蘑菇AV

The news: Fortnite-maker Epic Games settled its antitrust lawsuit against Samsung, ending claims that Samsung and Google blocked rival app stores, per Bloomberg. Epic had accused Samsung鈥檚 鈥淎uto Blocker鈥� of preventing third-party app store downloads, alleging collusion with Google. Samsung and Google previously denied wrongdoing, calling Epic鈥檚 claims 鈥渂aseless鈥� and 鈥渕eritless.鈥� Our take: With Epic鈥檚 continued disruption of app store ecosystems, marketers should prepare for a fragmented but freer market鈥攁lternative app stores allow more control over promotions, subscriptions, and bundled offerings.

WeChat鈥檚 Weixin (China): An all-in-one platform for social networking, payments, ecommerce, and more, with over 1.3 billion users in China. VKontakte (VK) (Russia): Russia鈥檚 leading social network, similar to Facebook, with over 60 million daily users. Nextdoor (USA): A neighborhood-focused platform for local community engagement and business promotion in the US.

The news: Google is launching Offerwall, a new Ad Manager tool that lets users unlock publisher content through ads, surveys, or payments鈥攑art of a broader effort to mend relationships with publishers facing traffic loss from AI Overviews and eroding ad share. Publishers say Google pays less than rivals like PubMatic and Magnite, and AI-driven zero-click searches have dropped site traffic significantly. Our take: With a DOJ remedies trial looming and ChatGPT traffic rising fast, Google鈥檚 publisher outreach isn鈥檛 just damage control鈥攊t鈥檚 existential. If AI is to remain useful and ethical, supporting the content it鈥檚 trained on is a must.

Growth in travel media network ad spending will slow as economic pressures affect the travel industry. Starting from a small base, financial media network ad spending growth will pick up momentum through 2026. 鈥淥ther鈥� commerce media network ad spending is set to exceed $4 billion by 2026. Section 4: Recommendations. How should advertisers capitalize on the changes in commerce media?

The news: Cloudflare, which serves 20% of the web and 35% of the Fortune 500, launched beta tests of Pay per Crawl, a private marketplace that lets websites charge AI companies for scraping content. It鈥檚 a strategy other content delivery networks (CDNs) will likely follow that could signal the end of AI鈥檚 unchecked scraping. Key takeaway: Though still in beta, Pay per Crawl could give websites a new layer of protection鈥攁nd a path to profit鈥攊f AI companies agree to pay for content they've long used without compensation. If AI wants to keep reading the internet, it may finally have to pay the bill.

The news: Pinterest will host high-performing influencer content posted on affiliate shopping platform LTK, automatically bringing popular images from the platform to Pinterest, according to The Verge. Pinterest also hired Chip Jessopp, former Amazon director of global accounts and ad tech sales, as head of programmatic, per Digiday. Jessopp will help Pinterest create new demand channels while scaling its programmatic abilities. Our take: Pinterest鈥檚 moves could better position it as a legitimate competitor in digital advertising and a promising growth area for influencers and marketers鈥攇iving the platform more legs against social commerce giants like Meta and TikTok.

Even as ecommerce alcohol sales rise, physical stores continue to dominate the path to purchase. Nonalcoholic beverages and Dry January are also picking up steam.

The news: The Trade Desk CRO Jed Dederick likened Amazon鈥檚 advertising approach to Google鈥檚, accusing it of bundling and self-preferencing practices that threaten market competition. In an interview at Cannes Lions, Dederick urged Amazon to adopt a more open model like Meta鈥檚, warning that closed systems could draw regulatory scrutiny. Our take: By framing Amazon as the next Google, The Trade Desk is angling to become the preferred neutral alternative for marketers. As Amazon expands in CTV and commerce media, regulatory pressure may follow. If it does, The Trade Desk is well-positioned to gain from any shift toward more transparent platforms.

Protogiannis called it the most exciting development yet, noting that it helps link real audience behavior to media spend. In an industry increasingly focused on accountability, Nexxen and LG Ad Solutions are showing how advanced tools and human analysis can work together to deliver deeper insights and more confident decision-making.

The news: Linear ad impressions declined 4.25% YoY in Q1, falling from about 92% of impressions in early 2023 to around 86% in March 2025, per iSpot鈥檚 Q1 TV Ad Transparency Report. But despite the decline, linear ad spend grew 4% in Q1, reaching $12.34 billion鈥攊ndicating that while audience preferences are shifting, advertiser interest in linear remains steady. Our take: The most effective ad strategies will strike a balance between sustaining investment in linear to capitalize on its scale and reliability, and steadily increasing investment in streaming to align with evolving viewer behavior and future-proof campaign performance.

The rest of the year is top-of-mind for leaders in marketing and retail, which they expect to be challenging but riddled with opportunities to stand out from competition.

Why it鈥檚 happening: Platforms face slowing ad growth, rising tech infrastructure costs, and supporting gigantic agency-facing teams鈥攁s Meta and others do鈥攊s expensive. If platforms鈥� genAI tools can replace agency support functions鈥攍ike campaign setup, asset creation, or reporting鈥攊t could justify reducing headcount in those areas, turning what were once essential roles into potential cost savings.

The news: Google reduced its sub-$500 million smart TV budget by 10%, laid off a quarter of its 300-person TV staff, and scaled back investments in connected TV (CTV) initiatives like Google TV and Android TV, per The Information. The latest changes prioritize YouTube and cloud, which now drive Alphabet鈥檚 $110 billion annual run rate. Our take: Advertisers should reallocate budgets toward YouTube鈥檚 growing ad ecosystem while exploring emerging CTV platforms like Roku and Amazon Fire TV. Google鈥檚 retreat creates openings for competitors to capture market share in CTV advertising.

While Argentina is opening its economy to foreign businesses, Brazil and Mexico are taking steps to curb the growing popularity of Asia-based ecommerce platforms like Shopee, AliExpress, Shein, and Temu. Argentina eliminated tariffs on international ecommerce purchases up to $400 for personal use and raised the tax-exempt purchase limit from $1,000 to $3,000 in December 2024.

The news: Shein鈥檚 and Temu鈥檚 influence in the US is fading quickly as both companies cut ad spending and look to Europe for growth. Our take: Shein and Temu are finding that the billions of dollars they plowed into US advertising have not been enough to secure US customers鈥� loyalty in the face of higher prices. But rather than find ways to extend the longevity of their US businesses, both companies are fleeing to Europe to take advantage of the (currently) more favorable trade environment.

Both companies have been major drivers of influencer marketing and social ad spending growth, and a pullback could throw the current trajectory off course. China-based advertisers accounted for 11% of Meta鈥檚 ad revenues, per the company鈥檚 recent earnings reports. Bank of America also estimates that Temu and Shein alone contribute as much as 2% to 4% of ad spend on Meta and Google.

Programmatic plays a small but growing role in digital audio services ad spending. Major digital audio platforms are leaning in.