Google Earned More Than $100 Billion In Ad Revenue Last Quarter, But Is It Even An Ad Business?
Google reported over $127.6 billion in advertising revenue for Q3, up 25 % YoY, but analysts debate whether its diversified services (search, YouTube, cloud) make it a pure ad business. The piece explores Google’s dominant market position and the implications for advertisers seeking scale and data.
Google's over $100 billion in ad revenue, a 25% YoY increase, underscores the imperative for us to leverage its immense scale and data access in external media partnerships, thereby maintaining and enhancing our value as an attractive delivery channel for advertisers.
→ Read on AdExchanger
Google AI Mode sends 57% of product links to Google Shopping: Study
A study shows that when users enable Google’s AI Mode, 57 % of product links are redirected to Google Shopping instead of organic results, altering merchant visibility. This reduces organic traffic but creates new opportunities for Shopping ads.
The finding that Google's AI mode redirects 57% of product links to Google Shopping suggests a decreasing reliance on organic traffic and an increasing importance of shopping ads on Google, requiring us to adapt by strengthening external integration products like RPP-EXP.
→ Read on searchengineland.com
Intent IQ Helps The Independent Increase Revenue by Nearly 30% Across ID-less Inventory
Intent IQ, a leader in identity resolution, announced results from its partnership with The Independent, an international digital news publisher. By applying Intent IQ’s ID‑less identity solution, The Independent saw roughly a 30 % lift in revenue across its inventory that lacks traditional user IDs.
The case of a 30% revenue increase from ID-less inventory demonstrates that, in preparation for a cookieless future, we must strengthen our first-party data-driven identity resolution solutions to maintain and improve targeting accuracy and measurement capabilities for external media delivery and internal display ads.
→ Read on ExchangeWire
VIOOH Partners with Adams Outdoor to Expand Programmatic Access to Digital Billboards Across the US
VIOOH, a premium global DOOH supply‑side platform, announced a strategic partnership with Adams Outdoor Advertising. The collaboration makes thousands of US digital billboard slots programmatically purchasable, allowing advertisers to bid in real time and scale outdoor campaigns through a single DSP interface.
As programmatic trading of digital billboards expands in the U.S., we may need to consider the potential of real-time bidding for physical space advertising in the future when exploring new ad formats for brand budget acquisition.
→ Read on ExchangeWire
DOOH Market Expected to Grow About 1.5× in Five Years – On‑Site Perspective on Rising Real‑World Ad Demand
The article examines the out‑of‑home (DOOH) market’s projected 1.5‑fold growth, driven by increasing demand for physical‑space advertising, and discusses how AI is being used to optimize inventory and targeting.
The forecast that the DOOH market will grow 1.5 times, driven by AI optimization and rising demand for real-world advertising, suggests that in our brand budget acquisition strategy, we should explore the potential for AI-driven targeting and inventory management when considering future physical space advertising opportunities.
→ Read on MarkeZine
Reddit ad revenue gains 54% to $847 million as daily users stall at 130.3 million
Reddit’s advertising revenue rose 54% year‑over‑year to $847 million, while daily active users plateaued at about 130 million, indicating limited audience growth. The strong revenue gain reflects higher spend per user but also highlights a ceiling on reach. Advertisers need to weigh the trade‑off between higher ROI and limited scale.
Reddit's 54% ad revenue increase despite stagnant daily active users suggests that we have room to achieve revenue growth for our existing ad products not only through user base expansion but also through more efficient inventory management and pricing strategies.
→ Read on PPC Land
Reddit plans to make logins the norm after 20 years of open browsing
After two decades of allowing anonymous browsing, Reddit announced it will shift to a login‑required model, allowing the platform to collect richer user profile data. This change is expected to improve targeting precision and measurement capabilities for advertisers. Brands must prepare for new policy requirements and potential shifts in audience composition.
Reddit's plan to enhance user data through mandatory logins and improve ad targeting accuracy reminds us of the importance of leveraging first-party data to improve the precision of our own ad products and the critical role of data collaboration in external media partnerships.
→ Read on PPC Land
Amazon ad revenue growth drops to 11% after Prime Day moves to June
Amazon’s ad revenue growth slowed to 11% following the shift of Prime Day to June, down from previous double‑digit growth rates. Overall ad spend remains high, but seasonal timing altered demand patterns. Advertisers should adjust media plans to reflect the new peak period.
Amazon's ad revenue growth deceleration due to seasonal factors like the Prime Day timing shift suggests that for our core products like RPP and RPP-EXP, we must strengthen our proposals for budget allocation strategies that account for seasonality and enhance support for effective campaign design for advertisers.
→ Read on PPC Land
Amazon calls its ad platform an agent, but the agent is still closed beta
Amazon rebranded its advertising solution as an “agent” that would allow agencies to purchase media on its platform, but the feature remains in closed beta and is not yet widely available. This creates uncertainty for advertisers about future buying flows. Current DSP pathways continue to dominate.
Amazon's introduction of a new "agent" model for its ad platform targeting agencies indicates that, as we develop our agency partnership strategy for brand budget acquisition, we must observe how competitors simplify media buying for agencies and use these insights to differentiate our own value proposition.
→ Read on PPC Land
Focus Media Network revenue gains 104% ahead of $25 million Nasdaq IPO
Singapore‑based Focus Media Network, operating over 800 DOOH screens, saw revenue surge 104% ahead of its planned $25 million Nasdaq IPO, attracting investor interest. The network offers programmatic buying and real‑time measurement, aligning with the growing demand for automated out‑of‑home advertising. This underscores the maturation of programmatic DOOH.
The case of Singapore-based Focus Media Network achieving 104% revenue growth in programmatic DOOH and preparing for a NASDAQ IPO suggests we should continuously monitor trends in new ad channels featuring real-time measurement and programmatic buying for brand budget acquisition, using these insights for future strategy.
→ Read on PPC Land
Pandora loses 2.75 million monthly users as SiriusXM ad sales stall at $456 m
Pandora reported a loss of 2.75 million monthly users and SiriusXM’s ad sales stalled at $456 million. Podcast ad growth slowed from 37% in Q1 to 20%, reducing inventory and reach for audio advertisers. The gap may push advertisers toward alternatives such as YouTube Audio.
Pandora's user decline and stagnant audio ad sales, along with the shift towards alternative media like YouTube Audio, reinforce for us the importance of diversifying ad platforms and our strategy of capturing user engagement through influencer x video initiatives utilizing Meta and YouTube.
→ Read on PPC Land
T‑Mobile's ad spend gains 5.5% to $956 m in the third quarter
T‑Mobile’s advertising spend rose 5.5% to $956 million in Q3. The company’s 2025 acquisitions of data firms Vistar and Blis are being integrated, enhancing carrier‑data targeting and mentioning AI shopping agents.
T-Mobile's increased ad spending and enhanced targeting with carrier data and AI shopping agents suggest that we should further advance personalized ad delivery using our strong first-party data and AI across all our products, including RPP and TDA.
→ Read on PPC Land
Google ad clicks gain 8% in Q3, slower than 11% over nine months
Google’s ad clicks grew 8% in Q3, slower than the 11% average over the past nine months. Cost per click increased 4%, and the number of ads shown on partner sites fell 14%.
Google's slowing ad click growth and decreased ad views on partner sites, coupled with rising CPCs, suggest that we must carefully monitor inventory availability and price fluctuations for external media integration products like RPP-Ex and TDA-EXP, and adjust our optimization strategies accordingly.
→ Read on PPC Land
VIOOH gains 460 Adams Outdoor digital billboards to sell programmatically
VIOOH acquired 460 digital billboards from Adams Outdoor and will sell them programmatically. The inventory delivers roughly 4.9 billion monthly impressions (≈10.7 million per board) and offers a cost advantage of about 4.5× versus OUTFRONT.
VIOOH's programmatic sales of Adams Outdoor DOOH billboards, achieving superior cost performance over competitors, indicates that we must continue to pay close attention to the evolution of efficient ad space provision and real-time bidding in the DOOH market when considering brand budget acquisition opportunities.
→ Read on PPC Land
Netflix plans genre and mood short-video feeds for its phone app in 2027
Netflix will add genre‑ and mood‑based short‑video feeds to its mobile app starting in 2027 and will launch vertical video ads globally alongside the feeds. This creates a new ad inventory that allows advertisers to target users based on content preferences, indicating a shift toward short‑form video monetization in streaming.
Netflix's plan to introduce short video feeds and vertical video ads in 2027 clearly indicates the expansion of the video advertising market and shifts in content consumption behavior, prompting us to capture this growth trend through our "Influencer × Video" strategy and explore opportunities for new video ad products for brand budget acquisition.
→ Read on PPC Land
Microsoft’s search and ad sales, now with LinkedIn, gain 10% to $6.6bn
Microsoft has integrated LinkedIn ads into its search network, lifting overall ad revenue by 10%. This gives advertisers direct access to professional‑level targeting and a potential boost in ROI.
Microsoft's increased search and ad revenue by integrating LinkedIn ads and enhancing B2B targeting suggests that we need to explore new value propositions for advertisers by leveraging diverse first-party data within the Rakuten Group to improve targeting capabilities for unique segments.
→ Read on PPC Land
Apple’s Private browsing and the only practical path for advertising
Apple is effectively eliminating third‑party cookies and IDFA through its private‑browsing changes, forcing advertisers to rely on first‑party data and contextual targeting delivered via server‑side solutions. IAB Tech Lab outlines concrete implementation steps and stresses that the industry must rapidly build privacy‑safe ad‑tech infrastructure.
Apple's phasing out of third-party cookies and IDFA, compelling advertisers to shift to first-party data and server-side delivery, indicates that for our external media integration products, we must urgently establish privacy-compliant infrastructure and strengthen contextual targeting utilizing our own data.
→ Read on IAB Tech Lab
Rebalancing the Ad Break
The article argues that Connected TV (CTV) needs a flexible “ad‑break” portfolio that balances linear and on‑demand inventory, leveraging dynamic insertion and advanced measurement to retain audience attention. It highlights that advertisers will favor platforms that can quickly reallocate inventory based on performance signals.
The emphasis on flexible Ad Break optimization and advanced measurement as essential for audience retention in CTV advertising suggests that for our video ad strategy aimed at acquiring brand budgets, we need to incorporate technologies like dynamic insertion to maximize ad effectiveness.
→ Read on IAB Tech Lab
Meta takes down Muse ad on Instagram that claimed to show who unfollowed you
Meta removed an Instagram ad for the third‑party tool “Muse,” which advertised the ability to reveal which users have unfollowed a profile. The removal underscores Meta’s enforcement of privacy‑related ad policies that prohibit promoting functionality that discloses user behavior. Advertisers must therefore audit copy and creative for privacy compliance before launch.
Meta's removal of certain ads due to privacy guideline violations demonstrates that when delivering ads via external media partnerships, we must strictly adhere to each platform's privacy standards and constantly verify that our creatives and copy comply with guidelines.
→ Read on Business Insider