Target and Walmart bring checkout directly into Google's AI assistant
Target and Walmart enable direct purchasing through Google Gemini and AI Mode in Search, powered by Universal Commerce Protocol announced January 11, 2026.
Luis Rijo
Luís Rijo is a seasoned marketing professional with over 10 years of experience in Digital Marketing, Search, Social, Display, Video, and DOOH. Based in Europe. Also writing in the spend. Reach out via luis@ppc.land
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Ad industry veterans explain why AdCP isn't competing with real-time bidding
Industry leaders argue Ad Context Protocol enables portfolio management for advertising investments rather than snapshot bidding decisions programmatic advertising uses today.
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Universal Commerce Protocol could make checkout buttons obsolete
The Universal Commerce Protocol threatens e-commerce platforms' differentiation while creating opportunities for merchants to escape platform lock-in.
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Mastercard bets future payments run through AI agents instead of people
Mastercard introduces Agent Pay today for autonomous commerce, partnering with Google on Universal Commerce Protocol as 800M OpenAI users signal demand.
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Google launches protocol for AI agents to shop across platforms
Google launches Universal Commerce Protocol with major retailers on January 11, 2026, introducing checkout APIs and payment standards for autonomous AI agents.
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Web3 is dead and AI killed it
Web3 funding crashed 74% while AI investment hit $124.3B in 2024. Developers abandoned blockchain for AI tools as 90% of Web3 projects failed. Here's why it matters.
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Private label sales hit €352 billion as shoppers reshape European grocery
European retailers' own brands now command 38.5% of grocery market value, outpacing manufacturer brands by 2.5x.
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YouTube quietly removes upload date sorting, sparking creator backlash
YouTube eliminates sort-by-upload-date function while maintaining date filters, disrupting news discovery workflows for creators and viewers.
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Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters holds YouTube's top spot as 2026 begins
Golden from Netflix's animated film leads with 59.8 million views while regional charts show India, Brazil dominate global consumption patterns week of January 2-8, 2026.
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Microsoft lets advertisers add 50 search themes to Performance Max campaigns
Microsoft Advertising expands search theme capacity from previous limits, giving advertisers more control over automated campaign targeting signals.
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Your favorite website might be rotting away
Traffic to established websites dropped 11% over five years while AI platforms rise, leaving outdated content to clutter search results with broken links.
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Google quietly expands asset A/B testing to all Performance Max campaigns
Google extends Performance Max asset experimentation beyond retail campaigns, enabling advertisers to test creative combinations within single asset groups.
