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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’s ad revenues, per the company’s 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.

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’s 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’s move positions it as a central hub for scalable, data-informed influencer marketing.

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.

Spotify is doubling down on podcast engagement: New features arrive as listenership and advertiser demand both hit record highs.

°ä³ó¾±²Ô²¹â€™s ecommerce disruptors will get disrupted. Shein, Temu, and TikTok Shop face a reckoning following breakneck worldwide expansion. The crop of mobile-first ecommerce players with roots in China have taken off with consumers around the world.

Amazon sees a big opportunity in beauty: The retail giant is hosting the Summer Beauty Haul sales event to capture ²õ³ó´Ç±è±è±ð°ù²õ’ attention, boost retail media spend, and drive sales.

To access both first-party data and high-intent consumers, advertisers have increasingly embraced retail media networks (RMNs). 83% of advertisers worldwide plan to either maintain or increase their RMNs ad spend in 2025, per an October 2024 NCSolutions survey.

Social shoppers regularly buy products on Reddit—16% make purchases via Reddit once a week, while 24% make purchases two to three times monthly. Yes, but: Advertisers haven’t fully tapped into the platform. Reddit captures only 1% of US social ad revenues, and many brands still consider it an experimental platform where it’s difficult to understand what works and what doesn’t.