Digital advertising
MarTech is your source for digital advertising content. You’ll find a variety of up-to-date and authoritative resources, including the latest news, tactic-rich tutorials, and the latest data to help you work smarter and make better decisions.
What you read here is written by our experienced in-house team of editors and research professionals, and subject matter experts from leading brands and agencies.
Why we care:
Advertising isn’t just about growing brand awareness or planting a seed. Advertisers and their adtech partners can reach audiences big and small at any stage of the funnel, delivering cross-channel ads across multiple touchpoints. And they aren’t just using traditional demographics and ratings, they’re leveraging device-level or user-specific data, as well as contextual insights, to serve the right message to the right customer at the right time.
Don’t miss out! Get MarTech delivered daily to your inbox. Subscribe for free!
Meta ad spend up 15% last quarter as TikTok sees sharp drop
Despite the holiday blues, ad spending on TikTok was up 27% for the entire year.
Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s campaign shows why RMNs are the future
Combining data-driven, privacy-conscious, real-time personalized advertising strategies with Foodpanda's RMN got Unilever a delicious result.
Microsoft Clarity launches Google Ads integration
Microsoft Clarity's new Google Ads integration gives marketers visibility into post-click behavior, allowing them to track user interactions.
Marketing artificial intelligence (AI)
AI-powered martech news and releases: January 16
GenAI companies have a problem: It costs more the more people use it. And OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says, "People use it much more than we expected."
IAB expects digital advertising growth to slow considerably this year
Lack of ad spending for the Olympics and elections cuts growth to 7.3%, down from last year's 11.8%.
Marketing artificial intelligence (AI)
AI continues to aid marketers’ quest for authenticity: Report
2025 looks to be a year when marketers' refine trends and strategies already underway, according to a new HubSpot report.
Social media and influencers: 2025 predictions
Marketers will seek full-funnel engagement, comprehensive customer service and help from AI over social media platforms this year.
Data, AI and advertising: 2025 predictions
How new strategies and AI-powered tools will help advertisers get the most out of budgets and ad experiences in 2025.
Optimization and personalization
Personalization’s double-edged sword: Balancing relevance with intrusiveness
Consumers really like personalized marketing content and are really nervous about companies gathering data to provide it. Here's how to address that.
Amazon’s new Retail Ad Service brings RMN to the masses
The ecommerce giant is poised to disrupt the adtech market by letting retailers use its powerful technology to sell ads on their websites.
CTV takeover: 2025 predictions
Here’s how this rapidly evolving channel will change how advertisers connect with viewers in the new year.
Retail media networks continue to grow: 2025 predictions
We’ll see more non-retail networks, data collaborations and in-store experiences as the RMN space matures.
Africa Creative makes soccer ad boards shoppable
Here's a new interactive channel for the holidays: traditional soccer field ad boards go shoppable.
Google Ads rolls out Brand Report for enhanced advertiser insights
New feature provides a unified view of brand campaign performance with deduplicated reach and frequency metrics across multiple campaigns.
Google tightens ad policies to align with Search spam rules
Advertisers risk ad disapprovals if their sites violate spam policies, making search compliance critical to PPC success.
Mobile’s growing role in holiday shopping
Shoppable TV ads and mobile wallets are winning a significant percentage of holiday purchases.
5 essential priorities for marketers in 2025
Position your brand for success in 2025 with these marketing priorities, from smarter AI adoption to better data transparency.
How AI can revolutionize creative impact measurement
Marketers are stuck using slow and imprecise tools to assess what's working with their creatives.
Global ad revenue to top $1 trillion, dominated by Google and Meta
The growing dominance of digital platforms is a signal for advertisers to adapt tech strategies and embrace AI to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving market.
Omnicom becomes the world’s largest agency holding company
With the acquisition of Interpublic, Omnicom will become the world's largest agency holding company. UPDATED with industry comments.
IAB finalizes retail media networks standards for in-store
This establishes definitions and measurement standards for proving the effectiveness of retail media network campaigns.
Demandbase rethinks ABM amid B2B marketing challenges
Veteran ABM platform Demandbase is asking foundational questions about the category as B2B marketers feel the pain.
Marketing artificial intelligence (AI)
AI is poised to disrupt the world of martech vendors and users
The Martech AI 2025 report shows how genAI is already changing the martech stack and the way digital marketers are operating.
Rethinking media mix modeling for today’s complex consumer journey
Evolving media trends requires integrating emerging channels into MMM for holistic marketing insights.
Measuring marketing incrementality: Best of the MarTechBot
See how the MarTechBot responds to a prompt and how the prompt can be improved. Today: Marketing attribution for social media and email campaigns.
AI is ringing in big holiday shopping changes
Global commerce media platform Criteo on how AI will be a big differentiator for retailers in the coming weeks.
DOJ seeks sale of Chrome in Google antitrust case
The Justice Department also reportedly wants to expand advertiser control and transparency and ban exclusive search contracts.
Google’s Privacy Sandbox: What you need to know
Get the latest on Google's plan to protect user privacy in the advertising ecosystem. Updated with the latest concerns from the U.K. CMA.
How TikTok is transforming brand advertising
Here’s how versatile ad formats, like search ads and Smart+, enhance visibility, engagement and ROI, transforming TikTok into a must-have marketing platform.
Can attention really drive campaign success?
Attention is key to effective advertising, but it’s not the whole story. Data quality, context and creative execution are also crucial.
New horizons for data-driven direct mail marketing
The way direct mail combines digital with, well, mail can look like the way CTV combines digital with, yes, TV. And the ROI is still good, marketers say.
Marketing artificial intelligence (AI)
AI-powered martech news and releases: October 31
Do customers trust AI? 60% said yes in one survey, but 52% are worried about it in another survey. Do they trust companies with AI? Not much.
Political ad spending shifts regional CTV costs for brands
As national advertisers divert spending to non-swing states, regional advertisers get some relief.
Reaching consumers in the age of AI: What you need to know about search and social media
Search still reigns supreme with consumers, but the cracks are showing as younger demographics increasingly use social media.
Google Performance Max gets new AI-powered video creation, asset testing
Company integrates advanced Imagen 3 AI model for creative optimization, along with testing and ad rank Performance Max capabilities.
Google shakes up ad auction dynamics for holiday shopping
Changes to PMax and Standard Shopping campaigns require advertisers to adjust strategies during this holiday shopping season.
IAB Tech Lab releases protocol for private sharing of conversion data
IAB Tech Lab is inviting your feedback on ADMaP, a new protocol for sharing exposure and conversion data while securing privacy.
Marketing artificial intelligence (AI)
AI-powered martech news and releases: October 10
Siteimprove’s acquisition of MarketMuse connects content strategy with digital experience, helping to make sure all the content getting churned out finds its audience.
Google blasts DOJ’s ‘radical’ proposed breakup plan
Company argues a breakup would make advertising less valuable, while harming publishers and merchants.
What Oracle’s exit from advertising means for the adtech space
Two adtech executives representing very different consumer engagement offerings reflect on what the Oracle Advertising closure means to them professionally — and personally. UPDATE: Fresh news on GumGum's and Experian's offerings now added.