Ä¢¹½AV

Last week’s announcements by Google to expand its AI search experiences came with big changes for advertisers. Google will offer more ads in AI Overviews and is also testing ads in its fully chat-based AI Mode.

The news: Global ad spend growth is slowing but staying positive, with WARC projecting a 6.2% rise to $1.16 trillion in 2025 and MAGNA forecasting a 4.9% climb to $979 billion. Retail media is outpacing linear TV for the first time, and Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon continue to control the majority of digital revenues. Measurable channels like short-form video, retail media, and ad-supported VOD are gaining ground. Our take: Amid economic pressures and trade concerns, advertisers are prioritizing performance, shifting budgets geographically and platform-wise. With elections, AI, and major global events on the horizon, platforms that prove outcomes—not impressions—will shape the next era.

Brazil’s digital economy continues to thrive, driven by shifting advertising trends and increased social media usage. This report series explores key media consumption trends in Brazil in 2025.

Brazil’s digital advertising economy continues to thrive, driven by retail media investment, growing video ad spend, and slower social ad spending. This report explores trends shaping Brazil’s digital advertising landscape in 2025.​

Brazil’s digital economy is rapidly evolving, fueled in part by ecommerce growth. Our three-report collection explores key trends and opportunities shaping Brazil’s commerce landscape in 2025.

Strong Q1 ad results show resilience: But AI, tariffs, and antitrust pressures will reshape how and where marketers spend in 2025.

°Õ¾±°ì°Õ´Ç°ì’s Search Ads Toggle and campaigns using manual placements on Meta platforms give advertisers the choice to include search ads alongside other social formats. However, if an advertiser uses Advantage+, there is no option to go without search ads. There’s no special creative for social search.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss what we expect from consumer spending in Q2, the three scenarios we expect for total media (and digital) ad spending, and how marketers are reacting to everything. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Principal Forecasting Writer Ethan Cramer-Flood, and Senior Forecasting Analyst Zach Goldner. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Claude’s new tool offers developers a way to skip the browser and run real-time, cited searches—threatening ad models and SEO strategies alike.

Nearly $30 billion in ad spend will skip the ad triopoly: Meta, Google, and Amazon will see pullbacks as advertisers explore other options

Marketers are cutting branding spend in favor of performance media: Search and retail win as caution dominates strategy.

The second-largest digital advertiser among industries will post strong ad spending growth in 2024, but deceleration is on the horizon, and its various subcategories have starkly different outlooks.

More than just a cloud leader: Microsoft ad revenues surged 21%, gaming stabilized, and LinkedIn grew, too.

AI agents are revolutionizing marketing with autonomous capabilities that go far beyond traditional automation. Organizations are implementing AI agents to boost workflow efficiency and prepare for a consumer marketplace increasingly mediated by AI.

The news: Streaming and social media sites are the top beneficiaries of AI chatbot referral traffic. Out of 1.3 billion generative AI (genAI) search referrals in May, YouTube ranked first in traffic with nearly 40 million visits, per Similarweb. Our take: Focusing on what makes sites top the AI search results could help increase site visits. Expand knowledge-based articles, FAQs, and blog posts with educational and UGC content. Boost SEO with long-tail keywords that are likely to appear in prompts. Encourage inbound links since site authority is a factor in AI search results.

The trend: Global visits to the top 100 web domains fell nearly 7% from March 2022 to March 2025, per Semrush, with Google’s own traffic down 6.4%, according to Similarweb as cited by DataReportal. Our take: Search is no longer a neutral traffic driver. Marketers need to plan for a world where clicks don’t come easy and genAI responses, not blue links, dictate traffic and visibility. GEO strategies must ensure brands are surfaced in genAI outputs. Marketers should focus on first-party data, brand-owned channels, and social, especially since platforms like TikTok, Reddit, and YouTube are increasingly becoming primary search paths for younger users.

The news: Marketing teams are rapidly integrating AI tools into search engine optimization (SEO) workflows. A vast majority (86%) of US SEO professionals and digital marketers use ChatGPT alongside traditional platforms like Ahrefs (64%) and Semrush (56%), per a Databox survey to understand how generative AI (genAI) is changing their work in 2025. Our take: As shifts from traditional search to AI chatbots continue to alter the marketing landscape, CMOs need to maintain a balanced approach to AI integration while preserving traditional SEO foundations. Combining AI’s efficiency with human oversight is key to ensure brand control while exploring emerging search and SEO opportunities.

The news: Adobe aims to help brands and publishers improve content placement in AI browsers, search tools, and chatbots with its new suite of AI tools—LLM Optimizer. What it does: LLM Optimizer tracks which content and offerings—such as website details, products, or articles—are being shown in AI interfaces and where they’re appearing. Our take: Adobe’s new tools, especially outcome metrics and actionable recommendations, can help marketers and brands craft tailored SEO for each platform—browsers, AI Overviews, and chatbots—and surface data-driven solutions to help improve their AI search presence.

The news: Financial institutions (FIs) must prioritize generative engine optimization (GEO)—the evolution of SEO—or risk disappearing from AI-powered customer journeys, according to The Financial Brand. As tools like ChatGPT increasingly guide users in choosing financial products, FIs must ensure their content is optimized for visibility and relevance within these AI environments. Our take: Nearly 80 million Americans are already using generative AI search engines, and that number is growing. FIs that move early to optimize their content will increase visibility and credibility with AI-driven consumers, while those who delay risk losing brand presence altogether.

ChatGPT's shopping tool threatens retail media revenues: Its product search could siphon ad dollars from retailers struggling with tariffs, higher prices, and weak demand.

YouTube tests new AI features: The updates, including video carousels in search results and AI video summaries, promise innovation but require adaptation.

Google’s core businesses remain strong in Q1: Browser scrutiny and AI search shifts could test the foundation of its power