This week is a reminder that performance is now the default language of the boardroom, with platform changes that can shift spend overnight, AI search tweaks that affect traffic, and more outcome-led inventory appearing across video, TV and hospitality.
Google Is Changing Budget Pacing for Ad-Scheduled Campaigns
Google Ads is rolling out a change to how budgets pace for campaigns using ad scheduling. From 1 March 2026, Google will proactively pace budgets to spend up to the full 30.4x monthly limit, even if campaigns run only on specific days or hours, while keeping the 2x daily overspend rule and not serving outside scheduled times. Search Engine Land notes this could materially increase monthly spend for flighted campaigns, such as weekend-only setups, unless advertisers recalculate daily budgets against true monthly targets.
What this means: If you have used ad scheduling as a natural brake on spend, that brake is about to loosen. Audit any flighted, part-time, or day-parted campaigns now, and align daily budgets with the actual monthly ceiling you want, not the one Google can legally spend. This is the kind of change that quietly breaks pacing, forecasting and expectations if it is missed.
CMOs Are Prioritising Revenue Over Brand Awareness
A NewtonX survey for Adweek found 48% of executive-level marketers said their primary objective is to increase revenue, compared with 24% focused on long-term brand awareness. Adweek notes respondents cited economic uncertainty and the arrival of AI as factors increasing pressure to demonstrate financial impact, with many leaders describing a “do more with less” environment even when budgets are not falling.
What this means: This is the backdrop for everything else in this edition. Performance teams are being asked to prove contribution, not just efficiency, and the bar is rising from platform metrics to business outcomes. Agencies that can link media and creative decisions to revenue, margin, and payback, with rigour, testing and credible measurement, will win more trust in 2026.
Google Says Links Will Be More Visible in AI Overviews
Google is updating how links appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode. On desktop, groups of links will appear in a pop-up when users hover over them, and Google will also show more descriptive, prominent link icons in AI responses across desktop and mobile. Google says testing shows the new UI is more engaging and makes it easier for users to get to content across the web.
What this means: This is Google responding to the criticism that AI answers suppress traffic. More visible links could improve click-through, but performance teams should treat it as a measurement watchpoint rather than a guaranteed fix. If AI Overviews are common in your category, track whether link visibility changes CTR, and whether being cited inside AI responses starts to matter as much as ranking first.
OpenTable Launches a Retail Media Operation
OpenTable has launched OpenTable Media, offering brands access to audiences through integrated campaigns across its platform. OpenTable says it fills 1.9 billion seats across 60,000 restaurants each year, creating first-party signals that brands can now access through display, email, and experiential campaigns. Pilot partners included Diageo, Ghirardelli, and Cobra Beer.
What this means: Retail media is continuing to expand beyond retail, offering a new path to reach people when they are already in a dining mindset. For performance marketers, the question is how quickly you can build a test that ties exposure to measurable outcomes, bookings, footfall proxies, CRM capture, or sales uplift. Early pilots should be structured with clear downstream KPIs and clean measurement, not just impressions.
Sky Media Pushes “Outcomes Certainty” in Addressable TV Planning
Sky Media is continuing to frame addressable TV as a more measurable, outcome-led planning model. Its effectiveness work using Norman, Sky’s proprietary effectiveness databank, analyses outcomes from 2,400 campaigns across 535 advertisers (2020–2025) and reports stronger results for addressable versus linear alone, including 3x uplift in incremental web traffic and higher aided ad recall within its modelling.
What this means: Addressable TV is increasingly being sold with the language and proof points performance teams expect, measurable uplift, web response, and repeatable benchmarks. That makes it more relevant for planning, especially for brands that have leaned too heavily on paid social and search for demand. The opportunity is to treat addressable TV like a testable lever, with clear outcomes, defined measurement windows, and creative built to turn attention into action.
AWS Turns Live Video Into Vertical Clips in Near Real Time
AWS has introduced Elemental Inference, a managed AI service that automatically turns live and on-demand video into vertical formats suitable for platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts during encoding. MediaPost says it can detect action in a live feed and optimise for vertical within six to 10 seconds, and it can also automatically detect and extract highlight clips. AWS is offering consumption-based pricing with no upfront commitments.
What this means: This is infrastructure that makes always-on short-form easier, especially around live moments when speed matters. For performance teams, it reduces the production bottleneck that often stops you capitalising on real-time spikes and increases the amount of viable creative you can test. The advantage goes to teams who can pair faster creative supply with fast optimisation loops.
That’s a wrap for this week.
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