蘑菇AV

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.

Canada ranked No. 2 globally in cross-border retail ecommerce buyer penetration, according to our December 2024 forecasts. More than half (56.1%) of digital buyers were forecast to make transactions outside of the country (mostly the US) in 2025. But tariffs on US consumer goods and services will reduce demand significantly.

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.

The news: Cannes Lions 2025 marked a shift in retail media strategy, with platforms like Pinterest and Reddit forging deeper ties with retailers. CVS announced a clean room data partnership with Reddit to allow targeting based on shared first-party data, launching a Sensodyne and Advil campaign this fall. Pinterest partnered with Instacart to enable shopping from pins and connect ad exposure to sales via closed-loop attribution. Our take: Social platforms are becoming full-funnel retail media environments. By fusing community context with purchase signals, these integrations aim to blend discovery and commerce in real time鈥攑aving the way for more data-rich, measurable campaigns.

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.

On today鈥檚 podcast episode, we discuss our 鈥榲ery specific, but highly unlikely鈥� predictions for 2025. What would happen to the social media world if OpenAI bought Snap, what if Starbucks launched a Stablecoin, and why some companies might still want to buy linear networks. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Vice Presidents of Content Suzy Davidkhanian and Paul Verna, and Principal Analyst Yory Wurmser. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

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.

In response to viewership spikes, podcast ad spending is increasing. US spending is projected to reach $2.51 billion this year, growing 11% YoY, per our forecast. By 2028, spending will exceed $3 billion. Creator-audience relationships are important to listeners.

The news: YouTube unveiled Open Call at Cannes Lions 2025, a new platform-native feature allowing advertisers to post campaign briefs that monetized creators can directly respond to with self-produced content. The initiative removes the need for traditional influencer matchmaking, giving brands centralized control over content submissions, approvals, and performance via Google Ads. Our take: As costs rise and brand safety concerns mount, Open Call could tilt the branded content ecosystem in favor of marketers. It simplifies creator discovery, improves ROI measurement, and could lead to longer-term omnichannel partnerships. YouTube鈥檚 move positions it as a central hub for scalable, data-informed influencer marketing.

The news: YouTube unveiled Open Call at Cannes Lions 2025, a new platform-native feature allowing advertisers to post campaign briefs that monetized creators can directly respond to with self-produced content. The initiative removes the need for traditional influencer matchmaking, giving brands centralized control over content submissions, approvals, and performance via Google Ads. Our take: As costs rise and brand safety concerns mount, Open Call could tilt the branded content ecosystem in favor of marketers. It simplifies creator discovery, improves ROI measurement, and could lead to longer-term omnichannel partnerships. YouTube鈥檚 move positions it as a central hub for scalable, data-informed influencer marketing.

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

US CPG Industry Ad Spending 2024 (Subscription required). US Retail Industry Ad Spending 2024 (Subscription required). Note: Historical digital ad spending data up to 2015 is derived from Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC data.

The news: Reddit rolled out two AI-driven ad tools鈥擱eddit Insights and Conversation Summary Add-ons鈥攖o tap into its massive archive of user conversations to help brands reach more audiences effectively, per Reuters. Reddit is using generative AI (genAI) to distill user sentiment and track subreddit trends for sharper ad targeting. Our take: Where Meta and Google rely on targeting individual users, Reddit is spotlighting group dynamics and a shift toward community-led marketing. If these tools succeed, they could offer a new avenue for how brands approach discovery, feedback, and brand perception.

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?