Advertising Technology Blog

Meta launches Business Agent, an AI tool enabling 24/7 customer responses via WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. Set up in minutes, it handles FAQs, product recommendations, appointments, and sales. Over 1 million businesses already use it. A new platform allows integration with Shopify/Zendesk for enterprise customization. Future expansions include search discovery and agent-driven daily operations. Free initially, transitioning to paid subscriptions.

At MAU 2026, the industry agreed that attention, not production, is the bottleneck. Cross-platform web-to-app attribution is now achievable with AppsFlyer's mobile-grade measurement extending to web, giving ad ops a unified view. AI is in production, with Square's team shipping six live workflows. Web-to-app is the most efficient top-of-funnel for app businesses, and retention overtakes acquisition. Ad ops must prioritize clean signal layers and incrementality testing over single-metric attribution.

YouTube receives MRC brand safety accreditation for the sixth year, now expanded to include YouTube Shorts. This makes YouTube the first platform with MRC accreditation for short-form video. The certification covers three inventory tiers: Maximum, Moderate, and Limited Mode. With 200 billion daily views on Shorts, brands can confidently advertise.

OneLink API 2.0 turns deep link creation into scalable infrastructure, addressing the surge in owned-media conversions (67% growth) and web-to-app journeys (250%+). It adds programmatic QR generation, custom TTL controls, and an upgraded developer experience. For ad ops decision-makers, this means automating personalized links across channels, improving conversion rates, and enabling measurable offline-to-app acquisition—without manual overhead or separate vendors.

Analysis of 2022 World Cup mobile data reveals that the tournament's largest engagement window occurs early, with sports entertainment installs spiking 189% and sports news 204% on November 22. Engagement revolves around national team matches, with significant spikes from non-participating markets like China (+1,294% sports entertainment installs). For 2026, brands must adapt in real-time to shifting attention across matches and regions. Adjust's AI-powered attribution and analytics provide the visibility needed to capitalize on these global events.

The Ads Decoded podcast final episode features Google product teams discussing Gemini models for Search and YouTube, plus roundtable on AI Search, measurement, and creative tools.

IPL 2026 drove significant cross-platform engagement for JioHotstar, with downloads up 25% PoP, DAU up 41%, and sessions up 60%. Tadka launch within app shows strategy to extend engagement beyond live sports. Instamart leveraged IPL with record ad impressions and 44% open rate. super.money downloads nearly doubled, with paid-channel installs rising to 25% and ad impressions surging 5.5x. Brands should invest in IPL-driven moments to capture high-intent, mobile-first audiences.

Adjust's presence at MAU 2026 in Las Vegas highlighted its Agentic Growth Management, leveraging AI for automated campaign optimization. Key sessions covered agentic AI for budget, bid, and creative adjustments. The event underscored the industry's shift toward automation in mobile marketing to handle complex growth loops. Adjust's booth and side events facilitated discussions on measurement, fraud prevention, and ROI. The week concluded with a call to explore Adjust's solutions for future growth.

TikTok and Salesforce expand partnership with integrations across Agentforce Sales, Marketing, Commerce, and Data 360. Key benefits: real-time lead syncing from TikTok Lead Gen ads into Salesforce CRM, automated product catalog sync for commerce campaigns, first-party data activation for targeting and lookalike audiences, and AI-powered workflows. This enables advertisers to streamline operations, improve conversion tracking, and turn TikTok discovery into measurable customer relationships.

AI is reshaping consumer behavior, with 80% of Google searches ending without a click and half of consumers using AI for product research. This disrupts traditional channels like search (CPC up 10-25%) and affiliate marketing (revenues down 7%). Meanwhile, mobile apps and CTV offer stable, high-engagement alternatives. Advertisers should diversify away from disrupted channels, targeting the independent app ecosystem where Day 30 ROAS can be 116% higher. Key metrics: organic direct traffic share (target >51%) and disrupted channel spend share (target <34%).

Ad monetization is a critical yet often overlooked revenue stream for mobile apps. Sensor Tower's new reports provide granular data on ad revenue, network performance, and ad formats. Key insights: 72% of top-grossing games use hybrid IAP+ad strategies, and ad revenue is growing across verticals like News, Ecommerce, and Entertainment. The reports enable benchmarking competitors' ad revenue, ARPMAU, and ads per minute, identifying effective networks, and evaluating acquisition targets using total revenue (IAP+ads). These insights help app developers optimize monetization strategies and maximize profits beyond in-app purchases.

Google Display Ads is transitioning into a unified Demand Gen platform, allowing display advertisers to manage GDN presence directly. Early adopters see a 9.5% average ROI increase. Migration tool provided, completion expected by 2027.

The Q1 2026 Digital Index reveals headwinds in the US mobile market, with IAP revenue declining for two straight quarters. However, digital ad spend jumped 15% YoY to $48B, led by Gen AI brands tripling investment to $430M. Mobile web visits surpassed desktop for the first time, but desktop dominates engagement with 70% of time spent. Key opportunities lie in Western Europe's growth, Google Play's rising IAP performance, and Gen AI ad channels like Reddit and TikTok. Ad ops decision-makers should pivot to high-impression platforms and prepare for cross-device engagement strategies.

Sensor Tower's Web Insights now covers 4M websites and 12M paths across 56 countries. Three new reports help marketers track user journeys (Traffic Flow), AI platform usage (LLM Market Share), and brand visibility in LLM conversations (Gen AI Brand Mentions). With AI referrals growing, these tools enable smarter traffic acquisition, benchmarking, and content optimization. Spike Analysis automatically identifies traffic anomalies. For ad ops, these features provide actionable data on referral networks, competitive ecosystem, and AI-driven discovery.

AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, and DeepSeek are reshaping web discovery, with traffic surging 86% YoY. Mobile now accounts for over half of global visits, yet desktop dominates engagement. Search and social remain dominant discovery channels, but AI users convert at higher rates (e.g., Amazon Rufus shoppers convert nearly 2x). For ad ops, optimizing for AI-driven traffic and cross-platform user behavior is critical.

Vietnam's app market is growing rapidly with high downloads and engagement. The new Adjust report reveals gaming sessions up 15% YoY, finance installs up 21%, and entertainment session lengths reaching 24.46 minutes. Businesses need reliable measurement to stand out.

Web measurement now uses mobile-grade attribution, signals, and unified performance insights. This evolution integrates advanced tracking methods formerly exclusive to mobile, offering coherent analytics across channels for better optimization.

Email, SMS, and push are high-intent channels, but a structural gap between click and in-app action causes massive drop-off. CTRs of 30-40% often yield only 1-3% in-app conversion. The root cause is ESP link wrapping, which breaks deep link context and attribution. Fixing the handoff through proper deep linking can double purchase rates and unlock channel performance. Brands must treat the link as a continuation layer, not a redirect, and ensure context survives the transition.

A new study shows only a 4-point gap between Gen Z and Boomers in app motivations, revealing generational differences are overstated. Lifestage and platform usage are far stronger predictors of behavior than age.

Unity Vector expands its ROAS suite with D28 Ad Revenue ROAS and D28 Hybrid ROAS campaigns, enabling advertisers to optimize for long-term user value across ad-only and hybrid monetization models. Closed beta results show significant lifts in retention and ARPU compared to D7 campaigns: D28 Ad Revenue ROAS achieved up to +62% median D28 retention uplift and +68% ARPU uplift; D28 Hybrid ROAS saw +76% retention and +41% ARPU uplift. This completes Unity's D28 ROAS offering alongside existing IAP ROAS, allowing advertisers to target users whose value builds beyond the first week.