Marketers just can’t seem to escape the tyranny of performance marketing metrics. Gartner has just released a survey of more than 400 senior marketing execs and finds that 84% say the companies they work for are trapped in that familiar cycle known as the “brand doom loop.”
Oysterly Media has published research showing that only 26% of Gen Z Australians start product searches on Google. The research, conducted with Oaktree Insights and Consulting, surveyed 1,200 Australians. It found that 74% of young Australians begin product research on social media or AI rather than a traditional search engine. Across the full population, 40% still turn to Google first, highlighting a marked gap between younger users and the wider market.
Made up mostly of Gen Zers with backgrounds outside of traditional advertising, Hex aims to address the industry’s AI skills gap.
Multiple wins at the 2026 MMA Smarties South Africa Awards have placed iProspect South Africa firmly in the spotlight, recognising work that is redefining how brands earn attention.
Understanding where a brand appears, and why, has become essential as AI and agentic services reshape search. Brand and company citations have become increasingly important in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews.
DStv quietly launched a new sports channel across its Access, Family, Compact, and Compact Plus bouquets on streaming and satellite. The addition of SportyTV on channel 236 was recently spotted by a keen-eyed MyBroadband Forum member. SportyTV is a 24/7 channel that offers coverage of a range of sports, with a particular focus on football tournaments.
WARC’s Future of Media 2026 Report opened with a sentence that should have stopped every South African marketer in their tracks: “The established model for media planning and buying is breaking apart, and nobody knows exactly what comes next.” Those are the words of Paul Stringer, Managing Editor at WARC, the global authority on marketing effectiveness.
MTN Group has announced the launch of MTN One TV, a video streaming service it says will expand access to digital entertainment to more people in Africa. The telecoms giant said the platform was designed to provide flexibility surrounding how customers watched content, with models that varied by market. The MTN One TV service includes free-to-view content, ad-supported streaming, pay-as-you-watch access, or subscriptions.
It’s disclosure day. And no, we’re not talking about the new Steven Spielberg movie out later this week. We’re talking about the new legislation in New York State, S.8420-A/A.8887-B, that went into effect Tuesday and requires advertisers to disclose the use of “synthetic performers,” aka performers viewers might think are real people, but are actually AI generated.
Every major holding company, every brand with a meaningful media budget, is increasing its streaming allocation. The money is flowing in the right direction. The user experience, on the other hand, is not keeping up. The frequency problem in CTV is neither new nor a secret. The core issue is structural. CTV does not have a universal creative ID standard for programmatically served ads.