Walmart

For companies like Shopify, Criteo and Instacart – and even for giants like Amazon and Walmart – figuring out if the agentic oasis is real or a mirage is their priority No. 1.

Programmatic enemies make better friends in the AI era; social video projected to outgrow CTV this year; and apps are integrating into chatbots, but where are the users?

Dappier’s new ad format allows advertisers to insert a custom brand agent into AI chat sessions on publisher sites.

Now that we have not one but two reporters covering the CTV advertising space, we thought we’d try something different and share the roundup newsletter this week!

Samsung teases a shoppable TV integration with Amazon; hackers target AI search users for marketing account takeovers; and new research shows young news audiences are “social-first.”

Marketers debate whether to build or buy their tools; Meta is shutting down the VR version of Horizon Worlds; and influencer marketing strives for authenticity.

The NHL develops new revenue streams; malware makes its way into the programmatic ecosystem; and Target plans to open 30 new locations this year, along with revamping existing ones.

Agentic commerce can’t stop, won’t stop; Perplexity is officially done with its ads business; and AppLovin may launch its own social media platform.

“Fully a third of our profit in the most recent quarter was related to advertising and membership income,” Walmart CFO John David Rainey told investors on Thursday.

TikTok may be doubling down (again) on Shop; bots are scraping content they’re banned from; and Walmart is allegedly selling counterfeit products.

Retailers court luxury goods to compete with Amazon; indie agency Tombras acquires Opinionated; and talk of an AI bubble dominates discussion at Davos.

You are not immune to shopaganda; AI responses are more limited than retailers would like; and FIFA is forcing ad-mandated water breaks.

America’s biggest department stores are changing, and changing fast.

AudienceMix, a new curation startup, aims to make it more cost effective to mix and match different audience segments using only the data brands need to execute their campaigns.

Walmart’s AI shopping deal with ChatGPT might ding its retail media biz; the MRC shares updates on which platforms won and lost accreditation; and kids’ sports streaming is becoming a real media channel.

Marketing films is one battle after another; AI gets stymied by the cloud; and bots are causing brand backlash.

Private equity firm Novacap acquires IAS; many large online retailers are seeing an uptick in referral traffic from ChatGPT; and the IAB downgraded its US ad spend projection for the rest of the year.

The FTC probes Google and Amazon over transparency in their search businesses; Walmart will only allow authorized sellers; and Perplexity’s ad business garners criticism.

Concrete findings on how effective QR codes are at driving ad interactions are now available, and some industry best practices are emerging.

Google’s SSP tries to cut out its DSP ahead of a possible ad tech breakup; Perplexity’s head of ads skips town; and Amazon’s search ad pause flooded the market with big spenders.

Walmart’s CTV and DSP business shine in a meh Q2; plummeting search traffic is blowing up cost-per-click pricing; and TikTok annoys brands with its black box optimization.

Walmart has some new rules for third-party sellers; WPP wins Mastercard; and marketers should get into VTubers.

When it comes to the red-hot retail media sector, history doesn’t have to repeat itself. Here’s how to add accountability and transparency to a space where those attributes are sorely lacking.

Walmart is loving its ad business more every day; AI agents are coming to destroy everything; YouTube is trying to win over brands.

Why did Walmart buy Vizio? What happens when a CTV campaign turns on the S&P500+? Is Google losing its search engine edge?

Amazon’s ad tech ambitions are crowding out Amazon specialists; EU regulators have concerns about Apple ATT; and Google says breaking it up could threaten national security.

Walmart’s ad business is starting to click. The company generated $4.4 billion in global ad revenue in 2024, up  27% year-over-year, the company disclosed in its latest earnings report on Thursday.

AirBNB starting an ad service business is “not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when.”  Plus, Walmart is winning.

Criteo’s Brian Gleason shared how it is working with agencies to capitalize on curation and measurement opportunities in retail media and CTV.

Meta recently revisited its goal to create AI-generated “characters” — which backfired. Plus, Apple’s trying to avoid a class-action lawsuit.