New AI ad tech startups are coming out of the woodwork, but Kovva is staking out a less glamorous niche than most: using agents to deal with the cross-platform chores that have mostly resisted automation. “The idea is that a media buyer can delegate their workflows,” said James Hassett, Kovva’s CTO and a co-founder, “and we’re concentrating on the ones that cause operational pain, the really tedious ones.”

OpenAI’s ChatGPT began serving ads to non-logged in users, expanding the pool of available inventory and targeting options for brands using the platform. But OpenAI's large language model (LLM) could develop an entirely new pricing structure beyond CPMs or cost-per-click (CPC) for advertising before the company begins to allow more advertisers to buy media.

“What we want to do is use technology in a way that actually does bring people together,” Heineken’s CMO told us. It’s always been hard to break the ice with a stranger. It’s a little easier when there’s common ground—like a shared hobby, interest, or cultural taste. That’s the thinking powering The Clinker, a smart band that wraps around Heineken beer cans and bottles.

Meta is reportedly working on two new agentic artificial intelligence tools, which would enable users to let its Artificial Intelligence systems conduct tasks on their behalf, including shopping, with minimal human guidance.

Netflix is stepping deeper into mobile-first behaviour with the launch of Clips, a new vertical video feed designed to make content discovery faster, more intuitive and more aligned with how users already consume media on their phones.

The key findings show that seven in 10 shoppers are likely to trust personalised ads, compared to generic advertising, which is trusted by just a quarter. It also finds that 91% are comfortable sharing transactional data if it leads to more relevant advertising.

Retail media struggles with fragmented, self-reported measurement that is difficult to compare across platforms. It needs to change, as advertiser expectations are more sophisticated, says IAB Europe’s Marie-Clare Puffett.

Warc has released The Future of Measurement 2026 report, exploring the latest emerging trends in media and creative measurement. It focuses on three key areas: the shift to outcomes measurement; how AI is moving measurement upstream; and the rise of creative intelligence.

Terms like insight, disruption, and engagement are misunderstood, misleading, and misdirect your media spend.

Despite everything advertisers hear about the benefits of performance using agentic and generative AI in ad campaigns, marketers face challenges finding the budgets, implementing the technology, and understanding exactly how it works. Taboola commissioned a survey of 200 marketers responsible for performance strategies at their respective organizations.