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.
Google Ads
Google Ads has added a new "Ads using video" segment inside Performance Max Channel Performance reporting, allowing advertisers to break down results by whether video assets were actually used in a given placement. This addition complements the "Ads using product data" segment introduced in July 2025 and helps us understand which creative inputs are driving channel performance.
Apple Ads
New research from Graphite.io, published this week, overturns the conventional view that AI usage data: typically drawn solely from web traffic: provides the full picture. Combining web visits and mobile app sessions across the top five LLM products (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, and Claude), the study finds that AI now receives 45 billion monthly sessions worldwide, equivalent to 56% of search engine sessions globally and 34% in the US.
Apple Ads
Jon Loomer has issued a warning that multiple advertisers have reported their Meta ad accounts being shut down after connecting them to Claude or other AI agents. In his Field Notes newsletter, Loomer characterises the risk as current and unresolved, advising against connecting ad accounts to AI agents until the issue is better understood.
Gemini
Thomas Eccel spotted a new notification bar appearing inside the Gemini app stating that some saved chats may be reviewed by humans to improve Google AI. The disclosure is a standard practice across AI platforms, but its visibility in the interface signals that Google is increasing transparency around data use: potentially in response to regulatory pressure or to user expectations following GDPR enforcement actions elsewhere.
Google Ads
The Google Ads API team has scheduled a v23.2 release event for March 26 at 11:00 AM ET on Discord and YouTube. The update is a minor release with additional features.
ChatGPT Ads
Ashley Fletcher of Adthena reported further observations from the ongoing ChatGPT Ads trial. One advertiser has spent only 3% of their allocated $250,000 budget.
Anthropic
Anthropic has launched Channels in Claude Code: a research preview feature that allows users to connect a persistent local Claude Code session to a Discord or Telegram bot, enabling remote task delegation from a phone or secondary device. Messages sent to the bot arrive as events in the running Claude session; Claude reads the request, executes work on the local machine, and replies back through the same channel.
Google Ads
Google Ads has rolled out an updated interface design that repositions the account switcher to the top left corner and refreshes the horizontal campaign hierarchy navigation. The visual change is cosmetic rather than functional, but it affects daily navigation habits for agencies and MCC users who frequently switch between accounts.
Google Ads
Google has released Ads Editor version 2.12, one of the most substantial updates to the desktop tool in recent memory. The release spans campaign management, creative controls, and bidding, with changes that affect practically every campaign type.
Google Ads
Google's Advertising and Measurement Developer Relations team has launched Ads DevCast, a bi-weekly vodcast and podcast hosted by Developer Relations Engineer Cory Liseno, covering technical updates across Google Ads, Google Analytics, Display & Video 360, Meridian, and related tools. The series is aimed at developers and marketing technologists rather than campaign practitioners: a deliberate complement to Ginny Marvin's Ads Decoded, which covers strategy and product for marketing teams.
Apple Ads
Google has announced three new optional capabilities for the Universal Commerce Protocol, the open standard designed to enable AI agents to interact with retailer infrastructure without hard-coded integrations. The additions reflect feedback from the first wave of UCP adopters and address practical gaps in the initial release.
Apple Ads
Apple Ads has launched Insights, a new data analytics engine that replaces the platform's Custom Report Builder. The tool allows advertisers to explore performance across every dimension in their account: campaigns, ad groups, keywords, ad placements, and search terms: with predefined report templates for both standard performance views and advanced metrics, including Impression Share, rank, and search term popularity by country.
OpenAI
OpenAI has launched GPT-5.4 mini and nano, two smaller models designed to bring GPT-5.4 capabilities to faster, cheaper, and higher-volume use cases. GPT-5.4 mini is described as more than 2x faster than GPT-5 mini while approaching full GPT-5.4 performance on several coding benchmarks, including SWE-Bench Pro and OSWorld-Verified.
Google Ads
Google Ads has launched vehicle feeds on Search ads, allowing automotive advertisers to enrich their existing Search text ads with live inventory data from their Google Merchant Centre vehicle feed. The integration surfaces car make, model, price, and imagery alongside standard ad components: without requiring separate campaigns or targeting setups.
Apple Ads
Google Labs has relaunched Stitch as a full AI-native design canvas, allowing users to generate high-fidelity UI from natural language descriptions, images, or code snippets on an infinite canvas. The update introduces a design agent that reasons across an entire project's history, a DESIGN.md file for exporting and importing design systems across tools, and voice interaction for real-time design critique and iteration.
Google Ads
Anthony Higman shared an unusual Google Ads notification stating: "This change is a result of these product offerings evolving into newer Google products, rendering the original policy requirements obsolete for advertisers." The specific policy affected was not detailed in the post, but the language suggests Google is retiring legacy compliance requirements tied to product lines that have since been superseded.
Microsoft Advertising
Microsoft Advertising has completed a global rollout of its simplified bidding interface, consolidating Target CPA and Target ROAS into optional target settings within Maximise Conversions and Maximise Conversion Value, respectively, rather than treating them as standalone bid strategies. The change applies only to newly created campaigns; existing tCPA and tROAS campaigns continue to run without any required action, and portfolio bid strategies remain unchanged.
Google Ads
Google has introduced Ask Maps, a conversational AI layer built on Gemini that answers complex real-world questions. Users can ask questions like "Where can I charge my phone without waiting in line for coffee?"
Google Ads
Amazon has made the Sponsored Brands Collections format live with two options. Automatic mode lets Amazon's AI select products from your catalogue based on keyword targets and shopper queries, generating the ad title and landing page automatically.
Google Ads
WhatsApp has expanded its native AI agent to business chats in Mexico. The tool responds to customer chats in real time and learns from each conversation in the account.
YouTube
Google has released YouTube Topic Insights, an open-source Looker Studio dashboard built on Google Cloud. The tool uses the YouTube Data API and Gemini to analyse video data and surface emerging trends and top creators.
Google Ads
Google is updating its Healthcare and Medicines policy to end the cross-border certification programme that allows online pharmacies based in the United Kingdom to target Germany and Austria. The change takes effect in March 2026.
Google Ads
PPCsurvey.com has published the Global State of PPC 2026 report, featuring responses from over 1,300 practitioners across 60+ charts and 14,000 words. The report includes the first full chapter on AI in PPC with 10 questions on how practitioners actually use AI in daily work.
Google Ads
Google Marketing Platform has announced a NewFront event to introduce the Gemini advantage across its ecosystem. The presentation will cover how Gemini models are being integrated into the platform.
OpenAI
ChatGPT is now ingesting product feeds directly from merchants rather than scraping Google Shopping. Shopping results now display source feed names, including Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Chewy, Best Buy, Etsy, and Shopify merchants.
Google Ads
Six German umbrella associations representing publishers, broadcasters, advertisers, and ad-tech intermediaries have called on the Bundeskartellamt to reject Apple's proposed remedies for its App Tracking Transparency Framework. The Bundeskartellamt informed Apple in February 2025 that it considers ATT an abuse of dominance designed to boost Apple's advertising business.
Google Ads
Google is rolling out an AI-driven voice-over feature for Performance Max video ads. The system pulls from your headlines and descriptions to generate voice-over for silent videos, saving the result as a new asset.
OpenAI
OpenAI is testing an Ads Manager with a small group of partners as its ChatGPT advertising pilot takes shape. Early data shows some brands seeing click-through rates below 1%, far behind Google Search benchmarks.
Industry
Google is testing Sponsored Shops blocks inside Shopping results, highlighting entire stores with multiple products in a single block rather than individual product listings. The block displays store name, ratings, and product range, shifting visibility from product-level to store-level competition.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console has rolled out the branded queries filter to all eligible sites. The feature automatically differentiates between branded and non-branded queries in the Performance Report, helping analyse traffic from users familiar with your brand versus those discovering you organically.
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