appointment reflects impact.com’s continued investment in the enterprise segment and its commitment to supporting brands in regulated industries with scalable, data-driven partnership solutions.

“With many companies only beginning to unlock the full potential of partnerships, my focus will be on helping brands build programs that are scalable, measurable, and set-up to deliver growth” Özal said.

“impact.com enables companies to manage affiliate, creator, and strategic partnerships in one place, providing better insight into how these partnerships contribute across the customer journey.”

Impact.com provides technology that enables brands to manage, measure, and optimise partnerships across channels. By connecting brands with affiliates, creators, referral partners, and B2B collaborators, the platform helps organisations build trusted ecosystems where communities of partners can drive growth together.

In today’s environment, where consumers rely more on recommendations and trusted voices than traditional advertising, these partnerships are increasingly central to sustainable, data-driven business outcomes.

In the DACH market, impact.com sees significant potential in sectors where complex customer journeys, strict data requirements, and regulatory obligations make transparent, measurable partnership programs particularly valuable.

Erwin Plomp, Senior Vice President for EMEA at impact.com, said: “The DACH market is an important growth area for impact.com, particularly as more enterprise brands look to partnerships as a strategic growth channel.

“Hakan brings deep experience in building sophisticated partnership programs and his knowledge of the region will help us support brands looking to scale partnerships in a more strategic and measurable way.”

Also published in: Mediashotz

Why publishers can’t afford to serve disruptive ads in 2026

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 11:37:30 GMT

Why publishers can’t afford to serve disruptive ads in 2026

What’s the value of attention that arrives with resentment attached? Piero Pavone, CEO of Preciso says it’s time to rethink how we deliver digital ads.

Readers will put up with advertising, but they won’t put up with being interrupted. And so publishers have always lived with a tension: readers want fast content, and advertisers want ad impact.

When budgets tighten, it’s tempting to reach for supposedly ‘high-impact’ formats that grab attention. But that approach is risky, since people not only have less patience for interruption, but also more tools to avoid it.

In short, if your monetization strategy trains readers to bounce, you could lose more than an impression; you could lose habitual visitors. So how do you cultivate impact without scaring away your readers?

Start with what readers actually tolerate

Let’s be honest about what ‘disruptive’ usually means: it’s the pop-up that blocks the article; the autoplay video that starts shouting; the takeover that makes the page feel hijacked; or the prestitial that makes you wait before you can read. These formats can spike short-term metrics, but they also create the kind of friction that readers remember.

The wider industry has already signaled where the tolerance line sits. The Coalition for Better Ads exists for a reason, and browser-level filtering has made ‘annoying’ formats a commercial risk, not just a creative debate.

And today, with AI-driven search shifting referral patterns, publishers can’t afford to make loyalty optional. This matters because the cost is rarely limited to one page view; it shows up as eroded trust, higher bounce rates, and a growing sense that your site is ‘one of those’ places.

From interruption to attention

The tricky part is that disruptive ads do deliver something. They can manufacture a moment of attention, and if you’re only counting impressions, it looks like progress. But what’s the value of attention that arrives with resentment attached?

It’s time to redefine impact. Publishers should now be pushing the conversation towards a better definition, looking at outcomes that indicate real interest - time spent, scroll depth, repeat visits, and post-click quality - not just click volume. When you optimize for those signals, the logic flips. The best-performing ad is often the one that lets the reader stay in their flow, while still noticing, understanding, and acting.

There’s evidence that blending in doesn’t mean being ignored. Eye-tracking studies have shown that people looked at native placements 53% more frequently than display, while others have shown an 18% higher lift in purchase intent. Participants were also more likely to say they’d share the native ad with a friend or family member, at 32% versus 19% for banners. That’s a different kind of impact, and it aligns more closely with protecting visitor trust.

Build native the right way, without blurring the lines

Native advertising is often positioned as the antidote to disruption, but there is a method in the magic. If it’s slapped onto the page without relevance, it can feel like clickbait in nicer clothing. If it’s disguised, it undermines editorial integrity, and the trust you’re trying to leverage disappears overnight. The sweet spot is transparent, contextual, and creatively aligned. Clear ‘sponsored’ labeling is simply part of the value exchange. Readers will tolerate advertising when it respects their time, matches the moment, and doesn’t pretend to be journalism.

A fair question is whether audiences will become blind to native in the way they became blind to banners. They might, if publishers treat native as an unlimited slot machine. The argument with native is the same as it is with disruption – keep it relevant, vary the creative, and optimize for attention quality rather than sheer volume.

If you’re testing placements and creative versions properly, native remains something the reader can engage with, not something they learn to skip.

Publishers, take the wheel

This is where publishers need to be a bit firmer with the market. Brands still want reach and performance, and publishers still need revenue. But publishers don’t have to accept every format that a media plan demands, especially when it degrades the audience you’re offering access to. Start by setting non-negotiables for ad experiences, and enforce them consistently. Keep a tight list of formats that are off-limits, and treat autoplay sound, intrusive interstitials, and aggressive pop-ups as a last resort you should rarely, if ever, reach for.

Next, use the controls you already have in programmatic to protect both yield and experience. Publishers can choose who they work with, set floor prices, and run unified auctions through header bidding that put demand partners on a level playing field. The point isn’t to squeeze every last penny out of the page, but to monetize in a way that doesn’t turn your audience into collateral damage.

Finally, bring brands into the reality of publisher economics. If a campaign needs disruption to work effectively, it’s probably compensating for poor creative, weak context, or lazy measurement. The better trade is to build formats that earn attention, and to judge success on what happens after the click. That’s how you keep readers coming back, and it’s how you keep advertisers spending, too.

Publishers need native formats that earn attention without breaking flow, and measurement that rewards quality, not noise. Protect the habit, and the impact follows - both for readers and revenue.

Also published in: The Drum

3 Practical Ways to Use AI in Facilities Management Today (And 3 Questions to Ask Before You Start)

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 11:12:19 GMT

3 Practical Ways to Use AI in Facilities Management Today (And 3 Questions to Ask Before You Start)

As we all know, AI these days comes up in almost every executive meeting, LinkedIn post and vendor pitch, often presented as the answer to everything. In property and facilities management, that usually means predictive maintenance, energy cost reduction, tenant engagement and much else.

Some of that enthusiasm is justified, of course. But as many applications as AI undoubtedly has, we should remind ourselves that it is not a magic ingredient that will somehow make everything better. What matters in the property sector, for example, is not whether a tool is ‘AI-powered’, but whether it improves the way we manage buildings, assets and people, and whether it operates reliably within the reality of dispersed estates, legacy infrastructure, compliance obligations and tight budgets.

Integrating AI into property management workflows systems today can add a lot of value, but it’s also a long way from being a mature technology.

Start with real problems, not ‘do something with AI’

Across the industry, organizations often let the promise of shiny new technology lead them, instead of being outcome-focused. But “we need to put AI in our business” is the wrong place to start.

The right starting point is the set of questions you would ask even if AI didn’t exist, such as:

Can we reduce the time our teams spend reading long helpdesk trails?
Can we get a clearer view of the payments we are processing across our portfolio without manually trawling through thousands of documents?
Can we increase the utilization of our underused spaces and improve the effectiveness of hybrid working?

If you can’t map a clear route to answering questions like these, adding AI to a project and pushing engineering teams to deploy a chatbot likely won’t deliver meaningful change.

Where AI is already making a quiet difference

Much of the real value AI delivers today sits in unglamorous, text and document-heavy back office work that absorbs time and attention. Typical examples include:

1. Cutting through helpdesk and work order noise

Take a recurring HVAC fault in a shopping center. Over its lifecycle, it can generate a long, fragmented trail: tenant emails, helpdesk notes, engineer scheduling, on-site comments, quotes, photos and follow-on works. By the time it reaches a contract manager or client, it’s difficult to see the whole story: what’s happened, what’s been tried, what’s outstanding and who needs to do what next.

Large language models (LLMs) can be really useful in surfacing key insights from these long chains. They are already good at condensing lengthy histories into clear summaries, extracting key dates, decisions and risks, and suggesting sensible next steps based on context.

It’s not about asking AI to run the job; it’s about using it to structure the information load so that the accountable human can reach a better decision, faster.

2. Making sense of invoices and financial documents

Property management generates a heavy stream of financial paperwork: supplier invoices, purchase orders, credit notes, service charge reconciliations and more. Tracking where money is going across a portfolio remains a largely manual process.

AI-powered document intelligence tools such as Microsoft Document Intelligence are already helping here by:

Automatically extracting key fields from invoices and other documents
Standardizing supplier and cost category information
Flagging duplicates, anomalies or items that don’t match expected patterns
Feeding cleaner data into finance and BI systems without endless rekeying

This gives finance teams structured, reliable data and frees their time for work that requires judgement: challenging costs, identifying trends and advising clients.

3. Removing guesswork from hybrid work and space utilization

Many organizations still lack a clear picture of how their space is used in a hybrid world. Meeting rooms and desks can be both overbooked and underutilized depending on the day, and unused space carries a cost that organizations can no longer justify. There is strong potential for AI-integrated systems to:

Analyze booking patterns, occupancy data and no-show rates
Identify consistently underused areas and peak pressure periods
Suggest changes to layouts, neighborhoods or booking rules
Inform decisions about consolidation, repurposing or investment

AI does not set workplace strategy. It provides the insight that enables workplace and property teams to make better-informed decisions about how much space they need and how to configure it.

From site images to useful information

Looking further ahead, computer vision, AI that understands images and video has great potential. Imagine walking through a plant room with a camera and having assets recognized and tagged. Or identifying missing labels, damaged equipment or housekeeping issues from images; or automatically comparing current site photos with last year’s to spot changes or deterioration.

The building blocks for this already exist, though they are not yet mature enough for every use case. The essential point is to be precise about what current computer-vision advances can and cannot do. AI-enabled systems can support inspections, but they cannot yet automate them end-to-end. Image annotations can assist a surveyor or engineer but not replace their judgement.

The value comes when vision models are combined with robust processes, domain expertise and the data held in a company’s systems.

AI for suggestions, humans for decisions

We’re doing lots of work on AI, and one principle underpins all of it: AI suggests; humans decide.

We keep a human in the loop, especially where decisions affect people, carry safety or compliance implications or involve significant spend or contractual commitments. In those cases, AI-enabled systems present the right information to the right person, surface sensible options or highlight anomalies and reduce the effort needed to apply sound judgement.

Three questions to ask before you start

Before applying AI in property operations, we all need to focus on three direct questions:

Where are we repeatedly reading or rewriting the same kind of information? That’s a clear candidate for summarization or drafting support.
Where do we lose the big picture because the data is large or fragmented? That’s where AI can help join dots and highlight patterns that are hard to see manually.
Where would a solid suggestion save a skilled person five minutes, thousands of times a year?
That’s often where a strong return on investment sits.

If you can answer these in plain language, you’re already ahead of most AI strategies. The technology will continue to evolve at pace. The organizations that benefit most will stay close to operational detail, identify pain points before proposing solutions, stay realistic about what AI can and can’t do, and keep people in charge of decisions.

Also published in: IFMA

How to choose a programmatic partner (without giving away the keys)

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 10:31:35 GMT

How to choose a programmatic partner (without giving away the keys)

Choosing a programmatic partner used to feel like a purely technical decision. Does it plug in cleanly, scale, and handle the basics without drama? That checklist still matters, but it no longer tells you whether you’re buying leverage – or dependency.

Privacy changes, platform policy shifts and supply-path inefficiency have raised the bar on what buyers and publishers expect. Volume alone doesn’t win trust when the path is opaque, identity signals are volatile, and quality is hard to prove. Networks are being pushed towards a curatorial role, and that makes the partner behind the curtain far more consequential.

A partner brings technology, but also incentives, controls, and an operating model. If those foundations are misaligned, every feature becomes harder to trust when the market gets noisy. The safest way to choose is to test for independence, auditability, cross-channel coherence and pragmatic automation. This is how we suggest you go about it:

Start with incentives, not integrations

Most evaluations begin with integrations because they’re easy to tick off on a checklist. The harder truth is that incentives decide outcomes, especially when budgets tighten and pointed questions about quality are raised. Before you compare dashboards and endpoints, it’s worth clarifying how your partner makes money – and what they’re rewarded for.

If their margins improve when the supply path adds hops, or when you lose visibility, that can signal a structural problem. On the other hand, if their success is linked to yours, and they’re purely a platform provider (not a trading competitor that hides fees or maintains control), then you’ve found a stronger alignment.

Partner selection gets clearer when you treat it as an incentivisation question, rather than simply a software procurement exercise.

Take the conflict-of-interest test

Ask whether your partner trades media or sits on both sides of the table in any form. If it does, it may be buying or selling the same inventory, and that means it is effectively competing with you.

In this case, you’d need explicit safeguards in the contract, including transparency on fees, clear data-access terms, and a documented separation between trading and client teams.

Then look at how governance works in practice. Ask what you can actually audit, such as whether you can access supply-path logs, fee transparency and third-party verification, so you can prove quality to buyers. If the answers are unclear, there’s a risk of revenue leakage, buyer frustration, or publisher distrust.

Insist on transparency you can audit

Transparency is not simply a brand value, but an operational capability. You should be able to explain where impressions come from, how they’re packaged, and how money moves through the chain. That requires access to the right data and a partner who doesn’t treat access as a concession.

In practical terms, you’re looking for clear fee disclosure, consistent reporting, and the ability to investigate delivery at a granular level when needed. You also want flexibility around verification and measurement partners, because trust is easier to maintain when third parties can confirm what you’re claiming.

If a partner can’t support routine auditing, you’re choosing opacity, and that will eventually surface as commercial friction.

Overcome the channel challenge

CTV, audio, and DOOH aren’t side quests anymore; they’re part of how buyers actually plan. That shift creates a new expectation: that packaged supply should be cleaner, more comparable, and easier to measure across formats.

Forecasts in industry reporting have put programmatic DOOH spend at $2.2bn and programmatic audio at $2.3bn in 2025. Those numbers matter less than what they imply: that programmatic execution is spreading across environments with very different signals, creative rules, and definitions of success.

If your partner treats each channel as a reporting silo, you’ll spend your time reconciling reports instead of improving the packages you sell.

A better model is one where channels share controls and governance, even when the formats differ. You want standardised KPIs that make sense and unified reporting that doesn’t break when a plan spans web, video, CTV, and audio. That’s how you turn channel expansion into a package buyers actually trust.

Make sure the optimisation model is optimal

Yes, automation will always be necessary, but black-box automation is where it becomes a liability. The best optimisation decisions still depend on context, including what counts as quality for your buyers, which inventory to protect, and which trade-offs you’re willing to accept.

A strong partner helps you automate repeatable work while keeping strategic judgment in human hands.

One pragmatic approach is rules-based optimisation, which allows teams to set multi-dimensional logic across variables such as format, geography, device type, audience segments, and time of day. That kind of design is valuable because it’s explainable, testable and adjustable, even when the market changes. It also encourages healthier conversations with buyers, since you can describe how decisions are made, rather than asking them to trust decisions they can’t see.

Scale should work the same way. You want the ability to test efficiently, learn quickly, and then ramp with confidence, rather than flooding the market with volume and hoping performance catches up. When optimisation is transparent and scaling is controlled, a network can act like a curator with standards, rather than a middleman chasing throughput.

In the end, choosing the right partner comes down to a few non-negotiables. Incentives should reward transparency and long-term trust, rather than hidden take rates and forced dependence. The platform should support cross-channel packaging as a single operating model, and automation should be powerful while remaining accountable.

If those pieces are in place, the rest of the feature list becomes far easier to believe and, crucially, will let you stay in control.

Also published in: The Media Leader

Limelight Inc hires Oshri Raz as VP USA strategic alliances

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 11:59:17 GMT

Limelight Inc hires Oshri Raz as VP USA strategic alliances

Programmatic platform Limelight Inc. , an independent white-label platform, has appointed Oshri Raz as VP USA strategic alliances to continue to grow the company's fast-emerging footprint in the USA. His primary focus will be on managing the continued fast roll-out and take-up of Limelight Inc programmatic white label tools, and further establishing Limelight Inc as a primary independent programmatic infrastructure partner across the USA.

Raz has extensive experience in the global ad tech and programmatic landscape, having previously held senior business development and commercial leadership roles at EX.CO (formerly Playbuzz), where he was instrumental in building and scaling the company’s global publisher monetisation footprint.

Oshri Raz said: “I’m excited to join Limelight at such a pivotal moment in the evolution of programmatic infrastructure. The market is demanding greater transparency, operational control, and scalable independence - and Limelight has built a strong foundation to deliver exactly that.

“What truly differentiates us is our service-first mindset. We believe in long-term collaboration - we only win when our clients win. We are independent and provide market-leading technology which unlocks performance, efficiency and opportunity for our partners. I look forward to leading further growth in the Americas and working closely with publishers and networks who are ready to modernise their monetisation infrastructure, while partnering with a team that is both technologically strong and commercially accountable.”

James Macdonald, Limelight co-founder and chief revenue officer, said: “The USA is still the largest global trading market in programmatic advertising, and as a result, we have developed a strong presence in terms of partners, people and successful implementation in the region. Oshri represents a senior, key and exciting hire for us, reinforcing our commitment to excellence and to sharing our values in the USA. Our technology and model is designed to support transparent and cutting-edge,360-degree programmatic activity. Our partners use Limelight to drive their own destinies and build their own wholly-owned value. Oshri is superbly placed to share these values in the US market.”

Also published in: InPublishing

IAB UK digital adspend report: Industry reactions

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 11:44:47 GMT

IAB UK digital adspend report: Industry reactions

Digital adspend in the UK has surpassed the £40 billion mark for the first time according to industry body IAB UK .

Video and retail media were among the most prominent gainers, and we’ve been garnering reactions from leaders in the adtech and advertising world…

James Taylor, CEO & Founder, Particular Audience

“The UK digital ad market surpassing £40.4bn in 2025 is a phenomenal milestone that demonstrates the resilience and adaptability of our industry.

“However, what stands out most from the IAB UK’s latest figures is the staggering rise of Retail Media, which surged by 17% year-on-year to deliver £3.7bn.

“Retail is now the number one driver of digital ad spend via agencies. We are seeing a fundamental shift where retailers are no longer just points of sale; they are becoming highly sophisticated, full-funnel media ecosystems.

“In an era where economic pressures are intensifying ROI demands and CFOs are heavily scrutinising marketing spend, retail media provides a distinct competitive advantage through its reliance on first-party data, access to real-time intent signals and closed-loop attribution.

“Looking ahead, AI and automation are rightfully identified as the primary forces that will shape the sector. But as the report highlights, this rapid expansion has led to fragmented measurement and complex ecosystems that risk slowing down scale.

“This is exactly where Particular Audience steps in. We are driving the supply side automation required to manage this fragmentation and facilitate continued growth.

“By unifying predictive AI with retailer first-party data, we help brands and retailers cut through the complexity to deliver scalable, highly relevant consumer experiences.

“The £40bn milestone is just the beginning of this more accountable, automated, and data-driven era of advertising.”

David Nelson, co-Founder, Limelight

“Clearly there was turbulence generally in 2025, and that continues – both in economic and geopolitical terms and in the challenges faced by the ad market, which include signal loss, ID volatility, supply-path bloat and the uncertain impact of AI.

“But the fact that the UK digital ad market still grew by almost 10%, with programmatic accounting for 80%, tells you a lot about the market’s resilience and its appetite for new approaches.

“Obviously we are all seeing a lot of movement of budget from older static channels into newer ones such as CTV and VOD, but at an infrastructure level the appetite for bespoke, white-label solutions has only grown, and the imperative remain the same: to focus on clean, authenticated supply paths and curated demand.”

Read more in: Mediashotz

Anthony Clements -Ciente Interview

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 11:26:42 GMT

Anthony Clements - Ciente Interview

1. Cruising through volatile markets requires adaptable practices while staying true to the company’s core vision. What has helped you remain steadfast and lead your teams through this turbulence?

My time at impact.com has been relatively brief so far, but speaking from wider experience I think concentrating teams on the product and delivering value to customers is the most important thing to focus on during periods of economic or market instability.

When the economy is unpredictable, value will come under increasing scrutiny. Despite a market-leading product, and being the largest partnerships platform in the world, we aren’t immune from that scrutiny. But a focus on the customer ensures we double-down on value, understand what our clients need from us, and can help their businesses flourish – even when the markets aren’t conducive to growth.

In Europe we have lived through three-plus years of very unpredictable economic conditions. But the partnerships industry has proved very resilient. In 2024 the UK partner industry grew by 9% while the overall economy struggled to deliver 1% growth. Faith in our industry’s ability to weather volatile market conditions helps us to remain true to the company’s vision.

2. M&As induce instability- intensifying an unconscious threat of retention bias. How has your experience across leadership roles helped you realistically manage high-performance teams through such disruption?

The idea of M&As introducing instability to businesses needs to be seen in context. While some disruption during M&A is inevitable, it is important to keep teams focused on core goals. These include growth and the shared learnings that are equally inevitable and generally very positive when two successful companies come together.

It’s always tempting to look on M&A as being disruptive to high-performance teams that are used to operational stability. But in my experience these downsides are generally dramatically outweighed by the opportunity for cross-functional collaboration.

3. Culture often takes the back seat to transactional mechanics in M&A conversations. Why do you think these cultural aspects are still undermined in preserving deal value?

The various M&As I’ve been involved with have felt different, especially when it comes to focusing on culture. Yes, transaction mechanics exist, particularly during post-merger integrations, and especially if the two companies have a similar product or operating structure. But in my experience, culture – and particularly retaining the culture of a smaller entity that is being acquired by a larger company – has always been given a high degree of priority. And rightly so.

There are very few genuine ‘mergers of equals.’

The overwhelming share of M&As by volume is larger companies acquiring smaller companies. In those situations, having a sympathy for the culture of the smaller company – and how it can be incorporated into the larger organization – is important.

4. Hasty growth without operational insight can mask inefficiencies and burn cash. While accelerating growth, how can leaders strengthen their market positioning while enforcing strategic cost structures?

Separating investment for growth from the day-to-day operating costs of the business is important here. Leaders should be explicit about how spending is split between building future capability, and day-to-day costs pertaining to the running of the business. It’s an often-cited point that growth tends to hide inefficient spending, so keeping a firm track on metrics (like the cost required to generate £1 of revenue) are important.

5. Tactics such as defensive cost-cutting are a go-to for those trying to survive economic downturns. Past that firefighting approach, how can businesses align long-term value without negotiating their cost discipline?

Operational efficiency has to fund growth. All successful businesses are rigorous about cost intelligence and discipline, but it’s important businesses use that cost discipline as the engine to support a growth mindset.

Ultimately, the economy is a cyclical machine. All downturns are followed by periods of recovery. What’s hard to predict is the length of the cycle. Good businesses use downturns to invest and prepare for the inevitable recovery.

6. You hold a unique position overseeing both DACH and UK regions. As impact.com’s Country Manager, what are some of the similarities and differences you consistently observe in buyer patterns across these borders?

The UK and Germany are the two largest e-commerce markets in Europe, and also the largest partnership markets. This means the opportunity for us to grow in these markets is significant. It’s widely accepted in Europe that deal-cycles are generally longer and buyer sentiment typically takes longer to establish.

In Europe, the largest pieces of business change hands in lengthy RFP processes where buying decisions are normally highly scrutinized.

7. The last decade was largely about algorithms, AI, and automation. Which structural shift, do you think, could come to define sustainable growth practices in the next decade?

I think AI very much belongs to the coming decade, particularly the widespread adoption of AI into day-to-day working life. Autonomous systems and software agents will be a fundamental part of every person’s work life within the next decade.

We probably haven’t even met the companies that will come to dominate the AI space in the next decade, nor have we seen the limits of how LLMs and AI agents will embed themselves into our working life.

I say this with a lot of positivity about the change AI will inject into our daily working lives. We will become less functional workers, and at the same time more thoughtful, strategic and ultimately effective.

Also published in: Ciente

IWD 2026 ‘Give to Gain’ – Media leaders share their views

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 07:49:26 GMT

IWD 2026 ‘Give to Gain’ – Media leaders share their views

‘Give to Gain’ is the key theme of this year’s International Women’s Day , taking place on the 9th of March.

As the IWD movement marks its 115th year, we’ve been asking some of the leading voices in media and marketing for their views on IWD 2026 and how they are meeting the ‘Give to Gain’ challenge…

Jess Aylett, Head of Sales, UK & International, GumGum

“In our industry, we often talk about growth, performance, and return on investment. But the most powerful returns come from investing in people.

“Giving time to mentor emerging female talent, advocating for women in rooms they’re not yet in, and amplifying female voices across campaigns and panels — this is what it means to gain.

“When we create space for women to lead, we don’t just diversify leadership — we strengthen decision-making, creativity and commercial performance. Gender equality isn’t separate from business success; it fuels it.

“For me, “Give to Gain” means giving visibility, giving mentorship, and giving honest access to networks and opportunities that have traditionally been gatekept. It means being intentional about whom we recommend, promote, and back.

“When women thrive in advertising, the work gets better. The culture gets stronger. And the industry becomes more representative of the audiences we serve.”

Wenjie (Charlene) Gao, Head of Business Development, Preciso

The adtech industry has made meaningful progress on women’s equality in recent years, with more women in leadership roles and a growing awareness of diversity challenges. At Preciso, we have more than 50% of female leaders.

“But we still need systemic changes including pay equity, flexible work policies that accommodate caregiving responsibilities, and intentional sponsorship programs that actively advocate for women’s advancement into senior leadership positions.

Smita Pillai, Regional VP Customer Success, EMEA, impact.com

“In terms of equality, the industry has made genuine progress, but we’re still mid-journey. There are more women in senior roles and far more open conversations about inclusion than a decade ago.

“That visibility matters, but equality isn’t only about representation at the top, it’s about access to influence, sponsorship and strategic decision-making.

“Women often drive a significant proportion of the work behind high-performing programmes, yet they don’t always have equal access to early conversations or advocacy in the rooms where decisions are shaped.

“The next phase for the industry is less about intent and more about infrastructure – transparent progression pathways, equitable recognition of contribution, and leadership models that value different styles.

“Progress is real, but sustainable equality will come from embedding fairness into systems, not just celebrating individual success stories. For real change, we need to focus more on sponsorship, not just mentorship.

“Mentors guide you; sponsors advocate for you. They put your name forward and trust you with responsibility before you feel entirely ready. That shift can accelerate progression meaningfully.

“We also need to normalise different leadership styles. Leadership doesn’t have one accent, personality or playbook. It can be collaborative, empathetic and commercially sharp at the same time. When organisations broaden what leadership “looks like”, more diverse talent can see themselves progressing.

“There’s shared responsibility too. Businesses must create transparent structures and equitable opportunities.

“Individuals, equally, need to raise their hands, stretch themselves and step into opportunities that feel slightly uncomfortable. Growth rarely happens in complete comfort, but it does happen with consistency.”

Joanna Sagan , Head of Strategy, Feeders Agency

“This year’s theme, “Give to Gain,” resonates strongly with me because real progress in gender equality has always been rooted in collective effort.

“Giving is about creating momentum – when we share knowledge, open doors, recommend talented women, amplify their voices, or simply make space at the table, we actively reshape opportunity.

“For me, “Give to Gain” means being intentional about sponsorship as well as mentorship: not only advising women, but advocating for them in rooms they may not yet have access to. It means challenging bias when we see it, redistributing visibility, and ensuring that growth opportunities are equitable.

“It also means investing time in building inclusive cultures where diverse leadership is not an exception but an expectation.

“Equality benefits everyone. Diverse perspectives drive stronger creativity, better decision-making, and more sustainable businesses.

“To help accelerate equality, I will continue to give my voice and my time to support and champion women’s advancement.”

Rachel Lewandowska, Managing Director, AVANTGARDE

“For me, the theme ‘Give to Gain’ is a reminder of how far we have come. Women are now shaping their work life to suit them, and many businesses have become more flexible in response.

“I’ve seen many women across the industry redefine what it means to be successful, taking control of their work life and protecting their personal time and interests. It’s a far cry from the days when women needed to give every bone in their body to get ahead. Great talent shouldn’t be lost because we can’t provide greater flexibility.

“This year I think businesses can go one better and give all staff – not just women – opportunities to develop themselves and their career at the same time.

“At AVANTGARDE, we’ve instituted a global mentoring programme where we match mentors and mentees across our global offices. It enhances collaboration across our network, provides impartial support, and upskills both mentor and mentee – a real win-win.”

Subhrata Sinha, Project Manager, Cogworks

“It’s so important to encourage women to share their perspectives through internal talks, panels, and mentorship — hearing how other women navigate leadership helps make different paths visible and possible.

“It’s also vital to make mentorship part of the culture — hearing how other women navigate leadership can be both grounding and empowering”

Kasira Iqbal, Head of Delivery, Cogworks

“One thing organisations should actively give is greater awareness of where opportunity and responsibility sit. In the tech and digital industries, women often take on invisible work alongside their core roles, organising conversations, taking notes, or keeping projects moving.

“These contributions matter, but they shouldn’t automatically fall to the same people.

“When women step into leadership roles, there can also be unspoken pressure to prove more and to carry additional expectations.

“Leaders need to be intentional about how work and visibility are distributed, ensuring women have equal opportunity to lead and influence decisions.

“Stronger support networks between women in the industry are also key, championing each other helps build confidence, momentum and more balanced workplaces.”

Ana Santos, Associate Director, Solutions Architect EMEA, impact.com

“This year’s IWD theme is “Give to Gain”, and this theme is my leadership philosophy in a nutshell – I believe in giving knowledge to gain strength.

“By equipping my team with new skills and frameworks, I’ve seen them grow in confidence, which has directly helped us improve our win rates.

“I also believe in giving support to gain excellence – by acting as a bridge for my team and ensuring they have what they need, they’re empowered to do their best work.

“And finally, by giving opportunities, we all gain innovation and build a stronger, more successful company.

“As a long-time impact.com employee who has grown through different roles, I am passionate about paying forward the career opportunities I’ve received.

“A key priority for me, particularly as the leader of the EMEA Solutions Architect team, is mentoring talented women and helping them build their own successful paths.

“I firmly believe that fostering an environment where everyone has an equal opportunity to take on challenging projects is mutually beneficial for the entire team.”

Stephanie Parry – EVP Client Management, Jellyfish

“Framing Give To Gain within the broader UN theme of ‘Rights, Justice, Action. For all women and girls’ is critical. Put simply, what can we give – be that time, mentorship, support, our voices, so all women gain / retain rights?

“As an industry that has the privilege of shaping culture – and working with the companies and brands that do that every day – spending our time consciously to advocate and actively drive change is essential.

“Initiatives such as BrandTech’s Bias Breaker (tackling bias in foundation models) enable us to lead this change, and I’m excited to see more of this in 2026 and beyond.”

Juliana Jackson – Cloud Director (Data Science), Jellyfish

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve just… shared. Knowledge, time, shortcuts, honest opinions…whatever I had that could help someone else, I gave it.

“I was never worried about losing anything by doing that. And over 15 years, somewhere between the community I stumbled into and the stages I somehow ended up on, the career took shape around the giving. The awards came. The trust came. The rooms got bigger.

“This International Women’s Day, I keep coming back to how much of that was possible because I never treated what I knew as something to protect.”

Also published in: Mediashotz

Getting the most value from SFG20: Building on the gold standard

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 07:15:18 GMT

Getting the most value from SFG20: Building on the gold standard

For over thirty years, SFG20 has served as the undisputed backbone of planned preventive maintenance across the UK built environment. It provides the structure, consistency, and auditable standards that estates teams need to manage complex portfolios with confidence.

For property services partners, the commitment to SFG20 must be foundational – a core pillar of service delivery and a contractual certainty for clients. It is vital not only to support the standard; but to advocate for it as the essential starting point for any high-performing estate.

However, as buildings become smarter and data-rich, the challenge for leaders is no longer just ‘achieving’ compliance, it’s about optimising it. The goal is to take the gold standard of SFG20 and use it more strategically to drive measurable business outcomes.

The reality is that SFG20 is a foundation, not a ceiling. To move from managing activity to managing outcomes, you need to layer intelligence on top of the standard.

The power of contextual compliance

SFG20 defines what must be done and when. But in a modern estate, the how is where the competitive advantage lies.

Buildings today are dynamic: occupancy fluctuates, energy costs are volatile, and asset conditions change based on real-time usage. To get the most value from the SFG20 framework, estates leaders are looking for ways to layer connectivity and insight over their compliance baseline.

This allows for a move toward Intelligent Connectivity, ensuring the right tasks are performed at the exact moment they provide the most value.

Enhancing the standard: Four strategic steps

I believe the next stage of estate maturity involves using the SFG20 framework as a springboard for performance:

Precision risk-weighting: By aligning SFG20 schedules with asset criticality, teams can focus their resources on the high-impact areas that drive safety and uptime, ensuring the standard is applied where it matters most.
Data-driven application: Live sensor data and asset history allow maintenance to respond to the actual needs of the building. This doesn’t change the SFG20 standard; it simply ensures the standard is applied with precision.
Outcome-based performance: When maintenance activity is tied to outcomes like energy efficiency and occupant comfort, compliance becomes a tool for value creation, not just a cost centre.
Supply chain integration: A shared data ecosystem ensures that every partner in the supply chain is working toward the same SFG20-aligned priorities, creating a single version of the truth.

Proving impact through Symphony

This philosophy finds a perfect expression in the technology at our disposal. The software now available to us as an industry represents the ultimate orchestrator for SFG20-aligned estates. It doesn’t replace the standard; it empowers it.

By bringing operational data and performance insight into a single, connected ecosystem, we have the benefit of an ‘intelligent layer’ that helps leaders reduce waste and improve efficiency while remaining 100% compliant.

The leadership mandate

The most forward-thinking estates leaders are no longer asking if they are compliant – that’s just the baseline. They’re asking: ‘How hard is our compliance working for us?’

SFG20 remains the essential foundation of the industry. The opportunity for property services partners is to provide the intelligence that unlocks its full potential. We need to do this for the sake of a simple truth: the best buildings don’t just meet standards; they continuously improve.

Also published in: Facilities Management Journal

OPINION: The algorithmic shelf: why retailers need to shape what shoppers see

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 06:51:27 GMT

OPINION: The algorithmic shelf: why retailers need to shape what shoppers see

James Taylor, CEO, Particular Audience, looks at how to harness algorithmic attention so that retailers can ensure product visibility and discovery.

Picture a shop assistant who remembers the behaviour of every one of the customers that visit a store each year. One that understands exactly how people search for and describe products, and leads them straight to the item they came in to find; one that instantly recognises visual style and learns continuously in real time to provide the best, most efficient, personalised shopping experience.

That’s the promise of a technology-enabled revolution in online retail. The shop assistant is seamless, subtle and virtual, able to deliver a personalised experience to millions of distinct customers. And the technology behind it is the hybrid recommendation system, which combines machine learning techniques, specifically collaborative and content-based filtering, to deliver personalised, highly accurate product suggestions.

But anyone who has attempted to search for an item with an online retailer who’s getting it wrong – and that means most of them – knows that we’re not there yet.

Perfecting the balance of retail and media

As of today, retail media accounts for one in five dollars spent on online advertising – an enormous figure. In 2021, Boston Consulting Group identified a $100 billion opportunity for retailer media. On its current trajectory, I would argue that $1 trillion might be closer to the mark.

A critical element of this is the experience retailers provide online, balancing ads, organic search and other considerations. The problem is, there is a fundamental flaw in how most retail media networks are approaching this task. Their methodology relies on serving paid ads to shoppers at the expense of the personalised organic results the consumer really wants. This means the RMNs initially sell a lot of ads – which is part of the promise of retail media, after all – but at the cost of total conversions, which quickly stagnate.

Clearly, retailers need to look beyond siloed systems, in which ad revenues cannibalise organic sales, customer trust is eroded because they’re not served high-relevance products in their search results, and short-term ad revenue takes precedence over long-term audience loyalty.

Winning the attention of the algorithm

To grow retail media sustainably, they need to actively curate discovery; aligning merchandising control, customer experience and sponsored placements, so that what wins on site still feels like shopping.

What that means is that algorithmic attention is becoming as important as human attention – which calls for a new set of skills. To harness the algorithmic kind, retailers need hybrid recommendation systems with retailer-grade control. In this next phase of development, black-box automation isn’t going to cut it.

Hybrid machine learning recommendation systems determine a number of critical choices for retail media networks (RMNs) – including which products are surfaced, which brands dominate, which SKUs get buried, and how shoppers discover alternatives they never previously knew existed.

It does that by blending three major modelling families to understand consumers and drive retail media performance:

1. Collaborative Filtering (CF): This model identifies shopper behavioural patterns, including co-viewing, co-basket behaviour, repeat affinities and behavioural clusters. Collaborative filtering drives substitute suggestions, competitor PDP placements, and “You may also like” modules.

2. Natural Language Understanding (NLP): This model extracts meaning from various language use cases. These include product titles and descriptions, reviews and structured (and unstructured) metadata. It’s worth noting that if an attribute isn’t included in the retailer’s embedding string, the algorithm cannot “see” it.

3. Computer Vision (CV): Unlike NLP, CV understands more visual, aesthetic elements. These include colour, silhouette, texture, pattern, style and quite literally: object detection. It’s great at understanding design elements text cannot express. Photons trump language every time in AI.

The advertiser’s role

And while online retail shouldn’t sacrifice customer experience for the benefit of advertisers, they are clearly an important part of the mix. Accordingly, advertisers must ensure their ads work constructively within the system. They need to categorise their metadata carefully and accurately; provide rich-multi-angle imagery; write natural-language descriptions that feature full sentences; and ask retailers the right technical questions when uploading their ads.

Then, they need to get creative with pricing, promotions and ad deals, because getting a product seen and bought is the ultimate objective. The more an advertiser can get its product co-viewed and co-purchased with other items, the more potential it has to be displayed in personalised and contextually relevant real-time customer contexts.

This isn’t off-the-peg technology; it requires substantial investment of time and effort. Contrary to what many enterprises assume, it is not realistic to build a production-grade hybrid recommendation system from a few AWS/GCP APIs. A truly scalable, retailer-grade multi-modal recommender with a merchandising-friendly UI is not an overnight project.

Nonetheless, hybrid recommendation systems that balance human and algorithmic attention are the future of online retail. Their functionality and feature set allow RMNs to cross-sell, up-sell, product-substitute and bundle. They also enable PDP merchandising, homepage, landing and full-funnel personalisation and automated editorial curation.

If advertisers understand how these algorithms think, they can align with them – ethically, transparently and effectively, delivering on the promise of retail media to offer performance at scale. The algorithmic shelf, like its physical counterpart, rewards those who understand how it works – and the retailers who master that balance will be the ones who earn both the algorithm’s attention and the shopper’s trust.

Also published in: Internet Retailing

Particular Audience just smashed open the blackbox of AI Search

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 06:46:03 GMT

Particular Audience just smashed open the blackbox of AI Search

Building on the rapid success of Adaptive Transformer Search (ATS), which virtually eliminated zero-result searches, Particular Audience now enables retailers to A/B test the AI models that determine relevance, margin, and retail media yield.

Particular Audience announced the launch of Search Model A/B Testing, a new capability that allows retailers to directly compare and govern the AI models driving on-site search and sponsored results.

This launch builds on the success of Adaptive Transformer Search (ATS), first introduced in 2023 to solve the $300bn product discovery problem. While the industry average for zero-result searches remains close to 20%, ATS clients consistently operate below 0.5%, proving that modern AI can reliably understand long-tail and conversational intent.

1% gains in relevance can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in recovered revenue, with AI’s rapid evolution, the threat facing retailers is standing still.

From Finding Keywords to Capturing Intent

The majority of search technology in 2026 remains keyword-first. Even platforms claiming to use AI often rely on vectors only for early recall, before reverting to rules-based ranking. This works for simple queries, but breaks down when intent is nuanced, seasonal, or contextual.

True relevance-understanding what a customer means and selecting the right product in that moment—requires a different approach.

ATS uses a single relevance model to evaluate intent, product suitability, and commercial context (for a retailer’s KPIs) together. Search Model A/B Testing extends this foundation by unlocking componentry and allowing retailers to test different relevance strategies directly, rather than accepting a vendor’s default behavior.

For the first time the debate at a retailer shifts from “which search vendor is the best”, to “which model is best for us right now, and how might we constantly prove it?”.

At the same time, most multi-brand retail platforms still operate two separate systems: one for organic search and another for sponsored products. These systems are typically stitched together late in the process using rules or rank overrides. That approach may blend results visually, but it does not unify relevance and put the customer experience first.

Why A/B Test Search Models?

Because relevance is not static.

A retailer may want:

Faster models for high-traffic promotional events
Margin-weighted models during peak trading periods
Brand-safe models for premium categories
Multilingual models for cross-border expansion

Each of these goals involves trade-offs between speed, recall, margin, and localization. Search Model A/B Testing makes those trade-offs measurable and selectable.

Retailers can now test different model architectures side-by-side and choose the one that best aligns with their commercial strategy—using clear metrics such as conversion rate, average order value, margin contribution, and zero-result rate.

Particular Audience’s latest release allows a retailer to configure models based on unique sentence embedding structures, distinct foundational LLMs, and select reinforcement learning data—both genuine and synthetic—to tune their models. Expert customer support is 24/7 and takes the technical sting out of the tail making model manipulation just a request away.

Implications for Retail Media Networks

For Retail Media Networks, this shift only applies to the leading networks that have evolved from legacy keyword targeting approaches.

ATS turns previously unanswerable, long-tail queries into valid result pages, creating new monetizable inventory. Model-level testing then allows retailers to optimize how sponsored products are surfaced within true relevance-not as interruptions, but as contextually appropriate outcomes. Particular Audience’s Search Model A/B Testing allows yield optimization for Retail Media Networks for the very first time.

This moves retail media from placement optimization (keyword bidding) to intent-level optimization (automating high-yield targeting), improving both advertiser performance and network yield.

ATS unlocks the entire grid representing a force multiplier on sponsored search revenue.

From Black Box to Glass Box

Most vendors offer a single, opaque algorithm that decides what is relevant. Particular Audience exposes relevance as a governed decisioning layer.

“AI driven discovery is now table stakes,” said James Taylor, Founder & CEO at Particular Audience. “What matters is how relevance behaves under different business constraints, and how retailers can ensure their trust in their search model(s) is constantly positively reinforced. ATS ensures customers always find something. Model A/B Testing ensures retailers choose what kind of relevance best serves their strategy.”

Also published in: Martech360

Anthony McGoldrick to head up Bellrock’s consultancy offering in Scotland

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 11:41:12 GMT

Anthony McGoldrick to head up Bellrock’s consultancy offering in Scotland

Property services partner Bellrock has appointed Anthony McGoldrick as managing director of Consulting in Scotland.

In this newly-created role, McGoldrick will lead the growth of Bellrock’s Scottish consulting capability, strengthen its client base and develop new service offerings tailored to Scotland’s rapidly evolving property landscape.

McGoldrick’s appointment strengthens Bellrock’s commitment to Scotland, where demand for data-driven consultancy, compliance assurance, and strategic asset management is growing at pace. Expanding its leadership footprint in the region supports Bellrock’s long-term strategy to broaden its reach, scale specialised services, and bring its market-leading digital estate management ecosystem to more clients in Scotland.

McGoldrick joins Bellrock as part of the company’s acquisition of Axiom. He brings to the role a strong track record in the built environment, coupled with extensive experience across Scotland. His background includes senior roles within Axiom Project Services, where he delivered strategic consultancy, property advice, and commercial oversight for a broad range of clients.

As part of this leadership transition, Gary Logue, previously managing director of Axiom, will take up a dedicated business development position, focused on strengthening client relationships and supporting growth across Scotland. Logue’s deep sector knowledge, strong client connections and understanding of the Scottish market remain invaluable to the business.

Aynsley Cheatley will also be part of the leadership team, following Bellrock’s acquisition of construction and property consultancy, Summers Inman, bringing their Public Sector experience and strong client relationships, as well as underpinning the company’s cross-sector presence and growth plans across Scotland. Cheatley was previously regional managing director (Scotland) for Summers Inman. Logue’s and Cheatley’s continued presence ensures continuity for clients, while enabling Bellrock to expand its consulting footprint under McGoldrick’s leadership.

Speaking about his appointment, McGoldrick said: “Scotland is undergoing a significant phase of property transformation, from the modernisation of public estates to substantial investment in commercial portfolios.

“There is considerable potential for Bellrock to build upon the progress already achieved in this area. Leading the expansion of our consulting capability in Scotland gives me a great opportunity to deepen relationships with clients and to deliver the insight, structure and technology-enabled consultancy services Bellrock is known for.”

Bellrock CEO Carlo Alloni said the strengthening of the company’s leadership in Scotland was a crucial milestone in its Consulting growth journey.

“Anthony brings deep sector expertise, chartered professional credibility, and a strong understanding of the Scottish market,” Alloni said. “His appointment accelerates our ambition to scale Consulting nationwide, broadening our capabilities, deepening our sector knowledge and delivering even greater value to clients across Scotland.”

Also published in: Scottish Construction Now

From ads to intelligence: how AI is powering retail media 3.0

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 11:30:41 GMT

From ads to intelligence: how AI is powering retail media 3.0

Taking a customer-first approach is the key to retail media’s success. Because we all shop in moments, not in straight lines. When we go to the shops, we are influenced not just by what we see in-store, but also by the ads we saw scrolling through social media with our morning coffee, and the digital-out-of-home ads on the walk to the store. Retail media has always influenced these moments, but until now, it’s rarely joined them up.

Retail media 3.0 changes that. It connects every touchpoint through intelligent insight. And at Nectar360, that starts with the data we see every day from our 24 million shoppers, and the technology that turns it into action across in-store, online and offsite channels.

As an industry, we’re moving beyond online ads towards something far more connected. We’re creating seamless journeys that bring digital and physical retail together, with smarter insight and simple, collaborative tools. A retail media platform working behind the scenes, analysing real shopping behaviour and helping brands show up with the right message, for the right customer, at the moment it matters.

This is a new era. One where brands can plan, activate and measure everything in one place, creating customer journeys that feel seamless, personal and connected.

From Patchwork to Precision

Retail media has evolved rapidly, becoming a dominant driver of modern marketing that uniquely links in-store sales with broader marketing efforts. And now, instead of toggling between tools, teams can finally see the whole picture, not just fragments, in one simple workflow: audience insights, media planning, activation, optimisation and measurement.

Internal retail media teams can now collaborate on campaigns with their clients across multiple channels in one place. The result: faster execution, greater efficiency, transparency and a more impactful customer experience.

The Power Of Applying AI In The Right Way

AI is powering this new phase. It does the jobs that used to slow teams down – building smarter audiences, running compliance checks within seconds and adjusting messaging dynamically in real time. Tasks that once took days now happen in minutes, so brands can act while customer intent is still fresh.

AI also closes the feedback loop. By harnessing real-time performance across 22 billion rows of data from our insight platform, brands get instant, actionable insights, revealing exactly what resonates with customers across each channel and what doesn’t. This makes every campaign smarter and more effective. Unified reporting and advanced attribution models ensure that insights feed directly into planning and optimisation, bridging the gap between data and decision. The result is a seamless, always-on rhythm that mirrors how people actually shop: fluid, responsive and connected from inspiration to purchase.

Creating Seamless Experiences Across Channels

We are all shoppers, and we expect a seamless experience. We don’t think in channels but expect that wherever we interact with your brand, whether it’s through a video on YouTube, a screen within a store, or a sponsored listing on a website, our experience feels connected and relevant.

Too often, brands deliver mixed messages because their systems can’t keep up. A social ad might promise one thing while an in-store offer says another. With a unified platform, everything stays connected: the right channel, with the right message, at the right time.

Onsite, this might mean sponsored product placements or category takeovers that map to browsing behaviour. Offsite, it could mean reaching retailer audiences across major media environments while maintaining frequency and creative control. And in-store, digital screens and shopping handsets are connected to the same system, mapping messages along the customer journey, from outside the store, to the entrance and through the aisles, strategically placed for awareness, consideration, or performance.

By analysing real-time data and shopper behaviour, AI helps brands build smarter audiences and deliver messaging that feels relevant in every channel. When media activation is connected to genuine customer insight, brands can create personalised experiences that actually land. The impact is clear: retail personalisation leaders see revenue growth rates that are “10 percentage points higher” than those who fall behind.

Built With Advertisers, Not Just For Them

Retail media’s evolution isn’t just a story about technology. It’s a story about people working together to create something better. The strongest platforms are built with brands and agencies, not just for them. And by keeping the focus on simple workflows, faster activation and clear, confident measurement.

Great adtech should scale with the advertiser. So whether you’re a challenger brand testing retail media for the first time, or a global advertiser managing complex omnichannel programmes, the tools should be equally accessible. That means intuitive interfaces, AI-assisted planning, dynamic creative generation, audience portability across channels and closed-loop reporting – without the need for specialist teams or steep learning curves.

Welcome To Retail Media 3.0

Retail media 3.0 is the next evolutionary stage of retail advertising. If I had to sum it up, it would be customer-first by design, outcome-focused in execution. With every channel connected, every moment measured and every journey understood, retail media 3.0 isn’t just the next step, it’s the way brands will grow.

With unified insight, activation and measurement, marketers can finally spend less time stitching systems together and more time crafting exceptional experiences customers genuinely value.

Also published in: Modern Retail

‘It’s Big’: Media Agencies Weigh In As WPP, Dentsu Pull Back From The Trade Desk’s OpenPath

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 11:16:11 GMT

‘It’s Big’: Media Agencies Weigh In As WPP, Dentsu Pull Back From The Trade Desk’s OpenPath

WPP and Dentsu have left much of the adtech world in a conundrum after the two holding companies pulled back from The Trade Desk’s (TTD) direct-to-publisher OpenPath initiative.

ADWEEK reported that the agency groups’ exit from the scheme was due to growing friction with demand-side player TTD over what it said were “hidden fees” and a lack of transparency around ad placement.

OpenPath, which launched as TTD’s attempt to give ad buyers direct access to publisher inventory without routing through sell-side platform intermediaries, was positioned by CEO Jeff Green as entering a “steep acceleration phase” in 2025, and if successful, the initiative could offer a viable alternative to Google’s hegemony.

ADWEEK reported that it had seen text messages from a source at Dentsu confirming it had disabled OpenPath. It cited an anonymous executive at WPP familiar with the matter who said it had moved away from OpenPath soon after it launched.

Replying to a LinkedIn post from ADWEEK, Ian Colley, TTD’s chief marketing officer and EVP said the article “fundamentally misunderstands” how the tool works, he added that ADWEEK declined to include its full reply.

Ori Gold, CEO and co-founder at Bench, a digital media agency, doesn’t see WPP and Dentsu’s retreat from OpenPath as evidence of systemic failure—but rather a breakdown in negotiations.

“OpenPath is only one way that you can buy through TTD, and not necessarily the entire ecosystem. We see TTD as a market leading technology for programmatic and RTB lines.”

Ori Gold is the CEO and co-founder at Bench.

Gold argued that OpenPath should be viewed in the context of TTD’s broader positioning as an independent technology layer—distinct from closed ecosystems that control inventory, tech and reporting.

“I think that what they’re actually doing is breaking down the powers that were there before by creating a quicker path to the inventory or quicker path to buy from advertisers.”

However, that “quicker path” might be the cause of the friction with holding companies.

“I believe some of the larger networks and larger entities don’t necessarily like it, because they might see less accounting transparency on their side, which means they have less control of some of the ways that we can buy the inventory,” Gold said.

As an independent agency, he said Bench is “less concerned with legacy buying structures” and is focused on advertiser outcomes instead.

“For us as an independent we do not really care from whom we buy, we do not really affiliate with anyone else, so OpenPath actually seemed like the right decision to reduce fees.”

“When we look at transparency we are looking at outcomes and what the value is to the advertiser on the other side.”

So far, he said, OpenPath is delivering.

“For us at the moment, OpenPath seems to be doing more for the advertiser rather than less.”

‘Sitting on the fence’

Claims of “hidden fees” failed to convince Gold that OpenPath represents a new transparency crisis, and instead places the dispute within a wider shift across adtech, as DSPs, SSPs and publishers increasingly move into each other’s territory.

“We see SSPs starting to sell directly, and we see the DSPS, including TTD, starting to give backwards and dealing directly with the suppliers. So I think the whole ecosystem is changing.”

While Gold acknowledged that TTD’s deeper move into supply represents a positioning shift, he stops short of calling it a trust breach. For now, Bench remains cautious but engaged.

“For us, we are sitting on the fence, testing it, understanding what the outcomes are”.

The coordinated pullback by two global holding groups is significant, he concedes—but not conclusive.

“I think it’s big, but let’s see that what’s happening with the other groups. That will be more of an alarm, rather than a concentrated shift of power where two big entities trying to arm wrestle.”

If more networks or major advertisers follow, that could signal deeper issues.

“I think if we see more networks and agency than larger advertising is flocking away. Maybe there’s some more truth in it, rather than a political arm wrestle,” said Gold.

‘Struggling to deliver’

Yango’s media director Luke Creeley believes WPP and Dentsu’s decision to walk away “suggests OpenPath is struggling to deliver”.

Luke Creeley is the media director at Yango.

He said as an independent agency they aim to work “as transparently as possible”.

“We aim to secure the best outcomes for our clients, so any lack of transparency and potential hidden fees can certainly compromise this,” Creeley said.

“For years, TTD has championed the ‘open internet,’ but if OpenPath is masking fees or operating as a black box, it compromises this overall approach.”

Creeley said although Yango sees TTD as one of the partners it uses in its agnostic approach, “a lack of transparency makes it harder to consider going down this route over other alternatives that can provide us more control as well as transparency.”

“We’ve been assessing our supply paths closely and encourage everyone to do the same.”

Annie Marendaz is the performance director at The Media Store.

According to The Media Store’s performance director, Annie Marendaz, OpenPath is “a great step, in theory, to simplify the supply chain” but “without full transparency of where ads are served, it defeats the purpose.”

She believes the exit from OpenPath is “more about the loss of control over supply and SSP partners” rather than the buying model itself.

“TTD positioned OpenPath as the industry’s white knight against Google’s walled garden, but Dentsu and WPP’s exit proves you can’t fight a black box by building another one,” said James Taylor, founder and CEO of retail media player Particular Audience.

James Taylor is the CEO of Particular Audience.

“When a platform is taking up to a 20 per cent effective cut while obfuscating exactly where the ads are running, it ceases to be an alternative to the ‘ad-tech tax’—it just becomes the new tax collector.”

Taylor emphasised that his company prioritises “glass box transparency” and “advertiser precision” in its targeting technology.

“At a 20 per cent take rate you’d sure as hell need to offer the same if countering the walled gardens.”

However, Colley, described OpenPath as “just one example” of their supply chain initiatives.

“TTD doesn’t ‘push’ spend to OpenPath. It’s not a marketplace or curated inventory. OpenPath is simply a supply path option to ad impressions an advertiser would already be targeting. OpenPath is offered at cost to the ecosystem. We’ve been clear about that. There are no hidden fees beyond that. If OpenPath is selected by an advertiser, it’s simply because it’s the cleanest, most cost-efficient path,” Colley wrote.

“Adweek also declined to include our full comment on this. But I’ll include it here: OpenPath is just one example of our supply chain initiatives — all developed in collaboration with brands and agencies — to drive transparency, value and choice.

OpenPath is just one option that buyers have en route to any given impression, and spend flowing through OpenPath has been growing steadily over the last year or so. The primary reason that OpenPath has been so successful is that it is the clearest, most cost-efficient path with the highest signal. For many buyers, this has become a key focus area of our supply chain collaboration, and OpenPath has become a critical beacon of value.”

Also published in: B&T

Press play and stay: How to make a B2B podcast that thrives and survives

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 15:24:36 GMT

Press play and stay:

How to make a B2B podcast that thrives and survives

There are more podcasts than ever. As of late 2025, more than 4.6 million podcasts exist, yet over 90% of those don’t make it past 20 episodes before they’re abandoned, and of those that do, around half have little to no meaningful audience.

The barrier to entry is low, but the barrier to longevity seems to be sky high.

With Season 3 of Legends of Adtech just around the corner, and with four years and six podcast seasons under The Digital Voice’s belt, we’ve learned plenty about what makes a show really shine beyond the launch hype.

So what actually makes someone press play, and stay to listen?

Whether you’re building a niche B2B show or a broader industry platform, the fundamentals of a podcast people genuinely enjoy are surprisingly consistent. Here’s what you need to start making a B2B podcast series that builds a loyal audience who return time and time again.

Start with a clear point of view

Making a podcast is not as simple as buying a microphone and booking a guest list. The best hosts have an editorial stance. Ask yourself: what do you believe about your industry? What thought leadership can you offer? What questions are you trying to answer? What conversations aren’t being had? Are you willing to ask challenging questions? Listeners come back time and again for clarity and expertise they can’t get elsewhere.

Let the host be the draw

Take this scenario: you get a great guest on your show, and they share the episode with their personal audience of thousands. You see a huge spike in downloads but the next episode looks like a flop by comparison. You can’t rely on listeners to return unless your episodes all promise the same level of interest. Focus on being a stand out host and adding your own value to the show, rather than just an interviewer.

Respect time and attention spans

Your show doesn’t have to be short, but it should be purposeful. If we had a penny for every podcast episode we’d heard that could have made all the same points after being edited down to half its length, we’d have a small fortune! Every segment should earn its place in your show and every question should add value. Purposeful editing is a sign you respect your audience.

Be useful, interesting or better, be both

If you can’t summarise an episode in one sentence, it likely lacked focus. The best episodes leave your listeners with a new idea, a strong opinion or a practical takeaway they’ll remember and want to share. B2B podcasts are often technical or retrospective, with ample opportunity for sharing useful tips, but that shouldn’t mean they can’t be entertaining too.

Choose guests for perspective, not just profile

Big names attract clicks, and every podcaster wants to see good metrics, but strong opinions are what creates lasting impact and repeat listenership. The most compelling episodes of any podcast happen when the host and the guests bring their honest (and often unexpected or controversial) opinions, not just their credentials.

Be niche on purpose

Whilst we’d all love a million downloads, you don’t need loads of listeners to make your podcast worthwhile. Picture a crowd of a hundred people. If that many people all sat around in person to listen to you talk, you’d feel accomplished, especially if they were the exact people you wanted to reach.

Focus on hitting your niche, and creating depth and relevance that matters to your audience over vanity metrics. The most successful B2B podcasts fly because they speak directly to the exact audience they want to reach.

Be intentional about format

Structure creates familiarity. Having a format of recurring segments, signature questions, and a recognisable intro teaches listeners what to expect. Consistency builds your brand, making people more likely to return.

Design for distribution

A great podcast isn’t just about your audio. These days more people enjoy video podcasts to audio only, and then there’s social clips, quotes, blogs, key takeaways, WTF moments etc. Think of every episode as the start of an ocean of content, and plan with that in mind. Not only will it help with distribution in the long run, but it builds your thought leadership on other channels in one fell swoop.

Your show deserves to shine!

There’s no denying that the podcast market is crowded, but don’t let that stop you from throwing your hat in the ring and starting your own. Where would we be if no author picked up a pen to write a new novel because so many already exist?

There’s still space for shows that are thoughtful, well-structured, genuine and intentional about the conversations they’re creating. If you’ve got something to say, podcasting is a great format to say it.

These hints and tips can help you get it right, but one piece of advice shines above all: what makes you stick with a podcast? Make a show you’d want to listen to. Everyone else will follow.

Ren Bowman is the Senioe Multimedia Lead at The Digital Voice™, a first-class graduate in Creative Writing and an award-winning podcast producer. They’ve written for a range of industries including tech, entertainment, education, business finance, and lifestyle. Outside of work, they are an activist for social justice, especially Women’s and LGBTQ+ rights.

‘Users won't leave – they'll buy’: Adland on whether or not ads belong in LLMs

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 11:32:07 GMT

‘Users won't leave – they'll buy’: Adland on whether or not ads belong in LLMs

The large-language-model (LLM) ads debate has been the talk of adland ever since Anthropic's Super Bowl LX campaign called out its competitors, such as ChatGPT, who are introducing ads onto their platforms.

While the tongue incheek TV and social spots got people talking, OpenAI’s Sam Altman doubled down on ads in ChatGPT, claiming they will have no influence on the responses users receive to their queries.

However, things have changed. The question is no longer, ‘will ads influence responses?’, instead it’s ‘will consumers trust the responses from an LLM with ads?’ – perception may well matter more than policy.

Perplexity clearly thinks so, having recently pulled the plug on its own LLM ads experiment just over a year after its launch. The reason? Trust concerns among users.

This creates even more questions. If users reject ads, how can LLMs ever begin to turn a profit? Have consumers become fed-up of new ad formats? And how will the competitive advertising landscape change if the AI bubble does in fact burst?

In search of answers, PMW canvassed a panel of experts.

Will ads within LLMs deliver for brands and why?

Mike Fantis, VP Managing Partner at DAC Group: “Ads within LLMs can work if the format respects why people are using these tools in the first place. In practice users are looking for non-biased information to help them make informed decisions on very specific queries. Ad formats that feel like they are directing people’s opinion or nudging them towards a particular option undermines that whole premise.

“Those that are more likely to work are product or service-based ads that are connected directly to the AI prompt and conversation – and if they offer instant value. Say someone is looking for the best running trainers, and the ad is from On-Running pushing a survey that helps them find what’s right for their personal needs – who is not going to like this? Context is the key”

James Taylor, CEO and Founder, Particular Audience: “Yes, but only if we stop treating them like traditional search. If an LLM ad is just a link that kicks a user out to a website, it could prove too expensive. AI interfaces are about immediate resolution. For ads to deliver, they need to be functional units – letting users browse, apply loyalty, and check out directly inside the chat. If the ad is the storefront adequately optimised for conversion, it will deliver. If it's a redirect, it's friction subject to the age-old conversion rate inefficiencies of website funnels.”

Tilman Harmeling, Strategy & Market Intelligence at Usercentrics: “Advertising in LLMs will only work if users trust what they're reading. Conversational AI feels neutral and authoritative – so the moment commercial messaging blurs that perception, effectiveness drops. If platforms are transparent about what's sponsored and how data informs responses, ads can deliver. But in AI, opacity isn't just a compliance issue, it's a performance risk.

“Perplexity's retreat is instructive here – even when ads were clearly labelled and didn't influence outputs, the mere presence of advertising triggered a new and distinct fear: that the AI was silently analysing, judging, and acting on users' interests and preferences on behalf of advertisers. That perception – of the model as a covert profiler rather than a neutral assistant – is arguably unprecedented in digital advertising, and it rattled trust in every response, sponsored or not. Brands should remember: if users question the answer, they'll question the ad.”

Ryan Hudson, Founder of ZeroClick: “Yes. It is creating a platform with more context than anything ever created. Think of google keyword search as a proxy for context. LLMs have far more extensive context from logged in, and often paying, users which will allow for high quality attribution tracking that makes it easy to quantify the results.”

Damon Reeve, CEO, Ozone: “When market dynamics work correctly, advertising spend aligns with the areas where consumers spend time, both online and off. LLM use has shifted into the everyday, and if consumers are engaged with what they are generating in AI engines, then there is no reason to suggest that ads in those spaces couldn’t deliver.

“I think a huge part of this comes down to trust, and whether consumers believe the results that they are seeing. For example, the latest results from the Credos Trust Tracker have shown growth in the levels of trust consumers place in ads seen from influencers, but this is also significantly helped by the guardrails that have been enforced on ensuring advertising content is clearly disclosed.

“Credos research has also shown that the biggest drivers of distrust in advertising is bombardment and suspicious advertising. As a relatively ‘clean’ and new space, LLMs are in a good place to avoid the former, whereas there may be more scepticism of the latter if clear and transparent rules of engagement are not in place.”

When should brands invest – is becoming a first mover in the format too risky?

Mike Fantis, VP Managing Partner at DAC Group: “Brands shouldn't jump in just because they can; first ask how your brand will be perceived on the platform and in the context of a particular ad format.”

James Taylor, CEO and Founder, Particular Audience: “The biggest risk by far is waiting. Brands should invest right now, but it's not as simple as testing some budget, they need to focus entirely on the infrastructure that allows their relevant discovery, smart pricing, loyalty benefits and checkout to live natively within these LLM interfaces. The first movers who figure out how to turn conversational AI into a closed-loop point of sale, rather than just a traffic driver, will own the next era of digital commerce. At Retail-MCP.com we’re building some truly phenomenal functional ad unit applications for brands to show up in the AI arena.”

Tilman Harmeling, Strategy & Market Intelligence at Usercentrics: “There’s opportunity in being early, but in AI environments the reputational stakes are higher. First movers need to treat privacy and transparency as product features, not legal footnotes. If brands experiment responsibly – with clear consent and visible monetisation – they can shape best practice. If they rush in without those guardrails, the backlash will outweigh the first-mover advantage. The Perplexity case also shows that platform risk is real – brands that built campaigns around that inventory now have to adapt. Before committing to a budget, brands should be asking not just whether a platform serves ads, but whether it has a credible long-term model for doing so sustainably.”

Ryan Hudson, Founder of ZeroClick: “Immediately. Any time there is a new platform there are 1) opportunities to learn how to use it effectively, and 2) potential arbitrage opportunities while efficient price discovery lags.”

Damon Reeve, CEO, Ozone: “Like any new innovation, there can be significant upsides and downsides to being a first mover. In a space where the technology is moving so fast, the opportunity to replicate another brand’s success may not be possible… The moment may quickly be gone and we’re on to the next new thing.

“However, it will be really important for brands to understand and actively manage how their brand is presented in a LLM environment. Where more established media channels have well established safeguards for brands and consumers alike, it will be up to the LLMs to make sure that brands can trust the space they’re advertising in.

“While some of the LLMs are saying no to advertising at the moment, I would look to other growth stories to see that where significant audience is found, ads are most likely to follow. Where there is opportunity to experiment, brands would be wise to stay ahead of a game that will no doubt intensify in the future.”

Does Perplexity's walk-back on ads indicate that consumers have rejected the format?

Mike Fantis, VP Managing Partner at DAC Group: “I do understand Perplexity’s logic on the roll-out of ‘sponsored follow-ups’. After all, most people have been perfectly happy to accept ads based on the content of the page and/or its audience demographics.

“However, in retrospect the format was always going to struggle in light of the context in which people use LLMs, which typically is that they are more likely to be in top of the funnel research mode, rather than transactional mode. The particular use cases for LLMs are largely fact-finding, comparison and sense-checking. The expectation is that what comes back should be neutral.

“It’s no surprise that there’s been some pushback to Perplexity’s particular approach, but that doesn’t equate to a wholesale rejection of advertising in LLMs. What it does suggest is that the execution needs to align more closely to how users are using these tools.”

James Taylor, CEO and Founder, Particular Audience: “Consumers haven't rejected ads; they’ve rejected bad UX. Perplexity's trust concerns likely stem from trying to wedge legacy ad formats into a new medium. It was lazy. In an LLM, users expect the AI to do the work. When an ad actually solves the user's intent natively – like consulting a buyer and allowing them to complete a purchase right there in the chat – it stops being an interruption and becomes actually useful.”

Ryan Hudson, Founder of ZeroClick: “I don’t think so. I think it reflects their need to have a differentiated product value proposition vs ChatGPT. That combined with the lackluster results from their initial experiments.”

With Perplexity going ad-free, Anthropic ad-free and Gemini also ad-free – how can ChatGPT maintain its userbase while serving ads?

Mike Fantis, VP Managing Partner at DAC Group: “Google has shown that users will tolerate advertising if it’s relevant and clearly distinguished from the core result - and the same rule applies to ChatGPT.

“If the ads don’t compromise the integrity of the LLM's answer, align with intent and – crucially – if the content is useful, most users won’t reject it. Actually, they probably won't even pay too much attention to the fact that it’s an ad at all.”

James Taylor, CEO and Founder, Particular Audience: “ChatGPT Apps were a great idea, they just struggled for adoption and brands invested (or rather didn’t) accordingly. Ads solve the economic gap that AI has when it comes to invoking an app that hasn't been installed by a user. By making the ads genuinely useful, and funding their contextual invocation, ChatGPT is rectifying apps’ distribution, and doing so profitably. If ChatGPT allows brands to execute transactions directly in the chat, the ad actually enhances the user experience. You aren't serving a banner; you are giving the AI the ability to fulfil a commercial request. If ChatGPT gets functional commerce right, users won't leave – they'll buy.”

Tilman Harmeling, Strategy & Market Intelligence at Usercentrics: “Ad-funded models aren't doomed – but they must be radically transparent. The platforms that succeed will be those that clearly separate paid content, explain how data is used, and give users meaningful control. It's also worth noting that the competitive landscape has shifted quickly – Anthropic's Super Bowl campaign directly calling out AI advertising shows that being ad-free is becoming a differentiator, which raises the bar for ChatGPT to demonstrate its approach is genuinely user-centric rather than just commercially convenient. AI users are more sensitive to perceived manipulation than traditional internet users. If monetisation feels hidden, churn follows. If it feels honest, sustainable models are possible.”

Ryan Hudson, Founder of ZeroClick: “Ads can improve the user experience. 1) by offering attractive pricing and usage tiers for users who don’t want to spend $20/month for a premium subscription (most users), and 2) by providing contextually relevant information and offers to users. Most people find google product listing ads additive to their google search experience as just one example of how this can work.”

Additional expert insights

‘This channel will get expensive, and everyone will be on it’

Suzanna Chaplin, CEO, esbconnect:

“Firstly, looking at AI platforms overall, ChatGPT has the advantage – you hear your mum, your neighbour and maybe even your granny saying, ‘I just asked ChatGPT’. When the average Joe thinks of LLMs, they think ChatGPT.

“But do ads fit? I use ChatGPT because I think it’s going to give me an unbiased view, not because it’s being paid to give me an answer. So how will ads feel right in there? Well, the reality is, it might not matter – they have changed people's habits so much that people will default there; other platforms don’t have that advantage.

“But will people go elsewhere because of ads? Probably not, if they are served in the right way – potentially separate to the answer, but relevant to the content, like seeing an ad for a frying pan before watching a cooking tutorial on YouTube.

“The industry is obsessed with consumers not trusting platforms because of ads. But ads aren’t the issue – it’s when your output is biased, and you don’t transparently say you are giving this answer because you’re being paid to do so that it becomes an issue. If ChatGPT can walk this line, I reckon you’ll quickly see the other LLM’s come back to advertising. They are probably just waiting to see how it plays out and enjoy a second-mover advantage.

“So if I were a brand, yes, I would definitely be testing it, but as with any new channel, I wouldn’t be handing over the keys and becoming reliant on it. I would be thinking: how do I get that consumer within my control and use ads to build my consumer base, as this channel will get expensive, and everyone will be on it.”

Read more in: Performance Marketing World

Bellrock Unifies Specialist Advisory Brands To Launch Bellrock Consulting

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 11:23:57 GMT

Bellrock Unifies Specialist Advisory Brands To Launch Bellrock Consulting

Bellrock has unified its specialist advisory brands to create Bellrock Consulting

Bellrock , a leading intelligent property services partner, has today announced the strategic unification of its specialist advisory brands to create Bellrock Consulting. The move establishes a unique, technology-led approach in the UK’s Top 30 consultants dedicated to optimising the built environment.

Bellrock combines consulting, proprietary technology and self-delivered maintenance to replace traditional fragmentation with a uniquely integrated offering for clients to transform estate data into the operational insights required to manage complex portfolios.

Ranked #29 on Building magazine’s Top 150, Bellrock’s Consulting powerhouse combines a data-driven approach with the specialist talent required to solve today’s most pressing challenges: building safety, decarbonisation and asset investment.

The integration introduces a multidisciplinary engine built for scale with a local focus. By consolidating its deep expertise into one entity, Bellrock Consulting provides joined up intelligence across four critical pillars: Building Advisory, Building Assets, Building Compliance and Portfolio Services.

‘The property and construction consulting landscape is fragmented, leaving clients to navigate a maze of specialisms and hand-offs. Clients need integrated services that are grounded in data-driven certainty,’ said Dan Weiss, Managing Director of Bellrock Consulting. ‘We’re bringing together our sector-leading specialists to deliver a unified offer that provides turnkey solutions for property portfolio optimisation. As the only Top 30 firm with cross-disciplinary experts and proprietary technology, we provide the expertise of a top-tier consultancy with the agility of a tech-culture.’

The announcement follows Bellrock’s rapid ascent up the industry rankings. The firm is leveraging its proprietary technology to provide a portfolio-level visibility that traditional consulting models cannot match.

The launch marks a definitive shift toward a technology-led advisory model focused on excellence. This new era was inaugurated yesterday at London’s Landing Forty Two, featuring industry authority Antony Slumbers, who explored how AI and machine learning are now the essential partners to human expertise. Slumbers highlighted that while automation handles the vast data complexity of modern estates, Bellrock’s specialists provide the critical human layer, transforming raw data into the certainty that allows estate leaders to act with confidence.

‘We’re redefining excellence in property and risk management,’ added Carlo Alloni, CEO of Bellrock. ‘With a game-changing Consulting powerhouse, we’re making it easier for clients to access our full breadth of expertise, offering a level of portfolio-wide visibility that traditional models cannot match.’

Also published in: Construction Business News

AI Is Now Marketing’s Gatekeeper: How Brands Can Influence And Leverage

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 11:17:26 GMT

AI Is Now Marketing’s Gatekeeper: How Brands Can Influence And Leverage

Despite recent minor gyrations on the Dow reacting to AI hiccups, just earlier this month the Super Bowl made AI itself more visible than ever to consumers. For marketers, the deeper shift to put into action is how AI now determines which creators and brands get surfaced—and trusted.

AI as discovery’s new gatekeeper keeps coming clearer.

It was the Super Bowl that surfaced that reality with concentrated vigor.

Nearly one in the four national ad spots—about 23%—was tied directly to artificial intelligence, either as the product itself or as the technology powering the message. OpenAI and Anthropic promoted ChatGPT and Claude to mass audiences. Google and Amazon positioned Gemini and Alexa+ as embedded assistants inside everyday life. Meta showcased AI-enabled smart glasses as experiential technology.

Enterprise platforms appeared just as prominently. Salesforce, Ramp, Rippling and Wix framed AI as operational leverage. Ring emphasized AI as an invisible intelligence layer inside consumer products. In one case, Svedka positioned its commercial as largely created using AI tools.

AI dominated the cultural moment.

But the real shift wasn’t about ad spend—it was about who’s in control of discovery and authority.

AI systems increasingly mediate discovery itself—deciding which creators, publishers and brands get surfaced, cited and trusted. For marketers, the battleground has moved from winning search attention to prevailing in authority.

Where AI Works—And Where Consumers Push Back

That distinction came into focus in a recent conversation with Kayla Castro, Senior Manager of Affiliates and Partnerships at Zenni Optical.

When Zenni leaned more intentionally into AI in 2024, the goal wasn’t automating creativity. It was reducing friction in a category that historically depended on physical try-on.

“In some of our earliest experiments with AI-generated creative,” Castro said, “we learned that authenticity matters a lot to our customers, especially when it comes to seeing how eyewear looks on real people. Those insights helped shape how we use AI today: not as a replacement for marketing creativity, but as a tool to test ideas faster, better understand what resonates with shoppers and improve product discovery and the overall customer experience.”

The lesson is clear: AI can enhance experience. It cannot manufacture authenticity.

Gen Z may be fluent in AI tools, but fluency does not equal trust. As AI-generated content proliferates, visible human presence increasingly signals credibility. Authenticity isn’t nostalgic—it’s strategic.

AI’s Quiet Power Move: Authority And Partnerships

Where AI proved unexpectedly powerful for Zenni wasn’t creative production. It was partner discovery.

As consumers began asking nuanced questions about eyewear and eye health inside AI systems, Zenni examined which sources those systems cited. That surfaced an affiliate opportunity the company hadn’t previously considered.

Castro noticed AI-generated answers repeatedly referencing Fox News articles related to eyewear. Only then did Zenni realize the publisher had launched an affiliate program. After onboarding ahead of the holidays, the partnership began driving measurable results.

“That was a partner that just wasn’t on our radar before,” she said.

Consumers are no longer typing blunt, transactional queries into search engines. They’re asking contextual, conversational questions—and expecting synthesized guidance. AI systems respond by drawing from trusted publishers, expert reviews and affiliate-enabled content.

The path to purchase is compressing. What once required multiple clicks now often happens inside a single AI-generated answer. Authority compounds in that environment. The brands and creators most consistently cited gain disproportionate visibility.

The Scale Vs. Trust Problem

Influencer marketing still faces a constraint AI hasn’t solved: human bandwidth.

Zenni works with hundreds of influencers through an always-on, performance-based affiliate model. But when it comes to deeper campaign relationships, the field narrows dramatically.

“There are millions of influencers,” Castro noted, “but the hard part is figuring out which 10 relationships are actually worth the time and cost to build meaningfully.”

AI helps narrow the field by filtering thousands of creators into manageable shortlists based on content history and brand fit. But final judgment remains human.

AI can scale filtering. It cannot scale trust.

What Platforms See That Brands Often Miss

From the platform side, Dave Yovanno, CEO of impact.com, sees the same tension playing out at scale.

Yovanno says, “I think of AI as a power tool—faster and more efficient than manual research—but still dependent on skilled operators. As AI-generated content becomes more prevalent, human credibility becomes more valuable, not less.”

This new way forward on credibility “reflects the broader structural shift in discovery,” Yovanno says. “Consumers are no longer typing blunt, transactional queries into search engines. They’re asking contextual, conversational questions and expecting synthesized guidance. Those AI-generated answers frequently draw from trusted publishers, reviewers and affiliate-enabled content. In effect, the path to purchase is moving inside the answer itself—compressing what used to be multiple clicks into a single response.”

One lesson marketers can take from this, Yovanno points out, is that “Large language models don’t invent authority; they aggregate it. They surface what credible creators, publishers and communities are already saying. That means brands must understand how they appear inside AI-generated answers—and which voices are shaping those responses.”

But, he also observes, “AI can enhance experience, but it cannot manufacture authenticity. That dynamic is especially pronounced among younger consumers. Gen Z is highly fluent in AI tools, yet is deeply skeptical of content that feels synthetic or engineered. Brands leaning too heavily into AI-generated personas risk eroding trust at the exact moment consumers are demanding proof of real-world credibility—in a real sense human presence has become a premium signal.” He describes AI as a power tool—faster and more efficient than manual research—but still dependent on skilled operators. As AI-generated content becomes more prevalent, human credibility becomes more valuable, not less.

Large language models don’t invent authority; they aggregate it. They surface what credible creators, publishers and communities are already saying. That means brands must understand how they appear inside AI-generated answers—and which voices are shaping those responses.

In this environment, authority compounds. The path to purchase increasingly happens inside the AI response itself.

The Marketer Takeaway

Summing it up:

Culture still creates attention
Creators and experts convert attention into belief
AI systems determine which voices get surfaced and scaled
Partnerships turn trust into measurable outcomes.

The brands pulling ahead aren’t choosing between AI and influencers. They are designing systems where AI drives discovery and efficiency, while humans remain responsible for judgment, authenticity and relationships.

As Castro put it, “Marketing is about stories—and stories need to be told by people.”

AI may have bought airtime on the Super Bowl. But authority—and trust—will determine who wins long after all the commercials end.

Also published in: Forbes

Samsung hails impact of its latest smart TV home screen ad unit

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 11:04:26 GMT

Samsung hails impact of its latest smart TV home screen ad unit

Samsung Ads has hailed the early impact of its new home-screen ad unit, Immersive Carousel, which allows brands to showcase themselves across up to five tiles with five-second creative auto-rotation.

Creative can also be manually rotated using the remote control.

Entertainment brands like TV or gaming apps can showcase a range of content or highlights, while non-endemic brands like retailers can present multiple products or different features of a single product.

Luxury brands could leverage the multi-creative opportunity to enhance storytelling. There are also clear opportunities to combine branding with calls to action.

ITV has been using Immersive Carousel to promote its ITVX streaming app.

Automatic content recognition (ACR) data shows that users who viewed all five tiles in the carousel spent 40% longer with the streaming service (on Samsung TVs) than unexposed viewers during the week of the campaign.

ITVX has used the Immersive Carousel to boost visibility for shows including Olivia Attwood’s Bad Boyfriends, The Princess Diaries, and The Only Way is Essex.

A luxury menswear brand has used the ad unit to increase awareness among affluent and luxury shoppers. Ad awareness was 41% higher among high-income earners exposed to the ad unit than among unexposed, while brand awareness among frequent luxury shoppers was 36% higher when the ad was shown.

Wide European footprint

Immersive Carousel is available on 70m+ Samsung smart TVs in Europe.

Samsung says its smart TV owners visit the home screen five times a day, on average (across EU5). “It is one of the few places in the fragmented streaming environment where the mainstream audience can reliably be found,” the company says.

Alex Hole, SVP and general manager, Samsung Europe and MENA, claims: “The home screen now stands alongside the broadcast as a central part of the entertainment experience — the gateway to TV, where brands can connect with audiences the moment they power on and continue to engage them throughout their viewing journey.”

“The home screen Immersive Carousel delivers the rich storytelling capabilities that advertisers are looking for, while also enabling them to promote multiple products, or multiple aspects of the same product, in a single ad unit,” he continues.

“More importantly, the results from early campaigns show the genuinely dramatic effect it has on brand awareness and app usage.”

Immersive Carousel follows Samsung’s 2025 launch of its Immersive Home Screen format.

Also published in: The Media Leader

Why the facilities management sector needs consultant-operators, not just more reports

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 10:57:38 GMT

Why the facilities management sector needs consultant-operators, not just more reports

The expectations of consultancies are changing and demand for strategies that work operationally, not just on paper, is growing. Carlo Alloni at Bellrock considers this challenge to more traditional models

Industry turbulence has shifted the competitive advantage from scale to speed. Much like the rapid ascent of D2C brands during the pandemic, today’s market conditions demand a “challenger” mindset, prioritising rapid operational pivots over traditional, slow-moving corporate frameworks to meet evolving consumer demands.

The 2020 pandemic was a textbook temporary crisis. What facilities management (FM) and estate management face today is far more daunting: a rolling, inevitable slide into a tech-driven unknown. This isn’t a pivot; it’s a permanent state of turbulence fuelled by artificial intelligence, economic volatility and shifting compliance.

In this landscape, the “multi-disciplinary giant” is no longer the default safe bet. The market is crying out for a new breed of challenger – one that possesses a diverse range of skills rarely found under one roof.

To thrive, the modern building consultancy must meet four non-negotiable benchmarks:

Technology as the fabric, not an add-on

Most consultancies use technology; the winners of the next decade will own it. We are moving past the era of spreadsheets and PDFs. Real-time estate intelligence, integrating cost, risk, carbon, and compliance into a single live view, is the new baseline.

If a consultant is not giving you a real-time window into your asset data, they aren’t consulting; they are documenting history.

The advise, transform, operate loop

The traditional model of handing over a beautiful report and walking away is dead. The new paradigm is active. Modern firms must diagnose risk, then stay in the room to design and manage the programmes to fix it.

A strategy is worthless if the consultant is not prepared to explain it to a finance committee or oversee the engineers delivering it on Monday morning.

Evidence-led insight

In large-scale estate management, gut feel is a liability. Advice must be backed by forensic data: benchmarking cost per square meter across sectors and providing granular risk profiles for high-stakes environments like hospitals and universities.

Data-rich insight is the only thing that moves the needle from “property pain” to “performance gain”

The challenger mindset

The big firms are optimised for slow governance and long programmes. The modern estate requires something different: lean teams, senior-led accountability, and a culture that isn’t afraid to challenge orthodoxy.

You don’t need a firm that follows a template; you need a partner you call when the estate is complex and the stakes are high.

Success now depends on a boutique level of intimacy, a personalised, high-touch approach where senior expertise is directly embedded in the work. In this landscape, the industry no longer needs the documentation of history, but a real-time partnership that provides a live window into the future of an asset.

What this means for the C-suite

For property directors and CFOs, the era of the siloed partner is over. You should demand:

Regulatory continuity: One partner who understands both the fire safety case and how it lands on the ground.
Battle-tested strategy: Strategies built by people who operate estates, ensuring they don’t break upon first contact with the real world.
Velocity: Dashboards that link scenario planning directly to CAPEX and FM delivery.
Personal touch: A high-touch, personalised partnership that replaces generic templates with senior experts who are directly embedded in your challenges, not just the pitch.

UK property has a profound vacancy for players who can step into these roles with purpose. The market no longer wants FM firms doing “consulting on the side”. It wants consulting challengers who know how to run the building and deliver on the ground.

Also published in: Building

Reclining and Redefining: How Couch Time Became Conversion Time

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 10:48:10 GMT

Reclining and Redefining: How Couch Time Became Conversion Time

With CTV audiences splintered across thousands of app combinations, one screen still unites them all: the home screen. Antonia Faulkner, Head of Corporate Communications and Ads Marketing, Analytics and Insights EMEA, Samsung Ads explores how the home screen is evolving from a passive starting point into one of the most compelling marketing environments.

By Antonia Faulkner, Head of Corporate Communications and Ads Marketing, Analytics and Insights EMEA, Samsung Ads

How much choice is too much? Gone are the days of five channels, when evening plans were dictated by what was on TV and when. Today, viewers regularly spend more than ten minutes deciding what to watch from a virtually infinite choice, and even so, one in four report that it’s difficult to find content that actually interests them. Maybe that’s you too.

But while consumers are hunting for something to watch, theirs isn’t just idle scrolling without merit: the home screen is a high-attention discovery moment, and a premium advertising opportunity. Unlike ads that can be skipped or scrolled past, home screen placements offer guaranteed visibility – always on-screen, often above the fold, and seen before any content is selected.

In that sense, the home screen is the last true mass-reach moment in CTV – a place where brands are able to influence choice before audiences vanish into individual apps.

Here’s how and why it delivers where so many other on-screen placements no longer can.

Mindset matters – a moment of curated choice

When deciding what to watch, the viewer’s mindset is one of discovery and intent. They are actively seeking recommendations and investing time in what the home screen is showing them.

There’s a natural alignment at this point between content promotion (movies, shows, apps), brand exposure, and even outcomes (app installs, rentals, subscriptions). In a highly immersive, premium environment, the home screen doesn’t distract from intent – it amplifies it. When choice is already on the table, additional decisions feel intuitive rather than intrusive.

Crucially, this opportunity for brand influence converts, and the numbers prove it: a third (33%) of viewers say TV advertising is how they discover new brands and products, underlining the home screen’s role as a genuine discovery engine. Exposure here also drives measurable movement down the funnel, with a 10% uplift in purchase intent among viewers who see brand advertising on the home screen compared to those who don’t.

What’s more, combining home screen ads with streaming service ads drives even stronger outcomes, with a recent study revealing that this combined advertising delivers a 16% uplift in spontaneous awareness for the advertiser brand, compared to a home screen-only exposure.

And when lean-forward formats such as QR codes or GameBreaks are layered in, impact accelerates further, driving a 53% lift in unaided brand recall. When viewers are deciding what to watch, it turns out they’re surprisingly open to deciding what to buy, too.

Brand-safe spaces, where less is more

Under pressure to find audiences across a multitude of apps and platforms, advertisers are at ever-greater risk of undermining brand reputation, and even brand safety. The home screen provides an answer to this, by offering a tightly curated space, a premium environment free from potentially unsafe content. This carefully controlled inventory is also finite, and its scarcity heightens its value. Limited availability increases both perceived worth and actual effectiveness.

What’s more, Smart TVs can draw on content and app-based signals, first-party data and advanced targeting to enable relevant advertising, while respecting essential privacy standards.

The home (screen) at the heart of the home

Streaming now accounts for over half of daily viewing time on Samsung Smart TVs across the UK and EU5, yet TV itself remains distinct from other screens in the household. It’s larger, more immersive, and far more likely to be shared. Viewers multitask less than they do on mobile or desktop, and co-viewing remains common – even as content choices diverge.

While today’s households may no longer gather around a single programme or channel, one thing still unites them: the TV. And increasingly, the home screen is the only truly shared experience within it. In a fragmented media landscape, that makes it a rare unifying space – offering advertisers consistent, guaranteed reach while content competes relentlessly for individual attention.

From lean-back to lead-gen

The smart TV home screen is a compelling marketing environment because it sits at the intersection of attention, intent, and scale, making it one of the most valuable surfaces in modern digital advertising.

This year, with viewers spoilt for choice across ever-more apps, games and platforms, and brands struggling to make sure they’re seen, the home screen will offer an increasingly rare combination of reach, security and engagement.

This approach to TV-based advertising won’t interrupt viewing, but it will continue to invite – and deliver – action. In doing so, the sofa will become a surprisingly effective sales channel. In an age of endless scrolling and infinite choice, the biggest conversions may no longer happen mid-stream – but right there on the sofa, before play is ever pressed.

Also published in: Advertising Week

How FM Can Shake Off The Past And Embrace A Brighter Future

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 10:41:20 GMT

How FM Can Shake Off The Past And Embrace A Brighter Future

Mark Tyson, Managing Director of Intelligent Asset Care at Bellrock, explains why Companies must buy their facilities management differently if the industry is to progress.

Facilities management is stuck in a time warp. To move towards a more progressive future, the industry must let go of the processes and mindsets that have constrained meaningful advancement for the past two to three decades.

I want to talk through the way clients and FM providers interact, and explain what I mean.

The problems begin with the way FM services are procured. Procurement teams are, of course, expected to deliver an outcome for the business; a cost saving or a compliant contract that enables the business to meet its obligations. But when they are looking for a supplier to tender for a contract, procurement tends, understandably, to fall back on existing documentation and specifications. This, to be fair, is not procurement's fault - they’re often juggling many projects across many categories, and timelines are often very tight.

Instantly, that makes it hard for prospective suppliers to price in new technology or alternative approaches. Add in the sheer weight of legislation by which most companies are bound, and they have a further reason to go with the safe option, rather than take a chance on something new or innovative.

Then, when the deal has been done, we start to feel the impact of the natural power imbalance between provider and client. Suppliers are often wary of challenging the client during the mobilisation period. As a result, innovative elements requiring new processes are put on ice, and old ways of working become further entrenched.

And so it is that everything continues in the same way as before, until, in due course, the client begins to complain once again that the market isn’t offering them anything innovative or different.

The shift to a technology-first buy

What’s the solution to this bundle of problems? I think the logical way out of this loop, and perhaps the way to forge a brighter future for FM, is to view the deployment of any FM service as a technology-first buy, matching the approach taken when companies are investing in a new finance, CRM or HR platform.

For those who aren’t aware, in such a scenario, companies usually engage a consulting firm (e.g. Accenture or Cap Gemini) to advise them on the processes and changes they need to re-design and embed (client side) to ensure the success of the new platform.

In the FM industry, by contrast, the technology (which is significant now) is purely the supplier’s responsibility, and often sits behind the scenes. There is little room in the process for transformation expertise to help the buying company embed the new technology, the new way of working and reporting, or anything else that was promised in the bid.

FM consultants often bridge this gap, usually hired to support the procurement team with market experience and SME knowledge. However, they will typically disperse once the contract is mobilised, leaving no one to help soft-land any new processes once the contract is fully up and running. This fundamentally puts the partnership and benefit realisation at risk.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Imagine if you had an independent third party, someone who could take a balanced view on behalf of both the client and the supplier partner to get the right outcome for everyone. I think in this scenario, you would get different, and much better outcomes.

More strategic thinking

But if we’re going to change FM from a highly reactive process to something smarter, several further things need to happen, starting with deeper preparation on the client side.

For their own benefit, buyers would ideally start thinking about what they need at least 12 months before they plan to award (not start) the contract. This would allow them to take a more strategic view of how they want to run the service, before procurement even becomes involved, and reflect more deeply on the change management, operating models and organisational behaviour they require if they are to get what they want from the market.

They could benefit from a partnership-based approach that considers how the FM service either adds value to, or de-risks, the company’s offering; one with a defined operating model, so that clients can understand the principles and behaviours their team will need to exhibit to ensure a successful partnership and deployment.

The evolution of technology means we can also expect to see a shift on the client side towards more and larger in-house teams, who are able to work with multiple contractors specialising in different services, via a single platform.

This degree of control and vision allows clients to set more ambitious targets - to save £10 million over five years, for instance, rather than £100,000 in one. It also delivers a potential revolution in FM oversight. Whatever aspect of FM you’re talking about, after all, whether it’s hard or soft services, it has a major impact on how customers experience your service.

In this vision of the future, I think we would soon begin to see fewer one-size-fits-all contracts, more competition, and clearer distinctions between the suppliers who pitch for FM business.

A preventative philosophy for FM

In parallel to this, we are already beginning to see a move towards a more preventative approach to FM, a proactive strategy that leverages machine learning to analyse sensor data, historical logs and building systems to automate maintenance scheduling, optimise energy use, enhance security and predict equipment failures before they happen. In this way, we are shifting FM from reactive fixes to proactive, data-driven operations that cut costs, reduce downtime and extend asset life. In my experience, moving to a preventative maintenance regime always results in a better service for the client, usually at the same - or lower - cost. Sadly the majority of existing contracts don’t incentivise adopting these approaches with longer term return on investment (ROI) mechanisms or recognition that client and supplier partners need to work together to deliver at scale.

Change is always difficult, especially when teams and budgets are being cut. Inevitably, the work that companies do takes priority over longer-term, more strategic thinking. The IT industry is much more adept at providing a change wrap which enables organisations to measure benefits and embed new processes. FM can learn from this, as it is a huge driver of value for the wider real estate or property strategy with most organisations.

Also published: This Week In FM

2026: the year digital advertising stops pretending

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 10:05:19 GMT

2026: the year digital advertising stops pretending

Every year, the industry declares that “this will be the year everything changes,” but reading through this year’s Digital Leading Ladies predictions, something feels different. The tone is sharper. The optimism is more grounded. And the themes, privacy, AI, retail media, creators, data quality, programmatic, are no longer treated as trends, but as fault lines.

What emerges is a collective message: 2026 is the year digital advertising stops pretending.

For a decade, the industry has survived on narratives that no longer hold. That consent is meaningful. That AI will save us. That programmatic is efficient. That creators are optional. That retail media is simple. The women shaping this industry are calling time on all of it.

AI stops being the story and becomes the infrastructure

Lisa Goodchild, Chief Trouble Maker at Digilearning Foundation, offers the antidote to AI hysteria. “AI absolutely has a place in the mix, but it’s not here to replace what makes us human,” she says. The winners won’t be the ones who automate the most, but the ones who invest in people who know how to wield AI intelligently.

Her prediction is a necessary correction: AI becomes the multiplier, not the main event.

Convergence replaces siloed thinking

Julia Linehan, CEO of The Digital Voice™, sees 2026 as the year the industry finally realises that no single trend will save it. “The real winners will be the brands that smartly weave all these trends together,” she explains. CTV, retail media, GEO, creators, AI, none of these work in isolation. The power is in the mix.

This is the year orchestration becomes a strategy, not a buzzword.

Data quality becomes the new battleground

Sarah Robertson, Chief Product Officer at Experian Marketing Services, cuts to the heart of the AI conversation: “In an AI‑driven world, data quality will be the ultimate performance differentiator.” Accuracy is no longer enough. Freshness, interoperability and transparency will determine whether AI enhances performance, or automates bad decisions faster.

The industry has talked about “garbage in, garbage out” for years. In 2026, it finally matters.

Privacy grows up and becomes a quality signal

Maria Cadbury, Chief Revenue Officer at Wult, captures the shift with a clarity the industry has avoided for too long. “Privacy compliance isn’t just a checkbox, it’s a currency of trust,” she says. And she’s right. The supply chain is still leaking data, consent UX is still poor, and publishers still don’t know what fires on their pages.

But the narrative is changing. Privacy is no longer a legal burden; it’s becoming a performance metric. As Cadbury puts it, “The future of media isn’t just addressable, it’s accountable.”
In 2026, compliance becomes a competitive edge.

Retail media expands and matures

Retail media’s evolution is accelerating, and Camilla Ray, Planning Director at Nectar360, sees the shift clearly. “Retail media will be recognised as truly full‑funnel,” she says. And it won’t be confined to retail. Auto, travel, finance, every sector with first‑party data is becoming a media business.

Measurement and incrementality move from “nice to have” to non‑negotiable.

AI moves to the sell side and changes the rules

Cadi Jones, SVP EMEA at Index Exchange, highlights a shift that will reshape the ecosystem: “Running decisioning closer to the inventory allows algorithms to learn from outcomes in real time.” Sell‑side AI will outperform buy‑side guesswork. By the end of 2026, custom algorithms will be the norm.

This is the year the open web fights back.

Programmatic isn’t dead but the old model is

Fern Potter, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer at Multilocal, delivers the most provocative line of the year: “Is programmatic dead? No. Should it be? Yes.” Traditional programmatic is too complex, too opaque and too inefficient. Agentic advertising, natural‑language, interoperable, expansive, dynamic, will replace it.

The black box era is ending.

Creators become the heartbeat of brand identity

In a world drowning in AI‑generated content, authenticity becomes priceless. Tara Hughes, VP Client Management at Jellyfish, puts it simply: “The creator is no longer a distribution channel — they are a fundamental part of building brand identity.”

Long‑term partnerships replace one‑off posts.

Creators become the new brand code.

GEO becomes the new SEO

Veronica Norcross, Global Client Lead at Jellyfish, sees a seismic shift in discovery. As LLMs become the first stop for product recommendations, brands must optimise for generative engines, not just search engines. “Brands need a GEO strategy to ensure they aren’t left behind,” she warns.

This is the new battleground for visibility.

The verdict: a reset and a reckoning

Across every prediction, one message is unmistakable, 2026 is the year digital advertising grows up, across all channels.

AI becomes infrastructure.
Retail media becomes full‑funnel.
Privacy becomes a quality signal.
Creators become brand identity.
Data quality becomes performance.
Agentic advertising becomes the new programmatic.
GEO becomes the new SEO.

The industry is moving toward transparency, accountability and human‑centred innovation and the companies that embrace this shift will define the next decade.

Also published in: New Digital Age

Affiliate Marketing Metrics Shift as Consumers Click More, Buy Less

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 09:56:03 GMT

Affiliate Marketing Metrics Shift as Consumers Click More, Buy Less

As grocery prices rise and economic anxieties heighten, shoppers are making some interesting adaptations to stay on top of their budgets. According to impact.com ’s "2025 Industry Benchmark Report," modern consumers are clicking through more product comparisons, making fewer purchases, and condensing their shopping routines to make less frequent trips with much larger basket sizes.

After tracking the performance of over 2,300 North American retail brands throughout 2025, impact.com found that while overall clicks increased 2% year over year, actual transactions dropped by 5%. Even with 5% fewer trips to the checkout counter, the value of each transaction increased: shoppers packed 2.5 items per order instead of the 2.3 they packed last year, representing a 4% jump in average order value to $123.

“Shoppers aren’t buying less,” the report states. “They’re buying differently.” Total consumer spending fell just 1% despite the 5% dip in transaction volume.

For grocery retailers, the pattern can be explained by emerging customer behaviors. Shoppers are consolidating trips and maximizing each checkout to hit free delivery thresholds or justify the effort of shopping. They are also spending an increasing amount of time in the “product research” phase, perusing online reviews and comparing prices to get the best possible bang for their buck.

This research phase now dominates the customer journey. November saw clicks surge 45% compared to the previous year as shoppers built lists and monitored deals online. Those same shoppers, however, waited until early December to actually buy, compressing their purchases into a narrow window around Cyber Monday.

The report notes that affiliate links now serve two purposes: “research and purchase.” Network partners and content sites accounted for 63% of clicks but only 27% of total transactions, a discrepancy impact.com attributes to their early role in a customer’s decision-making process rather than a failure to convert.

Coupon sites, recipe blogs and product review platforms drive awareness weeks before shoppers begin building their carts, while loyalty programs capture them at checkout, handling 50% of all transactions while eating a much smaller share of the marketing budget (33%). Influencer partnerships showed particular strength, responsible for 6% of transactions despite only taking up 4% of total brand spending.

Total marketing spend through affiliate channels stayed flat. However, grocers reallocated how they deployed those dollars, raising commission rates for a visibility boost in November as customers stop shopping and start researching in preparation for the holiday season and then maintaining investment through early December to capture conversions. On a month-to-month basis, March and April saw the highest conversion rates, suggesting that, with no major seasonal festivities on the horizon, a larger number of grocery shoppers who click through are ready to buy.

Taken together, these trends suggest affiliate marketing is evolving into a digital hybrid space bridging content, research, and sales to support customers at every stage of the purchasing process. The recipe blogger who drives product clicks in October deserves some credit when a shopper finally buys that product through a store’s loyalty program in November: both partners played essential roles.

The report analyzed nearly 1 billion transactions representing over $116 billion in gross merchandise value across categories including food and drink, health and beauty, and household goods.

Also published in: Progressive Grocer

Hoka launches glow-in-the-dark billboard

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 09:47:40 GMT

Hoka launches glow-in-the-dark billboard

Shoe brand and retailer Hoka has unveiled a bold UV-responsive mural in Shoreditch, London.

The billboard, on Great Eastern Street, is part of the brand’s ‘Together We Fly Higher’ campaign. It glows in the dark using a combination of reflective paint and UV light accents.

It was devised in collaboration with digital agency Jellyfish, out-of-home firm Billups and advertising agency Global Street Art.

“This activation was a dynamic expression of our brand and the night time running story,” said Melanie Pillaud, head of media EMEA at Hoka.

“By working with Global Street Art, we created an immersive execution that energises the darkness and inspired runners to keep moving through winter, fuelled by the momentum of the New Year.”

Camille Uzan, senior direct investment director at Jellyfish, said the goal was “to bridge the gap between a physical art installation and a digital-first audience”.

“By combining the craftsmanship of Global Street Art with a precision-led paid media strategy, we ensured that the message of ‘Together We Fly Higher’ resonates far beyond the streets of East London ,” she said.

Also published in: Retail Gazette

We need authentic leadership - and tough, ruthless stereotypes won’t cut it

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 09:23:13 GMT

We need authentic leadership - and tough, ruthless stereotypes won’t cut it

For decades, the popular image of leadership has been dominated by certain stereotypes, characterized by certainty, toughness, emotional distance. Perhaps you can think of examples. Perhaps, in the modern era, you can’t think of too many well-known examples of any other kind of boss.

As a female leader, I have constantly questioned my ability to lead. I read the books about the CEOs killing it with their ruthless styles – Musk, Bezos, Jobs – and wondered whether my transparent and caring stance might be killing our growth. Maybe I just need to be harsher, more detached.

In the uber-male paradigm, emotions are something you leave at the door. But the reality is simple: emotions are human. And in 2026, people need human connection more than ever.

Why? Because the world around them is changing faster than at any point in history. We’re on the edge of a major technological leap, while navigating deep political and economic uncertainty. AI is accelerating everything – decisions, expectations, pressure – while quietly removing the illusion of stability.

We need leadership that takes account of that. Not to dispense hugs as the planet shifts, but because – contrary to popular belief in some circles – nuanced, human leadership actually works better.

So, what does that look like?

1. Admitting what you don’t know and leading the discovery

We already know that this year is going to be particularly challenging because of the sheer rate of change. Previously, we might have expected our leaders to know what was coming. Now, we have to expect they are as likely to be surprised by events as the rest of us. So leadership, as I see it, needs to expand to a place where we can be open about that fact, while simultaneously leading with direction and purpose.

There are no playbooks anymore. The way things used to be done simply won’t work in an AI-fueled world. Think of how sales and marketing are being turned upside down. We all know things are changing, and there’s no point pretending they’re not.

Authentic leadership starts with honesty. Leaders don’t need to act like they have all the answers, but they do need to be clear about what they’re trying to discover.

Teams – companies, populations, people in general – can handle uncertainty. What they struggle with is silence, vagueness, or false confidence. And when there’s so much uncertainty around, we need people who will really lead.

A leader’s role is no longer to be the smartest person in the room. Instead, it’s to:

Name the uncertainty
Set the direction
Create structure so the team can find answers together

Vulnerability without direction creates anxiety. Direction without honesty destroys trust. Authentic leadership sits in the middle.

2. Replacing job security with skills security

Employees will inevitably feel nervous about AI. You are telling them to adopt and use something that, if it works as well as the experts say, could potentially replace them for a fraction of the cost. But ignoring this fact will erode your credibility as a leader.

Authentic leaders will need to call it out and not lie about the impact AI may have on their teams’ roles, but also reassure them with guidance on:

What skills still matter
How to upskill and stay relevant

Employees know there are no guarantees, but they still crave clarity about how to grow and perform. When they ask ‘will my job exist?’ a good leader needs to redirect to ‘what are you doing to stay valuable and ahead of the curve?’ Replace fear with action.

3. Leading with emotion, not ego

Many leadership tasks can and will be automated, from strategy and analysis to forecasting and even decision-making. What cannot be outsourced are empathy, compassion, courage, and real human presence during difficult moments.

In 2026, emotion is not a weakness in leadership – it’s the differentiator. Authentic leaders create psychological safety. They listen. They acknowledge stress, grief, and uncertainty, rather than brushing past them in the name of performance. Ironically, the more automated work becomes, the more human our leadership needs to be.

4. Moving fast without leaving people behind

Everything is moving faster, which means agility is no longer optional. But speed without communication feels like chaos. And with so much chaos in the real world, work needs to feel calm.

Authentic leadership needs to validate the feeling, but help teams understand how to work within the new pace. Provide clarity on what matters, what can wait, and be honest when things need to change and why.

Change is exhausting, and our ability to adapt is like a muscle – there is a weight limit. You need to show you understand this, but translate what is and isn’t important.

Also published in: The Drum

Q&A: Lauren Barnett discusses Samsung Ads’ Total TV strategy for 2026

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 09:16:54 GMT

Q&A: Lauren Barnett discusses Samsung Ads’ Total TV strategy for 2026

As CTV budgets keep climbing, marketers are wrestling with a familiar problem: how to plan and measure across a viewing world split between streaming apps, broadcast, and new discovery moments on the home screen. Samsung Ads is currently working to resolve that issue, using new ways and clearer signals to connect the living room screen to real audience behaviour.

New Digital Age spoke to Lauren Barnett, Head of UK Sales at Samsung Ads to find out more…

Tell me about your role. What sort of thing takes up the bulk of your time?

As Head of UK Sales at Samsung Ads, I focus on helping brands and agencies use connected TV in smarter, more meaningful ways. TV is one of the most interesting places to work in advertising right now, and a big part of my role is exploring how CTV can support our partners’ broader media strategies.

Day to day, a lot of my time is spent talking with clients about what they’re trying to achieve, where measurement or insight is missing, and how CTV fits alongside streaming, broadcast and gaming. I also work with our product and data teams to translate real viewing behaviour into practical planning choices and better use of creative on Samsung TVs.

I’m also involved in wider industry conversations around CTV, to help shape where the market is heading and to keep the focus on approaches that genuinely work for viewers and advertisers.

What media channels are advertisers showing strongest interest in at the moment?

CTV continues to draw the strongest interest because it blends the scale and storytelling power of TV with the precision and flexibility of digital. Advertisers are drawn to environments where they can reach big, high-quality audiences but still get robust signals on attention, outcomes and incremental reach.

Within CTV, we see growing focus on three areas:

High‑impact, premium video placements in streaming environments, where TV‑like quality meets digital addressability.

Home‑screen and discovery surfaces on smart TVs, where brands can be present at the moment of content choice rather than interrupting the viewing experience.

Emerging interactive formats such as our own “GameBreak” ad format, that give viewers something to engage with, not just watch.

There’s also a strong push to connect the dots across channels – using data to understand how audiences move between streaming, gaming and broadcast, so campaigns can be planned and measured as a single, coherent story rather than a series of disconnected buys.

Is the fragmentation of the CTV ad marketplace still a big challenge for advertisers?

Fragmentation is still a challenge, but it’s also where Samsung can add real value. Because we sit at the TV level rather than inside a single app, we can see how audiences move across all CTV environments on a Samsung TV, not just within one streaming service.

That means we can help advertisers plan and measure against total TV behaviour – understanding how viewers actually split their time across apps, live TV, gaming and more – instead of stitching together isolated platform reports. With a more unified view of reach, frequency and engagement, it becomes easier to reduce duplication, spot genuine incremental audience, and make smarter decisions about where each CTV impression will work hardest.

The CTV homescreen is becoming more important to marketers. What is driving that?

The CTV home screen is becoming a priority because it’s the front door to the TV experience. Every Samsung Smart TV session begins there, and viewers return multiple times a day, giving marketers consistent, high‑quality reach without having to patch together lots of separate app buys.

Crucially, it’s a true discovery moment. Viewers spend meaningful time deciding what to watch, and many say TV environments help them discover new brands and products, so the home screen now acts as a powerful recommendation surface before a single show has started. When you combine that with streaming inventory, you can build a connected ad journey – from discovery on the home screen, through to deeper storytelling in-stream – that follows the viewer across the session rather than relying on one isolated touchpoint.

For Samsung, that means we can connect brands to audiences at the exact point of choice, reinforce the message once viewing begins, and then prove impact – from uplift in purchase intent to shifts in brand perception – instead of treating the home screen as just another awareness placement.

What key advice/tips would you offer marketers for their 2026 media strategy?

If CTV isn’t already in your 2026 plan, this is the year to get hands‑on with it. The audiences are there, the tools are smart and the brands that learn fastest now will be the ones setting the benchmark over the next few years.

My first piece of advice is to plan for the whole TV journey. Think about how people move from the home screen into streaming apps, then onto other devices, and build a strategy that connects those discovery, viewing and second‑screen moments rather than treating each as a separate buy.

Second, use attention as your North Star. Prioritise placements where viewers are actively choosing what to watch or where formats invite light interaction – that’s where your creative has the best chance of being noticed and remembered.

Finally, get your measurement framework locked in early. Be clear on what success looks like, align on definitions across partners, and make sure reporting is simple enough to inform real decisions. That’s how you turn CTV from “a test” into a repeatable, scalable part of your media mix.

What does success look like for Samsung Ads in the UK in 2026?

Success for us means earning trust as the go-to partner for both bold CTV innovation and crystal-clear outcomes. We’ll help brands navigate fragmentation by uniting home screen discovery with streaming engagement, driving real lifts in brand metrics like purchase intent and perception – as our research consistently proves when these touchpoints work together.

It’s also about elevating the standard for insights and collaboration, so marketers spend less time reconciling data and more time refining creative, frequency and relevance. When the conversation shifts from “Where do I buy impressions?” to “What are viewers actually doing on TV, and how can we respond smarter?”, we’ll know we’ve succeeded – powering sharper strategies and stronger results across the board.

Also published in: New Digital Age

#GivetoGain: The Hype-Yourself Handbook

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:35:51 GMT

#GivetoGain: The Hype-Yourself Handbook

Stine Holmgaard, Chief Growth Officer at the Native Advertising Institute put it perfectly: “Growth doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in community.”

And that’s exactly what International Women’s Day is all about.

The Native Advertising Institute’s #GiveToGain breakfast last Friday, hosted at Jellyfish’s HQ brought together 100+ people from across the industry to learn how to truly hype themselves and others, celebrating the launch of their Significant Women in Branded Content platfrom - check it out here .

With keynote speaker Kay Munday setting the tone, four expert “hype agents” – Suzanna Chaplin, Rhiannon Davies, Megan Gilbert and Raquel Bubar – joined Julia Linehan, Stephanie Parry and Camealia Xavier‑Chihota on stage to share their most powerful hype‑yourself insights.

The ripple effect of self-belief

From all the advice shared throughout the morning one quote rang true:

“A woman who knows her worth is a woman who can effectively demand justice,” said Jellyfish’s Stephanie Parry. “Learning to hype ourselves will allow us to create a ripple effect of change starting in this room today.”

Hyping yourself is hard. So, having leading industry voices peel back the curtain on their own struggles and how they’ve learnt to hype themselves throughout their career was truly valuable.

Empowerment is a continuous practice of visibility and support, so events that can share the tools, tips and tricks to do it yourself is a great starting point.

Communication is a superpower

Kay Munday, Creative Business Lead at Google, reminded us that communication is a leadership superpower, so it’s worth harnessing.

Her message was clear:

80% of employers want strong communication skills.
The first 2-3 seconds of an interaction is what makes the lasting impression.
93% of communication is non-verbal.

The attention economy and AI have made connection both harder and more vital. “The definition of a smart person is changing,” Kay shared, “it’s now becoming someone with human empathy.”

Top tip: The best communicators don’t just speak, they connect with others. So, pull on your personal experiences and lead with authenticity.

Be your own cheerleader

“If you’re naturally being yourself it’s easy to feel confident.” - Rhiannon Davies, VP, Creative Strategy at Jellyfish

To truly hype yourself and show up how you want, the work all starts from within.

Rhiannon drew on her own journey with this, speaking on the importance of taking the time to build your relationship with yourself to truly trust in your own abilities.

The hype-agents shared what they do to empower self-belief:

Wear something that makes you feel good: physical comfort is often the first step to mental comfort
Learn relaxation techniques: you can train your brain into feeling calm in nerve-wracking situations. Kay Munday spoke on drawing on the things that bring you zen before a big meeting or public speaking and tapping into that.
Practice makes perfect: for Julia Linehan, the art of looking natural comes down to practice, even if it starts with smiling at yourself in the mirror.
Find your power pose: confident body language can influence how you feel, so stand confidently and let it reflect out of you.
Speak it to believe it: Megan Gilbert, VP Fortune Brands Studio, shared her self-belief mantra: “Believe in yourself and others will believe in you.”

Finding the ultimate hype woman (or man!)

Rhiannon reminded us that confidence sometimes begins with someone else believing in you first.

Having mentors as “air cover,” as she called them, matters.

Whether it’s a manager or colleague who ensures your voice is heard, it’s important to surround yourself with people who will advocate for you, and be honest enough to help guide you to your true potential.

Women showing up as their full selves gives others permission to do the same. And as Raquel Bubar, Managing Director, T Brand Studio International at The New York Times shared, pride in your work is not arrogance, it’s fuel: “Sit at the table. Take up space. If you’re invited, you’re meant to be there.”

Top tip: Get yourself in the rooms, surround yourself with people who want to see you win and make sure your voice gets heard the way it’s intended.

No one cares!

A lot of the fear around hyping yourself comes from the judgement of others.

Our experts shared a truth that makes hyping yourself a lot less intimidating: NO ONE CARES!

As Suzanna Chaplin, CEO and Founder at esbconnect put it: “No one actually cares about what you’re doing as much as you do. So just do it.” The fear of what others will think is holding you back from doing the things you want to do.

Suzanna spoke on the importance of self belief and not worrying about the judgement of others, drawing on her personal experience of suffering with a neurological disorder due to stress.

It got to the point where she could hardly walk at times. But there was always one thing she could do…swim.

She remembers hobbling to the pool while people watched as she made her way over. She knew that this would be a passing moment for those around her but for her, getting in that pool would have a huge positive impact on how she was feeling. So she did it.

Now, every time she doubts herself or worries that others are judging her, she draws on that experience and remembers: “anyone who says I can’t do anything, I can.”

Top tip: Everyone is too busy worrying about themselves. So do things for you, not for their approval.

If the morning proved anything, it’s that confidence isn’t something you either have or don’t have, it’s something you practice. When women hype themselves and each other, that confidence spreads far beyond the room. And that’s what Give to Gain is all about.

Particular Audience introduces modular retail media solutions to cut costs and accelerate innovation for RMNs

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 10:40:01 GMT

Particular Audience introduces modular retail media solutions to cut costs and accelerate innovation for RMNs

Particular Audience, the AI-powered platform transforming retail media and personalisation, has launched a suite of modular retail media tools designed for Retail Media Network (RMN) operators seeking to augment their incumbent adtech platforms with cutting-edge technology.

The components allow retailers to plug advanced ad formats and AI-driven personalisation into their current systems without the need to rip and replace. The result is expanded capabilities and higher-margin ad revenue – all while preserving a seamless customer experience.

“The era of monolithic retail media is ending,” said James Taylor, CEO of Particular Audience. “Modular retail media introduces a new way for retailers to build and scale commerce monetisation – feature by feature, rather than by adopting a single closed platform.”

The Modular Retail Media, or ‘MRM’, solution consists of 13 modules, all corresponding to clear objectives, from Personalisation to Reporting. Each module enables specific advertiser objectives such as Conquesting, Basket Building, Share of Voice, Re-activation, and Awareness – all within one modular framework. Each component is interoperable by design and can be deployed individually or in combination, allowing retailers to scale their retail media stack feature by feature.

“Retail media shouldn’t operate in a silo,” said Taylor. “It should be composable, transparent and interoperable, and that’s what this modular system delivers: search, display, tenancy and pricing, all connected by open APIs, deployable anywhere, enabling retailers to scale their networks at a cadence that works for them.”

The technology is available via the DiscoveryOS platform as either an end-to-end solution or interoperable API-first modules in any existing stack. “Retailers can start with any one component, such as Search Targeting Automation, Search Coverage Expansion or Accessibility Ready Banners, and expand to include Click Stream Prediction or Contextual Add-On Prompt as maturity grows,” said Taylor.

“By adding personalised supplier-recommended products components in funnels following and related to Display campaigns, Particular Audience’s MRM drives a massive improvement in banner performance. During the first two weeks of a campaign for LEGO, for example, there was a 142% uplift in share of revenue. After the optimisations had been made with additional components, this increased to a 334% uplift.

“Retailers can monetise any surface, and advertisers can buy against outcomes, not formats. It’s retail media’s MACH moment - a collection of Micro-services, all communicating via APIs running in the Cloud, and Headless, making it highly flexible in delivering omnichannel experiences.”

The 13 modules include a total of 74 components, enabling retailers to switch on the capabilities they require within each module as they need them.

For example:

The Search module contains seven components, including AI-Powered Semantic Search automation, Searchandising control, Keyword Targeting, and Gradient Boosting for flexible dynamic slot allocations according to relevance weightings.
The Automated Product Bundles component (part of the Product Page module) groups products into intelligent bundles or kits (e.g. ‘Frequently Bought Together’ deals or multi-buy offers), using advanced AI. It analyses product relationships, basket patterns, and inventory to create bundle offers that make sense to the shopper – then displays these bundles on PDPs, cart pages, or dedicated bundle sections. Retailers can set rules (like bundle discounts or mix-and-match criteria) and let the AI do the rest.

Any module or component can be licensed and billed on the model that suits the partner - whether that’s performance-based (CPA or CPC), impression-based (CPM), tenancy-based (hour, day, or week), or through an ongoing subscription.

As retail media evolves, flexibility and intelligence are emerging as the key differentiators. Particular Audience’s new modular retail media suite enables any retailer – even those on legacy ad platforms - to rapidly deploy state-of-the-art, AI-driven ad formats and personalisation wherever they need them.

“Some of the most advanced retail media networks have taken charge of their own supplier interfaces and proprietary technology, but even these retailers can’t build everything.” said Taylor. “Flexible, pick-and-mix-style technology components can rapidly shortcut their path to value and enable a test and optimise culture that has until now been out of the question for retail media networks locked into one single, monolithic platform.”

In full, the 13 modules are:

Search
Product Page
Personalisation
Merchandising
Basket Builder
Replenishment
Agentic Commerce
Display Media
Category Sponsorship
Brand Showcase
Guaranteed Inventory Tenancy
Audience
Reporting

PA’s modules unlock monetisation in previously overlooked areas of the funnel from Product Detail Pages with Complementary Product discovery & Basket Builder bundling, and Checkout page Basket Extension.

Trusted by leading retailers and brands like Target, Petbarn, Hamleys, Sony, Lego and Royal Canin, Particular Audience’s modular approach allows RMN operators to mix-and-match best-in-class components with minimal integration effort. Each module can operate standalone or alongside other adtech, giving retailers and brands new ways to boost engagement and ad performance.

In campaigns already delivered for major brands, Particular Audience has seen PDP (Product Detail Page) Sponsored Products deliver a clickthrough rate of 1.63%, compared to 0.65% for Sponsored Search, more than doubling ad spend, assuming equal CPCs.

Gradient-boosting campaigns have delivered a 25% increase in share of voice in search for participating brands, together with a 12% increase in share of clicks in search, driving genuine engagement; and a 6% increase in share of revenue, proving that customer experience and commercial success go hand in hand.

Also published in: Retail Technology Review

CTV Leader Samsung TV Plus Opens Up to Amazon DSP Across Europe

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 09:44:35 GMT

CTV Leader Samsung TV Plus Opens Up to Amazon DSP Across Europe

Samsung Ads on Feb. 4 announced it will provide marketers with direct programmatic access to its premium Samsung TV Plus ad inventory through Amazon DSP.

The integration is already launched in the United States and Canada and is now available in Europe.

This effectively means Samsung TV Plus — the connected-TV leader, with 100 million monthly users and more than 3,500 AVOD and FAST channels across 30 territories — is officially opening up to Amazon DSP across Europe.

The move addresses two key issues marketers are facing: the fragmentation problem and the absence of Gen Z viewers.

Europe’s TV landscape is notoriously fragmented, making it a headache for brands to manage reach and frequency. This partnership allows brands to manage everything in one place, and at the same time get a “closed-loop” view of how big-screen ads actually drive sales on Amazon.

And while Gen Z viewers typically don’t watch much traditional TV, they are streaming an average of more than 1.5 hours a day on Samsung TVs, the company says.

Samsung TV Plus has recently expanded its live and creator-led offerings with live Bundesliga football match coverage, alongside new channels from globally recognized creators including LADbible, Dhar Mann and Mark Rober.

“Gen Z Samsung Smart TV viewers are embracing streaming TV, watching an average of 1 hour and 38 minutes of streamed content per day on Samsung TVs in Europe,” said Alex Hole, SVP of Samsung Services Europe. “CTV offers ideal opportunities for brands to connect with a highly engaged audience. Extending our offering with Amazon DSP allows us to give greater accessibility to brands wanting to access our premium inventory on Samsung TV Plus.”

With Samsung Ads premium inventory available through Amazon DSP, advertisers gain access to premium connected TV inventory at scale, Samsung maintains. By leveraging trillions of shopping, browsing, and streaming signals, Amazon DSP enables advertisers to reach relevant audiences, devices and publishers across the open internet.

“By creating a new connection between Amazon DSP and Samsung TV Plus, we’re providing another way for brands of all sizes to reach highly engaged audiences, at scale, where they’re already spending their time,” said Piers Heaton-Armstrong, VP of sales for Amazon Ads Europe. “This collaboration reinforces our commitment to simplifying the media buying landscape for advertisers. Regardless of whether brands want to run their ads across Amazon properties, third party streaming providers, or the wider open internet, we can help them do that.”

Also published in: Media Play News

Cristy Ebert Garcia on Making Partnerships Accountable, Measurable & Scalable

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 10:27:22 GMT

Cristy Ebert Garcia on Making Partnerships Accountable, Measurable & Scalable

When you joined impact.com, what market truth about partnerships most shaped your marketing strategy from day one?

I joined impact.com in May 2018, and the world – certainly the digital marketing world – was a very different place. That period saw the democratization of commerce content in progress. Audiences were moving away from traditional broadcasters and consuming content on platforms like YouTube and Facebook. Blogs, influencers, and video reviews were beginning to prove their potential as marketing tools, and trust was migrating from brands to influencers.

As the industry was being reshaped, partnerships were already one of the largest revenue drivers for brands, but they were still managed like a side channel. The market didn’t need to be convinced that partnerships worked – it needed a system to run them with accountability, trust, and scale. impact.com ’s strategy became about elevating partnerships from tactic to growth infrastructure.

impact.com doesn’t sell a single motion; it enables an ecosystem. What is the hardest thing about marketing many-to-many value without diluting clarity?

Marketing many-to-many actually enhances clarity for brands and advertisers. The impact.com platform anchors a unifying problem – fragmented, opaque partnership operations – rather than leading with every use case.

Clarity comes from outcomes such as growth, trust, and efficiency, not from listing every participant in the ecosystem. And the more brands invest in a partnership ecosystem, growing a roster that features a variety of collaborators, the more information they will have at their disposal to bring clarity to their campaigns.

In particular, various recent impact.com tech advances and innovations have mitigated the thorny issue of attribution. That’s down to the volume of data we have on a campaign, and how we process and analyze it.

What subtle gaps in partnership management is impact.com proactively addressing? How does your marketing communicate the criticality of these mechanisms?

One of the most overlooked gaps in partnership management is fragmentation – across tools, teams, and partner types. Brands often manage affiliates, creators, and advocates in silos, using disconnected systems for discovery, tracking, attribution, and optimization. That fragmentation creates blind spots, where unattributed revenue, misaligned incentives, and compliance issues quietly undermine performance.

impact.com addresses this by acting as the system of record for partnerships. We unify both the technology and the execution, connecting the full partnership lifecycle across creator, advocate, and performance solutions in a single platform. This gives brands a single, reliable view of partnership performance and the confidence to manage all types of partnerships consistently as they scale.

Our marketing focuses on reframing these capabilities as growth infrastructure, not backend plumbing, showing how making the invisible visible and closing small systemic gaps unlocks scalable, durable growth.

Partnership platforms involve multiple stakeholders. How do you approach marketing to actively shorten sales cycles in complex buying groups?

Complexity stalls deals. impact.com simplifies partnership marketing by giving all stakeholders a shared system of record. When a clear narrative is presented through this system of record, each stakeholder, regardless of their role, has a clearer path to success. Everyone reads from the same page, essentially, and when everyone sees their win in the same framework, decisions happen faster.

From a technical perspective, building the impact.com platform to facilitate this level of clarity and speed in often incredibly complex campaigns has taken 18 years. But we’re now at a place where the technology makes the complex simple, and delivers on partnership marketing’s true promise.

You’ve spent a significant part of your career in category creation. How do you know when a category narrative has stuck enough to shift from evangelism to competitive differentiation?

I find that when prospects and competitors start using your language without being prompted, you can be confident you’re on to a winner. When the conversation shifts from “Why does this category exist?” to “Why this platform?” you know a narrative has stuck. At that point, marketing pivots from education to proof, benchmarks, and leadership.

How do you ensure AI augments marketing ingenuity and strategic thinking within your team rather than replacing it?

AI has moved quickly from a technical capability to a cultural conversation, and with that has come a lot of anxiety about what it replaces. At impact.com, we’re very clear: AI is an accelerator, not a substitute for human thinking.

We’ve been using AI and machine learning behind the scenes for years to improve measurement, attribution, optimization, and analysis. Where we draw the line is in decision-making and storytelling. AI helps our teams move faster, test more, and see patterns at scale, but humans still own strategy, judgment, and narrative.

We’re also realistic about AI’s limits. Creative and brand-building are inherently human disciplines, rooted in context, empathy, and trust. Research increasingly shows that consumers can tell when creative lacks that human layer, and they respond poorly when it does. That reinforces our belief that marketing ingenuity can’t be automated.

So our approach is to raise the bar, not lower it. By removing friction from execution and analysis, AI gives our teams more time and headspace to think deeply, ask better questions, and make smarter decisions. In that sense, the easier execution becomes, the more valuable human insight is, and that’s exactly where we want our teams focused.

Where does marketing’s influence on revenue tend to be underestimated by leadership? How do you close that confidence gap at impact.com?

At impact.com , our leadership team has a strong understanding of marketing’s role in driving revenue. More broadly, though, marketing’s influence is often underestimated in areas that don’t show up neatly in a funnel report – things like category clarity, buyer alignment, and trust-building. Those factors have a direct impact on conversion rates, deal velocity, and long-term customer value, even if they’re not always labeled as “revenue-driving.”

We close that confidence gap by making those connections explicit. That means tying marketing’s work to pipeline quality, sales efficiency, and expansion – not just lead volume. When marketing is measured on how well it clarifies the category, equips sales, and builds confidence with buyers, its revenue impact becomes much easier to see and much harder to discount.

How has your background as a generalist shaped how you devise tightly knit strategies, structure teams, and set priorities?

Being a generalist forces you to think in systems, not silos. I optimize for teams that understand the full customer journey, not just their functional lane.

It’s about building a holistic marketing culture – one in which strategy, structure, and prioritization only work when they reinforce each other.

Marketing grows exponentially more interesting – and more challenging – as new channels arrive, audience behavior evolves, and the consumer journey changes in response. There has never been a more fascinating, exciting time to be in marketing, and a generalist approach means strategies, teams, and priorities are embedded in the broader company’s goals.

What legacy do you envision impact.com’s marketing leaving on how partnerships are perceived and valued?

impact.com’s ongoing legacy is that partnerships are not just a marketing channel or a “nice-to-have,” they are a core growth driver and a true competitive differentiator. Over the last few years, the marketing landscape has changed dramatically. Brands no longer solely control how their products and services are discovered. Instead, consumers invite brands into their worlds through the people and communities they trust, whether that’s affiliates, creators, or advocates.

At the heart of effective partnerships today are trust, authenticity, and shared values. Marketing that leans into these principles drives real engagement, builds long-term relationships, and accelerates growth.

The legacy I hope impact.com’s marketing leaves is simple but powerful: a shift in perception. Partnerships should be understood and valued as strategic, measurable, and indispensable to business success. By helping brands operationalize partnerships at scale and see their impact clearly, we aim to redefine what it means to connect with today’s consumer and prove that partnerships are not just complementary but essential to growth in the modern marketing era.

Also published in: CMO Thinks

The pursuit of ad transparency: five minutes with… David Nelson

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 09:11:24 GMT

The pursuit of ad transparency: five minutes with… David Nelson

Q: You’ve been part of the digital media landscape for more than two decades. What are the standout changes you’ve seen in our industry, and how have they impacted publishers?

A: Twenty years ago, digital was the experimental corner of the media plan – now it’s the foundation. And while programmatic brought efficiency, it also added layers of complexity that obscured how value moves through the supply chain.

For publishers, that shift has been both empowering and disruptive. Yes, they now have global buyer access and more monetisation routes than ever, but they’ve also had to manage an ecosystem burdened by opaque mechanics, duplicated auctions, and intermediaries taking disproportionate value.

However, we know publishers are becoming far more assertive . They’re prioritising transparency, investing in first-party data, and pushing back against inefficiency as a tax on yield and trust. The pendulum is swinging back toward quality, control, and sustainability.

Q: How do you see the current state of programmatic affecting publishers, particularly those balancing audience growth with sustainable revenues?

A: Programmatic forced publishers to become operationally sophisticated businesses. It’s no longer just about audience and content; today it’s about how efficiently you manage the systems and economics around monetisation. The market is also dealing with significant noise – for instance signal loss, ID volatility, supply-path bloat – and that’s made efficiency and supply-side curation absolutely central.

So the publishers who succeed will be those who maintain scale but focus their energy on clean, authenticated supply paths and curated demand. They reclaim value by ensuring their inventory isn’t diluted by hidden fees or poor-quality buyers. Programmatic can serve premium content brilliantly, but only when the supply chain respects that value.

Q: Automation and AI are reshaping the industry. What practical impact do you think that will have on publishers and their operations?

A: Publishers have been automating yield decisions, workflow and reporting for years, but what’s changing is the level of intelligence built into those systems. AI can optimise delivery, identify patterns, and even predict audience behaviour at a scale that humans simply can’t replicate. But AI is only as good as the data you feed it. Our recent findings make it clear that clean supply paths and high-quality signals significantly improve AI-driven decisioning. If you put noisy, duplicated or low-integrity data into an optimisation model, it will misfire.

And crucially, AI still can’t understand editorial values, audience nuance, or the strategic objectives behind a publisher’s brand. Human oversight remains essential – not just to steer the system, but to contextualise its output and uphold standards. The future is hybrid: AI for scale and speed, and humans for judgement and integrity.

Q: Transparency and trust continue to be major talking points in adtech. How can publishers realistically achieve greater clarity over their data and revenues?

A: For publishers, transparency starts with visibility. You can’t optimise what you can’t see, so the first step is understanding exactly where your inventory is being traded, who’s involved in each transaction, what each intermediary contributes – or takes away.

Also, buyers want authenticated supply paths, verifiable quality, and fewer unknown deltas. So the more publishers can surface clean, traceable routes – and eliminate circular trading or black-box fees – the more confidence they instil in advertisers.

And then of course there’s the environmental aspect of transparency: inefficient supply chains generate unnecessary server load and avoidable carbon emissions, whereas cleaner paths improve both yield and sustainability.

Q: With third-party cookies disappearing, what do you think will define successful publisher strategies in the next few years?

A: What’s emerging is an identity-agnostic approach to targeting – one that values audience intent and contextual relevance over individual identifiers. There will always be new identifiers and solutions, but the fundamentals remain: understand your audience, protect your data, and articulate the value of your environment. And importantly, curated demand becomes more valuable in an ID-volatile world because knowing who your buyers are protects revenue and trust.

Q: The industry talks a lot about collaboration between publishers, advertisers, and tech partners. What does real collaboration look like to you?

A: True collaboration is when all sides have aligned incentives and a shared understanding of value. Too often, partnerships in adtech are transactional – driven by short-term metrics or opaque revenue shares. What we’re beginning to see now is more maturity. Publishers are asking harder questions, advertisers are demanding clarity, and technology partners are being held accountable for outcomes.

It goes back to transparency (on costs, outcomes, and sustainability), honesty about trade-offs, and shared visibility into performance. When everyone in the chain can see what the others are trying to achieve, that’s when innovation wins through.

Q: What advice would you give to someone just starting out in programmatic or digital media today?

A: If something sounds complicated, whoever’s explaining it probably hasn’t understood it themselves. This industry often makes simple things sound technical, but the fundamentals are straightforward: you’re connecting audiences, content and advertisers in a way that creates value for all three.

So ask questions, challenge jargon, and never stop learning. The technology will change constantly, but curiosity and authenticity never go out of style. And remember, it’s still a people business. The relationships you build now will matter more than any algorithm you work with.

Q: What’s on the horizon for Limelight Inc?

A: One of our headline innovations this year is the Adaptive Rules Center (ARC) , which was born from watching our CS team repeating the same optimisations for clients. It was a huge time drain, and I thought surely there’s a better way. ARC lets clients build their own optimisation logic – without engineering resources – and apply it directly to their trading workflow.

A year or two ago, a demand partner might have accepted a two-week optimisation period for 15,000 QPS. Today, they need to see performance immediately. So you can start small, with minimal QPS – and the platform automatically scales performance up or down in real time.

As for the future, we see three directions for ARC:

Expanding from the demand side into the supply side, using adaptive rules to validate supply paths, check transparency, and optimise bid floors.
Improving visibility and explainability – eliminating the “black box” frustration around AI by surfacing decisions and logic in human-readable ways – particularly useful for agencies reporting to clients.
Supporting real-time transparency and auditability, making it easier for our partners to understand not just what works, but why.

Also published in: InPublishing

impact.com Launches Geodesix AI Data Marketplace

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 09:01:36 GMT

impact.com Launches Geodesix AI Data Marketplace

impact.com has launched Geodesix, a new data marketplace designed to connect artificial intelligence systems with licensed, high-quality commerce content—while creating a clear and sustainable compensation model for publishers.

Developed through Impact Labs, the company’s innovation and venture arm, Geodesix is intended to address a growing imbalance in the AI economy. As large language models increasingly draw on the work of journalists, reviewers and creators to shape consumer decisions, publishers have often received little or no compensation when their content is used to generate AI-driven answers.

The launch comes as AI becomes a primary channel for product discovery and recommendations, accelerating declines in traditional referral traffic. Industry data indicates that AI-generated answer features can reduce clicks to publisher websites by nearly 50 per cent, with some publishers reporting search referral losses of more than 30 per cent as AI systems deliver answers directly. Geodesix seeks to respond to this shift by establishing a licensed content layer tailored to the AI era.

“AI is built on content, but the people who create that content haven’t had a fair way to participate in the value it generates,” said Hanan Maayan, head of Impact Labs and general manager of Geodesix. “Geodesix creates a simple, transparent way for AI companies to access trusted publisher content, and for publishers to finally be paid when their work is used.”

The platform provides AI systems with approved access to commerce content, including product reviews, buying guides, tutorials, comparisons and list-based articles from established publishers and creators. When that content contributes to an AI-generated response, Geodesix identifies its role and allocates revenue to publishers through a share-value model.

The initiative builds on impact.com’s long-standing position in commerce partnerships and its relationships with global brands, publishers and creators. While incubated within impact.com, Geodesix operates independently, with its own team and platform, allowing it to work flexibly with a wide range of AI companies while contributing to impact.com’s long-term growth strategy.

Geodesix is currently available to a select group of customers, with early use cases centred on AI-powered shopping assistants and product recommendation tools. The company plans to expand into additional sectors, including travel, financial services and B2B software.

Also published in: Martechvibe

Semrush’s Strategic Shift to Modern Affiliate Marketing

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 08:53:12 GMT

Semrush’s Strategic Shift to Modern Affiliate Marketing

Semrush , a leading online visibility management SaaS platform, was at a crossroads with its proprietary affiliate management platform.

Initially developed in 2009, Semrush’s in-house platform was at the time state-of-the-art, featuring a first-click attribution model paired with a 10-year cookie life. This system, which enabled businesses globally to run search engine optimization, advertising, content, social media and competitive research campaigns and get measurable results from online marketing, was beneficial for incentivizing early-stage growth by rewarding partners who discovered and promoted Semrush’s tools.

As their affiliate program evolved and the brand expanded, the limitations of this setup became increasingly apparent. The outdated attribution model began to skew results, emphasizing initial touch points at the expense of recognizing new partners’ contributions to conversions. This imbalance hindered the onboarding of fresh affiliates struggling with the long cookie life and stifled growth opportunities.

Making an Impact

Additionally, the user interface and user experience fell short of modern expectations. The internal platform’s design lacked visual appeal and intuitive navigation. The absence of visual reporting tools meant partners were greeted with data tables that offered little actionable insight, further complicating their ability to optimize strategies.

To help remedy this, Semrush teamed up with impact.com , the world’s leading commerce partnership marketing platform that transforms the way businesses grow by enabling them to discover, manage, and scale partnerships across the entire customer journey.

From affiliates and influencers to content publishers, brand ambassadors, and customer advocates, impact.com empowers brands to drive trusted, performance-based growth through authentic relationships. As consumers increasingly rely on recommendations from people and communities they trust, impact.com helps brands show up where it matters most.

Changes Made

Semrush’s transition to impact.com was a “meticulously planned and executed process involving a few key teams and services,” said Lina Tichomirova, Head of Affiliate Marketing at Semrush.

A dedicated impact.com technical manager enabled seamless API integration, ensuring technical requirements were met without disrupting operations and laying a strong foundation for a successful migration. And the customer success team provided timely solutions to any issues, strengthening trust and confidence within Semrush’s team and partners.

Multiple contract terms simplified the onboarding process for both new and existing partners. The feature streamlined the approval process by differentiating partners migrating from the previous program and new partners. This was accomplished by comprehensive training and onboarding, supported by a user-friendly help center, equipped Semrush’s team and partners to maximize the platform’s capabilities—enabling effective use of the platform’s enhanced features and resources.

Improving Cookie Life

The transition from a rigid first-click model with a 10-year cookie life to a more dynamic last-click attribution system was pivotal. “This shift allowed for a more accurate representation of partner contributions, effectively enhancing transparency and performance measurement,” said Tichomirova.

With a 120-day cookie life, the updated model aligned better with modern privacy standards and provided a clearer picture of affiliate marketing efforts, ultimately boosting partner satisfaction and program effectiveness.

All of these upgrades resulted in before migrating to impact.com, Semrush began by running parallel programs. The evaluation compared the in-house 1st click attribution and a 10-year cookie life against impact.com’s last-click attribution and a 120-day cookie life.

In just six months, the transition resulted in a 400% increase in new partner sign-ups compared to their in-house program in 2021. Despite the surge in interest, Semrush ensures a selective, high-quality partnership program.

Top Results

In an impressive feat, the impact.com team assisted Semrush in migrating over 1,000 partners following the evaluation’s success, including some long-standing affiliates as far back as 2012.

The brand witnessed remarkable advancements in its affiliate program’s efficiency and performance—like the following:

Customizable payout terms lead to more precise management of affiliate relationships and a significant uplift in program optimization.
Enhanced product and commission launches by leveraging sustainable API integration with impact.com and customizable payout terms, enabling affiliates to quickly expand their reach and earnings.
Integrated email systems, such as newsletters, streamlined marketing communications, further improving outreach efficiency.

“Partnering with impact.com transformed the way we manage and scale our affiliate program,” said Tichomirova. “By modernizing attribution, streamlining onboarding and equipping partners with intuitive tools and enhanced reporting, we’ve not only improved transparency and performance measurement but also significantly accelerated new partner growth.”

Also published in: Demand Gen

AA/WARC Q3 2025: Industry reactions

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 08:45:33 GMT

AA/WARC Q3 2025: Industry reactions

Despite numerous economic and geopolitical headwinds, UK ad spend continued to rise resilient in the third quarter of last year and is forecast to surpass £50bn for the first time in 2026, according to the latest AA/WARC Expenditure Report reading.

Encouraging signs of a robust corner of the UK economy, but we asked industry leaders from across the advertising and marketing world for reaction to the latest report …

Suzanna Chaplin, CEO & Founder, esbconnect

“The headline growth is encouraging, but what stands out is that 80% of spend is going into search, social, and display.

“Brands are doubling down on channels that increasingly compete for the same shrinking and over-targeted audiences.

“The opportunity in 2026 isn’t simply spending more; it’s spending smarter. Stop being a sheep and spending only where feels safest. Meta feels obvious, but would Reddit have felt obvious 12 months ago?

“Flip your budget to the 29% – that’s the opportunity with less noise. Focus on building first-party relationships, identifying real people rather than anonymous impressions, and looking for channels that are not fashionable but staples.

“As costs continue to rise and regulation tightens, the brands that win will be those that invest in durable identity and data, and go to where there are quality audiences and less noise.”

James Taylor, CEO and Founder, Particular Audience

“The real story here is not how much is being spent, but where it’s being spent. Search and online display are both showing sustained, double-digit growth, and now account for 83% of total spend, stealing ground from legacy formats such as magazine brands.

“What’s also clear is that retailers are emerging as the focal point of the media economy and this is where the battle lines are being drawn.

“The brands who will win out on the retail media battlefield will be those who tie ad spend to purchase intent, backed by deep personalisation, to target people with things they actually want to buy.”

Owen Hancock, RVP, Marketing – EMEA, impact.com

“In a world where digital ad spend is set to hurdle the £50bn mark for the first time, it’s easy to get swept up in the sheer momentum of the numbers.

“The latest WARC findings paint a picture of an industry showing remarkable resilience, yet behind that headline growth of 11.4% lies a critical tension.

“While search and online display still command the lion’s share of the pie, we’re seeing a profound shift in where the real value is being created. It’s no longer just about being the loudest voice in a crowded room; it’s about finding the most trusted voice in the feed.

“As traditional channels grapple with rising costs and the quiet encroachment of AI search, the brands that are truly outpacing the competition are those leaning into the power of authentic, human-led partnerships.

“The data tells us that consumers are no longer passive recipients of advertising; they are active researchers who prize community and social proof above all else.

“With 89% of people trusting personal recommendations over any other channel, the flywheel of advocacy has become the most potent engine for growth we have.

“The spike in investment in culturally-relevant moments, from the euphoria of major sporting events to the intimacy of creator-led content, proves that commerce is now fundamentally about connection.

At impact.com , we believe the future isn’t about more ads; it’s about more trust. It’s time we stopped merely buying reach and started building relationships that scale, turning that £50bn of spend into a measurable, performance-powered ecosystem of genuine human influence.”

James Macdonald, co-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer, Limelight

“The Q3 results highlight how both AI and programmatic are increasingly shaping the industry’s growth, particularly across search, VOD and online display, but neither works in isolation.

“AI is proving most valuable as a driver of efficiency that enhances human-led strategy, while programmatic continues to sit at the centre of media planning through flexible, white-label solutions that lower barriers to entry and enable scale.

“Together, they allow teams to focus less on the tools themselves and more on delivering performance and outcomes, which is ultimately where the industry’s attention is heading.”

David Mandeno, COO & co-Founder, Revving

“An 11.4% year-on-year increase in UK ad spend looks pretty healthy, but it’s important to remember that these numbers relate to Q3.

“If we do the maths and subtract the Q1, 2, and 3 revenues from the full-year 2025 forecast of £46.9bn, that means ad spend in Q4, the so-called golden quarter, is predicted to be lower than Q3 at £11.6bn, which doesn’t offer much comfort for those on the ad tech coalface.

“It’s a reflection of many things, including geopolitical tensions, an uncertain economic outlook, and the general malaise around the digital economy’s broken payments system, which leaves many companies that advertisers rely on most facing a never-ending cash flow crisis.”

Read more in: Mediashotz

Data Protection Day: Industry comments

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 14:55:31 GMT

Data Protection Day: Industry comments

As the world marks Data Protection Day against a growing call for governments around the world to regulate how young people use social media, we asked media leaders for their insights on how lawmakers and companies need to adapt and change their approaches to data privacy amid a rapidly evolving technology landscape, with AI as a key driver…

Piero Pavone, CEO, Preciso

“Data Privacy Day is a useful reminder for everyone in ad tech that the customer is king and that their personal data is sacrosanct. Consumers are wiser than they have ever been to the concept of tracking using third-party cookies.

“A more sensible and effective approach is to invite them to share their personal data and their interests with you, and give them a good reason for doing so, and that’s not just about serving them with more relevant advertising.

“Invite them to sign up to your newsletter, and in doing so, be explicit about what’s in it for them- for example, early access to flash sales, discounts or other benefits.

“If the consumer can see what’s in it for them, they are much more likely to share their data with you.”

Adrienn Major, Founder, POD LDN

“With the rapid advances in AI that we are seeing today, data privacy is arguably becoming far more important.

“Those of us in the creative industries need to be able to ask questions such as where training data comes from, what is uploaded into tools and whether the brands actually own or control outputs, as well as how much human oversight exists.

“Users of these tools also need to be extremely cautious about where they are uploading their data, and what it will ultimately be used for.

Mattia Fosci, CEO, Anonymised

“Over the past 12 months, data protection has taken the backseat, shadowed by AI and engulfed in the transatlantic war of words.

“But the big unravelling of privacy regulations has not happened – in fact, big markets like India, Australia, Latin America and several US states have passed or implemented new data privacy laws.

“I’m hopeful that we’ll be seeing a more pragmatic and flexible approach to data protection, one that focuses on actual harms over abstract concepts and that tries to reconcile business needs with individual rights.

“Whatever the outcomes, businesses need one thing above all: certainty.”

Alexander Igelsböck, CEO, Adverity

“We’ve seen first-hand how the rapid adoption of new technologies like AI is creating fresh challenges around data privacy.

“As data becomes more accessible across organisations, more people are interacting with more datasets, more frequently and this in turn increases the risk of data being shared, accessed, or used incorrectly.

“As we adopt new tools and technology, businesses must be clear that data privacy and compliance can’t be bolted on after the fact, or left to regulators alone.

“Increased data democratisation must go hand in hand with robust data governance: clear controls over access and usage, and a shared commitment to ensuring data is accurate, clean and trustworthy.

“The silver lining is that taking this approach doesn’t just reduce risk; it strengthens the quality of your data too, giving businesses a more reliable foundation for getting the most out of AI tools.”

Read more in: Mediashotz

Ads are coming to ChatGPT. Do brands want in?

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 14:33:32 GMT

Ads are coming to ChatGPT. Do brands want in?

More than three years after the launch of ChatGPT, OpenAI has committed to bringing ads to the chatbot.

In a blog post last Friday, a spokesperson for OpenAI outlined its intention to begin testing ads in the US, both for free and ChatGPT Go (its new “low-cost”, $8 per month subscription tier) users. Subscribers to ChatGPT’s Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise tiers will not receive ads.

For its initial test, ads will be placed at the bottom of answers in ChatGPT “when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation”.

Ads will be “clearly labelled” and “separated from the organic answer”. Users will be given access to prompts to learn more about why they are seeing a given ad, dismiss any ad, and provide feedback.

Both registered and “predicted” under-18 users will also not see ads during the testing period. OpenAI also claims ads are “not eligible” to appear next to “sensitive or regulated topics”, including health, mental health and politics. It’s not yet clear whether or how OpenAI will be able to guarantee such brand safety measures.

In the blog post, the spokesperson reiterated that OpenAI’s “mission” is to ensure AGI (artificial general intelligence — a still-hypothetical AI that can match or surpass human capabilities across all cognitive tasks) “benefits all of humanity”. Its pursuit of advertising, thus, “is always in support of that mission and making AI more accessible”.

To preserve user trust, the spokesperson also claimed that ads “do not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you” and that they will remain separate and clearly labelled.

In addition, conversations users have with ChatGPT will be kept private from advertisers, with the company committing to “never sell your data to advertisers”.

Users will also be given some control over their ad experience, with the ability to turn off personalisation and clear the data used to serve ads.

“We prioritise user trust and user experience over revenue”, the blog post reads. “People trust ChatGPT for many important and personal tasks, so as we introduce ads, it’s crucial we preserve what makes ChatGPT valuable in the first place. That means you need to trust that ChatGPT’s responses are driven by what’s objectively useful, never by advertising.”

Analysis: Ads as a necessary lifeline?

On Sunday, OpenAI’s chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, said in a blog post that the company’s annualised revenue surpassed $20bn in 2025, more than tripling from $6bn in 2024. Growth, she indicated, “directly tracks available compute” — as capacity to serve users has grown, so has demand.

“Infrastructure expands what we can deliver,” she added, indicating that OpenAI’s strategic focus in 2026 will be on “practical adoption”.

But $20bn in annual revenue is still just a fraction of the total OpenAI will need to gross to remain in business. The tech giant’s partners have reportedly amassed $100bn in debt to help fund its growth, and CEO Sam Altman has further made $1.4tn in commitments to build out energy and computing infrastructure.

An analysis by investment bank HSBC last autumn predicted OpenAI still won’t be profitable by 2030, even if its userbase grows to comprise 44% of the global population.

HSBC also estimated that OpenAI will need to raise at least another $207bn in “compute” to fund its growth plans.

In an op-ed published by The New York Times this month, Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Sebastian Mallaby warns that “companies such as OpenAI are likely to run out of cash before their tantalising new technology produces big profits”. He points to the lack of “stickiness” in consumers’ use of large-language models, with a high degree of competition in the market making it easy for users to switch from one AI service to another.

“The problem for AI developers is that most users aren’t paying for their services,” argued Mallby. “People can choose among multiple free and excellent models; unless they have especially complex and compute-intensive queries, they have little reason to subscribe to the premium versions. If a model maker imposes a paywall or displays irritating ads, customers will migrate elsewhere.”

While worsening ChatGPT’s user experience with ads could prompt users to switch to an ad-free product, scaling ad revenue will be a necessary part of OpenAI’s increasingly diversified business model, if for no other reason than sheer necessity to keep up with ballooning costs.

“ChatGPT adding ads isn’t about greed, it’s about gravity,” reflected Zaid Al-Zaidy, CEO of marketing agency Beyond. “AI is expensive to run, and even the biggest players in the industry are being pulled toward the ad model.

“The perpetual tightrope walk isn’t whether users accept ads, but whether OpenAI can add them without turning a breakthrough product into just another attention marketplace.”

How interested are advertisers?

Whether advertisers are sufficiently interested in ChatGPT to the point that the ad model drives significant revenue gains is also an open question.

In a statement, IAB UK CEO Jon Mew said the move towards embracing advertising for large-language models (LLMs) “has the potential to reshape parts of the digital advertising ecosystem, particularly if conversation interfaces become a more common starting point for information discovery”.

“Any meaningful shift in user behaviour away from traditional browsing or search could have knock-on effects for publishers, search and performance-led channels that currently underpin the market,” Mew continued.

Sarah Healy, deputy head of media investment at People’s Postcode Lottery, told The Media Leader that, as AI search has developed, traditional search clicks have entered a period of decline. As such, the monetisation of AI-led search is an “exciting development” for the brand’s media team.

“It presents a new opportunity to reach audiences who are becoming increasingly difficult to engage through traditional search platforms, and we will be watching its evolution closely,” she added.

Should brands invest in ads on ChatGPT once they become available outside the US market? Certain verticals, especially travel or product-based brands, could benefit from their proximity to chatbot responses if users are actively seeking information and advice on consumption options.

“It is a big yes, but under certain conditions,” Josh Preston-White, VP of paid search at Brandtech Group agency Jellyfish, told The Media Leader. “Placements must be ethical, natively integrated, and value-additive. We shouldn’t activate ads for the sake of it; they must flow with the user’s journey rather than disrupting it.”

Willis Annison, digital performance director at independent agency Bountiful Cow, added that while clients should “absolutely explore this”, not every advertiser should necessarily embrace it, at least not at this stage.

“Clients should look at their referral data and see if there is a large proportion of traffic coming from ChatGPT, and if so, it could signal an opportunity,” he said. But he offered the caveat that OpenAI’s embrace of advertising is not likely to be as “expansive” and therefore as “opportune” as Google’s own AI search offering.

“OpenAI stating it will ‘never sell your data to advertisers’ is a bold move and one that aligns with a more data-conscious user who worries about how their data is used online,” he considered. “The likelihood is that ads will be triggered by phrases and keywords, similar to Google, based on the conversation within the chat. As a result, the focus will be more on intent signals and trigger phrases, at least in the current model.

“This may change in the future, but for now it will feel closer to a keyword-led performance approach, with demographic data playing a smaller role.”

Mew and Preston-White both stressed that AI companies introducing advertising will need to align with existing ad industry standards on transparency, privacy, and measurement.

Their willingness and ability to do so will, as Mew indicated, “determine whether the LLM-based advertising becomes a complementary channel, or simply another layer within the current digital advertising landscape”.

Also published in: The Media Leader

Impact.com reports record growth and industry innovation in 2025

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 14:22:56 GMT

Impact.com reports record growth and industry innovation in 2025

Impact.com announced today strong growth and innovation in 2025, propelled by accelerated client adoption across creator, affiliate, and B2B channels, advancements in product innovations, and continued global momentum.

The partnership marketing company said its performance in 2025 underscores a defining shift in marketing, from transactional performance to relationship-driven growth.

Building on a year defined by transformation across the marketing landscape, impact.com continued to lead the evolution toward community-driven commerce, empowering brands and creators to build trust, authenticity, and growth through partnerships with commerce content creators.

Partnership marketing growth

The company said it is on course to surpass $270 million (£202 million) in annual recurring revenue as it closes out the fiscal year ending January 31st, up approximately 20% year over year, while powering close to $120 billion in partner-referred GMV (gross merchandise value, or sales derived from partner referrals) and over $5 billion in GTV (gross transactional value, or partner payouts) for the year.

Brands spent over $1 trillion US dollars globally on advertising last year – and more than $600 billion of that will funnel into performance marketing channels, mainly paid search, paid social, and programmatic display ads.

And as marketing costs surge and consumer trust in traditional channels continues its decline, impact.com solidified its leadership as the platform for partnership-driven performance.

In 2025, the company said it supported nearly 350,000 active partnerships and welcomed more than 3,500 new customers, including New Balance, Hydrojug, Udemy, and Upside.

“People no longer trust ads – they trust communities”, said David A. Yovanno, CEO of impact.com.

“And the brands that win today are reimagining performance marketing by showing up where that trust already lives, by partnering with the creators, advocates, and other commerce content publishers shaping what people see, share, and buy”.

“2025 was a breakout year for impact.com – and for the partnership economy as a whole. We’re proud to be the commerce partnership marketing platform that is helping to lead and power that evolution – connecting brands and trusted voices in ways that drive real influence and measurable growth.”

Reflecting this shift, Cyber Week research from impact.com shows that shoppers are more selective and value-driven than ever, concentrating 31% of total Cyber Week spend on Black Friday while using Cyber Monday for final purchases.

Creator-driven revenue surged 51% year over year, and technology partners supporting price comparison and validation saw a 79% increase in transaction volume, highlighting the growing importance of trusted voices and data-driven tools in guiding consumer decisions.

The company also invested internally to strengthen its global presence and better serve customers, welcoming Jessica Breslav as its first Chief Customer Officer and promoting Justin Morrison to Chief Revenue Officer, a move that fuelled a 20% increase in new logo bookings and a 23% expansion in sales headcount.

The company also deepened its AI investments, launching ask impact, a conversational intelligence chatbot embedded within the platform that delivers high-performance partnership recommendations and rich analytics in real time.

Additional information on the company’s momentum can be found in this  recap video here and on impact.com .

Also published in: Mediashotz

Ads coming to ChatGPT: Industry experts comment

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 09:28:25 GMT

Ads coming to ChatGPT: Industry experts comment

OpenAI is preparing to introduce advertising to its ChatGPT platform in the coming months, a move the company says is designed to help expand access to its AI tools at scale.

The implications for the advertising industry could be significant. As AI platforms become increasingly embedded in everyday digital behaviour, the arrival of ads inside conversational interfaces represents a potential new frontier for brands — and a major shift in how audiences encounter commercial messaging.

But with that opportunity come questions. How will ads coexist with trusted AI responses? What guardrails will be needed to protect users? And can advertising enhance, rather than disrupt, the experience?

To explore what ads on AI platforms could mean in practice, we asked experts from across advertising and marketing for their views on the opportunities, risks and realities ahead.

James Taylor, CEO and Founder, Particular Audience

“The arrival of ads in ChatGPT could be a hugely significant moment. Initially, the ads won’t be ‘functional’ beyond chat formats, but as they evolve, enabled by MCP (Model Context Protocol), everything changes.

“OpenAI adopted MCP as the standard for building integrations (now called apps) for ChatGPT. Apps, however, have had a distribution problem, because up until now, filtering all apps (functions) based on contextual utility (your chat) in real time hasn’t been economically viable at scale.

“But advertising introduces funding that makes selective, intent-driven invocation of functionality viable.

“And if functionality can be invoked inside an ad or brand chat, ads stop being messages and become interfaces, meaning that sales inventory becomes callable; pricing becomes queryable; availability becomes real-time; checkout becomes a function, not a redirect; order status becomes checkable; support becomes accessible; and even negotiation becomes feasible.

“It’s where commerce and advertising finally collapse into a single system, and it moves the conversation from: ‘Here’s some information’ to: ‘Here’s the outcome you were already trying to achieve.’

“Exciting times.”

Read more in: Mediashotz

IPA Bellwether Q4 2025 – Industry reactions

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 09:22:48 GMT

IPA Bellwether Q4 2025 – Industry reactions

According to the IPA Bellwether Q4 2025 reading, total UK marketing budgets remained unchanged in the final quarter of last year.

With the UK’s economic outlook dimming and political and economic uncertainty throwing shade on growth, we’ve been garnering reaction from some of the UK’s top adtech, creative and marketing leaders…

James Macdonald, co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer, Limelight

“The Bellwether report findings suggest a continued mood of “cautious optimism” across the UK market, with prioritisation centring around strategies that provide measurable outcomes and direct customer engagement.

“Against this backdrop, the integration and development of AI technologies remains at the forefront – not particularly as a standalone solution, but one whose integration enables efficiency, performance and scale, supporting human-directed strategy and goals.

“At the same time, programmatic advertising continues its growth trajectory, with more businesses adopting bespoke, white-label solutions.

“These solutions can deliver results without the operational burden of heavy development, cost or maintenance.

“With the focus on performance-led approaches, the emphasis is increasingly on results rather than tools alone.

Suzanna Chaplin, CEO & Founder, esbconnect

“The Bellwether report highlights some genuinely worrying trends for the industry. Most strikingly, we didn’t see the usual Q4 peak in spend, a quarter that historically makes or breaks a brand’s year.

“That absence alone tells you how cautious the market really is. Marketing is increasingly being treated as a cost to justify rather than a lever to pull, and if that mindset persists, brands need to seriously rethink where incremental growth can realistically come from.

“The report itself points to the growing pressure on marketers to demonstrate short-term returns, noting that businesses are “under pressure to deliver ROI as firms scrutinise spending decisions more harshly given the competitive market landscape”.

“That pressure is clearly coming from the top, pushing teams further down the funnel. The risk is that when brands over-index on bottom-of-funnel activity, they start cannibalising their own growth.

“You’re not creating new demand, you’re simply fighting harder over the same users – and if that user switches off, where’s the tap to fill the bucket?

“Likewise, the report highlights a focus on proving that spend works. But the truth is, no single channel delivers results in isolation; sustainable growth comes from the combination of channels working together across the journey.

“If you just focus on yes/no outcomes on a single channel, you will overspend in the wrong places.”

James Taylor, CEO and Founder, Particular Audience

“The latest IPA Bellwether findings confirm what we are seeing on the ground: while broad marketing budgets are flatlining under macroeconomic pressure, the ‘Other Online’ category—including retail media—is surging with a +13.2% net balance. This isn’t just a seasonal spike; it’s a flight to accountability.

“In an environment where 2026/27 preliminary outlooks are at historic lows, the industry is ruthlessly prioritising channels that deliver a proven return on investment.

“For retail media, the opportunity lies in moving beyond ‘one-size-fits-all’ legacy systems toward AI-powered hyper-personalisation that understands real-time human intent. By leveraging machine learning to automate the ‘ranking cocktail’ of organic and sponsored discovery, retailers can provide the visibility brands crave even in a quieter market.

“As we look toward 2026, the winners will be those who use technology to extract efficiency gains and innovate through the noise, rather than waiting for broader market confidence to return.”

Thomas Skowronski, EVP, Jellyfish

“The fact that four out of the five Main Media sub-components registered reductions in spending in the latest IPA Bellwether report is significant.

“We are seeing a continued shift away from mainstream advertising channels towards online content produced by influencers, creators and communities that people trust.

“There’s a reason why YouTube surpassed UK commercial TV in 2025. It’s because it’s not TV, social, OLV, broadcast or niche – it’s all of them, and that’s an incredibly powerful combination.

“As budgets tighten, YouTube and other online communities offer a highly cost-effective way to engage with audiences in an authentic, trusted manner.”

“The report also cites concerns over AI. While we are optimistic about AI’s potential to do good, we have our own concern, and that is that companies’ current tech stacks are not ready for the AI reality.

“As the clamour grows to implement AI capabilities across organisations, companies are building new AI capabilities on top of infrastructure that isn’t yet fully operationalised – Gartner data shows martech utilisation has slipped to 49%.

“To make AI work, we need clean, unified data, not more tools. We need to stop buying and start auditing.

“The most successful data strategies for 2026 will focus on de-bloating the martech stack to let the high-value use cases grow.”

Piero Pavone, CEO, Preciso

“It’s not impressive to see marketing spend flat in Q4 after two consecutive quarters of growth, but with the geopolitical and economic uncertainties all around us, it’s perhaps not surprising.

“When budgets are under pressure, as they are now, it’s vital that brands make their money, and especially their advertising budgets, work as hard as possible, and in this respect, I believe native advertising could be the answer for many.

“In an era of banner blindness, native ads work because they make sense in the context of the content they appear in.

“They are not disruptive, but additive, to the browsing experience, and this is why I believe more and more companies will devote more of their ad spend to native in 2026.”

Read more in: Mediashotz

Limelight Inc. launches new programmatic optimisation tool

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 14:46:45 GMT

Limelight Inc. launches new programmatic optimisation tool

Programmatic platform Limelight Inc. has launched the Adaptive Rules Centre (ARC) - a rules-based toolkit that enables users of Limelight’s white-label platform to customise and optimise ad performance through automation. In early tests, Limelight says users have reported significant revenue and fill rate increases when ARC is deployed.

Limelight says ARC enables users to tweak a variety of parameters on its platform, including the number of queries per second (QPS), geotargeting, fill rates and bid rates. This allows them to scale demand for supply sources that are performing well, while throttling demand for those that aren’t. It also makes it easy to optimise across multiple dimensions, such as size, geo, device type, user segment and time of day, with granularity.

Limelight Inc. describes ARC’s inventory management capabilities as “dynamic curation”, enabling ad networks and publishers to differentiate themselves by building custom logic that reflects their own goals, values and trading strategy - effectively adding their own secret sauce to the Limelight platform.

“They can effectively build their own custom algorithm, unique to them, and set the automation rules to meet the expectations of each of their demand partners, improving trading efficiency and profitability without sacrificing flexibility or transparency,” says Limelight co-founder and CEO David Nelson.

The ability to identify the best-performing supply sources and match them to demand in real time is increasingly important at a time when programmatic buyers are demanding better-performing inventory and rejecting poorer-performing sources, added Limelight.

“Our automation allows users to keep QPS low while we identify the best-performing inventory, then ramp it up quickly to meet demand,” says Nelson. “And that’s available round the clock, whether the ad ops team are at their desks or not. So if something catches fire and starts performing well in the middle of the night, the rules are in place to take advantage of that.”

“With ARC deployed, the ad ops team don’t need to spend all their time looking at spreadsheets and developing whitelists and blocklists,” Nelson continues. “The platform automation is doing the heavy lifting for them, so they can focus on analysing the rules they have in place, looking at where they could push things a bit further to make the platform do even more for them. It’s less about managing and reacting, more about strategising.”

ARC is available now globally to all users of the Limelight platform.

Also published in: InPublishing

UK considers social media ban for under-16s as Australia sets global trend

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 14:38:36 GMT

UK considers social media ban for under-16s as Australia sets global trend

The U.K. government is exploring whether to ban social media use for children under 16 — the latest sign of a growing wave of global regulation that could reshape how advertisers reach young audiences today and adult consumers tomorrow.

Following Australia’s landmark ban on social media use for under-16s last month, U.K. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall on Monday unveiled a new set of proposals that will undergo public consultation. These are a potential under-16 ban, restrictions on features like infinite scrolling, as well as curfews to curb excessive use.

The U.K. isn’t alone in exploring a social media ban for minors. France, Spain and Greece are already debating their own approaches, while in the U.S., California is examining state-level restrictions inspired by Australia.

For global advertisers, the question is no longer whether Australia’s example will spread — it’s how broadly and at what speed.

A deeper concern for advertisers looms as well: If an entire generation grows up off-platform, will social media targeting still be as effective once those users become adults?

"It’s about the direction of travel. Social is becoming harder to scale reliably, harder to measure, and riskier to depend on," said Suzanna Chaplin, CEO and Founder at esbconnect.

"Social won’t disappear, but it should move from ‘default spend’ to ‘selective spend’, while budgets diversify into partnerships, podcasts, retail media, and even postal where it makes sense. The future is less about chasing attention in feeds, and more about owning the relationship end-to-end.”

Australia may be just the start

The U.K. consultations come ahead of a parliamentary vote this week on a bill amendment that would ban social media for minors within a year of passing, likely forcing the government’s hand regardless of the consultation outcomes.

Early results from Australia illustrate the scale of impact: Platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram collectively deactivated nearly 4.7 million accounts belonging to under-16s in the first month. Meta alone removed nearly 550,000 accounts.

So far, Australian marketers have reported no dramatic drop in performance. But many told Mediaweek that campaign strategies were already shifting. CTV is particularly well positioned to absorb viewership and ad dollars migrating from YouTube.

Before the ban, an estimated 624,000 14- and 15-year-olds in Australia were active on social media, making logged-in social targeting a central pillar of many youth-focused media plans.

“Being a child should not be about constant judgment from strangers or the pressure to perform for likes. Children need space to grow,” wrote British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Substack. “We will work with experts to identify the most effective measures we can take to do more. As I have been clear, no option is off the table.”

Also published in: The Current

Levelling the Playing Field and Driving Programmatic Efficiency at Scale with Larraine Criss

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 14:32:43 GMT

Levelling the Playing Field and Driving Programmatic Efficiency at Scale with Larraine Criss

More spend doesn’t win in programmatic advertising. Better bidding does.

In this conversation, Larraine Criss , COO at Preciso , unpacks what it takes to level the playing field in programmatic advertising – from evidence-led operating decisions and bid-level precision to scaling performance without wasting spend. She shares candid perspectives on where adtech still breaks, how Preciso designs around those fault lines, and why disciplined bidding logic is the real engine of sustainable growth.

You’ve moved between founder, product leader, and now COO. Which operating bias do you consciously bring into decisions today, and which one do you actively guard against?

I bring a strong bias towards evidence-based decision-making because I have learned from experience that not all requests are inherently valid. In practice, it means that before committing budget or resources or making operational decisions, I focus on understanding the proof of concept to see if the request has any underlying business impact.

Conversely, I actively guard against my natural tendency to move quickly and decide independently. As a COO, I’m becoming more conscious of not defaulting to that, as I know collaboration adds so much value.

Whenever a decision involves execution, I always make an effort to involve department managers, so the decisions I’m approving on behalf of the company are grounded in operational reality and supported by the teams who will deliver them.

Take us through the Preciso Smart-Bid platform. What core advertising bottlenecks does it resolve, and how does it inject precision into today’s display advertising?

The Preciso platform was built to address one of the biggest bottlenecks in display advertising, which is programmatic redundancy. Our solution brings precision by controlling how often, when, and to whom ads are shown. It helps brands reach the right audience at the right time and reduce unnecessary impressions or overexposure. As a result, our partners get more value from every dollar spent.

Preciso gives smaller merchants access to the same traffic as large brands. From a technology and operations standpoint, where is that advantage truly created – at bidding logic, inventory selection, or spend orchestration?

The advantage is created across all three of those areas. Preciso Smart-Bid is budget-agnostic, meaning it doesn’t favour advertisers simply because they can spend more. And instead of trying to exhaust a daily budget, the system focuses on identifying and bidding on the opportunities that truly align with specific campaign goals. This allows smaller merchants to compete fairly for the same quality traffic as large brands.

Ultimately, we focus on bidding precision and the client’s objectives, rather than looking at the spending power of the advertiser.

What part of the adtech stack tends to break first when performance marketing scales? How has Preciso designed around that?

When performance marketing scales, what usually breaks first is not the adtech infrastructure but the bid decision or logic quality. As volume increases, many existing systems and DSPs struggle with pacing, frequency control, and bid efficiency, leading to wasted spend, inconsistent performance, or declining ROAS.

At Preciso, we focus on being able to scale bid decision quality alongside volume. While what we offer is highly scalable, in part because we have a cloud-based infrastructure for the server, our principal priority is maintaining real-time bidding logic and signal accuracy as a campaign grows. The platform is uniquely agile, and we can ensure performance, efficiency, and reliability alongside scalability.

With deep experience in real-time bidding and ad ops, which inefficiency in the programmatic value chain do you believe is still structurally underestimated?

For me, the most underestimated inefficiency in the value chain is still bidding logic structure. Even though programmatic is a mature industry, very few platforms truly prioritise bid decision quality, even though it is key to both the user experience and long-term marketing performance.

This is understandable from a business perspective, because quantity scales revenue more easily, so bidding logic with a focus on quality signals, rather than sheer volume, is still not the norm. It is, however, fundamental to our offering at Preciso.

Having led product before, where do you see the biggest friction between product ambition and operational reality? How do you resolve it without slowing execution?

The biggest friction happens when product ambition is driven purely by either commercial vision or operational comfort. When ambition is determined exclusively from a commercial perspective, it can be market-relevant but operationally complex. When it’s driven entirely from the operational side, it may be easier to deliver but lack market impact.

We resolve this by anchoring product ambition on proof of concept and measurable business output. These parameters allow us to validate relevance and, at the same time, quickly align teams to move forward without slowing execution or overbuilding in the wrong direction.

As customer volume and spend scale simultaneously, how does Preciso plan its next moves?

Being in a fast-paced industry, we plan our next moves by first analysing current market trends and then looking ahead to identify potential opportunities. Lastly, we align these collected insights with the performance and successes of our past implementations. This approach allows us to make informed decisions as customer volume and spend grow.

Also published in: Technitel Pro

IPA Bellwether Q4 2025 – Industry reactions

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 14:21:24 GMT

IPA Bellwether Q4 2025 – Industry reactions

According to the IPA Bellwether Q4 2025 reading, total UK marketing budgets remained unchanged in the final quarter of last year.

James Macdonald, co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer, Limelight

“At the same time, programmatic advertising continues its growth trajectory, with more businesses adopting bespoke, white-label solutions.

“These solutions can deliver results without the operational burden of heavy development, cost or maintenance.

“With the focus on performance-led approaches, the emphasis is increasingly on results rather than tools alone.

Suzanna Chaplin, CEO & Founder, esbconnect

“You’re not creating new demand, you’re simply fighting harder over the same users – and if that user switches off, where’s the tap to fill the bucket?

“If you just focus on yes/no outcomes on a single channel, you will overspend in the wrong places.”

Piero Pavone, CEO, Preciso

“It’s not impressive to see marketing spend flat in Q4 after two consecutive quarters of growth, but with the geopolitical and economic uncertainties all around us, it’s perhaps not surprising.

“In an era of banner blindness, native ads work because they make sense in the context of the content they appear in.

“They are not disruptive, but additive, to the browsing experience, and this is why I believe more and more companies will devote more of their ad spend to native in 2026.”

Looking Back to Go Forward – How Measurement Can Fuel Prediction

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 14:12:58 GMT

Looking Back to Go Forward – How Measurement Can Fuel Prediction

As marketers, we’re constantly trying to navigate a reliable course through an increasingly unpredictable media sea. Conditions are continually shifting as we encounter new channels, fragmented audiences and changing signals of attention and consent. In that turbulence, measurement has traditionally been our compass: it tells us where we’ve been and what has worked.

Traditionally, research has been backward-looking: we measure, we analyse, we report. But what if measurement could help us anticipate performance? If we could move from ‘measurement as proof’ to ‘measurement as signal’ – helping brands and publishers steer campaigns while they’re still in motion?

The shift from retrospection to active prediction

We’re not the first industry to wonder about this. Wherever there is data in sufficient volumes, we’ve seen the same ambition forming. Self-driving cars learn from millions of hours of driving data to anticipate what’s coming next on the road. In healthcare, AI predicts disease risks by analysing patient histories. Finance models forecast risk and opportunity from decades of market data.

Today’s advances show how unstructured data can be harnessed at scale. Yet, when scale meets consistency, the results are even more powerful. Our industry has been quietly building a structured data set that doesn’t just grow in volume, but in reliability, making future predictions sharper and more credible.

The power of the data we hold

Fortunately, we now have structured data sets that catalogue many thousands of campaigns across dozens of markets and, crucially, have been accumulated consistently over the years, using the same framework and taxonomy, capturing not only results but the full context around them.

Effectively, data of this kind gives marketers access to a detailed historical chart of how different media environments impact brand outcomes. And in addition to outcomes, every campaign can yield opportunities to collect a wealth of passive data relating to ad exposure, engagement and brand context.

When you gather data in a consistent way over time, patterns begin to emerge. You begin to see how formats, contexts, and creative choices interact with brand goals. That consistency is what turns data from something descriptive into something that is actually capable of prediction.

When such data is cleaned, structured, analysed and tested, it offers the possibility of building predictive models at two levels:

Campaign-level models that forecast brand outcomes, when enough is known about the campaign set-up
Ad-impression-level models that aim to predict the brand effect of individual exposures in real time

Given continuous refinement and validation, these predictive models can in turn be applied at three stages of a campaign:

Before a campaign – to recommend the most effective plan or mix
During a campaign – to help decisioning systems prioritise impressions likely to drive brand lift
After a campaign – to estimate directional impact even without new survey data

Each use case points toward a world in which brand outcomes are live, not retrospective. To make this work in the real world, the predictive signal needs to be integrated with the platforms that already power ad decisions: DSPs, SSPs, verification and optimisation partners.

The aim of this needn’t be to sell data, but to make insights available within existing workflows, safely and at scale – a collaborative ecosystem approach, built on open standards and privacy-first principles.

Marketing that learns and adapts

Data of this kind, properly handled, can play a part in creating a new outcomes-focused future. Consistent measurement shows us where we’ve been; prediction points to where we should go next. Combined, they create a much fuller system for marketing investment – one that learns and adapts with every campaign.

Of course, no model is perfect. Predictions are most accurate when we are in familiar waters – known brands, known formats, known publishers. When we move too far from that territory, uncertainty grows. That’s why continually increasing the scale, range and granularity of the data set is critical to better navigation. This is a continual process of improvement.

And for media owners, this opens up new possibilities. Their own inventory data enriches the shared picture, improving predictive accuracy for everyone. In return, it provides them with the ability to sell inventory that is objectively optimised for brand outcomes, not just impressions or clicks.

So the challenge is this: can we, as an industry, move from retrospective measurement to predictive insights? Can we turn brand outcomes into a live signal that shapes how we buy and sell media? The potential is certainly there if we choose to build it together.

After all, you can’t change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust your sails. With the right data and the right collaboration, we can all do exactly that and navigate the choppy waters ahead.

Also published in: Advertising Week

How FM Lost Client Trust and How We Earn it Back

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 14:04:06 GMT

How FM Lost Client Trust and How We Earn it Back

Carlo Alloni from Bellrock outlines why client trust in FM has eroded and the concrete steps providers must take to earn it back.

Carlo Alloni is Chief Executive Officer of Bellrock, a technology-led, insight driven property services disruptor. His background spans more than 20 years across telecoms and service industries, with a track record of transforming complex, multi‑country operations into successful, scalable businesses. Before joining Bellrock in August 2024, Carlo advised clients on technology‑led transformation, business development, product strategy and M&A, including a Smart City “Roma 5G” programme ahead of the Pope’s Jubilee in 2025. Earlier roles include Managing Director of a London‑based multibillion-pound facilities management business; EVP, Chief Technology & Information Officer at Cable & Wireless; and COO of Middle East region at Ericsson. He began his career in investment banking.

A Race to the Bottom on Service?

Facilities management promises simplicity. But too often, it delivers frustration, opacity and unmet expectations.

Many times, I’ve sat in enough meetings and networking events that I hear the same industry gripes again and again: missed SLAs; opaque invoices; endless variations; a help desk that raises tickets but rarely solves problems.

It would be easy to blame unrealistic clients or margin-squeezing procurement. And there might be some truth in that. A race to the bottom on price often becomes a race to the bottom on service. But the full story runs deeper.

The uncomfortable truth is that our industry has trained clients to distrust us. Until we change the incentives and the operating model, that scepticism will remain justified.

Why the Frustration Makes Sense

Number 1: We Sell Certainty, Then Manage Probability

In bids and presentations, we promise seamless uptime and full accountability. But the reality is different. Assets fail; demand changes and response times vary. When we oversimplify risk instead of being honest about it, clients feel misled. Complexity is monetised, not mastered.

Most estates are inherently complex: from old plant and inconsistent compliance to disconnected data. The problem is that some providers treat that complexity as a business model, not a challenge to solve. If failure drives revenue, trust will always suffer.

Number 2: Data Exists, Insight Doesn’t

We capture mountains of information through work orders, asset registers and condition surveys, but rarely turn it into meaningful decisions. Clients don’t just want dashboards. They want fewer breakdowns, safer estates and proof that insight leads to action.

Number 3: Contracts Reward Activity, Not Outcomes
Traditional FM contracts measure performance by tasks completed or tickets closed. But that’s not what boards really care about. They want fewer failures, predictable costs, happier occupants and lower carbon impact. When payment is tied to activity instead of improvement, we end up proving effort, not progress.

Number 4: Governance Happens After the Fact
Too many issues only surface at the monthly account management meeting. Root cause analysis comes long after the next failure. Clients see a system that reacts, not one that learns.

Number 5: The Hidden Cost of the Status Quo

The visible costs like waste, rework and management time are easy to see. The hidden costs bite harder.

Asset life shortens when maintenance is inconsistent. Capital planning becomes guesswork when data is untrusted. Sustainability targets drift when maintenance isn’t linked to energy performance.

And the people on the front line, the ones our clients see, burn out because the system makes it hard to do good work.

What Good Looks Like

Fixing FM doesn’t start with another portal or a thicker contract. It starts with honesty and aligned incentives. The new rules of the FM game seem clear to me:

Number 1: Start With Truth, Not Theatre
Be transparent about what can and can’t be guaranteed. Publish baseline asset health and backlog risk within 90 days. Co-author a three-year improvement plan with visible progress that anyone in the client’s business can track. Credibility compounds.

Number 2: Flip the Incentives
Move away from activity-based fees. Link payment to outcomes that matter: risk-weighted uptime, verified compliance, predictable cost to serve, user satisfaction and energy savings. At Bellrock, we’ve embedded this through our integrator pricing model. When both sides win when the estate improves, behaviour changes fast.

Number 3: Make Data Operational

An asset register that doesn’t reflect reality is a liability. Clean it, tag it and govern it like a financial ledger. Use condition-based maintenance where it genuinely reduces failures, and prove it with before-and-after results, not algorithms. In one estate we recently transformed, mobile-first data capture and integrated reporting cut survey time in half and removed manual write-ups entirely. That’s what happens when Mobiess and Concerto work together to deliver live, reliable data.

Number 4: Design for Frontline Excellence
If an engineer needs three screens and five logins to close a job, we’ve already failed. Standardise job plans, pre-stage parts and give teams the tools and authority to fix small issues without raising variations. The client experience is built on those micro-moments. That’s why I have made our tech stack interoperable and seamless for clients, no matter what service or product they are purchasing.

Number 5: Govern in Real Time
Replace retrospective reviews with live controls. Use exception alerts, daily risk heatmaps and 12-week lookahead plans for maintenance and projects. Boards don’t need more data; they need faster truth.

Number 6: Tie FM to the Enterprise Agenda
FM doesn’t sit apart from business strategy. It shapes employee experience, carbon performance and financial predictability. When maintenance connects directly to outcomes like retention, risk and net-zero progress, FM becomes a value lever, not a cost centre.

What Clients Can Do

Outcome-based FM only works in partnership. Clients have a crucial role to play.

Fund the baseline. If the asset register is wrong and the backlog is unknown, start with discovery and stabilisation. You can’t optimise a mystery. Our Consultancy Team works with organisations to make sure the foundations are in place.
Pick fewer metrics. Ten KPIs that change behaviour are better than 50 that don’t. Focus on what matters and put real value behind it.
Hold us to transparency and reciprocate. Share your real estate strategy, capital constraints and change roadmap. We’ll share performance and margin openly. That’s how trust is built.

The Industry We Want

Imagine an FM sector paid to remove complexity, not manage it. One that earns more when your assets fail less. One that tells the truth upfront and measures what matters.

That’s not a dream. It’s a design challenge.

Technology’s helping us get there, but the real lever is alignment between incentives, culture and purpose.

If you’re a client, demand better.

If you’re a provider, build differently.

Together, we can make FM a discipline that earns trust, not tests it.

Also published in: TWinFm

Expert Predictions For AI In 2026

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 11:48:29 GMT

Expert Predictions For AI In 2026

It’s almost impossible to remember a world before AI became mainstream. A world before Grok, ChatGPT and Claude were deployed to help us navigate life, work and travel.

As we enter 2026, AI is no longer just a tool from sci-fi movies or used by specialist teams. It’s a tool that has completely changed how businesses run, public sectors function and students get personalised help.

In fact, the AI economy is projected to hit $4.8 trillion by 2033 according to UN Trade and Development, with AI already driving many sectors and countries forward.

A Big Year For AI In 2025

When it comes to the evolution of AI, 2025 was a big year with some pretty incredible milestones. These include:

NVIDIA becoming a multiple trillion dollar company.
Big AI companies launched new models.
Data centres being built under the sea and in space.
The world’s first AI actor was created.
Movie stars like Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine signed deals that allowed their voices to be used by AI agents.
Neo, the world’s first mainstream humanoid robot was released for £15,000.
Big tech doubled down on AI, signalling thousands of layoffs.

But what does 2026 have in store for AI? To find out, we asked the experts. Here’s what they had to say…

Piero Pavone, CEO, Preciso

“AI is the latest topic that’s got industry tongues wagging about authenticity, human-centricity and real experiences. At its core, advertising is about engaging humans, and the best way to do this is through human creativity, intuition and experience. AI is great at streaming workflows and creating scale at speed, but it’s found repeatedly to be wanting when it comes to creativity, nuance and editorial prowess. A hybrid system of human control of AI’s powers is the best way forward.

“AI’s power comes in its ability to offer speed and scale. But, like any exciting, innovative technology, it has its issues. One of those is that AI algorithms can inherit the bias of their creators, whatever that bias might be. The problem is that when this inherent bias is suddenly, hugely extrapolated across adtech platforms and ad campaigns, any unexpected bias might cause performance issues, or even brand safety concerns. AI technologies are famously resource intensive to run and power. The digital advertising industry produces a vast amount of carbon each year, famously exceeding that of the air travel industry. Rapid adoption of AI technologies will not help change that, so we must all work hard to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of AI, and in doing so reduce the tech’s carbon footprint.”

Unwrapping engagement: how gamified TV ads make holiday viewing interactive

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 12:48:25 GMT

Unwrapping engagement: how gamified TV ads make holiday viewing interactive

As the festive season lights up living rooms across Europe, TV has never been more exciting. From holiday specials to year-end blockbusters, viewers are spending more time than ever on smart TVs – and brands now have the opportunity to make ad time a moment of fun and interaction. And gamification is the way to do it.

When Domino’s rolled out the first European GameBreaks campaign this Autumn, viewers eagerly joined in, driving a 3.84% engagement rate and a 31% uplift in brand consideration.

Research from MediaScience in the US found that 89% of viewers preferred GameBreaks over traditional commercial breaks. When taken together, the takeaway is clear: play can transform TV moments into memorable experiences that brands can use to capture attention.

Turning busy TV time into a moment of play

Insights from viewership on Samsung Smart TVs in Europe show that streaming already makes up more than half of daily TV viewing, with the rest split between linear channels and gaming. Given the array of apps, channels and streaming options, the classic 30-second ad has to compete for attention like never before.

Gamified formats turn this challenge into an opportunity: by using the remote as a playful tool, they transform attention from a passive moment into an engaging experience that viewers can actively enjoy.

During the Domino’s GameBreaks campaign, viewers were invited to join a quick pizza trivia quiz before seeing a short brand message. The impressive engagement shows that viewers leaned in and played along, turning a typical ad break into a lively, interactive moment.

The 31% uplift in brand consideration highlights that this engagement was deeper and more meaningful than a standard impression. The 53% lift in unaided brand recall shows that play embeds brands more deeply in viewers’ minds. At the same time, the overwhelming preference for GameBreaks over traditional ad breaks proves that audiences welcome a fun twist during TV time.

Inside the Domino’s GameBreaks experiment

The first gamified spot was built around something everyone can relate to: choosing a favourite pizza topping. Viewers were asked a multiple-choice trivia question about the most popular topping in the US, answered using their TV remote, and were immediately shown whether they were right or wrong before seeing the brand spot. The mechanic is deliberately straightforward – there’s no need to download an app, register, or scan a QR code. The game fits inside the first slot of a premium ad pod, preserving the familiar rhythm of the break, while changing its feel.

What makes it work is authenticity. Crucially, the creative is rooted in the brand, and pizza trivia feels authentic to Domino’s, keeping the tone light and sociable. The subsequent short ad can then focus on a specific product or message, having already captured attention and created an emotional payoff, whether viewers got the answer right or wrong.

Designing festive gamified CTV campaigns

The Domino’s case highlights three key principles for advertisers considering gamification on CTV:

Simplicity: Keep it intuitive – make it playable with a few remote clicks and accessible to everyone, from kids to grandparents

Relevance: Make the content and experience fit the brand

Respect users’ time: Keep it short, clear, and rewarding. When viewers immediately understand and enjoy the interaction, opt-in engagement comes naturally, like unwrapping a little gift in the middle of the break.

A playful tool for a festive season

Gamification may not replace every ad format, but it shines when brands want to stand out. Seasonal launches, holiday peaks, and family viewing occasions are perfect opportunities to turn a break into a shared, interactive moment. By shifting focus from simple reach to meaningful attention and engagement, brands connect more deeply with viewers.

In a fragmented landscape and amid rising audience expectations, early results show a valuable lesson: when TV advertising becomes something viewers can play with, rather than just watch, brands earn a place in the living room – like a joyful present under the Christmas tree.

Also Published in: The Media Leader

impact.com Partners with Evertune to Strengthen AI Search Visibility for Affiliates

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 12:44:05 GMT

impact.com Partners with Evertune to Strengthen AI Search Visibility for Affiliates

impact.com has announced a new partnership with Evertune, designed to give brands clearer visibility into how they appear in AI-generated search results, and the ability to act on those insights through partnerships.

The collaboration will see Evertune’s AI Brand Monitoring data integrated into impact.com’s platform for select customers, allowing brands to understand how Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude reference them in shopping-related queries.

Crucially, it also links those insights directly to partnership activation, showing which creators and publishers most influence AI recommendations and enabling brands to work with them via impact.com.

AI search has been one of the hottest topics – and conundrums – in performance and affiliate marketing this year. LLMs have rocketed into everyday, mainstream use. Adobe data shows traffic to US retail sites from generative AI sources surged 4,700% year-on-year as of July 2025.

Within Evertune’s platform, brands can activate partnerships through impact.com using Evertune’s newly launched Partner Connect marketplace. This allows marketers to distribute content across the creator and publisher sources that LLMs rely on most heavily, such as reviews, comparisons and expert-led commerce content.

As part of the agreement, impact.com has also made a strategic investment in Evertune.

For select customers, impact.com is rolling out AI Search Visibility Reports, including an AI Brand Score that measures how likely an AI model is to recommend a brand without being prompted, and Domain Mentions, which highlight the publisher and creator domains most frequently cited by AI models in a given category.

“This partnership moves performance marketing beyond the click into the realm of insights and authority,” said David A. Yovanno, CEO of impact.com. “It not only gives brands and publishers clear visibility across the LLM ecosystem, but also provides them with strategic activation capabilities to act on that intelligence. It’s a major step toward helping our customers shape and monetize the next era of commerce search.”

Brian Stempeck, CEO of Evertune, added that more than 40% of the top 10,000 sources cited by AI models contain affiliate or sponsored content, highlighting the growing influence of commerce publishers on AI recommendations.

The solution is currently available to select brands, with a broader rollout planned for early 2026.

Also Published in: Hello Partner

Transparency, AI and the Shift to Curation – an Ad Network’s to-Do List in Wild Times

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 12:38:54 GMT

Transparency, AI and the Shift to Curation – an Ad Network’s to-Do List in Wild Times

Ad networks, like most of the rest of us, live in a world in which they don’t necessarily make the rules. But when Google deprecates – and then reprieves – third-party cookies; or when new digital channels, new laws and powerful new technology deliver a steady stream of new realities for the adtech industry – ad networks are the ones whose adaptability and ingenuity allow the programmatic ad business to keep on rolling.

As a platform that works with ad networks to help them build their own programmatic businesses, we know very well the work they do and the wild climate in which they now operate. Indeed, our second annual white paper focusing on the ad network space identifies a bracing set of challenges for ad networks, as well as an outline of how they are contending with them.

Rapidly changing privacy regulations and uncertain identity models, for example, leave publishers and advertisers obliged to plan for old and new scenarios simultaneously, and ad networks must be vital partners in that exercise. Meanwhile, new regulation, channel diversification and effective AI use are also high on the agenda – and again, ad networks need to have the answers if they are to do justice to their clients.

So as 2025 turns into 2026, one quality stands out as the ultimate competitive advantage for ad networks seeking to protect the business of the publishers they serve: independence. That doesn’t just mean independence from unpredictable platforms such as Google and Meta, but independence from opaque supply paths, inconsistent margins and intermediaries that dictate how inventory is bought and priced.

Ad networks can no longer afford to follow one approach and spacialise – they need to cover an unprecedented number of bases. In our white paper, we take a look at a few of the key positions smart ad networks are taking in today’s programmatic world.

Transparency and flexibility in a shifting landscape

With Google’s ambition of third-party cookie deprecation now abandoned, uncertainty in the industry abounds. As a result, publishers and advertisers continue to use cookie-based setups whilst also exploring new identity frameworks.

At the same time, new laws such as the UK’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and antitrust activity in the US are leading to structural changes in the ad tech industry as authorities demand more transparency of supply chains, data governance and cross-platform competition.

For ad networks, therefore, it is important to support several identity models so they can provide buyers with clear insight into where impressions are coming from and how they are measured. And they also need to offer publishers transparency, revenue safeguards and data strategy support as identity frameworks and future regulation hang in the balance.

The strategic role of ad networks in the supply ecosystem

Publishers are faced with reduced margins as prices fall in the open auction, while fraud, MFA inventory and unnecessary intermediaries further diminish value.

Simultaneously, demand is fragmented due to signal loss and ID restrictions. This means that an even smaller number of buyers have access to high-quality audiences.

Publishers are seeking to regain control, building their own data assets, cultivating direct relationships and curated marketplaces, and working hard to protect revenue and reach.

The ad networks who work with them need to package supply and simplify complexity for buyers if they are to build trust among clients and strengthen their own businesses. They are shifting from volume-based arbitrage to function as curators – imposing standards on supply quality, controlling the economics and providing a safe, authenticated environment for buyers.

The channel challenge

Digital now covers an increasingly broad array of channels. Over recent years, CTV ad spend has crossed over tens of billions of dollars in the US alone, while both DOOH and audio continue to gain momentum, with forecasts of programmatic spend expected to reach US$2.2 billion and US$2.3 billion respectively.

Ad networks that provide cross-channel packages deliver substantial value to advertisers. This includes providing standardised KPIs so that buyers can compare across channels and allocate budget depending on campaign objectives, whether that’s attention or reach.

The best AI model

AI integration into platforms is now commonplace, with benefits ranging from automating campaign optimisations and audience prediction to creative production, forecasting and real-time measurement. However, to function effectively AI requires reliable data, clear objectives and human involvement.

Needless to say, ad networks need to lead the line in introducing AI best-practice to the programmatic space. The best of these are finding that AI integration works best with a hybrid execution, with AI taking care of scale and speed, while humans determine intent, context and standards. In this way, both efficiency and performance can advance together.

What is the future for ad networks?

Given the array of complex and conflicting challenges, ad networks that can provide transparency, safeguard publisher revenue, align with first-party data strategies, curate demand, harness AI and support the diverse range of digital channels will fare best.

Of course, that’s a long list, which is why ad networks in turn need to work with partners that provide the necessary tools and insights.

For an ad network, the right partner isn’t one that competes with them, hides fees or maintains control but one whose growth is linked to theirs, ensuring there is no conflict of interest or ulterior motive.

Choosing the right programmatic partner is an art in itself, and one on which we are happy to advise. It may just be the factor that determines whether an ad network can conquer the mountain of challenges it faces in our demanding programmatic market.

Also Published in: Advertising Week

How will GenAI and agentic shape customer experience in 2026?

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 12:28:23 GMT

How will GenAI and agentic shape customer experience in 2026?

From ChatGPT “turn[ing] product discovery into a conversation” with the launch of its shopping research experience to Google rolling out agentic checkout (and ChatGPT’s introduction of instant checkout ), the impact of generative AI on shopping experiences has been a major topic of conversation this year.

Even shoppers who don’t set out to use generative AI may still find their buying decisions influenced by an AI summary in Google or Bing; or find themselves browsing a shopping website with GenAI-powered search .

As we move into 2026, therefore, how do experts in ecommerce and retail media see generative AI shaping ecommerce experiences? Will agentic commerce revolutionise shopping or is it overblown? And how should brands approach loyalty and customer relationships in the midst of this shift? We asked our network for their take.

With thanks to:

Jean-Christophe Pitié , Chief Marketing Officer at ContentSquare
Cristy Garcia , Chief Marketing Officer at Impact.com
Paul Dahill , Managing Director, Sales EMEA at Koddi
Suzanna Chaplin , CEO and Founder at esbconnect
Rose Keen , Content and Insight Director at Econsultancy and author of Econsultancy’s Ecommerce Trends Quarterly report series
Richard Robinson , Executive Director at Ingenuity+
James Taylor , CEO and Founder at Particular Audience

Customers want GenAI that “just works”

Jean-Christophe Pitié, CMO, ContentSquare:

It feels a bit like the early days of ecommerce, when everyone knew the world was about to change but no one could quite predict what it would look like.

Today, brands feel the same about AI. The rules aren’t written yet, but customers are already telling us what they want: interactions that just work, no shiny AI, just AI that’s built into the experience rather than bolted on, and above all, experiences they can trust. In a world where everything gets smarter, trust becomes the real loyalty currency.

Shoppers will happily use AI as long as it feels like part of the retailer’s experience. If it shows up as yet another floating chatbot begging for attention, people ignore it. But when AI quietly powers search, helps compare products, or solves a post-purchase issue in seconds, it suddenly feels like service, not tech for the sake of tech.

And in a tougher economic climate, the smartest retailers are shifting budget away from shiny ‘AI demos’ toward the unsexy stuff that actually moves the needle: analytics, experimentation, design. The truth is, invisible AI is the kind that ends up making the biggest impact.

If [AI] shows up as yet another floating chatbot begging for attention, people ignore it.

AI is quietly becoming the new storefront

Cristy Garcia, CMO, Impact.com:

The biggest elephant in the room is that AI is quietly becoming the new storefront, and most brands have no idea how they appear in AI-generated answers.

As consumers shift from scrolling search results to receiving direct recommendations from AI systems, the signals that drive visibility are changing fast. Commerce content, creator endorsements and trusted sources now shape whether a brand is surfaced or skipped.

The industry talks a lot about “AI disruption,” but the uncomfortable truth is that very few teams are measuring or managing their brand’s authority in this new discovery environment.

Safe bet: By the end of 2026, AI-generated answers will influence more purchase decisions than traditional search results. Brands that don’t understand how they show up in AI-powered discovery will fall behind – often without realising why.

Outrageous prediction: By 2027, every major brand will have a “content authority budget” – a dedicated investment focused on improving how AI systems perceive, rank, and recommend them across the open web. It will sit alongside performance marketing as a core line item.

Paul Dahill, Managing Director, Sales EMEA, Koddi:

Generative AI will dramatically reshape the discovery layer [of ecommerce]. It will help shoppers compare options, understand tradeoffs and refine preferences in ways retailers have never been able to support at scale.

Onsite, AI will improve search, recommendations, content and service. The big unlock is confidence. If AI makes it easier for shoppers to understand their choices, conversions will rise even before agents start transacting autonomously.

Retailers should emphasise value to the customer with GenAI

Suzanna Chaplin, CEO and Founder, esbconnect:

[Generative AI] offers an opportunity to completely rethink ecommerce. An ecommerce store could feel personalised to a user, solve their problem, stop endless scrolling with tailored search results, and reduce returns with better sizing/avatars.

What’s going to hold this back is our ability to imagine, tight margins, and historic systems.

Rose Keen, Content & Insight Director, Econsultancy:

Where we are already starting to see changes to the customer experience is around discovery, with (admittedly still a minority) of customers engaging with models to get recommendations and to plan. That might be a gift for their uncle or their trip to Borneo. Or engagement with B2B tools like Alibaba’s ACCIO for finding suppliers.

This may well shift brands’ competitor sets and creates something else to optimise for.

For retailers, the main opportunity here is to support more personalised experiences through things like better image modelling allowing the customer to see the way clothes would fit on them, personalised communications, and even through generating their own content. Or planning tools like Wayfair’s Muse, which allows you to generate imagery of your redecorated room in a desired style – complete with Wayfair products.

However, it is really difficult to get it right with customer-facing GenAI experiences. We hear more tales of things going wrong than successes. The retailers and brands who appear to of had the most success are those who emphasise the value to the customer, rather than just potential value to the company.

Brands should stop : thoughtless AI driven by FOMO.

Brands should start : thoughtful AI driven by an understanding of the customer, the technologies, and your broader organisational strategy.

It is really difficult to get it right with customer-facing GenAI experiences. We hear more tales of things going wrong than successes.

“We’re building ecommerce for humans, but 2026 shoppers might be AIs”

Richard Robinson, Executive Director, Ingenuity+:

How is generative AI influencing customer experiences in ecommerce? Quietly a lot but loudly not enough. Under the hood, it’s rewriting search, content, and merchandising. 2026 will be the year we see “helpful” chatbots grow teeth and step into their own.

[Right now] we’re building ecommerce for humans, but 2026 shoppers might be AIs. Agentic buying is coming faster than brands can rethink discovery, attribution, and pricing. If you want to win big time you need to move ahead of the curve and talk to the machine.

Loyalty is moving from “collect points” to “collect reasons to come back.” Brands will win by offering usefulness, access, and emotions and not discounts. And yes, they’ll soon need loyalty strategies for AI agents too.

AI orchestrators and commercial technologists, not prompt writers, will be in demand in 2026. This will be the year for people who can blend data, UX, product, and revenue thinking to design automated customer journeys. Nearly every brand now has the tools; almost no-one has the operators.

In 2026, brands should:

Stop: “personalisation at scale.” Most brands can’t even personalise at small.

Start: data hygiene and product metadata. If your information isn’t machine-readable, you disappear in an AI-first discovery world.

Suzanna Chaplin, esbconnect:

I think agentic commerce will be huge – it’s like having a PA. Simple things like: “find me a holiday for X budget – these are the things I like”. Or “analyse my purchase history and prompt me and buy this item when you think I am running low.”

Think about how easily people have adopted LLMs and how many more people you know start searching in ChatGPT first, then Google, and then imagine how quickly agentic commerce will come.

Agentic commerce is still in its infancy

James Taylor, CEO and Founder, Particular Audience:

[Agentic commerce] is definitely overblown, and I expect we are entering the trough of disillusionment after the peak of the hype cycle. Don’t get me wrong, it has great potential, but it is still in its infancy.

In 2026, we will not see agentic AI and AI-powered shopping assistants revolutionise e-commerce as many speculate. Whilst the consumer adoption of AI chat is as big as anything in marketing’s recent history and it is reshaping product discovery, LLMs are still unable to reason to a degree that makes full autonomy probable, and advancement of models has plateaued: scaling compute is no longer the answer, hardware and algorithm R&D is. This will take years, not months.

Rose Keen, Econsultancy:

If widespread adoption happens, agentic commerce will be utterly transformative. But there is an “if” at the start of that statement.

The impact of agentic will go beyond purchases

Paul Dahill, Koddi:

If anything, most of the industry is still underestimating how quickly agents will reshape the upstream parts of the journey. Even before they start completing purchases, agents will influence how demand forms, how shortlists are created and how retail media is bought, optimised and evaluated. That is a massive shift.

…[Agents] will understand user intent at a depth no retailer can match today, and they will make sense of product data across the entire market in real time. When that happens, the retailers who are ready with clean data, fast infrastructure and transparent economics will gain share almost automatically because agents will keep routing demand to the places that perform.

So yes, agentic commerce is early, but it is not overhyped. The impact will show up unevenly, then all at once, and the retailers who treat readiness as a strategic investment rather than a future curiosity will be the ones who benefit most.

Consumers will be hungry for trust in 2026

Rose Keen, Econsultancy:

Honestly, I think we will probably see more GenAI in loyalty in 2026 – not all of it successful.

What I would like to see, though, is an emphasis on trust factors and keeping your promises. With the world increasingly feeling like a low-trust environment, consumers will be hungry for it.

Paul Dahill, Koddi:

Shoppers are becoming more brand-fluid and more mission-driven. They stick with retailers who give them clarity, transparency and a fast, trusted path from discovery to decision.

The smartest retailers are tightening the connection between loyalty, first-party data and onsite experience so that every visit feels personally relevant, not just rewarded.

Cristy Garcia, Impact.com:

Loyalty is shifting from points-based programmes to trust-based ecosystems. Instead of relying solely on promotions, brands are investing in ongoing relationships with creators, commerce publishers, and communities that influence customers earlier in the journey.

Loyalty now begins before a consumer hits the site – when they read a product review, watch a creator demo, or encounter a helpful article. Brands are realising that sustainable loyalty comes from consistent credibility across every surface where a customer makes a decision, not just the owned channels they control.

Also Published in: Econsultancy

In Graphic Detail: What to expect in media in 2026

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 11:48:49 GMT

In Graphic Detail: What to expect in media in 2026

Though the Christmas party season is just around the corner, CMOs and agency partners are hard at work plotting out budgets and media plans for 2026.

Ammunition for next year’s best laid plans can be found in a tranche of recent forecasts from WPP, Dentsu, consultancy Madison & Wall and WARC.

One key finding in WPP’s end of year forecast was the prediction that retail, financial services and travel media spending would overtake all television by the end of this year. “Using commerce data to target and measure shoppable TV is something that just wasn’t possible a few years ago, and is only getting more accessible as players like Amazon expand the footprint of entertainment partners they work with,” said Ryan Walker, head of retail at PMG.

TV advertising companies, meanwhile, want to lean into the demand for commerce and commerce-adjacent media. Minai Bui, director of product marketing at Samsung Ads, told Digiday that building out its suite of shoppable and interactive ad formats was a high priority.

“Shopping on TV isn’t the natural instinct right now. So in order to change that behavior, we do need to make sure that it’s really seamless,” she said.

There’s more than just the changing of the marketing guard here, though. Let’s take a look around the corner.

Midterms and the beautiful game drive American ad investment

North American ad revenue, which totaled $452.9 billion this year, will grow 7.6% in 2026 per WPP’s This Year Next Year report. As usual, the bulk of that spend, and its growth, will come from the United States, though Mexico and Canada’s ad markets should expect an assist from the soccer World Cup. The U.S. is also predicted to see high political ad spend in the run-up to the midterm elections later in the year.

Other drivers of macro advertising growth to keep an eye on include AI investment and freedom from the ambiguity sewn this year by President Trump’s tariff push. As such, WPP’s overall ad revenue projection suggests global ad revenues will rise 8.8% next year.

Booze and tech boost ad dollars

Product launches and the need to put branding meat on the bones of AI products are expected to drive higher tech spending next year, while global government and political spending will be boosted by elections in Brazil and the U.S.

Rising demand for alcochol-free options and sporting events like the World Cup or the Winter Olympics will boost beverage spending. (Depending on your political persuasion the midterms themselves, of course, may also be driving beverage demand.)

More ad spending will be programmatic spend

More television, more audio and more commerce media will be transacted programmatically next year, according to Madison & Wall’s December update to its Q4 forecast.

Programmatic digital out-of-home and digital audio will both rise 30% next year while open CTV inventory will increase by 26%, contributing to 4.4% overall growth in programmatic spend next year. Madison & Wall estimated that programmatic buying will account for 74% of total open web revenues next year.

…but less of that will go to the open web

Make no mistake however — the walled gardens are where most growth is happening.

Revenue at Google’s Display Network will fall for the third year in a row in 2025, and continue to fall through to 2027. Meanwhile TikTok is on course to bag $45.2 billion in ad revenue by 2027, while Meta, Alphabet and Amazons’ combined share of the global ad market (58.8%) will eclipse China’s by the same year.

AI eclipses other marketing priorities

Glaciers and polar bears are nice-to-haves, but far from essential, it seems. A survey by European media agency Mediaplus of over 800 marketers found AI & automation their top priority going into next year, well above creative effectiveness, sustainability or indeed brand-building activities.

51% of marketers rate efficiency as the highest potential AI outcome, according to the same survey.

Also Published in: Digiday

The year ahead: Adland CEOs reveal their big calls for 2026

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 11:37:35 GMT

The year ahead: Adland CEOs reveal their big calls for 2026

As the media, marketing and creative sectors begin to wind down for the year, the real questions begin: What’s waiting for adland in 2026? Which issues will dominate? Where will technology take us next, and so on.

So we asked some of the top CEOs and Founders of media businesses from across the advertising landscape to share their sharpest predictions on the challenges, shifts and opportunities heading our way next year…

Adrienn Major, Founder, POD LDN

“In 2026 I think we will see even more work created with AI. Perhaps we’ll even stop mentioning that AI was used, as it becomes the norm.

“More agencies will develop their own tools, existing players like Adobe will continue to change the game with new releases.

“We might even get an AI TV series starring the likes of Tilly Norwood. But on the downside of tech progress, we’ll see more cyber hacks and systems failures.

“AWS and Cloudflare were just the start. So maybe we’ll all just be doomscrolling on LinkedIn as we wait for websites to load.”

James Kirkham, Founder, ICONIC

“Platforms are arming creators with AI tools for production, targeting and small business management – which will see the solo creator space shift as the space is already creaking with competition, margin pressure etc.

“So in 2026 we will see more structured entities emerge, in effect micro-agencies built like creator cooperatives, community media networks or local houses that blend creators, editors, community managers and even small sales teams.

“They’ll be like micro-agencies, but each rooted in a specific culture such as a football side of town, or a specific scene in dance culture, or a gaming subculture.

“Comment sections, Discord servers and community pages become like their real assets. For brands, the shift will be from ‘find me one big influencer;’ to ‘plug me into the right network’.”

Kate Tancred, CEO, Founder, Untold Fable

“Content companies will need to fully re-architect for the transition between traditional production and AI. We’re already seeing a rapid rise in AI-driven and hybrid briefs — what began as “test and learn” budgets is quickly maturing as tools improve and client confidence grows.

“At Untold Fable, our 8,000+ global filmmakers now include a fast-growing cohort of AI specialists, and hybrid workflows are becoming the norm.

“Big brands are shifting spend, asset-heavy categories are moving fastest, and the real creative battleground will be differentiation as AI filmmaking scales at pace.”

Mike Craddock, co-Founder & CEO, NewGen

“2026 will be the year where creator marketing and social strategy fully converge. The lines between “influencer,” “UGC,” and “creative” will continue to blur, and brands will increasingly treat creators as an extension of their core marketing team rather than a bolt-on channel.

“Micro-creators and UGC specialists will become essential to every brand’s playbook. Their ability to produce authentic, platform-native content at scale will outpace traditional production models, especially as social algorithms prioritise real, relatable storytelling over polished ads.

“Gifting, earned media and UGC-driven workflows will become mainstream, forming the backbone of always-on social output.

“With more creators in the market than ever and more noise in the feed, the campaigns that break through will be deeply creative, strategically led and insight-driven.

“The brands that win in 2026 are the ones who treat creators like creative partners, not just media units, tapping into their ideas, cultural proximity and storytelling power to unlock impact that traditional advertising can’t deliver.

“In short: creator-led thinking won’t sit next to a brand’s social strategy, it will be the social strategy.”

Neil Dennis, CEO, Experience, GAIN

“2026 will be the year experience finally becomes commercial. Not in the sense of squeezing more minutes from teams, but in moving beyond intuition and grounding decisions in real insight.

“AI will close the gap between data and action, giving brands faster clarity on what customers need and why. The winners will be those who blend creativity with evidence and build experiences that feel human even when powered by intelligent systems.

“For agencies, the shift is clear. Depth of expertise, transparent value and a focus on measurable outcomes will separate true partners from suppliers.”

Ian Henderson, CEO and Founder, AML

“Media fragmentation means change is coming fast; from top-down, one to many, TV-led broadcast glory to bottom-up, consumer-led, social-driven brands; where the driver is not one talked-about ad but always-on, lived experience.

“The key skill for CMOs and agencies will be creating and managing the brand story, the glue that holds it and its audiences together.

“That’s hard, complicated and needs a clear, emotionally resonant and simple creative idea at its core – something that can’t (yet) be automated.

“Scary, but exciting. And why we think AML’s ‘simple ideas for a complicated world’ have more value than ever.”

Tim Ringel, Global CEO, Meet The People

“It’s been everywhere in 2025 and the stream of AI’abilities and AI’adoption will not end in 2026.

“Nevertheless we will see the first effects of the “everything can be done with AI” pendulum swing back to “human creative might be better after all” in the new year.

“When, where it will start is unclear but I strongly believe it will happen as consumers will get tired of endless content created by AI and the shiny object syndrome will wear off a bit in 2026.

“Sadly, I believe we will see more consolidation of roles and people’s responsibility under the misconception that AI can solve infrastructural legacy problems of the traditional Holding Companies business model.

“Cheap is sexy with large corporations who are trying to wow the stock market with quarterly business improvements – that trend will accelerate in 2026 even further.

“This means that quantity, also fuelled by accessibility of AI, will rule over quality for another year, especially in creative and content.

“We will see more and more agencies shifting to deliverable models in compensation, a further fragmentation into freelance work as well as proprietary tools/tech/platforms being launched and used by Media and Performance Agencies.

“Thanks to workforce reshuffling, as we have seen it in 2025, entry barriers being pulled down further to build and start smaller agencies as well as price pressure from clients – we will see a renaissance of “Ideas” co-created by these dynamics on smaller brands who will allow for more “risk” in their creative, media activation, experiential and retail strategies.

“I call it the liberation of ideas and a renaissance of what we can expect from breakthrough teams, agencies and clients.”

Ian Maxwell, CEO, Converge

“For all the bluster behind the AI rollout, most of the focus in ad tech has been on bottom line growth: a marginal efficiency gain here, a chat interface there.

“Pushing down costs and squeezing out optimisations are worthy business endeavours, but it’s the pursuit of top line growth that drives true transformation, and it will remain out of reach if AI is treated as a bolt-on rather than an opportunity to rebuild digital advertising’s foundations.

“Next year will see the bottom line normalise and the top line become the new battleground. Those treating AI as a mere efficiency driver will eventually extract all they can from automation, with its ubiquity leaving little room for a competitive advantage.

“Meanwhile, those using AI to deliver truly innovative solutions free from years of inherited tech debt will show the value of a new way of doing things, rather than doing the same thing a little faster.”

Alexander Igelsböck, CEO & co-Founder, Adverity

“As we look to 2026, three trends will stand out – all driven by the need for complete, accurate data.

“First, marketers will increasingly prioritise strong data foundations, ensuring data quality is in place for interconnected AI agents to deliver meaningful results in forecasting, reporting, and campaign optimisation.

“Second, we’ll see a shift toward composability, with more marketers adopting their own data warehouses and moving away from traditional systems to gain better governance and cost-efficient infrastructure. Composability will become essential for staying responsive, reducing risk, and turning constant change into an advantage over the next year.

“Finally, as composable tech grows, MCPs will rise as marketers work to break down data silos. AI applications will need seamless communication and maintained context across different systems to properly support multi-step, cross-channel workflows.”

Steve Kemish, CEO, IMG

“2026 is set to be the year that the AI bubble bursts.

“Certain tools will likely go bust, or be acquired by others, meaning your terms of licence and service may be changed with a new owner.

“That requires more due diligence, as a new owner might not be able to operate in a part of the world that doesn’t have the same rules on data/AI usage, such as EU vs US.

“This could all mean increased cost and complexity for the martech stack, plus the potential ‘rug pull’ risk of a service you relied on not being there anymore.”

Chris Cookson, CEO, Uncovered

“Fragmentation will break traditional media — and social will glue it back together!”

“ By 2026, the media landscape will become further fragmented. Audiences will spend more time across a mix of platforms. As this changes, the ability for brands to reach everyone in one place becomes more difficult, however, the one place people are sure to return to will be social media.

“Because of this, social is likely to play an even bigger and more central role to play in how brands organise their marketing ecosystem.

“Social will no longer be an add-on, but rather a channel that helps shape their creative decisions and strategy.”

David Nelson, co-Founder and CEO, Limelight Inc

“I expect to see CTV and DOOH continue on their upward trajectory in 2026. AI will also dominate headlines, but its role is being redefined – to be truly effective, it needs the human touch.

“Supply curation will continue to dominate conversations around programmatic.

“Our view is that with the right guidance and programmatic expertise, ad networks can become a great supply curator as their role in the industry evolves.”

Suzanna Chaplin, CEO and Founder, esbconnect

“The rise in fake content, together with the sheer volume of content out there. is going to erode consumer trust and create more noise – the brands who win out will be those who succeed in building authenticity and community in spaces they own.

“AI will handle optimisation, but strategic storytelling will remain an invaluable human skill. Humans are still better than AI at coming up with innovative ideas and value propositions, but AI will become better at helping to surface this information.

“Granular data sets for consumer targeting – powered by AI: The sheer volume of data available to be processed is too much for a human to comprehend.

“AI will be able to find patterns at speed, build models which can use more data for better accuracy and surface information that may invalidate a model or ID.

Piero Pavone, CEO, Preciso

“It’s been a cliche for a while, but walled gardens are showing signs of crumbling. Simply, they don’t offer the value, efficiency or transparency that can be found on the open web.

“Brands and advertisers need to find adtech partners that reflect their values, offering a powerful, ethical supply chain that drives performance.

“SMEs and medium sized businesses also need to realise they have access to powerful programmatic tools through various platforms, and that size is no longer a barrier to entry in digital advertising.

“Embracing the latest tech is also key. It has issues, but AI is beginning to become a really powerful tool – when combined with human integrity and insight – and can be used to ease workflows and reach consumers faster, and at greater scale.

“CTV is also one of digital advertisements’ fastest growing sectors. Its ability to reach consumers in a place where attention is held for hours has obvious attractions and, while there have been issues surrounding fragmentation and content overload, innovative ad formats are beginning to mitigate these issues and engage audiences effectively and efficiently.”

Chris Pettit, CEO and co-Founder, Revving

“Transactional-based Funding takes over the reins from invoice factoring: 2026 will be the year when the companies that keep the digital economy moving free themselves from the shackles of late payments.

“For too long, these have stifled innovation by strangling cash-flow, but a new model – Transactional-based Funding – is emerging that makes it possible for companies in the digital economy to easily access the money they are owed, without relying on invoice factoring, which is prone to fraud.”

James Taylor, CEO and Founder, Particular Audience

“AI will be ruthless in punishing irrelevant content: AI will simply ignore irrelevant content, posing a direct risk to legacy retail media setups. Presenting consumers, or their AI agents, with the most relevant offers and product recommendations for them will be more critical than ever.

“To survive the growth of AI as a channel, retailers need to move to relevance-first platforms that deeply integrate sponsored and organic results to deliver the best recommendations for the consumer.

“The retailers who enjoy success will be those that augment rather than override the shopping experience, that ensure bots aren’t blocked from accessing their sites, and that implement the Model Context Protocol so AI systems can interact precisely rather than stumble.”

Drew Ungvarsky, CEO and Founder Grow

Experience platforms will deliver brand value

“The brands doing the most interesting work in 2026 will be the ones who shift from chasing attention in short bursts to investing in experience platforms that evolve over time and reward repeat engagement.

“This shift changes not just what brands build, but how they bring value to their audiences. Platforms demand that brands earn attention by creating content and experiences that are worthy of seeking out and returning to.

“AI will also shun the spotlight, supporting these platforms behind the scenes, enabling personalisation and responsiveness. But the real differentiator will be sustained engagement, as brands focus on creating value over time with ever-evolving digital destinations.”

Creativity and technology will speak the same language

“In 2026, the distinction between ‘creative thinking’ and ‘technical execution’ will feel increasingly outdated. The strongest ideas will emerge from teams where creativity and technology work side by side, shaping concepts together rather than passing them across silos.

“We’re already seeing a backlash against work where AI is treated as the idea itself, or where technology is bolted on at the end. When teams are fragmented, the work shows. When they’re integrated, the technology disappears, and the experience feels effortless.

“As tools become more powerful and accessible, craft and judgement become the real differentiators. Which means knowing how ideas behave in real systems, and designing accordingly, is going to be so important in the next twelve months.”

AI-collaborative teams will take the lead

“After a period of rapid experimentation, 2026 will be less about proving who uses AI and more about how teams use it together. The pressure to adopt new tools has shown that technology only improves the work when people are all on the same page.

“Audiences are quick to spot when AI is used lazily or performatively. But when creative and technical teams collaborate closely, AI can become that quiet enabler, accelerating workflows, unlocking new possibilities and supporting better ideas.

“The best experiences don’t need to explain the technology behind them. They’ll reflect confidence, clarity and care in how they were made.

“The future isn’t about AI leading creativity, but rather about teams that know how to lead with creativity in a more technologically complex world.”

Also Published in: Mediashotz

Preciso announces alliance with the Shenzhen Artificial Intelligence Industry Association

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 11:27:34 GMT

Preciso announces alliance with the Shenzhen Artificial Intelligence Industry Association

Bid-smart ad platform Preciso has announced a new alliance with the Shenzhen Artificial Intelligence Industry Association (SAIIA), joining the non-profit organisation as an official vice-president enterprise member.

Preciso says the SAIIA promotes the development and application of AI technologies and is the leading AI trade association in China, serving as a central hub in Shenzhen's AI ecosystem with more than 800 enterprise members. The city of Shenzhen is China’s third-biggest with a population of around 18 million, and is second only to Beijing as a centre of Chinese AI activity.

“We are delighted to become the latest members of the Shenzhen Artificial Intelligence Industry Association as the world builds towards a revolution in humanoid robotic technology,” said Preciso CEO Piero Pavone. “There is nowhere in the world more exciting than Shenzhen for those who follow the development of AI, and we look forward to working closely with more and more companies in this space as they go to market and build their own marketing strategies.”

The SAIIA was formed in 2017 by companies and institutions in the fields of electronic communications, big data, computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition, autonomous driving and other artificial intelligence-related fields. The organisation facilitates academic exchanges, leads industry research and develops cross-industry standards, as well as liaising between government, enterprises and academia.

Preciso claims it is itself an increasingly familiar face in the Chinese AI business. The company used the recent 27th edition of the China Hi-Tech Fair in Shenzhen to officially launch its Ultima Ads AI-powered native advertising solution to the booming AI and humanoid robotics industry, which is forecast to become a billion-dollar business.

Ultima Ads is Preciso’s native, integrated advertising solution, delivering efficient, targeted native ads that drive meaningful engagement, while minimising ad spend. According to the company, it employs AI bid-smart technology to optimise the bidding and buying process in real time, serving only the most relevant ad placements, while minimising ad wastage and associated carbon emissions.

As well as exhibiting its technology at the three-day fair in the south-eastern Chinese city, Preciso hosted the after-show party, attended by more than 50 technology brands. Guests at the event included robotics companies Legend Robot and GDLinxai, with its D50 quadruped robot dog.

Also Published in: InPublishing

From passive viewing to playful engagement: how this Dominos ad break delivers

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 11:21:52 GMT

From passive viewing to playful engagement: how this Dominos ad break delivers

The Media Leader talks with Lauren Barnett, head of UK sales at Samsung Ads, and Harry Packshaw, head of AV at Havas, about their recent Domino’s ad campaign, the first in Europe to use Samsung Ads’ GameBreaks ad format.

The Media Leader: So, Lauren, could you please explain what GameBreaks is?

Lauren Barnett: GameBreaks is a new ad unit we introduced earlier this year on the Samsung TV Plus service in the US, Canada, and the UK. Built natively for Samsung Smart TVs, GameBreaks ads take the form of short, remote control-powered trivia quizzes or games that run in the first ad slot of premium commercial ad pods. This offers viewers a frictionless way to engage, while giving advertisers a new medium through which to earn attention. Advertisers can customise trivia questions, themes, and design elements within GameBreaks ads to align with campaign goals.

TML: Why did you introduce the format?

LB: TV is an increasingly interactive medium, so ads should no longer need to follow the old rules of a linear storyline. They, too, can become part of the new era of interactivity. We know that humans are hard-wired to enjoy playing games. In fact, according to Exploding Topics , there are 3.32bn active videogame players worldwide – that’s over 40% of the world’s total population. We know, too, that in the UK, gaming now accounts for 11% of the daily time viewers spend on Samsung smart TVs [source: Samsung, H2 2024], so we thought it was a logical move to bring gaming into advertising.

TML: And Harry, your client, Domino’s, was the first brand to use the format outside of the US. What was the appeal for you?

Harry Packshaw: One of the brand perception mechanics that really works for Domino’s is that it is a crowd-pleaser, and this has a real impact on driving consideration, which is the biggest lever for purchase intent. So, in terms of both building brand awareness and pushing further down the funnel, it really works for them. So we really want to play in that space, be at the heart of those crowd-pleasing moments and grow that association with Domino’s as a much-loved universal brand.

The other point about Domino’s is that, especially in the digital space, it’s always keen to try new ‘firsts’. There’s also been a lot of talk, backed by data, on how gamification really helps shift the dial on key brand metrics. It really encourages loyalty while also increasing the sense of fun that brands are trying to create across all their campaigns.

Finally, CTV sits at the heart of people’s homes, and people really engage with it. So when you put all that together, you can see that GameBreaks was a no-brainer for Domino’s. When the opportunity came up to be the first brand to try this outside the US, it jumped at it because it aligns so well with its brand ethos.

TML: Tell us about the ad.

HP: It was a really authentic activation, where viewers were presented with pizza-related questions such as: “What is the most popular topping for a pizza in the US?” (The answer is anchovy, in case you were wondering.) So people were encouraged to get involved with the ad through the questions, and it proved really popular and engaging.

TML: How did it perform?

HP: Really well. We saw a strong engagement rate of 3.84%. Still, the real vindication for the campaign was a 31% uplift in consideration, mirroring exactly what we thought we would see in terms of driving the perception of Domino’s as a crowd-pleaser, which led to this big increase in consideration.

TML: Lauren, you must be delighted to hear numbers like these.

LB: Yes, they very much tally with independent research on GameBreaks ads carried out by MediaScience in the US, which found they deliver a 53% lift in unaided brand recall, outperforming standard video ads by 1.5x. The study also found that 89% of viewers preferred GameBreaks over traditional commercial breaks. So it was great to see this reflected in the UK.

ML: So are there more GameBreaks campaigns in the pipeline, Harry?

HP: For sure, and moving forward and learning from this campaign, we can be a bit braver, a bit cheekier, a bit more provocative with some of the questions next time.

TML: And Lauren, from your perspective, you must be pleased that GameBreaks is go in the UK.

LB: Yes, for sure, we have seen a lot of success for brands in the US with Gamebreaks, so I am excited to bring it to our partners in the UK, finally. Our test with Havas and Domino’s has been a huge success, and people can look forward to seeing and engaging with many more GameBreaks ads going forward.

Also Published in: The Media Leader

Ad sector warns of Q1 2026 slump as Reeves’ Budget bites

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 11:10:21 GMT

Ad sector warns of Q1 2026 slump as Reeves’ Budget bites

The UK government is still battling the fury and outcry over Chancellor Rachel Reeves stinging budget last week, which many viewed as doing little or nothing for UK businesses.

Even today, Labour Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, was forced into pleading with the nation that no one ‘lied’ over the budget, despite on the record promises from the Chancellor last year that there would be no need to tax the nation so heavily again this year.

The Budget and business

While companies digest and come to terms with how the controversial budget will impact them in the months ahead, business confidence is likely to be less exuberant as we head into 2026, with caution being the watchword.

Among those affected will be those in the media, marketing and advertising sectors, and some have offered their initial takes on the budget.

James Taylor, CEO at Particular Audience , told Mediashotz: “Overall, the budget risks short-term confidence erosion and ad caution.

“Consumer sentiment, already fragile, has plunged further in November amid doom and gloom over tax hikes and borrowing costs.

“Inflation is up, and wages are getting squeezed.

“Ad spend forecasts were cautiously optimistic pre-budget, but higher business costs signal a mood of restraint in the immediate future.

“I expect a big push into Christmas sales followed by a quiet Q1. Retail media will draw a greater share of ad budgets, given that it offers measurable outcomes with quick impact.”

Chris Pettit, CEO and co-Founder of adtech-focused fintech, Revving , added: “With National Insurance and the minimum wage both going up, smaller marketing and adtech businesses are going to find life tougher in the immediate future.

“And in a digital sector where money already takes too long to reach those who are owed it, that could signal real hardship for companies who are already struggling with cashflow.

“We have already seen significant demand for specialist funding solutions that allow adtech companies to invest and grow when the cash they are owed is slow to arrive, and inevitably we are going to see a lot more companies in that position.”

Also Published in: Mediashotz

Fired Up 2 debates the five key trends turning up the heat in adtech

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 10:53:30 GMT

Fired Up 2 debates the five key trends turning up the heat in adtech

Fired Up 2 unleashed itself in London this week as the cream of adtech fervently debated which were the hottest topics in adtech right now.

Organised by UK adtech-focused fintech, Revving , CEO Chris Pettit told us: “If our first Fired Up event set the industry alight back in the spring, Fired Up 2 this week proved just how much hotter things can get.

“Tickets disappeared in 48 hours; we added more seats, and still people were queuing at the door.

“And why? Because this industry is ready – hungry, even – for conversations that are bold, unfiltered, high-energy and genuinely useful.”

“Over 100 industry professionals didn’t just watch – they voted, debated, challenged, and played their role in deciding what’s truly hot in adtech as we head into 2026.”

Five trends took the stage. Only one would walk away with the title. But each revealed something bigger about where we’re headed.

If you missed this hi-octane event, here’s how the top-five lined up:

1. Retail media: still wearing the crown (according to the numbers)

James Taylor from Particular Audience kicked off the debate advocating for the heavyweight: retail media – the reigning champion from Fired Up 1, and with good reason.

Retail media remains the fastest-growing ad channel, adding another 17.7% in 2025. It took just five years to rocket from $1bn to $30bn, and now we’re talking about a category that could be worth $1 trillion when you factor in CPG trade budgets.

As Taylor put it, retail media isn’t just the closest channel to purchase – it’s the only channel that can track the sale itself. And while traditional search slows, retail media accelerates – one in every five digital ad dollars already lands here.

Judge Bill Fisher from eMarketer posed a key challenge: would commerce media dilute retail’s dominance? No, said Taylor. If anything, adjacent media will only expand the pie.

So retail media didn’t just survive 2025 – it grew teeth. And having once again been crowned the winner, it remains the one to beat in 2026.

2. Human-in-the-loop AI: ‘Genius of average’ meets ‘power of human edge’

Nicola Cooper from ViVV Labs brought a different kind of fire – one aimed directly at the blind optimism surrounding automation.

When she asked the room how many people use AI daily, nearly every hand went up.

When she asked how many trust it? Not so many.

Her message was clear: AI executes, but humans decide. Human-first AI isn’t about babysitting machines, but establishing three irreplaceable roles:

Control, where humans set the direction
Risk, where humans judge the blast radius
Go/no-go, where humans decide whether to proceed or veto

As Cooper explained, “AI is the genius of the average. But in a competitive market, average is death.” Her Formula 1 analogy also hit home: the cars are built and designed almost identically, but the driver wins the race.

And when it comes to key values such as accountability, intent, and courage – none of those are codeable.

3. Data marketing: While the cookie crumbles, the inbox wins

If Cooper got philosophical, Suzanna Chaplin from esbconnect got practical – and straight to the point. Data marketing isn’t abstract – it’s personal. It’s your email. Your postcode. Your phone number. It’s the data your granny understands – and can opt out of any time. And that’s precisely why it matters.

Data marketing eats cookies for breakfast because it’s permission-based, precise, and portable across channels. Recently, email-based targeting has delivered CPAs 37% lower for AA, and postal-email combinations have returned £8 ROIs.

But the real mic drop was this: Google, Amazon, Meta have spent millions collecting emails and addresses because they know first-party identity is the only long-term marketing play that scales without waste.

In a world allergic to waste and obsessed with ROI, data marketing isn’t old-school – it’s inevitable.

4. Creator: The nexus trend

While San Sareen from impact.com agreed the other trends were valid, he argued that creator is what connects all the others.

The customer journey is shattered – black-box algorithms, saturated paid media, disappearing signals. But consumers still trust real people. And 62.4% of them follow creators weekly.

He stressed that creators should not be considered as media buys, but true business partners. They drive intent, shape culture, and increasingly act as the operating system of brand discovery.

To unlock this channel, brands need to adopt a new model for:

Hybrid compensation (fee + commission)
Advanced attribution (beyond last click), and
New metrics (CAC and LTV over ROAS)

As Sareen explained: “This isn’t a part of the marketing strategy. This is the marketing strategy.”

And with GenAI reshaping search, authentic human content becomes the fuel that feeds the machines.

5. GEO: the new frontline of search

Finally, Claire Dean from Alchemy Network addressed the elephant in the room: that search – the second biggest media channel in the world – is breaking. In fact, 60% of searches now end without a click.

CPMs are exploding. And one LLM – ChatGPT – is already the fifth-most visited site on the planet.

By 2027, LLM search could overtake traditional search – and it won’t be won by SEO tactics. Currently, fewer than 10% of GenAI citations overlap with Google’s top ten results.

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is a different game entirely. It favours FAQs, comparisons, reviews – content humans trust and machines reference.

For brands already leaning in, the results are staggering: 312% share-of-voice increases, 30% conversion lifts, and 38% sales growth.

Search isn’t dying. It’s mutating. GEO is how brands stay visible when the screen stops being clickable.

So those are our five trends:

Retail media showed us where the money is
Human-first AI showed us who’s steering
Data marketing showed us what’s real
Creators showed us who consumers trust
And GEO showed us where the battleground is moving

Taken together, they reveal one undeniable truth – the future of adtech belongs to those who act early, think boldly, and move fast.

And that’s exactly what Fired Up – and Revving – exist to accelerate.

See you at the next one?

Also Published in: Mediashotz

Black Friday - the shopping day that only gets bigger

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 10:38:22 GMT

Black Friday - the shopping day that only gets bigger

Back in the 1960s, Black Friday was the Philadelphia police’s disapproving term for crowds of shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving. In the 1980s, having revived the date as a useful pre-Christmas shopping rush, retailers claimed Black Friday was the moment their trading position went from red to black - in other words, the point in the year when they went into profit.

But if its origins are murky and include their fair share of hype, one thing is certainly true in 2025: that Black Friday - which falls on 28th November this year - is the retail event around which the rest of Q4 revolves, particularly for e-commerce.

The power of the crowd

Black Friday brings the year's largest audience, which in turn means that it provides programmatic advertising with the scale that Q4 needs. Last year, Black Friday drove $74.4 billion in global online sales, a 7% year-on-year increase from 2023. In the US, consumers spent a record $17.5 billion during Black Friday - also a 7% increase - and many predict another increase this year.

Today, Black Friday is a major retail event not just in the US, but also across Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, making it nearly as significant for shoppers in the UAE, Brazil, and beyond as it is in its country of origin.

Black Friday exerts its own gravitational pull, which can be negative as well as positive. In the UK, where Amazon and Asda imported the concept in the 2010s, this year’s Black Friday was said to be responsible for slow retail sales in October , as customers held out for bigger savings on and around 28th November.

Bigger than Christmas

Black Friday kicks off the Christmas shopping period, and justifiably so, because it also draws a significant proportion of both festive sales and festive deals. In fact, 70% of popular items are cheaper on Black Friday than in the week before Christmas.

Of course, Black Friday isn’t the only chance to indulge in a consumer frenzy as the festive season begins. Cyber Week - starting with Black Friday and also including Cyber Monday across the critical BFCM weekend - last year netted a record $314.9 billion in global online sales - and December has its fair share of promotions. But Black Friday itself remains the peak, and its significance for online retailers can’t be overstated.

Overall, US consumers are projected to spend more than $1 trillion on holiday shopping for the first time ever, and major retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and Target are poised to benefit particularly from the surge - their own share prices fluctuating in response to analysts’ projections of how geared up they appear to be for the season.

The programmatic opportunity

In the programmatic space, the phenomenon of Black Friday creates its own particular set of highly powerful market conditions that no merchant can afford to ignore. Budgets, inventory and demand align perfectly during this promotional period, maximising the impact of programmatic campaigns. Essentially, Black Friday compresses weeks of sales into days, accelerating programmatic's path to the fulfilment of Q4 targets.

Ad responsiveness peaks during Black Friday too, making programmatic optimisations exceptionally effective. Shopper intent surges at this time, driving programmatic's highest efficiency and ROI. By concentrating consumer spending, conversion increases dramatically. Black Friday rapidly builds retargeting audiences, letting programmatic convert high-intent users before year-end.

So what does it all mean for smaller brands?

The big retailers tend to hog the BFCM headlines, but there is much to encourage smaller merchants to get involved, and plenty of advice available on how to do it. According to Shopify data , 2024 BFCM sales were up 24% over 2023 - a total of $11.5 billion in global sales from Shopify merchants alone. More than 67,000 merchants had their highest-selling day ever on Shopify over that weekend.

Shopify itself is free with suggestions of how to maximise the BFCM effect , including:

the importance of starting early
choosing the discounts that get the better results - smaller reductions may surprisingly work better than steeper price cuts
the value of keeping consumers engaged after the sale

Online advertising for all

Advertising also plays a key role. Thanks to built-in automations in e-commerce platforms, smaller companies can now set up digital ad campaigns far more easily than before. New businesses launch every day, and smart-bid solutions like Preciso help level the playing field, enabling any merchant - even those with very limited budgets - to start using programmatic advertising immediately.

Many small and medium-sized businesses are shut out of programmatic options because traditional DSPs require high minimum spends. Without access to managed or self-serve tools, and without the resources to build their own system, SMEs often miss out on key seasonal advertising opportunities.

Platforms like ours aim to remove these barriers. We provide access to premium ad placements without forcing brands into unrealistic or inefficient spending. Advertisers only pay for the traffic their ads actually receive, and because we evaluate three essential factors - timing, audience, and context - the system continuously learns and delivers ads to the right users at the right moment. This ensures spending goes toward impressions that generate measurable results.

There is an irony in the fact that, in spite of the year-round predictions - and realities - of economic gloom, Black Friday appears to be one moment retailers can’t afford to underestimate. So strap in, bid smart, and prepare for the season.

Also Published in: Marketing Donut

Ad industry leaders on Black Friday: Tips, trends & warnings

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 09:59:50 GMT

Ad industry leaders on Black Friday: Tips, trends & warnings

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just days away, ready to unleash the year’s biggest shopping surge. But with the UK Budget statement crashing the retail party, how might this year’s sales bonanza be disrupted?

We asked leaders across the marketing, adtech and creative sectors what brands should be watching — and where the smart money is this season…

Adrienn Major, Founder, POD LDN

“This year’s Black Friday ads really highlight how quickly brands are embracing smart tools and automation to stay competitive.

“It’s clear that marketers are moving beyond traditional ad creation and leaning into custom workflows, streamlined versioning and advanced adaptation tools.

“These systems don’t just save time; they help teams produce highly targeted, high-performing campaigns that drive real sales and stronger conversions.

“As shoppers expect more personalised and seamless experiences, brands using these technologies can deliver faster, smarter and more relevant advertising.

“This lends itself particularly well to Black Friday campaigns, when price and speed are all important.”

Stephen Upstone, CEO & Founder, LoopMe

“While advertisers have been planning Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns for months, our data indicates that 66% consumers are planning their purchases in the three days before, and a quarter only on the day itself.

“Advertisers should be aiming to maximise conversions by engaging consumers with creatives on these preceding days, as well as the first sale day. It’s also worth noting that deal discovery is being led by CTV and social media channels, or influencers on those platforms.

“These key channels indicate an open lane for building brand awareness and equity for the shopping events.

“With our data showing a high level of suspicion around the validity of deals, particularly among Gen-Z. Only 10% aged 18-24 believe Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are “definitely real,” compared to 21% of those aged 25-44. Skepticism must be countered with specific campaign messaging that verifies discounts.

“Brands should be highlighting the genuine value of the savings to build trust, and validate this by tracking brand sentiment. To capture the younger, ageing-up audience, it’s even more important for brands to emphasize the authenticity of savings in their campaign messaging.”

Suzanna Chaplin, Founder and CEO, esbconnect

“Traditionally, Black Friday creative has relied on stark, minimalist typography, such as black backgrounds and bold percentage discounts. But this year, that approach risks disappearing into a sea of identical black boxes.

“Consumers are more cynical about discounts and more selective about what feels worth buying.

“To stand out, brands need to move from the discount billboard to experience-led creative, much like what we see from M&S Food. Bring the product to life and make it feel indulgent, uplifting and even a little luxurious.

“Think beyond “25% off” towards a creative that sells the feeling of the product, with discount messaging used more subtly. Shoppers are looking for those small, justifiable luxuries, the lipstick moment.

“Creative that highlights experience, quality and sensory appeal will outperform flat discount graphics this year.

“From an online strategy point of view, first-party data capture is crucial. This weekend will bring peak traffic as well as peak noise. Incentives such as sign-ups for free delivery throughout December or a discount on a future purchase can turn one-off visitors into long-term customers and build your email base at low cost.

“With the right incentive, you can position your brand as the destination for December.

“Finally, brands must protect margin. Returns surge during Cyber Week, so encouraging click-and-try in-store helps reduce logistics costs and creates valuable upsell opportunities.

“And rather than offering blanket discounts, brands should focus on basket-building mechanics such as tiered rewards, bundles and free gifts to lift average order value without racing to the bottom.”

Barney Worfolk-Smith, Chief Growth Officer, DAIVID

“We’re seeing a growing wave of clients testing GenAI-powered, multi-versioned and segment-personalised ads — one of the first real at-scale use cases for AI-generated mid- to lower-funnel creative.

“Our assessments have already surfaced a few snags (including some classic uncanny-valley moments), so keep an eye out in your feeds. Will it deliver RO-AI… or RO-no-way-I?”

Tom Stone, co-Founder, re:act

“Black Friday and Cyber Monday have turned into long campaigns rather than one-week sprints.

“Most brands have already done the heavy lifting by warming up audiences for months, building engaged communities and lining up the right creative and media foundations before pushing harder in these final days.

”The next week will be about closing the gap rather than starting from scratch.

“Because the space is so crowded, you can expect bolder creative choices and more experimentation across adtech and ecommerce journeys.

“The brands that perform best won’t be the ones shouting the loudest, but the ones that spent the past half-year preparing their audiences so these last touches feel natural rather than frantic.”

Emma Lacey, SVP, Sales Demand EMEA, Onetag

“Black Friday campaigns will naturally include social and retail media, but the premium open web also offers immense opportunities for reach and relevance, as many users explore reviews, inspiration, and editorial content before making purchase decisions.

“Brands can appear in these environments that naturally align with consumer mindset and build stronger engagement by using contextual and attention signals to guide media investment.

“The ability to curate quality supply and optimise placements in real time gives advertisers a clear performance advantage, helping them connect with shoppers where decisions are being shaped rather than where they are simply completed.”

Owen Hancock, RVP, Marketing – EMEA, impact.com

“The era of the ‘smash-and-grab’ Black Friday ad blitz is effectively over. Consumers are savvy; they’re starting their research as early as September, they’re checking multiple sources, and frankly, they’re sick of brand-direct noise.

You can’t just buy your way to success with a weekend media spend anymore. Brands need a longer creative runway that is built on real trust. The companies that will convert consistently this season aren’t the ones with the biggest ad budgets; they are the ones leveraging trusted voices – creators, publishers, and niche experts – to meet consumers with authenticity wherever they are scrolling.”

Manal Saho, Regional Business Growth Consultant, Preciso

“Brands are shifting towards a world where creative agility and data integrity work side by side.

“AI will take over much of the heavy lifting in content production, helping teams move faster than ever, but the brands that win will be the ones that keep authenticity and strong storytelling at the heart of their work. Speed means nothing if the message doesn’t feel human.

“In adtech, first-party data and privacy-focused technologies will continue to sharpen targeting, giving brands a clearer understanding of real customer intent without relying on third-party signals.

“This is becoming essential as regulation tightens and consumers demand more control over how their data is used.

“At the same time, shopping itself is shifting. Seamless, social-led experiences are changing the way people discover and buy online, blurring the lines between content and commerce.

“As Black Friday rolls in, brands that combine fast, flexible creative with trusted data and frictionless buying journeys will be the ones that cut through the noise.”

Ben Cicchetti, SVP Marketing Communications, InfoSum

“Black Friday exposes a simple truth. You cannot win by sending more emails into overflowing inboxes, or by raising bids in media auctions that are already saturated.

“You win by bringing together the most interesting and diverse datasets to unlock intelligence your competitors cannot see.

“The brands that can connect insights from retailers, media owners and trusted data partners in a secure environment will be the ones that gain an edge.

“These networks give marketers access to intelligence that identity-based targeting alone cannot match. When AI can analyse diverse, privacy-safe datasets, it becomes possible to spot genuine buying signals, reach high-intent shoppers and spend with far more efficiency.

“It is the brands that collaborate, not the brands that shout, that will cut through the chaos of Black Friday.”

Savina Parvanova, Global Marketing Director, Limelight Inc

“This Black Friday and Cyber Monday, brands won’t just compete on offers, but on the speed and intelligence of the ad platforms behind them.

“Yes, the scale of opportunity is nearly unmatched across the annual sales calendar, but budgets are inflated in tandem, and everyone and their dog are out for a piece of the pie.

“Brands looking to adtech will need to be really smart about who they partner with if they’re to rise above the rest, and engage their audiences to drive sales.

“They should build an adtech stack that includes partners capable of operating with large volumes and unlimited QPS.

“They should also work with a variety of channels in a multi touchpoint ad strategy to perform best and make use of more adaptive technology that enables them to optimise trading workflows in real time.

“Brands that develop the right programmatic stack give themselves the greatest chance of success at this annual event.”

Lukas Schneider, Director Campaigns & Products, MINT Square

“As one of the golden quarter’s key shopping moments, Black Friday offers a prime opportunity for advertisers to reach consumers.

“This is even more relevant in the tougher economic conditions of 2025 – with the British Retail Consortium reporting that retail sales were down in October , as consumers waited for Black Friday deals.

“With so many brands and retailers fighting for attention at this time of year, it’s important to get strategies right to cut through the noise.

“Although online shopping continues to grow at pace, Black Friday is one time when shoppers still hit the high street, and advertisers should therefore think about channels that can reach them when they are ‘on the move’, such as digital out-of-home (DOOH) and audio.

“DOOH can be delivered almost anywhere, and is able to dynamically adapt depending on advertiser requirements and other factors. Audio is another channel with huge potential, with major platforms such as Spotify opening up more data, allowing programmatic opportunities to expand for advertisers.

“Including these as part of omnichannel efforts are a powerful way to grab consumer attention and influence purchases.”

Alison Harding, Vice President of Data Solutions, Lotame

“The Golden Quarter may be highly competitive, but marketers who play the long game with a data-driven, audience-first approach will find value beyond the festive window.

“Outsmarting the competition isn’t about outspending them during Q4; it’s about applying insight to reach the right audiences when others aren’t paying attention.

“Black Friday is a powerful moment for consumer engagement, but it’s one goalpost among many to win for brands. The real opportunity lies in how brands leverage this seasonal momentum to build lasting relationships with their customers.

“Brands that invest in understanding their customers year-round will be the ones who convert seasonal spenders into lifelong advocates.

“Making sure brands understand the motivations, habits, and preferences of shoppers throughout the year, and also on which media channels they spend their time, will allow brands to engage strategically and proactively with their customers, rather than simply reacting to seasonal trends.”

James Taylor, CEO, Particular Audience

“Another year where consumers are waiting for BFCM (Black Friday, Cyber Monday) to hit, outside of replenishment categories we see higher browse and lower conversion across the board.

“Many baskets are getting filled and we expect checkouts to rocket once the deals hit.

“Our fixed tenancy media placements on retailer websites have hit record pre-bookings this year, showing that advertisers are starting to play the retail calendar properly, this will drive material outcomes for the advertisers that are on the front foot”.

Sarah Robson, Global Head of Ad Effectiveness, On Device

“During this festive season, brands are facing shoppers who have never been more savvy and value-focused. Brands need to stay top of mind, targeting consumers at the right funnel stage, and with data that gives them the confidence their marketing investment is working.

“There is a growing demand for more granular, reliable insights into how campaigns are performing across channels. Seasonal advertising isn’t just about big TV campaigns, it’s about understanding which touchpoints move people and why.

“As consumers spend more selectively, brands that have a solid measurement framework will see the most success, connecting emotional storytelling and effective media planning with clear, data-led insight to continually enhance their advertising campaigns.”

Also Published in: Mediashotz

MarTech360 Interview With Rana Dib, Senior Customer Success Manager at impact.com, and Steven Bero, Affiliate Marketing Manager at Rosetta Stone

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 09:53:00 GMT

MarTech360 Interview With Rana Dib, Senior Customer Success Manager at impact.com, and Steven Bero, Affiliate Marketing Manager at Rosetta Stone

A misfiring affiliate campaign can be more hassle than its worth. It can damage ROI, waste resources and even endanger brand safety. It’s easy to see how (and why) major brands like Rosetta Stone can quickly become unstuck in the partnership space if they don’t use the appropriate tools to drive performance.

How long have impact.com and Rosetta Stone been working together?

impact.com and Rosetta Stone have been working together since April of 2023.

Tell us a little about Rosetta Stone.

SB: We are a world-renowned language tool that – since the early 1990s – has been helping people across the globe learn to read, speak and write over 25 languages. Our platform delivers a range of courses – from beginner through refresher to advanced – simultaneously helping to expand the learners’ horizons through the magic of language education. Our company operates across a number of markets, helping individuals at home, in schools and across organizations learn a second, third or even fourth language.

What do Rosetta Stone use the impact.com platform for?

RD: Rosetta Stone uses impact.com to power and scale its affiliate marketing program. The platform provides accurate tracking and attribution, real-time transaction reporting, fraud prevention tools, and performance analytics that give us complete visibility into its partnerships. This allows Rosetta Stone to identify and reward high-performing partners, reactivate dormant affiliates, discover new partnership opportunities through the Marketplace feature, and scale the program confidently while maintaining brand safety and compliance.

Can you give us an example of a recent campaign?

RD: We recently carried out a complete overhaul of Rosetta Stone’s legacy affiliate marketing program to optimize both ease of use and performance delivered. The company previously encountered tracking issues that made attribution tricky, meaning sales were often miscredited to incorrect partners. There were also other issues that resulted in regular data and reporting inconsistencies, which meant that Rosetta Stone’s affiliate team was essentially working blind. This also meant they lacked the insights to properly scale the program, and the recruitment of quality partners became problematic.

What was the challenge/brief?

SB: We came to impact.com to refocus our affiliate marketing strategy, and repurpose it for the 21st century. Initially, the brief was to get the basics right: sort out tracking issues so that sales were credited correctly, stop the phantom transactions that were plaguing their campaigns and rebuild trust with their partners regarding compensation accuracy.

RD: We then turned to their data and reporting inconsistencies. The aim was for Rosetta Stone’s affiliate campaigns to produce reliable performance data that gave the team real visibility into how their partners were performing. Once we had accurate data, we could focus on strategy – ensuring Rosetta Stone was investing and optimizing valuable partnerships, and increasing ROI.

Finally, Rosetta Stone asked us to help their new-look affiliate program scale at speed, something the impact.com is designed to facilitate once the building blocks are in place. Optimization through nurturing high-potential partnerships played a large part in the success.

What did you do to meet it?

RD: First, we built a reliable tracking foundation, and then we resolved inaccuracies through Transaction Detail Reporting that involve real-time reconciliations. This allowed Rosetta Stone to do everything from sales validation to fraud prevention, all while complying with their affiliate agreements.

As part of the fraud prevention work, the impact.com platform was able to search and report on any unauthorised affiliate behaviour. This meant all partners upheld their end of the bargain regarding the program’s terms and conditions, ensuring brand safety.

Focusing on data-driven decision-making empowered the company to proceed with actionable insights. For the first time, Rosetta Stone could accurately reward high-performing partners and optimize their campaigns effectively.

Simultaneously, impact.com’s platform allowed the company to run Partner Performance Reports that identified inactive partners. This allowed them to create emails and messaging that helped reactivate many international affiliates. impact.com also employed its Marketplace feature to discover and scale Rosetta Stone’s affiliate activities.

How did it go?

SB: The work has been a resounding success, and impact.com’s platform has achieved significant financial growth and measurable program enhancements.

This was driven by doubling the size of their affiliate programme from 112 to 246 partners , contributing to a 100% increase in site traffic year-over-year.

RD: In fact, since Rosetta Stone came to impact.com, it has achieved 87% year-over-year revenue growth through affiliate marketing. The brand enjoyed $120,000 in first-year cost savings through improved contract terms and streamlined processes, which is testament to impact.com’s technology and platform.

By working with impact.com, Rosetta Stone successfully transformed its affiliate program from a liability into an engine for growth.

Any learnings from the campaign?

RD: A misfiring affiliate campaign can be more hassle than its worth. It can damage ROI, waste resources and even endanger brand safety. It’s easy to see how (and why) major brands like Rosetta Stone can quickly become unstuck in the partnership space if they don’t use the appropriate tools to drive performance.

SB: Through its innovative technology and feature-packed platform, impact.com was able to turn Rosetta Stone’s affiliate program around. impact.com delivered substantial cost savings for the company while also enhancing tracking accuracy, ensuring robust compliance, and providing the confidence necessary to scale effectively.

Any future campaigns in the pipeline?

RS: We have over 1500 joined partners to Rosetta Stone and are always engaging partners across the funnel in the affiliate channel. From TV segments down to holiday gift guides, the program is optimized for the holidays and beyond!

Are you interested in learning a new language? Unlock access to a lifetime of learning with Rosetta Stone today!

Thanks Rana & Steven!

Also Published in: Martech360

Rewriting the Rules of Performance Marketing: The Creator-Led Growth Advantage

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 09:44:12 GMT

Rewriting the Rules of Performance Marketing: The Creator-Led Growth Advantage

Consumers today have more choice and more control when it comes to shopping. Social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Meta have collapsed the shopping journey into a single destination for discovery, research, and purchase. Creators are the trusted guides in these environments, connecting with audiences through authenticity rather than algorithms.

Brands that embed themselves in creator-led communities are not only successfully navigating the modern consumer journey but also outperforming.

Through partnership marketing, brands like prebiotic soda Olipop have achieved an impressive close to 1,000% ROI through creator campaigns, with 12% of total sales driven by creators last year. The company built a community-led strategy from the ground up, driving success through partnerships with a range of creators, lifestyle advocates and registered dieticians – chosen for their shared values over follower count.

Systemic Priority Shift

Similarly, Unilever is reallocating 50% of its media spend to social and increasing influencer marketing investment twenty-fold. The company sees the direction of travel, and is moving quickly to embrace partnership marketing in its many forms – even if that means tearing up the rulebook to build partner-led marketing strategies.

These aren’t isolated moves— they signal a systemic shift in marketing priorities.

But what makes social media platforms successful in engaging audiences? Their nature inherently encourages community building. This means that in today’s digital advertising world, brands need to become part of these communities.

Whereas previously, brands did all the talking, telling consumers how great their products are, relevance now depends on others saying it for them. People now tune out brands that talk. They lean in to brands that listen. Therefore, it’s critical that partners, creators, and communities carry a brand’s message with them. Enter: partnership marketing.

The New Consumer Journey Demands a New Marketing Playbook

Authenticity and the trust it creates beats targeting every time, so brands need to figure out how to become a part of the communities where their audience spends time. They can do this by partnering with ambassadors, affiliates, publishers and creators of commerce content to engage with consumers as organically as possible.

The new consumer journey is multi-device and multichannel, flowing dynamically in all directions, both online and in the physical world. The traditional funnel is no longer fit for purpose, given the dramatic shift in how consumers discover, research, and buy products and services.

This poses a new challenge for the industry, but making matters worse for marketers is ad blindness. Reaching audiences via traditional methods is more costly than ever; acquisition has increased by over 200% in the last decade.

Partnership marketing— which is part of the larger “performance marketing” category and accounts for only about 2% of the $600 billion spent annually— offers a solution. Brands can engage with consumers through trusted partners to drive performance through communities where they are listening and watching. Meanwhile, brands that are pumping large amounts of cash into increasingly inefficient traditional performance marketing channels are missing out on the huge, untapped potential presented by partnerships.

Drive Growth with Creator, Influencer Marketing

Social media has become the primary focus for time and attention because interacting with creators on a daily basis has become entirely normal. The majority of consumers don’t turn to magazines, TV, or radio for trusted reviews and opinions; they open their smartphones and browse various platforms to find the information they need.

As a result, the new approach to partner marketing is happening on social media. Looking at the stats, it’s clear why. In 2025, there will be about 5.45 billion social media users across the globe— that’s just over 67% of the world’s population, and an increase from 4.72 billion users in 2023. The average user spends 19 hours a week on social media platforms, so it follows that social media creators will provide the best chance for brands to meet them there.

In fact, social media last year became the single largest ad channel (with 22.6% of global ad spend), overtaking paid search for the first time. Additionally, in 2024, brands increased their investment in influencer partnerships by 49%, and content creators now command 25% of social marketing budgets.

Five Proven Strategies to Maximize Influencer ROI

Build for the long term . Partnerships that sustain and mature over time become increasingly successful, as both brand and creator/influencer craft and calibrate their relationship towards mutual success over the long term.

Empower creative freedom . One of the biggest causes of strain between a brand and creator/influencer is creative freedom. Brands need to give their partners licence to present their products and services in their own voice, resonating with their audience and driving success. No algorithm, agency, or brand strategist understands an audience like the creator who built it. The smartest brands don’t dictate the message— they empower creators to deliver it their way.

Activate customer advocates . Happy customers already love your product and recommend it. The question is: Have you made it easy and rewarding for them to do so? Referral marketing through partnership management platforms will help you do this, simultaneously driving growth and trust with your audience.

Integrate, don’t isolate . Partners are a core part of a marketing mix, and should be integrated as such. Influencer marketing belongs within the broader partnerships function, aligned with performance marketing. When these teams are separated, it limits the impact of influencer marketing. What’s more, fully integrating partnerships will provide greater performance on a smaller budget, providing a measurable impact on ROI.

Embrace hybrid models . Brands often put creators in boxes— focusing solely on awareness or strictly on delivering performance. Embrace hybrid models that incentivize creators to start a relationship with your brand and give that collaboration room to evolve. This might look like a flat fee on initial commission, with the addition of a performance-based element. And the better a brand treats and collaborates with its partners, the harder those partners work to amplify its message – creating lasting loyalty and long-term performance.

The next era of performance marketing belongs to partnerships. Consumers have already moved to community-led commerce. Consumers now buy through communities, not campaigns. Brands that cling to outdated, one-way advertising models will be left behind. Partnership marketing led by creators is now the most direct, scalable, and trusted path to growth. The only question is: How quickly will your brand move to meet your customers where they already are?

Also published in: Demand Gen Report

Jellyfish Maximises Google Ads PMax Performance Using Insights from LLMs

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 09:31:34 GMT

Jellyfish Maximises Google Ads PMax Performance Using Insights from LLMs

With its Share of Model™ tool, Jellyfish becomes the first company to leverage brand perception from AIs like Gemini and ChatGPT to automatically generate ad optimisations.

Jellyfish has made a major breakthrough for advertisers on Google Ads. Its proprietary tool, Share of Model™, launched in late 2024, can now turn AI-driven brand perception analysis into direct optimisations for Performance Max (PMax) campaigns.

In practice, the technology identifies gaps between how AIs perceive a brand and the brand’s advertising messages. It then automatically generates Search Themes aligned with users’ real intentions, enhancing both the relevance and efficiency of campaigns at scale.

A unique synergy for smarter PMax campaigns

This seamless and automated integration transforms PMax campaign management by building a direct bridge between brand perception and advertising performance through four key steps:

Perception Analysis: Share of Model™ reveals how AIs truly perceive a brand, its products, and its competitive environment.
Opportunity Identification: The algorithm compares this perception to existing PMax campaigns to uncover “semantic gaps” — relevant themes where the brand is currently absent.
Search Theme Generation: It automatically produces new Search Themes based on real consumer intent, validated by search volumes, to fill those gaps.
Instant, Automated Optimisation: With one click, new themes are injected into Google Ads via API, enriching and optimising campaigns without manual intervention.

From insight to business impact: PMax automation powered by Share of Model™

Developed with direct support from Google, this innovation positions Jellyfish as a pioneer, enabling advertisers to fine-tune their campaigns quickly and precisely using insights directly aligned with consumer needs. The result: greater ad relevance and improved performance across Google Ads campaigns.

Proven results

Early deployments confirm the tangible impact of this approach.

At MSC Direct, a leading industrial distributor, Share of Model™ identified previously invisible search opportunities for ad algorithms-driving a +45% revenue increase on optimised asset groups and an average +50% boost in ROAS over a 30-day test period, all without increasing budget.

Other brands, particularly in the lifestyle sector, have reported similar results, with measurable improvements in both relevance and qualified traffic within just a few weeks.

“Jellyfish is the first to connect LLM-driven understanding with large-scale ad activation. With Share of Model™, we turn AI-based brand perception analysis into automatic Search Theme generation, directly injected into Google Ads PMax—boosting both relevance and performance,” explained Thomas Skowronski, VP, technology solutions at Jellyfish.

“This integration shows how LLMs can be leveraged to analyse gaps between brand perception and user intent. PMax campaigns powered by these insights become more precise, measurable, and aligned with real search behaviour—while maintaining transparency and control for advertisers,” added François Bracq, head of innovation partners at Google France.

Also Published in: Little Black Book

Bellrock appoints Dan Weiss as Managing Director of its consulting business

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 09:22:56 GMT

Bellrock appoints Dan Weiss as Managing Director of its consulting business

Dan Weiss has been appointed Managing Director of Bellrock’s consulting business, responsible for developing Bellrock’s property consulting services, leading acquisitions to expand the business, and providing strategic leadership and structure for the team.

Weiss is a highly-experienced property leader with 25 years’ experience in the industry. He joins Bellrock from Sodexo, where he was Chief Growth Officer for the £2bn / 30,000-person UK & Ireland business. He previously spent 11 years at Atkins and four years atFaithful+Gould, where he ran the company’s strategic asset management practice. Other leadership roles include Chief Operating Officer of a £120m / 3500-person delivery business and Managing Director of Sodexo’s Property Professional Services division.

Dan Weiss said: “It is a privilege to join Bellrock at such a pivotal time. As a private equity-backed business with ambitious growth plans, Bellrock is not only scaling rapidly but doing so with purpose – disrupting the market, investing in cutting-edge technology like Concerto and Mobiess, and positioning itself as both a trusted advisor and an employer of choice. I’m looking forward to working with the team to build on that momentum and deliver even greater value to our clients.”

Added Carlo Alloni, CEO: “Bellrock is on a growth mission, and we couldn’t have hired anyone better than Dan to help us meet our ambitious targets. Our strategy is focused on delivering excellence to our clients, scaling through targeted acquisitions and organic expansion on the back of great service, enabling us to broaden our capabilities, deepen our sector expertise and deliver even greater value to our clients. Dan will help us deliver on that. Backed by incredible talent and driven by innovation, we’re building a disruptive, technology-enabled platform that positions Bellrock as both a trusted advisor and an employer of choice in the property and risk management space.”

Also Published in: Facilities Management Journal

The Missing Piece: Particular Audience

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 15:11:41 GMT

The Missing Piece: Particular Audience

‘The Missing Piece’ is a series where we ask the retail/commerce media tech platforms how they are addressing the challenges facing the ecosystem.

This time, we speak to James Taylor, Founder and CEO of retail technology company Particular Audience .

What excites you about the retail media landscape as a whole?

What excites me most is that retail media is finally entering its unbundling and optimisation phase. We saw this happen in ecommerce around 2020 – monolithic, all-in-one platforms gave way to specialised, high-performance components. Retail media is only now making that jump.

We’re moving from long-term exclusivity agreements with single vendors to a world where retailers can choose the best tools for each part of the stack. That shift unlocks innovation.

Technically, we’re evolving from rules-based configuration and audience segments to true machine learning – understanding intent, meaning, product attributes, and relevance in real-time. It’s very similar to the conversion-rate-optimisation boom of the 2010s: experimentation, iteration, and evidence-based improvement.

Retail media is nowhere near a solved problem, and that’s what makes the moment so exciting.

What are the biggest challenges facing the ecosystem?

The biggest challenge is the industry’s lack of education around search and recommendation systems. Everyone uses them – very few people understand why they behave the way they do.

Because many RMNs have been tied into single ad-tech platforms under one-to-three-year exclusive agreements, they’ve never had a basis for comparison. Innovation has been artificially restricted.

People often talk about fragmentation being a problem, but I see it differently. Fragmentation creates space for specialisation, and specialisation is exactly what retail media needs. This ecosystem isn’t mature enough for consolidation to be the answer.

Another major challenge is buyer experience. Brands want consistency, transparency, and outcomes they can confidently measure.

Finally, channels continue to proliferate from DTC to AI. This brings challenges and opportunities.

How does your business aim to solve those challenges?

We solve them through vertical integration and interoperability.

Search, recommendations, and sponsored placements shouldn’t be separate problems – they influence each other constantly. We treat them as one continuously learning system.

Our transformer-based search and multi-modal recommender models understand meaning, intent, imagery, copy, and metadata, so the same foundations that improve organic discovery also improve retail media performance.

Our reporting tool is now free to use and open-source via Github. A major win for transparency and measurement in retail media.

The result is better discovery for shoppers, higher-performing ad inventory for retailers, and a simpler, more transparent buying experience for brands.

It may also be worth mentioning that through our sub-brand, Retail-MCP, we’re helping retailers participate in the rise of agentic commerce. Something we view as an important but unpredictable new channel.

What has been your biggest success so far?

Solving the search problem.

43%+ of website users use onsite search, 94% of consumers say they receive irrelevant results. This costs retailers over $300 billion a year in the US alone.

For years, retail search has been dominated by keyword matching and rules-based ranking. We replaced that with transformer-based (the same ‘T’ in ChatGPT) semantic search that actually understands the shopper’s intent and the product’s meaning. It’s called ATS, or “Adaptive Transformer Search.”

Retailers using our approach have seen a step-change in product discovery and retail media performance – be it 20%+ lifts in engagement or the massive time savings AI offers from manual processes – we’ve validated and refined it across enterprise partners in the US, UK, EU, and Australia. It’s become the foundation for the rest of the retail media stack with downstream impacts, such as the ‘Automated Ad’Set Builder’ we announced last month, and is woven into our ML-powered hyper-personalisation capabilities for the customer experience layer.

What do you think the future holds for both your business and the wider world of retail media?

Technically, we’re focused on the underlying intelligence layer – understanding shoppers and products, predicting what people want next, and optimising and automating both organic discovery and paid placements across the full retail media surface.

Thematically, I think we’re looking at the end of the monolithic retail media platform.

RMNs have been stuck in exclusive agreements with slow and sluggish legacy platforms for too long, it’s not how the broader ecom and digital world operates. It stifles innovation. We’re changing that and the market is changing with it.

The future is modular, transparent, and machine-learning driven. Retailers will assemble the best components for search, recommendations, ad serving, measurement, and creative decisioning – rather than relying on one slow-moving provider to do everything.

For Particular Audience, the future is about powering that flexibility.

Also Published in: Retail Media Age

Retail media and the $300 billion opportunity for affiliate marketing

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 15:04:30 GMT

Retail media and the $300 billion opportunity for affiliate marketing

Retail media is no longer a niche channel – it’s a $150 billion global market, expected to double within a few years to represent a fifth of all digital ad spend.

However, the vast majority of retail media investment is currently focused on onsite activity, like sponsored listings or display banners. The next, and arguably most scalable, wave of retail media growth will come from extending a retailer’s reach off-site.

Consumers’ declining trust in traditional, biased brand advertising has created a “trust deficit,” forcing them to look elsewhere for purchase validation. As a result, they now actively seek authentic, third-party proof from trusted creators, reviewers, and communities, which is precisely the environment where off-site media thrives.

As retail media expands off-site, affiliate marketing becomes its natural, performance-based engine by providing the established network of trusted, third-party creators and publishers needed to drive authentic sales, creating a massive opportunity for affiliates to capture new streams of advertising revenue – a $300 billion opportunity.

Brands that invest in proper tracking infrastructure, adopt sophisticated attribution, and work with platforms capable of managing complex retail media affiliate relationships will capture more of this expanding opportunity.

Let’s take a look at how affiliate marketing fits into the wider retail media landscape, potential pitfalls, and the technical requirements and strategies needed for affiliate success.

Why retail media is reshaping brand spend

Retail media networks (RMNs) have been the beneficiaries of significant advertising investment because they offer first-party data alongside high purchase intent. So when retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and Tesco sell advertising space through sponsored product placements and targeted ads, they capture consumers who are already ready to buy.

RMNs use internal shopper data to target advertisements with more precision than traditional channels. Ads appear on product pages, in mobile apps, at checkout, and through in-store digital displays. Growth continues as major retailers expand their advertising platforms. For instance, Tesco, Sainsbury’s/Nectar 360, and Costco have recently launched or scaled their networks to capture more brand marketing spend.

With investment pouring into RMNs, the question becomes: how do affiliates seize their share of this high-intent ecosystem?

Affiliate marketing finds its sweet spot

By its very nature, affiliate marketing’s performance-based model suits retail media’s focus on measurable returns. Affiliates benefit from operating within retail media environments because they work closer to purchase decisions. For instance, when affiliate partners integrate with retail media campaigns through performance incentives (such as commission rate boosts), promotional codes, or partnerships within retailer platforms, conversion rates improve by driving engaged offsite traffic into these high-intent retail environments.

At this year’s Affilifest, speakers highlighted how first-party shopper data is opening new pathways for affiliates, who can deliver higher conversions with lower customer acquisition costs by driving engaged traffic into these high-intent retail environments.

Solving the attribution challenge

But while the opportunity is huge, affiliate marketers also face persistent attribution challenges. Today, 81% brands believe they have perfect attribution, but as panelists discussed, when affiliates work within retailer ecosystems, traditional last-click attribution becomes more problematic as purchases span multiple touchpoints within owned retail environments.

Hierarchical attribution offers a solution. Instead of universal attribution models, brands need to recognise that different publisher types require different approaches. Content publishers drive awareness, cashback sites facilitate conversions, and review platforms influence decisions. Each contributes differently to customer journeys.

Of course, attribution only works if the right tech stack is in place – something many brands are still catching up on.

Building an affiliate tech stack fit for retail

Winning in retail media demands strong infrastructure. Today’s partnership management platforms give vendor brands the capability to track and measure partner activity across e-commerce, apps, in-store moments, and media placements – mirroring the multi-channel sprawl of retail media itself.

Advanced attribution capabilities allow brands to validate affiliate performance deep within the retail ecosystems. Integration features make it possible for affiliates to manage promotional codes and sponsored placements, with clear visibility and reporting from first click to final sale.

From test-and-learn to scalable affiliate partnerships

Successful retail media affiliate partnerships often start with content strategy. Rather than standard product reviews, affiliates are relying more on creating viral content, personal stories, and material that connects with their audiences. Then they can direct their traffic through to the retail environments.

Trust, creativity, and control matter: affiliates who maintain their distinctive voice while plugging into RMNs drive stronger performance. This requires understanding audience preferences and creating content that naturally guides consumers toward retail environments where purchases can be tracked properly.

For brands entering the space, it’s wise to start small. Test specific product lines and budget limits to find the right fit before ramping up investment. Learn what resonates across audience segments and refine the partnership approach accordingly.

Retail media is expanding at breakneck speed. Brands and affiliates that master attribution, invest in the right platforms, and experiment with scalable partnerships will capture the most value. Meanwhile, those that delay risk being shut out of one of the fastest-growing channels in digital advertising.

Also Published in: Modern Retail

How AI is pushing partnership marketing to new levels of power and performance

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 14:54:35 GMT

How AI is pushing partnership marketing to new levels of power and performance

AI is changing the way we interact with businesses through chatbots; helping advance medical and healthcare science; and even translating dog vocalisations (or barks) into English .

Everywhere you look, AI is making its presence felt, and that includes partnership marketing. One of AI’s real strengths is its ability to process vast quantities of data at lighting speed to granular levels. This is making it an extremely potent tool in the space, and the most innovative platforms are harnessing its power to tackle some of the industry’s biggest challenges.

These include pain points surrounding adoption, performance, usability and analysis. Increasingly, AI is also helping brands capitalise on the disruption that large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT are bringing to the digital advertising industry.

As a result, AI is making partnership marketing more efficient and effective than ever. It is facilitating digital ad campaigns with greater scale and performance than previously possible, and cementing partnerships as one of the most exciting, dynamic and powerful forms of digital marketing.

Flattening the learning curve

Partnership platforms are powerful, innovative and crammed with advanced technology. The risk is that the complexity, alongside the sheer number of features a platform offers, can make it intimidating to use and hard to leverage to their best potential. The result? Marketers decide that communicating, commissioning and contracting partners is just too much effort.

Fragmented workflows exacerbate this issue, especially if a range of partnership marketing products are involved. If this is the case, overall performance can be hard to measure and understand accurately, negatively impacting campaign performance, analysis, future optimisation and strategy.

One such solution are AI-powered conversational interfaces such as chatbots or assistants that make it quick and easy for users (who might not be particularly technical) to engage the platform’s features, simultaneously reducing in-platform time.

AI assistants can recommend potential partners, generate contracts, produce measurement reports and generally reduce workflow around administrative tasks, allowing advertisers to focus their attention elsewhere.

Partner discovery and commissioning

Success in the partnership space is defined by a brand being able to find the right partners. Get the correct mix of creators, B2B partners or affiliates, and you’re on your way to building a successful programme.

In recent years, various automation tools have made it faster and easier for marketers to discover the right partners, but AI is really accelerating what’s possible. Whereas this process was once largely manual, search-based and time-consuming, AI can now recommend appropriate partners for a brand to work with. This allows marketers to scale their campaigns automatically, while keeping a vice-like grip on partner quality. Both contribute to increasing campaign performance.

Commissioning and contracting partners has always been something of a manual bottleneck for marketers. Agreeing rates and terms with hundreds of partners is a time-consuming, resource-intensive process. Again, AI is changing that, automating and agreeing contracts with partners and tying terms into a brand’s programme goals. Even more impressive is that AI can take this a step further, and benchmark commission rates to suggest adjustments to a partner’s contract in real-time based on their performance.

Partner analysis and insights

AI is transforming campaign analysis, and the level of insight available to marketers. Many platforms out there can report on how a campaign has performed… yet won’t provide a full picture of why it has performed a certain way, and how to react in shaping future strategy.

AI is changing that to provide granular, aggregated reporting that now includes detailed insights that interpret results. For example, AI widgets will tell you why a metric changed, or suggest action to reverse an unwanted trend. The most advanced solutions – like impact.com – can even scout for context external to the platform, such as trends and industry benchmarks, to enrich analysis and insight. As its influence expands, understanding how your partnerships affect your brand’s perception on social media is increasingly important. This is an area where AI social listening has the power to deliver unique insight, and is even being used to understand how competitor brands are performing, helping your creator partners understand the impact of their content.

In tandem, partner content is also a key driver of LLM mentions and sentiment. Partnership platforms that extend their social listening experience and technology into the chat space offer unique insight helping brands and partners understand how they are being ‘spoken about’ within these new consumer facing tools.

Generative AI, Agentic Commerce, and ChatGPT are as much industry disruptors as they are technologies. In addition to the intelligence and automation being built into solutions like impact.com, platforms are focussing on tools to allow brands and partners to track, measure, and engage with LLMs as consumer facing applications. Early betas include tools for brands to understand chat sentiment and mentions, engage with AI applications through unique offers and content, and content authenticity verification.

As AI’s power and potential is realised, partnership platforms are deploying it to create AI-assisted experiences through agents, contextual intelligence and integrated automation. This makes partnership solutions easier to use than ever, more intelligent, and faster to act, driving performance while tackling some of the industry’s thorniest challenges

Also Published in: Martech360

Unify organic search and paid ads to drive retail media success

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 14:48:13 GMT

Unify organic search and paid ads to drive retail media success

The retailer, the brand and the customer.

The three corners of the retail media triangle, which numerous platforms and solutions hope to resolve into one neat advertising experience.

The only problem is that there is a fundamental flaw in how most retail media networks approach the task. This is because their methodology relies on serving paid ads to shoppers during the browsing experience at the cost of displaying personalised organic results, which probably serve the consumer better.

The result is a system in which the consumer’s shopping experience is weakened to attract advertising dollars from brands and advertisers.

Yet, the retail media space moves fast, and new, vertically integrated AI-native platforms are developing technologies that provide a more predictive, personalised shopping experience. These can unify organic search, retail media, and recommendation solutions into a single decision engine. The result? For the first time, retailers engaging customers can optimise for both relevance and revenue to drive growth. In short, they get the best of both worlds.

Retailers hindered by legacy thinking

For years, retail media has been one of the most buzzy topics in digital advertising. The space is expected to be worth over $300bn by 2030 , accounting for approximately 20% of global ad revenue.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that retailers are looking to get in on the action by offering better customer experiences, presenting audiences with contextually relevant products at the right moment in their search.

Yet, they are being hindered by legacy thinking. Retailers still focus on the data they hold, rather than the personalised offers and recommendations they could use to serve their customers.

The result is that their sponsored listings are lumped above the organic search results that could better serve the consumer. The retailers sell a lot of ads, but at the cost of total conversions… which begin to stagnate.

This is why retailers need to look beyond operating siloed systems, in which ad dollars cannibalise organic sales, customer trust is eroded because they’re not served high-relevance products in search results, and short-term ad revenue is prioritised over long-term audience loyalty.

Unifying converging worlds

So how can retailers take their advertising to the next level, transforming them into potent growth machines?

The more you think about it, the stranger it seems that paid content and product-serving technologies operate independently of organic merchandising, personalisation, and discovery tools.

The reality is these worlds are converging. The answer is to employ a retail media platform that uses a single decision engine to optimise the customer experience while simultaneously appeasing the many stakeholders within its own business.

This allows a retailer to retain an excellent customer experience while maximising CTR and conversions. It also enables them to deliver outcomes on secondary business KPIs, such as overstocks, spoiled inventory, private label, margin priority, trade package commitments, and ad yield, to name a few.

The message is that a retailer no longer needs to choose between monetisation and customer experience. If they unify organic search and paid recommendation under a single, AI-native, transformer-based retail media platform that promotes hyper-personalisation, everyone is a winner.

Customers get better, faster, more personalised discovery experiences that are natural and non-obtrusive. Retailers can maximise ad yield without losing out on organic conversions. Brands can contextually reach shoppers where intent is highest.

How does it work in practice?

Imagine you’re shopping for a guitar. You go to a retailer’s website, type your search terms, hit enter and wait for the results to load. With traditional retail media, the advertising brand paying the most will have its ad unceremoniously dumped at the top of your search results.

This process lacks nuance and doesn’t take into account anything remotely personal about you —the purchaser —or your context. It doesn’t know whether you’ve filtered a specific price bracket or even whether you’re looking for an electric or acoustic guitar, for example.

Yet this is what a vertically integrated retail media platform that unifies organic and paid search into one solution is capable of. The technology understands consumer context and values multiple factors (including expected conversion probability and ad bid value) to produce search results that are relevant to the customer, even placing organic products above paid results.

In this way, the customer gets relevant search results, feels greater loyalty to the retailer, the advertising brand is exposed to a high-intent, contextually relevant audience (even if it doesn’t feature at the top), and the retailer makes an organic sale and benefits from ad revenue.

Retail media is now a channel with significant momentum; retailers must take notice. It operates in a unique place, at the intersection of customer experience and revenue opportunities.

But they must employ the right tools. Native-AI retail media platforms that are vertically integrated, emphasise hyper-personalisation for consumers, and unify organic and paid search under one roof. They’re best placed to show every shopper what they want, when they want it. In this way, retail media can transform sponsored listings into a real growth machine.

James Taylor is CEO and Founder at retail media platform Particular Audience

Also published in: The Media Leader

Bellrock wins prestigious IWFM Award for its work with the London Fire Brigade

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 12:25:37 GMT

Bellrock wins prestigious IWFM Award for its work with the London Fire Brigade

Facilities management industry disruptor Bellrock has triumphed in the 2025 IWFM Awards, picking up the IWFM Impact Award for Workplace Experience: Non-office/Corporate Environment, for the deployment of its integrated CAFM (Computer-Aided Facilities Management system), Concerto, with the London Fire Brigade (LFB).

In presenting the award, the judges said: “This entry stood out for its exceptional management of complex FM (Facilities Management) environments, making a tangible difference for the front-line teams.”

When Bellrock began working with the LFB in 2021, their growing property portfolio was becoming increasingly challenging to manage. With a real estate of 102 fire stations and one river station across the capital – 63% of which were over 50 years old – there was a constant and substantial maintenance requirement, alongside friction among service personnel at the way the process was managed by the incumbent operator. Through partnering with Bellrock, LFB stakeholders recognised an opportunity to better maintain their buildings, freeing up their time to focus on the job in hand – saving lives.

Bellrock deployed its data-driven CAFM system, Concerto, across the LFB estate, and embedded a dedicated Bellrock team within LFB’s own team to ensure the system would align with operational realities. The solution includes a web portal where all LFB employees can request new work, track the progress of ongoing jobs, flag any issues with suppliers working on projects, and access a 24/7 helpline. The portal also includes video and user guides, and a roadmap showing how smart technologies can be used to manage buildings more efficiently, and support carbon reduction goals.

The solution has been constantly developed and iterated since it was first deployed. Recent enhancements include Escalation Tags to enable personnel to see which jobs need to be escalated; Tiles, which enables jobs in any defined category such as “Urgent” or “Attended but incomplete” to be grouped in one view; and Customised Dashboards, which enable personnel to create their own views of ongoing projects.

The portal has created transparency between LFB employees and FM operations. It has also improved customer satisfaction, and reduced administrative overheads and a reliance on phone and email to raise and track issues.

As one LFB Borough Commander puts it: “Historically, most of the gripes from staff were about property problems and the systems we had in place to send up faults. The portal has put an end to all this. Officers can track and trace jobs and see exactly what’s happening. It’s cut down massively on repetitive work and frustration for station-based staff.”

Between 1st April 2021, when Concerto was deployed, and 1st March 2025, LFB employees have raised 207,044 Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) requests, as well as 47,270 reactive work orders. They have also reviewed 11,345 quotes, and raised 2,576 recalls. In that time, the platform has delivered £1.6m in savings on approved quotes, and the pass rate for PPM Certificates on initial submission has risen from 70% to 92%.

Claire Page, Head of Property at LFB, and her team, have demonstrated the successful initiative to multiple other fire services and agencies across the country, including Essex, Kent, County Durham and Darlington fire services and the Ministry of Defence.

“This award is testimony to the efficiencies and improvements that Concerto brings to the FM arena,” said Mark Tyson, Managing Director of Bellrock’s Intelligent Asset Care division. “London Fire Brigade employees can now see for themselves how their buildings are functioning, track the progress of repairs and other projects, and easily raise new tickets when they come across a problem that needs addressing. The feedback we have had suggests this has had a positive effect on morale across the service, freeing firefighters up to do what they do best, which is to save lives.”

Also Published in: FM Business Daily

Bellock introduces a new playbook for hard services that empowers engineer autonomy

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 12:14:41 GMT

Bellock introduces a new playbook for hard services that empowers engineer autonomy

Bellrock has unveiled its Symphony playbook – a proactive approach to delivering M&E maintenance that “promises” to transform the FM space, ushering in a new data-led era of predictive maintenance and real-time monitoring.

Symphony translates constantly monitored building data into actionable insights, allowing expert teams to identify warning signs and fix problems before they even occur. Such predictive maintenance drives cost savings and compliance, in contrast to reactive, high-cost emergency maintenance approaches.

Mark Tyson, Managing Director of Bellrock’s Intelligent Asset Care division said: “The current approach to building maintenance is broken. Different rooms, systems and estates are managed in isolation, in a way that lacks the intelligence to see when something is wrong, or soon will be. Symphony tackles the problem head-on by monitoring a building’s status continually and then feeding alerts, curated trends and expert analysis into the hands of building services engineers and facilities managers.”

Symphony learns and adapts to the way buildings are used, their capex investment profile and their energy reduction targets. Algorithms assess a building’s current status, identify inefficiencies and recommend preventative action when performance failure thresholds are close to being breached.

Through data, technology and engineers working to a high level of autonomy, Bellrock takes account of different building environments to develop a bespoke preventative maintenance regime that is unique to every space, from hospitals to restaurants to commercial office blocks, based on the specific usage patterns of each one.

“If you think of the building as an orchestra, with many different assets, Symphony is the conductor that makes sure they are all playing in harmony,” said Tyson.

Symphony has been in development since 2019. Since then, it has been tried, tested, and refined with clients including Legal and General Asset Management (L&G). It is now being used by a range of organisations to save money through the remote triaging of issues, increased uptime, and reduced maintenance costs across their estates.

Ongoing training on the processes and technology is delivered to engineers and facilities managers directly through the Symphony Academy, where users are trained on a data-led approach to building maintenance.

Bellrock CEO, Carlo Alloni, added: “The facilities management industry is ripe for disruption, and Symphony is ready to disrupt it. Companies are missing a trick and wasting money by relying on manual, disconnected systems that only kick in when things go wrong. Individually, isolated incidents concerning a blocked drain or a malfunctioning air conditioning system may seem trivial, but collectively, they are responsible for thousands of pounds of waste every day. The good news is that this is all preventable if organisations invest in a more intelligent facilities management platform.”

Also published in: Facilities Management Journal

Retail media becomes an omnichannel powerhouse

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 11:41:38 GMT

Retail media becomes an omnichannel powerhouse

For years, retail media has been the rising star of digital marketing and a source of increasing excitement among advertisers - the opportunity for brands to speak directly to consumers at scale is, of course, highly attractive. And now, advancements in technology are unlocking customer experiences and brand outcomes across retailers’ channels like never before.

But it hasn’t always been this way. Retail media’s strength and potential has been acknowledged for years, but until recently a truly omnichannel experience was more aspiration than reality - the technology simply hasn’t been there to join up the analogue with the digital.

That is now changing, and brands, advertisers and consumers are all feeling the benefit of this shift, with 65% of global marketers stating that retail media networks will play an increasing role in their media mix going forward.

AI facilitating omnichannel opportunities

Technology and innovation have facilitated an omnichannel era. Platforms such as the forthcoming Nectar360 Pollen will bring audience insights, planning, activation, optimisation and measurement - for in-store, online and offsite campaigns - under one roof for the first time. It’s a real game-changer.

Retail media networks are pushing AI harder than ever to provide new ways of working, and better outcomes. An example of this is the progress AI has made in facilitating omnichannel advertising opportunities, helping to allow greater analysis, attribution and more powerful optimisation tools. We can now provide brands with detailed first-party consumer insights courtesy of retail loyalty schemes, just as we can offer generative modelling to help brands understand audience segments.

These developments are helping retail media progress in numerous ways, driving the sector to a place where it’s possible to seamlessly link the physical and online world for the first time - putting customers first and getting the right messages to the right audiences at the right time.

Omnichannel for advertisers

The impact of this evolution is an increasingly material one. For advertisers, the ability to have a single, overarching view of a retail media campaign has clear benefits. It helps them speak to the right audience, at the right place, on and offline, and in the right moment; and then leverage real-time, in-depth insights to plan, strategise and continuously optimise current and future campaigns.

Advertisers also embrace the opportunity to engage in truly seamless omnichannel marketing activities. Retail media has now evolved to offer a coherent, connected, customer-first ecosystem, and this allows brands more opportunity to engage an audience and drive conversions but also to build brand loyalty. Retail media today is much more than a conversion tool.

Putting customers first

Finally, and most importantly, the consumer is the main beneficiary of retail media's rapid evolution. By creating these omnichannel experiences, shoppers are served more engaging, relevant, personalised ads. This makes shopping a more integrated, innovative and enjoyable experience across the customer journey, and demonstrates retail media’s power as a brand-building tool and a key strategic pillar in any marketing mix.

By combining media activation and customer experience, retail media offers new opportunities to create additive, connected advertising experiences that simultaneously drive loyalty and growth. Putting the customer first has always been the best way to engage an audience, and retail media is now capable of doing that in exciting, innovative ways.

Looking forward, retail media is in a great position to expand on this customer-centric approach. In the near future, fully connected stores will be able to identify customers, enabling enhanced shopping and advertising experiences through increasingly personalised offers. Sainsbury’s capability with “Your Nectar Prices” shows how close at hand this opportunity is. We are finally on the cusp of a truly integrated, connected, omnichannel advertising experience - for brands, retailers and consumers alike.

Also published: Performance Marketing World

Why AI cannot yet solve advertising’s measurement puzzle Read more at: https://www.campaignasia.com/article/why-ai-cannot-yet-solve-advertisings-measurement-puzzle/505273?utm_source=20251103&utm_medi

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 11:35:04 GMT

Why AI cannot yet solve advertising’s measurement puzzle

While much of advertising these days is being transformed and increasingly automated by AI, including the creation and targeting of ads, one crucial aspect remains stubbornly human: measurement.

For the most part, there is still no single AI tool that can navigate the fragmented and walled data ecosystems encompassing earned media, organic views, share of voice, social metrics, and analytics providers. Agencies often juggle multiple platforms: Meltwater for LinkedIn and Instagram, separate tools for organic views, others for Chinese social media, and more.

"There is no real solution yet apart from continuing to export raw data into central analytical tools of various kinds," says Martin Bertilsson, founder and CEO of Multipole.AI, a consultancy and ad tech startup focused specifically on LLM-related advertising and marketing. "While these AI-powered tools make them easier to work with and allow for more productivity, the core problem remains."

The challenge of fragmented measurement

The core problem of fragmented measurement is one of the toughest challenges, especially with walled ecosystems and region-specific platforms. Since no single AI tool can move seamlessly between them, most media agencies rely on a careful balance of custom integration, automation, and human oversight.

Aditya Shah, an insights and data lead at dentsu Singapore, explains that they use a good mix of tools to automate workflows and pull data from multiple platforms into a central cloud. Once the data sits in the cloud environment, AI models are then deployed for reporting, anomaly detection, and insight generation.

"We are homogenising storage, measurement, reporting, and analytics into a singular platform that will help reduce fragmentation," Shah adds. "While AI alone is not a one-stop fix for fragmentation, our cloud-first integration, AI acceleration, and human judgement strategy enable us to deliver both scale and speed while staying ahead of client needs."

For now, pulling data into one central reporting platform seems to be the preferred work around.

However, Geoff Clarke, COO at IPG Mediabrands says they have solved the fragmentation issue by building a custom, automated data pipeline that ingests information from all platforms including Meltwater, organic tools, and Chinese social networks via API (application programming interface) where possible. For any platform without an API, a robust semi-automated process is employed to collect and integrate the data.

"This unified approach consolidates all your disparate metrics into a single Tableau or PowerBI dashboard," Clarke says. "The result is a single source of truth that breaks down these walled ecosystems, providing a holistic, transparent, and actionable view of your cross-channel performance, all updated on a fixed, reliable cadence."

The human element in measurement

Despite advances in AI, measurement remains complex. Entry-level staff still spend considerable time on manual, repetitive tasks such as pulling platform data, reconciling discrepancies, and formatting client-specific reports. Full automation is not straightforward because every client has different KPIs, sales cycles, and data ecosystems. Additionally, custom storytelling and business context require human interpretation.

So, contrary to some reports about AI wiping out graduate hiring and entry-level roles in advertising, measurement tasks remain very much human. Junior roles may not be disappearing but evolving.

"AI is definitely changing the nature of junior roles in advertising but is not eliminating them," says Shah. "As AI advances, junior roles will shift from 'data wranglers' to data interpreters and enablers. Instead of spending hours piecing together reports, they will focus more on quality control, insight generation, and business alignment. They will learn how to train, prompt, and govern AI tools to produce smarter, faster outputs, building skills in storytelling, visualisation, and domain expertise—skills AI alone cannot replicate."

So, far from replacing junior roles, it seems AI is actually shifting them from repetitive execution to higher-value analytical, strategic, and client-facing responsibilities.

Bob Du, Jellyfish managing director, Singapore, says that while AI can automate routine reporting when data is clean and systems connect smoothly, those conditions do not always exist today.

"Junior staff are increasingly valuable for spotting data gaps, strengthening publisher relationships, and understanding how APIs really work in practice. As AI agents take on standardised reporting, these early-career professionals can potentially shift towards quality assurance and contextual interpretation, skills that make them indispensable to both clients and technology."

Meeting diverse client needs

Beyond fragmented measurement and the grunt work of data integration, client demands add another layer of complexity. Reporting formats and requirements vary widely by industry, with each client having their own taxonomy, dashboard structure, and reporting cadence.

"For example, FMCG brands with high purchase frequency focus on reach and uplift, while financial or luxury clients with longer cycles and high-ticket SKUs prioritise lead quality or lifetime value," Shah explains. "Many clients request niche KPIs sourced from exclusive platforms. Building APIs, aligning taxonomies, and standardising such data can be time-consuming and hectic."

However, AI advancements promise to reduce much of this friction.

"AI can automate data harmonisation, dynamically generate customised reports in the exact formats clients need, and shift measurement from reporting to predictive and prescriptive insights," Shah says. "This allows agencies to spend less time stitching data and more time delivering business impact."

A hybrid future of AI and human oversight

Even as AI matures and becomes more agentic and self-learning, able to anticipate client preferences, flag anomalies, and recommend new measurement frameworks, human oversight remains essential.

"Our philosophy has always been that we are the minds behind the machines," says Dane Buchanan, chief data and analytics officer at M+C Saatchi Performance. "AI accelerates the process, but human oversight keeps it accountable and decision-ready. Clients do not just need accurate numbers; they need confidence that those numbers can drive real decisions. That is where human judgement makes the difference."

Veron Dai, VP of data and research consultancy APAC at Assembly, views AI and human expertise as complementary. "We let AI handle heavy lifting, from automating large-scale data harmonisation to report customisation and real-time analysis, while our team focus on problem recognition, strategy, and communication, tasks that require human judgement and contextual interpretation."

To successfully balance AI automation with crucial human oversight, companies must employ a hybrid approach that integrates AI-driven processes with human expertise at critical workflow points.

"Human-based feedback loops, alongside rigorous quality assurance protocols, will increasingly be called for in master service agreements," says Clarke. "Transparency is crucial for sustainable industry practices, ensuring open client communication that manages expectations about AI’s role, guarantees output quality, differentiation, and overall satisfaction."

The ongoing role of human craft

There is no doubt that AI offers powerful opportunities to enhance creativity, efficiency, and effectiveness in advertising and marketing. Yet, its use must be guided by responsibility, transparency, and respect for ethical and societal values.

It is also important to note that in five years’ time, AI advantage will be largely ubiquitous," adds Clarke, "meaning those who invest behind craft now will possess tomorrow’s competitive advantage. All companies will need to refine their ways of working and policies to ensure human intelligence and craft remain central to output value."

Also published in: Campaign Asia

Is a global consensus on tackling digital ad fraud finally within reach?

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 12:41:27 GMT

Is a global consensus on tackling digital ad fraud finally within reach?

By Ian Moss, Spokesperson, UKSAFC

While programmatic advertising has revolutionised how inventory is sold and ads are served over the past decade, it has also opened doors to cyber criminals who not only undermine the economic viability of the industry, but fundamentally threaten brand safety.

Although it’s impossible to quantify ad fraud with absolute precision, its scale is undeniable. In short, the industry has become an unregulated ecosystem in which bad actors are able to thrive undetected.

And while North America is the most severely impacted market in terms of fraudulent activity in digital advertising, this is a truly global problem. So let’s take a closer look at Europe.

Assessing industry health: The EU perspective

The EU clearly recognises the need to maintain a transparent, competitive digital ecosystem, especially in the face of ongoing challenges from AI, MFA sites, and open web transactions.

In the wake of two pieces of legislation – the EU Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act – it is now evaluating how effectively these have been implemented, determining their impact, and seeking to identify any remaining regulatory gaps. What’s more, it is launching a further study, due in Q4, answering key questions surrounding privacy and data handling within EU processes, enforcement of the region’s regulatory frameworks, and the extent to which brands can (or cannot) control where their ads are appearing online.

This approach also mirrors developments in the UK, where an increasing number of bodies (such as UKSAFC) are coming together to call for revised industry frameworks that guarantee greater transparency. After all, transparency is the key to preventing fraudulent clicks and misuse of inventory, as well as broader issues such as disinformation, exploitation and the funding of serious crime.

Know your customer – the quickest path to achieving transparency

Ultimately, programmatic practices automate ad placements, and thereby create the risk of ads appearing alongside the kind of content that damages brand reputation – or worse. The core challenge is this: How can we ensure that online auctions are transparent and brand safe, but that advertisers also have enough information to effectively measure campaign performance?

The answer lies in enabling brands to really control and understand where their ads are going, having the capacity to actively choose and dictate who they want to support with their advertising – and who they don’t.

To achieve this, UKSAFC have called for ‘know your customer (KYC)’ checks to be rolled out across programmatic advertising, requiring all parties to provide independent verification of the company’s name, registered address and company number, company directors, and the company’s bank details. These developments, coupled with the work of bodies such as Check My Ads and the IAPP, suggest that a broader international consensus on KYC protocols may finally be emerging.

Iesha White, Director of Intelligence at Check My Ads, says it is important to be honest about what is at stake. “the digital advertising industry routinely inadvertently monetises real-world harms like child sexual abuse material, piracy and state-sanctioned websites. In 2016, it was estimated by the World Federation of Advertisers that ad fraud would exceed $50 billion per year by 2025; yet the latest figures put ad fraud closer to $84 billion annually.

“Know Your Customer and Best Interest Duty requirements for all digital advertising participants are major steps towards transparency and accountability that the industry must no longer delay.”

In summary, tackling consumer privacy breaches and ad-funded crime requires more than good intentions; it demands enforceable transparency standards across every level of the ad exchange. The tools exist, the frameworks are developing, and the willingness from governments, brands, and watchdogs is growing. What remains is the decisive step of international alignment. Without it, loopholes will persist. With it, the digital advertising ecosystem can finally move towards a safer, more transparent and accountable future.

Also published in: New Digital Age

Home is where the audience is

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 12:18:50 GMT

Home is where the audience is

By Alex Hole, SVP and General Manager, Samsung Europe and MENA

What do you remember about 2010 – the year Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull grounded European flights and skeleton racer Amy Willliams won the UK its first individual British gold medal at the Winter Olympics in 30 years? Maybe you’ll recall that One Direction were formed on The X Factor that year, while Kara Tointon won Strictly Come Dancing and Downton Abbey made its first appearance on UK screens.

Whatever sticks in your head, the chances are that you saw it on television, and a lot of other people watched the same thing at the same time. In 2010, the average time spent watching TV per day in UK homes hit a new record high of four hours and two minutes . Linear TV was at its peak, and through shared cultural moments, advertisers could reach large numbers of us with ease.

15 years later, reaching that mass audience has never been so complex. In fact, in a fragmented market, with linear TV declining and audiences spread across a multitude of apps and channels, the home screen is virtually the only thing every smart TV viewer sees.

That makes it an important media property in its own right, but it’s also a piece of something bigger. Shared, simultaneous viewing of a single TV show has largely vanished into history. And meanwhile, where TV audiences spend their time has become a difficult – but not impossible – question to answer.

But what we know for sure is that future understanding of media consumption must come from cross-device insight and data, with the home screen right at the centre.

A mass audience broken into 2,112 pieces

Before we talk about the home screen, let’s look at the context of the fragmentation TV is now experiencing.

In the UK, our appetite for viewing hasn’t diminished since 2010, but we are certainly watching very differently. In the second half of last year, Samsung smart TV owners spent four hours and 23 minutes watching every day, and on-demand content accounted for 54% of it.

That’s where the big audience has gone, you might say – the BVOD and streaming companies have it. But that underestimates just how extreme the CTV fragmentation has quickly become.

Consider that, according to the findings of our Anatomy of a Streamer report, the average household uses four apps: typically, two subscription video on demand (SVOD) services, an advertising-based video on demand service (AVOD), and a broadcaster video on demand (BVOD) service.

Of course, not every household is using the same four apps. The current app Top 10 allows for 120 different combinations of four. Within the Top 20, that figure rises to 2,112. For brands attempting to find their audience, it all signals a marked shift away from the age of traditional mass-reach TV.

The home screen’s solution to fragmentation

Into this chaotic picture steps a new hero: the OS home screen.

Just as advertisers are looking for mass audiences, viewers are looking for clarity of their own. With so much on offer, finding content has become a time-consuming process. One in four viewers don’t think it’s easy to find content they want to watch, and on average they spend ten-and-a-half minutes finding something to watch.

A programmable navigation tool, a recommendation engine and a key piece of media real estate, the home screen has a rare power to capture the disparate viewing public in one place.

Smart TV users are using the home screen five or more times a day – more than any VOD app. This year, EssenceMediacom predicts that viewers will spend more time navigating TV operating systems than watching any single broadcaster, particularly among younger audiences.

The home screen, sitting at the centre of a spider’s web of app usage, is a hub of this developing world, and it becomes a launchpad for all TV experiences, as well as an important place from which to influence their choices.

We know that smart TV audiences appreciate relevant advertising, and respond to relevant recommendations and messages. 37% want to see ads curated to their interests or the content they are watching. 45% say the primary way they find new products or brands is via ads on the TV. The evolving home screen is a way to do it.

More screens, more data

Now let’s zoom out further. The world doesn’t revolve around a single screen anymore – even if it is the biggest screen in the home. But by combining TV viewing data with insights from mobile, we are able to build an updated understanding of how media is consumed throughout a typical day, across apps and devices. That lets advertisers optimise for omnichannel, and helps them meet the consumer in the right moment.

We know, for instance, that throughout the day, mobile usage and TV consumption steadily rise, and second-screening hits its height during peak and slightly later TV times. That means attention could be lower on the big screen during this time, so it is worth considering engagement ads – such as clickable or QR ads – while the mobile is more likely to be in the viewer’s hand.

Given that usage of different devices fluctuates at different times – mobile usage is lower midweek, TV consumption of all kinds peaks during weekends, and Sunday reliably heralds a boom in mobile app usage – we can say that brands should consider sequential advertising between the TV and mobile to reach and convert through the week.

Media consumption is changing rapidly, and it is never going back to what it was. One buy can’t get you all those eyeballs anymore, but that doesn’t mean we can’t understand where those viewers have gone. Understanding not just the significance of the home screen, but all screens, will once again illuminate the darkened path for advertisers.

Also published in: New Digital Age

IPA Bellwether Q3 2025 – Industry reactions

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 12:10:27 GMT

IPA Bellwether Q3 2025 – Industry reactions

The IPA Bellwether survey for the third quarter of 2025 revealed a robust appetite for optimism, despite ongoing challenges in the wider economy and with the UK Autumn Budget looming in November.

Here’s how some of the leading minds of the adtech, advertising and creative sectors are responding to the latest pulse take on the UK marketing sector…

Larraine Criss, COO, Preciso

“The Q3 IPA Bellwether report as I understand signals indications that video and online advertising are gaining renewed momentum.

“The budget reallocation highlights how marketers are prioritising high-engagement, measurable and scalable channels to build brand resilience amid uncertainty, which is also what our data is telling us here at Preciso.”

“The market is finally heading towards sustainable performance through smart media spending, and it’s great to see.

Sean Adams, CMO, Brand Metrics

“The latest IPA Bellwether Report offers compelling insights into the enduring power of advertising, even amidst economic caution.

“IPA Director General Paul Bainsfair rightly champions ‘big marketing budgets, broad reach, and high exposure’ for meaningful results.

“From a brand lift perspective, this resonates deeply. We’re seeing a clear increase in demand for robust measurement of video advertising, a critical channel for building brand perceptions.

“This aligns perfectly with the finding that video is the best performer in main media. Businesses are not just spending; they’re strategically investing in impactful, measurable media to truly drive brand growth and connect with audiences.”

Owen Hancock, RVP Marketing EMEA, impact.com

“The most critical insight from the Q3 Bellwether report isn’t the total budget expansion, but the strategic reallocation of marketing spend, which confirms that the industry is prioritising long-term brand equity, a move that validates our foundational thesis on the partnership-led future.

“What’s more, this pursuit of authentic connection is precisely why video leads the media mix: brands are seeking the genuine trust that creators deliver over forced advertising.

“The winners are already realising that the only way to scale this trust is through disciplined, measurable partnership marketing, unifying affiliate, creator, and advocate efforts into a single, cost-efficient engine that drives discovery and long-term advocacy.”

Read more in: Mediashotz

Solving the Late Payment Puzzle in Adtech

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 12:01:46 GMT

Solving the Late Payment Puzzle in Adtech

Late payments are a blight on the adtech industry. The average digital media supplier now waits well over 100 days to receive payment for work carried out, while in one prominent case, a leading brand specified360-daypayment terms in an RFP. This type of approach to remunerating suppliers not only kills cashflow, it stifles creativity, innovation and growth. Agencies and other ad tech suppliers can’t concentrate on producing great work when they are living in fear of the money running out.

And while it’s a subject rarely discussed in public, the scale of the problem is immense. A 2025 study found that 1.5 million businesses in the UK are affected by late payments each year, resulting in the closure of 38 businesses each day. Businesses are owed an estimated £26 billion in late payments at any given time, and the issue costs the UK economy almost £11 billion each year.

So how do we solve this seemingly intractable problem? In a session I took part in at the excellent Un//Scene creative and marketing event in London recently, a three-pronged solution emerged.

Clarity holds the key

The first element, as brilliantly outlined by Nicola Brown, founder of integrated health platform Kokoro, is clarity, and having the confidence to talk openly about money - which many of us understandably find difficult to do.

Her advice is to seek clarity when you’re first discussing the work you’re being asked to do, or even simply pitch for. Clarify the scope and the timeline, as well as the metrics that will be used to measure whether the project has been successfully completed. Be clear, too, about the payment terms you work to, and the implications of failing to deliver on them, including the imposition of late fees. Yes, it’s a difficult subject to broach, but dealing with it before there’s a problem makes later discussions far less awkward..

Similarly, seek clarity on the budget. Is the money ready to pay suppliers or is the company waiting to be paid on completion by its client before it can release funds to suppliers who have worked on the project?

Finally, Nicola advises, remember that this is a mutually beneficial relationship. If the company is commissioning you to work on a project, they need the skills and experience that you bring to it. Remember this in your negotiations with them, and you’ll be in a much stronger position.

Say it to believe it

The word ‘negotiation’ was the focus of the advice offered by the second speaker in the session, Amy Combrinck, founder of negotiation training specialist Fireflying. In Amy’s experience, most people are not comfortable negotiating, especially where money is concerned. They don’t want it to be combative, so they struggle to assert themselves and justify their position.

How to overcome this? First, Amy advised, build confidence in your argument by working out what you want to say and saying it out loud - “Say it to believe it”, as she put it in the session. Voicing your position builds confidence muscle in the same way you build physical muscle at the gym.

When you hear someone speaking in a way you would like to sound in a negotiation situation, write it down or, with their permission, record it, so you can practice using the same sort of language yourself. “If you have a phrase pre-written before an interview, before a negotiation, and you practice saying it, you're going to feel more confident and empowered when you have to say it for real,” Amy says.

Let someone else take the payment strain

Training yourself to negotiate, and making it clear to prospective partners how and when you expect to be paid are essential weapons in the fight against late payments. But ultimately, of course, no matter how clear you are, or how well you present your case for fair payment terms, your argument may still fall on deaf ears.

This is where the third approach comes into play. If it’s a piece of work or a contract that is too valuable to turn down, but you can’t accept the payment terms because you don’t have the working capital that would enable you to cope with them, consider a solution that would pay you for the work you do as soon as it’s completed - even before you’ve raised an invoice.

Seek out an adtech specialist funding platform that plugs directly into the APIs of dozens of big marketplaces; that can ingest granular, real-time transaction data, and value receivables the instant they are generated.

By shifting credit risk upstream - towards the giant, investment-grade, counterparties that ultimately release the cash - a far higher percentage of revenue can be funded at materially lower cost. And that in turn enables you to do what you do best, without worrying about when you’re going to get paid for it.

Also published in: Little Black Book Online

The Top Adtech Events to Attend in 2026: A comprehensive guide to the best conferences, summits and networking opportunities for 2026

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 09:47:00 GMT

The Top Adtech Events to Attend in 2026

A comprehensive guide to the best conferences, summits and networking opportunities for 2026

The world of adtech, media and marketing never stands still - and neither do we! After the hugely positive response to last year’s guide, we’re back with an even better round-up of the must-attend events to have on your radar for 2026.

And because we love a bit of future-gazing, we asked the team here at The Digital Voice™ what trends and topics will shape conversations next year, and a few clear themes stood out:

Retail media will step into a new phase of maturity, becoming truly omnichannel, powered by AI and driven by retailers using their data for good
CTV will take centre stage, with the home screen becoming prime real estate with smarter, seamless experiences
Transparency and accountability will dominate, as brands face growing pressure to prove authenticity - from ethical supply chains and environmental impact, to the partners they choose
AI will continue to accelerate innovation, but the focus will shift to breaking open the “black box”, creating more ethical and human-centred approaches to automation

Now, we know what you’re really here for… so let’s dive into the events!

As much as we’d love to shout out every incredible conference, summit, dinner, and mixer on the calendar, there are a lot of them. For the full picture, head to our Industry Events Calendar , a free resource designed to make planning your year a whole lot easier. This time around, it includes some shiny new features, including quarterly tabs (less overwhelm!) and regional filters to help you find exactly what fits.

Hosting an event at Cannes Lions this year? Why not add it to our beloved Cannes Calendar?

January

CES 2026

A world-renowned tech event, CES is where innovation meets opportunity on a global stage. With groundbreaking product launches, exciting keynotes and interactive exhibits, CES is a huge hub for adtech professionals eager to stay at the forefront of consumer tech trends.

Date : January 6-9

Location : Las Vegas, USA

Affiliate Summit West

A global gathering for affiliate marketing professionals bringing together thousands of affiliates, advertisers, publishers, networks and tech vendors under one roof. Featuring deep-dive sessions on partnerships and performance tactics, it’s the ideal place to make deals, uncover the next big thing in affiliate and stay ahead of the curve in performance-driven marketing.

Date : January 12-14

Location : Las Vegas, USA

IAB Techtonic

A one-day London event focused on the technological and regulatory forces shaping digital advertising. From addressability to AI assistive tech, the agenda explores how brands and agencies can stay ready for a cookieless world and build modern advertising ecosystems that respect privacy while driving growth.

Date : January 21

Location : London, UK

February

Ecommerce Berlin

Ecommerce Berlin brings together online retail and marketing professionals to explore strategy, operations, customer experience and tech in the rapidly evolving commerce landscape. Expect panels on data-driven marketing, omnichannel optimisation and the infrastructure behind scaling online businesses.

Date : February 17-18

Location : Berlin, Germany

Adzine Connect

Adzine Connect offers a strong German-language forum for digital marketing and adtech practitioners, combining case studies, tech demos and insightful debates. With its finger on the pulse of the DACH region, the event is ideal for anyone looking to understand local market dynamics alongside global ad innovations.

Date : February 26

Location : Düsseldorf, Germany

March

Beeler.tech Base Camp

Set in San Antonio, the Beeler.tech Base Camp caters to marketers, product teams and tech leaders aiming to break silos and drive cross-channel innovation. Expect a mix of workshops, interactive labs and creative sessions focussed on how brand-tech ecosystems can deliver seamless consumer experiences across devices and contexts.

Date : March 1-4

Location : San Antonio, USA

MWC

A heavyweight in the tech event calendar, MWC Barcelona is essential for anyone working at the intersection of mobile and adtech. From exploring the latest developments in mobile advertising, 5G, and AI, to diving into data privacy issues and future innovations, it’s a comprehensive event for those interested in understanding where mobile marketing is headed.

Date : March 2-5

Location : Barcelona, Spain

Performance Marketing World Unlocked

For digital marketers and growth leaders hungry for results, PMW Unlocked delivers a high-energy two-day experience in London. Featuring practical tactics, real-world case studies and forward-looking discussions on AI, media mix and performance measurement, this event is built for those who want actionable takeaways.

Catch our own Julia Linehan in action on day 1 , moderating a panel on agentic AI and how it will change marketing, followed by an unmissable hands-on workshop on brand safety for our industry, looking at clean spend and safe reach.

Date : March 3-4

Location : London, UK

Connected TV World Summit

An event for the TV distribution marketing attracting an international audience, this summit is known for its thought leadership, insights on market context and tech advances. Featuring discussions on data-driven strategies, CTV and the latest tech innovations, it’s a must-attend if you’re looking to capitalise on the shift to connected TV.

Date : March 10-11

Location : London, UK

D3con

With a laser focus on programmatic advertising and future media, this is the place where advertisers, agencies, publishers and adtech providers converge to explore automation, CTV, retail media, AI-driven strategies and the next phase of digital marketing. Structured across an Advertisers Day (for brand side) and a broader conference day (for the full ecosystem), it’s a must-attend for practitioners bridging data, tech and creative.

Date : March 17-18

Location : Hamburg, Germany

AOP Crunch

AOP's Publishing Tech Talk brings together digital publishers over two weeks to provide them with the information they need to grow their businesses and prepare for the future of digital publishing.
Date : March 19

Location : London, UK

Shoptalk Spring

A heavyweight in the retail and commerce sphere, Shoptalk Spring sees more than 10,000 retail, brand and tech leaders discuss the future of commerce. With a strong emphasis on retail media, AI-powered consumer experience, omnichannel transformation and the intersection of advertising and commerce, it’s a brilliant fit for adtech and marketing pros who want to understand how retail is reshaping marketing.

Date : March 24-26

Location : Las Vegas, USA

Advertising Week Europe

A major and much-loved staple in the marketing and advertising calendar, Advertising Week Europe brings together top industry minds to discuss the future of advertising. Explore everything from programmatic to brand storytelling, alongside an array of networking parties and dinners.

Date : April 24-26

Location : London, UK

April

POSSIBLE

MMA Global’s POSSIBLE conference in Miami brings together leading figures in the marketing world to discuss the future of the industry. With cutting-edge tech demos, insightful keynotes and ultra-cool networking on the beach, POSSIBLE ‘25 is sure to be the ultimate conference experience for advertising and marketing professionals alike.

Date : April 27-29

Location : Miami, USA

May

OMR

A vibrant and fast-growing event, OMR is where marketing meets technology in an inspiring environment. With a mix of keynotes from industry leaders, workshops, and interactive sessions, it's a goldmine for adtech professionals looking to stay ahead of digital trends.

Date : May 5-6

Location : Hamburg, Germany

Commerce Media Festival

London becomes the epicentre of retail media, commerce, and connected TV at the Commerce Media Festival. With one ticket, you’ll unlock access to three conferences Retail MediaX , CTV Summit and FMCG Summit , set to cover the hottest topics in retail media, FMCG, and streaming, followed by the second annual RMX Awards .

Date: May 14

Location: London, UK

#DMWF

An event designed for brand marketers, agency strategists and tech innovators to explore how data, AI, automation and content are reshaping modern marketing. With multiple tracks covering everything from digital transformation to influencer and affiliate strategies, it’s a go-to event for anyone wanting to understand the full marketing stack.

Date : May 6-7

Location : London, UK

Brand Safety Summit London

As digital advertising faces ever-increasing scrutiny from regulators and brands, the Brand Safety Summit is crucial for those focused on maintaining a secure and trustworthy ad ecosystem. This half-day gathering features speakers from brands, agencies, platforms and tech companies discussing hot topics such as combatting ad fraud, data privacy and maintaining brand integrity online.

Date: May 8

Location: London, UK

MAU Vegas

Billed as the ‘grandmaster of mobile app marketing conferences’, MAU brings together top app marketers and mobile industry leaders to explore growth strategies in the competitive app economy. With an international audience, MAU offers a chance to explore the latest in mobile adtech and martech, as well as valuable insights into user retention, performance marketing and mobile ad trends.

Date : May 19-21

Location : Las Vegas, UK

June

Affilifest

Step into a world of roller discos, big wheel networking and an electric atmosphere guaranteed with Affilifest 2026 in Margate. Ramping up from a 1, to a 2 day networking event this year, the event is for the UK Affiliate community, with featured attendance from big player brands and publishers.

Date : June 3-4 2026

Location : Margate, UK

SXSW London

Known for its eclectic mix of tech, creativity and innovation, SXSW brings a unique offering to the table. The organisers announced earlier this year their plans to cross the pond and expand to the UK in 2025 - and we are hype! There’s no doubt there will be much excitement and buzz around this event, and it’s one to add to the essential list for creative and tech innovators alike.

Date : June 1-6

Location : London, UK

Programmatic Pioneers Summit

This event is a trailblazer in the world of programmatic advertising and is essential for those serious about mastering automation, data, and AI in adtech. With in-depth case studies, panel discussions and real-world insights, it’s the perfect setting for learning how to optimise campaigns and drive business growth.

Date : June 2-3

Location : London, UK

Cannes Lions

Cannes Lions is a legendary event for the creative and advertising industries and with good reason - for adtech specifically, it’s a fantastic opportunity to see how data, tech, and creativity converge to create award-winning campaigns. Alongside the jam-packed festival schedule, there are many mixers, seminars, breakfasts, and dinners, organised by various third parties throughout the week, and this is where the real networking happens. It’s truly unmissable!

Date : June 22-26

Location : Cannes, France

July

iPX 2026

Don’t miss this one-day event where leaders in the partnership economy come together to connect, innovate, and drive business growth. From day to night, you can expect plenty of fun and inspiring opportunities to network and mingle with leading brands, affiliates, world-class publishers, tech partners, and agency partners.

Date : TBC

Location : London, UK

MAD//Fest

This dynamic event blends creativity, innovation and technology, and offers a valuable opportunity for adtech professionals to discover bold news ideas and strategies driving the future of marketing and advertising. With cutting-edge talks, live challenges and interactive sessions, MAD//Fest delivers on providing an event experience that is insightful, valuable and heaps of fun at the same time.

Date : July 7-9

Location : London, UK

Affiliate Summit East

The second instalment of Affiliate Summit, this time on the East Coast. Expect more deep-dive sessions on partnerships and performance tactics, another great opportunity to make deals, uncover the next big thing in affiliate and stay ahead of the curve in performance-driven marketing.

Date : July 27-28

Location : New York, USA

September

ATS London

Another gathering for our programmatic friends! ATS London offers a deep dive into data-driven advertising, providing valuable knowledge on programmatic strategies and the future of ad operations. Featuring discussions on the very latest topics and trends, ATS brings together industry leaders to explore the challenges and opportunities in programmatic.

Date : September 15

Location : London, UK

DMEXCO

As we say goodbye to the summer months, we say hello to autumn with another huge event for the advertising industry. DMEXCO combines exhibitions, keynotes and workshops to deliver a comprehensive look at the future of adtech. From AI and programmatic to data-driven strategies, it’s an essential event for those wanting to explore the latest innovations and trends shaping the digital landscape.

Date : September 23-24

Location : Cologne, Germany

Technology for Marketing

One of the UK’s leading marketing and AI events for B2B and B2C professionals, this is where the latest martech, creative tools and media-technology ideas converge. Attendees will find over 200 solution providers plus insight-driven sessions that help marketers level up their tech stack, streamline operations and stay future-ready.

Date : September 23-24

Location : London, UK

Programmatic I/O New York

Programmatic I/O is the go-to event for anyone working in programmatic advertising. Offering deep insights into automation, data and ad buying with a variety of engaging session formats including workshops, case studies and panel discussions, it is the ideal forum if you’re looking to optimise your programmatic strategies and stay competitive in an ever-evolving market.

Date : September 29-30

Location : New York, USA

October

AOP Publishing Tech Talk

AOP's Publishing Tech Talk brings together digital publishers over two weeks to provide them with the information they need to grow their businesses and prepare for the future of digital publishing.

Date : October 7-8 & 14-15

Location : London, UK

Advertising Week New York

Originally launched in 2004, Advertising Week New York set the foundation for the series of Advertising Week events that followed (including the Europe edition we included in April). This flagship event combines education, inspiration, and networking, attracting a huge global audience of advertisers and marketers alike. For adtech professionals, it’s a great place to explore the latest innovations and hear from top thought-leaders on the future of the industry.

Date : October 5-8

Location : New York, USA

PI Live

Widely regarded as one of the top performance marketing events, PI Live delivers not just high-quality content but also a sense of community. It covers everything from affiliate marketing to programmatic and influencer marketing, with a focus on driving measurable results.

Date : October 19-20

Location : London, UK

November

Web Summit Lisbon

Web Summit Lisbon is one of the largest tech conferences in the world, gathering top industry voices to discuss the future of technology, including, among much other AI, sustainability and B2B tech-focused content, adtech’s role in shaping the digital landscape. This is the event where adtech meets the broader tech ecosystem to discuss the future of digital advertising.

Date : November 10-13

Location : Lisbon, Portugal

Beeler.tech Base Camp

A staple in the calendar for the European adtech scene, Beeler.tech Base Camp Lisbon aims to break silos and drive cross-channel innovation. You’ll see a mix of workshops, interactive labs and creative sessions focussed on how brand-tech ecosystems can deliver seamless consumer experiences across devices and contexts.

Date : November 8-11

Location : Lisbon, Portugal

Programmatic Pioneers Connect

For advertisers, agencies, publishers and tech vendors focused on programmatic, automation, data and ad-buying evolution, Programmatic Pioneers Connect offers a deep dive into the mechanics and future of programmatic media. Real-world case studies, expert panels and hands-on takeaways make this event especially relevant if you’re trying to optimise campaigns and unlock smarter automation.

Date : November 4-5

Location : London, UK

Videoweek Roadmap

A boutique but high-value one-day conference, VideoWeek Roadmap sets out what’s next for video and CTV advertising. Positioned for senior media buyers, ad-tech professionals and brand advertisers, the event focuses on emerging trends like AI in media, CTV fragmentation, budget shifts and how new business models are taking shape.

Date : November TBC

Location : London, UK

December

Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit

A more practical addition to this list, the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit focuses on solving the challenges of programmatic marketing, delivering solutions for adtech and media professionals. From ad-buying optimisation to brand safety, this event offers valuable insight into the programmatic space, making it an essential stop for anyone working in the world of automated advertising.

Date : December 1-3

Location : New Orleans, USA

The Future of TV Advertising

A flagship gathering for the television advertising industry. Expect big-picture themes around streaming, addressable inventory, cross-screen measurement and how tech is reshaping premium video investment. It’s a must-attend if you want to understand where TV sits at the nexus of creativity and performance.

Date : December TBC

Location : London, UK

Don’t forget you can access the 2026 Industry Events collated by The Digital Voice™ for a global list of conferences, summits, mixers and more. We keep this resource up to date throughout the year; if you’d like to see your event included, complete this quick form , and we’ll get you added to the list.

Katy Reilly is the Awards & Speaker Submissions Specialist at The Digital Voice™. She is a marketing and communications specialist with over 7 years of experience across B2B events, media, tech, and games. Armed with a BA in English Language and Linguistics and a Masters Degree in Business and Entrepreneurship, Katy has worked both in-house and agency side, collaborating with companies and brands worldwide.

Samsung opens up home screen advertising to all brands

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 12:36:20 GMT

Samsung opens up home screen advertising to all brands

Samsung Ads has made home screen advertising (on Samsung smart TVs) available to non-content and non-games brands for the first time.

The company says this reflects the importance of home screen ads as a way to capture audiences from the moment they switch on the TV.

Their ‘Behind the Screens’ report revealed this year that Samsung smart TV viewers visit the home screen more than five times a day on average, while searching for content.

Samsung Ads, which is the advertising arm of Samsung Electronics’ media division, argues that this makes the home screen “vital” inventory for brand advertising.

Earlier this year the company commissioned the strategy and insights consulting firm MTM to study the effectiveness of home screen ads. The results, just released, show a 10% uplift in purchase intent among viewers who saw brand advertising on the Samsung home screen masthead at least once, compared to a non-exposed group.

One-in-three people report an improved perception of brands who advertise on the home screen.

The study involved 5,000 users in the UK and Germany during February to May and was based on natural viewing in consumer homes. The consumers participated in a survey (via a privacy-compliant data match to online research panels). Samsung technology showed who had been exposed to the ads.

“The home screen is an incredibly powerful advertising channel and a way for any brand to cut through the CTV noise and claim the attention of audiences,” declares Alex Hole, SVP and general manager, Samsung Europe and MENA. “Content and gaming advertisers have already discovered this, and now brands from other sectors can join them.

Uplift in purchase intent

“The MTM study spells out the dramatic impact of home screen ads on purchase intent and awareness, and it clearly shows the multiplier effect that kicks in when brands combine advertising on the home screen with advertising on Samsung TV Plus.”

Hole is referring to additional data from the MTM study showing what happens when in-stream ads within Samsung-curated free streaming channels are combined with home screen advertising.

This combination lifts spontaneous awareness by 16% compared to using home screen ads only. It lifts first-mention brand consideration by 13% vs home screen ads only, while positive sentiment towards an advertiser rises 30% vs home screen only. However, Samsung Ads would not share the total uplift for home screen plus streaming ads (vs non-exposed viewers) or the home-screen only figures for these metrics.

The company did say: “We found that both Samsung TV Plus and the home screen played a distinct and complementary role. We were pleased to see the positive impact for Samsung TV Plus and home screen working together when compared to a non-exposed group.

“As CTV opens up a new era of TV advertising, advertisers are seeking to combine streaming ads with native placements for far greater impact.”

Also published in: The Media Leader

‘Are my selfish desires more worthy than Google's selfish desires?’: Experts on Google vs DOJ antitrust trial

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 12:28:47 GMT

‘Are my selfish desires more worthy than Google's selfish desires?’: Experts on Google vs DOJ antitrust trial

Google and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) have officially concluded a two-week remedies trial over the tech giant’s illegal online advertising monopoly.

The court will now deliberate if Google must open-source parts of its adtech systems or face other structural remedies. Closing arguments are scheduled for November 2025 and a ruling is expected in early 2026.

The DOJ is seeking structural remedies and pushing for a divestiture of Google Ad Manager while Google argues that breaking up integrated tools could have wider consequences and instead proposed to build on Ad Manager’s interoperability and allow publishers to use third-party tools to access Google’s advertiser bids in real-time.

A breakup of Google could potentially reshape the entire digital advertising landscape and have major implications on future big tech regulations. Industry experts spoke to PMW about exactly what should be done.

‘The market now needs neutral pipes; a strong ruling by the judge in this case could go at least some way to making that happen’

James Taylor, CEO and Founder, Particular Audience, said:

“It’s never easy trying to predict the outcome of an ongoing trial, but the fact that the Department of Justice has formally asked US District Judge Leonie Brinkema to order Google to divest its ad exchange, AdX, suggests that Google might not get off as lightly as it did a few weeks ago. In that ruling, the judge shied away from requiring Google to offload its Chrome browser and Android operating system.

“This time round, there may be a different outcome. There’s an inherent conflict of interest in the fact that auctions run by Google’s publisher ad server have favoured and can favour its own exchange and buy-side. Building the ecosystem in the first place required Google to make it work, the complexity of which is not lost on me. The market now needs neutral pipes; a strong ruling by the judge in this case to require Google to dispose of AdX could go at least some way to making that happen because it is not something Google is likely to do of its own volition.”

‘I really wouldn't be surprised if Google already has five or six products ready to replace any they may lose’

David Nelson, Co-founder and CEO, Limelight Inc., said:

“It’s really quite incredible that Google, the company that wrestled search dominance from Yahoo by not including ads, is now in this position. Really, it is a hero-to-zero transition. But I think that part of our human condition is sometimes to drag down greatness.

“I personally believe that Google has had huge success in the ad business by being good at developing products fast. Yes, it’s become clear that because of the success of those products and their strict controls around how they integrate with the wider infrastructure, they have developed a very large market dominance. It’s also clear that they made decisions which benefited Google while disenfranchising other companies. But at that same time, it makes for a great "how to grow your business" roadmap.

“I do find it a little odd that we critique a company for building great products, taking them to market well and growing a really successful business. After all, the complaints from industry by and large are coming from large businesses that have their very own similar policies. Is it not fair then, because they are not as big as Google? On the other hand, I'm as keen now as everyone else to jump on the bash Google bus!

“Yes, it would be much better for the rest of us if the world of ADX and GAM were more accessible. But are my selfish desires more worthy than Google's selfish desires? I think probably not.

“I guess we will all naturally land on one side of that argument or the other. Google has, without question, been found to hold a monopoly and so some change is required. But it’s amusing that Google gets to negotiate that change itself. I don't think we should ignore their ability to squeeze out of this relatively unscathed.

“What is perhaps more interesting is the time this all takes. The antitrust world moves at a snail’s pace compared to product development. I really wouldn't be surprised if Google already has five or six products ready to replace any they may lose. Perhaps this tech superiority is where Google holds the most power.”

‘Google will continue to be a critical partner in enabling growth… yet progress will depend on balance’

Kevin Geffray, VP, Paid Media, Regional – UK and Northern Europe, Jellyfish, said:

“The scrutiny of Google’s ad tech stack should serve as a wake-up call for the industry. Consolidation has created efficiency, but it has also narrowed the pathways for competition. In terms of our wider industry, Google will continue to be a critical partner in enabling growth and transformation for advertisers worldwide – yet progress will depend on balance.

“At Jellyfish, our mission is to champion the freedom of the internet, ensuring that brands, publishers, and consumers have genuine choice. Together with partners such as Google, promoting transparency, interoperability, and accountability upholds a digital ecosystem that protects innovation and ensures fairness.”

‘It seems like every time Google is faced with regulatory action, the action taken is never enough to really eat into their dominance’

David Murphy, Senior Press Writer, The Digital Voice, said:

“Quite honestly, I have no idea which way this will go, but I hope the Judge comes to a decision that will give advertisers greater visibility into where their budgets are being spent, and publishers more control over the type of ads appearing on their websites. It seems like every time Google is faced with regulatory action, the action taken is never enough to really eat into their dominance and monopolistic behaviour.

“But if feels at least as if the regulators are putting Google under closer scrutiny – this latest trial comes only a few weeks after Google was forced to share data with its rivals by the DoJ and was fined €2.9 billion by the European Commission, and given just 60 days to explain how they will change their practices to stop abusing their dominant position in online advertising.

“Yes, Google will defend its corner and appeal whatever decision is reached, but in all of these Big Tech trials, it is incumbent on the regulators to retain their focus, listen to the arguments advanced by both sides, and come to a fair decision that benefits the whole industry, not just those with the biggest pockets and the best Lawyers.”

Also published in: Performance Marketing World

Navigating the Global Puzzle of Ad Tech Laws

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 12:20:49 GMT

Navigating the Global Puzzle of Ad Tech Laws

Global ad laws were already a patchwork. Then came AI. Faster, fuzzier, and harder to govern. Between fines, fragmented consent rules, and legal grey zones, it's a struggle to keep up. Avya Chaudhary uncovers what brands are quietly doing to solve the legal puzzle...

If 2025 proved anything, it is that the advertising supply chain is still built on fragile legal ground. TikTok was fined €530m (£460.8m) after Ireland’s data regulator found that Chinese engineers continued accessing EU user information without proper safeguards. Google followed with a USD$425m (£316.6m) class action suit for collecting user data even after tracking features had been turned off.

For Utiq UK’s managing director, Sara Vincent, these flashpoints reflect a broader divergence between how platforms monetise data and how governments intend to control it: "Large brands, in particular, face the challenge of keeping up with rapidly evolving regulations wherever they operate, knowing they will be held publicly accountable by regulators," says Sara. "With data privacy already one of the most complex and heavily fined areas of global compliance, this is a pressing issue."

The broken infrastructure behind global ad compliance

The clash between regulation and advertising starts long before creative review or media buying: it begins at the consent layer. Each major privacy law defines consent and data localisation on its own terms: the GDPR requires opt-in for personalized ads, the CCPA offers opt-out, Brazil’s LGPD takes a hybrid approach, and China’s PIPL mandates both purpose-specific consent and in-country data storage.

Cross-border ad delivery is treated just as inconsistently. A basic retargeting campaign might be fully compliant in one region, and in violation the moment it crosses a jurisdictional boundary. As brands scale, mapping the correct consent rules to each user segment becomes exponentially harder, especially when campaigns are built across multiple platforms, markets, and vendors.

A lack of internal alignment between legal, compliance, and marketing only adds to the brand woes. Campaigns that take marketing hours to assemble can take legal teams weeks to approve, by which point, ad platforms may have already changed their formats or targeting logic. The chaos compounds as more actors enter the chain: influencers, affiliates, and programmatic platforms. Disclosure rules get treated as flexible guidelines, not legal requirements. Ad delivery paths become so fragmented that tracing user consent becomes a painful exercise: one most brands are neither equipped to perform nor have the bandwidth to navigate.

The Threat of AI

But for Sara, the challenges around privacy and consent are only half the picture. The larger threat is AI-generated content– a legal gray area that’s rapidly expanding. Synthetic media can mimic real faces, voices, and writing styles without ever using the original data directly, yet still fall foul of GDPR’s "identifiable data" standard. Even when the output is technically artificial, regulators treat it as personal data if it resembles an actual person.

Worse, most AI models are trained on scraped data with no audit trail, putting advertisers at risk of violating processing and retention clauses under GDPR and CCPA. Even "lookalike audiences", once seen as harmless extrapolation, now inch toward unlawful profiling under Article 22.

"If a bot impersonates your spokesperson convincingly, are you accountable for what it says?" asks Sara. Her question points to a larger dilemma facing brands: can compliance evolve at the same speed as AI-generated content? Some believe it can, and have already begun testing internal guardrails long before regulators force their hand.

Navigating the cross-border advertising with data

Antonina Burlachenko, who leads quality and regulatory consulting at Star Global, argues that the right strategy is not to wait for regulators to settle the rules but to design systems that anticipate them. "Build systems and guidelines that address today’s needs while preparing for tomorrow," she advises. At the core of her prescription is building AI literacy for marketing teams – understanding how tools affect brand reputation, data security, and regulatory responsibilities.

Marketing teams need a clear picture of where AI is already influencing decisions across the stack. Every layer: content creation, targeting logic, personalisation workflows, or support automation should be mapped and updated as new tools enter the system. Antonina recommends building this inventory with legal oversight. "Work with your legal team and use a tracker to ensure full visibility, preventing unknowingly breaching any regulations," she says.

Such transparency begins with education and alignment. Feed AI systems with historical campaigns, high-performing CTAs, and widely recognised standards such as the ICC marketing codes, so the model understands the tone, sensitivity levels, and regional guardrails it must respect. Once the baseline is established, give it ownership in the form of "AI champions" within every sub-team: media, CRM, programmatic, creative to maintain prompt logs, host recurring "AI Clinics" to fine-tune live workflows across GDPR, CCPA, and PII constraints, and act as bridge nodes between legal, brand, and data privacy functions.

However, such "compliance monitoring without technology would be a monumental task and is prone to human error," warns Sara. And she’s right, no amount of AI literacy within teams can solve regulatory missteps if geography-specific blind spots remain unnoticed.

Structure and Standards

The solution lies in structure. Brands need a central compliance monitor– a unified dashboard that tracks country-specific ad laws, platform policies across Meta, Google, TikTok, or DSPs, and restricted content categories like healthcare, politics, or minors. To make it operational, this dashboard must be supported by regional compliance leads with clear escalation protocols instead of forcing every decision through headquarters.

Sara suggests investing in full legaltech stacks that can operate as real-time compliance monitors. These systems can be paired with AI-based scanners, such as LLM validators, which automatically review creative assets and targeting configurations for banned language, discriminatory filters, or profiling violations. In high-risk regions like the EU healthcare market or Gulf states, every campaign should go through a secondary local legal review before launch. "The cost of monitoring tech is minimal compared to the cost of a compliance crisis," urges Sara.

In 2026, there is no sign of a global reset for brands. Privacy laws will remain fragmented, AI risks will grow, and platforms will continue to push for hyperpersonalised advertising through user data. In the middle of that complexity, leading brands are building resilience with AI audits, consent mapping, local escalation protocols, and legal tech tools.

"The only way brands will succeed is by being transparent," says Antonina. "Disclaimers, proactive communication, and a strong stance on data ethics will become key to earning loyalty and standing out in a crowded market."

Also published in: Exchange Wire

MarTech360 Interview with David Nelson, Co-Founder and CEO at Limelight

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 10:51:15 GMT

MarTech360 Interview with David Nelson, Co-Founder and CEO at Limelight

David, can you tell us about your professional background and what initially sparked your curiosity in digital marketing and programmatic advertising?

I’ve spent about 25 years in digital media. I came from the insurance sector and was looking for something more challenging. That’s where I discovered digital marketing – back when the internet was still quite fresh. I started at Unanimis, which some called a university of digital marketing, and met my current business partner, James Macdonald. After about ten years I moved to Orange, where I helped grow their ad tech operations in Europe, before moving to Rocket Fuel, as operational head for Europe. After Rocket Fuel’s IPO, and subsequent retirement of the brand, I reconnected with James, which led to us bringing Limelight Inc to market in 2018.

What inspired you and James to start Limelight, and how did you translate that vision into the company’s mission?

Invention often comes through necessity. James and I were both approaching our 50s and neither wanted to return to the London commute. We realised we didn’t need to find the next great evolution in adtech. The graveyard of adtech is littered with the bones of people who followed that track. Instead, we attached ourselves to a huge and growing market, and serviced the need in a better way.

When we looked at the available adtech platforms, the barrier to entry was incredibly high. Companies wanted $10,000 in setup fees and guaranteed minimum monthly spend of $25,000. So we disrupted that model. We came to market with no upfront setup fees and minimal monthly commitments. Our mission was to democratise adtech, enabling clients of all sizes to get involved, bringing to life a new level of creativity and individuality within programmatic trading.

Looking back, what’s the single biggest technological shift or market trend that has influenced how you develop products at Limelight?

Initially it was OpenRTB. But for me, it’s not necessarily a shift in how you build tech, but how you deploy it to market. Taking the reins out of the hands of big tech players and giving them to our clients was a massive disruption. We also challenged the cost models. Typical take rates of SSPs and DSPs were 20% when we started, and we’ve set a new benchmark at about a quarter of those fees.

The Adaptive Rules Centre (ARC) is one of Limelight’s standout innovations. How did the concept come about, and what problem was it designed to solve?

ARC was born from an internal need. I saw our Client Success team doing the same things repeatedly for clients, especially assisting with optimisations. At the same time, I realised our clients think differently about bringing their supply packages to market. As a white label platform provider, how were we helping clients bring that individualisation to market? ARC allows our clients, in a non-programmatic way, to personalise our delivery mechanisms to suit their own optimisation techniques

Could you walk us through the main features of ARC and what sets it apart from other automation tools in programmatic advertising?

The platform is addressing a fundamental market shift. A year or so ago, a demand partner would ask for 15,000 QPS (Queries per Second) of supply and accept that it would take two to three weeks to optimise performance. But today, expectations have changed, and that optimisation needs to happen in real time.

ARC enables that by allowing clients to start at minimal QPS levels. The platform then increases QPS automatically with each optimisation, and decreases it again when performance drops. These practical tools enable clients to continually optimise, changing the conversation from “your performance is bad” to “you’re so great, send me more”.

What sets Limelight apart from competing programmatic or RTB platforms, particularly for publishers or agencies considering a white-label solution?

What sets us apart is that we don’t compete at all with our customers. Sadly, almost every other ad server will also be trading their clients’ media. We’ve seen that after six months, spend drops, and after seven to eight months, these platforms start taking insights from the customer’s business and redeploying them in theirs. We are solely a software company with an interest in leaning into clients’ businesses, because if they win, we win. Our clients aren’t sensitive about telling us what they’re trying to achieve because our only interest is making them grow.

And with ARC specifically, the evolution has been remarkable. From a project that started by wanting to eliminate repetitive tasks, we’ve now seen 300-400% uplifts in real deployments.

What broader trends are shaping programmatic advertising, and what challenges do you see for companies in this space?

I don’t think any of us truly understand right now the impact that AI is going to have. What we think today is a world away from where we’ll be in two to three years – and so where we end up is going to surprise us all.

I also think we’ll see a lot of technology disappear because intermediary platforms won’t be able to illustrate the value they’re offering. If you’re not adding value, what are you doing?

Finally, what’s one piece of advice for young individuals looking to enter digital marketing or programmatic advertising?

If what someone is telling you sounds complicated, they’re getting it wrong. Way too many people get bombarded with acronyms and complex descriptions, which pushes them into a position where they’re frightened to ask questions. That’s complete rubbish. Nothing we do is particularly complicated. So the takeaway here is: always ask the question if you don’t understand something. Five times out of ten, the person who just gave you that description won’t be able to answer because they’ve got no more idea than you have.

Thanks David!

Also published in: Martech360

Limelight Names Jez Fawcett as Global Head of Product

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 10:42:08 GMT

Limelight Names Jez Fawcett as Global Head of Product

Programmatic platform Limelight Inc. has appointed Jez Fawcett to the role of global head of product, with responsibility for leading the company’s product strategy and roadmap.

Jez will work across all Limelight teams to determine priorities for customer success, sales and marketing, aligned to the company’s Go-To-Market plan for market and sector growth. He will develop and implement new products that will enable Limelight to successfully navigate the next phase of its growth - informed at every stage by the needs of customers.

Throughout a career that has involved spells at Experian, Oracle (acquired Bluekai) and Rocket Fuel, Jez has been driven by a desire to understand customer challenges and find creative ways to help clients transform opportunities into tangible results.

“If our clients are successful, then we will be,” he said. “Keeping that close means we are always thinking of the customer first, understanding their needs and their problems and searching for solutions to them. I’ve worked to this mantra for 20 years in marketing services, data and ad tech and it’s something I see as a key part of the Limelight ethos, which is one of the things that attracted me to the company.”

Jez joins Limelight after eight years at Experian, where he initially spent four years as a product director within Experian’s Marketing Services business, before taking up the role of domain lead in Experian’s Credit Bureau division. In his time at Experian, Jez launched the first addressable advertising solution linking deterministic data to cookies that could be targeted programmatically.

Before that, Jez was head of international product at leading DSP Rocket Fuel, where he reported to David Nelson, who went on to co-found Limelight.

“It’s great to join forces with Jez once more,” said David Nelson. “He has a great eye for the nuances of adtech, and for extracting every last ounce of value out of programmatic platforms. These are attributes that will be extremely valuable for our clients, and for their customers.”

Also published in: Little Black Book Online

Black History Month: Reflecting on the people who inspired us

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 14:20:06 GMT

Black History Month: Reflecting on the people who inspired us

In honor of Black History Month 2025, I caught up with some brilliant Black voices across the industry and asked them more about the people who have inspired them, motivated them and nurtured their ambitions. I simply asked them: ‘What early memory or person in your life inspired or motivated your ambitions?’

But first, let’s start with my story.

Camealia Xavier-Chihota, marketing and social media director, The Digital Voice

Growing up, I didn’t know my paternal grandfather, Asquith Xavier, had done something remarkable.

In my early twenties, I read about his activism in the 60s, but it wasn’t until I became a mother that I truly understood the depth of his legacy and how profoundly it would shape my own ambitions.

Asquith Xavier was a pioneer of the Windrush generation, a man of immense courage who stood up against overt racism in the workplace and helped change British history. He challenged British Rail’s discriminatory workplace policies in the 1960s, and his fight contributed to the Race Relations Act of 1968, a landmark shift that made racial discrimination in employment illegal. Though I never met him, his story has been passed down with reverence. He was described as a man of dignity, strength, and leadership - someone who didn’t just accept the status quo but actively reshaped it. His journey from Dominica to the UK, and his refusal to be silenced, taught me that where there’s a will, there’s a way, and that standing up for what’s right can ripple through generations.

When my daughters were born, something shifted in me. They became my motivation, my mirror, and my reason to step up. I realized I wanted to be more than just present in their lives, I wanted to be a positive role model - someone they could look up to with pride.

My four grandparents came to Britain chasing opportunity, sold a dream of golden streets, only to face discrimination and hardship. But they persevered. And in honoring their resilience, I’ve found my own. I want my daughters to grow up knowing that ordinary people, like their great-grandfather, can do extraordinary things. That their heritage is rich with strength, courage, and change-making. And that they, too, can shape the world around them. My ambition today is not just for myself, but for them, to build a life that reflects the values Asquith Xavier lived by: integrity, justice, and fearless determination.

Axel Campbell, brand growth manager, esbconnect

From a young age, I watched my dad navigate the highs and lows of running multiple businesses. There were wins, there were failures, but what always stood out was his mindset - no excuses. He didn’t shape his life around his income; he shaped his income around the life he wanted. That meant working two jobs if needed, pushing harder in his current role, or even switching careers entirely. His approach taught me that ambition isn’t just about dreaming big; it’s about doing the work consistently and without complaint.

What really stuck with me was his refusal to settle. He’d always ask, “What can you do better? How can you do more?”

That attitude became a blueprint for how I approach my own goals. I’ve never been content with just getting by; I’ve always felt driven to stretch further, to raise the bar. Watching him take ownership of his path, even when things didn’t go to plan, instilled in me a deep belief in personal accountability. Success wasn’t something you waited for; it was something you built, brick by brick, decision by decision.

That foundation has shaped how I show up professionally. Whether I’m in sales, tech, or media, I carry that same ethos: be proactive, be honest with yourself, and don’t make excuses. My dad’s example taught me that ambition isn’t just about wanting more; it’s about being willing to become more. And that’s something I’ve tried to live by every day.

Nick Fettiplace, managing director, Jellyfish

My inspiration and motivation haven’t really come from one single person or moment. It’s come from a mix of people, places, cultures, and circumstances; from a collection of experiences. I don’t think I could tie any of it down to one specific memory or individual.

Spending my early years as a kid growing up in Jamaica, we saw a lot. The 80s were a time of significant unrest. Destabilization from foreign governments, rough politics, and social conflict. I feel a lot of what influenced who I am as an adult is rooted in those early days. Some of what inspired me was what you’d consider “good” or “beautiful,” while other elements of inspiration come from challenging or unpleasant experiences.

Of the good, I was inspired by communities coming together in solidarity, compassion, perseverance and the ability just to keep going. Leadership, and the different shapes, sizes and forms that it comes in, humor, personality, hustle, even faith, and the many expressions of it. Particularly in Jamaica: Rasta. A people’s movement; the non-conformity of it. An unwillingness to bend for what you don’t believe in or represent.

All of these things I still value and try to uphold in how I work and behave with others.

And from the less positive, also came good - albeit with slightly less comfort… Loss, fear and uncertainty. To me, these have played a big role in inspiring and shaping my work ethic and how my ambition is articulated by my behaviors. They’ve inspired me to try and seize every moment, not to underestimate what it takes to succeed or win, and to value all that we have.

On a final note, while not attributing my inspiration or motivation to one specific person, I will dedicate this comment to Henry “Soldier Man” Campbell. He was adopted by my grandparents as a boy, from the hills of Newcastle, neighbouring a military camp. Henry helped care for my sister and I. His steady presence and kindness are still a big part of my inspiration and of my gratitude.

Jermaine Balfourth, creative director, Oliver Agency

My mum was my first real inspiration. Whenever I asked her to draw something, she’d do it with ease, from Disney characters to Street Fighter’s Ryu. It didn’t matter what it was, she’d find a way to bring it to life.

I remember one time I kept trying to draw Ryu myself, but he just didn’t look right. I couldn’t get him to look cool no matter how many times I tried. Then my mum took the paper, smiled, and drew him perfectly: calm, focused, powerful. Watching her turn my failed attempts into something that felt alive made me see creativity differently. It wasn’t just art, it was power.

Our house was always the one where everyone came - friends, cousins, neighbors. There was always noise, laughter, food, and people around. Looking back, I realize that sense of community shaped me just as much as my mum’s creativity did. It taught me the value of connection, sharing, and building spaces where everyone feels welcome.

Those moments lit a fire in me. They made me believe that ideas can live beyond imagination if you’re bold enough to bring them out, and that creativity means more when it brings people together. That lesson has stayed with me ever since. It’s what still drives me to create, to build, and to push what’s possible.

Adele Lewis Bridgeman, talent acquisition consultant

For me, it’s definitely Porge (my mum). Porge taught me from an early age that I could be anything I wanted to be, as long as I coupled hard work with discipline. Education was important in my family, and I’ll never forget telling her I wasn’t going to university as I wanted to start working and gain experience. Her words to me were “whatever you’re doing, make it count”, and I’ve used that piece of advice so many times since. I know she’s proud of me as the photo taken of me leading a workshop at UN//SCENE is currently her WhatsApp photo – because, you know, mums are like that.

Being a Black woman born to parents who came over to the UK in the ’80s has everything to do with my career choices. I’ve worked in teams where I have been one of one, or been one of less than a handful, and I’ve always been fascinated with the key role recruitment plays in contributing to the culture and bottom line of businesses. I’ve always been cognizant of who isn’t in the room, curious as to why that’s the case, and modelled my career around doing the work to change that. Considering I entered the industry through my recruitment expertise - and this industry is amazing - I’m keen to partner with businesses to implement people-focused strategies to help them ultimately reach their goals.

Annabelle Walters, global chief people officer, Jellyfish

The person who has really inspired me recently is Amina Folarin. She’s the UK CEO now of Oliver Agency, which is part of the Brandtech Group. And I remember when she first interviewed me - it’s about seven years ago now. In one of my first conversations, she gave me some really direct feedback. And it wouldn’t have happened anywhere else in my career, because she was another Black female.

She understood some of the challenges that I would be facing and what I would need to do to hold my own, but also make sure I was representing myself in the best possible way, because the space is different for Black females. We have to show up differently. It is what it is. And maybe our kids will see that change, but right now you just have to be aware of the environment that you’re in and move accordingly.

So for me, she always strove for excellence. It was non-negotiable. That has really driven that ambition for me.

Ibrahim Kamara, technical ad solutions engineer, GumGum

My mum is one of my greatest inspirations, coming in the ’90s from war-torn Sierra Leone to the UK. Seeing how hard she worked, navigating challenges with limited resources to provide, has taught me the importance of perseverance and self-belief.

Now, I make it a priority to build genuine connections and engage with like-minded individuals who share similar backgrounds. Fostering these relationships and contributing to a sense of community, I’ve been able to create opportunities, open doors that might otherwise have remained closed, and maximize the growth and impact of my career.

Also Published in: The Drum

Experts Share: How The Rise Of Ads Impacts The Quality Of Online Platforms

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 11:13:26 GMT

Experts Share: How The Rise Of Ads Impacts The Quality Of Online Platforms

Advertising certainly has moved from being just television, radio and newspapers. McKinsey reports that new systems called commerce media networks are driving growth across platforms where people already spend time, such as travel apps, streaming sites and payment services. These networks place adverts directly within digital experiences, turning shopping, booking flights, even using a ride-hailing app, into a marketing opportunity.

The US market for CMNs is expected to reach more than $100 billion by 2027, with an annual growth rate above 21%. McKinsey’s survey of 150 advertisers showed that 55% plan to raise their CMN spending in the next year. Advertisers are moving around budgets to be less social media and search so they display more ads with CMNs, which use first-party data to target people more precisely. This means more advertising is appearing in everyday activities that previously seemed free from commercial messages.

Large names such as Uber, United Airlines, DoorDash and PayPal now run their own media networks. This gives brands the chance to reach consumers through travel, delivery and financial platforms, where purchase intent is already high. Nearly 70% of travel advertisers and 60% of consumer goods companies said they plan to increase their spending in this space.

How Are Users Responding To Constant Advertising?

Not long ago, Meta announced that people in the UK will soon have to pay to remove adverts from Facebook and Instagram. The subscription will apply across all linked accounts through Meta’s Account Centre.

The company said that in 2024, its advertising tools helped create £65 billion in economic activity and over 357,000 jobs in the UK . Every pound spent on ads through Meta generated an average of £3.82 in revenue for UK companies. Meta argued that the UK’s more flexible rules compared with the EU make it easier to offer users choice without harming business growth.

With adverts appearing on more platforms, users are starting to question whether free services are truly free. Are all these targeted ads and strategies to make users pay for no ads impacting the overall user experience?

As Jason Patterson at Jewel Content Marketing Agency, said: “Advertising makes social media less social, by revealing its fundamental purpose as being commercial. People don’t mind advertising when it’s more attractive or interesting than what’s around it, but that’s rarely the case on social media, where fraudulent ad data makes advertisers believe their s**t don’t stink.”

Experts share their thoughts on this..

James Taylor, CEO and Founder, Particular Audience

The “enshittification of the internet” is a term that seems to get used more and more frequently.

“We don’t want pop ups, we don’t want spam, and we don’t want ads.

“At the same time: We don’t mind a discount, we don’t hate emails from aspirational sources and we don’t mind clicking when we love what’s been suggested to us.

“Meta will get its no-ad subscribers. Social media is part of our muscle memory. It’s an adopted habit, so it’s not crazy to imagine that people will pay for it.

“But for most of us who don’t pay, since we’re happy to take a few ads in return for a free service, ad density is a real problem. Ad density becomes an issue when a platform needs to simply add moreads to increase their revenues, and platforms are under pressure from investors to do just that.

“When ads are relevant, they can perform better without needing the brute force of volume. This doesn’t work well for user experiences over time.

“Google famously tested the long term impact of too many ads, and it is what led them to reduce the number of ads on mobile. Meta has clearly hit a similar ceiling.

“As retail media proliferates across retailers, the same questions are popping up around whether a retailer should or shouldn’t put ads on their websites. The reality is eCommerce is already pages full of ads. Which products you do or don’t click on are indistinguishable from ads. Successfully introducing supplier funding into the ranking cocktail of eCommerce search results ultimately comes down to the same concepts of relevancy that make an organic eCommerce experience good or bad. Technology matters, and relevancy matters.”

Piero Pavone, CEO, Preciso

“Meta’s move came as a surprise to me, because advertising on social platforms is not overly intrusive, nor should it be. If advertisers use native formats that blend in seamlessly with the content around the ads, then advertising doesn’t need to be intrusive and can actually add to the overall experience. This is what hundreds of publishers running native ads on our Ultima platform have found since we launched the solution earlier this year.”

James Macdonald, Co-Founder and CRO, Limelight

“Ads or no ads, that is the question , both from a commercial perspective as well as the user’. This is not a new thing. The Times and Sunday Times made a decision to go behind a paywall some years back. Spotify, and other platforms, offer the option to remove ads for an upgraded subscription. I personally think ads actually can and do add value if curated and managed in the right way by the publisher/platform but that’s another article in itself.

“In Meta’s case, it’s definitely a very real issue, as it’s clear the intrusive and indiscriminate nature of some of the targeting and creative, not to mention the content itself, really can dilute and affect the quality of the experience. On the other hand, for Meta to deliver many of the services it does , it kind of needs to be paid, so as ever, it’s a trade-off, and one that applies to many other publishers. In a nutshell, advertising economically powers the service and enables the platform to provide free access for the user, and Meta wouldn’t even exist today if Facebook hadn’t used ad revenues to build its business.

“In Meta’s case. I’d also hazard a guess that external pressure to better manage what has become a bit of a “Wild West” scenario has pushed them to make what is ultimately a headline-making play by offering a “subscription equals no ads” option. One thing you can be sure of is that Mark Zuckerberg and his team will keep a close eye on the bottom line and that’s ultimately what will decide how this will play out.”

Suzanna Chaplin, CEO & co-Founder, esbconnect

“Meta’s ad-free subscription simply recognises human nature: no matter how creative your ad is, some people just don’t want to see ads. And if I’m being cynical, the announcement might be due to Meta’s aggressive targeting and a high level of complaints. People feel ther privacy is being breached when they say something out loud, and suddenly they see ads for it on Instagram…it’s clear they are listening.

“Or you type something in a WhatsApp message and randomly see an ad for it…despite being told your data is encrypted. Or you click on an ad for a pair of shoes and all you are served for the next week is ads for shoes from every man and his dog. It’s not the ads themselves that are at fault, but rather the platform monetising advertisers’ desire to get a consumer’s attention. Maybe this should signal to advertisers that social is noisy, and perhaps there are better places to spend your money to acquire new users.”

Play as you go: how gaming is redefining CTV advertising

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 10:53:53 GMT

Play as you go: how gaming is redefining CTV advertising

TV ads have always been about storytelling, and they tell their stories in many creative and subtle ways. Think about some of the great ads down the years, from P&G’s brilliant Thank You Mom campaign, to Thai Life Insurance’s Unsung Hero, to John Lewis’s Monty the Penguin Christmas ad. All were brilliant in their own way, yet they were still obliged to conform to the relatively prescriptive advertising norms of the day: a linear storyline leading to a not-always-expected conclusion.

And if you look at most TV ads today, perhaps understandably, the majority still follow the same rules. As the old adage goes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” With a few exceptions, broadcasters are largely content to offer advertisers a window in which to sell their products, though there has been some innovation in the length of ad slots available, with shorter ad units developed to fill a brief gap in proceedings, such as when a wicket falls in a T20 cricket match, for example.

New ad formats break the mould

So when you consider the pace of change and innovation in the TV world, with the massive growth of streaming TV platforms as an alternative to the incumbent linear broadcasters, it seems odd that ad formats are, for the most part, still stuck firmly in the past.

But things are finally starting to change, and CTV advertising platforms are leading the charge, with new formats that break the mould of what a TV ad is supposed to look like and how it should behave.

Take GameBreaks, an ad format introduced earlier this year by Samsung Ads on the Samsung TV Plus service in the US, Canada and the UK. Built natively for Samsung Smart TVs, GameBreaks ads take the form of short, remote control-powered games that run in the first ad slot of premium commercial ad pods, offering viewers a frictionless way to engage, while giving advertisers a new medium through which to earn attention. Advertisers can customise trivia questions, themes, and design elements within GameBreaks ads to align with campaign goals.

GameBreaks was launched in response to the incredible popularity of games as a pastime for people of all ages. According to Exploding Topics, there are 3.32 billion active videogame players worldwide – that’s over 40% of the world’s total population. We know, too, that in the UK, gaming now accounts for 10% or more of the daily time viewers spend on Samsung smart TVs [source: Samsung, H2 2024].

The fact is, humans are hard-wired to enjoy playing games, whether that’s on a phone, PC, games console, connected TV, or the kitchen table, and they are doing so already. New ad formats like GameBreaks are simply catering to an innate human desire for fun and friendly competition.

Viewers respond well to new ad formats

Viewer reaction to gamified ad units has been extremely positive. Independent research from MediaScience in the US found that the ads delivered a 53% lift in unaided brand recall, outperforming standard video ads by 1.5x. It also found that 89% of viewers preferred GameBreaks over traditional commercial breaks.

It’s exciting to see this new wave of innovation in CTV advertising, and the positive viewer and advertiser reaction to it. I’m intrigued to see the moves that other CTV ad platforms make to push the envelope of TV advertising.

Also published in: Martech Series

Prime Day October – ad industry leaders share their insights

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 10:47:36 GMT

Prime Day October – ad industry leaders share their insights

The final Amazon Prime Day of the year before the Christmas shopping bonanza is already underway, but with the UK economy in dire straits, will anyone but ’3-pads’ Angela Rayner be in a position to spend?

We’ve asked our adland creatives and adtech leaders for their take on the online marketing discount event and how brands might fair this time around…

Nisha Eapen, Client Relationship Head, Preciso

“Prime Day is probably one of the most popular and longstanding online marketing promotions associated with one single global marketplace brand.

“As a result, Prime Day has a significant impact on the adtech ecosystem. For solution providers who are external to Amazon, like Preciso, we still consider the event insights in media planning, because we have advertisers who are also selling on the Amazon platform.

“It’s useful to observe the specific buying behaviour and trends, because we work with the same vertical, so it can help shine a light on the overall shopper mindset this holiday season.”

Sean Adams, Chief Marketing Officer, Brand Metrics

“As Prime Day approaches, the spotlight often falls on pricing and promotions – but the real winners are the brands that have already earned a place in consumers’ minds.

“In a sea of choice, familiarity and positive perception drive action. That’s why brand building isn’t just a long game – it’s a strategic advantage in moments like these.

“For advertisers, the lead-up to Prime Day is a critical window to reinforce brand associations and emotional relevance. But it’s not enough to hope those efforts land. Measuring brand lift in real time – across channels and formats – helps marketers understand whether their campaigns are truly shifting perception and driving intent.

“At Brand Metrics, we see Prime Day as a litmus test for brand equity. When consumers are primed to buy, the brands they recall and trust are the ones that convert.

“It’s a reminder that performance doesn’t start at the point of purchase – it starts with perception.”

Claire Leon, Head of Commerce, Jellyfish and co-Founder Acorn-i

“An ‘omnichannel plan’ is becoming more and more valuable, as we can start to attribute wider media plans to support core retail events across marketplaces.

“Prime Week in the summer landed where Amazon hoped it would, with strong performance and growth v. Prime Day last year across all categories.

“Proving the consumer appetite for deals remains strong despite a growing consumer savviness in shopping across channels for deals and economic uncertainty.

“Using our proprietary technology, we were able to track where the sales were coming from channel wise.

“Mobile was the dominant transaction channel yet it was the role of AI and social influencers that was truly embraced by consumers – 33% cited being comfortable using AI to help them make their purchase decisions, and traffic from Gen AI was up triple digit % (of course from a modest base).

“Channel specific plans and use of AI measurement technology has never been more important as consumers look to use Agents to inform their product selection.

“Social influencers also played a significant role in driving traffic to the Prime Day event.

“While paid searches remained the top driver of retail sales online (28.5 percent share of revenue, up 5.6 percent YoY), affiliates and partners, which include social media influencers, saw a greater lift (19.9 percent share, up 15 percent YoY).

“We also know that influencers convert shoppers at 10 times the rate of social media overall, so ensuring a smart social media strategy that will support your Prime Days plans.

“On top of that, the more traditional operations, media, and content teams working together remain core focus areas for brands.

“Any strong Prime Day playbook should include all of the following:

Retail Readiness of all promoted ASINs
Pre-event momentum mining
Real-time budget pivoting – allow your media budgets and allocation to be agile throughout the event.

Read more in: Mediashotz

Brand Metrics Wins “Best CTV Ad Tech Innovation” at the 2025 European Video Awards

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 10:20:23 GMT

Brand Metrics Wins “Best CTV Ad Tech Innovation” at the 2025 European Video Awards

Brand Metrics, the leading brand lift measurement company, is proud to announce it has been awarded Best CTV Ad Tech Innovation at the 2025 European Video Awards, hosted by VideoWeek.

Brand Metrics was recognized for its pioneering panel-less brand lift solution, the first to deliver scalable, always-on measurement across CTV environments. Traditionally serving premium publishers such as Bloomberg, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, Brand Metrics has expanded into CTV to empower streaming platforms and broadcasters to offer advertisers deeper mid-funnel insights beyond clicks and impressions – shifting the conversation to brand impact and purchase intent.

The European Video Awards celebrate excellence and innovation across the video and CTV ecosystem, honouring the companies and people pushing boundaries in advertising, streaming, and technology. This year’s shortlist included some of the biggest names in the industry – from broadcasters and platforms to adtech innovators like Channel 4, Samsung Ads, GroupM, The Trade Desk, and ITV – making Brand Metrics’ win particularly meaningful.

“Winning Best CTV Ad Tech Innovation at the European Video Awards is not just an award, but validation of the vision we’ve had all along – that brand lift measurement should live where audiences are,” said Alysha Dino, Global Head of CTV at Brand Metrics. “We’re incredibly thankful to VideoWeek, Vincent Flood, and the wider industry for always being open to progress, evolution and innovation. To win against such a strong field of nominees makes this even more special.”

The award underscores Brand Metrics’ unique position as the only brand lift company offering a scalable, efficient solution, purpose-built for CTV. With CTV ad spend projected to surpass $42 billion in Europe by 2028 and $47 billion in North America by 2026, the recognition comes at a time of explosive growth and heightened demand for innovation in streaming measurement.

As CTV solidifies its role as the fastest-growing channel in digital advertising, Brand Metrics’ achievement highlights the industry’s shift toward smarter, outcome-driven metrics – and cements its position as a true innovator in the space.

Also published in: Adtech Today

Who will blink first in battle to topple Google adtech?

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 11:17:38 GMT

Who will blink first in battle to topple Google adtech?

With US antitrust enforcers renewing their efforts this week to press for a forced sale of Google’s online ad business, publishers and rival adtech developers are watching closely.

Julia Tarver Wood, an attorney with the Justice Department’s antitrust division, said in her opening statement that making Google sell AdX was necessary to restore competition,

However, will the tech giant, which is notoriously adept at avoiding any sort of crackdown, escape again? Decision Marketing speaks to industry experts.

First up is Limelight Inc co-founder and CEO David Nelson , who says he feels quite ambivalent about the position Google finds itself in.

He argues that the main reason the company consistently finds itself in the firing line is because it has built a hugely successful business, yet it has also used its dominant position for its own benefit.

Nelson added: “The situation currently under scrutiny is a prime example of this, where Google’s ad server and Google’s ad exchange have a preferential relationship. This is clearly not right or defensible, and it’s notable that the DoJ has gone as far as to ask the judge presiding over the trial to order Google to sell its ad exchange. So we shall see.

“Whatever happens, we shouldn’t underestimate Google’s ability to a) come out of this relatively unscathed; and b) drag things out for so long by way of appeals that it has plenty of time to develop a replacement offering for anything it is ordered to dispose of.

Meanwhile, Particular Audience CEO and founder James Taylor commented: “The EU and the US both agree on the problem: Google has an inherent conflict of interest that tilts auctions run by Google’s publisher ad server toward its own exchange and buy‑side. This self-preferential treatment is anti-competitive.

“My view is that the market needs neutral pipes, but the fact that Google has made its ecosystem work in the best way it can (by controlling the components of a nascent, complex and distributed ecosystem) is a pragmatic effort not lost on me.”

For Revving chief executive Chris Pettit , however, the move says loud and clear that regulators in the US and the EU are growing weary of Google’s monopolistic approach to online advertising in particular, and adtech in general, and are seeking to level the playing field.

He believes this would make things fairer for smaller competitors, and, more importantly, offer consumers greater choice. However, in the US in particular, while regulators are keen on putting Google through the mill, they are less decisive in the action they take and he cites the recent DOJ’s ruling as a prime example.

Pettit explained: “Google could have been ordered to divest its Chrome browser and/or its Android operating system in an attempt to reduce its dominance. Instead, neither happened, with Google required only to share data with its competitors, and end the practice of paying substantial sums to secure exclusivity for its search and Chrome browsing services on handsets. So Google got to keep the core mechanics of its ad business intact.

“Limiting defaults and forcing data-sharing is cosmetic compared to the structural remedies that could have truly opened up the market. From an industry perspective, that means Google’s gravitational pull on ad budgets remains.

“Rivals may get more data, but without dismantling the bundling of search, browser, and mobile ecosystems, the imbalance persists. My view is that the regulators blinked. They acknowledged Google abused its dominance but stopped short of breaking the machinery that maintains it.”

However, Pettit reckons EU regulators seem more prepared to bare their teeth.

He concluded: “In their latest judgment, they gave Google 60 days to explain how they will change their practices to stop abusing their dominant position in online advertising.

“They also imposed a sizable fine – €2.9bn – which brings the total fines imposed on the company by the European Commission to €11.16bn since 2017. Loose change for Google, for sure, but a sign of the Commission’s impatience with the company all the same.”

Also published in: Decision Marketing

How a $2.6bn medical research ‘mistake’ reshaped brand measurement

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 09:57:15 GMT

How a $2.6bn medical research ‘mistake’ reshaped brand measurement

When doctors get diagnostics wrong, the consequences are costly. The same is true for marketing.

Sean Adams, CMO at Brand Metrics , explains how lessons from medicine — including one $2.6 billion error — are inspiring a new, more accurate era of brand measurement.

In 1998, US pharma giant Pfizer was ready to scrap a heart medication that had failed clinical trials.

The drug showed disappointing results when tested at a single dose against a placebo. By traditional testing standards, it was a failure.

But one researcher suggested looking at the dose-response data more carefully. What they discovered changed everything: the drug didn’t work at the tested dose, but at lower doses, it had an unexpected side effect.

That “failed” heart medication became Viagra, generating over $2.6 billion annually for Pfizer. The breakthrough wasn’t the drug itself; it was understanding that different doses create entirely different outcomes.

Why simple A/B testing misses the mark

Traditional pharmaceutical testing follows a binary approach: give one group the drug, another group a placebo, and compare results. This “works or doesn’t work” thinking seems logical, but it misses crucial insights.

Simple placebo testing can’t tell you the optimal dose, or when it becomes dangerous, or if different doses have different effects entirely.

That’s why modern pharmaceutical research relies on dose-response studies, testing multiple doses and using mathematical modelling to understand the complete relationship between dose and effect.

Consider warfarin, a blood thinner that prevents strokes. Early binary testing showed it worked, but patients kept having dangerous bleeding episodes.

The breakthrough came when researchers applied dose-response analysis and discovered the optimal dose varied dramatically between patients.

Today, warfarin is safely prescribed to millions using personalised dosing algorithms.

The brand measurement problem

The advertising industry has been stuck with its own version of simple placebo testing for decades.

Traditional brand lift measurement recruits two groups – one who saw your campaign, one who didn’t. If the “exposed” group feels more positive, that’s your brand lift.

This has fundamental limitations:

Binary thinking: Someone who saw your ad once counts the same as someone who saw it ten times. It’s like testing medicine without considering dosage.
Hidden variables: People who see ads aren’t random – they might already be more interested in your product. It’s like comparing gym members to non-gym members to assess the appeal of a fitness-based brand’s campaign.
Missed optimisation: This binary approach may tell you whether your campaign “worked”, but not how to make it work better in future.

The breakthrough

Just as medicine evolved beyond simple placebo testing, brand measurement has now evolved beyond legacy, exposed-vs-control comparisons.

The revised approach is to borrow pharmaceutical dose-response methodology and apply it to advertising measurement.

Instead of comparing “saw ads vs didn’t see ads,” we analyse people who saw campaigns at different frequency levels, whether that’s one, three, seven or 15 exposures.

We can then use regression analysis (the same mathematical techniques used in pharmaceutical research) to understand the complete relationship between ad exposure and brand perception.

Building campaign exposure information into measurement techniques helps us better understand:

Minimum effective frequency: How many exposures before your message starts working?
Optimal frequency: What’s the sweet spot for maximum impact?
Diminishing returns: When does showing more ads stop helping the brand?
Baseline estimation: using advanced mathematical modelling to calculate brand perception at “zero exposures”

Real insights hiding in plain sight

This approach enables real-world insights. One luxury car brand discovered through dose-response analysis that its campaign only worked after the fourth exposure.

Traditional testing had concluded it “wasn’t working” because they measured mostly people with one or two exposures.

The brand restructured media buying to reach fewer people more frequently. Brand lift doubled while costs stayed the same.

Another consumer goods company saw the opposite effect. It learned that its campaign hit diminishing returns after just two exposures.

So it redirected budget from frequency to reach, increasing overall brand lift by 40%. Neither insight would have been possible with traditional binary measurement techniques.

Why this matters now

In an era of programmatic advertising, algorithms decide how many times to show your ad to each person. Without understanding your campaign’s dose-response curve, you’re flying blind, potentially over-exposing some audiences while under-exposing others.

The pharmaceutical industry learned decades ago that binary thinking leaves opportunities on the shelf. The most successful drugs aren’t necessarily the most powerful; they’re the ones with the best-understood dose-response relationships.

And the same evolution is happening in advertising. The most successful future campaigns won’t necessarily have the biggest budgets, but they will understand exactly how frequency drives brand lift and optimise accordingly.

The tools exist. The dose-response methodology is proven. The only question is whether you’ll use them before your competitors do.

Also published in: Mediashotz

MarTech360 Interview with Piero Pavone, Founder and CEO at Preciso

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 09:50:20 GMT

MarTech360 Interview with Piero Pavone, Founder and CEO at Preciso

Piero, can you tell us about what you do and how Preciso differentiates itself from other companies in the same space?

I have been in the industry for over 30 years now, and I founded Preciso back in 2020, right at the start of the global pandemic. It was a challenging time for the industry, and launching a business then was both risky and rewarding.

Preciso is a Smart-Bid technology platform designed to deliver client campaigns in just a few clicks, and I would say it is the strongest technology I’ve worked with yet. Our RTB technology helps advertisers around the world increase win rates and boost ROAS. We use the power of consumer journey data to generate highly relevant ads across multiple channels and our platform is fully integrated with the biggest ecommerce solutions.

But aside from the brilliant technology, what really differentiates us from our competitors is our support-first ethos, where we place clients and their success at the centre of everything we do.

Your time at MainAd gave you a front-row seat to the early days of programmatic. What lessons from that period directly shaped how you built Preciso?

At MainAd, we were the first company to sign a contract with AppNexus which, at the time, was one of the most important DSPs in the world. My ten years there gave me everything I needed to understand programmatic technology, DSPs and advertising. You can’t successfully build a new technology without first understanding the space inside and out.

Preciso was founded on the idea of giving smaller businesses the same programmatic firepower as big brands. How do you keep that challenger spirit alive as the company scales?

Preciso has always been about providing support for brands that need it. In our industry, it takes years to make it big in the market, and starting from scratch is hard and highly competitive. Our mission is to empower small and mid-size companies where a small investment can help a company grow with our support. No matter how much we grow, there will always be a smaller business looking for a helping hand.

Every company faces defining moments. What has been the single biggest challenge for Preciso, and how did overcoming it shape the company’s identity?

Preciso was born during the pandemic, when ecommerce was accelerating rapidly and the travel industry was coming to a complete standstill. Since then, we’ve grown from a team of 35 to over 70 talented individuals working across six countries, and we’re now a leading RTB platform in Europe for small businesses, with a strong presence in China as well.

The ecommerce boom was the most defining and complex moment for Preciso, as it set us up to ensure every single impression we deliver is as effective as possible for our clients.

What core industry problem led to the creation of your native advertising platform? With consumers engaging 53% more with native ads than traditional display ads, how does Ultima help clients capitalise on that trend?

Traditional display ads are no longer performing in the same way they once were. Native advertising, on the other hand, is proving the best way to attract and maintain meaningful user interaction. Consumers look at native ads 53% more than traditional display ads, and respond with an 18% increase in purchase intent. Our own data regularly shows engagement rates of above 70%, whereas previously, advertisers would often see a bounce rate of 70% from the display ad format.

Our Ultima solution transforms native campaign management by using machine learning technology to create personalised campaign creatives and automatically embed them within web pages to combat banner blindness and drive meaningful engagement at scale. It also deploys AI bid-smart technology to optimise the bidding and buying process in real time, ensuring only the most relevant ad placements are secured – minimising ad wastage and associated carbon emissions.

With the industry shifting towards a ‘cookieless’ future, how is Ultima adapting to maintain effective targeting and attribution? How does Preciso plan to thrive with first-party data and contextual advertising?

Preciso is already prepared for a world without cookies, despite Google’s back and forth on when they’ll be diminishing them for good. We work exclusively with first-party data and have the capabilities we need in place for contextual advertising. Browsers like Firefox have already moved on so our system is designed to adapt and thrive with these changes.

How does Ultima leverage real-time consumer journey data to optimise ad placements and maximise ROI for clients?

Ultima bids in the auction and in 100 milliseconds can understand a full consumer profile – who they are, what they like, when they like to shop. That means we are already delivering higher CTRs and dwell time for our advertisers, while significantly driving down CPMs and site abandonment. Beyond clicks, we’re seeing genuine sustained engagement from what we’re putting in front of consumers.

Looking ahead, what is the next frontier for Preciso? Where do you see the company and Ultima in the next few years?

As we continue to scale, we’re continuously changing our programmatic model to evolve with the technology. One area that we’re especially excited to be stepping into next is opening our technology up to the publishers. In the next few years, we’re aiming to integrate our technology directly into publisher platforms.

What key advice would you give to new entrepreneurs aiming to build and scale tech-driven businesses in highly competitive markets?

You have to spend time and energy understanding what is missing from this industry and how you can provide something to help fill those gaps, which is no easy task. My best advice for someone starting out would be to meet clients, talk to the right people in the industry, understand what they need and what they are looking for. That’s exactly how I built Preciso, and although it can take years of dedication, the payoff is always worth it.

Thanks Piero!

Also published in: Martech360

Beyond the U.S. trial, here is Europe’s antitrust case against Google’s ad tech monopoly explained

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 09:40:45 GMT

Beyond the U.S. trial, here is Europe’s antitrust case against Google’s ad tech monopoly explained

As the U.S. trudges through its high-profile case against Google’s monopoly over online advertising this week, Europe is pursuing the same target – just without the courtroom drama. Time for a look at how that’s unfolding.

Let’s start with the basics: earlier this month, the European Commission – the European Union’s executive arm – hit Google with a €2.95 billion fine for abusing its control over how ads are bought and sold in a market it also happens to run. But that was just the start. It also gave Google 60 days to come back with a fix. If it can’t – or won’t – the commission has said a breakup of Google’s ad tech business could be the only resolution.

This sounds like the antitrust case against Google in the U.S: it’s not a carbon copy of the U.S. case, but the parallels are hard to ignore. For starters, both the European Commission and the Department of Justice’s efforts trace back to the same academic groundwork: research that argued Google’s dominance stems from a built-in conflict of interest – one that wouldn’t be tolerated in most industries. In each case, the regulators came to the same conclusion. Fines aren’t working. Structural separation is the endgame.

Any differences between the two antitrust scenarios? Yes. In Europe, the commission is in the driver’s seat. If Google fails to come up with a genuine way to wean itself off of the monopoly it has built by early November then the commission can move forward with a breakup order. In the U.S., it’s not so simple. The DOJ still has to convince a judge to do the same. That’s what this week’s trial is all about.

Any other differences between the two? Only when it comes to what both regulators ultimately want from Google. On the European side, they want Google to rectify the harm it’s caused to the market by dint of its illegal monopoly over it. U.S. regulators want that and a way to ensure that Google doesn’t keep the spoils of their infringement of the law.

Which antitrust case will be remedied first? Technically, Europe. The commission is expected to make a decision by early November. But that doesn’t mean enforcement will be swift. Google is almost certain to appeal the decision, dragging the process out for years on either side of the Atlantic. Still, the timeline matters. Europe will be the first to show its hand. And what happens there, whether it leads to a real remedy or stalls in appeals, could shape the next phase of Google’s antitrust reckoning everywhere else.

So the Europe antitrust case will steer the U.S. one? Not exactly. These are more parallel tracks than intersecting ones. But they’re chasing the same finish line. Whether they both get there, however, is another question. Because even as regulators lay out the logic, the politics are hard to ignore. Just hours after the commission issued its fine, President Donald Trump threatened to retaliate, suggesting its penalty was unfair to American business and could justify new tariffs. Structural reform may be the legal goal in these antitrust cases, but geopolitics casts a long shadow.

Could that derail the EU’s push? In theory, no. In practice, it’s a pitfall that can’t be ignored. Push too hard against Google’s monopoly, and the European Union risks sparking a broader geopolitical standoff – one where antitrust enforcement becomes just another front in a trade war. That could mean tariff threats, or pressure to go soft on tech regulation in exchange for keeping peace with Washington.

Backing off, though, would be just as risky. Doing so could set a precedent that future enforcement – against Google or anyone else – can be bargained away. That sends a message not just to platforms, but to regulators everywhere.

And yes, a precedent will be set either way: which is why this matters far beyond ad tech. The stakes here aren’t just about market share or auction mechanics. They’re about whether democratic institutions still have the leverage – and the will – to hold powerful companies accountable. That may sound lofty, but it’s where this ends up. If regulators can’t rein in the infrastructure that decides who gets heard, and who gets paid, then accountability becomes less a principle than a placeholder.

Or as Cori Crider, executive director of the Future of Tech Institute and Honorary Professor at UCL Laws, put it in a media briefing earlier this week: “I think the basic risk is if Europeans suddenly appear to be sacrificing law enforcement on the trade table. We’re never going to be asked to do it just once. We will be asked to do it again and again.”

Wait. Didn’t a judge recently rule that Google didn’t need to be broken up to address its dominance in search? Could the same thinking apply to advertising? Not quite. In the DOJ’s case against Google’s search monopoly, it floated the idea that Google might need to divest Chrome as part of a remedy. But as the trial unfolded, it became clear that Chrome wasn’t central to the alleged conduct. The case focused instead on Google’s default search agreements – multi-billion dollar deals that ensured Google was the default on browsers and mobile devices. As a result, the court leaned toward behavioral remedies: limits on contracts and conduct, not corporate structure.

That’s a sharp contrast with the ad tech case. Both the European Commission and the DOJ are pursuing structural remedies, specifically breaking up Google’s ad tech stack. The theory of harm here is different. Regulators argue that Google leveraged its control over multiple layers of the ad tech ecosystem – ad server, exchange and buying tools – to favor its own services, block rivals and extract rents from the open web.

It’s less about defaults, and more about dominance baked into infrastructure. And that changes the stakes entirely.

“The combination of dominant players, opaque bidding systems, lack of transparency and most importantly, lack of verification allows rampant fraud and the funding of an ecosystem of democratic disruption,” said Ian Moss, spokesperson of the non-profit industry coalition the U.K. Stop Ad Funded Crime group.

Also published in: Digiday

Sara Vincent: why every publisher needs to focus on building their brand

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 09:33:11 GMT

Sara Vincent: why every publisher needs to focus on building their brand

A strong brand is an extremely valuable asset, but too many publishers fail to invest building their brand, says Sara Vincent, Managing Director, UK at Utiq …

Here’s a quick brain teaser for you, Name me three brands, any three brands. I just tried this on my husband/daughter/son and he/she came up with Uber, Lego and Apple. Why did these three companies come to mind when I asked that question? Maybe it’s because, over the years, they have invested heavily in building their brand, and they continue to do so.

Building a strong brand takes time, and money, but the payback comes in terms of the loyalty a strong brand engenders in its customers. As they navigate the choppy waters of life in the age of walled gardens and AI summary-powered clickless search, it’s something I think publishers should give more attention to.

Having attended several events in recent weeks, including ATS, Foresight and the Future of Media Technology, it’s become clearer than ever that online publishers are under threat ,and having to navigate yet more bumps in the road to ensure their survival. Publishers are competing in an ecosystem dominated by platforms, where they have little to no control, audiences are more fragmented than ever and revenue models are continually shifting.

Navigating all this not requires not only a good, strong and agile commercial strategy, but also a mindset change – publishers need to start thinking of themselves as brands and consider how they show up to their customers

A strong brand helps you stand out
Publishers are renowned content creators, but in a crowded space, where audiences are bombarded with thousands of stories, videos and posts on a daily basis, content alone isn’t enough to build loyalty – but a sense of brand identity is. Think about how some of the most recognisable global brands show up. Apple is more than iPhones; it’s the embodiment of innovation. Coke is more, much more, than a soft drink. As a brand, it represents connection, community, togetherness. Publishers can learn a lot from the way brands like Apple and Coke present themselves to the world.

For a publisher, a good brand identity would reflect the principles that they uphold, and why are they important. It could embrace elements like the provision of “trusted investigative journalism” – something I heard the Independent talking about on stage at one of the recent events, and “a voice of and sense of a community” – highlighted so well by Pink News at the Future of Media Technology event. Positioning statements like this help publishers to stand out from the crowd, and help them to build a stronger relationship with their readers, adding a layer of trust and branding that helps to build loyalty among their audience.

Know your audience
So where should a publisher start on this journey of building a brand. The first step is to really get to know and understand your audience. Consider the user experience and use tools like newsletters and subscriptions to collect first-party data and to segment your offering by offering different customer segments a different experience that is tailored to their declared interests. This will strengthen the bond between you and your customers, which ultimately gives you a competitive advantage.

You’ll see the benefits from an advertising revenue perspective too. Advertisers like publishers who have a strong brand and will be more open to running campaigns against trusted content from recognisable publishing brands that have been proven to drive better results and ROI.

In summary, online publishers need to really consider what they stand for, and what they offer that will bring loyal users back to their sites again and again. Differentiation is a key factor in brand identity and it is no different for Publishers. Those that embrace this mindset shift will survive and build resilient businesses that are here for the long haul, whatever the walled gardens and AI might throw at them.

Also published in: New Digital Age

Bridging the gap - solving retail media’s fragmentation challenge

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 09:22:59 GMT

Bridging the gap - solving retail media’s fragmentation challenge

Retail media has rapidly evolved into a key marketing channel. It is reshaping how brands connect with customers using data and insight, and in doing so, it has built a market now worth over £1bn in the UK alone. This growth hasn’t happened by accident as, put simply, retail media can do what other channels can’t – notably closing the loop on in-store sales.

Retail media’s continued growth is in its ability to deliver this, via strategic innovation, smarter technology, and a focus on customer insight – all while creating better customer outcomes.

At a time when advertisers constantly desire speed, smarter decision-making, and measurable outcomes, retail media is well placed to help them achieve these goals. Recent research confirms retail media as the leading marketing channel for consumer goods organizations, with 92% of respondents ranking it as their most important strategy. Without a doubt, retail media is multifaceted, with campaigns spanning a mix of in-store, online, and off-site channels, each with its own platform, metrics, and attribution models.

But realizing this benefit can also be a challenge for brands. On the ground, it often means navigating a maze of dashboards, tools, and disparate teams, making campaigns difficult to plan, buy, and measure in a unified way. To sustain the momentum of retail media, the industry must now focus on solving fragmentation by making the channel simpler, easier to activate, and more effective. But how?

Unify retail media campaigns

One of the biggest barriers to seamless retail media has been the lack of a single, integrated view across all campaign activity, for both planning and measurement. Historically, multichannel campaigns have required the campaign manager to navigate multiple platforms, metrics, and systems.

Brands and agencies now require solutions that bring together audience insights, media planning, activation, optimization, and measurement for all channels – online, in-store, and off-site – within a single, user-friendly platform. Such an integrated approach streamlines every aspect of campaign management, allowing omnichannel brands to plan more efficiently, optimize performance, and make faster, data-driven decisions. We will launch our own unified retail media platform, Nectar360 Pollen, later this year.

Tap into the power of AI

AI is ubiquitous. Companies are using it to both solve complex industry-specific challenges and streamline internal workflows, and that’s no different in retail media. The AI-powered attribution models and visualization tools being developed today allow for tracking and analysis across entire campaigns rather than channel by channel. This shows the impact of each channel on overall performance, and also allows brands and agencies to refine and perfect their campaign faster and more easily.

While this simplifies the process of building and measuring a highly effective campaign, it also enables advertisers to learn what works, faster, and optimize accordingly to drive stronger overall results. Meanwhile, customers are exposed to more relevant ads and an improved shopper experience.

AI can help us across the entire life cycle, from planning to measurement and optimization. For instance, brands can tap into incredibly rich first-party conversion data from retailer loyalty schemes. AI-driven generative modeling lets us use this data to make intelligent predictions about audience segments, while probabilistic modelling enables us to match audiences in a privacy-safe way.

Collaborate to standardize

As retail media has scaled so rapidly, so has the diversity of platforms, metrics, and methodologies. This reflects the innovation and momentum driving the industry, but it also presents a challenge. How do we ensure consistency without limiting innovation? Each retail media network has developed its own approach to audience segmentation, media buying, and measurement, often tailored to its unique shopper data and environment. But now, as investment deepens and campaigns become more sophisticated, the need for shared industry standards is becoming clear.

Recent research from IAB Europe found that 70% of media buyers cite the lack of standardization as a key barrier to investment in retail media. To address this, the ISBA Responsible Retail Media Framework, developed in collaboration with Omnicom Media Group and over 25 brands, retailers, and tech partners, sets out clear standards for definitions, data availability, attribution, and transparency. It is a blueprint for responsible growth, designed to unify the fragmented landscape and give brands the confidence to invest. These efforts are allowing brands and advertisers to compare performance across networks, deduplicate spend, and link investment directly to outcomes.

Nectar360 was one of two launch partners in IAB Europe’s Retail Media Certification Programme for retailers, which debuted in May following a successful initial pilot phase. This first-of-its-kind initiative aims to set a new standard for transparency, consistency, and accountability in retail media measurement across Europe, allowing retailers and technology providers to validate their measurement practices against industry-agreed standards .

Empowering brands to win in retail media

Retail media is powered by billions of rows of data, and millions of customer insights. But data alone doesn’t drive performance – what matters is how brands use it. Turning data into strategic decisions that drive smarter campaigns, sharper targeting, and measurable growth.

Enablement is just as critical as platform innovation; this means building teams who understand the complexity of retail media but know how to simplify it. Translating insight into action and strategy into measurable results. According to Econsultancy, 71% of marketers feel undertrained in retail media best practices. Tackling fragmentation isn’t just about technology; it’s about education and collaboration. We need to make it easier for brands to navigate this space.

Long-term success also requires structural change. Building cross-functional teams, working closely with retail media partners, and evolving beyond traditional media silos. This is not a new channel, it's a new way of thinking.

As I wrote earlier this year: “We are all still writing the early chapters of this book. Everyone’s building it as they go, learning on the job, seeing what works. No one, I can assure you, really feels like they have cracked it.”

But we are making remarkable progress. Retail media’s time has come, and it presents exciting opportunities for advertisers, retailers, and, most importantly, consumers. Yes, challenges remain around fragmentation and standardization. But these can all be overcome if we harness technology, insight, and AI to create a unified approach that benefits the entire retail media space.

Also published in: The Drum

Beyond the Google vortex: who’s your plus-one?

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 11:42:40 GMT

Beyond the Google vortex: who’s your plus-one?

Adtech is bracing itself for a watershed moment. September’s remedies trial will determine how far the US Department of Justice can go in dismantling Google’s dominance of the open-web ad stack. The hearing follows April’s headline-grabbing judgment that the company has been running illegal monopolies in both the publisher ad-server and ad-exchange markets.

For publishers, buyers and tech vendors alike, the question is no longer whether change is coming, but how to navigate the turbulence the change will bring.

Why the remedies phase matters

Traditional antitrust cases often end with a fine or mild behavioural pledge. Not this time. The DOJ is seeking structural relief that could oblige Google to divest core assets such as Ad Manager and AdX, open-source its auction logic, and grant rival exchanges real-time access to bidding data.

Should the court agree, the walled garden could be replaced by a looser constellation of competing services. Hence, September’s hearing is widely regarded as the most consequential antitrust showdown since the break-up of AT&T in 1984.

The risk of a sudden vortex

Publishers have enjoyed years of relatively predictable ad revenue because of a single set of tools - Ad Manager, AdX, and Display & Video 360 - at the centre of buying and selling activity. Yet that same concentration now constitutes a single point of failure.

If assets are spun out or product lines are sunsetted with little notice, revenue flows could stall overnight, creating a vortex in which outlets are left scrambling for liquidity. For businesses already operating on tight margins, even a short-term pause in demand could prove existential.

Building a “plus-one” strategy

Forward-looking publishers are therefore asking a simple question: who is our plus-one if Google steps off the dance floor? A resilient operating model will retain access to existing Google demand while simultaneously cultivating independent channels that are able to scale rapidly if the market fragments.

But this hedging strategy must be more than a boardroom talking point; it needs to be embedded into the technology roadmap, commercial partnerships and sales culture well before the remedies gavel comes down.

What to look for in a partner

The replacement (or supplementary) partner must do three things: First, it has to reach a comparable Total Addressable Market (TAM), ensuring inventory remains attractive to global brand budgets. Second, it should provide transparent, programmatic access rather than opaque bundled deals, allowing publishers to prove yield and for buyers to verify spend. Third, the solution should be modular and standards-based, so components can slot into the evolving supply chain without onerous switch-out costs.

An independent ad server backed by a genuinely neutral exchange is one obvious pillar. Another is a first-party data platform capable of stitching identity signals across environments without leaning on third-party cookies. Together, these tools allow a publisher both to defend existing CPMs and to court budgets that previously defaulted to Google’s ecosystem.

Cooperation over competition

An unexpected upside of the looming upheaval is a renewed appetite for cooperation. Instead of competing in isolation, many mid-tier publishers are exploring shared marketplaces, joint data clean rooms, and even collectively-funded contextual engines.

By pooling scale, they present advertisers with a credible alternative to any single dominant intermediary while retaining editorial independence. Importantly, these alliances can be architected on open-source frameworks that regulators view favourably, reducing antitrust exposure for all parties involved.

A better deal for buyers

Advertisers stand to benefit too. Opening the auction logic (which is certainly one remedy under discussion) would allow DSPs to scrutinise prioritisation rules and pricing algorithms, restoring confidence that bids are treated fairly. Combined with diversified supply paths, this transparency should narrow bid-to-win spreads, improve measurability, and, ultimately, boost Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

It’s time to act

With the remedies trial set for next month, final orders could be handed down as early as the first quarter of 2026, which would leave fewer than 12 months for technical integrations, contract negotiations, and market education. Given typical implementation cycles, the window for decisive action is now.

And we’re not just looking to replace the current model. The post-Google-dominant world will provide publishers with an opportunity to improve it, by taking control of their ad sales environment, as they’re no longer dependent on one big fish in the pond.

September’s courtroom drama will capture headlines, but the real story is being written right now in product backlogs, partnership agreements and board-room strategies across the sector. Those who treat the remedies phase as a catalyst rather than a calamity will help shape a market that is fairer and more transparent. In short: when the music pauses, be ready with a new partner - and perhaps a whole new choreography.

Also published in: Performance Marketing World

Q&A: Natasha Wallace on why Jellyfish has launched an AI-driven in-housing media platform

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 11:08:52 GMT

Q&A: Natasha Wallace on why Jellyfish has launched an AI-driven in-housing media platform

Jellyfish, part of The Brandtech Group, has unveiled a first-of-its-kind AI-driven media platform for clients and inhousing. Built on the company’s automated marketing system, the platform is a unified framework that taps into a range of proprietary AI agents and tools, including Jellyfish’s recently released Media Ops Agent.

The launch of the new in-housing media platform is the last piece of a 12-month AI development program, which saw the company overhaul every aspect of the traditional marketing mix from insights to SEO, assets to activation, and MMM to reporting. Highlights include Pencil Pro to scale content delivery and Share Of Model to help brands leverage SEO in the age of AI.

New Digital Age spoke to Natasha Wallace, Global Chief Solutions Officer – Strategy Planning and AI at Jellyfish, to find out more…

What sets Pencil Pro apart from other AI-power content tools on the market?

My job is really about understanding what a client needs to do and translating that into an action plan we can deliver. And increasingly, it’s also about getting them ready for AI – because that’s topic one, two and three in nearly every conversation.

Pencil Pro is our enterprise solution for generating digital assets. The founders called it Pencil because they saw it as an aid, not a replacement to human designers and decision-makers. It works just as well for an in-house studio team as for a creative agency, and it creates an open space for collaboration.

Historically, if a client didn’t like the first draft, you’d lose weeks. Now it’s days. We can get a concept out quickly, get feedback, and iterate. That makes the creative process much faster and more collaborative. The goal is to create more advertising and digital assets that perform better, stay on brand, and connect more closely with consumers, whether that’s through cultural relevance, language, or format.

One of the big advantages is reducing costs on media that isn’t working. We don’t want to waste money on steps that don’t generate revenue for clients. We want to put spend into growth. Pencil helps us to do that.

Why is AI such a talking point right now in relation to media impact?

At the end of the day, clients want to be the very best in their category at driving growth, without blowing out costs. That means producing better outcomes, faster and more efficiently, while still being innovative and distinct.

We’re building an end-to-end intelligent system. Pencil Pro is a huge part of that, but we’re also looking at how AI agents can help us deploy media campaigns, extract insights, and connect creative to activation. The aim is fewer hand-offs, fewer errors, and more confidence that what we produce will actually perform in the world.

What kind of support are your customers asking for in relation to the rapidly evolving AI landscape?

Right now, brands are worried about two big things: search traffic is dropping as AI changes the way people retrieve information, and they need to grow without spending more. They’re asking, ‘Am I even discoverable anymore?’ and ‘How do I do more, better, without raising costs?’

That’s driving a rethink of team structures. Clients realise they need different skills, tighter collaboration across media, creative, and retail teams, and in some cases a whole new approach to how marketing is organised.

The most ambitious clients are already asking about agentic journeys—how to optimise not just for consumers, but for the agents acting on their behalf. We’re about to launch a first-to-market audit of an agentic path to purchase, layering it over the consumer journey. It will show us what domains an agent visits, what content it consumes, and how we can win every step of that journey.

What does success look like for Jellyfish over the next couple of years?

Our core ambition is to be the best AI-enabled marketing service provider in the world. That means building an agency around agentic capabilities—our product suite, our tools, and our people’s literacy in AI.

We want to be the most innovative, but not for innovation’s sake. Everything we invent should be useful, meaningful, and have a material impact. That’s what we’ve already shown with Share a Model, with Social Agents, and now with our agentic media platform.

It’s not about reducing headcount or becoming an automated machine. It’s about better work, better partnerships with clients, and building a team skilled for the future. We want to be the agency that invents things, does cutting-edge work today, and stays cutting-edge tomorrow.

Also published in: New Digital Age

In the face of fragmentation, Dmexco is now a smaller stage for ad tech’s big conversations

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 10:54:07 GMT

In the face of fragmentation, Dmexco is now a smaller stage for ad tech’s big conversations

Not too long ago, Dmexco was considered the gut of ad tech — crowded, chaotic and central to the industry’s forward momentum. It was where deals were sparked, rivalries played out and the future of programmatic was loudly debated.

These days, it’s still where business gets done, but increasingly for a narrower slice of the ecosystem. The rest – like Kochava, YieldMo, Dept and LiveRamp – are sitting out this year.

“When we analyzed event performance from the previous two years in preparation for 2025, Dmexco didn’t make the cut,” said Kimberly Manning, vp of marketing at ad measurement firm Kochava.

That’s not say Dmexco, this year taking place on Wednesday and Thursday, is off the map for good – Manning left the door open for a return. And it’s not as simple as Cannes or Possible taking its place – Kochava was at both. What’s happening isn’t substitution, It’s fragmentation. The industry isn’t rallying around one tentpole event anymore. It’s dispersing, with companies making selective bets based on performance, not ritual.

“We have also seen a lot of industry shows change – the makeup of who attends, the access and networking opportunities, and the overall value,” continued Manning.

Even among those still attending Dmexco, the presence is more restrained.

“This year, five of us from Brand Metrics will be at Dmexco,” said director of customer operations. Johan Peterson. Same as last year. In a year of pullbacks, holding steady is its own signal.

“We’ve been attending for many years, but over the last three, we’ve really refined our purpose there, continued Peterson. “Instead of trying to make noise on the exhibition floor without a huge stand or budget, we now focus on what matters most — spending time with our customers and diving into the conversations that matter right now, from first-party data strategies to predictive brand lift.”

Others echoed the same sentiment.

“I have seen the spotlight shift from a big U.S. presence to one more locally focussed,” said Tom Rolph, Experian’s head of agencies, ad tech and media.

That spotlight has been shifting for years — arguably since 2017, when conference founders Christian Muche and Frank Schneider were abruptly dismissed by the event’s organizers. In the years that followed, Dmexco evolved from a global tentpole into something more regional. Local brands gained visibility, English-language panels gave way to more German-speaking sessions and programming leaned into EU policy and European-specific themes.

And for a while, the recalibration worked. Attendance grew from 40,700 in 2017 to 41,000 a year later. Eventually, though, the momentum started to stall. In 2019, there were around 38,000 visitors. Then came the pandemic, sending numbers down to roughly 20,000. Since 2022, they’ve hovered around 40,000.

In that time, Dmexco has managed to stay relevant but no longer universally so. For many of the execs who still make the trip, the value lies in deepening relationships with German and mainland European partners. That, more than global visibility, seems to be the main draw now.

As Diederick Ubels, managing director for outdoor ad tech vendor Vistar Media’s EMEA business, explained: “I would argue that 20% of our budgets are multi-country budgets — i.e. hubs that are organized out of one place that buy across all Europe so it [Dmexco] is a great place for us to get all those clients together.”

That kind of regional consolidation makes sense for businesses like Vistar with a clear European footprint. It’s important enough that Vistar is sending 20 execs to Cologne this year, up from 15 in 2024. But for companies focused on the U.S., APAC or global growth, it’s harder to justify the ROI, especially once corporate beancounters factor in flights, booth costs, logistics, accommodation and expense. That math just doesn’t always work out.

In short, Dmexco is now a regional stronghold not a global magnet — and that shift has created room for others to claim the spotlight. Cannes Lions continues to be defined as much by ad tech and platforms as it does brands and agencies. Meanwhile, the Possible conference — launched somewhat ironically by Dmexco’s original co-founders — has begun to attract the kind of cros-industry energy and internal presence that once defined Cologne in September.

‘While Dmexco is still a worthwhile event, the scale back is clear as you walk around the halls,” said Davide Rosamilia, vp of product at data vendor and alternative ID provider ID5. “The huge booths have reduced in size and the event isn’t attracting as large of an international attendance as it once did. ID5 is sending a team of 10, a similar number to previous years as we value the networking and meeting opportunities presented.’

Gone are the days when Dmexco bore more resemblance to Cannes than it probably intended — not in terms of location, but in spirit. Stories of inebriated execs getting escorted off the Eurostar, booth models in body paint and late-night overflow at Barney’s Valley’s — the unofficial Gutter Bar of Cologne — weren’t uncommon.

These days, it’s more measured. Meetings over pretzels, not of Kölsch. Networking not nightcaps — maybe just one. Tucked in bed by 10 instead of onstage at the OMClub at 2 a.m.

“On Dmexco, I don’t think the industry has lost anything,” said Ciarán O’Kane, a partner at FirstParty Capital. “Most of the Europeans have just gravitated to Cannes as a tent pole or smaller European focused conferences. Dmexco was an event of its time. Great while it lasted but the industry has moved on.”

That era, like much of the programmatic exuberance that fueled it, has given way to something more subdued. Dmexco may no longer be the center of gravity, but for a certain part of the industry, it’s still a necessary waypoint — just with fewer parties and more purpose.

“Dmexco remains one of the most important events in Limelight’s calendar, and as a result, we are sending 11 members of the team this year, an increase of 50% over 2024,” said James MacDonald, CRO and co-founder Limelight.

Also published in: Digiday

Cristy Ebert Garcia on Partnership Marketing

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 10:46:51 GMT

Cristy Ebert Garcia on Partnership Marketing

1. In what ways are you leveraging partnerships to build authentic communities that enhance brands’ trust and credibility?

Marketing is quickly moving from ad-led to partner-led. That makes partnerships – collaborations with creators and other partners not just nice to have, but essential strategies for businesses to acquire customers, drive trust, loyalty, growth, and relevancy with today’s modern consumers.

Trust and authenticity are vital components of credibility, and partnerships - with creators, publishers, affiliates, customers, and even other businesses - are one of the few ways brands can leverage them.

It has become clear that consumers are now in control. They’re no longer an audience, waiting for brands to tell them stories - they're informed, empowered, and turning to their communities for guidance, whether through YouTube demonstrations, direct feedback from their peers online, or TikTok reviews (with more than half of Gen Z now using TikTok as their primary search engine).

At the same time, customer acquisition costs have soared by over 220 percent in the last eight years, but traditional advertising has become ever more expensive and less effective. Against that backdrop, community-based marketing has become an incredibly powerful tool for brands. The creator economy, which is right at the heart of this shift to partnerships, is set to more than double in the next five years, surpassing $480b.

Partnerships allow companies to engage authentically, scale for growth, and drive meaningful conversations that influence purchases in ways traditional channels can’t. Brands on our platform are able to do really exciting things. For instance, we’ve worked with Best Buy to launch the Best Buy Creator program, a new platform that allows influencers and creators to partner directly with Best Buy and help shoppers discover new technology. Within that is Best Buy storefronts, which gives creators the ability to create a one-stop shop to highlight tech featured in their content and earn a commission on sales referred through them.

2. What challenges have you encountered in managing diverse types of partnerships (e.g., affiliates, influencers, customer advocates), and how are you addressing them?

We’ve found that diversity isn’t a challenge but rather an asset when it comes to partnerships. A mature and sustainable partnership program relies on partner diversity. The modern customer journey is rapidly changing and evolving, and a mix of partner types helps brands reach different audiences in different ways.

For instance, influencers are known to drive metrics such as brand awareness at the top of the funnel, while affiliates are conventionally used to effect a conversion at the bottom of the funnel. These two partnership types traditionally operated independently, yet our research shows that marketing teams that combine influencer and affiliate achieve 46 percent higher affiliate-based sales than brands that use only affiliate partners. Combining the two allows brands to build a full-funnel campaign that touches all points of the consumer journey, raising brand awareness, driving conversions, and boosting KPIs.

Of course, you also need a unified platform that manages every type of partnership, streamlines tracking, reporting, and data-driven marketing efforts, simplifies management, and enhances resource allocation. We are constantly investing and innovating in our products - already this year we’ve launched a range of new innovations across our products, including product gifting in Creator, Cash Rewards in Advocate and automated partner re-engagement workflows and an event risk reporting suite in Performance. As always, the aim is to give brands more control over their campaigns, more ways to engage their audiences, and more data to optimize their strategies.

3. What metrics are you using to assess the effectiveness of your partnership marketing initiatives in driving revenue growth and customer engagement?

The modern customer journey presents a real attribution challenge for marketers. While brands aspire to closed-loop, direct-attribution measurement, the reality is far more complex, given the huge diversity of touchpoints on the way to a sale. Partner marketing, which is embedded in content experiences across social, video, websites and shopping sites, is particularly vulnerable to incomplete measurement from models such as multitouch attribution, especially given that different types of partners can bring value in different ways.

For marketers looking to gain a deeper understanding of the true contribution of partner marketing or any marketing program, it is a good idea to test incremental measurement - showing which partnerships truly create new sales rather than just claiming credit for them.

Incrementality measurement is designed to understand the full contribution of a specific marketing effort, such as a campaign, affiliate link, or creative.

An incrementality test might use controls such as suppression in certain locations, or on certain pages or sites, to measure the lift in performance that a specific marketing effort delivers.

In our case, this practical shift has helped companies such as Patagonia and Zenni Optical make better decisions about partner investments, recognize value throughout the customer journey, and transform their affiliate programs from isolated channels into strategic business assets.

4. What is your approach to expand your partnership ecosystem, and how are you helping brands identify new partners that align with their brand values and objectives?

Both brands and creators want to grow their partnerships, with 76 percent of brands looking to expand their creator programs, and 86 percent of creators looking to work with more brands. The key here is alignment on both sides, which requires a mutual understanding of preferences and needs.

For instance, brands need to trust the creator’s expertise. So instead of insisting creators follow a script to the letter, brands should encourage authentic content, such as spontaneous product reviews. Creators rank creative freedom as a key factor for committing to long-term brand partnerships because consumers gravitate toward genuine recommendations and are more likely to engage with the content.

Aligning on the compensation model is also crucial for brands and creators. According to our research, brands and creators indicate a preference for hybrid payment models. When it comes to communication, US brands prefer DM and email, which aligns with creator preferences.

5. How are you staying ahead of emerging trends in partnership marketing, such as the rise of community-driven commerce and the importance of customer referrals?

The way consumers discover and shop for products has changed drastically in recent years. Where marketers once relied on the traditional linear funnel to reach audiences, today’s landscape is much more sophisticated, with an intricate web of touchpoints spanning digital and physical channels, publisher sites, social platforms, and in-person interactions.

The vast number of discovery channels presents a significant challenge for brands and advertisers, and the consideration phase now sees consumers consulting multiple digital and traditional touchpoints before making a purchase decision. Marketers need to consistently produce high-quality content tailored to each channel, maintain consistency in pricing and availability, and provide easy access to authentic reviews, ratings, and other supporting resources.

There’s also a generational component to consider. According to new research, Gen Z require more touchpoints than any other generation before deciding to make a purchase. The vital part of creating partnership campaigns that speak to Gen Z is that they reflect the singular tastes and habits of their audience. Gen Z are sophisticated judges of quality and relevance, but gift guides and influencers, including nano and micro creators, are an impactful way to attract attention and drive purchases. And, knowing that Gen Z does a bit more research than others, providing more content and touchpoints is key to a successful strategy.

Referral marketing is a relatively new kid on the performance marketing block, but one that is growing fast due to its unique ability to reach audiences by leveraging trust and personal recommendations. Referral marketing makes a great fit for partnership marketing because it relies on trust. The aim is to incentivize happy customers to share their positive experiences with others, by providing tangible benefits to both the referrer and the referred individual.

Optimizing your program for mobile, combining your referral efforts with influencer marketing, making the process fun, and helping customers share and refer within their social networks are all good bets.

6. How are you measuring the long-term impact of our partnership strategies on customer loyalty, lifetime value, and brand equity?

According to our research , brands that invested in partnerships during the two years of the pandemic - 2020 and 2021 - saw 29 percent revenue growth per year over those years, with 41 percent growth in 2021 for brands that invested in partnerships early in that period.

We’ve also proven that mature partnership programs offer substantial long-term benefits. Companies with mature programs can see their revenue grow nearly twice as fast as those with less mature programs. Furthermore, we know that high-maturity programs contribute an average of 28 percent of overall revenue , while low-maturity programs contribute only 18 percent.

Customer lifetime value (CLV) - the total revenue a business can expect from a single customer throughout their relationship with them - is a crucial measure that helps businesses understand the long-term value of investing in customer relationships. Higher acquisition costs emphasize the importance of leveraging efficient retention strategies, so we talk a lot about retention marketing. Acquisition is obviously important, but clearly it's critical, from a financial perspective, to invest in keeping current customers rather than just spending resources on acquiring new ones.

An engaged customer spends 67 percent more in months 31-36 of their relationship with a business than in months zero through six, highlighting the importance of efforts to keep the relationship active. Research has shown that even a 5 percent increase in customer retention can enhance profits by up to 75 percent.

Also published in: Martech Edge

Industry Reacts: 7 Leaders on Google’s Antitrust ‘Win’ and AI Search

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 09:57:30 GMT

Industry Reacts: 7 Leaders on Google’s Antitrust ‘Win’ and AI Search

Last week, a verdict was reached at Google’s widely reported antitrust legal case. The lawsuit has put Google under the microscope over having a possible monopoly over online search and advertising, with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) arguing this stunts competition in the space. However, a ruling decided Google doesn’t need to break up its Android or Chrome businesses.

Instead, Google must share some search data and can’t pay to be the exclusive search engine on search browsers, such as Apple’s Safari, but it can pay to be a search engine.

The verdict comes as Google doubles down on AI-driven search, having a detrimental impact on publisher websites and their ads-based business model.

Simultaneously, UK publishers – including DMG Media and The Guardian – call for the CMA to include Google’s AI model Gemini in its investigation into the tech company’s market dominance.

FutureWeek caught up with leaders in the media and marketing world, to find out what Google’s ‘win’ means.

Josh Preston-White, VP of Paid Search, Jellyfish
“The announcement that Google will retain control of Chrome is a major win for the company, offering a rare moment of stability in what has been a turbulent period for search marketers. While Google will face limits on revenue-share agreements, it’s unlikely to lose its dominance in the search space, especially as it continues rolling out features like AI Overviews and AI Mode. The ruling also doesn’t signal a shift away from Google’s push into automated campaign solutions, as it won’t be required to restore the ‘exact match’ keyword function. For marketers, one silver lining is the requirement for greater transparency in the ad auction process; however, with Google planning to appeal, the process could drag on for years before any real changes take effect.”

Chris Pettit, CEO & Co-founder, Revving
“The court’s ruling sends a clear message that no company, not even Google, can rely on its dominance to control the market. For years, Google’s position as the default search engine has limited choice for marketers, funnelling audiences through a single route and making it harder to diversify ad strategies. By opening up data and curbing exclusivity deals, this decision could spark a much more competitive and innovative search landscape. For advertisers, this could mean real, tangible change. Instead of being tied to one main platform, they’ll have access to new search partners, richer data, and fresh ways to reach audiences. It could also drive down costs by introducing more competition, while forcing platforms to be more transparent and accountable.

“At the same time, AI is rapidly changing how people discover products and services. Search is no longer just about a browser bar – it’s happening through voice assistants, social platforms, and AI-driven tools. If this ruling works as intended, it will prevent any single company from locking down these emerging channels, giving marketers the flexibility they need to adapt and grow in a shifting landscape.”

Stephanie Himoff, Executive Vice President of Global Publishers, Teads
“Publishers have reacted with frustration to the Google ruling, many calling it a “big win for Google” that leaves journalism exposed. Research cited by The Guardian suggests some outlets have lost up to 80 percent of search-driven clicks as AI Overviews replace traditional results, a devastating blow to referral-driven models. Industry groups argue the decision missed a chance to curb Google’s dominance or give publishers control over how their content is used in AI systems. The creation of a Technical Committee is viewed as the one real opening. If it is given teeth, it could allow publishers and rival platforms to help monitor compliance and shape standards for fairer competition. Without strong representation, it risks becoming symbolic. For now, the ruling sets precedent but leaves the core question unresolved: whether quality journalism can remain sustainable in an ecosystem still tilted toward Google.”

Matthew Bertram, Fractional CMO, Oil and Gas Network
“Google’s antitrust win signals stability for its advertising ecosystem, but it also raises questions for publishers and advertisers alike. For publishers, the decision means continued reliance on Google’s platforms for traffic and ad revenue, particularly through search and programmatic networks. While this provides consistency, it also highlights the need to diversify traffic sources to avoid overdependence on a single gatekeeper. Advertisers can expect familiar targeting and bidding tools to remain intact, maintaining efficiency in reaching audiences at scale. However, with less regulatory pressure, publishers and advertisers may face higher costs over time as Google retains pricing power. Looking ahead, the industry will likely see innovation in complementary channels: social, streaming, and emerging AI-driven advertising, while Google continues to refine its offerings. The key for advertisers and publishers will be balancing reliance on Google with broader marketing strategies.”

Sajeeda Merali, CEO, Professional Publishers Association
“This ruling raises as many questions as it answers. The fundamental market imbalance of Google’s 90 percent market share in search remains, leaving publishers and independent content creators at the mercy of its monopolist power. Not only does Google’s dominance continue, but with data sharing limited to only a few competitors – the biggest tech companies in the market – the judgment emboldens the AI community that continues to exploit publishers’ content without consent. We hope for stronger action and greater protection for publishers in the DoJ’s antitrust prosecution of Google’s adtech monopoly later this year. We also urge the CMA to introduce decisive Conduct Requirements, to create a level playing field and protect trusted editorial brands.”

“Google’s victory comes as no surprise. The company was always going to defend Chrome fiercely, given it has long developed the browser into more than a tool – effectively the front door to its search engine. For now, it is business as usual, reflected in a 9% rise in Google’s share price, and another reminder of Big Tech’s entrenched power.”

Mateusz Rumiński, VP of Product, PrimeAudience
“This ruling clearly shows that the DOJ expects the GenAI landscape to be the next frontier of competition. It appears that the DOJ wants to ensure that the GenAI space won’t be monopolised, as search once was. For advertisers, the consequences of this ruling will really depend on what happens next to search and the user experience. With the increase of GenAI-based chatbots, users could move away from Google search. If this happens, how these chatbots then direct traffic to a publisher’s site is still to be determined. There’s more to come here for advertisers, which will be uncovered once the verdict is out on the DOJ vs Ads ruling, so it’s very much a case of ‘watch this space’.”

Maor Sadra, CEO & Co-founder, INCRMNTAL
“So Google gets to keep the empire, but has to loosen its grip, which means no more exclusivity deals, and more data transparency. Sounds good in theory, but we’ve been here before. These moves often assume that competitors are just waiting to pounce the moment access improves. In reality, Google’s strength isn’t just market share, it’s momentum. Consumers default to it, advertisers build around it, and the ecosystem flows through it. If the market had viable alternatives at scale, this conversation wouldn’t be happening. But dislodging a player like Google doesn’t just require rule changes, it requires viable, competitive infrastructure. Until that exists – and all eyes on OpenAI here – brands will still favour what works, and what’s measurable. Regulators may be trying to level the field, but unless the market builds a new one, Google still owns the game.”

Also published in: Futureweek

Google monopoly ruling: Anticlimatic or cataclysmic?

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 08:39:10 GMT

Google monopoly ruling: Anticlimatic or cataclysmic?

As the dust settles on the US court ruling that Google will not have to sell its Chrome web browser but must share information with competitors, the advertising and marketing industry is still in the dark over how it will affect the business.

For its part, Google indicated that it viewed the ruling as a victory; and many commentators seem to agree, but not positively.

TAU Marketing Solutions co-founder Robert Webster, for instance, claims the developments “will do little to alter Google’s dominance”, while NetElixir founder Udayan Bose branded the ruling “anticlimactic” for those hoping to see Google’s monopoly weakened.

Bose added: “The Court delivered remedies that sound meaningful in theory but, on closer look, they don’t really change the power equation.” He also noted that the data-sharing obligation “excludes advertising data”.

Meanwhile, DuckDuckGo chief executive Gabriel Weinberg insists Google will still be allowed to continue to use its monopoly to hold back competitors, including in AI search.

Even so, over at performance marketing agency Impression, director Liam Wade believes it is still too early to judge the full implications of decision.

He adds: “That being said, I’m very interested in a future where Google is sharing more of its search data with rivals. Coming at it from the perspective of an agency spending millions of dollars for our brands inside the Google ecosystem, I can’t help being curious about what this update might mean for auction competition, CPCs, and measurement.

“Even small changes in defaults or data access could have ripple effects on how advertisers and Internet users navigate the digital ecosystem.”

For Particular Audience chief technology officer Muzammel Hoque, however, there is a sense of irony about the timing.

He explains: “Google built a great solution, and that’s why people use it. It was so good that it seemed like no one was bothered to try and build anything better. Now that there are other, AI-powered solutions like Perplexity available, search behaviour is evolving, regardless of what is pre-loaded on our devices.

“For the first time in a very long time, people seem to recognise the fact that when it comes to search Google is not the only name in town, and that there are smarter ways to find the information you want than by clicking on a load of links. So it’s kind of ironic that this ruling, obliging Google to share data and potentially undermine its dominant position, comes at a time when external, competitive forces are conspiring to do exactly the same thing.”

Meanwhile, Chris Pettit, CEO and co-founder of adtech specialist Revving, maintains the judgment is not about punishing Google’s success, it is about resetting the balance so innovation and choice are not blocked at the gate.

He comments: “For too long, defaults and exclusivity contracts have tilted the playing field, making it harder for alternative search providers to gain traction. The court has recognised the need to restore fairness in the market, while also acknowledging that the rise of AI has already started to reshape how people discover information.

“That’s an important nuance: regulators are not looking backwards, they’re trying to ensure the next wave of search innovation isn’t monopolised in the same way. For decision-makers in marketing, the message is clear. Competition drives progress. A healthier, more open ecosystem doesn’t just help the smaller players; it creates more choice, more accountability, and more dynamic opportunities for brands and agencies alike.

“For all of us building technology businesses, the message is clear: true competition is what fuels progress. Level playing fields don’t just help the ‘Davids’ of the world, they make the entire market more dynamic and ultimately benefit consumers.”

Finally, Influent content strategist Josie Geistfeld told CMSWire that in the short term, nothing changes while Google appeals. Long term, however, marketers may have to evolve from “Google-first SEO” into multi-engine teams, “with people heavily specialising in individual platforms, heavier emphasis on content repurposing, and the same expectation of constant experimentation but with the dial turned up to 11″.

Meanwhile, just yesterday (Wednesday) a California federal jury ruled that the tech giant had unlawfully collected information from 98 million mobile phone users who had asked it not to track their app activity, awarding over $425m in damages but finding punitive damages are not warranted in the class action.

And with more cases looming on both sides of the Atlantic, including a £13.6bn legal action in the UK and EU alleging anti-competitive practices in online display advertising, it seems the war on Google’s global dominance is far from over…

Also published in: Decision Marketing

Five key shifts that changed everything in programmatic ads

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 08:26:42 GMT

Five key shifts that changed everything in programmatic ads

European adtech innovator Preciso is celebrating five years as a leader in the busy global programmatic advertising sector.

So it’s a timely moment for Larraine Criss, Chief Operating Officer at the company, to take a moment to share five major shifts in the programmatic ads sector since 2020 and also what lies ahead…

Preciso’s launch in 2020 coincided with a massive shift in consumer behaviour, at a time when e-commerce was accelerating rapidly.

Since then, we’ve grown from a team of 35 to over 70 talented individuals working across six countries, and we’re now a leading RTB platform in Europe for small businesses, with a strong presence in China, too.

So, this month marks five years of Preciso, and what a journey it’s been. As we celebrate this milestone, it feels like the perfect moment to reflect on how dramatically the programmatic advertising landscape has evolved during the same period.

Beyond our own growth story, we’ve had a front-row seat to some fundamental changes that have reshaped the entire industry. Here are the five biggest shifts we’ve seen during our short lifetime.

1. Mobile advertising overtook desktop

The biggest change has been the complete flip in desktop versus mobile advertising.

Back in 2020, about 60% of programmatic activity was still happening on desktop, with mobile making up maybe 30-40%. Today, mobile accounts for around 80%.

This isn’t just about numbers, though; mobile users also behave completely differently. They’re constantly checking, scrolling, and moving between apps and websites. Everything happens faster, and you’ve got seconds to grab attention, not minutes.

For us as advertisers, this meant rethinking everything. The creative that worked on desktop simply didn’t cut it on mobile, so the targeting strategies had to change.

Even the way we measure success has had to evolve. That shift from one device to another fundamentally altered the entire landscape for good.

2. Native advertising went mainstream

We’ve also seen a major shift towards native advertising in the last half-decade. Unlike banner ads that stick out like a sore thumb, native ads blend into the content people are already reading or watching.

But here’s the catch: native is much harder to get right. With display advertising, you could change the product recommendations in real time, rotate different banners as people browsed.

But native doesn’t work this way. You get one shot to nail the message before it goes live.

This is where machine learning became crucial for us. Our algorithms can now predict the best content, the right product to show, and the perfect messaging before the ad ever appears.

Our Ultima platform handles this new complexity, but it took us years as an industry to get it right.

3. Cloud computing opened up new possibilities

The third big change has been what cloud technology can actually do now. We were one of the first companies in Europe to use Google’s Bigtable, and the difference in what’s possible today versus 2020 is night and day.

We can now process data that would have been impossible to handle before, both in terms of cost and technical capability.

This means we can make better bidding decisions in real time, learn from millions of interactions, and optimise campaigns as they run through our Smart-Bid Platform.

We’ve built a strong machine learning team, including a partnership with the University of Kerala’s digital division.

Five years ago, we relied on external consultants for this kind of work. Now we have the expertise in-house, and the cloud infrastructure to support it.

4. E-commerce growth accelerated everything

The pandemic changed the way people shop, supercharging e-commerce in ways nobody expected. People who had never bought anything online were suddenly ordering everything, from groceries to furniture.

This created massive opportunities for programmatic advertising. We’ve seen Chinese companies scaling globally, but also Indian businesses and others following the same path.

Cross-border e-commerce has become huge, with companies seeking to reach customers in completely different markets.

Our integrations with Shopify and other major e-commerce platforms like Magento, WooCommerce and BigCommerce have been crucial here.

Small businesses can now download our app and immediately access sophisticated programmatic capabilities.

5. Programmatic became accessible to everyone

The fifth shift is one we’re particularly proud of at Preciso: making programmatic advertising work for businesses of all sizes.

In 2020, this technology was really only available to big companies with large budgets and technical teams.

We’ve changed that. We removed minimum spend requirements and built platforms that don’t require a computer science degree to use.

A small business can now access the same targeting and optimisation tools that enterprise brands use.

In China, this shift is even more pronounced. What we’d call a “small” client there often has over 1,000 employees.

But the principle is the same: programmatic technology should be available to any business that can benefit from it, not just the biggest players in the market.

What’s next for programmatic?

These five changes have completely reshaped programmatic advertising. Mobile dominance, native advertising, cloud computing power, e-commerce growth, and making programmatic accessible to all businesses have created the foundation for what comes next.

We’re constantly building on these shifts while anticipating the next frontiers of advertising such as clickless search and agentic AI.

We’re also working on new products, moving beyond our advertiser focus to include solutions specifically for publishers.

If the last five years have shown us anything, it’s that we can expect even faster developments between now and 2030, and we can’t wait.

Also published in: Mediashotz

Vodcasts: Is it the future of podcasting?

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 08:21:36 GMT

Vodcasts: Is it the future of podcasting?

The way people consume podcasts is experiencing a major shift, with video podcasts — or vodcasts — becoming increasingly popular.

This reshaping of the podcast landscape brings new opportunities for advertisers and creators. However, the question is: are vodcasts the future or a complementary format still finding its place?

According to The Verge, 1bn people worldwide are now watching podcasts on YouTube every month.

And with audio giant Spotify now offering more than 430,000 video podcasts on its platform, it is clear key industry players are pushing for visual formats.

Speaking to The Media Leader , Josh Partridge, Spotify’s head of EMEA sales, says video podcast consumption on the platform is up 54% year on year and users who watch podcasts consume 1.5 times more content than audio-only listeners.

He also points out the number of creators publishing vodcasts on Spotify has grown by 50% in the past year. Indeed, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said last year that users were going to see video content “in a bigger way”.

This suggests advertisers ought to take note.

Visual appeal

Research conducted by YouGov last year found that around one in eight UK adults prefer to watch video podcasts rather than simply listen to them. Of this, more than half cited visual appeal as the main reason.

Although audio-only podcasts remain dominant, the opportunity this visual appeal holds for building connection with audiences is evident.

Matt Whelan, managing partner at The Specialist Works, suggests: “By blending audio’s intimacy with visual storytelling, vodcasts offer richer creative territory and a more valuable media buy.”

Patrick Dolan, head of display and audio at the7stars, highlights the success of several brands utilising the format, especially with younger demographics.

“We’ve seen strong results with brands like H&M and Vanguard, who’ve embraced the format to bring a more human touch to their messaging,” Dolan says. “They offer a compelling way to connect with younger, cross-platform audiences through rich, multimedia narratives.”

This is echoed by Emily-Jayne Smith, head of publishing at Starcom: “Around half of podcast fans now engage with both audio and video formats, and younger audiences, especially Gen Z and younger millennials, are leaning even more in to video.

“For brands, that means vodcasts can unlock incremental reach and help diversify exposure, particularly with younger, highly engaged audiences.”

Creator opportunities

For creators in particular, vodcast campaigns have the ability to lean more in to creative partnerships and integrated storytelling, leveraging the trust and rapport creators have with their audiences.

Greg Glenday, Acast’s CEO, says: “It’s an incredible opportunity for advertisers. Brands like Diet Coke, Starbucks and eBay are repeatedly investing in campaigns that span audio and video formats.”

Glenday points to the surge in creators interested in producing video podcasts over the last 18 months, noting that this will drive advertisers to follow suit.

“As long as audiences want to consume them, creators will be compelled to make them and advertisers will want to become a part of the story — wherever it’s playing out,” he reflects.

Increasing reach through CTV

Meanwhile, putting vodcasts on connected TV (CTV) could offer an opportunity for brands to increase reach beyond the core audience who regularly engages with vodcasts through YouTube and other video platforms.

Antonia Faulkner, head of corporate communications and ads marketing, analytics and insights, EMEA, at Samsung, references the success of The Diary of a CEO on home screens.

In addition, she notes that the discoverability aspect of both CTV and vodcasts can be an advantage in an evolving media landscape.

Owen Hancock, regional vice-president, marketing, EMEA, at Impact.com, agrees: “People don’t want to be sold to; they don’t want to be interrupted by ads. They want to discover, research and decide on their own terms.

“They want to hear from those they trust, explore at their own pace and buy when they’re ready.

“So, as marketing spend on creators grows on all platforms, advertisers will follow them and find an effective opportunity in vodcasts shows on CTV.”

So are they here to stay?

Despite the hype, many stress the importance of considered implementation and strategy when it comes to utilising vodcasts.

As Thomas Balaam, audio trading director at Mindshare, notes: “Effectiveness of vodcasts depends heavily on execution.

“A simple ‘camera in the studio’ adds little value for advertisers or viewers, whereas more considered productions can make the studio environment part of the brand experience, with opportunities for product placement or visual storytelling.

“These elements can genuinely elevate a campaign.”

That said, for Balaam, vodcasts represent an “emerging layer” as he points to the strong dominance audio still has in terms of podcasts.

“Vodcasts are an exciting — but ultimately still developing — advertising channel,” he adds. “The key for brands is: vodcasts aren’t about replacing audio but complementing it.”

Indeed, currently the format mostly remains an extension of audio strategies.

But as Partridge notes, Spotify has found campaigns that include both audio and video increase purchase intent and drive significantly more incremental sales.

As production quality improves, distribution platforms adapt and brands seek deeper connections with audiences, vodcasts could well become the default format of podcasts, as opposed to a complementary offering.

Also published in: The Media Leader

Particular Audience brings first vertically integrated retail media platform to Europe

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 09:43:47 GMT

Particular Audience brings first vertically integrated retail media platform to Europe

The AI-native retail media offering complements existing recommendation and advanced site search platform - following growth in Australia and New Zealand

Particular Audience , an AI-native retail media and personalisation company, has announced the expansion of its retail media capabilities to the UK and Europe. Combined with its existing recommendation and advanced transformer-based site search platform, the new holistic platform brings the world’s first vertically integrated customer experience and retail media tech stack to European retailers.

The addition of AI native retail media in the UK and Europe comes after Particular Audience’s stellar rise in Australia and New Zealand. The world’s first unified platform now allows brands to power retail media with never-before-seen automation.

Trusted by leading retailers including Hamley’s, Petbarn and Target, the company offers a range of technologies that enable retailers to present shoppers with the products most relevant to them. These include automated product bundles that recommend products based on what the shopper has in their basket or is currently browsing.

The rollout of the retail media offering will be overseen by General Manager UK, Beth Smith, who has spearheaded Particular Audience in the UK and Europe since 2019.

She said: “We launch retail media in the UK and Europe with a fantastic story to tell. Over the past couple of years, we have gained real traction in Australia and New Zealand with our retail media technology. Retailers are striving to offer their customers a better experience, and we help them to present the most relevant products at just the right time. I can’t wait to share with UK and European retailers some of the success stories we have seen.”

Particular Audience CEO and Founder, James Taylor, added: “We are bringing our hyper-personalisation, transformer search engine and retail media platform to the UK and Europe as a unified platform, and we believe retailers here will love what we have to offer. We’re already on board with some big names, including Hamley’s and Hotel Chocolat, and building out our retail media offering from our London office will make it much easier to ensure success for new clients in the region.”

Mark Till, eCommerce & Operations Director at Face the Future, has been working with Particular Audience for three years. He said: “What Particular Audience offer is unique in the retail media space. Most of the focus in retail media tends to be on the data that we, the retailer, hold on our customers. But the Particular Audience platform builds on that with recommendations and offers that are personalised to each shopper based on what they have browsed in the past, what they are browsing now, and what they and other shoppers currently have in their basket. There’s nothing else like it, we’ve seen it’s a really effective sales driver, with an ROI that dwarfs the likes of other sponsored advertising.”

Also published in: The Drum

impact.com appoints Anthony Clements

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 09:37:05 GMT

impact.com appoints Anthony Clements

impact.com , a commerce partnership marketing platform, has announced the appointment of Anthony Clements as UK country manager. In his new role, the company says Clements will be responsible for leading impact.com’s operations in the UK where the company has seen growth in partnerships and the creator economy.

Clements is a well-known figure in the performance marketing industry, added impact.com, with almost 20 years’ experience managing teams through the many stages of organisational evolution, including growth, consolidation, acquisition and expansion.

At impact.com, Clements will oversee the company's go-to-market strategy in the UK. He will focus on bringing the company’s vision of how partnerships can transform the way brands connect, grow, and build trust with their audiences, to those markets. With that vision, he will help both existing customers, such as TUI, Uber and Skyscanner, as well as new customers, to scale their own customer acquisition, drive revenue, and deliver results that traditional advertising methods can't match, the company continued. Clements’ leadership will support impact.com’s further growth in Europe's largest and most advanced e-commerce markets.

Prior to joining impact.com, Clements spent five years at partnership marketing firm, Adtraction, as managing partner, where he successfully launched the firm in the UK. Before that, he spent over 10 years at Awin, serving in various roles before rising to the position of country manager.

Commenting on his appointment, Clements said: “impact.com has a unique vision for how to connect brands with consumers and enable modern commerce. I’ve known the impact.com team for many years and I've always been impressed by the power and versatility of the platform. The talent and the product here are exceptional, and I’m excited to build on our strong momentum in the UK while supporting the wider EU community and GTM strategy, including key markets like DACH."

impact.com CEO David A. Yovanno added: “Anthony joins at a critical time for both impact.com and the wider partnership marketing industry, as brands increasingly shift budgets toward the trusted voices that influence today’s consumers. His extensive regional expertise and proven leadership will be instrumental in accelerating growth across the UK, our most established European market. With Anthony at the helm, we’re well positioned to deepen our footprint, drive greater value for our customers, and further cement impact.com’s position in Europe as the technology partner of choice for modern marketers.”

Also published in: InPublishing

The End of Retail Media’s Bottom-Funnel Illusion

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 09:26:12 GMT

The End of Retail Media’s Bottom-Funnel Illusion

Retail media cannot be called a scrappy newcomer in the ad ecosystem any longer. It was once positioned as a last-mile sales channel, but the industry has seen it become a strategic nerve centre for how brands engage consumers across the journey. And AI is turning the category from a performance tool into a decision-making engine.

“AI is now playing a central and transformative role in retail media, by turning vast amounts of insight into real-time actionable marketing decisions,” says Amir Rasekh, Managing Director of Nectar360, Sainsbury’s data insights platform.

“It is enabling marketers to analyse behaviours, optimise targeting and adjust campaigns dynamically across channels as well as access real time reporting.”

The launch of Nectar360’s Pollen platform reflects this shift, using AI to streamline segmentation, creative optimisation, and performance measurement. The result is less guesswork and more precision.

The Unification Problem

For years, retail media promised omnichannel impact but was hamstrung by fragmentation. Data sat in silos, online, offline, and offsite, and brands often struggled to connect them into a cohesive view.

Rasekh is blunt about the solution: “To truly unify online, offline and offsite experiences in retail media, brands need a single view that brings together omnichannel campaigns.” Without it, campaigns risk being efficient in pockets but blind to the bigger journey.

The industry is at a tipping point where unification is the prerequisite for making retail media a long-term growth driver rather than a tactical lever.

Misunderstood Muscle

Despite the hype, retail media still suffers from a branding problem. Many advertisers see it only as a bottom-funnel play, good for coupons, sponsored search, and nudges at the point of sale.

That’s shortsighted, Rasekh argues: “While it plays a strong role in influencing purchase decisions close to point of sale, this view really underestimates retail media’s potential.”

With first-party insights and closed-loop measurement, retail media can do much more, build awareness, drive consideration, and nurture loyalty across physical and digital touchpoints.

This reframe could prove pivotal as advertisers look for brand-safe environments with better accountability than open web buys or social platforms.

The Trust Equation

As retailers become media owners, the question is how to balance monetisation with customer trust.

“Advertising should feel additive, engaging and seamlessly integrated,” says Rasekh. “Striking the right balance between media activation and customer experience is what builds deeper loyalty and long-term growth.”

Here lies retail media’s paradox: the very data that makes it powerful can also undermine it if handled without care. Consumers expect personalisation, but they’re less forgiving of experiences that feel intrusive or transactional. Brands and retailers who get this balance wrong risk undermining the credibility of the channel itself.

From Transactions to Partnerships

Perhaps the most exciting shift is in the brand–retailer relationship. Historically transactional (brands bought inventory, retailers provided access) AI is creating room for strategic collaboration.

“As AI becomes more deeply embedded in planning and measurement tools, collaboration is naturally going to transform,” says Rasekh. Shared insights, unified reporting, and predictive modelling allow both sides to align on growth goals rather than fight over margins. The winners will be those who co-create experiences rather than trade placements.

Retail Media’s Reinvention

The narrative around retail media is evolving. Once dismissed as the last stop before checkout, it is now repositioning itself as one of the most strategic levers in modern marketing, powered by AI, underpinned by trust, and elevated by deeper collaboration.

“Retail media is no longer just about sales,” Rasekh notes. “It’s about creating meaningful connected experiences through the entire customer journey.”

That sentiment may define the sector’s next act: from optimising impressions to orchestrating intelligence and turning retail media into the connective tissue of customer experience.

Also published in: Martechvibe

Programmatic Relationship Advice: Don’t Let Your Partner Eat Your Business

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 09:22:00 GMT

Programmatic Relationship Advice: Don’t Let Your Partner Eat Your Business

In business, the line between partner and competitor can be surprisingly thin. A wholesaler might one day decide to bypass retailers and sell direct. A marketing agency could launch a product that rivals one it once promoted. These scenarios are often theoretical and rarely pursued outright.

But what happens when the conflict isn’t hypothetical? When a company supports your business on one side and quietly competes with it on the other, on an ongoing basis? That’s not just a thought experiment. It’s a common, ongoing reality in the programmatic advertising world.

Here’s an example, plucked not entirely at random. Let’s say a programmatic ad platform signs a contract with you, a publisher or ad network, to host your digital advertising environment on a white-label basis – supplying all the necessary infrastructure, support, dashboard and analytics to underpin your profitable ad business.

But then, in parallel, it proceeds to sell the same inventory you’re selling through its own trading arm – at a discount. So it’s supporting your business, driving your revenues – but also competing with you and taking those revenues for itself. Still glad you signed up?

The underbelly of programmatic has always had issues like these. Right now, this double game appears to be a remarkably common state of affairs among ad platforms and their clients, and I think it’s time we all looked at it a bit harder.

Numerous programmatic operators (yes, a handful of the big names) offer a white-label platform for those who want to trade media, while trading the same media themselves – not just blurring, but thoroughly erasing the distinction between supportive platform and ruthless competitor.

The plot gets thicker

Sometimes, there’s more to the play than just quiet competition. Frequently, a programmatic platform will give new suppliers a little extra-contractual bonus when they sign up: we’ll buy your media from you, we’ll provide you with demand, we’ll give you spend. Good news. But over time, that spend often dwindles. And as it does, the supplier’s ability to trade in the way it once did dwindles along with it.

That’s because, in the meantime, the platform has been consistently selling the same inventory for less – which it can afford to do, because it is charging the poor supplier a tech fee. And that fee is clearly removed from the equation if the platform trades the inventory on its own.

Before long, the supplier finds that the partner who came aboard to give them an exciting new platform has in fact stolen, blocked and eroded their business and made off with their relationships.

Is any of this illegal? Not necessarily. But speaking personally, if I was licensing a platform and I found that platform was competing with me, I would question very seriously the value of that partnership. So what would I advise?

Ask the obvious question: Before you make any agreement, ask your platform if they’re trading media too. If the answer is yes, ask who they’re trading media with. Is it the same people you want to trade media with? One of the major DSPs had a banner at Cannes that said something like, ‘You have lots of competitors. Your tech partner should not be one of them.’ And it’s absolutely true, if you are licensing tech from somebody, your interests should be the most important thing in that relationship. That means no side hustles that conflict directly with your interests.

Know who you’re dealing with: Companies that trade media first and foremost, and offer their platform on their side, are media exchanges. When you sign up to use their white-label platform – even when it’s marketed under another name – you may well be signing up with the trading entity itself. Check your contract. If they’re a media trader, they will probably compete with you.

Don’t get drawn into semantics: So, your programmatic partner is openly wearing two hats, and you invite them to explain how it all works – they have access to your data, after all. Now, beware of offering them space to wriggle out here. They may well tell you that everything is properly siloed, that client teams and trading teams don’t have access to each other’s data. Maybe that’s true. All the same, is it appropriate to pay a partner to support your business when they are also competing with you?

There may be certain legitimate caveats. For the first six months of our business, we traded media, simply because we needed to test and trial, to make sure the software we built was working properly. Then we shut it down, because why would we compete with our own clients?

So, what are the benefits of a platform that doesn’t compete with you?

This is an important question, because a platform that is turning its back on substantial trading revenues, and isn’t plundering your business, may charge you a slightly higher tech fee.

What you should get for that is wholehearted support, and the ability to be entirely transparent with your platform partner. When you are able to share with them exactly what you’re doing, they can help you strategise, they can lean into your business, they can give you more of the insights and assistance you need.

The financial upside isn’t only protection against lost revenue to your frenemy; it’s also about capturing more revenue because you’re getting more support, more intelligence, more familiarity with your business.

We’re often asked, ‘if you don’t trade media, how do you help your clients grow?’ It’s a fair question, and the answer is that while we don’t do their business development per se, we do actively support the formation of trading relationships between our partners. This type of introduction-based commercial growth is sustainable and 100% owned by our partners. And that’s the point: putting our partners first, always.

In summary, it’s not right that any partner should be incentivised to undercut and disenfranchise you, or steal your revenues. We think this odd duality in the market is something that merits more attention – and we’d urge you to give it some more of yours.

Also published in: Advertising Week

How to maximise ROAS by embracing programmatic native advertising

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 09:13:25 GMT

How to maximise ROAS by embracing programmatic native advertising

As the adtech supply chain gets more convoluted and obscure, and ad blindness is becoming a significant problem, brands are looking for ways to build campaigns that cut through the noise, engage consumers and provide ROAS. Dynamic retargeting and native ads are two AI-driven solutions that do just that, so let’s take a look at two companies that embraced this tech to drive impressive results.

Quick Case Study #1: How a leading mother-and-baby brand used dynamic retargeting ads to increase CTR by 48%, and ROAS by 175%

Founded in 2018, the one-stop mother-and-baby brand offers wearable breast pumps, nursing bras, pregnancy pillows, baby monitors, and a broad variety of related accessories. The company serves around 4.5 million mothers in more than 60 countries globally.

BEFORE: Emotive storytelling

The business was looking to turbocharge their programmatic advertising performance – and get ahead of the competition – by implementing dynamic retargeting and acquiring new audience segments. The aim was to increase ROAS, and the brand needed a solution capable of optimizing full-funnel performance, to drive impactful results.

Historically, the business’s marketing efforts leaned heavily on its storytelling, with a focus on empowerment, comfort and emotional appeal. It wanted to maintain this narrative, while driving greater ROAS and reaching new customers and segments.

AFTER: Data-centric technology for enhanced performance

With the help of adtech platform, Preciso, the mother-and-baby brand doubled down on data-centric technology to enhance the performance of its digital advertising.

It integrated AI-driven, advanced retargeting tech with a focus on awareness and acquisition across a range of verticals, including:

Parenting
Women's Health
Health & Fitness – Nutrition
Family & Parenting
Shopping
Technology – Consumer Electronics

Key to the success of the campaign was targeting niche audiences. By using a combination of static, native and dynamic custom formats, the brand re-engaged its audiences with personalised messages that were tailored to their specific stage in the funnel. Real-time optimisation was used to develop custom strategies that continued to increase ad performance over the course of the campaign.

RESULTS: ROAS increase of 175%

The dynamic retargeting and exploration of new, niche audience segments produced fantastic results for the brand’s December 2024 campaign, which brought in three times more revenue than the company’s October 2024 campaign.

The dynamic retargeting and acquisition campaigns also contributed an additional 9978 sales. The tailored strategy also performed wonders for the brand’s site traffic too, driving 328k visits to its various websites. These also enjoyed an increased CTR of 48%.

The campaign was a huge success for the brand, and ultimately resulted in a ROAS increase of 175% between Q4 2024 and Q2 2025.

Quick Case Study #2: How native advertising drove a 52% increase in conversions and a 700% increase in ROAS for a leading green energy outdoors brand

Established in 2012 by a group of pioneering innovators in battery technology, the brand’s goal is to make renewable energy accessible for homes and outdoor experiences alike, supporting a sustainable and more resilient future.

Initially focused on outdoor enthusiasts, the company makes lightweight, durable solar generators, designed for adventurers seeking reliable power in remote locations.

BEFORE: Poor brand visibility

In the ever-crowded sustainability space, the brand was keen to increase the company’s visibility, improve conversions and ROAS. Its programmatic advertising efforts had been moderately successful in the past, but reaching its audience via premium publishers at peak sales events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday had proved a challenge. Cutting through the noise had been very difficult.

AFTER: Native advertising drives performance

The brand enlisted adtech programmatic specialist Preciso to increase its campaign performance. Together, the businesses developed a strategy that hinged on the use of native ads, which were designed to highlight the ease of use and relevance of the brand’s products, while also being engaging and relatable. Native ads were deemed suitable for the campaign as consumers look at them 53% more than traditional display ads, with an 18% increase in purchase intent.

The strategy focused on continuous creative testing, focusing on two core KPIs: CTR and Conversion Rate (CR). Multiple banner types were rotated and optimised in real-time, with underperforming variants swiftly replaced by higher-performing alternatives. By tailoring creative assets based on behavioural insights, the company maximised engagement and downstream conversions.

RESULTS: 700% increase in ROAS, and 52% increase in conversions

The brand’s campaign was a huge success on a number of fronts. CTR exceeded 2.4% on native formats, compared to 0.5%–1% on display. Seasonal promotion campaigns during Q4 2024 performed above expectations, with the brand enjoying a 700% year-on-year increase in ROAS.

In early 2025, the business built on this momentum, and its native ads proved particularly effective, achieving a 53% user engagement rate. Its engaging campaigns were continuously optimised for full-funnel strategy, subsequently increasing conversions by 52% in the first half of 2025, compared to the previous year.

Also published in: The Drum

Data storytelling: 5 minutes with… Sean Adams

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 08:59:17 GMT

Data storytelling: 5 minutes with… Sean Adams

Q: The art of data storytelling is gaining momentum and popularity. But what does this look like for publishers?

A: For publishers, it’s about moving beyond the usual “we delivered X million impressions” conversation to showing how content changes what people think about brands. Instead of just reporting numbers, you’re creating a narrative about the reader journey — how someone goes from never having heard about a brand to actually considering it.

The best publishers I see are connecting their campaign performance to what’s happening in the world, turning engagement metrics into meaningful insights about attention and brand recall. They’re not just telling you what happened last month; they’re using patterns in their data to predict what’s most likely to work next time. Not just “here’s what we delivered”, but “here’s what we think will happen, and why”.

Q: How can publishers apply data storytelling techniques to their campaign metrics?

A: Start with the impact, not the data. Instead of leading with “CPMs were 20% below benchmark”, lead with “we shifted brand consideration by 15% among your target audience”. Then use the underlying metrics to explain how that happened. I always tell publishers to think of their reports like a good story — there’s a setup (the challenge), some tension (what we discovered), and a resolution (how we solved it).

The key is making the data human. The fact that time on page increased by 40% is great, but what brands actually want to hear is that readers were so engaged they spent nearly three minutes with their brand story — which is long enough to shift perceptions. When you can measure brand impact consistently over time, you can tell ongoing stories about how perceptions evolve, which is far more compelling than one-off campaign reports.

Q: Are publishers really interpreting audience behaviour or are they just reacting to it? How can publishers work to be more predictive and less reactive?

A: Most publishers are still playing catch-up, analysing what happened after it’s too late to do anything about it. To get ahead of this, you need to know where brand perceptions start before your campaign even launches. Without that baseline, you’re just guessing about your impact.

The secret is consistent measurement that reveals patterns over time. When you can see how different content formats consistently affect brand perceptions, you start to predict which approaches will work for future campaigns, and what brand lift you can expect.

Q: What steps can publishers take to build teams that are confident using data and analytics to drive revenue?

A: Train your team to think like advertisers think. What keeps CMOs up at night isn’t whether their CPMs were efficient — it’s whether their brand is getting stronger. Once your team understands that connection, they can have much more strategic conversations.

Create simple frameworks that help everyone interpret brand measurement data consistently, so your whole team is telling the same story. The confidence comes from practice. Encourage your team to make predictions, then measure

against them. When they start seeing their insights translate into client success, they’ll naturally become more confident with the data.

Cross-train everyone so your sales team understands brand outcomes, not just reach metrics. When they can confidently explain how your editorial environment drives brand perceptions, they can justify premium pricing.

Q: How can data play its part in helping publishers improve their storytelling for stronger commercial outcomes?

A: Use your brand lift data to figure out which content formats are moving the needle for advertisers. Track how different editorial themes align with brand-building goals — you might discover that your lifestyle content drives stronger brand associations than your news content for certain categories. Measure the halo effect of your editorial environment, showing how just being in your publication impacts overall brand perception.

Create feedback loops between your editorial and commercial teams. When your editors understand which storytelling approaches drive brand lift, they can create content that serves both readers and advertisers. It’s about making your content strategy data-driven while keeping it editorially authentic.

Q: How can publishers start connecting the dots between content and conversion?

A: You need to track the whole journey, not just immediate clicks. Content builds brands, brands drive consideration, and consideration eventually leads to conversions — but that process takes time. Start by establishing benchmarks for how different content environments affect brand perceptions, then track how those perception changes correlate with business outcomes down the line.

Remember that brand-building has a lag time. Someone might read your content today but not buy until next quarter. So create attribution models that account for brand impact over time. When you can show how your editorial environment creates the conditions for conversion, you’re not just selling media space — you’re selling business results.

Q: What's in the pipeline for Brand Metrics?

A: We’re really focused on helping publishers tell better stories with their data. There’s huge demand from publishers, networks, and broadcasters who want to make brand lift central to what they offer clients, so we’re expanding to support that growth. It’s exciting to see publishers test how different content formats, audience segments and editorial approaches actually impact brand perceptions.

All this experimentation is building massive benchmark databases, which gives our publisher partners incredible context for their campaigns. But here’s what I’m most excited about — we’re exploring predictive analytics using AI trained on brand lift data. Imagine being able to guide campaign planning decisions toward specific brand outcomes rather than just broad media objectives. Instead of hoping a campaign will work, you’d know which approach is most likely to drive the brand lift your client needs. That’s the future we’re building toward.

Also published in: InPublishing

PPA asks CMA to require greater transparency of Google’s AI search features

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 08:46:38 GMT

PPA asks CMA to require greater transparency of Google’s AI search features

The Professional Publishers Association (PPA) has submitted a letter to the UK Competition Markets Authority (CMA) asking that it introduce and enforce conduct requirements for Google and other nascent AI search platforms.

These include transparency reporting on AI bot crawling which distinguishes between crawling conducted for search indexing versus for the creation of Google’s AI Overviews or AI Mode. The PPA is also suggesting the CMA require Google to give transparency reporting in Search Console to show where and when publisher content appears in AI Mode and AI Overviews.

Further requests include requiring greater transparency over acquisition sources in Google Analytics and requiring clear attribution and functional linking when publisher content is used in AI search tools. Such conduct requirements, the PPA argues, would help to “support more competitive conditions in Google Search and Ad Services”.

Lack of visibility directly impacting business

The lack of transparency over how AI platforms are indexing information has caused alarm from both publishers and marketers, who have been unable to understand how their brands are showing up in AI search.

To meet client demands, media agencies including Jellyfish, Havas Media Network and others have begun to develop third-party tools that seek to fill the information gap. “The lack of visibility over AI [Overviews] and AI Mode performance has direct business impacts,” the PPA’s request reads.

“Publishers are having to make strategic decisions on resource allocation, investment, and product development without knowing whether their content is driving traffic, being consumed entirely within AI [Overviews], or being used to power competing information services.”

Notably, there is currently no way for publishers to “opt out” of being crawled by Google for use in their generative AI products without blocking their website from Google search results altogether. The opacity from Google comes after the UK government declined to include an amendment in its Data (Use and Access) Bill that would have required AI companies declare their use of copyrighted material. This was despite a months-long unified lobbying effort from UK publishers and artists.

While the PPA is primarily requesting greater transparency, publishers are facing an “existential” challenge in the new era of AI search because fewer users have been found to click on links to their webpages. As the PPA notes in their letter to the CMA, publishers have reported a “decoupling” between search ranking and click-through rates (CTR), indicating an increase in zero-click search since AI

Overviews were introduced to the UK market last year. “Publishers have reported significant declines in click-through rates despite holding or improving search rankings,” the PPA revealed. “In some cases, CTR has dropped by 10–25% year-on-year, with many editorial brands including automotive and lifestyle publishers recording double-digit declines.”

Google has disputed such claims from publishers — which are consistent with numerous third-party studies — without providing specific evidence to the contrary.

Head of Search Liz Reid claimed in a blog post this month that third-party reports on referral traffic “inaccurately suggest dramatic declines in aggregate traffic — often based on flawed methodologies, isolated examples or traffic changes that occurred prior to the roll-out of AI features in search”.

Reid also claimed that publishers in fact benefit from AI search because consumers are providing more “quality clicks”. In its letter to the CMA, the PPA noted Google “has not published data that would substantiate its assertions”, arguing that its position “remains unconvincing compared to the mass of transparent studies that point to an existentially damaging decline in search traffic for publishers, caused by Google’s use of its dominant position to exert and extent its power in the AI space”.

The requested conduct requirements, the PPA argued, would at least allow publishes to “assess the impact not only on the scale of traffic but also on the quality of visits originating from Google”.

Also published in: The Media Leader

It’s human intention that fuels AI, not the other way round

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 08:41:35 GMT

It’s human intention that fuels AI, not the other way round

Rumours of the death of human usefulness at the hands of artificial intelligence have been greatly exaggerated, especially in adland.

In fact, it’s the reverse, says Lauren Barnett, Head of UK Sales at Samsung Ads, who insists the rapid rise of the new technology still has its limitations, and will continue to be fuelled by human intention and purpose…

Lauren Barnett, Samsung Ads.

Artificial intelligence in programmatic advertising is nothing new. For years, unbelievably sophisticated ML (machine learning) models have been trained on billions of data points each day to inform critical revenue decisions.

But today, AI is dominating the conversation around achieving a much broader level of efficiency across digital advertising – for example using agentic AI to streamline workflows or LLMs (large language models) to make sense of complex reports.

But alongside the hype comes anxiety: that AI will replace the human touch and that creativity will be lost. In fact, the reality sits somewhere between the two extremes.

AI is here to stay, and yes, it’s transforming workflows. But it’s not making revenue and marketing teams redundant. And as I mentioned recently on a panel at MAD//Fest, that’s because AI is only as effective as the human intention behind it.

So how is the adtech world, and particularly Connected TV (CTV) – balancing AI with the human element? And what does a productive partnership between the two actually look like?

Moving beyond scale to strategy: a lesson in precision

While AI can perform everyday tasks at scale, it’s important to remember that when it makes mistakes, those will also often be at scale.

As my co-panelist James Macdonald from Limelight Inc pointed out, “if you’re just a degree off with your AI, the outcomes will be 10 degrees off – it will have a massive impact”.

So it’s really human intention and supervision that ensure AI is deployed in a useful way, rather than high-volume outreach with little targeting finesse.

Take recruitment as an example – how often do we receive completely irrelevant job opportunities based on out-of-date or inaccurate information?

I still receive openings for casual bar work a number of years after leaving university, due to recruitment agencies playing the numbers game and using automation tools to flood the workforce – or half the LinkedIn population.

This is automation at its laziest – prioritising scale over strategy – and it happens in advertising too. If automation is deployed without human input or oversight, it essentially generates advertising spam.

As MarTech aptly put it: “while automation enables volume, it cannot replace strategic design or nuanced messaging.”

This is especially important in programmatic CTV. Without human guidance, AI can churn out generic placements at scale, but it will miss the contextual, behavioural, and emotional cues that actually drive viewer engagement.

Finding the AI sweet spot in advertising

The CTV-first model gives us a unique lens into how people discover content – and brands – on the biggest screen in the house.

For many viewers, the TV interface is now a discovery engine, with 37% of viewers expecting it to suggest content that aligns with their interests.

At the same time, we often see brands coming to us with a very clear set of target audience demographics in mind. But that initial targeting only scratches the surface.

The real opportunity lies in uncovering adjacent or unexpected audiences with similar behavioural patterns or content affinities – something only possible through sophisticated AI models fed by rich, cross-device data.

The ability to overlay vast ACR-based (Automatic Content Recognition) CTV data with mobile insights opens up new high-potential audience segments that human media planning teams may not have identified.

For example, when one content partner asked us to build lookalike models based on users who had previously clicked through, they saw a 58% increase in app open rates and a 13% drop in cost per acquisition.

That’s the AI advantage: scalable personalisation that drives real-world outcomes.

But even these results didn’t happen by letting the machine run wild. They came from careful calibration of AI tools by media strategists who understood what the client needed and where the untapped value lay.

Fuelling AI with human intention

Technology can tell us what audiences are doing and when, but it can’t fully explain why. That’s still the domain of human insight.

Advertising, and especially CTV, thrives when it taps into cultural relevance and shared emotion.

Just look at Glastonbury. Every year, hundreds of thousands gather for a shared live experience that feels personal, even magical.

Alongside this, every screen we looked at over that weekend showed that desire for human connection hasn’t changed.

If anything, it has intensified, and CTV is uniquely positioned to deliver those shared, high-impact moments in a personalised way – it provides the perfect backdrop for brands to understand what makes people tick, and to tap into human emotions in order to attract and retain their audiences.

But it requires storytelling rooted in empathy, not just data. So while AI can help identify the right time, place, and audience for an ad, the message still needs to feel crafted, with intention, creativity, and a deep understanding of human motivation.

Those are things no algorithm can replicate.

When AI is directed by smart strategic thinking, it becomes an engine for discovery, relevance, and performance. It doesn’t replace the marketer; it amplifies what they do best.

So yes, AI is a powerful tool. But it is human purpose and insight that should always fuel the system.

Also published in: Mediashotz

If Personal AI Agents Can Reshape Adtech, Surely We Can Accelerate the Payment Chain, Too?

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 08:30:30 GMT

If Personal AI Agents Can Reshape Adtech, Surely We Can Accelerate the Payment Chain, Too?

As anyone in Cannes last month will know, the buzz around AI has recently taken on a new dimension. Where Generative AI was previously the main subset under discussion, Agentic AI is increasingly entering the conversation. And it is this type of technology that appears set to redefine adtech.

Agentic AI refers to systems that can operate independently – making decisions, initiating action and pursuing outcomes-based behaviour – often with limited human supervision.

AI agents are autonomous, adaptable and able to collaborate with other systems. That means they are the AI most of us are likely to engage with most often in the coming years: the system that controls your smart home, streamlines your day or monitors and manages your health.

Agentic AI puts consumers in control

In advertising, the possibilities of agentic AI are huge – think real-time, autonomous campaign management, hyper-personalisation at scale, brand agents, and strategy and insight generation.

But the real significance of agentic AI for advertising may well be on the consumer side of the equation. The future of digital engagement is shifting. For years, ads and affiliate recommendations have been optimised for brands, not individuals. Algorithms track users, push products, and flood feeds with retargeting. And people are tired of it.

The next era won’t be about shouting louder or spending more. Instead, personal AI agents will take control on behalf of users – filtering ads, curating offers and deciding what gets through based on user preferences. The most important relationship won’t be between brands and consumers anymore – it will be between individuals and their AI agents.

This will mean 1. personalised, intent-driven advertising, instead of mass-market targeting; 2. AI-curated affiliate placements, where trusted agents pick winners; and 3. a push-to-pull transformation, where users actively request value, rather than passively receiving it.

Brands who adapt – building transparent, high-quality offerings that earn AI agents’ trust – will get their messages through to consumers. Meanwhile, those who rely on traditional ad bombardment will be left behind.

But rocket ships aren’t compatible with carrier pigeons

We believe agentic AI is going to be transformative. But as we look to an AI-driven, laser-fast future in terms of the technology being used to reach consumers, it is hard to ignore the fact that critical elements of the adtech ecosystem’s underlying infrastructure – such as its antiquated payment methods – could do with a future-proof transformation of their own.

To put it another way, we need to be careful that we are not building a rocket ship for ad delivery, creativity and AI, while using a carrier pigeon behind the scenes for supply chain payment and business opportunities.

The industry’s payment processes underpin the business, now and in tomorrow’s AI-driven world. But the adtech supply chain is long and complicated, with brands at the top, agencies, DSPs and SSPs in the middle, and publishers and content creators at the bottom.

Each link in that chain introduces a delay in payments, and since brands and agencies tend to hold onto funds for as long as possible, those at the bottom get squeezed the hardest. It is not uncommon to see small, valuable players waiting 90 or 120 days to be paid for their contribution to the advertising lifecycle.

Overcoming the adtech payment challenge with data and AI

When businesses struggle with cash flow, they can’t scale their operations, invest in marketing, or pay their own suppliers on time. That creates a domino effect that stifles growth across the entire advertising industry – even if AI is turbo-charging processes elsewhere.

But here, too, there are transformative technologies available. Using a data-driven adtech finance platform, businesses can receive their sales revenue as soon as it’s earned, rather than waiting weeks or months. Real-time transaction data enables the advancement of payments before an invoice is even raised. This model is based on transparency, automation, and flexibility – helping businesses get paid faster without taking on debt or navigating lengthy approval processes.

Naturally, we welcome tools such as agentic AI, which promise to deliver digital marketing into a new, more effective and efficient age. And as it does, we are confident that the same kind of automation will permeate the business at all levels, ensuring that those who are striving to scale operations at speed will receive their own rewards at a similar pace.

Also published in: MartechSeries

Havas Media Network launches ‘generative engine optimisation’ tool

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 08:22:50 GMT

Havas Media Network launches ‘generative engine optimisation’ tool

Havas Media Network has debuted a tool aimed at providing brands with generative engine optimisation (GEO) insights.

Brand Insights AI offers multi-model analysis across six major generative-AI platforms: ChatGPT (OpenAI), Claude (Anthropic), Gemini (Google), Sonar (Perplexity), Grok (xAI) and DeepSeek.

Its goal is to give brands a unified view of how they are perceived by these large language models (LLMs) in real time.

Additional features include content optimisation suggestions, AI-powered content recommendations based on audience profiles and competitive insights, and a view into the sources of information driving AI responses.

Brand Insights AI is available as part of Havas’ broader Converged operating system , which was launched last year.

It is designed for use by marketers, brand managers and digital strategists. According to a spokesperson, the tool requires just a handful of inputs (brand name, competitors, market context) before it can suggest actionable insights “in minutes”.

A new ‘default interface for search’?

The launch comes at a time when media agencies have begun shifting their SEO strategies to account for rapidly evolving consumer search behaviour.

According to June Ukom/Ipsos iris data, 19.6m people used AI sites or apps (equivalent to 38% reach), with ChatGPT used by more than a quarter of the UK online population monthly. Data from Similarweb found that ChatGPT was the fifth-most-accessed domain in the world last month, behind Google, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

At The Future of Brands in April, Brandtech agency Jellyfish discussed growing demand for greater measurement of how brands are portrayed by AI models . The goal, according to Pernod Ricard’s head of digital and design, is to have LLMs “list our brands in the way that we desire”.

That requires new tools aimed at influencing when, how often and how AI models reference a given brand.

Paul Bland, chief digital officer at Havas Media Network UK, said AI is “becoming the default interface for search and discovery”, noting that brands need to be on the front foot in adapting to a changed market.

He told The Media Leader : “Historically, you had one algorithm [Google] that was making decisions of the sources and understanding of authority. Whereas now you’ve got potentially six, seven, eight different AI models and platforms that have a different content-ranking algorithm. As a result, you need visibility on the sources that are powering the responses from each of the platforms.”

What also changes are the KPIs for success in search. In the past, brands might measure click-through rates to their website, particularly if they led to purchase. But given a widely reported decline in click-through rates on AI search, marketers may be forced to consider alternative metrics. That could mean adapting their search strategies to be more focused on the upper funnel.

“Think about the value of appearing, beyond a click,” Bland advised. “The reality is, the influence of being in a position of being [on AI search] is really important for brands.”

To do so, brands will need to consider strategies for adjusting their perception in online spaces that AI models’ algorithms are weighted to pull from. According to Bland, these tend to include social media platforms and quality publishers.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman has previously claimed the platform makes up a plurality of the data Perplexity and ChatGPT uses in response to queries, potentially making it a higher priority for marketers.

“I’m torn on the answer of whether brands should be influencing lots of content in those spaces,” Bland continued. “That’s part of a wider brand strategy of how you’re perceived by people and then how they talk about your brands on those platforms.

“Marketing and how you talk about your brands influences how people talk about you on social platforms and that influences how you appear on [AI search].”

Also published in: The Media Leader

AI search presents ‘existential’ challenge to publishers

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 08:15:56 GMT

AI search presents ‘existential’ challenge to publishers

The rise of generative-AI search is creating an “existential crisis” for publishers reliant on referral traffic for audience development, according to industry leaders.

“The modern internet has been built on the ad model being the incentive for us to create persistent environments on the internet,” Natasha Wallace, global chief strategy officer at Brandtech Group agency Jellyfish, told The Media Leader .

What happens if that model falls apart and publishers can no longer monetise audiences finding their content via search?

Wallace continued: “That does open up [the question]: what is the reason why we would produce content and what is that monetisation model? That is the big challenge that a lot of publishers need to face.”

At the end of the July, Google rolled out AI Mode in the UK, a new search experience that allows users to have conversations with a chatbot about topics of interest. The feature is part of Google’s intent to move from a search engine to an “answer engine” — an effort that began with last year’s launch of AI Overviews in response to the rising popularity of generative-AI chatbots.

The move away from traditional search has had significant downstream effects on publishers, many of which have seen sharp, sudden decreases in referral traffic from search.

Last month, Authoritas, an SEO analytics company, found publishers experience an average 47.5% decline in click-through rates on desktop and 37.7% on mobile when Google’s AI Overviews are served to users. Authoritas also found that a site previously ranked first in a search result could lose four-fifths of its traffic for the relevant query if the results were delivered below an AI Overview.

The impact has also been felt by brands, which have reported similarly large declines in referral traffic to their websites. Will Hanmer-Lloyd, head of Behave and strategy at independent agency Mediaplus UK, said clients have recently seen up to a 30% drop in organic traffic to their websites.

Despite this, Google has repeatedly insisted that such figures are inaccurate, albeit without providing direct evidence to the contrary. In a blog post earlier this month, head of Google search Liz Reid claimed: “Overall, total organic click volume from Google search to websites has been relatively stable year over year.”

She added that “average click quality has increased and we’re actually sending slightly more quality clicks to websites than a year ago”. Reid is defining “quality clicks” as “those where users don’t quickly click back”, although it’s not clear how this differs from engagement rate or at what point a click meets the threshold for “quality” status.

Reid claimed that third-party reports on referral traffic “inaccurately suggest dramatic declines in aggregate traffic — often based on flawed methodologies, isolated examples or traffic changes that occurred prior to the roll-out of AI features in search”.

‘Scary place to be’

Nevertheless, Jamie Credland, CEO of World Media Group, argued that the impact AI Mode is having on publishers in terms of a decrease in traffic is well-documented and presents a severe challenge for any publisher that has not already diversified their business model away from advertising.

“It’s worth noting that there is no way to ‘opt out’ of this functionality without also blocking your site from Google search results entirely, so it represents a significant change to the balance of economic incentives between Google and publishers,” he explained. “And, as far as I can tell, a change made unilaterally by Google.”

Any loss of traffic places publishers’ ad revenue at risk at a time when they are already fighting negative advertiser sentiment over perceived brand-safety risks that have been shown not to actually exist.

Although AI models are reliant on trustworthy information — in part produced by premium news outlets — publishers are in a no-win situation: it is wise to retain visibility in AI search so users remain aware of and exposed to their brand, but there’s no longer any way for them to monetise that exposure if users refrain from clicking links.

Such concerns prompted the Independent Publishers Alliance, non-profit Foxglove and campaign group Movement for an Open Web to file a legal complaint with the UK Competition & Markets Authority, asking the regulator to urgently prevent Google from “stealing the work of British journalists”.

Jonathan Verrall, Jellyfish’s vice-president of SEO, told The Media Leader that the new era of search will mean publishers’ digital ad revenues are “never going to hit the same levels of revenue as publishers had previously realised”.

“The revenue streams from these informational engines is just forever deteriorating,” he added, noting that AI companies presently “have pretty much all the power” in relation to publishers: “For publishers, it’s got to be a scary place to be.”

Brands impacted too

It’s not just publishers that are seeing their digital world upended by AI search. Brands, which have spent the better part of the last three decades investing in SEO with the aim of bringing users to their own websites for product discovery and purchase, are now also having to pivot.

As Credland noted: “Any advertiser with a marketing strategy based on using branded content or thought leadership as a lead generation tool, to drive users to their site, will be negatively impacted by the decline in clicks from the search page.”

To achieve visibility in AI search results, marketers will need to adopt content strategies that seed their brands into sources that various AI models tend to preference when pulling information.

This likely includes premium publishers, but also large social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X and Reddit. But “clients are a bit blind” at the present, according to Hanmer-Lloyd.

“From my understanding, AI tools have a real difficulty in understanding what is quality information and what’s not,” he warned. “So it’s partly about the amount you can get out there. In publications, yes, but also places like Reddit.”

That could result in new standards for online marketing strategies, from spending more with publishers and platforms to giving PR teams a more prominent place in communications strategies, working in tandem with generative engine optimisation talent.

On the other hand, Esme Robinson, director of platform solutions and enablement at Publicis Groupe data division Epsilon, told The Media Leader that a changed search landscape need not be cause for ripping up an entire marketing strategy.

“It’s crucial to remember search is just one touchpoint in a much wider consumer journey,” she said. “Email, in-store experiences, social interactions and app connections still play vital roles in keeping brands top of mind and building long-term loyalty.”

Just as publishers have been working on building first-party data strategies through subscriptions and memberships, brands should be investing in first-party data to “insulate against fluctuating organic traffic”, Robinson added. Loyalty schemes, she suggested, will become increasingly central, giving retailers an advantage.

Diversification needed

Piling on to the concerns raised by publishers and brands is the lack of transparency over how their sites are being indexed by AI search platforms.

The Media Leader understands that Google and AI platforms like ChatGPT have yet to grant publishers and advertisers the ability to see how they are showing up in results, prompting agencies like Jellyfish and Havas Media Network to attempt to fill the gap.

According to Verrall’s recent analysis, the changes to search have led to a “great decoupling” between impressions and clicks, with impressions growing even as clicks decline.

He noted that AI companies will eventually get around to “building a way of measuring their impact” when they look to monetise their platforms, presumably with ad revenue. This has yet to occur as the platforms focus on acquiring users.

But even with greater visibility, publishers will need to develop new business strategies, if they haven’t already.

“I think publishers have known for some time now that building their own ecosystem and ensuring that consumers go directly to their platform for news, versus search, is essential,” said Verrall.

Credland agreed, arguing that publishers in the “best position to adjust” are those that “act as a destination for users” and have already developed multiple revenue streams, be it via subscription, membership, podcasts, newsletters, commerce or events.

“For many readers, news content is not simply about answering a specific query but about enjoying quality journalism, opinion pieces, photography, interviews and profiles. AI Mode does nothing to replicate that experience,” Credland added.

Still, he was clear-eyed that there aren’t “any publishers that won’t be negatively affected to some extent”.

Verrall advised publishers to “race to get your content indexed quickly” by AI models so they are included in answers to news-related queries. This would at least give news brands visibility to consumers — a sort of upper-funnel brand strategy. At the same time, publishers could work out revenue-sharing agreements with AI companies.

But what is disconcerting is the lack of uniformed action taken by publishers, with some cutting deals while others sue for copyright infringement.

“For this kind of movement to work, all publishers need to adopt the same stance and send a signal to AI companies that you can’t use our content. And if you do, you’re going to have to pay for it [with a revenue share],” Verrall said.

Search no longer ‘dominated’ by Google

According to Hanmer-Lloyd, while AI Mode presents a substantial shift for Google’s search strategy, the search market was already being upended by social platforms and changing consumer behaviour.

TikTok, for example, has been used by Gen Z and Gen Alpha for many years as a de facto search engine for a variety of queries. Reddit, similarly, has long been used as a form of aggregation of consumer experience.

“Search behaviour is just not going to be so dominated by Google any more,” Hanmer-Lloyd pointed out.

Notably, Behave has seen divergent user behaviour dependent on which AI model an individual is interacting with. Apps like ChatGPT or Perplexity are being used for long conversations, while Google’s AI Mode, as well as Meta’s Llama chatbots and X’s Grok, are currently being used more for top-line, quick hits of information.

“When you go to Google, you are quite often looking for a piece of information or for a direct link to a site. When people go to ChatGPT, they’re often looking for answers to philosophical questions or step-by-step recipes — things like that,” Hanmer-Lloyd explained.

He added that ChatGPT and Perplexity are also unique in that they are currently “designed to be addictive” by giving positive reinforcement to users, such as complimenting their curiosity or the way they phrase questions. Google’s AI chatbots for the moment aren’t designed to be conversational in the same way, leading to shorter conversations.

“Where [consumers] are looking for quick information, the AI will work well,” he posits. “What it’s eating into is the people that were going to be on your site for 20 seconds. It’s not eating up the people that are going to have a long read, fill in information about themselves, anything like that. It’s the shallower end of it.”

Such a suggestion would align with Google’s concept of a “quality click”, but given the diversity of search options, publishers may be wise to move beyond Google in search of audience growth, anyway.

“Most of the big publishers traffic is in-app or not coming through search,” Hanmer-Lloyd noted. As such, new readers can and are being found through alternative modes.

The caveat, of course, is success becomes even more dependent on the strength of a given publishing brand.

“You might need to work out how to build a loyal audience base,” he added.

Also published in: The Media Leader

Optivo by ESBConnect lets brands retarget site visitors without ads

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 08:01:02 GMT

Optivo by ESBConnect lets brands retarget site visitors without ads

Customer acquisition specialist, esbconnect, has launched Optivo, its new audience retargeting tool, Optivo.

In a UK first, Optivo enables brands to retarget anonymous website visitors not on their CRM system with an email. Retargeting website visitors via email has long been proven to be effective.

Cart abandonment emails uplift conversions by 26% on average, but it is estimated that 90% of a brand’s website traffic are “ghosts”, who visit sites without identifying themselves or starting a purchase.

Esbconnect now enables brands to identify those anonymous visitors, link them to an email address, suppress any of their current customers, and retarget them by email, encouraging them to purchase or subscribe.

Optivo

Using esbconnect’s GDPR-compliant database of 17 million opted-in UK email addresses, Optivo can match up to 20% of unknown visitors to real email records that are not in a brand’s CRM.

Within minutes of a visit, matched users are enrolled into a compliant email journey, offering them a chance to subscribe and later to purchase.

For those that choose to subscribe, they are immediately added into the brand’s CRM to nurture towards a conversion.
Esbconnect has already seen that between 40-70% of people who enter into this process convert to a subscriber, and the ROI is typically 2.6 times higher than a straight, purchase-led campaign.

The London-based adtech estimates that Optivo will be able to match 20% of anonymous site visitors to an email address, much more efficiently and cost-effectively than retargeting ads on Meta or Google.

This is the first GDPR-compliant service to launch in the UK. It enables brands to potentially retarget anyone who visits their site via email, not just the 10% of visitors who typically add to a cart, whether they complete the purchase or not.

Email is extremely effective for retargeting, delivering the best ROI of any channel, according to the DMA. It typically delivers read rates in excess of 40% and an ROI of 4x, with some retail pilot test partners reporting 2.2x this figure.

“With customer acquisition costs growing, and retargeting becoming less effective as more stringent privacy regulations take hold, we are seeing a lot of interest in Optivo from UK brands,” said esbconnect CEO, Suzanna Chaplin.

“In the US, tools like Retention.com have proven this model can work, but until now, there was no GDPR-compliant solution in the UK. Optivo changes that.”

Esbconnect is currently running a pilot programme with a number of selected brands in the Fashion, Home & Garden and Travel sectors, with a full roll-out scheduled for later this month.

The platform integrates quickly and easily with existing marketing tech stacks and CRM platforms like Klaviyo, Ometria, Adobe and Salesforce.

Also published in: Mediashotz

Winning Love and Loyalty in the Age of AI’s Infinite Memory

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 07:54:41 GMT

Winning Love and Loyalty in the Age of AI’s Infinite Memory

Brand loyalty, once linear, is now fluid, thanks to the rise of LLMs, and heightened expectations of personalisation. But in an era of high churn, razor-thin 2% conversion rates, economic headwinds, and fierce competition, how well are brands really keeping up? Avya Chaudhary mapped what’s actually working. It’s not what you'd expect.

Traditionally, to drive loyalty, brands relied on exclusive offers and perks tied to tiered status programmes (e.g., silver, gold, platinum users based on customers spending power), redeemable points (allocated per dollar spent), subscription-based offers (e.g., free delivery, exclusive deals), and shared values & ideology (e.g., sustainability, inclusivity).

However, the market dynamics have changed dramatically since the onset of LLM models. ChatGPT and Gemini have started to bulldoze the old customer journey by becoming de facto research assistants and changing how customers move through discovery, consideration, and engagement stages.

The previous touchpoints used to be a winding road of blogs, reviews, and maybe a friend’s opinion. Now, a new parent asks ChatGPT for the safest convertible car seat, and gets a clear, customised list with prices and links, before even opening Amazon. That’s how fast things are moving. And in such a crowded market, speed and relevance matter more than ever. 72% of people say fast service earns their loyalty. Two-thirds say they’ll stick with brands if they offer more relevant, personalised experiences.

Brands like Starbucks and Sephora are already putting this into practice by using AI to deliver one-to-one product recommendations at scale. "Both these brands have applied it in genuinely customer-centric ways," says Natasha Wallace, chief solutions officer for strategy & planning at Jellyfish. "By suggesting relevant products through AI, they’ve boosted purchase frequency and encouraged adoption of new items."

It’s reverberant that brands will need more AI-mediated brand loyalty programmes to meet the heightened personalisation demands, and match customer expectations in real-time.

Brands are betting on AI to make loyalty personal again

Suzanna Chaplin, founder and CEO of esbconnect, was ahead of the curve in using AI to build customer loyalty, and she hasn’t looked back. Her perspective is refreshingly clear: even with all the noise around machine learning and LLMs, the pillars of customer loyalty haven’t really changed, just the delivery mechanisms. A superior product, joyful user experiences, reliable service, and alignment in values still win hearts. What’s evolving is how we deliver them.

"AI could be a personal stylist and 3D image of you, so you can try on clothes virtually and get recommendations and no longer need to browse. You simply come on, say what event you are shopping for, and suddenly you are in a virtual changing room with a bunch of outfits."

This is only a glimpse of what’s possible. More and more brands are now building intelligent ecosystems by stitching together proprietary data from their customer data platform (CDP) or CRM tools with LLM models. Data from POS, purchases, browsing, social media, and support tickets is cleaned and standardised to create 360-degree customer profiles and understand features like transaction recency, product affinity, and sentiment shifts.

These are fed into ML models that drive timely product recommendations, trigger automated service responses, and generate personalised journeys across email, apps, and websites. The technology is already here. The brands seeing results are the ones who’ve figured out how to use it continuously, not just once.

But as this infrastructure matures, the customer isn't the only audience anymore. AI agents like ChatGPT Operators are beginning to act as intermediaries in the decision-making process. They can sense intent, scan for optimal options, and even autonomously act on behalf of the end customer to make a purchase or stop a subscription.

When the buyer is a bot and bot has opinions

Such agents are in a nascent stage and have not yet penetrated the market to the extent where it becomes significantly critical for your revenue. But given the speed at which AI is exploding, the wise move isn’t to wait for the battleground to form, but to lay the groundwork now.

"I believe we’ll see two-system brands, agentic and human," says Wallace. Brands will need to foster loyalty with agents through functional, accessible information, and with people through relevant and entertaining content. "A brand should not think about omni-channel but design a touchpoint ecosystem to serve this split audience, with a confident understanding of where to consolidate energy and impact for people vs agents."

Sam Panzer, director of industry strategy at Talon.One, extends that logic into the near future. He notes that by 2026, 50% of transactions will involve agents, initially in discovery and recommendation, but increasingly across the full buyer journey. "An AI agent can know a customer so well that it can streamline the entirety of anticipation of needs, discovery and transaction into a single endeavour. It can know a customer so well that they no longer need to shop; it shops for them."

Already, companies like Klarna are designing content and product descriptions specifically optimised for AI assistants: fact-based, structured, machine-readable. In parallel, they are doubling down on human-side engagement via influencer partnerships and experiential loyalty programmes. As Natasha puts it, "Building a brand is even more important than ever, and finding avenues for people to spend time with a brand, like social media, activations and real-world experiences, loyalty programmes, these all become so important to foster connection."

The risks of over-AI’d experiences

The road to AI-powered personalisation is increasingly complex. Brands must now navigate strict data privacy expectations, avoid emotionally intrusive experiences, and prepare for the growing influence of agentic AI systems capable of making decisions on behalf of consumers. Sam Fenton-Elstone, CEO and co-founder of Anything is Possible, points to last year’s Spotify Wrapped as an example of AI misfiring at scale. "You could sense that the Spotify Wrapped experience had been overengineered with AI, becoming too cute and feeling fake. This was in contrast to the previous years, when Spotify's already impressive tech had struck a better balance."

That visibility is part of the problem. Consumers are increasingly wary of what brands know and how they know it. With LLMs frequently hallucinating outputs, lacking explainability, and operating on fuzzy security standards, brands risk creating systems that feel invasive or opaque. Say your AI infers that a user is facing financial difficulty based on behavioural patterns, then serves payday loan ads. It might be "accurate," but violates data protection laws like GDPR and undermines trust at scale.

"Brands also need to foster trust with their customers," Fenton-Elstone adds. "The more data they can work with, the more specific a service can be; however, that data needs to be secure, and consumers must be able to trust it. The question marks around many LLMs’ core security settings make AI problematic when it comes to highly sensitive, personal, or financial data."

New customer journeys, new signals, and loyalty-aware KPIs

Of course, the pre-AI era KPIs of measuring brand loyalty are still relevant: repeat purchase rate, customer lifetime value, net promoter score, redemption rate, churn rate, etc. However, with evolving loyalty programmes, these KPIs too would need to adapt to the agentic ecosystem.

Going forward, companies might see these traditional KPIs in tandem with zero-click conversions, personalisation/recommendation engagement rate, and omnichannel consistency score. Brand loyalty would mean earning trust from both humans and their AI agents. In the agentic ecosystem, newer indicators such as agentic abandonment rate, trust alignment score, and AI decision efficiency will provide better insight into how AI agents respond to brand experiences.

Panzer points out that great loyalty strategies will become layered as AI explodes. "That can come in the form of gamified experiences that boost interaction, rewards like free shipping or bonus gifts for buying directly, or creating VIP experiences that money can’t buy." Winning brands will be designing seamless, ethical ecosystems that serve emotion, logic, and data, making them the preferred choice across both.

Also published in: Exchange Wire

Marketers Face a Perfect Storm in Today’s Uncertain Economy

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 07:39:19 GMT

Marketers Face a Perfect Storm in Today’s Uncertain Economy

Marketers today are navigating a perfect storm. According to the Consumer Confidence Board, consumer confidence has plummeted to a twelve-year low—a clear signal that many people are pulling back on spending. At the same time, the political landscape is increasingly volatile. With the threat of new tariffs looming, the cost of producing goods could spike, further disrupting supply chains already under pressure. In short, marketers are being squeezed from every direction, forced to adapt in real time to forces largely outside their control.

The result will be major market turbulence. Some products, like cars and electronics, threaten to become more expensive in the near future and may not even be available if the supply chain is strained. This could make consumers buy now to avoid higher prices or long waits later. However, consumer caution could also mean that people trade down to less expensive options, delay purchases, or go without.

All of this uncertainty has marketers wondering what to do with their budgets. If they stop spending, they can save on cost in the near term, but they sacrifice reaching consumers who are buying, which could impact growth. If they spend too much, they worry about having to report negative results to their executives.

Avoid The Marketing Comfort Zone

In this market, the most common thing for businesses to do is pull back on parts of their marketing budget such as testing new innovations, branding, and higher-priced placements. Many marketers move to “comfort zone” marketing, including discounting to drive sales, and marketing in low-cost channels to save on near-term costs. Marketers often cut test budgets and hold off learning about new innovations for fear they will waste their budget.

While some of these protectionist tactics can be beneficial, especially in the short term, marketers will start to see reduced volume if they adhere to them for too long.

Avoiding brand-based spending will decrease awareness and consideration, decreasing the number of new consumers exposed to the brand.
Discounting will train consumers to expect lower prices, straining margins and making it difficult to drive full-price sales.
Focus on low-cost channels ignores metrics that might indicate higher-priced channels actually drive higher real outcomes.
Ignoring innovations puts marketers behind competitors that forged ahead with testing

Marketers who become overly protective and pull back too much could decrease their growth potential coming out of a tough market. There are many examples where spending during a recession or during market uncertainty can be very beneficial and help brands push ahead of their competitors.

Growing When Everyone Else Shrinks

There are a number of things marketers can do to not only protect themselves but also set themselves up for longer term growth.

Diversify with partnership-led strategies. While discounts and deals will drive immediate sales, bargain hunters aren’t the only audience partners can reach. Partners like influencers and affiliates know their audiences best and can work with marketers to create strategies that deliver both engagement and sales for specific audience segments Partners often have the insights needed to present different offers to target audiences that can drive higher margins, like giving loyal shoppers unique content or a first look at a new product line rather than a discount that they might not care about.
Lean into tactics and channels that deliver results and reliability. Most marketers agree that influencer marketing is highly effective and spend will continue to grow significantly even in an uncertain market because consumers trust influencers to guide their spending. Brands can and should continue with influencer marketing, and even leverage their broader affiliate marketing strategy to hedge against market turmoil by diversifying their plan. Working across platforms, diversifying partnerships, and working with influencers across different tactics, not just sponsored content, are two examples. Pay-for-performance agreements with partners is another example of an effective tactic that is proven to create a reliable way for brands to invest in growth without risk.
Measure and market to the whole funnel. While lower funnel marketing, including affiliate marketing, is easy to measure, marketers need to remember that they need to invest in quality partnerships to drive interest and awareness. Consider partners that include social content for a wide audience as well as offers and discounts to drive sales, for example. Even the most effective lower funnel marketing requires additional messaging to a broader range of consumers to drive conversion.
Continue to test. Consider two huge changes happening. First, the effect AI will have on marketing over the next two years is huge. Marketers who allow this surge of innovation pass them by due to concerns over economic uncertainty will come out behind. Second, GenZ is moving into adulthood, getting jobs, buying homes and making major life decisions. No matter what the market does, these changes require marketers to evolve. Now is the time to automate and create efficiency, test opportunities to target more precisely, create more personalized messaging and build more effective cross-channel campaigns.

Build a Market-Proof Plan

Creating a smart marketing plan in an uncertain economy builds on the “comfort zone” in a few ways. Marketers should work with their key partners to ensure they continue to drive incremental sales. Ask about the most effective ways to move “up-funnel” with additional marketing that supports those foundational marketing elements.

Marketers should also use this time to become more adept at measurement and testing. Effective measurement goes beyond clicks and impressions to truly see where incremental lift is coming from so it’s possible to invest more confidently in the tactics that are driving growth – even new tactics like AI. This also empowers marketers to move beyond discounts, testing targeted messaging and message segmentation that can increase margins and LTV.

With a cautious but optimistic approach, marketers can not only withstand the perfect storm; they can chart a path through it. Growth is still possible, even in the unpredictable economy of 2025 and beyond.

Also published in: Advertising Week

Nectar members to enjoy even more travel savings with new Marriott Bonvoy partnership

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 08:22:19 GMT

Nectar members to enjoy even more travel savings with new Marriott Bonvoy partnership

Nectar360, which owns and operates Nectar, the UK’s largest coalition loyalty scheme, has announced a partnership with Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott International’s award-winning travel programme, live from today. The new partnership means Nectar members who link their account with Marriott Bonvoy, can now convert, earn and redeem points on hotel stays across the globe.

Members who link their Nectar and Marriott Bonvoy accounts can earn 500 Nectar points at each of their next three hotel stays on top of their earned Marriott Bonvoy points. Marriott Bonvoy members in the UK will also be able to convert their Marriott Bonvoy points into Nectar points. In addition, new Marriott Bonvoy members signed up via Nectar will also receive a 500 Nectar points sign-on bonus.

Linking Nectar and Marriott Bonvoy accounts will give members access to participating hotels across over 30 hotel brands and 10,000 global destinations. Marriott Bonvoy’s portfolio of brands includes Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Hotels, Le Méridien, Westin Hotels and Resorts and Moxy Hotels to name a few, offering a stay for every occasion.

This new collaboration will offer Nectar members even more flexibility in how they earn and use their points for travel, allowing them to convert points to redeem on hotel stays, experiences and year-round promotions. As well as continuing to use Nectar points on booking planes and trains with existing Nectar partners, British Airways and Eurostar.

Amir Rasekh, Managing Director of Nectar360, said: “Marriott Bonvoy is a brilliant addition to our Nectar partner coalition and another example of our commitment to continually finding new ways for Nectar customers to earn and redeem points. We know that customers want to be able to earn points when travelling and, by partnering with Marriott Bonvoy we’re opening up another opportunity to do this.”

Jitendra Jain, Vice President, Strategic Loyalty, Partnerships & Commercial Intelligence, EMEA at Marriott International, said: ““Welcoming Nectar as a Marriott Bonvoy partner is a move that clearly aligns with the vision of both brands as we strive to offer our members more choice and varied experiences. We look forward to leveraging the strength of our combined customer networks to deliver more opportunities to our UK members for their future travel plans, from check-out to check-in.”

The partnership will help drive acquisition, retention, loyalty and brand engagement for both Nectar and Marriott Bonvoy. The ability to convert points between the two loyalty programmes offers members ultimate flexibility in how they redeem their loyalty points. The summer launch of the

partnership has also been timed to enable Nectar members to exchange points to use towards summer holidays, flights, stays and experiences.

Also published in: Martech360

‘Reacting fast isn't the whole story’: UK ad industry on the latest AA/WARC report

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 07:42:50 GMT

‘Reacting fast isn't the whole story’: UK ad industry on the latest AA/WARC report

The opening quarter of 2025 saw UK adspend increase 8% year-on-year (YoY) to a total of £10.6bn, according to the latest Advertising Association (AA) and WARC Expenditure report.

Narrowly ahead of previous forecasts, performance strategies such as search and online display supported budget expansions.

Notably, the findings were in opposition to the IPA Bellwether for Q1 2025, which recorded a 4.8% retraction in spend. However, both reports were aligned in determining that short-term strategies are the primary area of investment among advertisers.

PMW spoke to a panel of experts for their takes on these latest AA/WARC figures.

‘UK adults are spending more time on mobile than watching TV’

Sarah Flannery, VP Media Strategy at Jellyfish, said:

“The latest AA/WARC report reflects a media landscape adapting to shifting consumer attention and economic pressure. For the first time, UK adults are spending more time on mobile than watching TV, a milestone that explains the continued growth in digital spend.

“Brands are rightly following attentive eyeballs (and ears), with video planning increasingly guided by attention metrics, which may also explain cinema’s uplift alongside a strong run of releases.

“Digital’s agility continues to prove invaluable in uncertain times. Formats like BVOD and online audio offer a flexible, data-rich alternative to linear channels, enabling brands to optimise in real time. Meanwhile, rising investment in search mirrors a more sobering reality: rising media costs, fragmented journeys, and the pressure on paid media to drive direct sales.

“AI-powered ad products such as Pencil Pro are now delivering results at scale, particularly across social, enabling brands to save on production costs and reinvest budgets into digital-led growth, as the demand for high volumes of creative assets continues to rise.”

‘Brands are hesitant, but they’re not static’

David Mandeno, COO and Co-founder at Revving, said:

“The latest AA/WARC figures show that brands are hesitant, but they’re not static. What looks like caution is actually a tactical redistribution; shifting spend into channels that offer real-time return and tighter control.

The challenge is that media agility isn’t mirrored in financial infrastructure. You can’t reallocate tactically if your capital is locked in 90 plus day cycles. Until funding moves at the same speed as the plan, the strategy can only go so far.”

‘Global economic uncertainty is almost the new normal’

Sara Vincent, UK Managing Director at Utiq, said:

“It’s encouraging to see that UK adspend continues to grow, and is expected to hit over £45bn this year; this is promising for the industry as a whole.

“The increase in display spending is good to see; it reflects confidence in this medium and therefore it is incumbent on us to ensure that we focus not only on the agility that digital advertising can provide, but also on the efficiency which will make media more performant.

“It’s disappointing, however, to see the declines in spend across more traditional media, with national newsbrands down 8.2%; magazine brands down 11.1%; and regional newsbrands down 6.8%.

“These outlets house valuable content read by engaged, valuable readers. We should be asking ourselves: how can we support and embrace innovation that drives the outcomes the industry needs across all favoured channels, including traditional media?

“Global economic uncertainty is almost the new normal, and it feels like advertisers are now accustomed to this, planning spend for the here and now, but being ready to adapt as global markets change.”

Also published in: Performance Marketing World

AA/WARC Expenditure Report Q1 2025 – reactions

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 07:18:13 GMT

AA/WARC Expenditure Report Q1 2025 – reactions

The latest AA / WARC Expenditure Report has revealed the UK advertising market continued to grow in the first quarter of 2025.

Whilst caution appears to be a watchword these days, some media channels are weathering the current economic and geo-political headwinds with more resilience than others.

Here’s how our industry leaders across the adtech, advertising and media landscape are responding to today’s latest reading…

Suzanna Chaplin, CEO and co-Founder, esbconnect

“The latest AA/WARC data shows encouraging momentum in UK ad spend, with the Q1 2025 numbers surpassing expectations, up 8% year-and outpacing earlier forecasts.

“Brands are clearly reallocating budgets tactically in response to economic uncertainty and geopolitical volatility.

“What does “tactically” mean here? It suggests advertisers are favouring more agile, accountable and targeted formats – those that can deliver measurable ROI and allow for rapid optimisation.

“Growth in Direct Mail and OOH also suggests that brands are turning to channels that might be less saturated and can help them stand out.

“This tactical shift opens the door to hybrid reactivation strategies. For example, using direct mail to cut through, then intelligently funnelling engagement back to email as a high-converting identity channel, or vice versa.

“With brands pulling budgets forward and prioritising formats like retail media, opportunity lies in tying these intent-rich environments together through first-party data capture and nurture.

“Plus, retail media opens up brands eyes to new channels to test – it’s not all about display and social; there are other channels that may deliver a better return, they just require brands to be prepare to test and innovate – something that has been lacking recently.

“With full-year ad spend forecast to hit a record £45.4bn – and real growth continuing despite flat GDP, this is yet another signal that marketers are back in market, but playing smarter and leaner.”

David Murphy, Snr Press & Commentary Writer, The Digital Voice

“The adtech industry will be encouraged by the headline 8% rise in total ad spend in Q1 2025, which has come in the face of ongoing economic and geopolitical headwinds.

“Even more so by the continued growth forecast for 2025 (6.8%) and 2026 (5.6%). What’s really interesting is how TV overall (down 2.1%), is being propped up by Video on Demand (VOD) services (up 5.1%), after AA and WARC took the decision last quarter to expand the VOD component of TV to include BVOD, SVOD, AVOD and FAST services.

“Yes, streaming TV may have an acronym problem, but given the changing face of TV viewing in the UK and elsewhere, as numerous industry reports have noted, one thing it doesn’t have is an ad revenue problem.”

Piero Pavone, CEO, Preciso
“The key number that everyone in the industry should take heart from here is the 8% rise in total ad spend in Q1 2025 to £10.6bn.

“Following on from the 10.4% rise in full-year ad spend for 2024 reported by AA/WARC a few months ago, this is a sure sign that the confidence we saw returning to the UK ad scene in 2024 is being sustained.

“It’s not all good news, of course, with the publishing industry seeing significant declines in ad spend in national and regional newsbrands, and magazine brands, but there is plenty to cheer in the performance of search, online display and VOD, all of which posted healthy increases.

“All of these are projected to continue on an upward trajectory during 2025, and this optimism is certainly reflected in the conversations we are having with clients right now.”

Also published in: Mediashotz

Measurement takes the Wheel

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 07:13:58 GMT

Measurement takes the Wheel

World-first study tracks in-car advertising’s real brand impact

Leading technology company Brand Metrics has integrated with global news streaming provider LeadStory to precisely measure how in-car advertising delivered through the platform influences consumer perceptions.

In a world of constant connectivity, LeadStory is redefining how we consume news, delivering on-demand personalised content across every screen – including in-car systems.

LeadStory and Brand Metrics have already concluded a landmark campaign with enterprise technology leader SAP, to measure the brand lift delivered by exposure to advertising within LeadStory’s content on in-car screens.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to connect the dots between campaign exposure in the car and real, measurable changes in how people feel about a brand,” said Alysha Dino, Brand Metrics VP Global Revenue, “It’s a new standard in media measurement, and a clear signal that this format commands attention and delivers results.”

The results of the campaign have been nothing short of remarkable, with total brand uplift for SAP over three times greater than Brand Metrics’ global benchmark scores.

“SAP is proud to be a launch partner with LeadStory as we collaborate on driving innovation and connect with our audience in unique ways,” said Katie Cairns, Global VP of Integrated Media at SAP.

While LeadStory’s technology spans multiple environments, Brand Metrics’ ground-breaking contribution lies in measuring campaign impact in cars, thereby enabling advertisers to understand effectiveness in a channel that was, until now, largely unmeasurable.

“At LeadStory, we know the in-car consumer is more engaged than almost any other content ecosystem, and these results are reflective of that reality,” said Cam Price, CEO LeadStory.

Price added: “More and more automakers are introducing a content experience to the car and along with it, the opportunity for brands to reach new audiences with what we now know is extremely effective advertising”.

Also published in: MartechSeries

Nectar360’s Amir Rasekh on why in-store retail media and loyalty schemes need to deliver for the customer

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 07:04:27 GMT

Nectar360’s Amir Rasekh on why in-store retail media and loyalty schemes need to deliver for the customer

Despite the rise and convenience of ecommerce, shoppers still largely prefer to shop in-store, with a March 2025 YouGov poll revealing that 60% of Brits shop either equally online or in-store (33%), mostly in-store (23%) or always in-store (4%).

Enter in-store retail media, which promises a way for brands to reach consumers as they’re standing at the shelf via a number of digital touchpoints – from endcap screens at the end of aisles to screens on self-scan devices. While the potential of in-store retail media is still nascent, it’s considerable, as Amir Rasekh, Managing Director of Nectar360, argues:

“When you’re building a retail media network, it would be remiss just to focus on the online environment … you have to have a retail media network that can engage customers on whatever mission they’re on.”

However, Rasekh points out that because retail media sits so close to the customer, getting the customer experience right is paramount. “[Whether] online or in a store environment, you’ve got to make sure that everything you do from a retail media perspective is additive to the customer experience.

“…If you don’t get that right, you won’t see the returns.”

We spoke to Rasekh about how omnichannel retail media can deliver on its potential, what retailers can do to get the most from it, and how increasing competition in the loyalty space has led brands to innovate on their offerings and engage customers in new and creative ways.

What customers want: relevance, personalisation and creativity

Research conducted by Nectar360 into customers’ views on retail media has revealed that customers have a basic understanding of the concept – enough to form opinions on what it should look like.

According to Rasekh, key findings that emerged were that customers want retail media that is relevant and also personalised; they also had “a high recall on creative executions online or in-store [and recalled these] quite quickly without being prompted.”

When it comes to in-store retail media, delivering the relevance that consumers value will depend on ensuring that screens are connected up in a way that allows for versatility and dynamic delivery. “What does that mean? One single CMS that connects all those screens – and using data and insight to be able to deliver dynamic digital content across those formats,” Rasekh explains.

This might be content that changes based on the weather, or creative that engages customers in stores where a new product has been launched. Screens can also be adapted to show the messaging most relevant to their location – for example, an ad for a cosmetics brand positioned at the entrance to Health & Beauty.

You have to have a retail media network that can engage customers on whatever mission they’re on.

“Game-changing” for shoppers and for advertisers

This isn’t a straightforward technical feat, particularly across thousands of screens located within hundreds of stores. “The levels of sophistication and consideration that need to be put into that [are high],” Rasekh says.

“If you’re running across a thousand stores, you’re thinking about X number of screens being landed – what location in the store, levels of connectivity, the right moments for customers … the store operations consideration.

“But you do it right once, and you have a really great way of engaging customers with branded content in shops. … Delivering digital content at the right point … in a really dynamic way, in an intelligent and smart way, is game-changing.”

He points out that the benefits extend to advertisers as well – “and I think that’s something that’s often missed in the way people talk about retail media. You cannot deliver fantastic client outcomes … amazing returns, shifts in brand metrics and conversion – if you’re not delivering a fantastic customer journey.

“The end consumer has to resonate.”

Rasekh’s advice to retailers who want to get the most out of retail media both online and in-store is to take a step back and consider the bigger picture. “Think about your business objectives – what are the customer outcomes you’re trying to deliver? What is the insight? And [use that to] build a considered, long-term, omnichannel strategy through retail media.

“When you do things in the right way, in a considered way, and really think about the customer – you see fantastic returns as a consequence.”

Beyond ‘one-dimensional’ loyalty: How brands are standing out across sectors

Brands are also looking for ways to go above and beyond for the customer in loyalty, which has become a hugely competitive space – in part due to the rise of retail media that draws on customer data from loyalty schemes, but also as brands become more attuned to the importance of customer retention in a price-pressured environment.

This is true across not just retail, but sectors from QSR (quick-service restaurants) to travel and health and beauty, where brands are launching new programmes or revamping and digitising established schemes. “The biggest transformation I would say we’ve seen in the last five years is the vast majority of sophisticated loyalty programmes digitis[ing] themselves,” says Rasekh.

“[Because] it’s a highly competitive market, how do you create value and utility to drive retention of customers, greater level of frequency, and share of wallet?”

Rasekh reveals that Nectar360’s internal research has found customers value experiences in loyalty schemes almost as highly as rewards – “and the expectation [from customers] is ‘all of the above’. And that’s why you’re seeing really interesting moves from different types of sectors.”

There’s potentially a view that loyalty can be quite one-dimensional, but actually, it’s very innovative.

Stand-out brand examples include KFC’s Rewards Arcade app for the UK market, which invites customers to play arcade games in exchange for the opportunity to win free menu items. Grocery brands like Sainsbury’s and Tesco have also incorporated elements of gamification to engage customers with their loyalty programmes in new ways, completing specific tasks or personalised challenges, in exchange for higher points payouts.

In high-end beauty, Sephora incentivises its UK loyalty card holders to share feedback by offering loyalty points in exchange for reviews, and in North America has created loyalty challenges that invite customers to engage with more of its offering, such as by trying Sephora’s in-store shade-matching tool or signing up for text alerts.

A trend that is making its way into the travel industry is the ability to exchange points across providers – Virgin Atlantic partners with a range of loyalty schemes including Heathrow Rewards, Hilton Honours, and American Express Membership Rewards to let customers convert their points into Virgin Points, while British Airways and Marriott Bonvoy have partnered with Nectar on a similar proposition.

“If you think about the new dawn of loyalty, that value and utility and that flexibility is something that customers really want – and what you see in those types of exchanges is there’s no level of passive behaviour. It’s all very active,” says Rasekh.

“I really like the way loyalty programmes have moved away from a quite analogue way of engaging customers – and are thinking … how do you build these amazing customer journeys through technology, and have this great ability to add value, utility?

“…There’s potentially a view that loyalty can be quite one-dimensional, but actually, it’s very innovative,” he goes on. “You have to ask: why are we seeing such levels of innovation, from digitalising programmes to these different moments? That’s the way you engage customers – they want to be engaged.”

Also published in: E-consultancy

‘How Could It Know?’ the Jaw-Dropping Accuracy of Models Trained on Large Data

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 06:56:57 GMT

‘How Could It Know?’ the Jaw-Dropping Accuracy of Models Trained on Large Data

AI is transforming our world. Self-driving cars, accurate medical diagnoses and many other previously inconceivable things are now very possible. And provided you train your systems on enough data, there are few limitations: LLMs that write convincing copy and create impressive images; the software on your phone that calculates arrival time when travelling long distances through traffic chaos; the app that guesses what unheard songs you will like, or predicts what you will look like when you’re 80.

But what about advertising? Could AI trained on outcomes accurately predict future campaign performance? Surely it can’t be much harder than making a correct medical diagnosis only from a description of symptoms, or sending a car into traffic without a driver? And like those other examples, it is possible – as long as the predictive model is trained on sufficiently large quantities of relevant and consistent data.

We are qualified to say this, because this is data we hold, having consistently measured the brand lift outcomes across more than 50,000 campaigns – always in the same way and using the same four metrics: awareness, consideration, preference and action intent.

Within these categories, we have captured a lot of other data too – more than 50 different campaign signals, including impression levels, unique frequencies, time in view, formats, target segments and industry categories. In all, we hold over 10 million survey responses, with more than 50 billion ad impressions and multidimensional metadata on every campaign.

Individually, these pieces of data may not tell us much, but when you feed the touchpoints from all 50,000 campaigns into your proprietary AI for modelling, it starts to get a lot more interesting.

Predicting campaign outcomes

When we ask our model to predict the outcome of a campaign that has not yet started, and then compare our predictions with the actual measurement results weeks later, our customers’ jaws drop, whispering, ‘how could it know?’ But that’s the logic of large data.

Such data creates a whole new opportunity for media research, transforming retrospective measurement data into a predictive signal that can influence future buying strategies and campaign outcomes.

So, what can it tell us? No, we cannot predict whether an individual knows a brand or not, or the impact of campaign exposure on that person’s brand awareness, consideration, preference, or purchase intent. But we can predict how much a campaign will influence these things on an aggregate level. And we can predict how much a specific ad impression is likely to contribute to this compared to another ad impression.

This means three things:

Before a campaign we can provide a recipe on how to maximize the outcome by picking the best contexts, placement, formats, targeting, pacing, timing etc.
During a campaign we score available inventory, to be used as a signal in the programmatic buying and selling of ads.
After a campaign we can provide strong directional reporting of the campaign impact without actually measuring it.

Outcomes or media quality?

So, the data we have allows us to score according to predicted outcomes. But is that all we need? Or are advertisers better off, as some might suggest, saving themselves this trouble and just investing in the most premium inventory?

In practice, asking whether outcomes or media quality is more important is like asking an athlete to choose between winning the race and prior training. You can’t really have one without the other.

Should I execute my campaign towards the highest media quality inventory per dollar, hoping it will lead to the best outcomes? Or should I execute it towards the inventory with the highest outcome scores per dollar, regardless of the inventory quality?

It depends entirely on how outcomes are defined in the available tools. Is it clicks? Is it some kind of conversion attribution? Often it is these things, and if that’s all that is available, those arguing for quality over outcomes are not wrong. Bidding for low-quality inventory with high clicks is a less profitable strategy than bidding for high-quality inventory with no outcome prediction attached.

But as someone once wisely said, “the only advertising space worth paying for is the space between people’s ears”. Advertising can influence or reinforce people’s awareness about something. It can get into our heads and claim a slot on the shortlist of considered options, or just remind us to hold onto a thought.

It can create or maintain positive attitudes and preference over competing brands or products. And it can create purchase intent – a plan to go and buy. All these things are in the minds of consumers.

Outside of the walled gardens, we provide the world’s only scaled outcomes classification that covers this, because ours is the only company with a sufficiently large and consistent dataset.

The signals we provide are the only outcomes signals on the open web that provides a better bidding tactic than bidding for high quality – the only signal that lets you go beyond training and actually optimise for winning. And right now, this signal is being embedded in key ad tech platforms across the digital supply path.

Also published in: Advertising Week

Sara Vincent of Utiq: “Advertisers are starting to understand the performance power of the open web”

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 06:52:03 GMT

Sara Vincent of Utiq: “Advertisers are starting to understand the performance power of the open web”

As Utiq announces its official UK launch, NDA caught up with UK Managing Director Sara Vincent to find out more about the company’s plans for the region…

You’ve been with Utiq as MD for 18 months now – how have you found the experience so far? Has anything surprised you?

It’s been an incredible journey so far, and we are very excited to move into the next chapter. Launching a new business has challenges, but the clarity of the offering and the problem you are solving is paramount. We have been able to relay this to the industry, and as a result, the feedback and sentiment has been very positive across all cohorts – publishers, brands and advertisers. In all honesty, this has surprised me – I definitely expected more obstacles to navigate – but the groundswell of support and the desire to embrace innovation has been reassuring, and puts us in a great place to move things to the next stage.

What does the latest launch in the UK mean for the business?

Now we have two telco partners enabled – Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone – it means we have the potential to reach just under half of the UK’s mobile user base, which is unprecedented. In order to realise this scale, we now need to start generating the IDs. This happens when users give consent across publishers in the UK, so as a team, we are focused on integrating with a number of the UK’s largest and premium publishers. We have already announced partnerships with Immediate Media, Bauer Media and Netmums, and there will be more to follow in the coming weeks and months.

Have you been able to apply any learnings to the UK launch from the other European marketplaces where Utiq is already live?

Yes, lots. We are in the fortunate position to be around 18 months behind our European markets, which means I have great insight into best practices when launching and scaling Utiq. We also have opportunities to leverage our existing relationships with European publishers and advertisers that wish to expand their Utiq coverage into the UK market. So, knowing that we have been able to get up and running in these other European countries from a standing start, we are really well positioned for the UK launch.

Are there any factors that are unique to the UK marketplace?

The UK is unique in many respects, and presents its own challenges. However, the problem we are looking to solve is universal, therefore our offering resonates in any market. The open web is at risk, publisher inventory is less addressable, and budgets are migrating to walled gardens. Utiq provides a solution to inventory identification, while also driving better outcomes for advertisers in the open web environment, where they are currently under-represented.

What are the big talking points among your client base at the moment?

From an advertiser’s standpoint, it’s: how can I make my media spend work harder and measure it more accurately? For publishers, it’s: how can I make my audience more valuable and engaged, while continuing to drive revenue to support the business? Our solution helps both parties solve these issues.

What does success look like for Utiq over the next couple of years?

I am aiming for at least 80% market coverage and adoption of Utiq in the UK by the end of 2026. If we hit this number, it will mean we have been successful in shifting the mindset of the industry and hopefully going some way to redress the imbalance in spend on the open web. Ultimately, success for us means that publishers and brands are able to better monetise their audiences in a fully consented and privacy-safe way, and advertisers are achieving more from their media budgets and starting to spend more in the open web because it naturally performs better. This is not just our gut feeling – we have the data to back this up from the other territories where we are already live.

You’ve been with Utiq as MD for 18 months now – how have you found the experience so far? Has anything surprised you?

What does the latest launch in the UK mean for the business?

Have you been able to apply any learnings to the UK launch from the other European marketplaces where Utiq is already live?

Are there any factors that are unique to the UK marketplace?

What are the big talking points among your client base at the moment?

What does success look like for Utiq over the next couple of years?

Also published in: New Digital Age

A powerhouse duo: partnership economy and retail media combine

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 06:48:24 GMT

A powerhouse duo: partnership economy and retail media combine

As the partnership economy combines with retail media, Owen Hancock, RVP Marketing EMEA at impact.com , explores their combined potential…

Rising more or less in parallel, the partnership economy and retail media have made an increasingly profound – and still growing – impression on digital advertising, thanks to their strengths in reaching, engaging and converting eager audiences.

Yet it’s only recently that we are seeing the two interact on a meaningful level. And now they are proving to be a potent combination in helping marketers navigate the contemporary consumer journey, target audiences precisely and optimise campaigns to drive conversions.

Retail media and the partnership economy

Retail media is one of advertising’s fastest-growing segments, and spending in the space is expected to exceed £1bn in the UK this year (excluding Amazon) and over $62.3bn in the even more mature US.

Retail media networks allow brands to engage with audiences in the midst of their shopping journeys, and it is this ability to promote a product in the place where consumers are primed to purchase – combined with the transactional insights retailers bring to the media space – that makes retail media so powerful.

The partnership economy, meanwhile, leverages the influence of numerous types of partners, from affiliates to creators and influencers, to promote a brand’s goods or services. Partnership marketing is so powerful because it is built on the authentic connection and trust that exists between partners and their audiences.

Retail media’s challenges

Retail media remains somewhat fragmented, with each retailer effectively running its own walled garden. And as we all know, the contemporary consumer journey is no longer a neat, linear migration from discovery to conversion. But the partnership economy can play a role in meeting retail media’s challenges, helping brands and advertisers to make the most of the channel in the process.

Today, a very small number of partnership platforms have built the necessary tools to create, run and manage effective retail media campaigns. This is taking partnership marketing to new places in the space, providing ways to connect retailers and consumers early in the consideration phase of the consumer journey by integrating ad placements into commerce articles and blogs. In this way, brands can be welcomed into trusted, editorial environments, and commerce content becomes a shoppable storefront.

Elsewhere, supplier-funded campaigns encourage a brand to contribute extra budget to push certain SKUs. Designed to enhance attribution and reporting for SKU-level reporting, this gives trade marketing teams more control and efficiency than has previously been possible.

Integrating the partnership economy deeper into the largest e-commerce marketplaces – such as Amazon – likewise benefits all parties. This is beginning to happen in the partnership space, with solutions allowing sellers to engage in retail media by linking their partnership marketing campaigns directly to their webstore. Not only can sellers recruit influencers and affiliates to promote their goods, they also benefit from the vast quantities of analytics and optimisation data generated by a partnership automation platform.

The value of an integrated platform

Partnership platforms that have developed the necessary tools are making brands’ lives easier in more ways, too, by housing all their products, including retail media offerings, under one roof. As a result, data from a client’s various services can be amalgamated and aggregated to produce a single source of truth.

AI, meanwhile, is streamlining workflows and doing the heavy lifting when it comes to time-consuming processes. In the retail media space, it can automate many tasks, including bidding, partner recommendations and budgeting.

The partnership economy’s ability to provide retail media networks with pre-engaged, trusted audiences also boosts conversions while lowering customer acquisition costs in comparison to more traditional ad formats.

And finally, the partnership economy helps brands to expand their reach and presence beyond retail sites, while at the same time sending traffic back into the retail media ecosystem. The result is that, while the relationship between the two marketing forms may still be in a rapid growth phase, there is clear potential for the future.

Also published in: Modern Retail

Agencies and adtech: Less transaction, more partnership

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 10:41:03 GMT

Agencies and adtech: Less transaction, more partnership

The relationship between agencies and adtech partners was traditionally a transactional one. Agencies came to adtech for solutions, adtech provided them and brands typically stayed at arm’s length from the tech side of the process.

This — and many other things — have changed. We’re all aware of the tectonic rumblings around the entire advertising business, driven by AI and other factors. Some, including Sir Martin Sorrell, have predicted drastic consolidation for holding companies. Others identify adtech as a growth area for hungry holdcos eager to find a new sense of purpose.

All of us are building new roles for ourselves. Media planning and buying is now driven through technology and data — but still with a deep understanding of people and audiences.

But as the landscape evolves, with technology as the language we all speak, it feels like the relationship between agencies and adtech has shifted significantly into something that looks a lot more like a partnership.

Changing dynamics

From our perspective as an adtech provider, working closely with agencies makes good sense.

In some ways, agencies used to form a divide between platform and advertiser. But in this new world of partnerships, that is changing. More and more, we go to clients with agencies as a unified front, working in unison to drive better outcomes for them. It’s a win-win-win situation.

Adtech, meanwhile, is no longer the exclusive preserve of adtech vendors. Just the process of planning and buying media requires skillsets and platforms no-one even imagined a decade ago, so agencies are investing in technology of their own — as they should.

We are seeing a mix of built and partnered technology in play now. That feels like a positive step when it comes to driving better outcomes for advertisers. And when all self-respecting agencies have proprietary technology, an adtech partner needs to bring something particularly worthwhile if it is to add value.

The agency perspective

I can’t speak for both sides, so I talked to my colleague Jack Cantwell, global client lead and head of digital, data and technology at Carat, who told me what an agency needs to see from adtech partners in the current climate.

“There is a recognition from the agency side that the best adtech vendors provide things that we can’t simply replicate in-house,” Jack said. “We have very powerful data and technology capabilities as a globally scaled network, but there is immense value in leveraging partner technologies and data, because we cannot and should not build everything ourselves.”

We are in agreement that these are challenging days and that any help we can give each other to respond to shifts in the landscape — Carat calls our current phase “the algorithmic era” — is going to be valuable.

“ From an agency perspective, we are constantly looking to get ahead of the curve for our clients, so the more adtech partners come to us with ideas or propositions, the better,” Jack adds. “We love taking something to a client that they aren’t thinking about yet and positioning ourselves and the partner as pioneers in all things digital, data and technology.”

The future of adtech

Partnership between adtech and agencies has a broader value for the entire ecosystem. As adtech is becoming ingrained in agencies, they’re increasingly asking vendors to surface technology, kick the tyres and show them what can be done.

Far too often in this industry, we’ve seen companies jumping on technology trends. But, in partnership, agencies and vendors can hold up a microscope to establish where value is being truly added and validate technology in a much more thorough way than ever before. In that way, best-in-class platforms and innovative partners rise to the top, and pretenders are weeded out.

In fragmented, adversarial times, there are always plenty of reasons to turn inwards or to pit sections of the industry against each other. Adtech vendors — and, I believe, most agencies — would prefer to evolve our partnerships, work more closely with each other and with clients, and redefine what we’re all capable of.

Also published in: The Media Leader

Why Samsung Ads is exploring new formats in the race to reimagine TV ads

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 10:36:18 GMT

Why Samsung Ads is exploring new formats in the race to reimagine TV ads

With TV no longer limited to the living room thanks to streaming, Samsung Ads sees an opportunity to challenge the supremacy of the 30-second TV ad — and to have a little fun while doing it.

The company is bringing its gamified ad format, GameBreaks, to the U.K., after earlier rollouts in the U.S. and Canada this year.

These short, interactive games — controlled using the TV remote — appear as the first ad within premium commercial ad pods on Samsung TV Plus, the ad-supported streaming service native to Samsung smart TVs.

The key trend: Samsung’s push taps into one of the hottest areas of connected TV (CTV) advertising right now: interactive ads. From pause ads to shoppable ads, major streaming platforms are jostling to differentiate their offerings beyond standard video ads.

The details: The U.S. and Canada rollouts were “very successful,” according to Minai Bui, director of product marketing EMEA at Samsung Ads. The first title to hit U.K. screens for alpha testing later this summer will be trivia game The Six. More than eight games are slated for release this year.

By the numbers: Samsung’s reach in Europe is significant: Three out of five consumers in Europe’s five major markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.) own a Samsung device. And that’s not all. Samsung Ads recently announced it would integrate user behavior data from over 20 million opted-in smartphones into its CTV campaigns across Europe.

The Current caught up with Bui to learn why the company thinks interactivity is the next big thing in CTV advertising.

Why are you bringing this format to the U.K.?

GameBreaks is a great example of the possibilities that CTV opens up for TV advertising. Why does a TV ad have to be a 15- or 30-second video ad?

It’s logical for us too. Samsung is a gaming-forward company — we know gaming. Gaming is no longer a niche audience. Candy Crush turned everyone into a casual gamer and now we are bringing the genre to the TV.

Are younger audiences more open to these formats than older ones?

I don’t think so, actually. Yes, the stereotypical image of a gamer is a Gen Zer playing Fortnite, but if there’s one thing we know from masses of research that’s been done into the wider gaming world and gaming audience, it’s that people of all ages love playing games.

What metrics can you share that speak to this format’s effectiveness?

Independent research from MediaScience in the U.S., found that GameBreaks ads deliver a 53% lift in unaided brand recall, outperforming standard video ads by 1.5x.

It also found that 89% of viewers preferred GameBreaks over traditional commercial breaks. Moreover, 98% of users played through to the end of the ad.

How do you see interactive CTV ads like this and pause ads, QR codes, shoppable ads evolve?

As much as pause ads and QR codes are a nice evolution, formats such as GameBreaks take it one step further and provide a real value exchange for the viewer. This aligns with our position as a consumer brand first and foremost, building services and experiences for our end users.

What is the ideal end goal for interactive CTV ads?

User experience is critical. It should feel seamless and native to the viewing experience and, in this instance, add a bit of fun gameplay to their viewing experience.

It is all a part of giving brands opportunities that allow for deeper engagement with viewers in a premium, brand-safe environment.

Also published in: The Current

Telco-backed Utiq partners UK publishers on addressable inventory

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 12:05:13 GMT

Telco-backed Utiq partners UK publishers on addressable inventory

Utiq, the European telco-backed adtech group, has inked partnerships with its first UK publishers as it aims to provide privacy-centric addressable inventory for advertisers.

Bauer Media, Immediate Media and Netmums have been announced as launch partners, with more publishers in active talks, according to UK managing director Sara Vincent.

Billed as a post-cookie solution, Utiq claims to measure audiences across all environments, including on browsers previously considered non-targetable (such as Safari and Firefox) if they are accessed via mobile devices using cellular data.

Utiq is funded by telecoms providers including Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone, which have seats on the company’s board, although Utiq stands as an independent entity.

The group expanded its operations to the UK in January 2024 before officially launching its service last month with Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone as launch telco partners, which help generate and facilitate IDs.

Its telco-powered infrastructure enables publishers to gain access to scalable audience addressability while respecting user consent; users on their respective networks will be prompted to consent (or decline) tracking when visiting publisher webpages.

The consent box pops up every 90 days to ensure continued consent and in Europe it typically presents as a secondary pop-up.

However, with the growing popularity of publishers adopting consent-or-pay models in the UK following the Information Commissioner’s Office’s verdict that they are legally admissible, Utiq will be able to sit within existing consent-or-pay pop-ups as long as it is clearly visible what users are agreeing to.

“It’s presenting in this privacy-safe, consented way, which ticks so many boxes with what’s on top of mind in the market now,” Vincent told The Media Leader .

Opening up ‘our most valuable inventory’

While the solution was originally marketed as a post-cookie solution, Vincent insisted that Google’s U-turn on deprecating cookies has not had any impact on business.

“We’re talking about providing a consistent signal across all channels and third-party cookies existing in Chrome is a very small portion of that,” she pointed out.

James Florence, head of advertising technology at Immediate Media, told The Media Leader that third-party IDs are only currently on about 20% of the publisher’s traffic.

“There’s a huge amount of our most valuable inventory on Safari and iPhone that agencies currently aren’t addressing,” he said. “It’s a real missed opportunity.”

Thus the tie-up with Utiq will hopefully “bring back that value and create a lot of new targeting opportunities” for brands wanting to work with publishers like Immediate, Bauer and Netmums.

Florence praised Utiq’s “transparent approach” to consenting users, as well as the accuracy of its data from telco partners.

“The potential scale of Utiq, as the telco partnerships scale out, publisher [partnerships] scale out — it gives marketers a real alternative to the walled-garden, logged-in stuff and gives publishers a better chance of competing with them,” he added.

Next steps: Wi-Fi connection and CTV

The solution is timely as publishers’ referral traffic has been placed under pressure by generative-AI search, with many publishers actively planning for “Google Zero”.

“It’s more important than ever to be able to accurately and persistently understand what your users are doing,” argued Vincent.

Currently, Utiq has only enabled addressibility via mobile connections, but in the coming months it will also move into Wi-Fi connections. This requires moving from using personal identifiers to household identifiers, but it would allow Utiq to become effectively multichannel by making addressable any channel accessed by consenting users over Wi-Fi.

Not only would it further expand the possible addressable inventory for publishers, but it would also make possible for Utiq to move into CTV addressability.

In the meantime, Utiq will be working to create IDs for its current coverage. According to Vincent, just under 50% of the mobile audience in the UK is currently potentially addressable.

She added: “Buyers are looking for solutions that work already with scale — and we’re differentiated.”

Also published in: The Media Leader

AI and the human touch dominate MADFest 2025

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 11:58:42 GMT

AI and the human touch dominate MADFest 2025

So, another MADFest has been and gone. And, once again, the organizers pulled it off in style – with panels, presentations, and fireside chats. Not to mention a unique roll call of headline speakers from adtech and entertainment, including Ogilvy’s Rory Sutherland, Nescafe’s Jane Aldridge, Disney’s Angela Affinita, and comedians Jimmy Carr and Richard Ayoade. One thing is for sure: the organizers more than did justice to the event’s overarching theme of ‘Be Less Boring’.

For Limelight, this was our first time partnering with the event, as we co-hosted a Cabana with our PR company, the Digital Voice, and three of their other clients, and there was a real buzz about the booth, as all five companies welcomed clients and prospects to chew the adtech fat.

In between meetings, our team of 10 made the most of the opportunity to catch up on the sessions running across the site. Here are the key themes from MADFest 2025 as we saw and heard them.

AI is everywhere, but needs the human touch

AI is now table stakes in adtech. It is increasingly integral to measurement, optimization, targeting, creative production, automation, and attribution. But while there’s no doubt that AI boosts productivity and optimization, it cannot overshadow human intuition. AI needs human guidance if we are to make the most of its undoubted capabilities.

In short – and this aligns perfectly with Limelight’s own mantra of ‘technology with a heartbeat’ – AI is only as good as the people that manage it and guide it. People are still the driving force behind good ideas, and AI tools and platforms should be deployed to help them apply their real intelligence, not replace it.

Even in a business as technologically sophisticated as programmatic advertising, there are things that, for example, an ad network can achieve through personal relationships and human guidance that AI simply can’t replicate. Indeed, as one of the speakers said in a session I attended: “The people are what makes this industry. Events like this wouldn’t happen without other people. There’s a lot of talk at the moment about AI taking all our jobs, but quite frankly, that’s not possible. The things we do, the conversations we have, the things we create, are all down to the amazing people in this industry.” Hear hear.

This was also a key theme that emerged from a panel session I took part in alongside Lauren Barnett, head of UK sales at Samsung Ads, and Alice Anson, director of digital (retail) media at Nectar360. All the panelists agreed that the potential for AI is immense: not just in adtech, but in every part of life. Talking about your health issues to an AI-powered avatar clinician, for example, will just become routine. But the panel was in agreement, too, that AI will only reach its full potential when it is guided by human intuition. Harness the tech, for sure, but make sure you retain the human element.

Nothing is off-limits at MADFest

There were, of course, many other themes up for discussion. Sessions focused on responsible media, carbon-aware campaigns, and eco-products such as organic bouquets and sustainable dairy products, reflected the growing ethical expectations placed on brands and adtech companies. These sessions were a welcome reminder that sustainability is a key consideration for brands, even if AI hogs the headlines. These sessions were also another reminder, given AI’s significant environmental footprint, that we should use it selectively and sensitively, and do all we can to reduce its environmental impact.

I was also pleased to see attention taking center stage, with sessions from companies like Dragonfly AI and Lumen Research, who are focused on providing attention data, including eye tracking and engagement heatmaps, spotlighting attention as a deterministic way of assessing the impact of advertising campaigns.

Elsewhere, we heard about fraud, brand safety, retail media, Connected TV, influencer marketing, transparency, and everything in between, which is the beauty of MADFest. It takes a village to achieve anything in life, and for three glorious days, The Truman Brewery becomes an adtech village, where nothing is off-limits, everyone has the right to express their opinion, and we all come out the other side better informed and better prepared for the weeks and months ahead.

Also published in: The Drum

IPA Bellwether Q2 2025: Industry reactions

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 11:57:26 GMT

IPA Bellwether Q2 2025: Industry reactions

The latest IPA Bellwether revealed a bounce back in UK marketing budgets in the second quarter of the year after a decline in the first part of the year.

But whilst many will welcome the robust reading, as the comments we’ve garnered from around the adtech, advertising, creative, events and PR sectors reveal, the devil is in the detail….

Anders Lithner, CEO, Brand Metrics

“Pausing marketing to save money is like holding off buying new clothes. For quite some time, all you risk is being out of fashion.

“Eventually though, you risk freezing, since the clothes you have are turning into rags.

“This is what’s happening in the UK and elsewhere. Brands need to start making some noise again. Not investing in marketing has turned into a risk that is bigger than the risk of spending beyond one’s means.

“This is one of the trends that is clear from the IPA Bellwether report. The other is that the increase in spend is directed toward short-term tactical marketing rather than long-term strategic brand-building.

“Brand Metrics’ data supports this conclusion. Activity is on the rise, but the long-term efforts are growing slower than campaigns that are only looking for instant conversions.

“This is a natural consequence of the unpredictable state of the world. When will companies start investing in the long-term position of their brands again?

“The answer is as simple as it is unhelpful: they will do so when they can start making assumptions about where the world is going that stretch beyond the timeframe of a long-term brand narrative.

“The same goes for household consumption. The economy is back up. Sadly though, predictability is at a record low. This creates a window of opportunity for brands that are brave.

“We see signs of this in the Brand Metrics’ data. For the mainstream tide to turn, in marketing investments and in household consumption, predictability is the key.”

Suzanna Chaplin, CEO & co-Founder, esbconnect

“The latest Bellwether report shows brands are doubling down on direct marketing, with more money being spent on email and SMS, which has been teamed with sales promotion.

“While these channels can pack a heavy sales punch, brands should not abandon brand building – this maintains loyalty and price elasticity.

“These channels’ superpowers are the fact that they can bridge the gap into omnichannel marketing, so you should use them not just to sell, but also, to tell stories.

“So don’t kill your most valuable asset, your customer data sets – use them wisely. Brands using them wisely are seeing the opportunities in CRM-powered, AI-augmented, omnichannel journeys that go beyond advertising.

“Our top tips? Double down on email acquisition strategies, especially those tied to promotions, gated content, or product drops.

“Balance promotional efforts with brand-building, using email as a storytelling tool, not just to push sales..
“Leverage AI plus CRM to enhance targeting, segmentation, and automated journeys.

“Prepare for a bounce-back in ad spend in 2026 – use 2025 to refine attribution and test new formats so you can scale confidently.”

Read more in: Mediashotz

Samsung Ads promotes Barnett to Head of UK Sales

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 11:39:00 GMT

Samsung Ads promotes Barnett to Head of UK Sales

Samsung Ads, the advertising arm of Samsung Electronics’ media division, has promoted Lauren Barnett to Head of UK Sales. In her new role, Barnett will lead the UK sales team, leveraging Samsung’s data capabilities to unlock new opportunities for brands and agencies.

The move comes as Samsung Ads strengthens its proposition in the advertising market, becoming the first partner to combine first-party deterministic TV and mobile data at scale across EU5 markets. The company’s mobile data integration enables advertisers to bridge the gap between TV and mobile viewing habits, offering powerful, privacy-first insights, targeting, and measurement solutions.

Barnett brings a diverse background across adtech and digital publishing. Her roles at LoopMe, News UK, and Seedtag have given her a full-funnel understanding of the media landscape, from mobile to traditional press to CTV.

Barnett said: “I’m incredibly excited to step into this role at such a pivotal moment. Samsung Ads is the first in the market to offer both first-party TV and mobile data, setting a new standard in cross-screen advertising. This puts us at the forefront of a new era, where deep, actionable insights drive real impact for advertisers.”

Alex Hole, SVP and General Manager, Samsung Europe and MENA, added: “Lauren’s promotion is a testament to her leadership, vision, and dedication to driving success for our clients,”. “We are proud to promote exceptional talent from within, and Lauren’s deep understanding of our proposition and her passion for innovation make her the perfect fit to lead the UK sales team into this exciting next chapter.”

Barnett’s new appointment follows another strategic internal promotion: Christian Russ was recently appointed to head up commercial operations across Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, signalling Samsung Ads’ broader commitment to growth and innovation across the EU5.

Also published in: Advanced Television

MAD//Fest 2025: why programmatic needs to be less boring

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 11:32:49 GMT

MAD//Fest 2025: why programmatic needs to be less boring

For most marketers, adtech is mainly experienced as the tools at their fingertips, and they don’t think about what goes on in the background. Yet when you peel back the layers, you uncover a strategic balancing act of creativity, adaptability and technological advancement. This complexity isn’t just the key challenge of our industry, but the source of its excitement.

This year’s MAD//Fest made one thing clear: programmatic is moving fast, and if you’re not adapting in all these areas, you’re falling behind. ‘Be Less Boring’ was the strapline, and it is true, boring isn’t an option anymore. We’ve reached a pivotal moment where we either disrupt and innovate or get left behind. Here are a few of the insights I took away from the event.

When working across international markets, no two countries are alike

If you’re working globally, an understanding of local markets is a non-negotiable. From personal experience, there are significant differences in the maturity of different regions. So, flexibility and cultural sensitivity are key tools to help nail global success.

MAD//Fest 2025 brought together visionaries from across the globe, revealing just how diverse our industry truly is. But the differences in cultural pace, technological maturity and consumer behaviour across the digital advertising industry were striking.

When asked who is leading in programmatic, there’s not one simple answer. To start with, there’s a lot happening in different regions. China and the US are leading when it comes to anything relating to tech, investment or scale, but when you look over to the Nordics, Singapore and South Korea, they're way ahead when it comes to user experience and automation.

From our own experience, local nuances around consumer behaviour, media habits, and even the role that agencies play, are shaping how we operate regionally. What resonates in one market may fall flat in another, and the organisations seeing the most success are those whose offerings are built on foundations of adaptability.

Innovation isn’t about the tech, it’s about the mindset

Now that everyone has some sort of AI capability under their belt, what programmatic can achieve is becoming more standardised from a tech perspective. True leadership and success is no longer about who has the most advanced tools. Now, the ones who stand out are those who are willing to challenge convention and approach fresh ideas with curiosity.

Accountability is the new black in programmatic

This year’s MAD//Fest went behind the buzz of retail media and AI-driven optimisation, both of which are redefining the space, but it also looked more broadly across the business. As we continue to move slowly away from a cookie-dependent world, the focus is now shifting towards a shared ecosystem of data, collaboration, clean rooms and contextual intelligence.

In light of this, perhaps the standout trending theme on everyone’s agenda was accountability. In a mature programmatic space, advertisers now demand transparency, sustainability and trust. We are more aware than ever of what our data is being used for and who it’s going to. Striking the balance between ROI and an ethical responsibility to be transparent is more critical than ever. Those who are getting that right are the ones who are leading the pack.

Don’t wait for permission - seize the opportunities of today

If MAD//Fest 2025 left us with one lasting message, it’s that we’re in an era defined by rapid progress and opportunities. Whether you’re established in your field, building your career or launching a new product or idea, lean in and lead with curiosity.

The programmatic landscape is strikingly full of potential, and exciting breakthroughs are waiting just around the corner. It’s time we all step up, resolve to be less boring and explore the opportunities that are going to shape our industry next.

Also published in: Marketing Donut

The Rise of Partner-Led Marketing

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 11:26:47 GMT

The Rise of Partner-Led Marketing

Impact.com is a commerce partnership management platform that is increasingly bullish on partner-led marketing, which is the development of communities around brands to drive revenue.

Best Buy is a notable success in this endeavor for Impact.com but the platform also welcomed 700 new clients to its customer portfolio, including New Balance, Hydrojug, and Monzo. Globally, the platform serves more than 4,500 brands.

In April, Best Buy announced the launch of Best Buy Storefronts, powered by impact.com, demonstrating how brands are expanding their influencer strategy in innovative ways. These Storefronts offer a curated shopping experience where customers can shop from their favorite creators and influencers.

The global creator market alone is expected to reach over $32 billion this year, turbo-charging partner-led marketing.

impact.com in Q1 2025 launched a slew of innovations across its Creator, Advocate, and Performance products, designed to make partnership management more seamless and effective for brands, creators , and affiliates.

Cristy Ebert Garcia, Chief Marketing Officer, Impact.com, sat down with StreetFight to talk more in-depth about the company and its work.

What is partner-led marketing?

Partnerships are transforming how brands connect, grow, and build trust with their audiences. They’re scaling customer acquisition, driving revenue, and delivering results that traditional methods can’t match. We know this because we see it—every single day on our platform. The brands leaning in are outpacing their competition, reaching audiences more authentically, and turning trust into growth. Partnerships aren’t just another marketing tactic—they’re the future of marketing. Today’s consumers don’t respond to ads—they actively seek out recommendations, reviews, and content from sources they trust, and this behavioral shift is driving brands to invest in partnerships with creators, publishers, and other advocates who can influence purchase decisions more credibly. Partnerships aren’t just another marketing tactic—they’re the future of marketing.

How does Impact.com work with brands?

Impact.com is the world’s leading commerce partnership marketing platform, transforming the way businesses grow by enabling them to discover, manage, and scale partnerships across the entire customer journey. From affiliates and influencers to content publishers, brand ambassadors, and customer advocates, Impact empowers brands to drive trusted, performance-based growth through authentic relationships. Its award-winning products—Performance (affiliate), Creator (influencer), and Advocate (customer referral)—unify every type of partner into one integrated platform.

As consumers increasingly rely on recommendations from people and communities they trust, mpact.com helps brands show up where it matters most. Today, over 4,500 global brands—including Walmart, Uber, Shopify, Lenovo, L’Oréal, Fanatics, and Levi’s—rely on us to power more than 225,000 partnerships that deliver measurable business results.

Tell our readers about Best Buy Storefronts. How did you come up with the idea?

Best Buy’s Storefronts leverages Impact.com’s purpose-built technology, which powers customized, creator-guided shopping experiences for the world’s leading brands and is the foundation for companies’ modern creator and influencer strategy. This customized solution allows brands to significantly scale revenue growth by forging direct relationships with creators, enabling them to build customized storefronts and shoppable posts they promote to their audience.

The technology was initially created and driven by market demand. We were repeatedly hearing from some of our biggest brands about the need to create a community of creators and have it be fully branded and feel unique, rather than just another network or platform. We worked very closely with the first few brands to build and launch the product. Now, several large retailers also leverage this including Walmart, Target, HSN, Foot Locker, and more.

In Q1 2025, Impact.com launched innovations across its Creator, Advocate, and Performance products. Can you describe how each of these work?

Impact.com’s Performance solution helps businesses manage and optimize all types of partnerships, including affiliates, content publishers, news sites and creators, through every stage of the life cycle. Brands can discover and engage with new partners to reach their target audiences, including customers, and contract with partners that fit their objectives effectively.

With Impact.com, brands can capture all customer touchpoints across partners, channels, and devices with universal tracking, reward the right partners using flexible attribution rules, and align objectives through insightful program data. They can also generate and manage any contract with any type of partner, launch, grow and monitor programs and campaigns through robust task management, and streamline invoicing, payments, and tax documentation.

Creator is an influencer marketing platform that allows advertisers to discover, create, manage and scale full-funnel influencer marketing programs from a single interface.

The comprehensive platform helps simplify influencer marketing for seamless creator partnerships. Brands can connect with vetted creators through our marketplace and search tools, discover influencers already engaging the brand, and boost reach and campaign efficiency with end-to-end services including campaign management, contracting and payment and tracking and analyzing performance.

Advocate is a customizable customer referral marketing solution that empowers brands to engage their customers effectively with tailored offers. With custom and highly engaging referral programs that fit their unique business needs, brands can build flexible, fully automated referral marketing programs that are straightforward to manage and easy for their customers to use. Brands can set unique rules and conditions and create custom events. They can choose from multiple incentives, decide whom to reward and when, and for what behavior. They can also track, monitor, and adjust as needed by pulling reports directly from the analytics dashboard to measure the program’s performance, monitor engagement, revenue generated, and more. They also save valuable time by automating everything, from engaging the advocate and the referred person to instantly rewarding both parties.

Also published in: Street Fight Mag

Trust, AI and community shape iPX 2025

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:05:46 GMT

Trust, AI and community shape iPX 2025

impact.com’s annual partnership event relocated to The Science Museum for the biggest iPX yet. Daisy-Blue Malden, RVP Channel Partnerships, EMEA, at impact.com, reports on the topics that made waves on the day.

Each year, impact.com’s iPX industry event gives the digital advertising world an opportunity to catch up on developments in the partnership economy. This year, the event was held at London’s iconic Science Museum, with attendees descending on South Kensington’s Exhibition Road to learn, share, connect and innovate over the course of a day packed with partnership panels and presentations.

Advertisers must move with the times

The promise of partnerships is more relevant than ever, as brands wrestle with an increasingly fractured consumer journey and spiraling customer acquisition costs (up 200% over the last decade). Consumers have moved with the times, and advertising needs to do the same.

The old playbook – flooding audiences with interruptive ads – no longer works in a world where consumers are sceptical, socially conscious, and savvier than ever. Yet, partnerships offer an alternative to traditional advertising methods and are delivering significant results.

Trust, empathy, and the power of co mmunity

This year’s iPX keynote speaker was best-selling author and renowned lecturer Nathalie Nahai, an expert in tech and marketing psychology. She demonstrated how much marketing has changed in recent times, and how brands need to “demonstrate their values by aligning with the right partners”.

The global cost of living crisis has transformed people’s spending habits, Nathalie reminded us. “88% of consumers feel like brand messages aren’t meeting them where they are,” she told delegates. Trust in social media has started to drop off, and audiences now spend money more deliberately and scrutinise purchases harder.

Nathalie suggested that marketers need to embrace trust, empathy and community to resonate with today’s consumers; marketing strategies that focus on transparency and authenticity have the greatest chance of success when financial times are hard.

She also noted that AI homogenisation is an increasing presence in digital advertising, but that advertisers who lean too heavily on the technology risk losing trust with consumers who are engaged by authenticity. “Traditional… messaging doesn’t work the same anymore, now there’s an emphasis on trust, value and resilience.”

Attribution, incrementality and the path beyond last-click

These are currently the hottest topics in performance marketing, and they infused many of the panels and sessions across the day. The discussions covered everything from how different metrics will define incrementality for different brands, via the inherent impossibility of A/B testing for incrementality in the affiliate space.

Moving away from last-click measurement is a significant challenge the industry is facing, and that is especially tough in a sector where the consumer journey is increasingly fractured. Nedra Lim (Head of Product & Data Enablement, Affiliate & B2B Partnerships, Skyscanner) pointed out in one panel that rather than focusing on which marketing channel or partner delivered the best performance in any given campaign, it’s about studying “patterns of influence” across your entire partnership mix, and allocating budget there.

Build creator relations for the long-term

Elena Rodríguez (Influencer Marketing Manager at language learning platform Preply) emphasised the value of long-term creator relationships. Elena shared her opinion that these work well for everyone involved. “As a brand, it’s not so easy to find influencers who really resonate with our product, so once we find them, it’s smart to continue working with them,” she said. “For the creator, they can develop a much deeper relationship with the brand, and get a better understanding of the product. And it’s also very beneficial for the audience, because the content the creator shares is much more relevant and interesting.”

Trust is the new ‘performance metric’

A major theme throughout the event was the decline of consumer trust in traditional advertising, and how partnerships can help rebuild it. Whether through influencers, creators, or brand advocates, audiences are increasingly turning to real people for product advice.

Trust isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a business driver. As shared in the sessions, Edelman research shows that 53% of consumers buy from brands they trust (compared to just 25% for non-trusted brands), and 51% recommend trusted brands to others.

Retail media: affiliate marketing’s billion-dollar opportunity

The explosive growth of retail media, projected to become a $256 billion market, was an ever-present topic on the day. As brands invest heavily in owned media channels and shopper marketing, affiliate marketers are uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between media and commerce.

The event explored how affiliate models can plug into retail media strategies, delivering scalable performance while preserving brand authenticity. For those able to strike the right balance of automation and human connection, the opportunity is massive.

The human advantage in an age of AI

Perhaps predictably, AI’s presence loomed large over iPX 2025, but not without scepticism. As generative tools flood the market, there’s growing concern around what many are calling “AI slop” – generic, overproduced content that misses the mark.

Yet AI also holds enormous promise when used thoughtfully. From automating partner discovery to building dynamic contracts and even campaign execution, AI can reduce friction and amplify human creativity, rather than replace it. The message from iPX: AI should enhance, not erase, the human touch.

A raft of enhancements supercharges the impact.com platform

Finally, the event gave delegates an early opportunity to learn more about the depth and scale of enhancements made to the impact.com platform over the last 12 months, and those due in the next six. The platform has had a full UI/UX overhaul that loads 160% faster and also includes an improved mobile experience – whether through the app or mobile web. ask impact is an embedded AI chatbot that turns dashboards into plain-language insights and will soon automate partner recruiting and rate-setting. Creator Experience 2.0 offers live social listening, sentiment benchmarking and influencer storefronts. There’s also a host of retail media features, including supplier-funded Product Boosts and the expansion of SPOT (impact.com‘s contextual aware native ad units) for retailer pages, as well as a one-click Amazon Seller beta that pipes ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) and attribution data straight into the platform.

Together, these enhancements make impact.com leaner, more intuitive and AI-assisted, exactly the levers businesses need as trust and efficiency move to the top of the agenda.

Collaboration, trust, and connection

If one thing became clear throughout the event, it was that the era of transactional marketing is giving way to one of collaboration, trust, and connection. As the customer journey becomes more complex, partnerships offer a smart, scalable, and sustainable way to engage real people through real relationships. Brands that prioritise authenticity, lean into community, and smartly integrate technology are poised to thrive in this new age.

Also published in: Martech360

MAD//Fest Minutes – Day 3 wrap up

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 11:29:07 GMT

MAD//Fest Minutes – Day 3 wrap up

Day three at MAD//Fest London has been lovingly declared Goldilocks Day. It’s not too hot, it’s not raining, it is just right.

The content has continued this morning with major buzz around the new MAD//sports stage.

Overnight, the Female Leaders Club was transformed to create a new space for sports marketing content. A clear trend from both Cannes and the conversation continues here at MAD//fest.

The queue to catch Jimmy Carr on the Hex Stage went through almost the entirety of Old Truman Brewery, but for those that missed his session it will be posted on YouTube.

Digilearning brought things home for the final day, reminding our industry of the importance of fostering and educating young talent in our industry.

Bringing in young diverse talent is what keeps our industry innovative and ahead of the curve.

MAD//Fest delivered once again on bringing snappy, energetic and digestible content and it is very much still the event of the season to get connected. Be less boring? Yes to that!

Julia Linehan, Founder and CEO, The Digital Voice

“MAD//Fest 2025 has been an absolute blast, full of energy, enthusiasm, good vibes and connecting.

“On our own beach hut cabana, shared with some of our wonderful client partners Limelight Inc, Nectar360, Onetag and Preciso, we saw a steady stream of the legends of the industry and talked PR, events, Adtech Juice, our newly-launched resource for the adtech industry, and how to amplify your voice to the max. MADFest, you didn’t disappoint.”

Suzanna Chaplin, CEO, Esbconnect

“There’s a great energy and buzz around the event, as there was yesterday – despite the heat!

“The one thing that has stood out for me over the first two days has been a greater focus on the older generation in many of the talks. I think sometimes brands and agencies go down a sort of Gen Z rabbit hole, always looking for ways to reach this often-elusive audience.

“Yes, it’s great if you can capture the attention of Gen Z now and turn them into long-term, loyal customers, but we shouldn’t forget that the older generation, particularly empty-nesters with no mortgage to pay, are a valuable audience, with much higher disposable income.”

James Lovelace, VP Sales, Revving

“There was a slow start compared to day 1! But quickly there was a real buzz in the air and day 2 kicked off with high energy and meaningful conversations.

“You can tell people are here not just to listen, but to challenge ideas, share experiences, and there is a fantastic vibe and feeling across the whole event.

“And it’s cooler today!

“In terms of lessons learned – for me the event completely reinforces the power of human connection. There’s nothing quite like meeting people face to face, sharing experiences, industry contacts, helping to solve problems. You just can’t replace that through a screen.

“And don’t be afraid to simply go up and talk to people – everyone is open to talking, and you are often pleasantly surprised by what you find!”

Also published in: Mediashotz

MAD//Fest Minutes – Key takeaways day 2

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 11:20:57 GMT

MAD//Fest Minutes – Key takeaways day 2

Adland descended on MAD//Fest London for day 2 on Wednesday, so here’s a snapshot of what was being discussed by those joining The Digital Voice at the Female Leaders Club…

Female Leaders Club at MAD//Fest London

Triple shots: short & snappy interviews with Julia Linehan!

Elli Papadaki, Head of Sales Global Supply Onetag

“With great power comes great responsibility. When you’re a publisher you learn that trust is earned and not gained.”

“There’s a lot of talk about change and innovation but on the publisher side it can take a long time to move the needle”

“Women are still the minority in the tech space. Women have a better ability to storytelling and connect the dots so let’s use it to our strength. Find your voice and use it with confidence.

“We all have values, sticking to what those are will open up doors and help your career growth.”

Jess Aylett, Head of Sales UK & INTL GumGum

“The people is what makes this industry”

“Since the beginning of advertising content has been a key strategy, it’s resonating more with brands now because we’re finally getting it right”

“Contextual and creative are integral to each other, they have to work together. You can have the best contextual strategy in the world but if your creative campaign isn’t hitting the make, it won’t work”

“Not all creative is equal. Make sure you’re testing and learning all the time.”

“Contextual is having its comeback, if you haven’t explored that yet, lean in, understand what it is and understand why it’s growing”

Manal Saho, Regional Business Growth Consultant Preciso

“Adtech is what you see at your fingertips without having to think about what goes on in the background”

“We all know retail media and AI-driven optimisation are driving the space but we’re moving towards the likes of data clean rooms and contextual. However, the biggest thing right now in programmatic is accountability, whether it’s sustainability, transparency and how this is then seen in ROI.”

“Whatever you’re working on in your career, whether it’s a new product or idea, don’t wait to be invited, lean in. Exciting breakthroughs are waiting around the corner. Lead with curiosity and not fear!”

Hannah Dempsey, VP of Marketing, Jellyfish

“AI can fuel creativity and support it but we’re not at the stage yet where AI is as creative as humans, one day we might get there but for now we need the trifecta of AI, humans and creativity.”

AI and Innovation stage: How Sainsbury’s is reimagining retail media with DEPT

Alice Anson, Director of Digital Media, Nectar360

“ When we think about retail media it’s all about putting the right creative in front of the right customer”

“I think AI is a journey for everyone.

“With Nectar360, our view on AI is that it will give us more efficiency meaning we will have more time for what we do brilliantly, connecting with people, brands and more creativity.”

“We’ve come so far, who knows what’s going to come out of AI for the next few years.

“Now it’s about how do we make everything easier to understand and push the dial forward onto how we can make Nectar360 easier to work with for everyone in the retail media space”

Also published in: Mediashotz

MAD//Fest Minutes – key takeaways from day 1

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:51:49 GMT

MAD//Fest Minutes – key takeaways from day 1

London isn’t just basking in record temperatures this week, it’s also sizzling from all the hot topics in play at MAD//Fest London .

We have a crack team on the ground in the form of The Digital Voice, reporting back some of the takeaways at the sold out marketing and advertising event.

Here’s their take on Tuesday’s hot topics – needless to say AI and retail media very much in focus…

Abracadabra Magic Touch

Human vs AI at the DigiAds Stage, hosted by Julia Linehan

Lauren Barnett, Head of UK Sales, Samsung Ads :

“Human intention is needed to fuel AI” Lauren Barnett

“People want to lean into the human experience, sometimes AI just can’t do that” Lauren Barnett

James MacDonald, Co Founder and CRO, Limelight Inc :

“Engage with AI, embrace it but ensure to manage and understand it” James MacDonald

“Harness the tech, drive the tech, retain a human touch” James MacDonald

Alice Anson, Director of Digital Media, Nectar360 :

“One can not exist without the other, it’s about how we lean into AI as humans to make the most of it” Alice Anson

“Ai is coming, it’s not going anywhere. The greatest thing you can do is teach your teams so you can understand AI better together” Alice Anson

“When we think about AI and the use of it within the AI retail media space, it’s all about efficiency. Cutting out the bits that take up a lot of our time and giving us more time for the consumer led work.”

Julia Linehan, Founder and CEO, The Digital Voice :

”AI cannot work without good quality human input and that was widely agreed across the panellists at MadFest.”

“All media will be retail media by 2030 but its next growth point should be more standardisation of measurement across the industry.”

About retail media at the ‘Marketing Funnels Last Rite: Fireside chat

Alice Anson, Director of Digital Media, Nectar360 :

“I still don’t think we have the seat at the table that we need across everything and that’s what makes it hard.

“We need that step change that really takes us through into how do we get the recognition that retail media is reinventing marketing and the brands that are open to leaning into that are the ones that are going to succeed”

“Retail media is the most complex business that I’ve ever worked in. A couple years ago we realised the market is getting more complex.

“We wanted to create a platform that made retail media easier and broke down those barriers across the whole marketing funnel and channels.

“The reception has been amazing and we’ve already seen people say how much this will change their business”

“One of the things that I love about retail media is that we all really back each other, fundamentally a lot of our competitors are also friends. I think we could come together better as an industry to standardise our measurement a bit better.

“We need to start assembling around the IAB standards and start working together as an industry”

Also published in: Mediashotz

Burger King® Germany delivers “bold, intuitive” storytelling in first test of GumGum Velocity format

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:47:56 GMT

Burger King® Germany delivers “bold, intuitive” storytelling in first test of GumGum Velocity format

GumGum , the contextual-first technology leader transforming digital advertising, today announced the results of a test campaign for Burger King® Germany that used a pioneering new motion-led ad format. Developed by GumGum and launching this week in Europe, the UK and North America, Velocity is a scroll-reactive display format that responds to user behaviour in real-time using collapsible, motion-led design.

In the first Beta test of the format, Burger King® Germany used Velocity to craft a series of high-impact animated ads that would generate brand awareness and drive increased CTR across mobile and desktop platforms. Results were striking. With the help from Velocity’s expanded real estate – a space that’s 25% greater than non-collapsing competitors – Burger King® Germany generated an impressive 119% increase in Attention Time, with 0.80% CTR and over 93% viewability.

Paula-Isabelle Stahlhut, Teamlead Brand Marketing at Burger King® Germany, said: “GumGum’s Velocity unit feels intuitive and bold without being intrusive. We love how the scroll-reactive motion grabs attention instantly, boosting our presence on the page. The very native integration of the advertising material ensures an attractive product presentation without disrupting the recipient’s reading flow. For us, this is an optimal mix of integrating an ad into the viewer’s reading flow without being too promotional and without being too disruptive with our brand message. Instead, we want to attract attention where the target group is receptive to our brand topics and actively engages with the product.”

This insight is supported by consumer research by independent SaaS platform, UserTesting. In a survey of over 200 unaffiliated participants, 96% described GumGum’s new unit as “attention-grabbing” and 85% said that they enjoyed the Velocity experience.

A further 70% of those questioned found the design unobtrusive, with Velocity scoring 83% on a combined “noticeability and unobtrusiveness” rating – outperforming both previous GumGum units and similar competitor formats. As one user put it, “I freaking love it. I love how when you scroll it bounces. Like, normally [I find] ads kind of annoying.”

Pete Wallace, GM, EMEA, at GumGum, said: “Velocity is a format that’s inherently fun to use, for consumers and brands alike. Visually arresting, with sophisticated movement and animation potential, it commands attention and stands out on the page. Yet it’s also user-respectful, with a collapsible design that treads that line between intriguing and invasive. Its new availability in Europe and North America represents an important step forward for GumGum, as we continue to lead on high-impact creativity – equipping our media partners with a full suite of sophisticated ad tools.”

The evolution of Velocity follows extensive rounds of research at GumGum, including competitive analysis, user testing, roadshows and conversations with clients. In its development, the team aimed to create a product that would enable greater design freedom while driving responsive, attention-led behaviours. Beyond merely showing up, it’s made to show off in a premium setting and bring fresh energy to the display space, ramping up emotional impact in the moments that matter the most.

Velocity is designed to easily integrate across desktop and mobile in brand-suitable, top-tier publisher platforms – giving advertisers reach beyond third-party social feeds. The format is newly available in the UK, Europe, and North America markets, and is available in Australia. Further format enhancements will include the addition of GumGum’s pioneering attention-based measurement and optimisation tool, the Creative Attention Tracker (CAT).

Also published in: Mobile Marketing Magazine

Diamond Jewellery Brand Jessica McCormack Launches Collection Backed by Gen AI

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:30:04 GMT

Diamond Jewellery Brand Jessica McCormack Launches Collection Backed by Gen AI

Diamond jewellery brand Jessica McCormack is using the power of gen AI to showcase its bridal collection in unexpected settings.

With the exception of the beautiful, handcrafted diamond jewellery, the films are 100% gen AI.

Created by creative studio Gravity Road - which has now been appointed as gen AI agency of record for the brand - the luxurious campaign reimagines the ‘ring reveal’ through a modern, surrealist lens, only made possible using AI and Brandtech’s Gen AI marketing platform, Pencil.

Blending the brand’s signature craftsmanship with cutting-edge gen AI, the series features diamond rings emerging from unexpected natural forms - oysters, garlic, and blooms - each unfolding to reveal the ring within.

Using traditional techniques alongside gen AI, Gravity Road was able to capture high-resolution stills of each ring and build them into immersive animated scenes, using AI to turn the ordinary into the abstract.

Jessica McCormack said, “Working with Gravity Road has been really inspiring. We use a lot of traditional techniques in our jewellery making, and to see our hand-crafted pieces come to life in this super innovative, interesting way has been really exciting.”

Mark Boyd, co-founder of Gravity Road, said, “We’re always looking to push the boundaries of what is possible with gen AI: moving from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Luxury brands warrant this kind of high end craft. As the AI continues to evolve, we’re able to tell more intricate stories, bringing together classic and contemporary facets of the brand. The films are 100% Gen AI except the diamond. These can never be replicated”

Matt Verity, deputy ECD at Gravity Road, added, “This really did push the very edge of generative creativity using tools including Brandtech’s Pencil, which provided exceptional fidelity for rendering diamond textures, light play and composition, also utilising other platforms like Kling.”

Alongside gen AI, traditional post-production - including grading and filmic grain - helped soften the hyperreal AI aesthetic and embed the visuals into more grounded, cinematic settings. This hybrid approach allowed Gravity Road to introduce abstract, dreamlike movement around recognisable luxury without losing authenticity.

The first film, which launches on Instagram this week, shows an oyster opening up to reveal a beautiful diamond ring at its centre, but with the shell then transforming into an open flower. Two further films go live in the coming months.

Also published in: Little Black Book Online

The Death Of The DSP? How Ad Tech’s Cash Flow Crisis Threatens The Entire Ecosystem

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:23:54 GMT

The Death Of The DSP? How Ad Tech’s Cash Flow Crisis Threatens The Entire Ecosystem

Programmatic advertising is experiencing a dramatic shift. Conversational and agentic AI are here, and their effects are already being felt.

Microsoft announced the shuttering of its DSP in May, stating that the current DSP model no longer aligns with its AI-powered priorities.

As ad tech barrels toward automation, companies of all sizes along the supply chain are leaning in, with all the investment that requires. However, ad tech is simultaneously facing another existential challenge: a growing cash flow gap created by extended payment terms and persistent delays.

Cash flow is treated like back-office admin for finance and accountants. That blind spot is costing the whole industry. But the demise in recent years of legacy DSPs is not a glitch in the matrix; it’s a business model failure, leaving SSPs and publishers to pick up the pieces.

The stark truth: In any given ecosystem, a liquidity problem anywhere along the chain quickly becomes everyone’s problem.

Mind the gap

The industry’s cash flow crisis has long-standing origins. Huge companies, including Big Tech players, large advertisers and their agencies, are the source of the funds that flow down the programmatic advertising chain. These companies benefit by dictating terms that often leave publishers and smaller ad tech players gasping for liquidity.

As essential intermediaries, DSPs keep the system running and are therefore at particular risk from the cash-flow gap. While they may only be paid by advertisers and agencies after 90 or 120 days, DSPs often need to settle up with SSPs within the month. Extended payment terms, however painful, are only part of a problem that’s exacerbated by invoices being paid late, either due to commercial calculation at the top or cash flow problems further down.

This liquidity crisis increasingly undermines the entire programmatic advertising market. Built-in inequalities pinch smaller players, starving them of operating capital and the ability to invest in new products. The market inevitably consolidates around cash-rich giants. And in the threat the crisis poses to DSPs, it plants a time bomb under the entire programmatic supply chain.

As Adotat’s recent whitepaper, The Liquidity Crisis in Ad Tech , makes clear, the cash-flow gap has created “a precarious operating environment in which DSPs function more like short-term lenders than technology platforms.”

When DSPs go down, the effects are seismic and extend both ways along the chain. MediaMath’s 2023 bankruptcy, for instance, left more than $125 million (£92.3m) in unpaid debts to over 200 partners.

Left unaddressed, this kind of liquidity problem only ever gets worse, particularly in difficult economic times. Why isn’t it being discussed or addressed? Creativity and finance don’t often sit at the same table, and most companies simply accept harsh payment terms as part of the cost of doing business. Meanwhile, the gap between the cash-strapped Davids and the wealthy Goliaths of the digital advertising world only gets wider. The potential for large-scale meltdown becomes ever greater.

The benefits of liquidity

Besides repairing a system at risk of permanent rupture, what does faster capital actually unlock? When money travels quickly and efficiently through a supply chain, it creates innovation, momentum and greater spending power at all levels. It’s a virtuous circle that stimulates the entire business and allows smart companies to benefit more quickly from the great work they do.

How can we effect change? One way is to bring greater transparency to the issue. We need to talk more openly about what is really killing DSPs. We need to develop a blueprint for keeping the ecosystem alive through sustainable financial models, liquidity solutions and trust-based relationships. Perhaps we even need to shine a light on persistent late payers and allow smaller companies to make an informed judgment about their business partners.

The DSPs, the publishers, the affiliates, the intermediaries who are under threat – these are the lifeblood of the industry. It is up to us to decide whether enough is enough or risk sleepwalking into a gathering crisis that could bring down our entire ecosystem.

Also published in: AdExchanger

“A New Era for impact.com” CMO Cristy Garcia on Reimagining Performance Marketing

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:17:30 GMT

“A New Era for impact.com” CMO Cristy Garcia on Reimagining Performance Marketing

This week, Hello Partner joined a few hundred affiliate marketers at London’s Science Museum for iPX London.

We shuffled past the gift shop on our way up, and I distinctly remember seeing a space rocket and dinosaur in the distance, though that might have been the London humidity playing tricks on me.

Nevertheless, they’re fitting symbols for a day that investigated the full scope of affiliate marketing, from the past to the future, and boldly set course for a direction forward.

Discussions about AI, platform updates, consumer trust, and other areas of opportunity (like retail media) were abundant on stage and off stage.

Towards the end of the day, I caught up with impact.com’s Chief Marketing Officer, Cristy Garcia, to reflect on all of this – and learn what impact.com’s new era is all about.

Also published: Hello Partner

Why AI alone isn’t a USP in advertising

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 09:58:03 GMT

Why AI alone isn’t a USP in advertising

In a landscape increasingly driven by automation and algorithms, it’s tempting for brands to pin their point of difference on AI. But in today’s crowded market, that’s no longer enough.

David Nelson, Co-Founder and CEO of leading programmatic platform Limelight Inc. , argues that while AI is undeniably a powerful enabler, it’s not a differentiator.

True standout success, he says, lies in how humans harness it — not in the tech itself.

Back in 2004, when a US defence research agency offered a $1m prize for anyone who could create a driverless vehicle capable of negotiating 150 miles of desert between California and Nevada, most of us probably would have supposed our roads would be full of driverless cars within a couple of decades.

In fact, two decades on, there are still no self-driving cars on British roads, and relatively few around the world .

Safety concerns, quite rightly, are the blocker. But there’s also the persistent suspicion that, when it comes down to it, people might just prefer to drive their own cars.

There’s a parallel here with AI in the programmatic advertising space. No one would suggest that it has failed to take off – it is already all around us, and is a remarkably powerful, transformative force that empowers SSPs, DSPs, networks and platforms like our own.

But while AI may be the engine, it is evident that we’ll all be better off if we don’t put it behind the wheel.

Things the AI doesn’t know

In a market where even the most advanced technology rapidly becomes commoditised, one thing is immediately clear: if everyone’s USP is AI, then no one has a USP.

This is no anti-technology diatribe – the fact remains that if AI doesn’t give you the ability to overlay your own individual, human knowledge, then you have a problem.

We talk a lot with the ad network partners who use our platform about what makes them each unique. How do they differentiate in the market? Why would someone buy their inventory instead of somebody else’s? How do they manage their supply path and their demand, and optimise through their operations team?

These are all critical differentiators for ad networks. Because what matters, more fundamentally than technology – though of course that needs to be there, humming cleverly in the background – is the fabric of trading: what your supply is, what your demand is, who your partners are.

Even in a business as technologically sophisticated as programmatic advertising, there are things that an ad network gains through personal relationships that AI couldn’t easily know.

How to marry artificial and human intelligence

First, you need to make it abundantly clear to humans exactly what the AI you’ve given them is doing. Black boxes, however remarkable their inner workings, don’t help anyone run a business.

There needs to be transparency if humans and machines are going to work effectively together.

Likewise, understanding the machines doesn’t help you a great deal if you can’t direct them. So you need to give your teams the ability to tailor and configure the way their AI works. In that way, a network can still bring its USPs, its values – the things that make it special.

If you can bring powerful AI to their business, but complement it, direct it and fine-tune it with real, human intelligence – and while you are at it, use AI to automate that process as well – then you begin to see the best of both worlds.

What do we stand to lose?

What scares people about AI, in all contexts, is the sense of losing control. If you can restore that sense of human governance – the ability to set limits and tolerances – then you begin to see AI as a powerful tool for human hands, rather than an unnerving robot master.

For that reason, it is critical that we have people in charge of driving the car – rather than handing the steering wheel to AI and letting the computers get on with it.

This is especially true if you want to survive in a world that is dominated by giant companies that will swallow you up if you can’t distinguish your values.

If everyone uses much the same AI, with the same capabilities, then in the future there will be no creative ad networks doing smart, clever things, making people’s ideas come to life, and making the uniqueness of these smaller companies very real and tangible.

And if those qualities cease to exist, then all we are left with is Google and Facebook.

Machine learning is only as good as humans it learns from, and this process of human-directed learning is necessarily an ongoing one – which is why a combination of technology and human power will continue to be important.

It is in all our interests to enable that, and to preserve the human touch in what we do. Because in the end, that’s the part that really makes the difference.

Also published in: Mediashotz

Utiq launches in the UK with Virgin and Vodafone as first partners

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 09:48:58 GMT

Utiq launches in the UK with Virgin and Vodafone as first partners

Utiq , the European adtech company, has announced the operational launch of its service in the UK, marking a further significant milestone in the company’s expansion.

The launch follows the activation of Utiq’s network signal partnerships with Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone.

Utiq enters UK market

With these partnerships now live, Utiq’s Telco-powered infrastructure and identifier service can enable brands, publishers, and platforms to unlock scaled, privacy-centric addressability – even in traditionally non-targetable environments such as Safari and Firefox.

James Hardy, Digital Director at Virgin Media O2, commented on the launch and their joint ambition: “Through Utiq’s privacy-first solution, our partnership will enable advertisers to engage more effectively with UK consumers.

“An individual must choose to opt in to this service, meaning it is fully open and transparent, and consistent with our commitment to providing responsible digital experiences for our customers.”

The UK becomes Utiq’s fifth market to launch, joining Germany, France, Spain, and Austria.

As Utiq continues to expand its footprint, the UK represents a key market for significant incremental growth, helping to accelerate Utiq’s mission to create a responsible, privacy-first digital advertising ecosystem.

Utiq now partners with 28 forward-thinking Telcos across these markets, including its founding shareholders, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, and Vodafone Group.

Utiq will also soon be announcing its launch publisher partners, and is already collaborating with some of the UK’s leading digital content owners, ensuring a strong market entry and solid foundation for the service.

Sara Vincent, Managing Director at Utiq UK, added: “The UK launch marks a defining moment in our mission to support responsible digital advertising.

“With the backing of Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone, the UK market now has access to a scaled, privacy-first identifier solution.

“Utiq’s approach eliminates the need for third-party cookies, fingerprinting, or other probabilistic techniques, allowing the industry to move forward with confidence and ensuring better marketing performance and ROI in the premium open internet.”

Marc Bresseel, CEO of Utiq, said: “The operational launch in the UK represents another major milestone for Utiq, further solidifying our commitment to building a privacy-first, scalable addressability solution.

“Thanks to the network signal partnerships with Virgin Media O2 and Vodafone, we can now reach a significant portion of the UK’s mobile device-owning population.

“We are excited to continue growing our reach across Europe with the backing of strategic partners and premium publishers.”

Also published in: Mediashotz

TV remains the power house for building brands – The future of TV at Cannes with Channel 4

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 09:43:00 GMT

TV remains the power house for building brands – The future of TV at Cannes with Channel 4

“All media works… but driving the most profits — the ultimate business outcome — is TV.”

At Cannes Lions this year, Rak Patel, chief commercial officer of Channel 4, underscored TV’s vital role in driving profitability and highlighted Channel 4’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and their shift towards an advertiser-led, agency-aligned strategy emphasising the importance of “radical collaboration”, including with ITV, Sky and Comcast.

The Media Leader traveled across Cannes speaking to media professionals to find out why TV should be an essential part of marketing strategies, and what the future of TV advertising will be. A central theme emerging from the discussions was the enduring power and evolving role of television in the advertising landscape.

Industry experts echoed Rak’s sentiments. Paul Gayfer, chief strategy officer at Goodstuff Communications, said that “TV remains the powerhouse for building brands” due to its unparalleled reach, engagement, and content quality.

Claire Marker, chief client officer at Manning Gottlieb OMD, emphasised TV’s effectiveness for planners and buyers, its impact and the memorable “in-home” and shared experience it provides. She celebrated the work broadcasters have done to open TV to a wider market: “you don’t have to be a large advertiser with huge budgets, you can be a smaller player and TV will really help you drive that growth your business needs.”

Genevieve Tompkins, CEO of Goodstuff Communications, reinforced TV’s integral place in culture, stating it “sets the agenda and is fundamentally important to the fabric of society”. TV “has the ability to bring people together” she said.

Antonia Faulkner, senior director corporate communications and ads marketing, EMEA at Samsung Ads, spoke about the exciting growth within the TV and video industry.

“TV is the defacto hub of the home and a shared experience”, she said. “And now that we have launched CTV we have added all this data to an already powerful medium.”

Ross Jenkins, EMEA and APAC CEO at Mediahub, highlighted TV’s concurrent viewing “we absorb this thing together — there’s something inherently powerful in that”.

Patel pointed out that TV’s “superpower” lies in the trusted creative content fostered by regulation and governance, combined with its high-quality content, immense reach, and echoed the power of shared viewing.

Naomi Walkland, chief marketing officer at Motorway, concluded that TV helps brands build familiarity before intent, allowing them to reach a broad customer base and strengthen their brand in both the short and long term.

Also published in: The Media Leader

Cannes Lions 2025 – Industry comments and takeaways

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 09:36:20 GMT

Cannes Lions 2025 – Industry comments and takeaways

This year the Cannes Lions festival of Creativity proved a hotbed for connections, discussing ‘hot’ themes, such as AI, CTV, human creativity, and figuring out new ways to work together.

The sun has now set on the 2025 event, but we were keen to hear what you made of this year’s show.

We asked adtech, creative and marketing leaders from around the world – who braved the sweltering heat, long queues and chaos of the Croisette – for their take on how the iconic festival was for them…

David Nelson, co-Founder and CEO, Limelight Inc.

“Adtech has an enduring sense of optimism. Despite very obvious global issues, those I spoke with are as determined as ever to make something of their product and themselves on a global stage. I find that energising to say the least.

“The line between reward and business trip seems to become more blurred each year, however. Maybe that’s a personal assessment, but my fear is that this could derail Cannes as companies don’t like to fund expensive, high-profile, jollies any longer.

“That said, meeting with people in a more relaxed environment does often lead to a less defensive attitude, and that makes commitment easier to gain.

“AI is booming, CTV is everywhere, and ad networks are quietly evolving but only time will tell how much progress a candid rosé-fuelled Cannes conversation will unlock.

“The big takeaway from Cannes? AI isn’t the story anymore—how we use it is.

“Combined with the rapid rise of CTV and audio, and the evolving role of ad networks, it’s clear the future of adtech lies in smart integration, not just invention.

“But as always, relationships and real conversations remain the real power play. Human insight, trusted partnerships, and a clearer sense of purpose are what separate the noise from real progress.”

Chris Pettit, CEO and co-Founder, Revving

“It was great to see the large number of creatives heading to Cannes. It feels like there’s a strong creator community building, with lots of opportunities for the creators and the brands they’re working with.

“AI was high on the agenda, as everyone expected, but it felt more defined this year. With lots of focus on building better AI tools that can help the industry.

“What was apparent, though, was this wall of silence around payments. It’s an issue that doesn’t get enough airtime and it really ought to.

“Whenever we talk about it, it’s clear we’ve struck a nerve and people start to light up with a response.

“We’re building a rocket ship for ad delivery, creativity and AI, but using a carrier pigeon for payment and business opportunities – and it is holding the industry back.”

Read more in: Mediashotz

Jellyfish Wins at Cannes Lions 2025 for Apple’s Severance S2 Integrated Campaign in Social & Creator Lions

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 08:56:06 GMT

Jellyfish Wins at Cannes Lions 2025 for Apple’s Severance S2 Integrated Campaign in Social & Creator Lions

Jellyfish, the integrated global digital marketing company within The Brandtech Group, has won a Silver Lion in the Social & Creator category for its work on the Severance S2 Integrated Campaign, the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ series.

Rooted in social, the campaign brought the severed world of Severance into its own, blending lore-rich social creator content with Lumon-style workplace memes to reignite fan passion and attract new audiences. A haunting takeover of New York’s Grand Central Terminal further amplified the story, immersing passersby in the unsettling atmosphere of the show.

Within 48 hours, the campaign generated 1 billion earned impressions, 3.5 million engagements, and the Grand Central activation generated over 77,000 organic social mentions. Its impact stretched far beyond launch, fueling sustained conversation that helped Severance become the most-watched show in Apple TV+ history.

“This award is testament to the incredible creativity the Jellyfish team have joyfully and prolifically delivered since winning the pitch in early 2024,” said Jo Wallace, Global Executive Creative Director at Jellyfish. “It’s also a killer example of what’s possible when you build a true partnership with such a visionary team of clients. Congratulations to everyone involved.”

“This campaign is what happens when breakthrough creative meets deep social media platform fluency,” said Nick Emery, CEO of Jellyfish. “We are built for how people experience content today and proud to have helped Apple TV+ turn a cult favorite into a cultural force.”

This win reflects broader momentum for Jellyfish, which continues to push boundaries through innovations like its AI Studio , Gen AI platform Pencil , Autonomous Marketing framework, and Share of Model ™ platform—redefining how media, creativity, and technology intersect for brands such as Google, Bissell, Amazon, and Uber.

Also published in: Mobile Marketing Magazine

Eight ways to make your video and audio content unforgettable

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 08:42:00 GMT

Eight ways to make your video and audio content unforgettable

In an increasingly crowded marketplace, the competition for attention is tougher than ever. And as the media landscape continues to fragment, creating quality content is no longer enough. You have to be able to reach the right audiences, in the right way, and at the right time.

So, what should premium publishers be doing to make sure that their content stands out from the crowd? Here are eight expert tips from the AOP Associates to ensure that your video and audio content is captivating your audience.

Find the optimum balance that allows you to deliver quality content at scale.

In a saturated digital landscape, the publishers seeing the greatest success are those embracing a video- and audio-first mindset. While production quality is key, scale matters just as much. Ensuring robust video coverage—ideally 100% video coverage across every page—significantly expands monetisation potential and strengthens audience engagement. In many cases, this requires rethinking workflows: building editorial around standout video content, rather than treating it as a secondary asset. When done right, this approach not only elevates the user experience but delivers a measurable impact on revenue.

Alex Dawson-Smith, Global Director of Business Development, EX.CO

Building loyal community in a specialised area is more beneficial than focusing on broad appeal.

In an increasingly crowded digital marketplace, the key action for news publishers to make their audio and video content stand out is to develop a unique, authentic voice and forge a strong, loyal bond with a specific audience, to develop a devoted following for the niche they're going for.

Simply creating more content won’t suffice. Publishers must deeply understand a niche audience, crafting audio and video tailored to their interests, needs, and habits. This requires a clear value proposition: what unique perspective, expertise, or storytelling style sets your content apart from competitors?

Prioritising authentic connection and specialised content over broad appeal fosters a loyal community around your brand. This distinct identity and audience dedication ensure publishers’ audio and video offerings are not just consumed but actively valued and sought out in a noisy market. With the use of AI platforms, audio production is very affordable and incredibly fast to produce and that should allow publishers to focus more on identifying content that sticks, as opposed to spending tons of hours and resources on producing it. A good topic, a good copy and the right distribution channels should be the key priorities.

Jason Iliou, Regional Publisher Director, EMEA, Taboola

Make sure you’re getting the full picture by measuring brand outcomes.

CTV is moving fast – competition is growing, and brands are under more pressure than ever to prove ROI. For publishers, that means one thing: you need to show the real impact of your content. Not just views or completion rates, but what your video or audio actually does for a brand. Does it shift awareness? Consideration? Does it drive preference? And importantly, does it drive action?

If you’re not measuring brand outcomes, you’re missing the full picture. Some creatives will consistently perform better – but without the right data, you’ll never know why. The publishers that stand out will be the ones who can prove the value of attention and use those insights to build smarter, stronger content strategies.

Alysha Dino, VP Global CTV Revenue, Brand Metrics

Invest in off-platform amplification to drive discovery

Too often, publishers invest heavily in crafting incredible audio or video content, only for it to reach a fraction of its potential audience. Without a smart amplification strategy, even the best content can go unseen.

That’s why multi-channel, off-platform amplification is crucial, not just for editorial visibility, but for unlocking commercial growth. Relying on organic reach alone is no longer enough. Publishers should be thinking about how their content shows up everywhere, not just on their own site or owned channels. That means cutdowns on social, trailers in newsletters, native placements with partners, and amplification across trusted networks that extend reach and drive results.

We’re moving towards a world where audiences don’t visit websites, they consume content wherever they are. Discovery now happens in feeds, inboxes, and algorithm-driven streams, not just on homepages. A strategic multi-channel amplification strategy ensures content reaches new audiences, fuels monetisation, and stands out across formats and platforms or within editorial from lifestyle publishers.

If you're already investing in production, make sure discovery isn't an afterthought. Amplify early, and amplify everywhere, from walled gardens to the open web, where attention is won.

Tom Gunter, Co-Founder & Head of New Markets, Avid Collective

Stand out with consistent and high-quality data signals.

In today’s complex programmatic landscape, publishers must prioritise signal strength to make their video content stand out. This means enriching ad requests with high-quality data that boosts transparency, addressability, and buyer confidence. Content signals (e.g., genre, series, channel) help reach relevant audiences, while addressability signals (cookies, device IDs, first-party data) enable targeting, but must be delivered in a privacy-compliant way.

Implementing the Global Placement Identifier (GPID) and maintaining consistency across SSPs helps improve transparency and efficiency across supply chain. Quality signals like ads.txt and sellers.json enhance buyer trust across the supply chain.

Critically, consent management platforms (CMPs) must be properly managed, ensuring vendor accuracy and compliant signal transmission. Strengthening these layers unlocks the true value of inventory and gives buyers the clarity they need to invest.

Nia Auguste, Senior Manager, DSP Operations, Index Exchange

Act on data to build smart infrastructure that supports your content experience.

Publishers should combine strong content with smart infrastructure. That means acting on data (audience, performance, etc), delivering a seamless user experience with a reliable video or audio player, and using open-source with server-side capability like Prebid Video and Audio to stay in control. Prebid enables real-time competition for inventory and transparency in yield, with strong SSP support in video and growing adoption in audio. Publishers who combine quality content with the right tech and monetisation strategy are the ones who stand out.

Thuy Ho, Sales Manager, Relevant Digital

Deliver video and audio content in a seamless and premium environment.

In the current economic climate, in which there is an increasing focus on cost efficiency and lower funnel objectives, it’s often the creative experience which suffers most. For both organic and paid content, it’s crucial for readers that all videos look premium, feel relevant and offer a seamless and non-intrusive experience.

Publishers should maintain focus on quality by utilising creative tools to enhance and tailor video assets received from clients, and only partnering with vendors who can guarantee the videos delivered on their properties are of the highest quality and designed for the environment in which they are served.

Alex Ferguson, UK Publishing Director, Teads

Test, test, test.

In today’s crowded media space, publishers need to go beyond simply producing high-quality video or audio, they need to build a clear, consistent editorial identity that reflects their audience, adds genuine value, and feels native to the platforms their users are on. On top of that, the user experience needs to be smooth, with fast load times and smart, efficient monetisation. That means less latency, better viewability, and real-time ad control without needing loads of tech support. With the right tools to test and improve things over time, you give your content the best chance to stand out and perform.

Ronan Murphy, Country Manager UK, Pubstack

Also published in: AOP

Exploring Advertising Fatigue and the Rise of Trust-based Marketing at iPX London 2025 iPX London 2025

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 08:23:04 GMT

Exploring Advertising Fatigue and the Rise of Trust-based Marketing at iPX London 2025 iPX London 2025

Owen Hancock, RVP Marketing, EMEA at impact.com, shares more about the upcoming London edition of the company’s Partnership Experience (iPX) event

About iPX and what it means to impact.com :

It’s a very important event for us. Four events, in fact – one in the US, one in the UK, plus editions in Shanghai and Sydney. It’s where we gather together many of our key influencer, creator, affiliate, publisher, advocate and brand partners for one day – three days in the case of the US event – to bring them up to speed on the latest trends in the partnership economy and the latest updates to the impact.com platform. Over the course of the four events, we meet around 2,000 people from our community, but just as importantly, they meet each other. This is the partnership economy, after all, and the iPX events are a great place for new partnerships and relationships to be forged.

Why is the partnership economy so important today:

It is important because brands are increasingly finding that their advertising falls on deaf ears. People have become distrustful of it, they don’t believe in it, they ignore it. When people are looking at new products and services, they turn to influencers, creators, affiliates, trusted publishers and peer reviews for clear, unbiased advice and recommendations. Our own research found that 89% of people trust personal recommendations over any other advertising channel. Smart brands have taken note of this trend and are treating partnerships as a key strategic channel – as important, if not more so, than their above-the-line advertising.

Focusing on the London event specifically, when and where does that take place?

It’s at the Science Museum on 25th June, starting at 11am. People can register here .

The theme of this year’s event:

We’ll be exploring lots of themes. Among them, we’ll be talking about how trust has become the new currency in a world of AI-generated content and advertising fatigue. We’ll also be looking at the evolution of the customer journey – the fact that the traditional linear funnel is no longer fit for purpose, as today’s journey to purchase is cyclical, driven by research, advocacy, and social proof.

Performance through partnerships is another key theme, exploring the idea that partnerships are not just a channel, but a core business strategy. We’ll also be looking at the idea of human connection in a tech-driven world and how the modern consumer seeks out empathy, authenticity, and shared values in their relationships and engagements with brands.

Who will delegates hear from:

We have a packed programme. Just to name a handful, we are running a session with Hello Fresh, Dentsu and Brand Swap looking at how retail media networks are reshaping the digital marketing landscape. This session will explain what retail media networks are, why they matter, and how retailers can successfully launch and scale their own networks, with support from platforms like impact.com. It will also look at how creators, affiliates and publishers can plug into these networks, turning content influence and audience trust into measurable retail impact.

Another session with experts from Affiverse, Skyscanner and Swarovski will look at how to accurately measure and report the impact of affiliate marketing, and we’ll also be talking to the language-learning platform Preply about how sustained collaborations with content creators can elevate performance marketing.

Who’s delivering the keynote address this year:

I’m delighted to say the keynote will come from Nathalie Nahai, the renowned speaker, lecturer, best-selling author and podcast host. She will be talking about ‘Trust, Connection and Agency in the age of AI’, and will explore how consumers discern fact from fiction in the face of increasingly automated interactions, and how brands earn trust and prioritise real connection with their customers while navigating the promise and perils of synthetic relationships.

Other highlights:

Well iPX wouldn’t be iPX, and we would be missing a trick, if we didn’t take the opportunity to update our partners on the enhancements we are making to the impact.com platform. Our Principal Growth Product Manager, Alex Springer, will go under the bonnet of the platform, to take delegates through the latest improvements and additions.

What if people can’t make it to the Science Museum on 25th June?

If you can’t make it down during the day, there’s an after party you can join. Sign up here . There will also be recordings of sessions available on demand on the iPX website .

Finally, what do delegates get out of attending iPX?

A multitude of things. They make lots of new connections, get lots of insight into how the partnership economy is evolving, hear from some great speakers, and leave feeling energised and full of ideas they can put to work in their own business. They also have a great time – there are lots of fun activations on the day, plus great food and drink, obviously. There’s a coffee cart that does espresso martinis, an Al portrait arm, a glassware engraving station, a Pimm’s tricycle and lots more fun activations.

Also published in: Martech Series

Sainsbury’s new Nectar360 Pollen platform will supercharge its retail media business

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 08:03:59 GMT

Sainsbury’s new Nectar360 Pollen platform will supercharge its retail media business

J Sainsbury plc’s (Sainsbury’s) loyalty, insights and retail media business, Nectar360, has announced the upcoming launch of a new unified retail media platform: Nectar360 Pollen. Designed to solve for the industry’s biggest pain points and to support Nectar360’s mission to create valuable relationships between customers and their favourite brands.

Built in-house by Sainsbury’s and Nectar360 and co-created with partner brands and agencies, the proprietary platform is due to launch in late 2025 and will further advance Nectar360’s ambition to be a world-class leader in the growing retail media industry. It will redefine how the retail media sector works day-to-day, offering the easiest-to-use platform on the market, where brands and agencies are supported every step of the way by the Nectar360 team.

It combines audience insights, media planning and activation, optimisation and measurement into one single platform. Whether brands and agencies are running instore, online or offsite campaigns, Nectar360 Pollen will connect these environments in a truly omnichannel approach to retail media. Making running closed-loop retail media campaigns simple, seamless and always customer-first.

Generative AI will help brands and agencies optimise their campaign creative in the moment, build hyper-relevant audiences and plan media, simplifying the process and enabling Nectar360’s clients to get more effective campaigns live, quicker. A market-leading multi-touch attribution model and visualisation tool within the platform will also allow tracking and analysis of all media touchpoints, showing the impact of each channel on overall campaign performance. This means marketers and media professionals can optimise their campaigns faster and customers benefit from more relevant advertisements and an improved shopper experience.

Amir Rasekh, Managing Director at Nectar360, said: “Nectar360’s ambition is to be a world-class leader in the retail media industry, which is why we’re launching Nectar360 Pollen – the most advanced platform of its kind in the UK.

“Retail media’s exciting pace of growth is outstripping traditional advertising, but with this rapid development comes growing pains. While retail media has transformed how brands engage customers, it can be complicated and difficult to navigate. Taking on feedback from our clients and the market, we’ve created Nectar360 Pollen to help solve for this. It will allow brands and agencies to easily navigate the potential of retail media, create omnichannel experiences, and deliver enhanced measurement.”

Charlotte Murphy, Head of Digital Retail Media, Unilever UK, said: “Being part of the early test group for Nectar360 Pollen has been incredibly valuable. What sets this platform apart is how genuinely user-first it is. It seamlessly brings together all Nectar360’s media capabilities in one place and gives marketers the tools they’ve been asking for: simplicity, speed and smarter decision-making. It’s a real step change for how we plan and activate retail media.”

Harriet Perry, Chief Media & Partnerships Officer at OMG UK, said: “Nectar360 Pollen is redefining what’s possible in retail media, enabling us to unlock powerful insights, understand shopper behaviour across the entire customer journey, plan, book and measure campaigns in a unified, easy-to-use omnichannel platform. It will pioneer a new approach in media planning and measurement, allowing us to meaningfully move the needle for our clients.”

Nectar360 has continued its growth trajectory over the first 12 months of Next Level Sainsbury’s, Sainsbury’s three-year business plan; growing the Nectar partner coalition, scaling its digital retail media offering and launching insights capabilities. The launch of Nectar360 Pollen will take all of this to another level.

Also published in: The Drum

GumGum Appoints Marcus Startzel as Chief Executive Officer

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 07:57:30 GMT

GumGum Appoints Marcus Startzel as Chief Executive Officer

GumGum, the contextual-first technology leader, announced that ad tech veteran Marcus Startzel has been appointed as its new Chief Executive Officer. The appointment marks a pivotal step in GumGum’s commitment to empowering its partners to achieve better advertising outcomes through the industry’s first Mindset Graph™.

As a former CEO, Startzel brings over two decades of experience in ad tech industry leadership, most notably with Millennial Media, AppNexus, Amazon, WBX Commerce, and AOL/Advertising.com. He began his career as a nuclear engineer and officer in the United States Navy after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy with a degree in Mathematics. With the introduction of Marcus Startzel, GumGum strengthens this mission with a leader who shares a deep passion for solving customer challenges and driving real-world marketing results.

“In Marcus, we found somebody who is customer-obsessed and a natural leader with proven experience,” said Mark Suster, Managing Partner of Upfront Ventures and GumGum Board member. “I’m confident that under his leadership, GumGum will take our AI-powered Mindset Graph and platform to the next level and help lead the advertising industry through its inevitable changes.”

Artificial intelligence, through large language models (LLMs), machine learning, and Agentic AI, is transforming the media landscape that advertisers and publishers must navigate, with privacy changes and growing skepticism around quality and behavioral targeting. GumGum’s Mindset Graph is an AI-powered data engine that analyzes billions of signals across the open web—mapping consumer attention, contextual alignment, and creative performance in real-time to fuel smarter campaigns.

“Through every cycle of change, one thing is certain: great companies serve and deliver results for their customers,” said Startzel. “GumGum is redefining what it means to deliver advertising that aligns with consumer mindset and brand objectives—by leveraging AI to understand mindset and context. We will deliver wins for our customers through innovation, transparency, strategic investments in AI, and relentless focus on outcomes.”

The company’s solutions span display, video, CTV, and live sports through its Relo Metrics business, giving advertisers the tools to drive attention, engagement, and ROI—all while respecting consumer privacy. “GumGum isn’t just a contextual company. We’re a mindset company,” said Startzel. “And our job is to help our customers show up at the right moments, with the right message, in a way that drives growth. That’s the future of advertising, and it’s happening now.”

Also published in Martech360

Samsung Ads launches GamesBreak ad format in UK

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 07:49:09 GMT

Samsung Ads launches GamesBreak ad format in UK

Samsung Ads has announced the launch of its GameBreaks ad format in the UK market, following a rollout earlier this year in the US and Canada.

Built natively for Samsung Smart TVs, GameBreaks transforms traditional ad breaks on Samsung TV Plus – the ad-supported streaming service available on Samsung Smart TVs – into remote control-powered games. This new format runs in the first ad slot of premium commercial ad pods, and offers viewers a way to engage, while giving advertisers a new medium to earn attention.

The first game in the GameBreaks portfolio to launch in the UK will be The Six, with more games to come in the pipeline. This new format will be available for alpha testing to UK advertisers this summer.

Independent research from MediaScience in the US, found that GameBreaks ads deliver a 53 per cent lift in unaided brand recall, outperforming standard video ads by 1.5x. It also found that 89 per cent of viewers preferred GameBreaks over traditional commercial breaks.

Minai Bui, Director of Product Marketing, Europe at Samsung Ads, commented: “The way viewers use their TVs is rapidly changing, and advertisers need to adapt to this new reality. The TV of today is a personalised, interactive entertainment hub for the home. With GameBreaks, we’re pushing the boundaries of what can be done with a traditional TV ad slot and the the result is a new ad format that puts interactivity, brand effectiveness, and playfulness at the heart of the TV advertising experience.”

Alex Hole, SVP and General Manager, Samsung Europe and MENA, added. “Our goal is to evolve TV from just a traditional entertainment medium into a comprehensive, outcomes-driven platform. The GameBreaks format is a unique tool that we know will deliver value to both advertisers and viewers.”

Also published in: Advanced Television

Revving hires James Lovelace as new Vice President of Sales

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 11:25:36 GMT

Revving hires James Lovelace as new Vice President of Sales

Revving , the fintech platform reshaping the financial infrastructure of adtech businesses, has appointed James Lovelace as its new Vice President of Sales.

With over 20 years’ experience in the marketing and media industry, James joins Revving at a time of rapid expansion. He will lead the charge on driving growth across multiple markets in the UK and EU, developing scalable sales strategies, heading up Revving’s business development issues and supporting client acquisition.

James brings extensive experience in tech scaleups, and has held senior positions at a range of high profile businesses, including Skimlinks, Ve Global and Soreto. Throughout his career, James has built and led high-performing sales teams, developed scalable sales strategies and driven multi-million-pound revenue growth for fast-growth SaaS, affiliate and programmatic businesses.

“James is a strategic sales leader and an active revenue generator, blending high-level sales strategy with hands-on deal-making to drive sustained business growth.” Says Chris Pettit, co-founder and CEO of Revving. “He has been instrumental in winning leading global brands in previous roles, including Samsung, Adidas, H&M, and Under Armour, delivering exceptional sales performance and market expansion globally. We’re delighted to have him onboard at such an exciting time for Revving.”

James adds: “I’ve admired Revving’s vision for transforming the digital media payment landscape for a good few years now, so it feels great to be part of the team, and help revolutionise the financial infrastructure up and down the supply chain. The company is in great shape, with a fantastic roster of clients, and I hope to play a significant role in driving the next stage of growth”.

Also published in: Martech Record

Pre-Cannes warmup – adland leaders share their thoughts on what to expect

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 11:06:36 GMT

Pre-Cannes warmup – adland leaders share their thoughts on what to expect

The Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2025 is almost upon us, and there is much to discuss this year, with the rise of AI – the fastest developing technology in history – presenting huge challenges ahead for the media world.

So we’ve asked some of the leading voices from the creative, marketing, adtech and agency sides of the industry to share their expectations and thoughts on what will and/or should dominate the week’s agenda, before they head there later this week…

Kate Tancred, CEO, Untold Fable

“I think it’s more important than ever that at this year’s Cannes festival that diversity and inclusion in advertising is not just part of the conversation, but driving it.

“At a time when political rhetoric is growing ever more divisive, brands have a choice: stay silent or stand for something.

“Consumers are clear, 75% consider a brand’s stance on DE&I when making purchasing decisions (Kantar), so now it’s time for advertisers to step up.

“Cannes is a mirror to the industry – and this year, it’s crucial that what it reflects is brands leading with purpose, using their platforms to push for progress and elevate underrepresented voices.”

James Kirkham, Founder ICONIC

“I think this will be a schizophrenic Cannes Lions, like a cultural fork in the road.

“One path leads to automation. Meta’s AI generating ads at scale, briefs reduced to mere inputs, creativity flattened into templates. I think a huge swathe of advertising agency folk will be waking up to a reality shock about to greet them.

“The other path however leads somewhere far more human. Messier, slower, richer. I hope this year’s standout awarded work will be the stuff with soul. We’re entering an era where discernment becomes the difference.

“Where knowing why something matters is more powerful than simply producing more of it. In that world, taste becomes a strategic asset and truth is a valuable currency,

“There’s also a renewed focus on the physical now, where we want culture you can walk through, feel, and belong to. I hope Cannes reflects that too, not just in the case studies, but in the conversations.

“The real future of this industry isn’t infinite creative, It needs to be rooted in emotion and crafted with human care. Made by real people who still know what good looks like.

Peter Wallace, GM for EMEA, GumGum

“There’s been so much talk recently about the death of digital display ads. But maybe the truth of the matter is that we’re evolving our approach to make this time-honoured ad genre more concise, effective and creative.

“In fact, today’s ad universe may even be considered the golden age for digital operators. Rather than returning to the traditional roots of digital advertising, we’re moving beyond the dark ages of programmatic to a new, vastly enabled phase.

“This season at Cannes will throw this potential into relief, making digital creative the star of the show – via new, interactive features and rich media experiences and a refined suite of attention measurement technology.

Chris Pettit, CEO & Co-founder, Revving

“This year at Cannes, I think the spotlight will be less on what’s new and more on what’s working.

“I expect to see a lot of talk about AI, retail media and programmatic supply innovation; but the key theme running through it all will be about outcomes and how we move from experimentation to commercial impact.

“AI and automation will be everywhere, but the real question people will be asking is: is it actually making advertising better, faster, or more profitable?

“There’s a growing recognition that media decisions need to ladder up to cash flow and capital efficiency, not just campaign performance.

“That financial lens is going to be a bigger part of the conversation, not only at the boardroom table, but on the Croisette too.”

Barney Worfolk-Smith, Chief Growth Officer, DAIVID

“This will be the year that creative data gets its moment in the Southern French sun.

“After the Festival of Creativity being hijacked by endless tech talks, we’ll finally see the conversation focused on the creative itself.

“What’s changed? Finally, creativity is getting the technology it deserves. Supercharged by AI, we can now decode elements like attention, emotion and brand recall, and apply those insights as creative data to the firehose of creative flowing through programmatic pipes.

“We’re now able to quantify creative at scale into the 1s and 0s, into a language that media understands.

“Creative data is emerging as the most powerful signal in the ad ecosystem – and the key to unlocking its next wave of growth.”

Piero Pavone, CEO, Preciso

“I think the idea of Conversational Commerce, powered by AI, will be a hot topic in Cannes this year.

“One example is OpenAI piloting a native Shopify integration that could turn ChatGPT into a conversational shopping assistant, and with ChatGPT reaching almost 800 million weekly users, who are conducting one billion searches each week, globally, as of May 2025, this is a development brands cannot ignore.

“Conversational commerce with an AI engine just makes the shopping process so much easier and, well, more conversational, enabling users to see product details, prices and reviews, and click through to retailer websites to buy.

“Currently, as it builds its audience, ChatGPT’s shopping results are purely organic, with no sponsored placements, but this will surely change, so I would urge brands to think of ChatGPT as the next major search channel and work on their paid and organic strategies now.

“On top of this, Google has also announced its new virtual try-on tool, together with an agentic checkout to track product prices online, which is also helping to wave in this new era of commerce for consumers.”

Kristen Friesen, VP Revenue, Brand Metrics

“A key theme I expect to emerge at Cannes Lions this year is the industry’s growing pivot from viewability to attention as a more meaningful metric for ad effectiveness.

“For years, viewability has been treated as a baseline requirement, but it’s becoming clear that just being on screen doesn’t equate to impact.

“What marketers really want to understand is not whether an ad was viewable, but whether it was noticed, processed, and remembered.

“This is where attention metrics are gaining traction. Early studies suggest a correlation between attention and brand lift – particularly in areas like consideration and intent – pointing to a future where media is not just optimised for delivery, but also for cognitive and emotional resonance.

“That shift doesn’t replace the need to measure long-term brand outcomes – it strengthens it.

“As the conversation moves forward, I believe we’ll see more brands and publishers aligning around frameworks that connect attention with business-relevant KPIs.

“This is a healthy evolution. Ultimately, attention is only valuable if it leads to something, whether that’s a shift in perception, a preference formed, or an action taken.

“The industry’s ability to measure that connection, consistently and at scale, will define the next wave of media accountability so I hope to see it on the agenda at Cannes this year.”

Amir Rasekh, Managing Director, Nectar360

“Retail media continues to dominate the conversation at Cannes Lions 2025, but what’s emerging now is a deeper strategic focus on delivering more valuable client and customer outcomes in future.

“We’re also seeing a broader trend toward retail media maturity, more emphasis on measurement, creative effectiveness, and cross-channel integration.

“There’s growing interest in how retail media can drive not just performance, but brand-building and long-term growth.

“And as AI and automation become more embedded, the conversation is turning to how tech unification and AI can make retail media more accessible, efficient, and impactful.

“A notable sentiment of moving from the hype phase and a shifting of gears to take retail media to the next level.”

Richard Boon, co-Founder and CEO, OH SIX

“ I hope to connect with brands and agencies working in sports/entertainment sponsorship, talent-led partnerships and listen to the cutting edge in visual content marketing.

“I’m keen to hear about the balance of human creativity and tech efficiency, a fine line that many are trying to navigate right now. Always on the hunt for the most creative activation and content ideas, especially from brands blurring the line with entertainment for audiences.

“Top tip: Keep some flex to your week, just in case you want to spend more time with a new contact or if a particular beach is fuelling your creative inspiration.

“Focus on sunscreen, water and portable battery chargers…the rosé takes care of itself!”

Sarah Robertson, Chief Product Officer, Experian Marketing Services

“At Cannes, the conversation continues to evolve — from targeting precision to broader questions of responsibility, relevance, and respect.

“As marketers and agencies alike confront shifts in identity, regulation, and consumer trust, it’s clear data will remain crucial for success.

“However, they will need to leverage a broader range of data to stay competitive and supplement their first-party data with privacy-centric audience extension and curated media strategies.

“Innovation, collaboration, and interoperability quickly become the new creative enablers. We’re looking forward to discussing how these foundations can shape a more sustainable future for brands, agencies, publishers and tech vendors.”

Nick Waters, CEO Northern Europe, Making Science

“Next-generation agencies will be winning big at Cannes this year, and I’m looking forward to being part of this conversation, amid doubts over what the future looks like for the holding companies and their efforts to defend their model.

“I also expect a focus on Google’s answer to AI search, and whether AI search will eat Google’s lunch. Additionally, I’m anticipating a potential big announcement from X around its “everything app..

“Beneath the glitz of the event, other large questions will loom about the challenges of AI and its impact on areas such as creativity, the future of media planning and buying, and the viability of legacy business models.”

Tim Ringel, Global CEO, Meet The People

While everyone will be talking about AI I will look for human talent and human connections in Cannes. Our industry has always been standing on the talent of amazing people and gone through change with technologisation.

“AI will be an important wave of change – nevertheless, talent will make all the difference between good and bad creative, campaign and media work as our main difference to AI is real emotions and life experiences that form new ideas.

“Furthermore I will force conversations about how our industry is affected by the constant economical and political volatility and how we as an industry can help each other weather through it.

“We are MTP are lucky to post incredible YoY growth for our company and I’m out to help other independent agencies to achieve stability for their business and client relationships.”

Natasha Wallace, Global CSO – Strategy and Planning, Jellyfish

“Cannes is the only event to attract our biggest cross-section of generational talent and we’re facing the fastest tech evolution ever…so this year I suspect we’ll hit peak polarity.

“The agentic space will inspire a diversity of voices like MarTech and Media, given an almost equal platform to creativity – this is where we’ll see our multimodal thinkers thrive, people who can just as easily prompt Veo 2 as they can plan the video distribution.

“Art vs Artificial will rear its head as the industry strives to show creative origination & authority in increasingly genAI enabled workflows – and showing these off simultaneously will be brilliant to see! And the talent we’ll unleash is exciting.

“Sustainability and ethics should move to a mature discussion space where we’re talking about real viability – the Brandtech Group’s Bias Breaker and Carbon Footprint Calculator are already in practice, we should as an industry demand more of this across our peer group.

“And, amongst all of that I hope to see more hands of demos and riffs. We were in the nascent stage of tech adoption and utilisation last year but 12 months later we should be so immersed as a collective that we can jump into demos, riff with panel members and genuinely show a depth in application of AI, genAI, MarTech and data that is deserving of Cannes attendees.”

James Leaver, CEO, Multilocal

“I expect conversations at Cannes to be dominated by similar topics to the other industry events we’ve attended this year – think AI, CTV, and how marketers can maximise their budgets with more effective and sustainable ad campaigns.

“When it comes to the latter, we’re expecting deeper dialogues around the next evolution of curation in the reshaping of programmatic strategy – for example, how curation will impact the future of media agencies, what curation looks like in CTV, and what it brings to retail media.

“Unlike previous years, where the spotlight was on innovation, this year will be more grounded in both execution and accountability.

“With Google’s cookie deprecation plans shifting again, the industry needs to stop waiting and start acting. As a result, curation is being added to media plans – with curated supply paths becoming critical to meet both performance demands and compliance needs.”

Sarah Lawson Johnston, Managing Director, EMEA, Vudoo

“ Cannes is usually about meeting new people and reinforcing existing relationships, with business decisions often saved for DMEXCO in September.

“This year, I think there will be a shift, with more deals closing in Cannes. With a higher sense of urgency and pressure building across the whole ecosystem, decision-making and rapid activation will be the differentiators for those looking to leap-frog the competition.

“In terms of themes on the ground, there’s no doubt that AI and its impact on the industry will continue to be a huge discussion topic. Specifically, I expect commerce media and shopable creativity to be high on the agenda.

“The intersection between creative work and conversion is no longer niche, so we can expect to hear about campaigns that deliver both emotional resonance and measurable sales.

“I also think there will be a lot of debate around the future of agencies, with discussions around understanding the role of the agency as the environment they operate within becomes more challenging.

“Like last year, I expect widespread discussion around retail media, now seen as essential in planning and budgets after 12 months of strong growth.

“Data and measurement metrics will remain a hot topic too, as the need to measure every touch point and dollar impact continues to grow.”

Fabio De Bernardi, VP Business Development, Adverity

“Cannes has always been reflective of the industry’s priorities, its concerns, and attitudes, and with as we’ve seen AI become less of a shiny ‘nice-to-have’ new toy to a more essential tool, I expect conversations at this year’s festival to be focused even more on how data and AI can fuel the advertising and creative industries.

“This is not to say that these opportunities come without their fair share of challenges. One peek behind the glamour and spectacle reveals critical concerns like the implementation of AI solutions; up-skilling the workforce to prevent talent gaps and creative burnout; balancing data and creativity efficiently and at scale to prove ROI in an increasingly fragmented media ecosystem and I, for one, am excited to see how the industry addresses them.

“I’m looking forward to discussing how making data accessible, comprehensible, and actionable across the business using AI can be a key driver of creativity and purposeful decision-making.

“Giving everyone – from finance to marketing to design – a real seat at the table is crucial to strategic creativity that is fuelled by data and meaningful insights.”

Michael Ruby, President & Chief Creative Officer, Park & Battery

“ This will be my first time at Cannes – same for my co-founder, Ted Kohnen – and we’re walking in with the full range of emotions: excited, curious and, let’s be honest, probably a little overstimulated by day two.

“We’re especially excited to be attending the first-ever LIONS B2B Summit, which feels like a long-overdue moment. B2B is no longer the quiet corner of the creative world; it’s commanding attention with work that’s emotionally rich, strategically bold and culturally relevant.

“To see that celebrated and interrogated on this kind of stage is something we’ve been waiting for and building toward.

“Personally, it’s a little surreal. Early in my career, I followed Cannes from afar – reading the daily recaps, scrutinising the shortlists, watching the winners with a mix of envy and inspiration.

“Now, with our four-year-old global agency that’s submitted our first Lions entries, I’m not just being sent to my first Cannes…I’m sending myself! Which, if nothing else, means I’ll be able to both approve (or deny) any expense reports.

“I know many in our industry have grown cynical when it comes to Cannes. I can’t be and I won’t be.

“Cannes is one of those rare moments where the creative craft is celebrated on the world stage. I’m thrilled to finally experience it in real time – with my agency partner and best bro to boot.

“And okay, I’ll admit it: I’m absolutely ready for my first yacht party.”

Geoffroy Martin, CEO, Ogury

“As economic headwinds are reshaping the industry’s budgets (and their priorities), I expect Cannes this year to focus on the ‘artificial’ elephant in the room – AI.

“The media ecosystem finds itself at a turning point, with zero-click searches and custom-generated pages on the fly having a significant impact on publisher traffic and ad revenue.

“I expect discussions on the Croisette to be centered around real challenges like data usage, search traffic and regulation of AI platforms and tools, and how the advertising industry can leverage those tools to optimise spend and efficiency.

“The need of the hour isn’t a spectacle, it’s real outcomes and improvements – and that is what AI is poised to accomplish for brands, agencies, publishers and adtech providers.

“I anticipate the buzz of Cannes this year will fuel business engines and refocus the conversations around the proliferation and tangible value of AI.

“We’re now in an era of moving beyond the hype, the buzzwords, the quick wins, in favour of long-term results.”

Victoria Usher, CEO and Founder, GingerMay

“As part of a fast-growing trend towards maximising impact, this year’s festival is set to have a stronger emphasis on performance overall.

“Alongside a deeper examination of how well retail media campaigns engage and influence consumers, this will include a closer look at a subject close to my heart: PR agencies going beyond traditional media relations and acting as vital strategic partners for businesses.

“Unsurprisingly, AI is another key topic returning to the spotlight – but in a notably different role.

“Now that AI-powered ads are the norm, industry players are looking for tools to actively optimise ROI, not just to open up large-scale creative possibilities.

“And despite shifting political policies, it’s encouraging to see DE&I becoming more central to Cannes compared to 2024, with the newly expanded Glass Lion celebrating broader change drives”.

Pierre Orlac’h, Chief Supply Officer, Sparteo

“One of the boldest shifts I expect to see discussed at Cannes this year is the industry’s transition from a reactive model to a predictive and anticipatory one, powered by advancements in AI.

“Until now, digital advertising has largely operated on a post-event logic: serve the ad, observe the performance, then optimise accordingly. But we’re now entering a new phase, where we no longer have to wait to see what works.

“Thanks to increasingly sophisticated data signals and machine learning models, we can now predict user behaviour before the ad is even delivered.

“Will this user engage? Are they likely to convert, or even show interest at all? These questions are no longer theoretical – we have the tools to answer them in real time, and if the AI says they won’t be interested, the ad won’t be served.

“This shift from the mindset of “what worked” to “what will work” will bring about a fundamental change in how campaigns are planned and executed, how inventory is valued, and how creative is tailored.

“In short, AI is no longer just a tool for efficiency. It’s becoming a compass for foresight. And the companies that embrace this shift won’t just optimise, they’ll anticipate, shape, and lead.”

Diego Limberti, Chief Design Officer, Droga5 São Paulo

“After a good exhibition or film, I always leave seeing life in a new way. Cannes does the same, it gives me energy to look for something new.

“I’m always surprised how ideas never run out.

“This year, I want to see work that feels human. Using technology to tell real stories, not just to follow trends.

“As a designer, I find beauty more and more in what feels true, not just in how things are made.”

Alistair Bastian, CTO, InfoSum

“While in previous years at Cannes we’ve heard a lot of talk about the potential of data clean rooms, we now have numerous tangible examples we can use to illustrate just what can be achieved through smart and secure collaboration.

“Brands are working with publishers and other stakeholders to build private data networks that facilitate some of the most innovative advertising strategies we’ve ever seen, unlocking new opportunities and driving better outcomes.”

Meg Haley, SVP of Global Client Partnerships, Vidmob

“I’m expecting a resurgence of power players on the beach, with a less platform-centric feel and a larger focus on evolving Ad Tech around AI tools, solutions, and measurement.

“As the agency landscape continues to shift with media and creative rejoining, discussions at Cannes will look at the implications this will have on how marketers think about creativity and connect with consumers.

“There will also be conversations about the continued evolution of storytelling, and how to balance scaled content creation – amidst the abundance of AI solutions – with the power and grounding of the brand story and purpose.”

Rob Blake, MD UK & Ireland, Channel Factory

“At Cannes this year, expect the conversation to move well beyond buzzwords and into the practical realities of how brands navigate today’s digital complexity.

“One key theme will be context. With so much change – from platform algorithms to consumer habits – brands are re-evaluating not just who they reach, but where those messages appear.

“Expect more focus on brand suitability, not as a safety measure, but as a driver of relevance and effectiveness.

“AI will be another hot topic. Not just as a futuristic idea but as a real, usable tool. Brands and platforms are beginning to harness AI to better understand video content across environments like YouTube, making contextual targeting even more precise, relevant, and aligned with consumer expectations.

“We also anticipate a shift in how marketers view YouTube. Long seen as a top-of-funnel channel, it’s now proving its value across the entire journey, especially with the rise of video podcasts and Shorts.

“These formats will likely be central to how brands build storytelling and performance in one place.

“Overall, Cannes will be less about shiny tech and more about smart strategy – how to be relevant, responsible, and results-driven in a fragmented digital world.”

Marko Johns, UK MD and Head of Agency, Intl, Seedtag

“The past 12 months have been pivotal for the growth of generative AI, and alongside the most recent changes across our marketplace, it will undoubtedly be one of the main themes on the Croisette this year.

“AI has been fast-tracked as consumers have become more comfortable with the outputs they would expect from any information partner.

“The challenge here, however, is the fine line of balance in a nascent, unstable ecosystem and the quest to find true, trusted partners.

“With the industry discussing the role of brand safety in news and how best we can support quality journalism in this sector, I think the impact of AI developments on the open web, specifically, will be a huge talking point – especially after Google’s latest announcements at Google I/O.

“I can see the conversation around AI going much deeper than before; beyond the technology focusing more on impact and outcomes for modern marketers.

“I’m looking forward to hearing how brands and publishers are driving their own development via creativity with AI in new ways.

“I’m also expecting interesting debates around the human approach surrounding artificial intelligence – not just how the industry can maintain integrity in its use of AI, but also how AI can help us get closer to understanding audiences; using real-time content to prioritise passions over profiles, connecting with audiences based on their interests, emotions, and intent.”

Kitty Martin, Senior Digital Strategist, Anything is Possible

“The word on everyone’s lips over the last 12 months has been AI and it’s clear it will be front and centre again this week.

“Whether it’s shaping the future of creativity and storytelling, transforming the creator economy, or driving innovation, AI will never be far from any conversation.

“One key question for me is around authenticity,, and it will be interesting to understand how people are striking the AI balance.

“While AI can enhance efficiency and scale, real connection still depends on human insight and genuine storytelling.

“The challenge (and opportunity) lies in using AI to support creativity, not replace it, ensuring the work still feels human at its core.

“But that highlights the purpose of events like Cannes, underlining their importance for the industry: as a digital marketer, we’ve had backstage access to AI, as it runs our lives optimising campaigns and finding new audiences, and one thing continues to remain true, the higher quality you put in, the higher quality you get out.

“Therefore, much like our machine brethren, I am hoping to get high quality experiences you can’t get by sitting behind a desk, having conversations and sparking ideas, which will then in turn make me a better marketer.

“AI can’t replicate that! (For now, at least…)”.

Steven Filler, Country Manager UK, ShowHeroes

“Creativity, the very premise of Cannes Lions, is something that has been eroded in recent years. In an era of ad tech maturity and unparalleled data intelligence, creativity is all too often being treated as a secondary thought.

“You can see this imbalance in the quality of ads being served online today, the majority of which are seriously lacking in creative ambition and impact.

“I think the industry is finally waking up to this and my hope is that we’ll see a wider creative revival at Cannes Lions, with digital advertisers pushing for bigger, better and more original work.

“With AI often heralded as the future of creativity, it’s also crucial not to lose sight of the value and importance of human creativity in developing great digital campaigns.

“In a politically charged climate, there’s been much talk of many global companies rolling back their DEI policies .

“But the shift is far from universal. Reaching specific diverse audiences continues to be a priority for many agencies and advertisers – making cultural relevance a major theme at this year’s Cannes.

“The focus is not only on the huge opportunity that lies with inclusive and authentic content; but also, how brands can incorporate this value into their core growth strategies.

“With new research highlighting the significant brand lift that comes with news content wrongly classified as “unsafe”, the issue of brand safety is once again surfacing.

“Are advertisers being too zealous in their efforts to avoid “controversial” content (especially given the punchy news climate)? And if so, what efforts can we as an industry take to reassess the use of brand safety filters – so that advertisers can avoid the bland middle ground?

“Discussions will focus on common misperceptions associated with the apparent “risk” of cutting-edge journalism, as well as the rewards that await brands prepared to be brave e.g. the ability to align with opinion makers and influencers of our time.

Jim Coleman, UK CEO & Regional Lead, We Are Social

“Cannes should be a celebration of creativity born from real business problems, solved with bold ideas – not vanity work.

“Yet many entries still aren’t client-briefed or paid for.

“That’s not just disingenuous – it dilutes what makes this industry great.

“Thankfully, a few campaigns cut through. Škoda’s “Redditor Edit ” perfectly leverages a platform that’s rapidly growing in its importance when it comes to consumer insight.

“The campaign mined real Reddit commentary and turned it into a fresh, responsive campaign that played out authentically across channels. It’s smart, social, and exactly the kind of work we should be rewarding.

“Then there’s the Australian Lamb campaign, which brilliantly holds up a mirror to internet culture. Using “the comments section” as creative fuel, it’s a funny, unifying idea that shows traditional media and social insight can work hand-in-hand.

“And of course, Apple’s “ Flock ” – a masterclass in storytelling, craft, and brand messaging. Big production, simple truth, beautifully executed.

“That’s Cannes-worthy work.”

MJ Behrman, Global Head of Marketing & Media, Designit

“Cannes should be as much about celebrating great work as it should be about coming together to assess what lies ahead for the industry, which means that this year’s festival should focus on how we confront the colossal carbon footprint of AI within adland.

“This is not a new discussion – it’s well-documented just how harmful gen AI tools are for the environment.

“But we are about to hit a watershed moment, with this abundant use of the technology set to pose serious challenges for Adland’s supposed sustainability goals and therefore its reputation.

“This means that the agencies that can demonstrate verifiable reduced environmental impact from their tech stack, not just in specific campaigns, will stand out in the long run.

“Expect the ‘Green Lions’ categories to gain serious weight moving forward.”

Ossie Bayram, UK Vice President – Outcomes, Adlook

“While attention, creative innovation, and media efficiency will all be key themes this year, AI is set to be the driving force behind them.

“I expect it to dominate the conversation, but unlike in previous years, where legacy tech was often rebranded as AI, we’re now seeing genuine innovation that’s delivering real performance gains across the board.

“That shift will be a major talking point in Cannes!”

Also published in: Mediashotz

Samsung Ads appoints The Digital Voice as lead PR agency

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 10:58:15 GMT

Samsung Ads appoints The Digital Voice as lead PR agency

Samsung Ads has appointed The Digital Voice to lead its PR, communications strategy, outreach and events in the UK, EMEA and MENA regions, working closely with Samsung Ads’ marketing and communications teams.

After an extensive process, The Digital Voice won the account with a brief to drive awareness of Samsung Ads and continue to cement its position as a leader in CTV advertising.

Samsung Ads is a division of Samsung Electronics, the leading TV manufacturer globally, delivering Advanced TV advertising at scale.

Its smart TV advertising solutions are built on a unique source of TV data from nearly 70 million Smart TVs across Europe.

Launched in 2015, Samsung Ads has offices in the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, India, Brazil & Mexico, and South Korea.

Speaking on this latest move for Samsung Ads, Antonia Faulkner, Senior Director Corporate Communications and Ads Marketing, Analytics and Insights, EMEA, said: “Over the next few years, it will be essential to build on the success that CTV has had in the market so far and the pivotal role it now plays in consumers’ homes.

“There’s a story to be told on our approach and how we’ve managed to build on a unique source of TV data from nearly over 70m Smart TVs across Europe.

“It’s a hugely significant journey for us, one that has already seen us expand beyond Europe into MENA.

“With our streaming service, Samsung TV Plus, now having over 88m unique monthly users worldwide, we’re focused on our continued growth in this ever-evolving market.

“To help us on this journey, we wanted to partner with an agency that allowed us to go beyond PR to develop our communications, events, and marketing strategies to effectively communicate our story, while also building our presence in these key markets.”

Julia Linehan, Founder and CEO of The Digital Voice, said: “Samsung Ads is building, innovating and absolutely leading from the front of the CTV revolution.

“It has an established reputation, but is making bold strides forward in reaching audiences at an impressive scale.

“This and the fact that it is a forward-thinking and bold team makes it an incredibly exciting partner for us to work with.

“Samsung Ads is a global leader in entertainment, and being able to help unlock unprecedented opportunities for it is something that we’re all for.

“We’re at the start of the revolution of integrated media experiences and Samsung Ads is leading the march on that.”

Also published in: Mediashotz

How Nectar360 Builds Purpose-Driven Loyalty Through Sustainable Partnerships

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 10:49:13 GMT

How Nectar360 Builds Purpose-Driven Loyalty Through Sustainable Partnerships

1. What factors should be considered when extending collaborations to ensure mutual benefit and continued impact?

The key is to ensure that all parties can see continued value in the partnership. In a sense, it is like a triangle of three questions: 1) what do customers need, want and value? 2) what is your brand partner trying to achieve? 3) what are you [Nectar360] trying to achieve?

When designing any programme, it's important to address these three questions. By doing so, we can deliver mutual benefit and increase the likelihood of the partnership’s success.

2. Nectar360 recently announced the partnership between the Nectar loyalty scheme and the Woodland Trust has been extended to 2027. What metrics should be used to evaluate the success of conservation-focused loyalty initiatives in particular?

There's no one-size-fits-all metric, all partnerships are unique. In sustainability partnerships, the success metric might be raising awareness of a specific cause or driving meaningful change on an issue.

For instance, conservation-focused loyalty initiatives aim to change customer behaviour to help drive change for the environment, encouraging actions such as planting trees, donating to food initiatives, or reducing water usage.

With our Woodland Trust partnership, Woodland Trust members who’ve lined their Nectar account can earn additional Nectar points by purchasing their favourites, including apples, eggs, chicken, turkey, reusable bags, and cards from Sainsbury's. Customers can also donate points to support environmental efforts like sowing wildflower meadows, planting trees, and protecting woods.

In our Severn Trent Water partnership, the goal of the trial is to encourage customers to use less water. Success is measured by how well the loyalty scheme's incentives, like extra Nectar points coupled with lower water and energy bills, promote and sustain this behaviour. An increase in Nectar membership numbers would also be a positive metric for evaluating the impact of such collaborations.

3. How can loyalty programmes effectively align with broader sustainability initiatives?

The most important thing is to ensure the value exchange and outcomes are clear to the people that engage with them. Whether they're buying something or redeeming points, they need to know not only what the initiative is supporting but also how it contributes to the sustainability or environmental measures behind it.

4. How can companies ensure transparency in reporting the environmental impact of such programmes?

Companies can ensure transparency in reporting the environmental impact of their programmes by leveraging the scale and marketing reach of partnerships like Nectar. This approach drives engagement and heightens awareness of the outcomes delivered. Additionally, publishing comprehensive CSR reports that outline sustainability goals, priority areas of focus, key commitments, and progress is crucial. Aligning these goals with the UN Sustainable Development Goals ensures that the company is making a significant impact and playing a leading role in building a more sustainable food system.

Sainsbury's Plan for Better exemplifies this approach, with its three interlocking pillars: Better for you, Better for the planet, and Better for everyone. This ensures that stakeholders and customers are informed about the company's efforts and achievements in sustainability, thereby maintaining transparency and accountability.

5. What are the challenges in aligning corporate sustainability goals with customer reward systems?

Traditional programmes focus on straightforward transactions, whereas aligning sustainability and rewards is more complex as it requires us to impact customer behaviour for a specific cause.

Evolving beyond this requires creative thinking and advanced insights. Understanding the impacts of behaviour, whether related to sustainability or commercial goals, can be complex. Without advanced insights capabilities and the ability to engage customers creatively, it becomes challenging for marketers to determine the appropriate level of loyalty for a given behaviour.

6. How can similar models be adapted to address other sustainability challenges?

Just as with the Severn Trent example, which incentivises reduction in water usage, or the donation of accumulated Nectar points to fund the Woodland Trust’s conservation activities, there is scope for adaptation within this model to support other sustainability objectives. That could be switching the type of energy someone uses to a greener option or rewarding for the use of electric car charging e.g., customers are rewarded through Nectar for using Sainsbury’s Smart Charge facilities.

The principle of getting value back for changing your behaviour is the basis of loyalty programmes. So, as well as - or instead of - giving financial value back to members, these schemes can absolutely be used to drive positive actions that support the planet, with consumers incentivised by a new type of currency: the knowledge they are doing good.

Also published in: Martech Edge

Utiq now reaches over 55 million people across Europe with its consented, deterministic identifier

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 10:41:31 GMT

Utiq now reaches over 55 million people across Europe with its consented, deterministic identifier

Utiq, the European AdTech company providing Telco-powered infrastructure rooted in authentic, user-consented signals, announced two major business milestones that confirm the scale, traction and technical robustness of its privacy-first solution.

Just two years since operations commenced, Utiq has now surpassed 55 million unique consentpasses across its operational markets, representing over one-third of all mobile users.

Each consentpass corresponds to a real, verified individual who has opted-in to data-driven advertising experiences. These deterministic identifiers enable precise frequency control, cross-environment reach, fraud suppression and consistent measurement, without relying on third-party cookies, fingerprinting or other probabilistic methods.

Alongside this, Utiq now confirms that its infrastructure is powered by 26 Telco partners across Germany, Austria, France and Spain – spanning both mobile and fixed-line connections. These partnerships make Utiq the only addressability solution on the market that is fully rooted in telecom-grade identity infrastructure and cross-network signal continuity.

As European regulation and user expectations continue to demand stronger privacy protections, Utiq’s approach stands out by design. By adopting privacy-centric controls and offering addressability without compromise, Utiq enables the digital advertising ecosystem to move beyond short-term alternatives and embrace a new standard of responsible marketing.

Marc Bresseel, CEO of Utiq, commented: “These milestones demonstrate that Utiq is not an alternative – we are the definitive solution for the future of digital advertising in Europe. With over 55 million people now deterministically addressable and 26 Telco partners supporting our infrastructure, we are delivering unmatched scale, trust and capability – without compromise. Utiq was built to solve the consent, privacy and measurement challenges of our time, and the momentum we’ve achieved in just two years shows that the industry is ready for a better way.”

Also published in: Martech360

esbconnect and Mdeg combine datasets to create UK’s largest GDPR-compliant consumer data file

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 10:27:36 GMT

esbconnect and Mdeg combine datasets to create UK’s largest GDPR-compliant consumer data file

The combined dataset, known as ideoOS, includes a fully GDPR-compliant HEM-IP (Hashed Email-IP) graph of more than 64m email addresses, postal addresses, and up to 440 data attributes, accessible as regularly delivered log files or a real-time streaming API. The API feed includes additional information against an HEM-IP and first sighting and resightings for confidence scoring. ideoOS supports cookie, MAID (Mobile Advertising ID) and other ID-based graphs to bolster their strength at a time when signal is rapidly disappearing. It also provides HEM-based audience segments for targeting in paid-social and programmatic buying platforms.

Brands can use the dataset as a raw data file for identity verification and persona modelling. It can also be used as a real-time feed, where an online user’s IP address, together with other identifiers such as their device and browser, can be matched with a hashed email to allow them to understand who that user is.

Through an integration with esbconnect’s Inbox Extend solution, the dataset can also be used to buy and use the company’s audience segments via email, programmatic, display and social, or offline, via postal campaigns. This can be accessed via esbcopnnect’s Iota integration through 45 output partners, including DV360, The Trade Desk and many more.

The first customers for the solution are cloud computing platform AWS (Amazon Web Services) and identity solutions firm, Roqad, who are using ideoOS to power a privacy-safe Data Clean Room service incorporating Roqad Identity Resolution.

“This is a game-changer for UK advertisers in terms of the size and richness of the database and the variety of ways in which it can be used,” said esbconnect CEO Suzanna Chaplin. “Advertisers will be excited about the scale it delivers, but also the granularity with which they can drill down into the data and build highly targeted, niche audience segments, that they can then execute against across multiple channels.”

“This is a fantastic partnership which opens up a whole new database for UK advertisers to target consumers in granular detail across online and offline channels,” said Maire Claire De Grouchy at Mdeg . “Early adoption by Amazon and Roqad is a significant endorsement of its capabilities.”

Also published in: Marcomm News

Combine your influencer and affiliate marketing campaigns, and let the results speak for themselves

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 10:20:42 GMT

Combine your influencer and affiliate marketing campaigns, and let the results speak for themselves

Matt Sheppard, Regional Vice President, Customer Success at impact.com describes how the convergence of influencer and affiliate marketing offers a world of performance potential, and advises brands on how to get it right

Today’s digital advertisers face some sobering challenges. Consumers are increasingly ad blind – to the point that only 2% of them consider traditional ads an important part of their buying process. Meanwhile, marketing budgets are tighter than ever, so marketers are being asked to do more, with less, for the benefit of consumers who aren’t listening.

But there is hope. Innovative, forward-thinking marketers and their teams are increasingly looking to the partnership economy – creators, affiliates, commerce partners, referral programmes and more – as a means of engaging audiences in a spirit of trust and authenticity. And many of them are finding particular success in combining two previously siloed disciplines: influencers and affiliates.

Influencer and affiliate convergence

Historically, influencers were considered the right partner group to drive metrics like brand awareness at the top of the funnel, while affiliates were considered best placed to secure a conversion at the narrow end. These two partnership types operated concurrently but independently, often run by different teams from the same marketing department.

Yet, for many brands, combining influencer and affiliate marketing into the same campaign has proven hugely beneficial. It allows brands to build a full-funnel campaign that touches all points of the consumer journey, raising brand awareness, driving conversions and boosting KPIs.

The results speak for themselves. impact.com research shows that marketing teams who combine influencers and affiliates achieve 46% higher affiliate-based sales than brands that use only affiliate partners.

Greater diversity in a campaign’s partner mix has other benefits too, offering a greater range of creative opportunities, broader measures of success, and a varied commission structure that ensures resources are maximised, with minimal wasted budget.

The attribution and measurement challenge

Attribution and measurement are two of the stickiest issues performance marketing currently faces. As signals diminish for privacy and regulatory reasons, and channels compete for credit, accurate campaign measurement and cross-channel, cross-platform, cross-device attribution are becoming harder – yet more important – than ever.

Combining influencer and affiliate marketing requires granular, universal tracking that rewards each party for their work across the entire funnel. The solution is a unified tech stack that provides partner management, reporting and tracking via one platform.

A unified platform allows brands to build a truly universal picture of how their influencer and affiliate campaigns are performing across all channels and touchpoints. This allows marketers to understand how each impacts every step in the customer journey. It also enables fair partner compensation, and provides the right data to inform strategic decisions in the future.

Combining affiliate and influencer

Combining affiliate and influencer marketing sounds simple, but it needs careful execution to maximise performance. These two partnership types work in a similar space, so watching for inefficient overlap is essential. This helps avoid issues like over- or under-paying partners, give stakeholders a holistic view of campaign performance, and allow the teams to seamlessly work together on any opportunity that may present itself.

The partnership economy works best when brands and partners work together over extended periods. This gives time to develop a nuanced, efficient working relationship that is built on an understanding of what each influencer and affiliate brings to the table, and how they can be supported in engaging an audience. As time goes on, performance metrics will build an increasingly accurate picture of what works, allowing data-driven decisions to shape campaign optimisation.

Convergence also plays into important channel shifts. Social media is an incredibly important research platform for consumers – even challenging traditional SEO – and combining influencer and affiliate campaigns increases a brand’s opportunity to engage an audience as they investigate a product or service.

The partnership economy is also proving a powerful ally for brands in the retail media space. Affiliates and influencers make good use of retail media’s access to first-party data. They bring highly engaged audiences into a retail environment and deliver conversions, lowering acquisition costs in comparison to traditional media.

Further good news is that combining affiliate and influencer campaigns comes with little risk. Brands can start small to understand the process, before moving onto larger budgets. Because this kind of marketing works on a CPA basis, it is accessible to those with modest means, and its value remains easy to prove.

By converging influencer and affiliate marketing, breaking down silos and adopting a unified approach, brands can engage consumers across the entire funnel, while maximising budget efficiency and driving greater understanding of performance. With a unified management platform, clear attribution, measurement and a willingness to experiment and scale, combining affiliate and influencer offers them a low-risk, high-reward opportunity.

Also published in: Modern Retail

Nectar360 amplifies collaboration with OMG UK

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 09:59:36 GMT

Nectar360 amplifies collaboration with OMG UK

Sainsbury’s loyalty scheme operator Nectar360 has scaled up its partnership with Omnicom Media Group UK (OMG UK).

The pair will work on crafting “key” retail media initiatives. Having worked together since 2021, the firm’s have collaborated on retail strategies, campaigns, thought leadership and client training.

As part of the agreement, the agency’s clients will have access to Nectar360’s customer insights, allowing them to create best practice omnichannel planning, robust sales effectiveness and measurement models.

“This partnership provides a real opportunity to further drive full-funnel retail media campaigns,” said Alice Anson, director of digital media at Nectar360.

“We have developed a strong partnership with OMG over the last few years, fuelled by a synergy for collaboration and keeping the customer at the heart of everything we do. It has been great to see our partnership continue to grow and evolve and I’m excited for what the future holds.”

Harriet Perry, OMG’s chief media and partnerships officer, said: “Our partnership with Nectar360 has enabled us to unlock elevated retail insights to gain a unique advantage in understanding our brands’ shopper behaviour and market trends across the consumer journey and, in turn, pioneer the blueprint of connected planning across Nectar360’s portfolio.”

Also published in: Marketing Beat

Solving the data martech integration challenge

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 09:53:37 GMT

Solving the data martech integration challenge

Over the past decade, marketing has become inseparable from technology. From campaign planning to measurement and optimization, nearly every part of the process now relies on a stack of tools. If you want to get something done in marketing today, chances are you’re logging into a platform to do it.

In fact, the 2025 version of the Martech Lumascape contains an astonishing 15,384 solutions providers across 50 categories and many more sub-categories, covering everything from CRM to influencer marketing, project management, marketing analytics and many more.

As a result of all this choice, brands and agencies the world over have found themselves in the misleadingly reassuring position of being able to find a technology-based solution for almost any task, and their martech stacks have grown accordingly.

But growth is not always a good thing, if the various components of that tech stack are not able to properly communicate with each other. Because with each new tool you add, you’re not talking about one new integration, but about seamlessly integrating the new tool with all your existing ones, and that can create an exponential amount of additional complexity.

This is the problem facing many companies today, and it’s compounded by the fact that, as the saying goes: “If everyone has it, no one has it”. Because the true value of all these platforms and SaaS solutions doesn’t reside in the tech itself, but in the unique data – your data – that it has to work with.

And when I say data, I don’t mean customer IDs like email addresses, phone numbers or cookies; when you consider all the levers a marketer can pull, targeting data like this has relatively little impact. What is far more valuable is business data: merchandising inventory data; third-party datasets telling you the average income in different postcodes; data that comes from sales teams on the ground; or perhaps the dynamic pricing data an airline uses which could, if shared, have value for a marketing team looking for in-demand routes.

The importance of building a shared business case

All of these data points, and many others, are crucial for steering algorithms toward real business outcomes, not just media performance. Think profit margins, inventory levels, or average product return rates. These aren’t marketing metrics, but they shape how a campaign should behave if it’s going to drive meaningful impact. The problem is, most of this data lives elsewhere in the organisation, out of reach for advertising teams.

So the first challenge for marketing teams hungry for data is not a technical one, but an organisational one: how do we get buy-in from a team outside of marketing to let us use this data? One of the ways to solve that might be to build a shared business case together.

The next challenge is integrating the data, because the granularity of some data sources may be very low, while for others, it’s much higher. You might have access to the overall profit margin on dresses, for example, which it’s helpful for understanding category-level performance. But as a marketer, you’re trying to optimise at the SKU level: Which styles drive the most profitable demand? Without the ability to connect these layers, you’re stuck making blunt decisions with broad averages.

Historically, we’ve relied on shared identifiers to link datasets together; SKU codes, store IDs, sometimes even customer IDs. But today, those connections are harder to make. Data may live in different systems, privacy constraints limit access, and teams don’t always use consistent keys. Even when the data technically lines up, the governance often doesn’t.

This is where modeling helps. Probabilistic methods can infer relationships between disconnected data sets. And thanks to Gen AI, it’s easier than ever to convert unstructured inputs, like images or text, into structured data that can support automated decision-making. For instance, recognizing that this picture shows a green dress becomes a usable input for tagging, personalisation, or even forecasting.

Gen AI also opens up data access by changing how we interact with it. Tools like Google Agent Space let non-technical teams query the data warehouse using natural language, skipping the need to go through data planners or IT.

But then you need the proper governance in place – because when you have users from different parts of the business asking questions, they may have different definitions of what constitutes, say, an active customer, which in turn risks the answer being misinterpreted. I have one client who has seven different definitions of a customer. So we have to accept that every time you solve a problem – or almost every time – you probably create a new one.

Three rules for data integration success

In conclusion then, integrating data across a sprawling martech stack is not without its challenges. But there are three points that underpin every successful integration:

First, build a strong business case, with multiple teams aligned on the target outcomes.
Second, make sure you have support across the business for what you are trying to achieve, but allow yourself permission to pivot if the initial approach isn’t working.
Third, don’t make the mistake of setting and forgetting a data integration project, because data decays very quickly as new features are launched and others are discontinued or no longer supported.

Data needs ongoing care and attention, just like any of the people you hire. But if you get it right, a fully-fledged data integration project will benefit your business in more ways than you can imagine.

Also published in: Martech360

Rethinking SEO: How Google's AI Overviews are changing the game Read more at: https://www.campaignasia.com/article/rethinking-seo-how-googles-ai-overviews-are-changing-the-game/502158

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 09:49:58 GMT

Rethinking SEO: How Google's AI Overviews are changing the game

Google has just introduced ‘AI Mode’ to its search engine, initially available to all users in the US, with a global rollout planned for later. Powered by its Gemini 2.5 model, this feature enables more conversational interactions and adds new capabilities such as automatic concert ticket purchases and live video search.

In addition, the tech giant recently announced that its AI Overviews in search now reach 1.5 billion users monthly. Unlike traditional search results, AI Overviews summarises information from multiple web pages with the idea of helping users quickly grasp complex topics.

Launched last May in the US and in other countries last August, AI Overviews have helped the tech giant's search revenue grow 10% year-over-year to US$50.7 billion.

However, while AI Overviews may have benefited Google, analysis from Ahrefs indicates they significantly impact organic search traffic, with a 34.5% reduction in click-through rates (CTR) for top-ranking pages. This decline challenges Google’s claims that AI Overviews improve user engagement. Furthermore, AI-generated overviews are placed above traditional web links, which are vital for online publishers dependent on traffic referrals from Google’s search engine, raising concerns about Google taking too much control.

"With AI Overviews, Google is making it super easy for users to get quick info, which is awesome," says Gary Cheung, managing director, NP Digital. "But on the flip side, it seems like they’re sidelining publishers by summarising content right in search results. It’s great for users who want fast answers, but it raises concerns about how much visibility the original creators get for their hard work and the lower click-through-rates."

At least for now, Google is keeping publishers in the dark, offering little transparency around how publishers are supposed to adapt their SEO strategies, especially as Overviews prioritise summaries over direct links.

"Historically, SEO algorithms have never been 100% transparent," says Bob Du, managing director at Jellyfish Singapore. "With AI Overviews, publishers are not yet able to understand referral traffic contribution from embedded in-line links versus organic search results, and this does escalate the level of complexity, admittedly leaving a little more to be desired from a transparency standpoint."

Given the significant long-term impact that AI Overviews will likely have on the search landscape, some media agencies are already rethinking their SEO strategies.

"Instead of just chasing keywords, we’re focusing on crafting richer, more engaging content that really grabs attention," says Cheung. "We’re looking to incorporate more visuals, like videos and infographics, to draw people in. We’re fine-tuning our content to answer specific questions, so even with those summaries popping up, our pieces still stand out."

In this new era, audiences are searching on different platforms, therefore there’s a pressing need to optimise not only for traditional search engines but also for AI-driven platforms. Du at Jellyfish says that publishers now have more work to do, which is to learn how they are earning their share of model, specifically from Gemini (Google's AI chatbot) to gain visibility in AI Overviews and Gemini’s citations.

"We have built a tool called Share of Model to help us understand what Gemini thinks about a brand, taking into account the category, products and key audience personas," says Du. "This helps our clients identify the top cited domains captured by Gemini. It informs briefs across paid, owned and earned media. Specifically, you can fine tune content towards specific attributes that you would like to shape Gemini’s perceptions on to gain visibility. From there, you can continue to track your share of voice and measure performance."

However, Stephanie Wong, SEO director at Assembly APAC, says that SEO fundamentals don't change overnight.

"What's worked historically is still going to be critical, and there's no need to do a big strategy pivot just because there’s a new product," says Wong. "Studies have shown that over 50% of sources cited in AI Overviews are from first-page results. That said, AI Overviews reward content structured for quick consumption. We're refining content formats to align with this, incorporating more Q&A structures and conversational tones, and ensuring schema markups are airtight. The goal isn't to fight AI Overviews—it's to work with them and stay ahead of the curve."

Despite these optimisation efforts, Google has always dominated search, and AI Overviews is just another evolution of that dominance. SEO has never been a level playing field, and results are never guaranteed. While publishers, agencies, and SEO experts can try to optimise their content, Google ultimately sets the rules, which can be vague. Recent studies suggest that AI Overviews are routinely taking a chunk of visibility away from organic results, leading to a notable decline in referral traffic click-through rates. Amsive completed a large study based on 700,000 keywords across 10 websites in five key industries—finance, education, SaaS, healthcare, and pets—focusing on 10,000 keywords that triggered AI Overviews while already ranking organically. According to them, keywords that now trigger AI Overviews saw a CTR decline of 15.5% on average.

"We’ve definitely seen impact on referral traffic, in some instances we have seen reductions of 30%," says Sebastien Kriegel, digital partner, transformation & activations, UM Australia. "We are closely monitoring this impact via CTR trend analysis looking at the linear regression of data over the last 12 months."

While studies suggest a significant impact on referral traffic, particularly click-through rates, experts say that measuring the effectiveness of Google AI Overviews on referral traffic should be done differently.

"Since AI Overviews lean more towards research-based queries rather than conversion-driven keywords, success should be measured differently," says Wong. "Time on page, engaged sessions, and interaction rates should be what we look at to determine the value of this traffic."

Du concurs, stating that "instead of focusing on just referral traffic volumes, engaged sessions and conversion rates might provide a better consideration of impact post generating strategies to address your Share of Model on Gemini and AI Overviews mentions."

With nearly 19 million keywords now featuring AI Overviews, leveraging keyword data to inform content strategy is crucial. As a result, many are finding new approaches and best practices to better optimise content.

"AI Overviews thrives on top-of-funnel, research-based queries—'best coffee brands' is more likely to trigger AI Overviews than 'buy coffee now'. Understanding this distinction is crucial," says Wong. "Instead of chasing every AI Overview opportunity, we focus on the right ones, where brand exposure leads to real audience engagement. That means optimising for questions, enhancing authority in research-based topics, and ensuring our content is the go-to source that Google wants to feature."

Cheung at NP Digital says that his agency is diving into keyword data to inform its content strategy.

"Our goal is to create content that not only ranks well but is also genuinely helpful—so when AI gives a summary, our work doesn’t get lost in the shuffle," says Cheung. "More brands are showing up in featured results, and that’s where we need to aim to be. Conversational search is leading to new, longer, and more specific queries, giving us opportunities to target niche audiences with tailored content."

Meanwhile, Kriegel at UM says they are leveraging tools like SEMRush and Ahrefs to identify AI Overview keywords and compare against Google Search Console to identify zero click terms. "We are monitoring this changing space closely to understand keyword strategy implications and how this is being affected by content," says Kriegel. "Once we have more confidence in the data from a longer period of user search behaviours, we will look to implement a zero-click keyword SEO strategy."

Research from Jellyfish and YouGov finds that 66% of 18- to 24-year-olds in the US ask AI services such as Google Gemini, ChatGPT and Meta AI to make a recommendation about a brand, product or service. It's clear that the way people are searching is changing.

"This is beyond AI Overviews with people switching to other platforms like AI chatbots (Perplexity, Copilot) and social platforms (TikTok, Pinterest, Reddit) to get answers to their questions," says Kriegel. "This evolving space is a catalyst for us to rethink search holistically and focus on search everywhere."

While Google's AI Overviews are likely to significantly impact the search landscape, Wong stresses that the only certainty is constant change.

"The product is new and evolving fast. It's hard to say if what works now will work even two to three months down the line," says Wong. "However, one thing is certain: diversification matters. Brands relying on organic search for the lion's share of their traffic need to rethink their approach. AI-driven search is growing, and marketers need to invest in multi-channel strategies to maintain visibility—because in digital, agility wins."

Also published in: Campaign Asia

The real cost of cookies: Why clinging to the past is holding back the future of advertising

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 09:39:22 GMT

The real cost of cookies: Why clinging to the past is holding back the future of advertising

For years, third-party cookies were the duct tape of digital marketing - patched in to solve a problem they were never meant to fix. But now that the tape is peeling off, the cracks are widening. And yet, too much of the industry is still clinging on to them.

This is not just a technical issue. It’s a strategic one. And the longer advertisers and publishers delay moving on, the greater the cost - in lost reach, wasted spend, and diminished trust.

So let’s take a hard look at what’s broken, what it’s costing us, and how to move forward responsibly.

Cookies were never built for this

The original purpose of cookies was simple: to help websites identify and remember users from visit to visit. Somehow, that clunky mechanism became the default for targeting, tracking, and measuring across the open web.

But the cracks have been visible for years.

Browsers, such as Safari and Firefox, have progressively restricted or blocked third-party cookies altogether. What’s left is an unstable, inconsistent infrastructure that fails to deliver what advertisers need.

What are the practical implications of this?

At least 50% of your audience is unreachable: If your targeting is based on cookies, you’ve already lost access to at least half of your audience. That’s not theoretical; it’s happening now. In other words, if your media plan still relies on third-party cookies, you're speaking into a void.

You can’t control frequency: Frequency capping is one of the core pillars of effective digital advertising. And yet, with cookies, it’s becoming impossible. Without a clean, stable identifier, you have no way of knowing whether a user has seen your ad once or twenty times. The result? Oversaturation, wasted impressions, annoyed consumers - and a tarnished brand.

You’re flying blind on measurement: The goal of measurement is to understand what’s working and what’s not. But if cookies are literally crumbling, then so is your ability to link exposure to outcome. Third-party cookies no longer offer a coherent or consistent view of performance. This means your ability to optimise budgets, creatives or placements is severely compromised.

The real cost? You’re losing value every day

This is where it gets painful.

Lost revenue : With only half your audience reachable, you’re leaving value on the table - often without realising it.

Wasted spend : According to our internal benchmarks at Utiq, as much as 20% of media spend can be wasted due to frequency mismanagement alone.

Missed opportunities : Without accurate, transparent measurement, you can’t make confident decisions. And indecision is the enemy of growth.

This isn’t a small technical glitch. It’s a systemic inefficiency that advertisers are paying for every single day.

So, what’s the alternative?

We believe the answer isn’t to look backwards, but to start building a better, privacy-first future. Marketers need to implement technology that helps them 1. reach real people 2. respect their privacy and 3. perform both deterministically and at scale. This approach leverages authentic, user-consented identifiers, to enable better marketing performance and ROI.

By using secure signals like 3G, 4G, 5G and Wi-Fi - not third-party cookies - marketers can harness stable, cross-browser identifiers that embrace the clearest consent and most rigorous privacy standards - fostering trust, transparency, and accountability across the open internet.

By moving beyond cookies towards deterministic addressability and measurement of human audiences across all environments, including non-targetable browsers - marketers suddenly get access to unique and scalable value:

Improved addressability across all browsers
Better frequency control
Reliable measurement
Greater efficiency, less media waste

In short, you get privacy and performance, not either/or.

Stop waiting. Start rebuilding.

The truth is that cookies are already gone for much of your audience. Google’s inertia regarding deprecation might have bought some temporary comfort - but it doesn’t solve the problem. It just delays the inevitable.

The opportunity now is to lead. To build a tech stack that puts people first, not platforms. One that respects users while unlocking better performance for advertisers. As I often tell clients: the cost of doing nothing is far greater than the cost of doing something new.

So if you’re still relying on cookies, ask yourself: what would it take to rebuild with privacy, trust and effectiveness at the core? Let’s answer that question together, as an industry, and act on it.

Also published in: Martech Record

Sparteo hires Louis-Etienne Balleydier as Chief Legal Officer

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 09:35:05 GMT

Sparteo hires Louis-Etienne Balleydier as Chief Legal Officer

Sparteo , the suite of data-driven advertising technologies powered by AI, has appointed Louis-Etienne Balleydier as its new Chief Legal Officer.

Formerly Group General Counsel at Mirakl, Balleydier joins Sparteo with the mission of scaling and enhancing Sparteo’s legal operations in France and internationally to support its next phase of growth. He will also be joining the adtech firm's Executive Committee.

Louis-Etienne brings extensive experience in scale-ups, tech, and innovation to the role. Prior to joining Sparteo, he held several senior legal positions, including Group General Counsel at Mirakl, Senior Legal Counsel at SAP. He has also worked as a specialist intellectual property attorney.

His arrival comes at a pivotal time for Sparteo, as the company experiences rapid growth - including an 80% increase in revenues in 2024 - and accelerates its international expansion.

“We are thrilled to welcome Louis-Etienne to Sparteo. His unique experience, especially in growing the legal department at Mirakl during a phase of intense expansion, will be invaluable to us,” says Benjamin Tolman , co-founder and CEO of Sparteo. “Following the arrival of Alexandra Diez as Chief People Officer, we are assembling an exceptional C-level team to lead Sparteo into its next growth phase.”

Louis-Etienne Balleydier adds: "The adtech sector is accelerating rapidly, and Sparteo aims to become a global leader in this industry. I'm excited to step in as Chief Legal Officer to build and scale the legal team in France and abroad, and to support the group’s strong growth trajectory."

Also published in: The Drum

MarTech360 Interview with David Mandeno, co-founder and COO at Revving

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 09:29:24 GMT

MarTech360 Interview with David Mandeno, co-founder and COO at Revving

Hi David. Can you tell us a little about your journey into Revving and what problem you’re trying to solve?

I originally studied engineering in New Zealand before joining Unilever Australia as a graduate. I then worked as a management consultant, first in Sydney and then in London, before pivoting into corporate finance where I worked for a large media investment firm. This is where I met my Revving co-founder Chris Pettit.

We worked on a range of media investment initiatives, including how we could provide funding to mobile game developers to help them grow their businesses through user acquisition. Mobile gaming is a complicated ecosystem with massive amounts of highly granular data available in real time to help developers optimise their game. From a UX perspective, they are constantly having to evolve products using all of these data points, but we soon realised, despite having access to all this data, extended payment terms meant they were having to invest large sums in user acquisition before they were paid from in-app advertising or purchases.

We also realised that this problem was endemic across a range of digital ecosystems including programmatic advertising, affiliate marketing and digital music streaming, and that there was a real opportunity to combine both the technology element and the data element of these digital ecosystems, using our backgrounds in finance, to help smaller businesses access funding.

We dedicated the next few years to building the technology needed to be able to deliver our solution, and onboarded our first clients in December 2023. The number of customers we serve has been growing non-stop since then.

What’s your day-to-day role at Revving?

As the business has evolved, so has my role. But as an engineer, I’m focused on the product side – the technical and data elements behind our platform, ensuring that we can adapt our commercial proposition to support new customers from different segments or with different needs. I also oversee the operations side of the business, making sure we continue to support the ongoing funding needs of our clients.

How does the platform work, and how specifically are you improving the digital advertising industry?

For too long, the industry has normalised payment processes which perpetuate inequality between different players in the adtech and martech supply chain. It is not uncommon to see payment terms which require raising an invoice and then waiting up to 90 or 120 days to be paid. The three core challenges we see are funding availability, funding predictability, and supply chain transparency.

And so right now, if you’re a publisher monetising via impression sales for instance, 1) you’re waiting a long time to be paid, 2) depending on your demand partners, there can be a severe lack of predictability, and 3) there is also opacity in terms of suppliers further upstream upon whom your direct payors are relying.

We’re trying to solve these problems by providing a robust and transparent credit process where we assess upstream payors, and give our customers full visibility in terms of the payment risk in their digital supply chains. Meanwhile, we are also solving the funding challenge, because we are collapsing those payment terms and unlocking funding from working capital, while minimising the uncertainty around cash flows, because we’re paying on a regular basis, in a predictable way.

Imagine a ‘David and Goliath’ scenario, in which Revving as a payment intermediary gives power to the smaller clients, such as publishers at the bottom of the programmatic supply chain. Our technology captures granular, real-time transaction data from digital ecosystems and uses it to unlock instant payments.

What benefits are your clients seeing from their partnership with Revving?

Aside from providing funding to support operating cashflows, through us, our clients’ finance teams have consolidated tools for monitoring, analysing and managing cash flow – the platform is a source of centralised reporting, reflecting all their debtors. Knowing when they will get their money, and that they will not have long to wait, allows them to plan their finances and become more strategic, for instance, enabling our publisher and affiliate companies to reinvest and supercharge their own growth trajectories.

What does the future hold for Revving and the industry?

We recently secured a landmark investment of £107 million – £7 million equity and £100 million debt financing – and are in a better position than ever to support more clients across the adtech and martech ecosystem. We are building some exciting new partnerships with public affiliate networks, SSPs and global payment processors, and expect to have news to share on that very soon.

We are also developing a funding calculator for our website, which will enable potential customers to instantly check their eligibility for funding, and to access a demo of the platform to understand what it can do for them. In short, it’s a period of immense growth for us – and in turn for our existing and potential clients – as we strive to make unfair extended payments a thing of the past.

Thanks David!

Also published in: Martech360

Unlocking the mysteries of the new consumer journey with partnership marketing

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 09:24:14 GMT

Unlocking the mysteries of the new consumer journey

with partnership marketing

As we have all become accustomed to hopping from channel to channel and device to device, the consumer journey has gone through an undeniable sea-change in recent years. The traditional marketing funnel - in which consumers neatly, obediently descended from discovery to conversion to loyalty - no longer applies. Instead, discovery, consideration and conversion intermingle freely across various digital and physical spaces.

The challenge for marketers is best demonstrated by the fact that, while most consumer research is carried out online, recent eMarketer and impact.com research finds that 83.8% of retail spending still takes place in-store. 69.3% of consumers discover new products weekly, but they also engage with brands at least three times before spending. How do brands stay on top of that kind of scatterbrained multi-channel behaviour?

Tracking and engaging the user through their journey has undoubtedly never been more challenging, but the partnership economy is a powerful ally for brands and agencies looking to do that. My thanks to Nedra Lim, Product & Data Enablement Lead for Partnerships at Skyscanner; Dom Coleridge, Commercial Director, Scale Digital; and Inez Miedema - Co-Founder and CEO, GrowthHQ for contributing to this article.

Affiliates: Control the chaos

The contemporary consumer journey features multiple touchpoints across each section of the new consumer journey. This plays to the strengths of the partnership model, since affiliates, influencers and creators of any kind can be commissioned to engage consumers at each stage of their journey to purchase.

“Consumers today focus a lot on the human touch or a story element,” says Nedra, “so it’s crucial for brands to focus on partnerships that do exactly that - engaging consumers, rather than just churning revenue.” Different kinds of partnerships will work for different brands, so it’s all about using partnership marketing platforms to work out which partner type drives the most value, and where money is best invested.

Innovating beyond traditional partners

As the space matures, we’re also seeing the rise of new, niche partnership types. This includes content partnerships, fintech affiliates and AI-powered recommendation platforms. The latter in particular is gaining significant traction. “We’ve seen a huge uptick in brands focused on AI experiences - it’s a growing sector focused on exploration and it’s definitely key for a travel brand like us.”

Content creators are proving a highly versatile set of partners, and CTV is also in a very interesting place.“There is very much a ‘wild west’ feel with some partners in this new channel, and I think many platforms, including the MMPs, are trying to adapt their solutions to accommodate it,” says Dom, who notes that Scale Digital is nonetheless experimenting in the space via its app clients. For the platforms and partners that can adapt quickly the rewards are huge, he points out, especially given the size of the US market.

Attribution - move beyond last-click

In the multichannel, multi-device world, attribution is every marketer's biggest headache. It's difficult to innovate here, too, because much of the industry works on the last-click model, and pushing for change can potentially disincentive popular partnership types, such as cashback, that work this way.

Yet, given that customers typically engage with brands three or more times before buying, correct attribution beyond last-click is necessary if we are to understand the customer journey and fairly compensate all partners.

“There is no definitive answer of what the best attribution model is,” says Inez. “What's important is that you show the value each touchpoint or publisher drives along the funnel.”

For example, first paid click is powerful for recognising the contribution an influencer’s content plays in a campaign. Rather than working to completely upend an attribution model, brands and agencies might find it easier to experiment with new benchmarks.

High-value customers shape affiliate strategy

The eMarketer/impact.com study shows that high-income consumers (those who earn £200k+) research products five or more times before purchasing, and engage more with digital tools, influencer content and chatbots. As a result, ensuring that your strategy uses partners across the new consumer journey will give the best chance of engaging and ultimately converting this lucrative audience.

“While we continue to double down on our traditional partnerships, we have evolved our partnership strategy to start focusing on different parts of the funnel and rewarding partners differently - working with creators to drive inspiration, and AI partners to optimise in AI search,” says Nedra.

Nedra points out that consumers of all kinds are searching differently, increasingly using social media to research food recommendations, for example, and AI to build a travel itinerary in seconds.

Long-form content and third party validation via partners will drive an increasingly informed high-value audience to purchase. “Conversion rates are two to three times higher through those methods than with other paid channels,” says Inez.

The irrepressible rise of AI

AI has a huge role to play in optimising many aspects of how the partnership economy engages consumers in the customer journey. This includes driving dynamic commission structures, predictive analytics, and creating personalised offers.

But AI is also playing a key role in areas such as client relationship management. “We are essentially working on equipping our CS team with their own ‘personal assistants’ to execute the most valuable tasks for their clients’ strategy,” says Dom.

AI is also an increasingly powerful content creation tool, too. At the far end of the scale AI influencers are becoming increasingly common, but more prosaically AI is being used to develop video scripts, social media hashtags and foreign language translations.

Understanding - and successfully engaging with - the new consumer journey can seem a daunting task. Yet, partnership marketing is ideally placed to meet audiences at every step of their route to purchase.

Also published in: Performance Marketing World

A Stressful Environment Is Not Generally Conducive to Producing Great Work

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:55:11 GMT

A Stressful Environment Is Not Generally Conducive to Producing Great Work

Chris Pettit co-founded Revving in 2023 after a 20-year career as a financier, lawyer and entrepreneur in the technology, media, and entertainment industries, during which time he worked on more than 100 deals.

As CEO of Revving, Chris is on a mission to reshape the financial infrastructure for digital businesses, tackling an issue that has long held back entrepreneurs and creatives alike. In this interview, Chris describes the problems late payment terms cause for independent agencies, and how new technology can solve them.

Q> What’s the biggest challenge facing marketing agencies today?

Chris> In a nutshell, the biggest challenge they face is cashflow. Agencies are expected to deliver first, but are paid last. Margins are under constant pressure, scope creep is rampant, and the gaps in cash flow stifle the momentum. When you have to do the work 30, 60, 90 days in advance of getting paid for it, it makes it hard to give your full attention to the task in hand. The model’s broken. Everyone knows it, but it’s become normalised to the point where agencies just shrug and carry on, because they always have.

Q> So how did we get to this point?

Chris> It’s such a competitive market. Agencies are expected to carry out work up front to show what they can do and win contracts. And the payment terms are merely a discussion point after they’ve won the contract, and at that point, they are so happy to have won the pitch that they just accept whatever the client’s finance department tells them because they don’t want to rock the boat. But this has a massive impact on what they deliver, because the agency always has one eye on the finances. The account director, who should be focused on doing great work for the brand, is preoccupied with if and when they’re going to get paid for the work that they’re doing. And a stressful environment is not generally conducive to producing great work. If you take the payment issues out of the equation, the agency is freed up to think, be creative and produce great work.

Q> How does Revving aim to solve these issues?

Chris> When we set Revving up, we made a conscious decision to try to solve this problem for one specific industry – adtech. There are lots of invoice factoring companies out there who work across multiple sectors; we focus purely on adtech, and we go much deeper than factoring. We understand the way the digital economy works. We understand the nuances and contractual terms between the brand and the agency. We understand the SSP/DSP relationships and how publishers actually generate revenue. Ultimately, we are in the business of actually helping people run their businesses. Our platform integrates directly with digital marketplaces, verifying revenues in real time and unlocking payments straight away, even before an invoice has been raised. But there’s more to what we do than settling invoices quickly. If you talk to any of our clients, they will tell you that we roll up our sleeves and get embedded in how our clients operate, so they can focus on growth, not chasing invoices.

Q> And obviously you’re not doing this for the fun of it. How do you make your money?

Chris> We charge a small percentage of the transaction value over a 30-day period, depending on the debtor’s credit risk. For most businesses, that cost is far outweighed by the revenue they can generate through reinvestment. For example, if you’re running paid ad campaigns, you might be able to double or triple revenue over a short cycle. By accessing funds sooner, companies can reinvest faster and drive more growth. And it’s all completely transparent. When a company entrusts us with making sure they get paid promptly for their great work, they know exactly what our take rate, to use a term that anyone familiar with programmatic will recognise, will be. And our cut is minimal compared to what agencies can unlock by reinvesting. Faster payments mean faster growth, especially in the ultra-competitive world of digital media.

Q> Why has no one tackled this problem before?

Chris> That's a good question. I think firstly, it's messy, and it’s not always an easy topic to understand. And so it's not something that is often discussed. Creativity and finance don’t often sit at the same table. There's a lot of inertia around payment terms because everyone just accepts it as part of the cost of doing business. And to do what we’ve done, integrating with all these platforms, isn’t easy. Revving was built to isolate the late payment issue in adtech and create a solution for it, and that’s what we’ve done.

Q> There's been a lot of M&A activity in recent weeks. How does the future look for independent agencies?

Chris> I think for the ones that can crack the cashflow problem it’s bright, really bright. The big holding groups are always on the lookout for smart, agile agencies doing great creative work. But too many independent agencies are stuck in survival mode, unable to look up and out beyond stifling payment terms. That constant financial drag kills momentum, and valuations.

If we can take that weight off their shoulders, they can focus on what they do best: building brands, winning pitches, and scaling fast. That’s when they become seriously valuable, to their clients, to their teams, and eventually, to the groups looking to acquire them. And if we can help get them there faster, that’s a win for everyone.

Also published in: Little Black Book

Stop saying no to responsible advertising

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:45:58 GMT

Stop saying no to responsible advertising

It’s been a typically eventful and interesting month in digital advertising, with the headlines dominated at various points over the last few weeks by some wide-ranging themes.

AI personalisation and content creation have, of course, been in the news, as have privacy-first advertising sustainable and ethical advertising. Regulatory actions have seldom been far from the headlines either, as the EU fined Apple and Meta for Digital Markets Act violations; then there was the almost inevitable conclusion of Google’s on-off love affair with third-party cookies, as it came clean and announced that it would not, after all, be deprecating them in its Chrome browser – a move that ultimately surprised no-one.

Some of these themes are hot new topics, generating excited forecasts of the brave new future they promise. Others are the latest instalments in long-running adtech soap operas that no-one has yet managed to script a happy ending for – nor even a more complicated series of twists and turns to make such a thing possible.

Regardless of where your interests lie, however, there is a fundamental theme underpinning all these topics – and that is the way in which we are moving towards a more innovative, efficient, ethical and relevant version of digital advertising.

If we want a more responsible ecosystem, we must all play our part

This is great news, but as we all know, sometimes fundamental change in advertising can take a long time to bring about. And so our goal, and our MO, should be to do what is in our own control to speed up the move towards innovation, efficiency and more ethical practices.

In this respect, I feel like some of us are more motivated than others, and that it’s all too easy for inertia to take hold. That is understandable when you think about the number of years we have spent just bolting on more and more tech to solve an issue, rather than taking the time to think about things from the ground up.

There’s no blame here – we all have the day-to-day meetings and spreadsheets to attend to, for the sake of the clients who pay the bills. There often isn’t the time, or indeed the desire, to stop and think how we might be able to do things better.

Responsible advertising delivers better outcomes

Moreover, the decision-making power lies in the hands of the few. The good news is, those decision-makers are now waking up to the fact that responsible advertising is more efficient and delivers better outcomes, with less waste and negative impact on consumers. That’s a great opportunity for the people who make the big decisions to kill many birds with one stone – to the benefit of their customers, the bottom line, the reputation of the industry overall, and their own personal glory.

Because, contrary to popular belief, responsible advertising and business success are not mutually exclusive. In fact by adopting better, more sustainable and scaled best practices, we can expedite this better world and get closer to achieving the business goals – sustained profitability, growth, happy clients and consumers – that we all shoot for.

TL;DR
For the TL;DR version of this post, I’ll leave you something that transatlantic rower Felicity Ashley said at a recent BeBold event that really resonated with me: “Stop giving me reasons why you can’t, and give me a reason why you can.” If we all adopt this mantra, who knows where it might take us?

Also published in: New Digital Age

How Programmatic Platforms are Democratising Ecommerce for SMEs

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:37:27 GMT

How Programmatic Platforms are Democratising Ecommerce for SMEs

Ecommerce as an advertising channel has grown at unprecedented speed over the past decade and shows no signs of slowing. In fact, global spend reached a staggering $136 billion in 2024 and is forecast to surpass $145.5 billion by the end of this year.

Until now, it’s been the major players – think Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Sainsbury’s, Deliveroo – who have helped shape this growth, leaving little room for SMEs to compete. But now, in 2025, new trends and technology are leveling the playing field for advertisers of all sizes to benefit. Specifically, we’re seeing this happen through in-store ad placements, platform partnerships, and tech-driven attribution.

By equipping smaller businesses with the types of data‑driven programmatic solutions that historically only big brands have been able to access – such as smart bidding integration technology – we’re starting to drive a much fairer advertising ecosystem.

So what does the future of ecommerce hold for SMEs?

Recently, at Shop Talk 2025 in Las Vegas, three key themes emerged that are set to shape the industry in 2025: the power of AI, the importance of value transparency, and the ability to leverage retail media networks.

Activating AI to Drive Ecommerce Advertising

Across the board, AI is driving a new era of targeted marketing, seamless automation, and smarter logistics. According to McKinsey, generative AI could unlock up to $390 billion in retail value. Meanwhile, programmatic tools incorporating machine learning are being developed to predict when, where, and how customers are most likely to convert, enabling real-time, precision bidding on the impressions that matter.

Activating AI to Drive Ecommerce Advertisingachieving the Transparency Advertisers (And Consumers) Demand

The second theme at the event – surfacing in multiple sessions – was the notion of providing a transparent value chain to maximise shopper value, showcased by retailers including Primark and Back Market. Kevin Tulip, President US at Primark, explained how providing transparency enables customers to see the complete journey of product value from manufacturing to shelf: “Today’s value-conscious consumer doesn’t just want low prices – they want to understand how those prices are achieved ethically,”

Advertisers who actively implement value transparency enjoy a 27% uplift in customer loyalty among younger shoppers. In turn, by leveraging technology that provides a fully transparent view of every bid, every impression, and every pound of budget spent – preferably without incurring a fixed monthly fee – advertisers can be confident they have access to high-quality traffic at all times.

Accessing Big Networks on a Small Budget

Finally, the event highlighted the dramatic rise of RMNs (retail media networks) – platforms managed by retailers that let brands advertise directly on their websites or apps – coinciding with the growing influence of the attention economy.

According to Lisa Valentino, President of Ads at Best Buy, RMNs generate 18% of their total revenue, underscoring the importance of advertising in the wider retail strategy. Meanwhile, top consumer brands are dedicating 25% of their digital budgets to RMNs. As per Mike Glaser, VP of Commerce Media at PepsiCo, retail media delivers 3.2 times greater returns than traditional digital ads, while eMarketer’s Sarah Marsano added that RMNs now account for 28% of all UK digital ad spend.

For small businesses, RMNs such as Shopify, Amazon Ads, Walmart Connect and Nectar360 offer powerful growth avenues. According to Insider Intelligence, SME participation in retail media has grown by 43% in recent years, driven by lower entry costs, better targeting tools, and access to first-party consumer data, giving smaller brands unprecedented opportunities to scale in ecommerce.

Paving a Programmatic Path to Democratisation

Until now, many smaller merchants have been precluded from tapping into audiences at scale because most adtech platforms apply a minimum spend to cover the vast technical resource required to facilitate programmatic campaigns. However, more sophisticated, flexible platforms are entering the market that can turn a brand’s digital store into a mini‑network in a few clicks, using the brand’s first‑party data to fuel programmatic display across high‑quality publishers – all without a hefty fee attached. This freedom to only pay for traffic where ads are running is really starting to balance the scales and put advertisers of all sizes on an equal footing.

So if you’re looking to build your own ecommerce store while leveraging the benefits of larger networks, remember to choose a programmatic solution that focuses on AI, transparency, and leveraging RMNs – not to mention an easy set-up with a flexible budget. As Shop Talk 2025 demonstrated, whether you’re a global retailer or a sole trader, the future of ecommerce is bright.

Also published in: Marketing Insights

True teamwork: Why platform + agency is a winning combination

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 13:36:53 GMT

True teamwork: Why platform + agency is a winning combination

Partnership marketing is really all about value exchange, which can reap big benefits for all parties involved.

But could it be more, if, well, it was diversified a little?

Here Daisy-Blue Malden , RVP of Channel Partnerships at impact.com puts the case for why a mix of platform and agency may be the ultimate winning combination…

This year marks a personal achievement of 11 years in the affiliate industry (I missed the more obvious 10-year milestone on maternity leave), and this has given me cause to reflect on my learnings, opinions and hopes for how we evolve.

Having previously enjoyed a variety of experiences between publisher and platform roles, working to build brand presence and revenue growth, I watched the rise of technology platforms with interest.

I saw an opportunity to create a truly bespoke extension of brand teams, fully aligned to requirements, with the support of both a platform and a service provider.

Over the past five years at impact.com, I’ve focused solely on building an engaged ecosystem of agencies across EMEA, to support the ongoing success of the partnership economy and drive real revenue growth for our brand clients.

We’ve built a thriving Agency Partner Program to continue scaling our shared successes, consisting of over 110 members, each bringing a unique perspective and approach.

While affiliate marketing remains one of the most cost-effective and resilient channels within the marketing mix, the legacy network model causes significant constraints to growth potential.

Using a single provider for both platform and strategy, while seemingly a simple solution, deprives brands of crucial flexibility, cost efficiency and opportunities for innovation.

Essentially, convenience isn’t always king, and achieving the best of both worlds is simpler than it first may seem.

Here are my top tips to identify the best setup for your brand.

The key challenges of a pre-packaged solution

Slower innovation: Providers who bundle everything together often lack the incentive to push product innovation, relying on over-servicing and manual execution to take the place of technological improvement.

Limited autonomy: When platform and service are inseparable, brands often end up locked into a standard account management model with little capacity to customise.

This can stifle fresh thinking, make it difficult to deploy in-house expertise, and too expensive to also engage a specialist agency – even if brands can see the benefits in doing so.

Single-channel expertise: A packaged affiliate solution won’t take a view on broader channel mix and influence, and often can’t offer deeper data analysis without a brand actively sharing sensitive data, which isn’t always feasible.

The benefits of a more flexible approach

Best-in-class technology: Independent platforms deliver more robust tracking, flexible attribution, and customisable integrations to suit varied use cases.

Pricing on a fixed-fee model instead of an override or percentage of revenue removes the incentive to recommend bottom-of-the-funnel affiliates to inflate performance, instead of supporting sustainable growth.

Research from Forrester examining partnership automation found that brands using specialised SaaS solutions realised a 314% ROI over three years, largely due to improved affiliate performance visibility and the ability to scale efficiently.

Specialised strategic partners: Having a flexible technology foundation lets brands bring in top-tier agency expertise aligned with their unique goals – be that proving incrementality , diversifying the affiliate mix, or expanding

internationally.

With long-standing publisher relationships, agencies can also activate significant buying power and negotiation skills to enhance channel efficiency – something that networks are at a competitive disadvantage to achieve, on a traditional performance fee model.

Dovetailed delivery: A fully integrated experience is achievable across the impact.com agency ecosystem.

We work together to offer brands a true extension to marketing teams, by remaining accountable as subject matter experts in technology and strategy.

Our agency partners complete certification on our platform, beta test new functionality and join us in pushing the industry forward.

Getting started: four key considerations

1. Clarify your goals
Are you aiming for wider affiliate recruitment, deeper engagement, or a specific ROAS?

Pinpointing these objectives will help you evaluate which platform suits you best – and whether your in-house team can deliver the strategy or whether you might benefit from a specialist agency.

2. Assess skill gaps
If your internal team lacks experience in certain areas – e.g. regional expertise or cross-channel analysis – a tailored agency can fill that void.

When each side (platform and agency) focuses on its specialty, you’ll hit the ground running much faster than when you rely on a cookie-cutter solution.

3. Prioritise measurement
Look for a platform that excels in transparent reporting and customisable attribution models.

Then decide if you have the bandwidth to interpret and act on these insights, or if you’d prefer a specialist team to do so.

Knowledge is power, but only if you can convert data into results.

4. Create an action plan

Seek out the support of our global Channel Partnerships teams, to identify the right agency to meet your requirements, leveraging our deep knowledge of our ecosystem, for tailored recommendations and introductions.

As the industry matures and the pace of change accelerates, more and more brands are starting to move beyond rigid offerings towards a more suitable, flexible approach.

Freed from one-size-fits-all service wrappers, they can select exactly the right technology and pair it with the ideal strategic partner for each channel.

Affiliate and partnership marketing have a proven track record of adapting to shifting consumer preferences and regulatory changes, and today, the ability to independently select technology and strategic service providers makes these channels even more dynamic, putting power back in the hands of brands.

Also published in: Mediashotz

Shaken AND stirred (up): How to integrate this year's biggest adtech trends into your event theme

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 13:06:55 GMT

Shaken AND stirred (up):

How to integrate this year's biggest adtech trends into your event theme

2025 is a year rich in trending adtech themes, new products, innovation, and bombshell news. We’ve seen the ruling on Google’s open web monopolisation , increasing consumer calls to champion privacy, culture and authenticity, the rapid ongoing expansion of the partnership economy and the meteoric rise of CTV - among many others.

Needless to say, these topics will be the focus of many events in our industry. But as an organiser, how do you connect the dots across content, delivery and the guest experience to create an event that sticks in the mind? After all, that’s the goal - no one wants to organise an event that's forgotten before the canapés have even been digested.

To keep that from happening, we’ve put together a list of ideas on how you can tie some of this year's top trends, news items and topics into a physical event. These will help deliver an extra twist on the event's theme, and ensure you stand out from the crowd. Let’s take a ride through some funky event ideas…

The big C’s: CTV, curation, contextual

The topline: While we could write a book about each of these topics, there’s one big thing they have in common, and that’s the careful creation of a particular consumer experience. Whether that’s within contextual advertising, the connected TV experience, or an audience curation service that boosts advertising performance. It’s all about the consumer.

Why not try…

A photobooth opportunity for guests where different props and elements build a different context and customer experience for each photo.
An activation or presentation in which different versions of an ad or campaign are displayed to attendees. Have your audience vote and ask them: which stands out to you as the most creative? Which speaks to you the most in connection with the message of the ad? How would you change it to boost performance?

Authenticity, culture & creativity

The topline: These powerhouse topics are engaging the emotive side of advertising in 2025. Along with AI, they’re shaping much of the conversation around the adtech industry. Consumers crave authenticity, the human touch and the feeling of true meaning and experience, and so do your guests.

Why not try…

Have your guests submit, via poll (Slido is always effective), an ad campaign that really resonated with them, and why. Now, ask them to type that rough storyline or brief into ChatGPT, and see what it comes up with. Have them feed back on the results, see what they think: does AI really overtake when it comes to that human touch? Personally, the John Lewis Christmas adverts never miss when it comes to exemplifying the values of family and the emotions around Christmas for me, and I can’t imagine that getting any better!
Reiki or aura clearing: If the format fits, could you have someone practicing reiki or aura clearing on your guests? This works as a relaxing and rejuvenating experience which can encourage space for creativity for your guests.
Bake with a celebrity: What better way to encourage true experiences, connection and creativity than a VIP baking class with your team and prospects? This works well as a more intimate way to connect and celebrate culture, creativity and authenticity outside of a standard corporate setting.

The rise of the partnership economy

The topline: The partnership economy has been working its magic to generate revenue for a few years now. But as it hits the mainstream, we need to consider a few ways we might shape the theme of a partnership event, and give it some sparkle.

Why not try…

Incorporating fun combinations of food that demonstrate how two or more good things can combine to become greater than the sum of their parts. Ice cream flavours or ice cream rolls are a great hit for summer events, or even a ‘create your own smoothie’ bar with various combinations of fruit to symbolise partnership success.
On the subject of drinks, unlikely cocktail and mocktail flavour pairings are a fun way to spice up a partnership event - caramel and miso espresso martini anyone?
A puzzle game - guests form word or physical combinations to solve a problem, and win a prize

Of course it goes without saying that the above topics are a drop in the bucket of all of the incredible news and developments we’ve seen across adtech in H1 of this year, with so much more we could explore for event ideas and themes.

The key takeaway here, however, is to find a creative direction that leans into your content, and pairing it with a unique attendee experience for your guests. There’s always scope to put something completely different out there, and really make your mark on the delivery of new and exciting topics.

Rosie Hutchinson is The Digital Voice’s Events and Content Producer. A first-class Bachelor of Laws graduate from the University of Manchester, Rosie has transferred these skills throughout her two years of event experience and is hugely passionate about all things creativity, analysis and of course, events! Bringing enormous energy and enthusiasm to her role, Rosie prioritises client care and the highest standard of working at all times. She loves an opportunity to think outside of the box to create a standout project - keeping high energy levels and unique ideas at the top of the agenda.

AA/WARC Expenditure Report Q4 2024: Industry reactions

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 11:06:15 GMT

AA/WARC Expenditure Report Q4 2024: Industry reactions

The latest AA/WARC Expenditure report revealed the UK advertising industry delivering impressive growth over the past year.

But with multiple headwinds and much uncertainty ahead, how long can that continue to be the case? And what should brands, agencies and their adtech partners be doing to weather any storms ahead in 2025?

Here, media industry leaders share their insights on the latest report on the state of the industry…

Sean Adams, CMO, Brand Metrics

“Despite a slight downgrade in the 2025 forecast, a 6.3% growth outlook remains encouraging.

“For advertisers, proving the effectiveness of campaigns in driving brand awareness and favourability will be essential in justifying continued investment amidst shifting economic conditions.

“The starting point for this is to ensure they have the tools in place to measure these.”

A shoppable ChatGPT opens a whole new era for ecommerce

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 10:58:40 GMT

A shoppable ChatGPT opens a whole new era for ecommerce

An OpenAI x Shopify integration will transform online shopping and soon the internet will be a very different place. It might also spell an era in which other technologies, such as VR and Web3, finally explode. Think QR codes in 2020 - remember how they went from dusty museum labels to part of everyday life overnight?

Forget the traditional online shop, with endless search bars, drop-downs and visual product lists. Instead, imagine being greeted at a beautifully curated storefront by your digital personal shopper. It already knows your size, your style, the colors that suit you. Maybe you’ve uploaded a photo or a video so you can see how clothes would fit your body type, or analyze your running stride to recommend the perfect trainers.

You simply say: “I need an outfit for dinner this Saturday at [restaurant name]. Show me five options under £100.” Alternatively, “I’m training for a marathon, but my knees hurt. What’s going wrong - and which trainers would fix it?”

Adding fuel to the rumors, OpenAI just shared a video of its shopping features on LinkedIn yesterday.

The impact of Gen AI on e-commerce

By adopting Gen AI, e-commerce sites will move from being basic storefronts to full-on consultants and lifestyle experts. Personalisation will take on a whole new level: for instance, the AI will be able to check the restaurant you’re dining at and suggest outfits based on what people typically wear there. Smart, right?

In turn, we’ll likely see:

Lower return rates: Virtual try-ons and smarter sizing through photo analysis will slash the number of disappointed customers.
Reduced bounce rates: Online stores will curate themselves around the individual customer, making shopping frictionless and personal.
Rise of ‘shopper loyalty’: Consumers will start to build an affinity with the stores that make their lives easier and make them feel special.

How brands can prepare for the new era

My top tips would be:

Focus on user-generated content: Feedback, reviews, and photos from real customers will be gold dust when it comes to training better models and improving recommendations. The more you can collect, the better the model.
Build a real community: If AI can personalize your site, it can personalize any site, enabling consumers to search at scale. Therefore, your brand needs to foster an emotional connection, not just offer a good deal, to stand out.
Train your assistant cleverly: Consider what is unique about your personal shopper system. ‘Surprise and delight’ customers - don’t just recommend a dress for Saturday night; show them how to style it for work on Monday too (hello, upsells and cross-sells!).

This new partnership could mark an unprecedented step forward in using Gen AI as a shopping tool. Bringing the entire shopping session - product details, pricing, reviews, and even a ‘Buy Now’ button - straight into the UI will completely change how consumers shop online.

The brands that win will be those that think beyond the transaction and create experiences that feel truly personal. The future is coming faster than we think. And honestly, I can’t wait.

Suzanna Chaplin is the co-founder and CEO of esbconnect, a leading UK-based martech company specializing in data-driven email marketing and customer acquisition. Since founding the company in 2014, Chaplin has transformed esbconnect into a powerhouse that has worked for more than 600 consumer brands.

Also published in The Drum

Brand Innovators expands into the UK and Europe

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 10:43:20 GMT

Brand Innovators expands into the UK and Europe

Brand Innovators , the global community of over 50,000 senior brand marketers from Fortune 500 and other leading brands, has announced a major expansion into the UK and Europe, with 10 events scheduled for 2025, including the Marketing Leadership Summit during SXSW London from 2-5th June; Entertainment & Marketing Summit during Cannes Film Festival from 16-18th May; and Brand Innovators Beach during Cannes Lions from 16-19th June.

Over the past 14 years, Brand Innovators has built a community of senior marketers through hosting more than 200 events annually across major cities worldwide. In Europe, it is best known for its flagship event held during Cannes Lions, where more than 1,000 senior brand marketers join Brand Innovators at its beach activation across four days.

Now, the company is adding to this line-up with seven UK events, one in Amsterdam, one in Paris, and plans to launch in other major European cities. The events offer senior brand marketers the opportunity to learn from each other and from solutions providers via roundtable discussions, fireside chats, panel debates and presentations. All Brand Innovators events are open to senior brand marketers on an invitation-only basis.

“We are excited about expanding to the UK and Europe, home to some of the most innovative and influential brands in the world and some of the most cutting edge CMOs” stated Marc Sternberg, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, at Brand Innovators. “We have had a long association with SXSW in Austin, so it was only natural for us to launch our first Brand Innovators Leadership in Brand Marketing Summit at SXSW London in June. Our events provide senior brand marketers from leading brands with a unique opportunity to learn, share and connect in a relaxed environment, enabling them to forge new and lasting business relationships. We will be bringing this same vibe to our UK and Europe operations.”

The following is Brand Innovators’ complete line-up of events and activities in the UK and Europe for the remainder of the year:

30th April: Brand Innovators Marketing Innovation Summit hosted at VML at WPP HQ in London
16-18th May: Brand Innovators Entertainment Marketing Summit @ Cannes Film Festival at the Armani/Caffè in Cannes
May 22nd: Brand Innovators Brand Growth Summit hosted by Publicis Groupe and Bel Groupe at Publicis HQ in Paris
2-5th June: Brand Innovators Leadership in Brand Marketing Summit @ SXSW London at All Star Lanes on Brick Lane
16-19th June: Brand Innovators Leadership in Brand Marketing Summit @ Cannes Lions at Rado Plage in Cannes
30th June-4th July: Brand Innovators Roundtables @ The Wimbledon Tennis Championship in London
3rd July: Brand Innovators Culture & Entertainment Summit hosted at Unilever at Unilever HQ in London
25th September: Brand Innovators Media & Creative Effectiveness Summit hosted Ace Agency and The Kraft-Heinz Company at Ace Agency in Amsterdam

Senior brand marketers from leading brands may apply for their complimentary Registration to Brand Innovators events by completing the following brief membership form: brand-innovators.com/events .

Also published in: Mobile Marketing Magazine

Bothered or not? Advertising industry leaders react to Google keeping third-party cookies on Chrome ecosystem

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 10:36:09 GMT

Bothered or not? Advertising industry leaders react to Google keeping third-party cookies on Chrome ecosystem

With Google previously stating that they will not deprecate third-party cookies at all, the tech giant has recently stated that it will still keep third-cookies in its Google Chrome system, albeit with promises from Google to enhance tracking protection for consumers. For instance, Chrome’s Incognito mode will continue to block third-party cookies by default, and new features like IP Protection—slated for rollout in Q3 2025—will further enhance private browsing.

Moreover, Google stated that with cookies sticking around for now, Google is reevaluating how its Sandbox APIs can best support the ecosystem.

It is worth noting that this comes as a surprise for everyone in the industry, especially how most of advertisers have already prepared for the eventual sunset of third-party cookies in favour of more privacy-centric alternatives like using first-party cookies.

With Google showing no signs of phasing out third-party cookies anytime soon, what sentiments advertising leaders have with this news? And what are they doing currently in response to this? To answer these questions, MARKETECH APAC recently spoke with industry leaders to learn more whether this news should come as a concern or not for the future of the advertising industry.

Niall Hogan, general manager (JAPAC) at GumGum

Google’s decision to roll back on the phase-out of third-party cookies signals a reluctance to let go of outdated advertising models that may no longer be the best fit for today’s adland. Across JAPAC, we’re seeing rising expectations from consumers for greater transparency, control, and respect in how their data is used.

Brands that continue relying on surveillance-based tactics risk falling behind – not just in performance, but in consumer trust. By pivoting towards attention-based solutions that enable relevant, respectful engagement without compromising privacy, we can instead focus on building the privacy-first strategies consumers have already been calling for.

Will Harmer, chief product officer at Utiq

Google’s latest move to delay the demise of third-party cookies is not a product decision – it’s deliberate procrastination. Just weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice formally labelled the company a monopolist in digital advertising, we are now expected to believe that yet another “pause” in cookie deprecation is in the name of user privacy?

Let’s be clear: this is not a pivot. It’s a stall – a regulatory negotiation disguised as a product roadmap update. The timing is no coincidence. And the consequences are clear. Every time the industry waits, Google wins.

The industry has spent the last five years acknowledging – and preparing for – the end of third-party cookies. Why? Because they don’t work. They leak data. They slow the web. They offer poor match rates. And they leave publishers blind to who’s accessing their audiences.

Holding onto this outdated technology does not solve the privacy challenge – it extends it. Third-party cookies are a relic of a time before user consent was mandatory, before data governance mattered, and before regulators began enforcing real accountability. We cannot build a privacy-first future on yesterday’s infrastructure.

Publishers, advertisers, and tech providers now face a critical decision. Stay shackled to a monopolist whose every move is under regulatory fire – or choose independence through new models of identity and trust.

Brands already see what’s coming, with the smart ones clearly prioritising privacy-compliant identity partners. This is not a fringe movement. This is the future of digital marketing. Google’s indecision changes nothing – except the urgency with which we must act. Now is not the time to wait and see. Now is the time to commit. The industry doesn’t need more delays. It needs leadership. Let’s move forward. Together – without Google and without third-party cookies.

***

Despite Google’s plans to keep third-party cookies in Chrome after all, advertisers are increasingly unfazed. The industry has already begun pivoting toward more privacy-centric strategies, driven by evolving consumer expectations, regulatory pressures, and the growing adoption of alternative identifiers and first-party data solutions. This shift underscores a broader recognition that the future of digital advertising lies in building trust and transparency, not clinging to legacy technologies. Advertisers should see Google’s postponement not as a reason to pause, but as further validation that proactive, privacy-forward innovation is the path forward—and the time to act is now.

GumGum claims new standard for low-carbon digital ads

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 10:44:53 GMT

GumGum claims new standard for low-carbon digital ads

Contextual adtech GumGum said it has achieved an overall impression intensity of just 0.48 grams of CO2e per impression – significantly outperforming the industry benchmark of 2.45 grams per impression, a score calculated as a 50/50 split between programmatic and direct buy types.

Through its continued partnership with Cedara , the Carbon Intelligence Platform and a leader in media decarbonisation, GumGum said it remains at the forefront of sustainability in adtech.

GumGum carbon performance

In programmatic advertising (ads placed through automated digital auctions), GumGum said it generates 0.67 grams of CO2 per impression, compared to the industry benchmark of 4.24 grams – meaning its carbon footprint is nearly 85% more efficient than typical programmatic ads.
In direct advertising (ads placed directly with a publisher, rather than through an automated auction), GumGum claims to be even more efficient, generating just 0.06 grams of CO2 per impression – 90% more efficient than the industry benchmark of 0.66 grams.
For video ads, GumGum’s intensity scores are also considerably more efficient than industry benchmarks. For programmatic video, with scores at 1.74 grams per impression versus the industry benchmark of 4.83. For direct video, GumGum scores at 1.03 grams per impression versus the industry benchmark of 1.25.

“Sustainability in digital advertising isn’t a future goal—it’s something we’re delivering today,” said Kara Petrocelli, Senior Director of Platform Operations at GumGum.

“We’re proving that brands and publishers don’t have to compromise between performance and sustainability.

“By optimising bidstream efficiencies and data centres, removing certain inventory type classifications like MFAs, and embracing contextual solutions, we’re not just reducing emissions—we’re setting a new standard for responsible advertising.”

GumGum’s carbon footprint is measured according to the Global Media Sustainability Framework (GMSF), the standardised methodology for media emissions measurement, released in June 2024 by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and Ad Net Zero.

Unlike previous methodologies, the GMSF provides a holistic, granular, and consistent approach, ensuring more accurate and comprehensive carbon reporting.

Cedara, a founding supporter of Ad Net Zero US and a member of IAB Europe led the measurement process, calculating GumGum’s carbon intensity values by leveraging the GMSF.

The same methodology was applied to calculate industry benchmarks, offering an apples-to-apples comparison.

“The advertising industry is increasingly shifting toward more sustainable media practices, and GumGum is setting a powerful example of what’s possible,” said Eric Shih, Chief Operating Officer at Cedara.

“GumGum has achieved one of the lowest carbon intensities we’ve seen in digital advertising. Their ability to reduce emissions by 90% compared to industry benchmarks demonstrates how data-driven decision-making can drive both sustainability and business success.”

As sustainability continues to be a top priority for brands and advertisers, GumGum said it remains committed to advancing contextual solutions that reduce environmental impact without sacrificing performance.

By aligning with global industry standards and optimising ad delivery, GumGum is paving the way toward a lower and more efficient carbon future for the digital advertising industry.

GumGum continues to further investigate ways to drive more sustainable advertising solutions, including developing science-based emissions reduction targets as part of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

Also published in: Mediashotz

The Open Internet is at Risk – and It’s Time to Act

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 09:49:09 GMT

This is a subtitle for your new post

Emma Newman, CRO EMEA at PubMatic and winner of The Wires' Adtech Personality of the Year, writes on the risks to the Open Internet and journalism, and how digital advertising can save the day. You can hear more from Emma on Episode 1 of our podcast Legends of Adtech – out now!

The internet is at a crossroads. Not from the rise of AI overlords, but from a subtle, profound shift in how we access, trust and engage with content. AI-driven algorithms are reshaping search behaviours, traffic to publishers is declining and vital historical information is quietly disappearing. Meanwhile, social media platforms are retreating from content regulation and user-generated content is increasingly being hidden from public view just months after it’s posted (Pew Research Center).

This isn’t just about broken links or missing posts – it’s about the very future of the open internet.

Walled gardens, AI content filtering and bias insertion threaten to erode the transparency, accessibility and diversity that have made the internet one of the greatest forces for democracy, culture and human progress. And adding to this crisis, professional journalism, the heartbeat of a well-informed society, is under siege. In just the first few months of 2025, over 900 journalists have lost their jobs (Press Gazette). These warning signs are flashing brightly.

Yet there is a powerful force that can reverse this dangerous trend: digital advertising .

Advertising: The Lifeline of a Thriving, Open Internet

At the heart of an accessible, affordable and open internet is digital advertising. Without it, we risk losing the high-quality journalism that holds power accountable, the entertainment that inspires millions and the information ecosystems that empower citizens and fuel economies.

The numbers are staggering: digital ad spending on the open internet is forecasted to hit $513 billion in 2025 (dentsu). This funding is not just monetary support, it is what enables Pulitzer Prize-winning investigations, groundbreaking entertainment and world-shaping innovation to flourish.

Without advertising, what happens to our shared cultural moments, our collective history and the vibrant communities that form around trusted content? What would the world look like without the investigative journalists who expose corruption, the documentaries that challenge us to think differently or the sporting events that unite entire nations?

Introducing: #FundedByAdvertising

At PubMatic, we believe it’s time to act. That's why we are proud to launch the #FundedByAdvertising campaign. A movement to champion the publishers, journalists, creators and innovators who shape the culture of the open internet every day.

#FundedByAdvertising is a rallying cry. A reminder that good advertising doesn't just sell products, it sustains free access to information, supports creativity and drives societal progress.

Great advertising respects user privacy, promotes transparency and enhances user experiences through innovative formats like contextual and interest-based advertising. It protects user trust while ensuring publishers can continue producing the vital content society depends on.

Advertising is more than just commerce - it’s culture.

Champions League: A Watershed Moment for Live, Streamed Culture

The landscape of media consumption is undergoing a dramatic transformation as live sports and major cultural events increasingly migrate to digital platforms. These shifts are not only changing how we access content but are also redefining the very nature of shared cultural experiences.

Take the UEFA Champions League as an example. In 2025, for the first time, major Champions League matches, including key semifinals, were broadcast live exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in Germany, reaching millions of viewers outside traditional TV.

These matches weren’t just streamed – they were supported by advertising , with pre-game, halftime, and in-stream ads creating a vital revenue stream that helped keep access affordable and content accessible. This watershed moment underscored the growing demand for live sports through digital platforms, and the critical role that advertising plays in sustaining these culture-defining events.

Digital advertising doesn’t just fund broadcasts; it keeps these moments accessible to all, democratising experiences that otherwise might have been paywalled or restricted.

The Rise of FAST and CTV: New Frontiers for Storytelling

The migration of content to Connected TV (CTV) and FAST platforms offers another powerful example of advertising’s positive impact. In 2025, an estimated $32.82 billion will flow into the CTV advertising market (eMarketer), fuelling a golden age of digital storytelling.

This year's Oscars recorded its largest digital footprint yet, with 1.65 million viewers streaming via mobile or desktop – part of a total audience of 19.7 million , the highest in five years (NBC News).

Platforms like NBCUniversal, Paramount, Roku, and Warner Bros. Discovery are leading this revolution, making award shows, scripted series, and live events accessible without sky-high subscription fees – thanks to the support of digital advertisers.

By embracing #FundedByAdvertising, we celebrate these partners and ensure that cultural storytelling remains diverse, vibrant, and affordable.

Journalism: The Foundation of a Healthy Internet

Without strong journalism, the internet risks devolving into a chaotic, credibility-free zone.

The massive layoffs across Euronews, Axel Springer, and Tamedia serve as a stark warning: if we do not actively fund professional reporting, we risk silencing the critical voices that hold the powerful accountable.

At PubMatic, we’re proud to support publishers like The Guardian, The New York Times, Vox Media and many more through privacy-conscious, ethical advertising. Our commitment remains clear: an open internet without quality journalism is no internet at all .

Channel 4’s call for a "trust mark" to help audiences identify credible news sources reflects the kind of innovation needed to rebuild trust in a fragmented digital world but it will only succeed if we sustain it with robust advertising investment.

Consumers Understand the Value and Expect It

Recent research from IAB Europe revealed that consumers receive, on average, €212 worth of free digital services every month thanks to advertising. Moreover, 60% of Europeans support a “pay or consent” model — but only when the value exchange is made crystal clear.

This is our opportunity. We must transparently communicate the essential role advertising plays in maintaining a free and open internet. When consumers see the real value they receive, they are far more willing to support the ecosystem.

New Voices, New Opportunities

Advertising doesn’t just sustain the status quo, it opens doors.

At Advertising Week Europe, GroupM’s Chris Keenan shared how GroupM doubled its investment in women’s sports advertising. Over 20 brands increased their commitments, unlocking new revenue streams and elevating underrepresented athletes and communities.

This cultural shift, towards greater equity, visibility, and innovation was made possible by brands willing to invest through smart, ethical advertising strategies.

It’s a powerful reminder: the open internet isn’t just a marketplace of ideas. It’s a thriving garden of stories, creativity and possibility and it needs our collective support to flourish.

Join the Movement: #FundedByAdvertising

This is more than a campaign. It’s a movement.

Advertisers, agencies, publishers and consumers alike must stand together to protect the open internet. An internet where information is accessible, creativity thrives and human connection remains at the centre of the digital experience.

At PubMatic, we have been connecting advertisers and publishers for nearly 20 years, moving nearly $10 billion through the ecosystem to support journalism, storytelling and innovation.

Now, we’re proud to be the voice behind #FundedByAdvertising. But this isn’t about us — it’s about all of us.

Let's celebrate the journalists, the artists, the athletes, the storytellers. Let's invest in the open internet and preserve it for future generations.

Because when we get this right, we don’t just protect the internet — we make it better .

Join us. Share the message. Support the cause.

The future of the open internet is #FundedByAdvertising .

To learn more about our podcast and demystify the industry, head over to our new website, adtechjuice.com !

The alchemy of audience trust

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Fri, 16 May 2025 08:38:59 GMT

The alchemy of audience trust

Trust is complicated topic. There is a wealth of factors that feed into whether or not we decide to trust in an individual or an organisation and different groups will prioritise different elements when forming their opinions. On top of that, it is far easier to lose trust than it is to gain; one wrong move could undermine decades of brand building.

Audience trust has always been important for publishers, but as AI ramps up the speed and virality of misinformation and disinformation, it is increasingly critical to make sure that foundation is solid. We reached out to our Associate partners to discover what they considered to be the key factors in building trust with your audience. From privacy management, to a streamlined ad experience, to fact-checked and reliable content, here are the eleven areas that should be top priorities for publishers right now.

Educate audiences on privacy and the value exchange needed to fund quality content.

By providing transparency and choice, publishers can build trust with their readers and drive a more engaged and enriched customer experience.

How can this be achieved? By being clear and concise on the value exchange that is required in order for the publisher to continue to provide fact-checked, unbiased, verified professional journalism. This starts with clear and transparent consent and is followed by respect for that consent in line with privacy regulations. Getting this right is the gold that grows trust, and a better user experience. A consented and trusting audience will drive better outcomes all round; more engagement, more interaction, more brand loyalty, in an era when audiences are on the decline, and every single reader matters.

Catherine Murray, Head of Partner Services UK, Utiq

Adopt measurement solutions beyond third-party cookies.

To build audience trust, publishers must prioritise transparency, especially in data handling. A privacy-first approach demonstrates they are committed to respecting audience expectations at a time when concerns about online privacy are growing. This also extends to measurement. By adopting measurement solutions that are free of third-party cookies and do not capture personal information, publishers can deliver meaningful insights, whilst also protecting user anonymity. Educating audiences about these practices fosters greater confidence in the platforms they engage with. Trust is built when publishers show they value both effectiveness and ethics in their campaigns, reassuring audiences that their privacy is never compromised.

Sean Adams, CMO, Brand Metrics

DOOH breaks out: Programmatic growth fuels global ad push

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Fri, 16 May 2025 08:19:10 GMT

DOOH breaks out: Programmatic growth fuels global ad push

From the U.S. to Germany to the U.K., the digital out-of-home (DOOH) market is booming, fueled by a wave of commercial activity and tech improvements attracting ad budgets.

Just in the past few months, in the U.S., T-Mobile acquired OOH media company Vistar in a $600 million deal; in Europe, Bauer Media Group snapped up Clear Channel Outdoor Europe-North , Ströer is in talks to sell its OOH business to private equity in a €4 billion deal and JCDecaux plans to double its London footprint of roadside screens.

Industry leaders say DOOH’s unique appeal — especially with the integration of programmatic buying — is driving this activity.

“[OOH’s] position as the only remaining mass medium without audience reach degradation or fragmentation all contributes to more deals being done,” says Wade Rifkin, EVP and GM of programmatic and commerce at Clear Channel Outdoor.

“When you focus in on the Vistar deal specifically, programmatic DOOH has been on a growth track that outpaces the OOH industry, and it’s been bringing incremental investment into the space,” Rifkin adds.

Data collated by Outsmart, the trade body for OOH advertising in the U.K., shows spending reached £1 billion during 2024, a 12% increase from 2023. The DOOH market in APAC is predicted to surpass $30 billion by 2030. Meanwhile, a global study by GroupM predicts DOOH could make up 42% of all OOH revenue in 2025.

Tech advancements are key to this growth, according to Vaughn Ericson, SVP of activation strategy at True Media.

“The rapid growth of technology built into digital screens from higher resolution, video capabilities, interactivity, real-time dynamic creative capabilities and personalization has made DOOH ads more relevant, engaging and effective for advertisers and audiences,” he says.

Research by the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) found that 76% of American consumers have taken an action after being exposed to a DOOH placement.

Programmatic DOOH is another growth driver. Real-time buying and selling has simplified entry to the market and enabled messaging that is timelier and more engaging. “Programmatic DOOH has achieved critical mass in both inventory supply across formats and venue types, and in buy-side utilization,” Rifkin says.

DOOH is also becoming a key part of omnichannel campaigns, allowing brands to use first-party data to segment audiences and tailor dynamic messages by location or demographic details.

“The combination of audience-based planning on top of the premium and high-quality contexts that OOH offers is a powerful one-two punch,” Rifkin says.

“You can’t truly be omnichannel, in the sense of reaching customers across the totality of their daily journey without OOH. It’s a channel that makes the rest of the mix more performant, and ultimately, that’s what marketers care about,” he adds.

And DOOH is integrating with another fast-growing channel: connected TV (CTV). “DOOH extends the campaign’s reach beyond the living room, effectively turbocharging results by reaching audiences in dynamic, high-impact environments,” says Thomas Allemand, VP for adtech and supply at Jellyfish.

Allemand says DOOH works particularly well with younger consumers who aren’t as reachable with traditional TV.

“Moreover, with TV ad costs rising, I see advertisers increasingly leaning into DOOH for its flexibility and cost-efficiency,” Allemand says. “Brands are increasingly viewing DOOH and CTV as parallel digital video channels, using DOOH to fill the gaps where TV reach is declining.”

Also published in: The Current

The Digital Voice lands near perfect score in agency survey

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Fri, 16 May 2025 08:06:09 GMT

The Digital Voice lands near perfect score in agency survey

For the second time in succession, The Digital Voice has been hailed as an exceptional place to work in a survey of leading PR, communications, digital, integrated and full-service agencies by employee experience consultancy YouBecome.

The Digital Voice

YouBecome ’s Agency Benchmarker study looks at the “people metrics” in the marketing agency sector, focusing on the views of the lifeblood of these agencies: their staff.

It seeks employees’ views on what their agency does well, areas where it could improve, and the likelihood they will still be working there in 12 months’ time.

Agencies that complete the survey are then able to benchmark themselves against their counterparts across the industry.

Based on results so far, The Digital Voice currently holds top spot – although it should be noted that responses are still being collected for another two months.

But the agency’s true achievement is an eNPS of 100, which indicates that all respondents said they would recommend the company as a place to work.

When asked to rate the company’s performance across aspects such as the clarity of the company’s values and mission statement, the extent to which employees’ opinions are taken seriously, and employees’ understanding of what excellence looks like in their role, the company scored an average of 5.6 out of 6.

YouBecome Managing Director Mike Turner described the result as “other-worldly”, representing an improvement on the agency’s score of 5.5 in the previous survey.

“There seems to be some sort of happy gas at The Digital Voice,” said Turner.

“The average score of 5.6 is just exceptional, and not what we would typically see.

“From the responses, it’s clear that everyone at The Digital Voice believes in the agency, its mission and vision, and that it is an inspiring place to work.”

When asked what The Digital Voice does best, employee responses included:

“It’s a positive and happy place, it works very hard for its clients.”
“Where do I start? I’ve never worked anywhere before here where I’ve believed everyone on the team is genuinely equal, both in influence and value. We are inspired, motivated and rewarded.
Another praised the agency’s “work-life balance, listening to employees, creating a team feeling, even though we’re remote.”

The Digital Voice CEO and Founder, Julia Linehan, said the results of the survey were a testament to the trust the staff at the company put in each other: “While we have been 100% remote from day one, it’s clear from the responses to the survey that there is a real sense of belonging and trust among everyone who works here”.

“At the same time, our people benefit from the life-work balance that comes when you take the daily commute out of the equation, and give people the flexibility to work in the way – and at the times – that best suits their lives.

“Everyone surveyed said they will ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ still be working here in 12 months’ time. That’s a statistic to be proud of.”

The Agency Benchmarker study was created to encourage more agencies to understand and model outstanding behaviour performance from the industry.

As more agencies join the project, further results will be shared to compare agencies in the industry and highlight how they can strive to improve.

Also published in: Mediashotz

Imperial College Business School taps into The Brandtech Group’s leading Generative AI capabilities to upskill marketing students

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Fri, 16 May 2025 08:03:05 GMT

Imperial College Business School taps into The Brandtech Group’s leading Generative AI capabilities to upskill marketing students

The Brandtech Group is announcing a new pilot programme with Imperial College Business School to enable MSc Strategic Marketing Online students to be trained on how to use its Gen AI marketing platform, Pencil, for a hands-on Gen AI learning experience.

The pilot programme will be part of the university’s MSc Strategic Marketing Online on-campus week and has been designed to bridge the gap between theory and practice, offering the next generation of marketing leaders real-world experience in AI-driven content creation – from market insights and ideation, text, image and video generation, to predictive performance, media launch and impact measurement in real-time.

After students have been trained on how to use Brandtech’s market-leading Gen AI marketing platform Pencil and received keynote talks about the ‘Future of AI in Marketing’, ‘Sustainability in AI in Marketing’ and ‘Bias and Responsible Use of AI in Marketing,’ they will have the opportunity to try Pencil to replicate real-life marketing scenarios for the Unilever brand, Knorr. Pencil aggregates all the latest and best Gen AI models and enables marketers to make ad campaigns from end-to-end, from testing concepts right through to launching into digital channels, with a one-click connection to a brand’s ad accounts, from TikTok to YouTube to Instagram.

The students will showcase their new expertise in a live presentation delivering a proposal for Knorr using Pencil for insight generation, strategy development, and ad creation.

After students have completed their Pencil training and live presentation, they will receive a Pencil accreditation badge on LinkedIn, to evidence the knowledge and skills they have gained through the pilot programme and to help improve their employability.

This initiative goes beyond traditional curricula and is a strategic move to upskill the next generation of talent. A recent study found that 72% of companies are lacking the necessary talent in key areas like AI, underscoring the necessity for this programme.

The pilot programme between Brandtech and Imperial College Business School is not only the first step to transform marketing academia, but also preparing the marketing industry with a new wave of AI-literate professionals ready to redefine digital storytelling.

Brandtech Group Partner and Head of Emerging Technologies, Rebecca Sykes, says: “Gen AI is dramatically changing the way brands create content and engage with their audiences. Understanding and being able to operate the key tools is a vital skill that all marketers now need. We’re thrilled to partner with Imperial College Business School to play a pivotal role in the upskilling of students to equip them with new skills and help them stand out in the industry.”

Imperial College Business School, Senior Teaching Fellow in Marketing, Dr Julie Lewis, says: “We’re very excited to be working with the Brandtech Group, Pencil and Unilever on this innovative and experiential teaching and learning pilot. Hearing from expert industry speakers will enable our students to develop their understanding of important issues, including sustainability, bias and responsible use of AI in Marketing, and it will help them to create AI marketing campaigns in an ethical way. In addition, being trained on how to use the Pencil platform to use AI to create marketing campaigns and to respond to a brief and pitch their ideas to Unilever helps our students to develop sought after skills in Marketing and AI, as well as how to work as a team and communicate effectively.

Unilever Digital and PR Strategy Head, Olivia Kirby, adds: “We’re delighted to be supporting The Brandtech Group and Imperial College Business School with this immersive programme. We’re already seeing how generative AI is rapidly changing the industry – the speed of change is extraordinary. The entire marketing industry is looking for people who can leverage this ever-evolving technology to transform their marketing. This is a great initiative that will help equip these students with invaluable skills.”

Pencil, which came to market in 2018, has already transformed marketing ecosystems, having created more than 2 million ads for 5,000+ brands including Unilever and Diageo, with $2.5bn+ of media spend having flowed through the platform enabling performance prediction as well as generation.

Pencil is unique as it aggregates the latest and most advanced Gen AI models from Google AI, OpenAI, Adobe Firefly, Runway, StabilityAI and more, positioning the participating students at the forefront of digital storytelling.

The programme will immerse and educate students in leading AI tools including GPT-4o, Google Veo 2 and Imagen, Stable Diffusion, Bria, Getty Images Adobe Firefly, Runway Gen3, and DALL-E 3 among others, taking them through the entire process of creating an ad using Gen AI. It will equip them with essential skills in AI-driven content creation and campaign analysis.

Also published in: Mobile Marketing Magazine

IPA Bellwether Q1 2025: Industry reactions

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Fri, 16 May 2025 07:59:21 GMT

IPA Bellwether Q1 2025: Industry reactions

The IPA Bellwether Q1 2025 survey showed a decline in budgets for the first quarter of the year.

However, the mood among marketing budget holders remained positive, despite the ongoing global market turmoil around US trade tariffs.

As always, we’ve garnered comments on the state of things from key leaders across the media spectrum…

Suzanna Chaplin, CEO, esbconnect

“The latest IPA Bellwether Report shows a decline in marketing budgets for the first time in four years, driven by reduced financial confidence, accompanied by a pivot toward short-term sales promotion.

“This may deliver short-term results, but it chips away at long-term profitability. The brands that have scaled sustainably over the last few years – think Vuori, Alo, and others – have built their success on community, perceived value, and smart stock control to drive demand.

They’ve sold at full price by building full-funnel engagement.

“And yet, in the face of economic uncertainty and boardroom pressure for immediate ROI, we’re seeing a continued drift towards bottom-of-the-funnel marketing, which only captures just a sliver of your total potential customer base.

“That’s not growth, that’s maintenance.

“Sales promotions may be up this quarter (+8%), but main media spend – the stuff that builds long-term brand equity – is down (-6.7%).

“That’s a signal worth paying attention to. Because if you aren’t consistently investing in awareness and value creation, your brand will simply be forgotten in a crowded market.

“Don’t let the macro environment — or a single quarterly report — derail your long-term vision. Stay committed to brand-building, even when it’s hard to measure in the short term.

“The brands that hold their nerve and invest through uncertainty will be the ones that outperform when confidence returns.”

Sara Vincent, MD UK, Utiq

“In uncertain times, marketers need to be more certain than ever that they are eking every last ounce of value out of their marketing budgets.

“One guaranteed way to do this is to walk away from discredited tools and tactics such as third-party cookies and instead focus on building trust with consumers by giving them absolute control over how their personal data is used in advertising campaigns – if they agree to it.

“By being open and transparent with consumers, brands build trust, loyalty and lasting relationships that benefit both sides.”

Pierre Orlac’h, Chief Supply Officer, Sparteo

“The decline in UK marketing budgets reported in the IPA Bellwether Q1 2025 report reflects the uncertainty some markets are facing — but this trend isn’t uniform.

“In areas like video, investment is holding steady or even growing, particularly around CTV, where publishers and content creators now need to rethink how they structure and scale profitable video strategies across platforms, including FAST channels.

“In display, maintaining the value of inventory is becoming more complex. Publishers are under pressure to regain control over pricing dynamics, reduce reliance on intermediaries, and ensure that more value flows back to the content creators themselves — which requires partnering with players who control their infrastructure costs and have full command of their data to redistribute more value.

“For those with internal sales houses, the challenge is finding viable alternatives to curated marketplaces — solutions that enable smarter prediction of viewability and completion rates through AI, as made possible by predictive technologies like Sparteo’s Sonar algorithm, without sacrificing autonomy or margin.

“Ultimately, the industry needs more than resilience; it needs smarter, more efficient tech solutions that support sustainable revenue across formats and markets.

“Navigating today’s volatility demands that publishers stay agile, data-driven, and focused on long-term value creation.”

Also published in: Mediashotz

Taking control of programmatic: 5 minutes with… Pierre Orlac’h

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Fri, 16 May 2025 07:51:24 GMT

Taking control of programmatic: 5 minutes with… Pierre Orlac’h

Q: What’s the biggest challenge facing publishers right now?

A: Publishers face many challenges. The first is the need to work hard to maintain or grow their audience, and ensure they are accessible not just on the web, but on other social and, in some cases, offline platforms. At the same time, they need to monetise in a fragmented and complex programmatic ecosystem, where we see too many intermediaries who dilute revenue streams.

On top of all this, they have to adapt to deliver transparency, performance and sovereignty to keep their key stakeholders — advertisers and audiences — happy. Finally, there is the omnipresent threat from the walled gardens, who routinely seek to leverage the high-quality, independent content produced by publishers on the open web, without any adequate form of compensation.

Q: What excites you most in the publishing space?

A: I’m excited by the rise of publisher-led adtech initiatives such as supply path optimisation that are helping publishers to take more control of programmatic and reclaim value from the ecosystem. This is opening up the potential for more high-quality relationships between publishers and advertisers. When publishers work with one trusted partner who can help them maximise the value of their inventory, it enables them to reduce their reliance on a plethora of unnecessary intermediaries.

I’m also excited by the number of publishers who are entrusting the control of their infrastructure to one trusted partner, rather than relying on big cloud services. This is part of a wider move towards true digital autonomy among publishers and other players in the programmatic space, and into a world in which they are much more in control of their destiny. Finally, the use of advanced AI tech to optimise yield in real time is opening up new revenue opportunities for publishers.

Q: AI seems to be impacting everything. What impact is it having on publishers?

A: AI is impacting all aspects of adtech, from targeting to creative, campaign execution, measurement and attribution. From a publisher perspective, it is becoming an essential tool to maximise revenue-per-impression and manage complex ad inventories. Its ability to crunch data in vast quantities in next to no time is revolutionising the way in which publishers are able to extract the greatest possible value, both from the inventory they supply and the audience data they hold.

The intelligent application of AI enables smarter, real-time decisioning and predictive analytics that optimise ad placements based on both a wealth of historical data, and on likely future outcomes. Publishers can see their revenues in real-time at the URL level. This automation of yield optimisation reduces the burden on ad-ops teams, leaving them free to think more strategically and package up their inventory in ways that will make it more attractive to advertisers.

Q: Infrastructure dependencies and digital sovereignty are becoming hot topics in Europe — how should publishers be thinking about these issues?

A: European publishers are reassessing their reliance on U.S.-based platforms, and increasingly opting for sovereign infrastructure, prioritising European solutions that align with local regulations and values. Working with tech partners that offer sustainable, in-house infrastructure and sovereign hosting gives them a greater degree of digital independence, which in turn gives them a long-term competitive advantage. It also leaves them less vulnerable to the impact of decisions taken by governments in other countries that can have a profoundly negative impact on their business.

Q: Are the days of the intermediaries inserting themselves into the programmatic supply chain and taking a cut of publishers’ revenues coming to an end?

A: Thankfully, yes. For too long, a variety of intermediaries have come between the publisher and the advertiser, each taking their cut of the ad spend so that, in some scenarios, less than half of every ad dollar spent ends up in the publisher’s pocket. But a shift is happening now, as publishers demand more control and transparency. We are seeing a growing preference for leaner, more efficient supply chains. Continued market education is essential, but the momentum is clearly in favour of disintermediation — putting the publisher back in control.

Q: What’s in the pipeline from Sparteo?

A: We plan to continue our international expansion, especially in the UK and key European markets, underpinned by a strong focus on R&D to stay ahead of the curve on AI, data science and infrastructure innovation. As part of these plans, we have developed Meetscale, a next-generation Supply-Side Platform focused on performance, sovereignty, and AI-powered yield optimisation. That is something we feel the market is currently lacking, and we have already seen extremely compelling results. These are exciting times.

Also published in: Inpublishing

Why curation is the smart approach for independent agencies

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Fri, 16 May 2025 07:42:50 GMT

Why curation is the smart approach for independent agencies

A defining strength of independent media agencies is their agility in embracing new ways of working. This enables them to move quickly and capitalize on market shifts. Their start-up and scale-up mindset helps them rapidly align with emerging tools and technologies to seize new opportunities. This entrepreneurial DNA drives the adoption of new smart, efficient, and scalable solutions to compete with larger agency networks – while delivering superior results for clients.

Curation is the major new market shift, and agencies are moving fast in response to the phase-out of third-party cookies, with open web addressability now declining to less than 20% according to the IAB. In our recent article , ‘From buzzword to better advertising, why supply-side curation is the smart approach in 2025,’ we outlined how curation platforms give buyers direct access to inventory at the supply source for programmatic deal creation and activation. This new, easy way to optimize across all data signals achieves greater scale for high-value impressions and stronger campaign outcomes.

Independent agencies are uniquely positioned to benefit from adopting a smart curation approach to programmatic planning. Here’s how:

Easy access to premium inventory

Traditional programmatic buying has favored large media groups with bulk-buying power, making it harder for independents to secure top-tier, brand-safe inventory. Curation solves this by giving direct access to pre-vetted, high-quality inventory through curated deals – without requiring direct publisher relationships or massive spend commitments.

Leading services, such as the Onetag Smart Curation platform, are immediately available with zero tech fee, ensuring there is no barrier to entry.

Smarter, more efficient ad spend

Curation switches media creation and activation to the inventory source, enabling far greater user matching, addressability, and scale for campaigns.

Smart curation technology also accelerates media buying by automatically filtering out low-quality and inefficient supply – before a single bid is placed.

AI and data-driven optimization

Independent agencies can instantly benefit from best-in-class smart curation technology founded on real-time AI, without needing to invest precious time in building and training their own capabilities.

Curation puts independents on an immediate level playing field with bigger networks, which also require curation platforms to provide access to the most efficient, high-performing supply paths.

Simple and intuitive control

Unlike the traditional programmatic marketplace – where media quality, tech fees, and supply chains are opaque – curation helps independent agencies remove intermediaries, and take control of performance.

Partners using the Onetag Smart Curation platform consistently tell us it’s the easiest and most intuitive UI, enabling them to launch and manage campaigns in moments. With time more precious than ever, our focus is on driving performance and giving you time back.

Customization and differentiation

Curation gives agencies the keys to precisely select and target the programmatic inventory they require, tailored to their clients’ KPIs. Alongside the suite of inventory targeting options, Onetag Smart Curation platform features also include easy-performance KPI sliders and APIs for immediate deal deployment at scale.

This combination of easy customization and scale ensures agencies deliver strong results with operational efficiency.

Reduced bidstream bloat

DSPs (demand-side platforms) can only process a fraction of available impressions in the bidstream. Without effective curation of inventory, they are limited to just buying what they already know, and at a general rather than individual seat level. Curation lets independent agencies carve out only the most performant impressions they want to buy in the bidstream.

What’s more, curation doesn’t just improve campaign outcomes – it significantly reduces the environmental impact of programmatic advertising. For independent agencies wishing to share this insight with interested brand marketers, carbon data reporting is now available from Onetag and other leading smart curation platforms.

Faster activation, better results

Traditional approaches to demand-side data deal creation are broken, due to the impact of low user matching and disappearing cookies. Curation at the supply source offers rapid activation and a faster path for pre-optimized impressions to reach your DSP seat – leading to better campaign results.

By removing setup pain points, smart curation technology frees up time for independent agencies to focus on client strategy, creativity, and growth.

In summary, supply-side curation – and its smart technology foundation – is the ready-made solution for better programmatic planning and buying. Independent agencies are moving quickly to unlock its benefits, and with the Onetag Smart Curation platform, we are proud to provide the plug-and-play solution that helps you win for your clients and get time back.

It’s time to compete smarter, not harder.

Also published in: The Drum

The data and privacy race: Why the WPP-InfoSum acquisition marks a turning point for agencies

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Fri, 16 May 2025 07:34:17 GMT

The data and privacy race: Why the WPP-InfoSum acquisition marks a turning point for agencies

Last week, WPP announced it had acquired data firm InfoSum .

The holding company will look to embed InfoSum within GroupM and use its tech to create an AI-enabled, safe and secure infrastructure within WPP Open and scale its data intelligence services.

The acquisition comes at a time when its rival holdcos – including Publicis Groupe and Omnicom – are also scrambling to buy up successful adtech firms as brands increasingly want better, privacy-safe measurement tools and more transparency from their advertising investments.

The move has got the industry to stand up and take notice of the holdco, which had been trailing behind its agency counterparts after its FY2024 results revealed a fall in net revenue by 1%.

It confirms the battle between the big four agency groups centres around data and privacy. With many dubbing this as a “powerful” move from WPP, PMW spoke to industry experts to find out what this acquisition could mean for the advertising ecosystem.

‘WPP isn’t just buying tech; it’s investing in the future of clean, consented data collaboration’

Sean Adams, CMO, Brand Metrics, said: “This acquisition signals a major shift in how agencies are thinking about data ownership and privacy. WPP isn’t just buying tech; it’s investing in the future of clean, consented data collaboration. This proves that agencies are no longer just buying media – they’re engineering outcomes.

“It's also about fuelling AI with high-quality, privacy-compliant data. As third-party cookies disappear, owning safe, scalable data infrastructure is a smart move. Infosum gives WPP a powerful foundation to connect data without risking privacy, but what’s most interesting is how this could unlock new possibilities for accurate campaign measurement.

“With better-quality data stitched together compliantly, brands stand a better chance of truly understanding the impact of their campaigns. We will watch with interest to see how this plays out in the marketplace and if other agency groups seek to follow suit.”

Helen Keelan, Senior Sales Director, LG Ad Solutions, echoed Adams views, adding that the acquisition is a “timely and strategic move” from WPP, which “aligns with the industry’s shift toward privacy-first, AI-powered marketing”.

“With InfoSum’s federated data capabilities and WPP’s scale, this partnership could redefine how brands leverage first-party data responsibly – unlocking faster insights and campaign performance in an increasingly fragmented ecosystem and we are excited to see how it can be implemented with the CTV space,” she said.

Vlad Stesin, Co-founder and CSO of identity management and data collaboration platform Optable, describes the acquisition as a “turning point in the evolution of data collaboration” towards an “era where the buy side is striving to create a more comprehensive ecosystem for activation and measurement”.

He added: “Now InfoSum’s technology will have access to WPP core data assets in choreograph as well as their huge network of media partnerships. As we saw with Publicis’ acquisition of Lotame, these moves signal a continued investment at the holdco level in identity and data infrastructure, as agencies double down on creating addressability solutions for their brands in the wake of signal loss.

“With Google and Media maintaining dominance over audience data, holdcos are reinforcing their independence by scaling first-party data collaboration and interoperability, ensuring their clients can compete effectively to drive better results for brands in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.”

The race is one to ‘secure, structure, and activate data’

Chris Pettit, CEO and Co-founder, Revving, believes this is the start of a race to secure and leverage data, and those who are slow to act, will “pay the price in missed opportunities” down the line.

He said: “WPP’s move shows that the battle for agency differentiation is now being fought on the data layer. For too long, operational data has been underused; now the industry is finally waking up to its real value.

“This is the start of a race to secure, structure and activate that data in ways that move the needle, whether it’s powering media performance, fuelling AI, or, in our case, transforming when and how the ad industry gets paid.”

For Graham Field, CRO at Outra, this acquisition reinforces WPP’s “commitment to data-driven marketing while broadening InfoSum’s reach and capabilities across a larger client base”.

But Mateusz Rumiński, VP of Product at PrimeAudience, said this battle to acquire adtechs is becoming “increasingly worrying”. Previously, impartial tech vendors were there to “elevate standard of user privacy across the entire ecosystem”, but if they are all acquired, it limits them to a single agency holdco.

“This may create a conflict of interest and thus lead to relaxed standards of user privacy protection,” he explained. “For a thriving digital advertising ecosystem, it is imperative that there is fierce competition on the market.

“Clients need to be in a position to work with whichever vendor they see fit across the entire value chain, not a pre-determined list of entities owned by a given agency.”

Also published in: PMW

Q&A: how trading efficiency and AI will drive the programmatic roadmap

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Fri, 16 May 2025 07:29:43 GMT

Q&A: how trading efficiency and AI will drive the programmatic roadmap

Welcome James. What do you see as the key issues for programmatic right now?

JM: Supply chain optimization (SCO) has been with us for some time, and as such, there are many approaches that promote and enhance trading efficiency. For us at Limelight, we know through supporting hundreds of partners successfully, that having a clear strategy on SCO – with tools to support that – delivers results.

We think there needs to be a renewed focus on SCO, and specifically, trading efficiency. For ad networks, we’d define that as the ability to generate the strongest revenues possible with the supply and resources available. That has advantages for their demand relationships, as well as their publisher side commitments, and promotes better commercial outcomes. It also means operating in a greener way. All of these are key components of what makes the trading model financially successful.

QPS (queries per second) is generally considered the currency of programmatic trading, and that is a big part of this. Most large-scale DSPs (demand-side platforms) manage their overhead by managing out any underperforming QPS allocated to ad networks and ad exchanges. Essentially, as a supplier, ad network, or publisher, this means you need to maximize the impact of your allocated QPS through good results – or risk having the quota reduced.

Demand sources are more amenable to suppliers and supply-side partners who are not inhibited by limited volumes of QPS in the initial stages of any campaign or demand action. Ultimately, the ability to experiment to locate and secure the right impressions requires flexible QPS allocation. From the Limelight perspective, offering unlimited QPS, with no cost implications on the demand side, provides our partners with the ability to attract demand with scalable and flexible QPS allocation, making them more attractive as supply partners.

What is your take on AI and the role it has to play in programmatic?

JM: AI is already heavily influencing the direction in which programmatic is evolving. That said, AI is only as good as the people that the machine is learning from, and it’s still people that are the driving force behind good ideas – not the machine. It’s that ability to merge technology and human touch that will still be very important for programmatic trading efficiency. We call it “technology with a heartbeat.”

It’s also important to remember that our AI doesn’t control the supply you receive, and so a great deal of optimization occurs outside the influence of your machine learning. Our approach is to create tools that enable people to use AI to enhance their existing strengths, using their own ‘real intelligence’ to differentiate them from competitors. We provide them the means to better understand their supply chain – and what they’re sending their demand – and to enact change at a speed and scale they couldn't achieve as a human. It’s a potent and effective combination of technology and human power.

So, AI has a huge role to play, but it doesn’t allow for the bespoke elements needed to support a healthy and varied programmatic landscape. Ultimately, if everyone uses the same AI, there will be no creative ad networks doing innovative things in the future, because they are unable to communicate their uniqueness. There is no one-size-fits-all option, and nor should there be.

You mentioned the connection between efficiency and sustainability. Can you spell out the relationship between the two?

JM: While we adjust to and define our relationships with AI, and continue to adapt to the various challenges and opportunities around first-party data and consumer privacy, the industry also needs to maintain a consistent focus on sustainability. We ought to be finding ways to help one another do better, targeting efficiencies for environmental as well as economic motivations.

Allowing ad networks to optimize in real time – reducing the usage of server capacity, and in turn lowering carbon emissions – keeps green credentials rightly at the forefront, and again feeds into the reputational aspect of being an efficient and successful trader.

What’s new at Limelight?

JM: Our most recent development, which is in beta at the moment, is a ‘real intelligence’ engine driven by optimization rules, designed to empower our partners who include ad networks, exchanges, publishers, and SSPs (supply-side platforms), to be more efficient – while remaining true to their unique ideas, attributes, and values. In other words, we’re enabling them to combine ‘real intelligence’ – their own character and USPs – with AI to create a unique trading environment based on efficiency.

In essence, it is a toolkit that allows partners to automate actions that they would otherwise do manually on the platform. While in the past, they had to download, analyze, and extract data by hand, our optimization allows them to automate that process. That includes being able to set up specific time intervals and granular KPIs, such as increasing the volume of traffic being sent to a chosen advertiser, or even blocking traffic that isn’t performing well.

It’s at an exciting stage because, through initial testing, we are seeing different clients engage with it in totally different ways, and dreaming up highly efficient, optimized trading practices that we might never have considered. Not surprisingly, there is also a tangible and significant commercial upside emerging that is very exciting to our partners.

Also published in: The Drum

Driving brand consideration through the power of native

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Fri, 09 May 2025 07:58:05 GMT

Driving brand consideration through the power of native

When brands determine how and where to channel their advertising budget, they generally have their own specific KPIs and desired outcomes. Where do they need to to see results, and what would campaign effectiveness look like to them ?

But the key question is: which format is most likely to deliver on their goals? For instance, in digital, while display ads have often been the default, native ads have grown to take a more prominent place in marketing strategies, as they integrate a brand's message seamlessly into a publisher context in a creative way, leveraging both the context of the environment and the trust of the audience.

With little data available, however, to inform how and when native can be used to best effect, progression has been somewhat stifled. Until now.

Display vs native - the lowdown

We are all, as internet users, familiar with display as a means to reach large audiences, over and over. This is also known as "push" advertising, as it delivers messages with a simple message to generally quite broad audiences who happen to be browsing online, and not necessarily looking to receive communications from the brand.

By contrast, as a more targeted "pull" style of advertising, native is characterised by seamless integration with content that is likely to resonate with those who have an interest in the category or brand. Native ads are designed to be seen by fewer people, but served to those who have already shown some interest in the brand or product - because they are much more likely to engage with relevant, intentionally placed advertising than generic campaigns.

Measuring the impact of native advertising can prove challenging, but recent research , based on 2,000 campaigns and responses from over 500k surveys, shows that, on average, native had an overall brand lift of +20.6%, compared to +10% for display campaigns.

The same data also provides a more granular level of insight to help marketers optimise their native campaigns.

If brand consideration is the goal, native is the channel

At Brand Metrics, we measure campaign effectiveness against four KPIs: awareness, consideration, preference and action intent. The latest consolidated data tells a revealing story about how format impacts performance in each of these areas.

First, we can see that display works best to drive stage one - awareness - among consumers and delivers brand uplift across that metric through high-frequency, short-duration exposure.

Conversely, the efficacy of native relates more to duration than frequency. In fact, users dwell much longer (almost 40% are exposed to native for more than 30 seconds, with only 11% engaging for that long with the display ads).

The result of that extra time is significant and reflected in uplift in the mid-funnel, most notably in stage two - consideration . It drives more established and meaningful interactions and brand relationships - a hard-won and often much-desired outcome when seeking repeat custom and reputational advantage.

How native performs across different categories

Having established the power of native for driving consideration, let’s take a look at how it performs across categories. The lowest brand lift from native campaigns is seen in those categories that are less likely to have a personal or emotional relevance to the consumer, such as the energy sector.

Meanwhile, industries such as travel and real estate, closely followed by automotive - which are often associated with important lifestyle choices and large-scale, irregular investments - benefit most from the prolonged user engagement of native ads. As consumers, we respond best to targeted, interactive content related to the purchases that mean the most to us.

So there are many reasons why a brand should incorporate native ads into their strategies, with branded content delivering a notably higher overall brand uplift than display. However, if the main objective of a campaign is to increase consideration, then native is more than a nice-to-have - it is an essential component.

Whatever the goal, as the latest findings tell us, consistent measurement data is the key to strategic and creative optimisation, empowering marketers to establish and maintain effective, flexible and compelling native ad campaigns.

To read more about the research undertaken by Brand Metrics in association with Native Advertising Institute, download the full whitepaper .

Also published in: Marketing Donut

Frictionless payments for publishers: 5 minutes with… Chris Pettit

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Fri, 09 May 2025 07:47:36 GMT

Frictionless payments for publishers: 5 minutes with… Chris Pettit

Q: What's the core problem that needs solving in the digital media industry right now?

A: The biggest issue is the unfair and outdated payment system that forces publishers, affiliates, and other players to wait months to get paid. In the digital media and adtech ecosystem, payment terms routinely stretch beyond 120 days. That means the very businesses that fuel the industry with content and ad placements are left out of pocket for an unreasonably long time.

Now there is a way that enables companies to access their earnings almost instantly, rather than waiting in an unnecessarily long queue — via technology that integrates directly with digital marketplaces and platforms, verifying revenue in real time and unlocking payments straight away. Essentially, it’s removing the cash flow bottleneck.

Q: Publishers often feel they're at the bottom of the adtech food chain. Is that a fair assessment?

A: Absolutely. If you look at the adtech supply chain in its simplest form, you’ve got the brands at the top, then agencies, DSPs, SSPs, and finally, at the very end, the publisher or content creator. Each link in that chain introduces a delay in payments, and since brands and agencies tend to hold onto funds for as long as possible, those at the bottom get squeezed the hardest.

This creates a fundamental imbalance. While big corporations can dictate their payment terms, smaller players have no leverage. Many publishers and ad networks end up in a cycle of financial strain, unable to reinvest in their growth because they simply don’t have access to their own money when they need it.

Q: What's the wider impact of delayed payments on the digital media ecosystem?

A: It’s significant. When businesses struggle with cash flow, they can’t scale their operations, invest in marketing, or pay their own suppliers on time. It’s a domino effect that stifles growth across the entire advertising industry — but also the wider economy.

For instance, affiliate marketers and media buyers often have to pay for traffic upfront — sometimes from major players like Google and Meta — while waiting months to receive ad revenue. This means they’re financing these big companies while their own businesses take the financial hit.

We see this in programmatic advertising too. SSPs and ad networks are forced to extend payment terms to keep publishers happy, even if they haven’t been paid by brands or agencies yet. It’s a broken system that needs to be fixed.

Q: With adtech margins already tight, is using an intermediary fast-tracking service financially viable for companies?

A: Yes, and that’s because it’s not just about getting money faster — it’s about using that money strategically. These companies don’t just opt to take early payments for the sake of it; they use it to reinvest and generate higher returns.

On average, such a platform will charge a percentage of the transaction value over a 30-day period, depending on the debtor’s credit risk. For most businesses, that cost is far outweighed by the revenue they can generate through reinvestment.

For example, if you’re running paid ad campaigns, you might be able to double or triple revenue over a short cycle. By accessing funds sooner, companies can reinvest faster and drive more growth.

Q: Are you seeing shifts in the industry's attitude towards financial innovation?

A: Yes, and it’s long overdue. There’s growing recognition that extended payment terms are not just inconvenient, but actually harmful to the industry. More businesses are looking for ways to stabilise their cash flow and operate on their own terms, rather than those dictated by large corporations.

We’re also seeing regulators and trade bodies take more interest in the issue. There’s increasing pressure on brands and agencies to be more transparent and responsible with their payment practices. While I don’t expect the big players to suddenly start paying faster, new payment solutions are giving businesses an alternative to being stuck in a system that doesn’t work for them.

Q: What's your message to publishers struggling with long payment terms?

A: You don’t have to wait. The industry has made it seem like slow payments are just part of doing business, but they don’t have to be. There’s a better way. If you’re tired of waiting, or are struggling with cash flow, or just want to reinvest in your growth, there is help.

Q: How does Revving help businesses avoid these cash flow issues?

A: Revving acts as an intermediary that fast-tracks payments. Using our platform, businesses can receive their revenue as soon as it’s earned, rather than waiting weeks or months. Unlike traditional invoice factoring, which is analogue, inflexible, and often requires corporate security and personal guarantees, we leverage real-time transaction data. That means we can advance payments before an invoice is even raised. Our model is based on transparency, automation, and flexibility — helping businesses get paid faster without taking on debt or navigating lengthy approval processes.

Also published in: InPublishing

After the €150 million fine, Apple’s ATT faces its hardest questions yet

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 10:23:41 GMT

After the €150 million fine, Apple’s ATT faces its hardest questions yet

In a ruling that could rattle the scaffolding of digital advertising, France’s competition authority has fined Apple €150 million ($162 million) for what it deems an antitrust violation disguised as privacy reform.

At the heart of the matter is Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework, the marquee feature of its privacy push — hailed by some as a principled stand against surveillance capitalism and by others as a velvet-gloved power grab. The decision marks a rare European rebuke of Apple’s dominance and raises larger questions about who truly benefits from the era of so-called privacy.

What follows is a closer look at the questions this decision surfaces — not just for Apple but for the entire advertising ecosystem built on the promise (and pretense) of privacy.

What happens next won’t be swift

Talk of ATT being rolled back entirely is premature. The regulator made clear it’s not condemning ATT itself — it’s the self-serving rollout that crossed the line. Apple, the ruling said, gave itself preferential treatment under the guise of protecting users. Or, as competition law phrases it: abuse of dominance.

Now the company has to stop doing that. But when it actually will is anyone’s guess. Apple is unlikely to move until other parallel investigations in Germany, Italy, Poland and Romania run their course.

When those decisions go down, the consequences won’t be confined to Apple. France’s ruling injects real friction into a privacy movement that increasingly serves the platforms more than the public. And if Apple can’t hide behind the rhetoric of user protection, others — Google included — may think twice before using privacy as a Trojan horse for market power.

“Whilst we welcome the French competition authority’s ruling, it merely confirms what we’ve known all along: Apple weaponized privacy concerns to gain competitive advantage,” said Will Harmer, chief product officer at ad tech vendor Utiq. “There’s simply no justification for the double standard Apple created — strict consent requirements for third parties whilst using preferential language for their own tracking. Yet we must remember that even with consent, Apple’s IDFAs, like browser cookies, provide consumers with minimal protection against excessive data collection. True privacy requires both fair competition and stronger data protections.”

Apple’s remaining regulatory challenges in Europe

Aside from the ruling earlier this week, as of early 2025, Apple faces mounting regulatory challenges in the EU and U.K. over ATT as well as its wider mobile ecosystem.

In March 2025, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (FCO) won a court case affirming its designation of Apple as a company with “paramount cross-market significance for competition.” This classification allows German authorities to impose proactive restrictions on Apple’s conduct under national competition laws.

The FCO has specifically scrutinized Apple’s handling of user tracking and third-party app access to data. The court’s decision opens the door to further regulatory actions, including mandated interoperability or restrictions on self-preferencing.

Apple is facing antitrust scrutiny and investigations in the U.K., primarily concerning its mobile ecosystem, including the App Store, operating system and browsers. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority is investigating whether Apple holds “ strategic market status .”

More broadly, the EU’s Digital Markets Act , which has been in effect since November 2022, seeks to ensure fair competition within the digital sector by imposing obligations on “gatekeeper” companies, a.k.a. Big Tech. This means Apple’s DMA obligations include:

Permit alternative app stores on iOS devices
Allow users to set third-party apps as defaults for functions, such as web browsing
Facilitate interoperability between its services and those of third parties

Under DMA rules, Apple must allow app sideloading and alternative app stores, provide options for default third-party apps, and ensure data interoperability. Non-compliance risks fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover. As ATT is seen to affect data portability and competition, the DMA could compel Apple to modify or broaden access to its tracking consent mechanisms.

Similar regulatory challenges in the U.S.?

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Apple is facing charges from the Justice Department and several states including a March 2024 lawsuit accusing the company of monopolizing the smartphone market. According to U.S. regulators , Apple enforces restrictive policies on app distribution, in-app payments and interoperability with rival services.

However, as of the start of 2025, its ATT framework had not been the subject of significant regulatory challenges in its domestic market, with many there championing its privacy-preserving measures.

But it’s noteworthy that the profile of the companies on which ATT had a substantial impact, such as Meta, and whether the current political climate might lead to a less zealous approach to privacy from the iPhone manufacturer.

Given the potential outcome of applying ATT may include significant fines, required changes to privacy settings and structural shifts in how Apple engages with third-party developers (both across the EU and potentially in the U.S.), some wonder if a switch in policy may appear soon.

Google’s own foray into the murky waters of user consent

Currently, it’s hard to say what impact the ruling against Apple will have on Google. There’s just not enough to go on when it comes to its promised feature to let Chrome users decide whether they want to be tracked by third-party cookies. Nearly a year on since the move was announced, basic questions remain unanswered: will users need to opt-in? Or out? Or will the whole thing dissolve into the browser’s background, another checkbox most will never see?

For now, all anyone can do is speculate. The current sense is that if Google decides to mirror Apple’s approach closely then it could attract the ire of regulators again.

“Google is in a different position to Apple in so far as it’s working with a regulator [the U.K’s Competition and Markets Authority] on its own plan to ask people for consent on whether or not they want to be tracked,” said Davide Rosamilia, vp of product at alternative identity provider ID5. “So its hard to say the ruling will have an impact on whatever Google has planned for third-party cookies. What this might impact is Android’s Privacy Sandbox.”

A courtroom reckoning

The €150 million fine won’t undo Apple’s privacy play, but it does open the door to something potentially more destabilizing: civil lawsuits from those in the ad industry who say they were collateral damage in the rollout.

Publishers and ad tech vendors, many of whom saw revenues crater in the wake of ATT, have long alleged that Apple’s framework didn’t just kneecap third-party tracking, it kneecapped competition. France’s regulator just gave them ammunition. By concluding that Apple’s privacy changes were “neither necessary nor “proportionate” and created an unfair playing field, the decision could embolden aggrieved parties to seek compensation through the courts.

So far, no formal suits have been filed. But sources in the legal and ad tech communities say its no longer a fringe possibility. If regulators have cracked open the door, don’t be surprised if litigators push it wide open.

Also published in: Digiday

The future of adtech is frictionless – removing financial barriers to innovation

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 09:59:23 GMT

The future of adtech is frictionless – removing financial barriers to innovation

Waiting for money is a universal frustration – whether it’s the paycheck at the end of the month, the invoice stuck in the system, or the refund taking weeks to process. If that money arrived the moment it was due, we could all plan ahead, invest, or simply move forward without the friction.

Adtech companies have the same dilemma, and the same dream, but with a lot more opportunity for friction. Not only does the money come slowly along the programmatic supply chain – frequently two or three months, often as long as 180 days – but the spider diagram of interdependent businesses only ever grows more sprawling and complex.

In a supply chain with so many contributors, payments are an elaborate chain reaction, and very hard to speed up. For a publisher, agency, affiliate, cashback specialist, or any other company in adtech, the thought of what they could do right now with all the money stuck in the pipeline is hardly worth considering.

Less friction, more freedom

But if the friction was relieved along the supply chain, what kind of opportunities would that present? If you, as a company in that chain, had sufficient cash flow every month, on time, when you needed it, what would that allow you to do?

In the most general sense, you could grow the business. Plan more effectively. Escape your reliance on delayed payments. You could develop a profitable new product, change your commercial structure, free up marketing budget, or provide the sales team with a pool of liquidity to grow revenue.

Wherever digital media is being monetized, there are gains to be made in removing friction from the system and letting companies focus on innovation and growth. And if you remove friction right along the chain, you unleash the potential for growth across the industry as a whole.

Where are the pain points?

In the simplest case, a brand advertiser deals with an agency, which deals with a DSP, an SSP, and ultimately a publisher – all of them juggling costs, all waiting to get paid at some point.

Each link in that chain brings a delay in payments. And since brands and agencies tend to hold onto funds for as long as possible, those at the bottom get squeezed the hardest.

Perhaps the brand at the top pays its bills in 60 days, but its agency pays upfront for the brand’s media, shouldering a debt in the meantime. Further along, companies work hard to build and maintain their commercial relationships in spite of their cash flow challenges: DSPs and SSPs might accept less in order to get paid faster; perhaps paying their debts when they themselves haven’t been paid, or risk losing long-term business.

The payment chain favors bigger companies, who usually require rapid payment but settle up slowly. Meanwhile, some companies operating at the end of the supply chain have numerous debtors at once. An affiliate, for example, might have 100 debtors at any given time.

How do we ease the friction?

Injecting cash into the system might seem simple; banks, factoring firms, and lenders all offer short-term solutions. But those institutions typically lack insight into the unique complexities of the programmatic ecosystem.

At Revving, we understand publishers and adtech businesses and their cash flows. We’re the only capital funding platform purpose-built for adtech, that integrates direct to source. As we are able to capture and verify sales data right along the programmatic supply chain, we can provide instant access to advances against revenues.

That enables companies to access earnings almost instantly, at market-leading payment terms. Our technology integrates with digital marketplaces and platforms, consolidating payments to present a clearer picture of what is owed and when. We remove the cash flow bottleneck, and offer clarity and liquidity.

Short-term credit carries a cost, but so does waiting months for money to be paid. Companies that weigh the numbers tend to find that the cost is more than justified by the return and enjoy enhanced cash flow, speed, agility, and performance.

Businesses that can speed up their cash flow enable growth and reinvestment at a time when it’s sorely needed. And anyone, anywhere along the chain, can understand why that is a cause for excitement.

Also published in: The Drum

Measuring brand lift: 5 minutes with… Ben Chesters

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 14:57:00 GMT

Measuring brand lift: 5 minutes with… Ben Chesters

Q: Is this the first time Hearst UK has used brand measurement? If so, why is now the time to commit to the metric?

A: While we’ve used brand measurement tools in our work, we’ve never done so at this scale. Previously, it’s been a very expensive series of metrics to measure, but the likes of our partner, Brand Metrics, make it accessible.

It’s clear from our conversations with advertisers that they want to invest in our trusted brands, and there’s never been a more important time to demonstrate the power our premium content delivers. The metrics themselves add a whole new level of nuance, colour and understanding of campaign performance — way more so than traditional measurements such as viewability, for example.

Q: What is it about brand measurement that particularly appeals to you as a publisher?

A: Our brands, which include Good Housekeeping, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, Esquire and Men’s Health, have spent decades building deep relationships with their audiences, so being able to provide metrics beyond digital performance alone, and incorporating areas including consideration, preference and action intent, is a powerful tool. These metrics provide real insight and a truly holistic idea of a campaign’s performance.

We can really understand if a campaign worked, and why. Obviously, this is especially useful when a campaign doesn’t meet performance expectations because we can optimise towards future success.

Q: What value will brand measurement offer to the agencies and clients you work with?

A: Brand measurement demonstrates the value of every pound spent on every campaign. With budgets tightening across marketing departments everywhere, it is really important we can prove our worth to our partners. Investing in a third-party, independent provider ensures we aren’t marking our own homework.

As we continue to build more direct relationships with our clients and agencies, having the ability to understand which are the best performing ads and pieces of content during the lifecycle of a campaign is extremely valuable. This ensures we’re able to provide ongoing optimisation and it arms us with proof points to help shape future campaigns. We can even mix brand lift data with other datasets to gain extra insights, which allow us to shape the strategic and commercial direction of future work.

An unexpected benefit of measuring brand lift has been the enhanced working relationships with our partner agencies. The new information has brought closer collaboration between our various departments, including planning, research, data and insights teams, as we all work toward delivering fantastic, high-performing ad campaigns.

Q: How will your audiences ultimately benefit from the insights you derive from this?

A: By taking an always-on approach with our partners, our audiences will receive a more personalised experience, where they are served the most engaging and relevant advertising. This is because brand lift data gives us a greater understanding of our audiences, which in turn allows us to monetise them better for our partners.

And the way we measure brand lift data is unobtrusive. It’s panel-free, and the audience is simply served one quick question relating to the content they’re seeing, and that’s it. Minimum inconvenience for the audience, but maximum performance in terms of ad experience.

Q: Is Hearst UK seeing increasing demand from brands and agencies for brand lift measurement insights?

A: This is certainly true for our industry, and it’s a conversation we’ve been driving. Typically, brand lift measurement insights have formed part of large-scale campaigns, where there is a need to warrant spend, but now it’s part of every campaign we run.

The optimisation potential is really attractive for agencies and clients, as is the ability to use brand lift data to build long-term brand equity for advertisers. Over time, this generates greater audience affinity for a brand, resulting in more brand recognition, referrals and repeat purchases. All these increase revenue for a brand in the long and short term.

Q: What’s the next step for Hearst and Brand Metrics after this initial phase?

A: Combining Brand Metrics with AURA, Hearst’s first-party ad targeting tool, and our new Mega Hero ad format, is something we’re excited about exploring. We estimate the new data will be particularly powerful to deliver for our brand and agency partners.

Also published in: InPublishing

Call for Entries: M&M Global Awards to open 10 April

faith@thedigitalvoice.co.uk (Faith Ilori) — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 14:38:24 GMT

Call for Entries: M&M Global Awards to open 10 April

The Call for Entries for the 36th annual edition of the M&M Global Awards will launch 10 April.

The Awards celebrate and amplify the world’s best media campaigns, creating benchmarks for the industry to adhere to.

M&M Global Awards

This year’s programme features 32 categories, recognising the most innovative and impactful work across the industry.

With a diverse range of categories, the M&M Global Awards celebrate the very best in media from across the globe, highlighting excellence in creativity, strategy, and effectiveness.

Among them are ‘Best Use of an Adtech Platform’, in partnership with The Digital Voice, honouring excellence in adtech media campaigns; ‘Best International Media Campaign Created in the UK’, in partnership with the IAA; and ‘Best Use of Packaging as a Media

Channel’, in partnership with Appetite Creative.

From groundbreaking use of technology to the Best Communications Strategy, the awards continue to champion the most outstanding campaigns shaping the future of the media industry.

The entry process for the Best Use of an Adtech Platform category differs from the other categories, and is a new addition for 2025. Judges will evaluate how the adtech platform served as the key driver in achieving the campaign’s success.

They will assess how the platform’s capabilities were essential in delivering results that could not have been achieved through other means – demonstrating its ability to connect, convert, and seamlessly integrate creativity, data, and technology.

Awards partnership with The Digital Voice

M&M Global Awards have partnered this year with leading adtech PR and events specialist agency, The Digital Voice to support throughout the awards programme.

“Adtech is in our DNA and at the heart of everything we do at The Digital Voice, so to partner with the M&M Global Awards on the ‘Best Use of an Adtech Platform category feels like the perfect fit,” said The Digital Voice Founder and CEO, Julia Linehan.

“I can’t wait to see the entries that this new category attracts and to celebrate the most innovative and standout adtech out there right now.”

The Early Bird Entry Deadline is 8 May, and the entry fee £415. The Standard Entry Deadline is 5 June (entry fee £449). There is also an Extended Entry Deadline of 3 July (£499).

The Shortlist will be announced 14 August and the winners revealed at the Awards Ceremony 2 October.

The Awards Jury features experienced marketing professionals from leading brands and agencies, bringing a wealth of expertise to the judging process.

Last year’s incredible winners showcased the very best in media innovation, creativity, and effectiveness, and the organisers expect more of the same in 2025.

Winners in last year’s competition included Visa and Starcom Media for the ‘Visa GetP@id’ campaign; Coke and EssenceMediacom for the ‘Coke Recipe for Magic – Coke Kitchen’ campaign; and Volkswagen for the ‘Sans Emission’ campaign.

“True innovation lies in pushing boundaries while staying deeply rooted in what defines us,” said Lynne Piette, Director, Marketing & Communications, Volkswagen Canada.

“The award-winning ‘Sans Emission’ campaign exemplifies this belief – creativity that doesn’t just stand out, but drives business growth.

“By staying true to Volkswagen’s DNA, we sparked impressive results for the ID.4, with a media insight that was as brilliant as it was smart. It’s not just about thinking differently; it’s about thinking differently with purpose and impact.”

The M&M Global Awards is the longest-established awards programme in the Festival of Media portfolio.

It was launched in 1989 to celebrate the work of media teams based in Europe who were working on media globally.

Since then, it has evolved into a global programme celebrating the use of platforms, channels and tools for media, and most importantly, celebrating and benchmarking the work in industry sectors from automotive and pharma to finance and beauty.

It has a very loyal following and continues to see some amazing work entered.

“From its inception, Festival of Media has always evolved to ensure it provides a platform to showcase and amplify the best media work across the planet,” said Festival of Media CEO, Jeremy King. “

We regularly converse with the industry to deliver categories which understand the sector’s trends and insights. As part of that process, it became clear there was a need for a category which shines a spotlight on the adtech platforms and services that are crucial to the success of campaigns around the world.

“To help us deliver this, we have teamed up with The Digital Voice for what we hope will provide a home for all of the amazing adtech being used throughout the world.”

Also published in: Mediashotz