The news: Meta and Google still account for 88% of mobile ad spending despite shifting user habits, per a Moloco report. But while advertiser attention remains firmly focused on Big Tech, those that diversify their media mix could increase financial returns as much as 214%. Our take: As audiences become fragmented across social media, advertisers are increasingly faced with the need to look beyond the big players鈥攂ut with big tech still commanding attention, a balanced approach is key.
The news: Perplexity is in talks with smartphone manufacturers to make its new Comet browser a default app on smartphones to drive adoption and user engagement, per Reuters. Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said it aims to reach 鈥渢ens to hundreds of millions鈥� of users in 2026 after a desktop rollout to a 鈥渇ew hundred thousand鈥� testers, a plan that could be aided by expanding Comet access on phones.
Our take: While Comet itself is a browser, its integrations with Perplexity鈥檚 AI could streamline access to mobile AI search tools, changing mobile search behavior and forcing marketers to rethink traditional search marketing practices. Getting Comet onto phones could also supercharge Perplexity鈥檚 data on user behavior and boost its ability to improve its AI search tools.