INDEPENDENT MINDS. SHARED AMBITION.
THE COLLECTIVE NEWSROOM

Paid media news and updates.

The changes that matter to advertisers, with the sources behind them and a practical next step. Pick a topic and catch up at your own pace.

1796 updates
Newsfeed display mode

Google Ads

Merchant API migration: check the connections around your feed

Emmanuel Flossie’s 26 August checklist covers product IDs, attribute rules, supplemental sources, feed labels, remarketing IDs and conversion cart data after migration. Compare identifiers and source relationships with your previous setup before changing campaigns. This is a practical troubleshooting reference, not evidence that every account has a migration fault.

Google Ads

Multi-source conversions: design the data reconciliation first

Google documents how an additional source can supplement Google-tag conversions. Its guide says conversions from the added source become biddable after 14 days. Review eligibility, event definitions and duplication handling before implementation. More recorded events are only useful if they represent the outcomes you intended to measure.

Amazon Ads

Amazon Warehousing and Distribution launches in Europe

Amazon introduced AWD in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK on 20 August. The programme offers bulk inventory storage and automated replenishment into FBA, reducing the need to manage every restock manually.

SourceLinkedIn

Microsoft Advertising

Microsoft publishes an agentic-commerce playbook

Microsoft Advertising published guidance for preparing product discovery and checkout for AI assistants and purchasing agents. It emphasises complete, structured product feeds, Merchant Centre data quality, AI-native ad formats, Copilot Checkout, Brand Agents, and visibility measurement within AI experiences.

Industry

Clarity publishes five advanced MCP Server queries

Microsoft Clarity published five advanced query patterns for its MCP Server, including identifying pages with high scroll depth but low conversion rates and diagnosing mobile page friction. The examples are workflow guidance rather than a new advertising feature.

Google Ads

Google Ads starts surfacing sitelink suggestions proactively

Arpan Banerjee reported that Google Ads is presenting suggested sitelinks inside campaign workflows. The suggestions can reduce setup time, but still require review for destination relevance, duplication, and approved messaging.

SourceLinkedIn

Amazon Ads

Amazon and HUMAN target AI-scaled MFA supply

Amazon Ads detailed how it works with HUMAN to identify and block made-for-advertising networks by using site, traffic, supply chain, infrastructure, and operator signals, rather than relying solely on page-level quality. Amazon says its agentic scanning system filtered more than 10 trillion bid requests that failed verification standards in 2025, while HUMAN observed a fourfold rise in requests from one investigated network during the first half of 2026.

Google Ads

Performance Max can generate missing video aspect ratios

Arpan Banerjee reported that Performance Max is rolling out generative AI extensions that adapt existing video to missing aspect ratios. The setting may apply automatically, with an opt-out route and a reported 4 September deadline for requests.

SourceLinkedIn

Google Merchant Center

Product images below 500 × 500 pixels face disapproval in 2027

Google has notified advertisers that images supplied via image_link below 500 × 500 pixels will be disapproved as of 31 January 2027, with 1,500 × 1,500 pixels recommended. Hana Kobzová surfaced the notice first, with Thomas Eccel sharing the deadline in the contributor feed.

Amazon Ads

The Manager Account API becomes generally available

Amazon Ads made its Manager Account API generally available to advertisers and agencies with an approved Login with Amazon client. The API supports bulk account creation, account lookup, pagination, and programmatic updates to business details across managed accounts.

SourceLinkedIn

OpenAI

ChatGPT is buying traffic from the search platform it competes with

Garrett Sussman shared iPullRank panel data showing ChatGPT as the sixth-largest destination for Google Search clicks in the sample, with about 1.7 million clicks in one week and 4.75% of its Google clicks classified as paid. The analysis cannot reveal OpenAI's total spend, bids, or unclicked auctions, so it measures observed traffic mix rather than budget.

SourceLinkedIn

Google Ads

Google Ads API v25.1 adds lift measurement and migration fields

Google released the non-breaking v25.1 update with support for Brand Lift and Conversion Lift resources, new AI Max migration date fields, text-disclaimer assets, benchmark services, loyalty segmentation, and additional reporting dimensions. Client libraries must be upgraded before the new capabilities can be used.

Microsoft Advertising

Max CPC closes for new standalone automated campaigns on 1 October

Microsoft Advertising will remove Max CPC controls from new standalone campaigns that use several conversion-based automated bidding strategies as of 1 October. Existing campaigns and portfolio strategies retain their current options in response to the reported change.

SourceLinkedIn

Google Ads

The Asset Optimisation panel is reorganised

Arpan Banerjee first surfaced a redesigned Asset Optimisation panel, with text, image, and video automation settings grouped more clearly. The change affects navigation and visibility rather than introducing a new optimisation principle.

SourceLinkedIn

Meta Ads

Audience signals can be assigned to individual creatives

Bram Van der Hallen spotted an option to choose age and gender signals for each creative within a single ad set. Meta can still deliver beyond the selected audience when it predicts a better response, so the setting is a signal rather than a strict targeting boundary.

SourceLinkedIn

Google Ads

Business logos can be added directly in Google Ads

Google Ads now lets advertisers add a business logo during setup for Performance Max and Shopping campaigns, using the Merchant Centre logo as a fallback when no separate asset is supplied. Arpan Banerjee was credited with first bringing the change to light.

SourceLinkedIn

Amazon Ads

Inventory groups reach Amazon DSP audio ad groups

Vita K. spotted inventory groups for Amazon DSP audio, extending a workflow already available for display and video. Advertisers can bundle negotiated or curated deals into one group and reuse updates across audio ad groups.

SourceLinkedIn

Industry

UK regulators open three drip-pricing investigations

The Competition and Markets Authority opened investigations into Trainline, Virgin Atlantic, and RED Driving School over the presentation of mandatory fees. The cases are investigations rather than findings of infringement, but they sit within the UK's wider enforcement focus on transparent consumer pricing.

Meta Ads

Placement exclusions move away from the ad-set level

Peter Quadrel first reported that advertisers were removing granular placement exclusions from ad sets and steering hard exclusions toward account-level Placement Controls, with value rules available for softer bid adjustments. Social Media Today later reported the same direction as part of Meta's wider automation push.

SourceLinkedIn

YouTube

TrueView consideration campaigns move to Video View Campaigns

Google is upgrading TrueView in-stream and in-feed consideration campaigns to Video View Campaigns, widening them toward multi-format delivery. The notice indicates that campaigns which previously excluded YouTube Search may have that inventory included after migration.

SourceLinkedIn

OpenAI

ChatGPT tests a separated ad label and site name

SERP Alert observed a test in which the ad label and advertiser site name appear above standard single-text ads rather than inside the ad unit. The sighting does not establish a full rollout or a performance effect.

SourceLinkedIn

Google Tag

Google begins unifying Google tag and Tag Manager

Google is consolidating Google Tag measurement settings with advanced Tag Manager capabilities, along with no-code event tracking, a visual map showing which platforms receive data, and an in-account container update guide. Google says the consolidation can simplify data transmission, while new integrations include Akamai, Cloudflare, Duda, Fastly, and Webflow.

SourceLinkedIn

YouTube

Holiday feed guidance prioritises context, media, and fundamentals

Google's Ads Decoded team highlighted conversational attributes, Q&A content, variant details, high-resolution imagery, short-form video links, shipping cut-offs, returns, local inventory, and accurate identifiers as holiday feed priorities. The guidance reflects how richer product context supports conversational and multimodal discovery.

SourceLinkedIn

Amazon Ads

Sellers can bid for Sub Same Day warehouse capacity

Ivan Marynych reported a Placement Reservation programme that allows eligible third-party sellers to select ASINs and bid for additional Sub Same Day warehouse space via Capacity Manager. Amazon's Sub Same Day network can deliver eligible products in two to five hours, while costs vary by ASIN and market and apply when units ship through the programme.

SourceLinkedIn

30 of 1796 updates loaded.

Load more updates

Each update has one permanent page. New evidence about the same development is added to that page. Dates identify the source report or newsletter coverage; article publication dates appear in the full view.

2026 newsletter archive: 38 editions and 1,562 distinct updates through Week 36. Source descriptions, credits and media are preserved; missing details remain marked.

Spotted an update worth sharing?

Share the original source and what changed. If it is already covered, help us improve the existing update.

Contribute news →Member news →