Each day, New Digital Age gathers the most interesting marketing and ad tech news from around the world…
M&A
NBC News – Daniel Arkin, 13th July 2026
12 states file lawsuit to block $110 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. merger
Twelve state attorneys general filed a lawsuit Monday challenging Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, arguing that the combined Hollywood giant would damage economic competition in the entertainment and media industries.
COMMERCE MEDIA
AdNews – AdNews Reporters, 14th July 2026
Forrester: Retail media networks failing advertisers
Most retail media networks are failing to meet advertiser expectations due to fragmented measurement, limited automation and constrained budgets, according to analysis by global consultancy Forrester. However, commerce media networks, which use direct customer data from financial houses or travel industry loyalty programs, are emerging as a more scalable alternative.
PUBLISHERS
The Media Leader – Elli Papadaki, 14th July 2026
GenAI is disrupting publishing. Advertisers need programmatic AI to help repair it
The relationship between publishing, advertising, and AI is more closely linked than it might first appear. Weakness in one area carries through to the others, writes Onetag’s SVP.
Digiday – Sara Guaglione, 14th July 2026
Inside the newsroom push to turn print reporters into video talent
Publishers have largely accepted that reaching new audiences increasingly means making more video. Now comes the harder part: re-engineering newsrooms so reporters and editors behave less like byline-only journalists and more like on-camera video correspondents and creators.
AI
Business Insider – Lara O’Reilly, Sydney Bradley, and Lucia Moses, 13th July 2026
Meta’s AI advertising dreams have become a nightmare for brands
Meta is pushing advertisers to use its AI tools — and results are proving chaotic: strangely twisted limbs, gibberish writing, or entirely changed products.
Marketing Week – Emily Manock, 13th July 2026
AI trust, reactive marketing, effectiveness failings: 5 interesting stats to start your week
More than three quarters of web users say they trust search engines, while less than a third trust AI assistants, according to new research from YouGov.
WSJ, Meghan Bobrowsky, 13th July
Meta is flooding the market with smartglasses. Privacy advocates are up in arms
The social-media giant’s AI-enabled, camera-equipped smartglasses have become a privacy sore spot.
AGENCIES
More about advertising – Stephen Foster, 14th July
WPP set sail for another round of job cuts
WPP is reportedly embarking on another round of job cuts and newly-hired chief people officer at WPP Media Darren Minshall looks as though he’s been hired to lead the charge. Or maybe retreat. WPP Media employs about 40,000 people.
BIG TECH
Reuters, Renju Jose, 14th July
Australia finds serious gaps in Big Tech response to online child sexual abuse
Big Tech companies, including Apple, Meta, and Google, have “significant gaps” in tackling child sexual abuse and the growing threat of online sexual extortion, Australia’s internet regulator said on Tuesday.
Online platforms are failing to use available technologies that can identify well-known coercion scripts used by sexual extortion offenders, eSafety said in a transparency report.
RETAIL
The Guardian, Rob Davies, 14th July
World Cup and sunshine prompt UK consumers to splash out on beer and online shopping
Most people remain pessimistic about the UK economy, according to data from Barclays Bank based on debit and credit card transactions. However, the start of the summer’s football helped consumers put their worries to one side and indulge in pints of beer, paddling pools and handheld electric fans, with almost half of the latter expected to end up in landfill.
Retail Week, Hugh Radojev, 14th July
Online sales lead the way as heatwave keeps customers off the high streets
Food sales jumped 2.8% year over year in June, compared to 4.1% growth in 2025 and below the 3.4% 12-month average growth.
