This week’s special is all about what NewFronts and Shoptalk are telling us about the next wave of platform change. The headlines may be coming out of the US first, but they usually give a strong read on where the major platforms want budgets, measurement and creative focus to move next. This year, the direction feels pretty clear: more AI inside media and commerce, more creator-led buying journeys, and more pressure on platforms to prove they can drive action, not just attention.
Google brings the Gemini advantage into Google Marketing Platform
Google used NewFronts to make a bigger point about where its ad stack is heading. Gemini is now being positioned as the intelligence layer across Google Marketing Platform, helping advertisers predict behaviour, curate media packages in Display & Video 360, connect signals across streaming, search and shopping, and simplify planning and optimisation through tools like Ads Advisor. Google also tied this to broader commerce and CTV ambitions, including Confidential Publisher Match, wider CTV household reach, and new retailer-linked measurement such as SKU-level reporting via Kroger Precision Marketing.
What this means: This is one of the most important stories from the week because it is not just a shiny feature launch. It is Google trying to turn AI into the operating system for media planning, audience connection and measurement. For marketers, that means more automation will be bundled directly into high-value workflow decisions, especially across programmatic, CTV and commerce media. The practical takeaway is that Google wants its stack to feel more predictive, more closed-loop and harder to unpick from the wider media mix.
Meta uses AI to make shopping easier on Instagram and Facebook
At Shoptalk, Meta announced a new AI-powered shopping experience designed to help people make faster purchase decisions inside Facebook and Instagram. After someone clicks an ad or visits a site from Meta’s apps, they can be shown more product information, brand details, recommended products, discounts and an AI-generated summary of what people are saying about the item. Meta is also updating checkout so users can buy inside the app via partners, including Stripe and PayPal, with Adyen and Shopify integrations set to follow.
What this means: Meta is trying to reduce friction between discovery and purchase while keeping more of the journey inside its own environment. That matters because it pushes social commerce beyond inspiration and closer to assisted conversion. For brands, this could make Meta’s ad ecosystem more effective at the point where shoppers need reassurance, comparison and a final nudge. It also shows how AI is increasingly being used not just to make ads better, but to make the shopping journey itself more persuasive.
YouTube overhauls creator partnerships for brands
YouTube used NewFronts to relaunch BrandConnect as YouTube Creator Partnerships, folding it more tightly into Google Ads, DV360 and YouTube Studio. The pitch is that brands can now find creators more intelligently, manage partnerships more easily and measure results with greater confidence. YouTube says the platform gives advertisers access to more than 3 million creators in the YouTube Partner Program, and that in the coming months, Gemini will analyse billions of data points, including audience similarity, organic brand mentions and subscriber growth, to suggest creator matches. It is also making creator-led ads easier to scale across Shorts and in-stream formats.
What this means: YouTube is trying to make creator marketing feel less like a separate discipline and more like a mainstream media workflow. That is a meaningful shift. If creator discovery, activation and measurement become easier to run inside familiar ad tools, more performance teams will take the channel seriously. For advertisers in Europe and the UK, this feels like a preview of a more operational, more measurable version of creator media, one that sits closer to the paid media team rather than off to the side.
Reddit pushes further into shopping with new retail ad tools
Heading into Shoptalk, Reddit said high-intent shopping conversations on the platform are up 40% year on year, with 84% of shoppers saying they feel more secure in purchases after researching on Reddit. It used that momentum to announce more shopping tools, including stronger Dynamic Product Ads and a Shopify integration designed to simplify catalogue and pixel setup for retailers. Reddit also says DPA delivered an average 91% higher ROAS year on year in Q4 2025.
What this means: Reddit is becoming harder to dismiss as just a consideration or community channel. The platform is clearly trying to turn intent-rich product conversations into something more directly buyable for retailers. For marketers, the big signal is that Reddit wants to occupy the space between search, social proof and lower-funnel retail media. If it can continue to prove efficiency and easier setup, it will win more budget from teams looking for underpriced conversion opportunities.
TikTok launches new high-impact ad products at NewFronts
TikTok’s NewFronts announcement focused on a set of more premium brand formats, including Logo Takeover, Prime Time, TopReach and expanded Pulse offerings. The company framed these as ways for advertisers to show up around engaged communities and cultural moments in ways that feel integrated into the platform, whether that is around creator content, search results or live shopping moments.
What this means: The move is notable less for any single format and more for what it says about TikTok’s positioning. Rather than leaning only on creator-native or performance stories, it is building a stronger premium video proposition for bigger brand moments. For UK and European marketers, this looks like another step in TikTok’s effort to absorb more of the video budget that might otherwise go to TV, YouTube or premium social placements.
Yahoo bets on first-party intent from search, mail and content
Yahoo used NewFronts to position itself as an AI-first media and advertising platform, built around Yahoo Scout, a new intelligence layer that draws on first-party intent signals from search, mail and content. Scout is in beta in the US and is being embedded across Yahoo properties, including Mail, Finance and Sports. Yahoo also announced Planner, an AI-powered Mail feature that turns inbox activity into action plans and calendar events, plus Sponsored Events, which allow advertisers to surface relevant dates directly inside that Planner view.
What this means: Yahoo’s pitch is really about signal depth. It argues that, in a cookieless world, combining search behaviour, inbox context and owned content can create a richer view of intent than standard open-web targeting. The interesting part is not just the data story, but the attempt to place brands inside moments of utility rather than interruption. Whether users will welcome that is another question, but it is a smart read on where advertisers want first-party alternatives to come from.
Snap doubles down on attention and lower-funnel ad products
Snap came to NewFronts with a simple proof point: nearly 2 trillion Snaps were created in 2025, or around 63,000 per second. It used that engagement claim to launch Total Snap Takeovers, a format that guarantees the first ad slot across tabs in a user session, alongside more lower-funnel tools such as embedded promotions in Snap Ads, expanded Dynamic Product Ads, Vertical Carousel Ads and Product-Level Video Ads. Snap also pointed to early DPA success, including a claim from WOLFpak of 90% higher ROAS versus non-DPA campaigns.
What this means: Snap is still trying to prove it deserves more than an awareness budget. The more interesting part of this announcement is the lower-funnel push. If Snap can show that its audience not only pays attention but also converts, it becomes easier for performance teams to justify it against Meta and TikTok. For now, it still feels like a watch-this-space story, but the platform is clearly trying to narrow the gap between attention and action.
That’s a wrap for this week.
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