Everyone at McKinsey is nervous, and agencies should be, too. Because the generalist pitch (“We’ve seen a bit of everything, and here’s a deck about it”) is up against AI models that have read everything and don’t need to be staffed on retainer.

In the future, more apps may look at in a person's phone like photos or videos and show relevant ads like dog food or travel deals entirely behind the scenes. Advertisers will never see private photos, but their ads will still find the relevant audience. People may begin to spend less time searching the public internet, and attention may shift more toward personalized on-device AI.

Modern marketers are moving beyond static personas to dynamic audience targeting by using real-world behavioural signals, writes Skydeo's Mike Ford. By combining first-party data, behavioural enrichment and predictive modelling, brands can build living segmentation systems that drive superior performance.

YouTube - Trying out more episodic short-form content. LinkedIn - Expanding its verification system for confirming a user’s identity. Threads - Continuing to separate itself from Instagram on the business side. Snapchat - Adding more AI tools for Lens+ subscribers. X - Rebuilt its livestream API to give creators and third-party streaming platforms greater control over broadcasts.

A federal judge on Wednesday entered an order allowing Paramount Skydance to complete its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, provided the company follows conditions aimed at resolving concerns that the merger could harm competition.

“If you think that this is an overly pessimistic view, I want to assure you that it isn’t, because in some corners of the industry, this is how we’ve been operating for years,” asserted Hovaness, Omnicom Media’s executive vice president of specialized capabilities.

Go beyond rankings and clicks with data connecting SEO performance to revenue, conversions, AI visibility, citations, and business impact.

Radio host-read ads boost brand memory lift by 23% compared with traditional brand-made commercials, research by WPP Media and the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School reveals. The study, which analysed 337 campaigns across multiple markets, highlights that listeners are more likely to remember brands when ads are delivered authentically by personalities they trust and like.

Media companies face growing competition from creators on platforms like YouTube, where at least 85% of global views in 2026 have gone to creator content and Shorts continue to dominate, according to Chartbeat data. Evidence from South Korea shows 2-to-5 minute segments could improve efficiency and engagement while reducing reliance on Shorts and other formats that generate fewer views per video.

Google has the data, chips and distribution to win AI. So did Microsoft. Why Google's incentives may keep it protecting Search instead of disrupting it.