Advertising Technology Blog

The Q1 2026 Digital Index reveals headwinds in the US mobile market, with IAP revenue declining for two straight quarters. However, digital ad spend jumped 15% YoY to $48B, led by Gen AI brands tripling investment to $430M. Mobile web visits surpassed desktop for the first time, but desktop dominates engagement with 70% of time spent. Key opportunities lie in Western Europe's growth, Google Play's rising IAP performance, and Gen AI ad channels like Reddit and TikTok. Ad ops decision-makers should pivot to high-impression platforms and prepare for cross-device engagement strategies.

Sensor Tower's Web Insights now covers 4M websites and 12M paths across 56 countries. Three new reports help marketers track user journeys (Traffic Flow), AI platform usage (LLM Market Share), and brand visibility in LLM conversations (Gen AI Brand Mentions). With AI referrals growing, these tools enable smarter traffic acquisition, benchmarking, and content optimization. Spike Analysis automatically identifies traffic anomalies. For ad ops, these features provide actionable data on referral networks, competitive ecosystem, and AI-driven discovery.

AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek are reshaping web discovery, with traffic surging 86% YoY. Mobile now accounts for over half of global visits, yet desktop dominates engagement. Search and social remain dominant discovery channels, but AI users convert at higher rates (e.g., Amazon Rufus shoppers convert nearly 2x). For ad ops, optimizing for AI-driven traffic and cross-platform user behavior is critical.

Vietnam's app market is growing rapidly with high downloads and engagement. The new Adjust report reveals gaming sessions up 15% YoY, finance installs up 21%, and entertainment session lengths reaching 24.46 minutes. Businesses need reliable measurement to stand out.

Web measurement now uses mobile-grade attribution, signals, and unified performance insights. This evolution integrates advanced tracking methods formerly exclusive to mobile, offering coherent analytics across channels for better optimization.

Email, SMS, and push are high-intent channels, but a structural gap between click and in-app action causes massive drop-off. CTRs of 30-40% often yield only 1-3% in-app conversion. The root cause is ESP link wrapping, which breaks deep link context and attribution. Fixing the handoff through proper deep linking can double purchase rates and unlock channel performance. Brands must treat the link as a continuation layer, not a redirect, and ensure context survives the transition.

A new study shows only a 4-point gap between Gen Z and Boomers in app motivations, revealing generational differences are overstated. Lifestage and platform usage are far stronger predictors of behavior than age.

Unity Vector expands its ROAS suite with D28 Ad Revenue ROAS and D28 Hybrid ROAS campaigns, enabling advertisers to optimize for long-term user value across ad-only and hybrid monetization models. Closed beta results show significant lifts in retention and ARPU compared to D7 campaigns: D28 Ad Revenue ROAS achieved up to +62% median D28 retention uplift and +68% ARPU uplift; D28 Hybrid ROAS saw +76% retention and +41% ARPU uplift. This completes Unity's D28 ROAS offering alongside existing IAP ROAS, allowing advertisers to target users whose value builds beyond the first week.

Google is introducing new ad formats powered by Gemini models for AI Mode in Search. These include Conversational Discovery ads, which answer specific user queries with tailored creative, and Highlighted Answers, which surface relevant ads within AI-generated recommendations. Additionally, AI-powered Shopping ads provide custom product explainers, and Business Agent for Leads offers chatbot interactions for lead generation. The Direct Offers pilot is expanding with promotional bundling, native checkout, and travel partner integration. For ad ops decision-makers, these innovations emphasize personalization, transparency with independent AI explanations, and seamless conversion paths.

Google is testing new AI-powered ad formats in Search using Gemini models. Conversational Discovery ads answer specific queries with tailored creative, while Highlighted Answers surface relevant sponsored recommendations. AI-powered Shopping ads generate custom product explainers, and Business Agent for Leads provides real-time chatbot interactions. The Direct Offers pilot expands with promotion bundling, native checkout, and travel deals. 75% of users make faster decisions with AI Mode. These innovations shift ads from static listings to helpful, conversational experiences, building trust through independent AI explanations and clear sponsorship labels.

Asset Studio helps create Google Ads assets from briefs, brand guidelines, and goals. It generates multiple themes, allows refinement via natural language, and soon integrates Gemini Omni for video. 1-Click A/B Testing measures performance.

Google introduces Ask Advisor, a unified AI agent that works across Google Ads, Google Analytics, and Google Marketing Platform to provide proactive, personalized recommendations. It orchestrates expert agents to help marketers streamline campaigns, from idea to launch. For example, users can ask to find new customers for specific products, and Ask Advisor pulls data from Merchant Center to set up campaigns in Google Ads. It also surfaces insights from multiple platforms, explaining what worked and suggesting next steps, making advanced features accessible to non-experts.

Ask Advisor unifies Google Ads, Analytics, and Marketing Platform agents into a single AI collaborator. It offers proactive recommendations, simplifies campaign setup, and provides insights across products, saving time for marketers of all skill levels.

Mobile performance marketing succeeded by building a signal infrastructure—independent attribution, fraud protection, and structured postbacks—that fed optimization-grade data to ad platforms. Web measurement has lagged, relying on fragmented, platform-reported metrics. As AI-driven campaign optimization becomes standard, bad signals amplify errors. AppsFlyer’s Web Performance Measurement brings mobile-grade signals to web: independent attribution, server-to-server postbacks, cross-platform closed loops, and unified cost/revenue measurement. For ad ops decision-makers, this means one truth source, actionable optimization signals across networks, and complete omnichannel ROAS visibility—enabling AI to compound advantage, not error.

Google Marketing Live 2025 introduces AI-driven innovations leveraging Gemini to transform advertising. Key updates include next-gen ad formats for AI Search, 'Ask Advisor' unified agent across Google platforms, enhanced Asset Studio for creative scaling, and new YouTube features for creator partnerships and Demand Gen. The agentic commerce era advances with Universal Commerce Protocol expansion and new tools for product discovery. For ad ops, AI handles complexity, enabling faster, smarter decision-making and growth.

Retail media networks report ROAS using different methodologies, causing up to 63% fluctuation across networks for the same campaign. This isn't a data quality issue but a structural one. Brands using multiple networks face a fragmentation tax where each network is its own source of truth, and budget decisions based on these irreconcilable figures are misleading. Independent measurement, applying the same attribution logic across all networks, is needed to reconcile data and enable confident cross-channel decisions. The signal infrastructure for this already exists from mobile measurement.

Adjust MCP server connects Adjust data to external AI tools, allowing teams to query performance data within existing workflows without manual transfers.

Threads Feed now supports third-party content block lists via DoubleVerify, IAS, Scope3, and Zefr. Over 99% of ad-adjacent content is brand safe. New partners Channel Factory and Protected by Mediaocean join for expanded advertiser control.

In 2025, AI agents will automate ad production and UA, reducing personnel needs. Privacy concerns persist despite Google's cookie reversal, driving contextual targeting and new identifiers. Advertisers will explore CTV and in-app inventory via cost-per-outcome deals. M&A activity ramps up, with deal volume up 118% YoY. AI-generated creative becomes crucial as targeting narrows, enabling scalable, varied ad creatives.

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