The news: Retail media infrastructure firm Topsort is helping major retailers like Woolworths, Kohl’s, and Magalu grow ad revenues by 60% in a single month, per CEO Regina Ye. Topsort’s Data Genie tool converts billions of data points into instant insights and replaces legacy analytics systems that delay campaign execution. Our take: With budget exhaustion, measurement complexity, and system fragmentation among top buyer complaints, retailers are eager to modernize. Topsort’s AI-powered tools offer transparency, speed, and flexibility—values that align closely with where the market is heading. The bigger question: Will fall product updates bring true interoperability or further entrench silos?
The news: Google is launching Offerwall, a new Ad Manager tool that lets users unlock publisher content through ads, surveys, or payments—part of a broader effort to mend relationships with publishers facing traffic loss from AI Overviews and eroding ad share. Publishers say Google pays less than rivals like PubMatic and Magnite, and AI-driven zero-click searches have dropped site traffic significantly. Our take: With a DOJ remedies trial looming and ChatGPT traffic rising fast, Google’s publisher outreach isn’t just damage control—it’s existential. If AI is to remain useful and ethical, supporting the content it’s trained on is a must.
The news: Faceless creators and VTubers are gaining momentum as brands look for cost-effective, scalable influencer marketing options. Networks like AffiliateNetwork are growing rapidly, with top earners bringing in $30K–$40K monthly using AI-powered tactics. Creators run multiple accounts, post hundreds of videos, and rely on formats like AI-generated texting stories to deliver results. Our take: This shift marks a new phase in creator marketing—one defined less by personality and more by production speed and performance. As AI tools improve and creator skepticism fades, brands will increasingly work with digital personas that deliver value at scale—regardless of whether there’s a human on camera.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss what area of people's lives artificial general intelligence (AGI) will change the most, the argument for AI developers asking permission from society to build these models, and when AGI might actually get here. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, and Analysts Jacob Bourne and Grace Harmon. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
The trend: Pharma field teams saw 2.5 times more new patient starts if they used marketing content during healthcare provider visits, according to the Veeva Pulse Field Trends Report for Q1. The takeaway: Pharma marketing teams should focus on how the content they’re creating can boost field teams’ engagement with healthcare providers and advise reps on how and when to use materials.
The news: Baidu has launched MuseSteamer, an enterprise-only AI tool that converts images into 10-second videos using three output modes—Turbo, Pro, and Lite—while upgrading its core search engine to support multimodal inputs. The tool targets businesses looking for scalable, automated creative output. Our take: With nearly half of marketers and creators now using AI for video daily, Baidu is doubling down on the enterprise market. MuseSteamer distinguishes itself from consumer-facing tools by offering speed, reliability, and tight workflow integration. As video becomes the default for content, the winners will be platforms that deliver pro-grade output without creative friction.
The news: Meta, which recently assembled Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) as part of its AI acquisition spree, is staffing its new department with key figures from OpenAI and other AI startups. Meta has poached at least 11 OpenAI engineers, per Wired—including Jiahui Yu, Hongyu Ren, Jin Lin, and Shengjia Zhao, co-creators of OpenAI’s o3, o4-mini, GPT-4.1, and GPT-4o. Our take: Meta’s aggressive talent grab reveals the AI arms race is now a bidding war. If top researchers are increasingly swayed by compensation over mission, it raises tough questions for brands making long-term AI investments.
The news: Cloudflare, which serves 20% of the web and 35% of the Fortune 500, launched beta tests of Pay per Crawl, a private marketplace that lets websites charge AI companies for scraping content. It’s a strategy other content delivery networks (CDNs) will likely follow that could signal the end of AI’s unchecked scraping. Key takeaway: Though still in beta, Pay per Crawl could give websites a new layer of protection—and a path to profit—if AI companies agree to pay for content they've long used without compensation. If AI wants to keep reading the internet, it may finally have to pay the bill.
The news: Consumers increasingly trust shopping suggestions from AI, even more than product suggestions from content creators, positioning the technology as a trusted and personalized guide rather than a back-end tool. 27% of US consumers trust AI shopping recommendations, per Walmart’s Retail Rewired Report, compared with 24% who trust suggestions from social media influencers. Our take: AI retail tools are most likely to succeed if they offer both speed and a sense of user control. Retailers should let users set spending caps and offer options to pause or customize recommendations to help AI agents feel more like a trusted assistant than a pushy salesperson.
The trend: Few consumers use AI tools for the health and wellness activities they participate in, according to a recent survey from Menlo Ventures and Morning Consult of 5,031 U.S. adults in April 2025. The big takeaway: Consumers are right on the cusp of using AI as a health information tool. AI tools are getting smarter, but can still be unreliable—one faulty response to a query about a person’s symptoms or health condition can turn a user off for good. AI platforms must train their models on credible medical sources and collaborate with clinicians to review outputs for accuracy.
The news: Apple is in talks with OpenAI and Anthropic to power a revamped version of Siri, per Bloomberg. This follows internal delays and setbacks in launching the AI-enhanced Siri that was announced at WWDC in June 2024. Advertising repercussions: Advertisers and brands won’t just be contending with Apple’s ad systems and algorithms—they also need to consider third-party vendors’ ecosystems and how those preference ad placements. Our take: Apple settling for outside AI is a turning point for walled gardens. For advertisers, it’s both a risk—due to reduced predictability—and an opportunity to innovate within new conversational interfaces.
The news: A Microsoft AI pilot study showed a fourfold improvement in diagnostics compared with a panel of real doctors, but researchers acknowledged the continued need for human expertise. The takeaway: It’s evident AI is not a replacement for doctors, but it is a tool they should start adopting. There’s a window of opportunity for doctors and healthcare systems to grab a first-mover advantage by presenting AI as a co-pilot and a value-add that leads to more accurate diagnoses and more time spent with patients.
The news: Nexxen has launched an AI-powered Discovery platform that delivers audience insight decks in minutes, merging first-party data with sentiment, search, and competitive signals. Brands like LG Ad Solutions are using the tool to shape campaign strategy, validate ROI, and uncover untapped behaviors. Our take: In an era demanding speed and accountability, Nexxen offers a hybrid model: automation without sacrificing human analysis. With pressure rising on publishers to justify CPMs and on marketers to prove performance, tools like Discovery promise faster insight, smarter storytelling, and deeper advertiser confidence—positioning Nexxen as a data partner in a post-cookie world.
Our analysts took a look at the first half of this eventful year and provided their own very specific—albeit unlikely—predictions at what could happen in the second half of the year and beyond.
The news: Google is bringing its generative AI (genAI) suite deeper into classrooms, launching Gemini and NotebookLM tools as part of Google Classroom for students under 18. It’s the first time NotebookLM—a research and note-taking AI—will be accessible to minors, per The Verge. Our take: Marketers and edtech players should align with Google’s expanding education stack. Building AI-integrated tools that plug into Google Classroom, optimizing content for Gemini-powered workflows, and creating solutions that run smoothly on Chromebooks can address the needs of a captive audience.
Our take: OpenAI’s first-mover advantage is under threat from all sides—vertically from specialized AI agents, horizontally from rival chatbots, and internally from talent wars and Microsoft. The news: OpenAI’s ChatGPT has rapidly become a mainstream AI tool, with new data showing that 34% of US adults have now used it—almost double the 2023 figures, per Pew Research Center. For CMOs and CTOs, this means betting on ChatGPT’s current dominance while preparing for a fragmented future where no single platform reigns supreme. Finding the right AI solutions for specific use cases is a smarter play than betting the farm on an all-in-one solutions provider.
US advertisers will spend $25.9 billion on AI search ads in 2029—13.6% of all search ad spending, up from just 0.7% in 2025, according to EMARKETER's May forecast.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss the various definitions of artificial general intelligence (AGI) and try to come up with the best one we can. Then we look at how smart humans are compared to current AI models. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, and Analysts Jacob Bourne and Gadjo Sevilla. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
The news: While major companies are picking up generative AI (genAI) for coding, many developers remain skeptical about using it without human oversight. Three-quarters (78%) said AI tools have made them more productive, but a similar share (76%) don’t entirely trust AI-generated code, per Qodo’s The State of AI Code Quality report. Our take: Remaining skepticism from developers—one of the professions closest to AI—shows that companies use genAI as a support tool and co-pilot rather than a replacement for human judgment. Training employees on AI’s weaknesses and requiring review can help reduce errors.
The news: US shopper interest in generative AI (genAI) assistants has spiked 223% between 2023 and 2025, per Chain Store Age. 69% of US consumers surveyed by CouponFollow have used AI assistants for shopping. Our take: Retail AI strategies must match their audiences. Those geared toward younger consumers should highlight AI use and innovation and even let AI guide purchases. For older consumers, focus on AI to inform, not take control.