Google will remain the top destination for ad spend in the generative AI era
“Traditional search continues to be dominated by Google. This year, Google’s search ad revenues will reach $62.87 billion, per an Insider Intelligence forecast. By 2026, its search ad business will be more than 10 times the size of Microsoft’s.
Some 71% of adults worldwide think generative AI will have a very or somewhat large impact on search engine companies, per data from YouGov and Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. Google’s AI Overviews and the Meta AI Chatbot—now embedded on Meta platform search bars—are easing users into adopting generative AI search. Read more from Insider Intelligence.
FAST platforms are on the rise. How can they keep up the momentum?
In 2023, during the fourth quarter of Fox’s Super Bowl telecast, Tubi — the free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service owned by Fox — launched a clever 15-second ad spot that caused viewers to frantically check their remotes. The ad made it seem as if someone was changing the channel during the climax of the Big Game. Whatever anxiety was caused by the “Interface Interruption” ad, it certainly put the spotlight on Tubi. Since then, the FAST space has only been on the rise. Nielsen said in a recent report that Tubi and The Roku Channel, another FAST platform, both saw “significant year-over-year growth” in TV usage in the U.S., with the former up 43% and the latter up 36% from May 2023. Read more from the The Current.
TikTok limits teen ad-targeting methods
Among the recent updates related to privacy and improvements in advertiser accountability as well as enhanced transparency control changes, TikTok announced it is modifying the way advertisers are able to target users in the U.S. who are between 13 and 17 years of age. According to the ByteDance-owned company, advertisers “will not be able to reach teens in the United States using any personalized targeting and campaign selections.” Now, advertisers will only be able to reach teens using “a few broad targeting options, such as location, language, and device-related information,” TikTok explained in a recent blog post. Read more from MediaDailyNews.
Now that Paramount has found a buyer, what’s next?
The long–running saga of Paramount’s sale is finally at an end, but the real work might just be beginning. On Monday, Paramount Global announced an agreement to merge with Skydance Media, the production company behind such films as Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning. The deal will see Skydance buy National Amusements from Shari Redstone for $2.4 billion in cash, then merge the company with Paramount Global, giving Paramount $1.5 billion in cash and offering $4.5 billion in cash or stock to shareholders. Skydance’s David Ellison will be CEO and former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell will become president. And the two are already planning moves that will mean big changes to Paramount, including making it a “media and technology” company. Read more from Fast Company.
Fox hits record audience as UEFA, Copa America quarters score big
Fox is maintaining strong viewership with its onslaught of soccer coverage. Through the quarterfinals, the UEFA European Championship is up 42% versus the 2021 tournament on the network, averaging about 1.5 million viewers across 43 matches on Fox and FS1, according to Deadline. The quarterfinals alone averaged about 3.6 million viewers—an 89% uptick compared to the last tournament—to become the most-watched UEFA European Championship quarterfinals on English language networks in the U.S. The four quarterfinal matches now make up the four most-watched English-language quarterfinal telecasts for the UEFA European Championship in the U.S. on record, buoyed by France’s 5-3 win over Portugal on Saturday that drew 4.3 million. That’s now the most-watched English-language Euro Championship quarterfinal telecast on record in the U.S and the largest audience for a non-World Cup soccer telecast in Fox history. Read more from Sportico.
