No Warner Bros., no Hastings, no problem: Netflix has ‘room for growth’

The streamer is still on track to double ad revenue to $3 billion this year, and its advertiser base grew over 70% year over year in 2025 to more than 4,000.

By Chris Kelly • April 17, 2026

Black representation drives brand opportunities: Here’s what the numbers say

Black audiences are significantly more likely to pay attention to an ad if they feel it reflects their culture, according to Nielsen research. 

By Sara Karlovitch • April 17, 2026

Explore the Trendline➔

Top 5 stories from Marketing Dive

From the continued rise of artificial intelligence to the emergence of new digital channels, here's a look at key trends driving marketing in 2026.

By Marketing Dive staff

Google brings AI Max for Search out of beta, will deprecate legacy tools

Dynamic Search Ads, automatically created assets and the campaign-level broad match setting will automatically upgrade to AI Max in September. 

By Peter Adams • April 16, 2026

Publicis addresses Trade Desk spat, calls Sora shutdown ‘symbolic’

The group delivered its 20th consecutive quarter of growth in Q1 despite the Middle East conflict, which executives said hasn’t rattled client spending. 

By Peter Adams • April 14, 2026

Meta to shoot past Google in digital ad revenue for first time: Emarketer

Growth is accelerating for the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, with increased automation improving ad performance. 

By Sara Karlovitch • April 14, 2026

Publicis leans on Microsoft in race to lead agentic AI for marketers

The Epsilon identity solution and consultancy arm Sapient are in focus while Publicis is also taking over Microsoft’s sizable global media business.

By Peter Adams • April 9, 2026

Will ChatGPT ads become a meaningful part of the performance media mix?

Questions remain around whether LLM ads can be evaluated with the same rigor as the rest of advertisers’ media plans, writes AppFlyer’s Brian Quinn.

By Brian Quinn • April 9, 2026

Estée Lauder names WPP first global media partner to centralize media efforts

The move is designed to improve media effectiveness and represents the next step in the company’s Beauty Reimagined initiative.

By Jessica Hammers • April 6, 2026

Go Figure: 3 big marketing numbers from March

From Instagram advertising to Papa John’s marketing investment, here are some important numbers marketers may have missed.

By Sara Karlovitch • April 3, 2026

How MLB is leveraging automation and data to enhance fan messaging

The sports league has expanded its partnership with Adobe so individual clubs can create marketing that better matches how individual fans enjoy sports.

By Aaron Baar • April 3, 2026

Publicis sharpens sports marketing focus with 160over90 acquisition

Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun described sports as the firm’s “next big bet” as it tries to bring cohesion to an increasingly valuable but fragmented market.

By Peter Adams • April 2, 2026

How brands and agencies are operationalizing AI as the tech matures

Yum Brands and WPP officials discussed what is and isn’t working with artificial intelligence during IAB’s annual Public Policy & Legal Summit.

By Chris Kelly • March 31, 2026

Albertsons on its ChatGPT ads test and push for retail media transparency

Liz Roche, VP of media and measurement at Albertsons Media Collective, discussed the strategic thinking behind its AI experiment at the NewFronts.

By Peter Adams • March 31, 2026

How brands and agencies are strategizing CTV investments in 2026

Nearly 70% of CTV advertisers plan to increase their spending this year, according to a new report from Advertiser Perceptions and Premion.

By Aaron Baar • March 30, 2026

How to turn the insights you already have into better commercial outcomes

 Your best decisions depend on insight you already have — if you can use it in time.

March 30, 2026

Nearly $100B in global ad growth at risk if energy crisis persists: WARC

Assuming a worst-case scenario, 4.2 percentage points of expected growth could be erased in 2026 as marketers struggle to preserve thin margins. 

By Peter Adams • March 26, 2026

How CTV advertising prepped for next-gen reinvention at NewFronts

Samsung, Comcast and Tubi rolled out measurement and AI innovations, plus deals with Amazon, at the IAB’s annual showcase for brands and agencies.

By Chris Kelly • March 25, 2026

Walmart, Vizio outline strategy for tying CTV ads to retail outcomes

At their first unified NewFronts presentation, the companies underscored their ability to engage audiences not reached by linear TV buys.

By Peter Adams • March 24, 2026

5 ways advertisers can optimize women’s sports investments

New research from WPP Media highlights the unique qualities of women’s sports viewers and how athlete-led creative can improve brand outcomes.

By Jessica Hammers • March 23, 2026

Hispanic consumers and mobile in-game ads: Here’s what the numbers say

In-games ads have a higher brand recall rate among Hispanic consumers than Instagram ads, per Portal Latino research.

By Sara Karlovitch • March 20, 2026

Coca-Cola’s CMO on hyper-personalizing marketing around the World Cup

Shakir Moin explains how the soda giant is using the global opportunity to demonstrate its “de-averaging at scale” principle in action.

By Chris Kelly • March 18, 2026

Beverage marketer sees cost savings with agentic media-buying test

Completed with PubMatic and Butler/Till, the campaign’s fully automated media buying and optimization process reduced buy-side costs by 5.5x.

By Sara Karlovitch • March 17, 2026

Nielsen: Sports continues to prop up ad-supported TV

Broadcast TV without sports accounted for just 9.8% of total ad-supported viewership in Q4 2025. 

By Sara Karlovitch • March 16, 2026

Publicis acquires AdgeAI to sift quality creative from content glut

The startup uses AI to track which creative or video assets are driving engagement and conversion to help optimize campaigns in real time. 

By Peter Adams • March 13, 2026

Horizon Media pilots AI solution to detect cultural shifts mid-campaign

The tool developed by Sightly and Vurvey Labs helps brands quickly respond to news developments that could affect perceptions of campaign messaging.

By Jessica Hammers • March 9, 2026