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 has introduced a security update to address MCC account hijacking attacks that have increased recently. The update introduces Multi-Party Approval, requiring a second administrator to approve sensitive changes like adding/removing users or changing roles within ~20 days.
Microsoft Advertising
Microsoft Advertising has updated its Dating and Companionship policy to include new general requirements and a global pre-approval requirement. Additional market-specific requirements now apply in Japan and for advertisers targeting Colorado in the United States.
Anthropic
Snowflake has announced a $200 million multi-year deal with OpenAI, giving its 12,600 customers access to OpenAI models across all major cloud providers. The deal follows a similar $200 million agreement with Anthropic announced in December.
Amazon Ads
Amazon has launched a Co-Brand Relationships portal within the Brand Registry for products that display multiple brand logos, such as licensed merchandise. The portal requires documentation proving the relationship between brands.
YouTube
Google has rebranded the "Awareness & Consideration" campaign objective to "YouTube reach, views and engagements." The new label better reflects the discrete goals available within YouTube campaigns: reach for broad visibility, views for content consumption, and engagements for interaction: rather than collapsing them under a vague funnel metaphor.
TikTok Ads
TikTok Ads Manager now offers a "15-second views" optimisation goal for Video Views campaigns, alongside the existing 2-second and 6-second options. This targets users more likely to watch for at least 15 seconds.
Meta Ads
Meta Instant Forms now includes "WhatsApp number" as a prefill question option alongside phone number. The field auto-populates if the user has a WhatsApp number linked to their profile.
Amazon Ads
Amazon Ads has released an MCP Server in open beta, enabling AI agents to interact with the Amazon Ads API programmatically. The server allows agentic workflows to manage campaigns, pull reports, and execute tasks.
OpenAI
OpenAI has released the Codex app for macOS, a desktop interface for managing multiple coding agents in parallel across projects. The app introduces Skills to extend Codex beyond code generation: including Figma-to-code, Linear project management, cloud deployment, and image generation.
Google Ads
Google Ads has stopped pre-selecting Performance Max as the default when setting up a new Shopping campaign. You now choose the campaign type without a default applied.
Google Ads
Google Ads will now automatically collect a broader range of event data from websites to improve measurement with less manual setup. Advertisers may notice additional network requests to Google domains when events are transmitted (e.g., /aagrp/prod/model_person_country_code_US_person_region_code).
Google Ads
Google now allows Call Assets to appear inside Vehicle Ads in Search results. Users can call the dealer directly from the ad without clicking through to the website.
OpenAI
References to "ads shown to the user" have been spotted in the source code of ChatGPT responses, signalling that OpenAI's advertising rollout is imminent. The beta pilot program is reportedly closing applications this week with a $200K minimum spend and CPM-based pricing.
Reddit Ads
Reddit reported Q4 revenue of $726 million (up 70% YoY), with $690 million from advertising (up 75% YoY). Daily active users grew 19% to 121.4 million, and the company announced a $1 billion share repurchase program.
Google Ads
Google Ads is displaying promotional messaging for AI Max directly within campaign settings during account audits. The placement appears to be an internal ad encouraging the adoption of AI features.
Google Ads
Google Ads is rolling out Billing Reports to MCC accounts, providing line-by-line invoice breakdowns that include the account name, campaign details, usage, and payment data. The feature is located under Billing > Billing Reports.
Display & Video 360
Best Buy and Shipt are now sharing commerce audiences across publishers and exchanges in Display & Video 360 as part of Google's Commerce Media Suite. Best Buy audiences target consumers with electronics and tech intent, while Shipt audiences reach in-market shoppers for groceries, beauty, and essentials.
Microsoft Advertising
Microsoft Advertising published four global policy changes: gambling and games now require pre-approval for all clients; pharmacy and healthcare advertisers must complete pre-approval before serving in allowed markets; cryptocurrency exchanges are now permitted for Search advertisers meeting criteria in EU and UK markets; and high-fat, sugar, and salt food ads are banned in the United Kingdom from January 5, 2026.
Gemini
Google now uses its Gemini 3 model to power AI Overviews in Search worldwide. The update improves responses to complex queries and enables users to continue conversations via AI Mode for follow-up questions.
LinkedIn Ads
Google has launched an Ads Decoded newsletter on LinkedIn as a companion to the recently relaunched podcast. Each edition provides deeper analysis and actionable tips from podcast episodes, including priorities for measurement and data strategy.
Meta Ads
Meta Ads has introduced four updates:
Microsoft Advertising
A new ad extension has been spotted showing third-party endorsement content, such as a PCMag review badge, directly under Search Ads. The feature was first flagged by Sarah Blocksidge and later confirmed by Search Engine Land.
Google Ads
A bug in Web GTM is forcing Floodlight Counter tags set to "Unique" or "Per Session" to fire as "Standard," counting every conversion instead of deduplicating.
Amazon Ads
Amazon updated Sponsored Brands product collections to allow 3–10 products per ad, up from the previous limit of 3. AI dynamically selects and highlights the most relevant products based on customer intent, though manual selection is still available.
Meta Ads
Meta is prompting advertisers to add Business AI to their ads, an AI agent that would automatically respond to messages, comments, and inquiries about the business. The feature appears as a recommendation within the ad creation flow.
Google Tag
A new setting in Google Ads Data Manager lets you restrict how user data is used for audiences in US states with strict privacy laws. Users in those states will not be added to your audience segments, reducing compliance risk.
Meta Ads
Meta now lets you sequence ads within Awareness and Engagement campaigns. You set a frequency target, add at least two ads, publish the campaign disabled, then enable ad sequencing at the ad set level to arrange delivery order.
Google Tag
Google Tag Gateway (GTG) serves Google tags from your own domain to bypass ad blockers and extend cookie lifetimes. However, GTG only works for Google tags, while server-side tagging (SST) supports all tags and offers a custom loader.
Amazon Ads
Starting February 15, 2026, Amazon will charge FBA removal and disposal fees per unit as each item is processed, rather than a single lump sum when the full order is completed. Fee rates remain unchanged: only the billing timing changes.
Google Ads
Network segmentation is now available via the Google Ads API for Performance Max campaigns, enabling breakdowns by network, time, device, product attributes, CPC, CPM, and ROAS. Mike Ryan published a first-of-its-kind analysis using 41.5 billion impressions from Smarter Ecommerce (smec), offering deeper insight than the UI-based Channel Performance report.
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