Latest Marketing & Advertising News
Digital Ad Revenue Climbs to Nearly $300B as IAB Celebrates 30-Year Anniversary
The IAB's 2025 Internet Advertising Revenue Report shows total digital ad revenue reaching nearly $300B, with social at $117.7B (40%), search at $114.2B (38.8%), and digital video at $78B. Commerce media grew 18% YoY to $63.4B, while creator advertising hit $37B in 2025, projected to $44B in 2026 as brands integrate creators into core strategies.
Creator Advertising Emerges as Core Media Channel with $37B Spend
Creator ad spend reached $37.1B in 2025, projected to $43.9B in 2027, growing faster than overall advertising. Brands shift to micro/macro influencers over celebrities, with 92% planning such partnerships, and paid amplification beyond social jumping 56% to $11.1B.
This reflects structural investment in always-on creator programs.
Brands Shift from Celebrities to Micro and Macro Influencers
92% of marketers plan to work with macro (100K-500K followers) and micro (5K-100K) influencers in 2026, down from 29% chasing celebrities due to better engagement. Creator content expands into display, CTV, and retail media.
AI Reshapes Creator Workflows and Boosts Ad Spend
79% of marketers increased spend on generative AI creator content in the past year, with the same share planning more; 77% will shift budgets from traditional to AI-generated. At SXSW 2026, focus shifted from audience to community in creator-brand partnerships.
Agentic AI Dominates Martech Announcements
Salesforce, Adobe, Demandbase, GoodData, and others launched agentic AI capabilities for autonomous workflows in marketing, analytics, and e-commerce. These systems handle actions without human intervention, targeting next revenue opportunities.
AI Adoption Surges but Quality Slips in Marketing
Applause report reveals surging AI use in marketing but declining output quality, contradicting vendor productivity claims. Adobe’s Firefly AI Assistant enables multi-step workflows across tools, raising concerns on consistency and approvals.
Demandbase Leads in Forrester Waves for B2B Marketing
Demandbase named Leader in Forrester Wave: Marketing and Sales Data Providers and Revenue Marketing Platforms for B2B, Q1 2026. New features include Site Customization Agent reducing landing page time from days to minutes.
GoodData Reports Strong Q1 Driven by Agentic Analytics
GoodData's Q1 2026 results boosted by MCP Server for agentic analytics, enabling 10-50x faster value in BI workflows. Expansion into financial services and new markets.
IAB Tech Lab Adds Amazon Ads’ Dynamic Traffic Engine
IAB Tech Lab integrates Amazon Ads’ tool into open-source efforts to cut programmatic inefficiencies by improving bid request signaling. Reduces wasted infrastructure from mismatched DSP priorities.
DIGIXX Summit and Awards 2026 Spotlights India’s Digital Shift
10th edition on April 17 in New Delhi celebrates digital marketing, media, tech excellence with awards. Focuses on India’s digital power shift.
Lumen Research Partners with Cint on Attention Metrics
Partnership links attention data to brand lift outcomes, quantifying ad engagement value for performance marketing. Enables advertisers to measure impact on upper-funnel metrics.
Goodway Group Named Publix Shopper Marketing AOR
Goodway appointed Agency of Record for Publix, starting co-branded creatives in Q1 amid grocer trend to consolidate shopper marketing. Aims to boost consumer engagement and brand protection.