Bonial acquires cmmrcl.ly from Axel Springer, creating a retail media hub with first-party data from 25+ partners including REWE, Rossmann, and OBI.
by Luis Rijo
Publicis Groupe today agreed to buy LiveRamp in an all-cash $2.5 billion deal, paying a 30% premium to fold data collaboration into its agentic AI strategy.
The week of May 11-17, 2026 compressed upfront presentations, TikTok's MCP launch, ChatGPT's global ad expansion, Amazon's shopping AI merger, and a Starlink surveillance investigation into seven days.
Stripe president John Collison told Bloomberg's Odd Lots that agentic commerce will reduce friction and called keyword search "ridiculous" as new business creation surged.
Incubeta's 2026 study finds 70% of marketing leaders feel confident their budgets work, yet 41.6% admit waste - and AI activation confidence sits at just 55%.
A UC Davis study of 20 popular AI chatbots finds 17 transmit data to third parties, with three leaking plaintext prompts via Microsoft Clarity session replay.
Google Ads API v24.1 adds direct experiment statistics and five new test types, covering AI Max, broad match, video, and Performance Max asset optimization.
Google published a new guide on May 15 to help website owners optimize for generative AI in Search, addressing AEO and GEO misconceptions directly for SEO.
Amazon, Disney, Netflix, NBCU and Fox stage 2026 upfronts as OpenAI adds audience targeting, Google rewires Analytics, and CTV fraud climbs 140% year-on-year.