Each day, New Digital Age gathers the most interesting digital marketing industry news from around the web…
AA/WARC
Performance Marketing World – Joseph Arthur, 30th July 2026 (also in Campaign, The Media Leader, Marketing Week, and Prolific North)
AA/WARC: UK adspend grows 9.3% to open 2026
Retail media and social media continue to steal the show, with addressable TV bringing the format back into contention.
RADIO
Radio Today – Steve Collins, 30th July 2026
Online radio leads UK ad growth in early 2026
Online radio was the fastest growing media channel in the UK during the first quarter of 2026, according to the latest AA/WARC expenditure report.
GROCERY
Retail Week – Hugh Radojev, 30th July 2026
Grocery giants join calls for new PM to introduce ‘Good Food Bill’
Tesco and Sainsbury’s are amongst 100 signatories across sectors who have signed a letter to new prime minister Andy Burnham urging him to introduce a ‘Good Food Bill’.
AI
Digiday – Sara Guaglione, 30th July 2026
Time has started serving ads to AI bots
Time has begun serving ads to AI bots. Ally Bank and Project Management Institute are among the first buyers.
Digiday – Krystal Scanlon, 30th July 2026
OpenAI’s ChatGPT reaches the coupon stage of building an ad business
OpenAI just hit the coupon phase of building an ads business. It’s the stage every platform before it has run through, whereby they hand advertisers credits to get them spending more, testing budgets, and building habits on the platform.
Research Live – Research Live Reporters, 29th July 2026
Nielsen launches AI advertising intelligence
US – Nielsen has developed an AI-based advertising insight platform, as the company looks to shift from producing reporting tools to decision-making systems.
BBC – Suranjana Tewari, 29th July 2026
The Chinese robot army transforming the UK’s retail industry
Every time you click “buy” on an online order, the chances are that your purchase starts getting processed within minutes.
CREATOR
DIgiday – Alyssa Mercante & Kimeko McCoy, 30th July 2026
Inside Unilever’s 300,000 creator network: the logistics behind the headline number
By now, the Unilever creator story is a familiar one. Last year, the conglomerate announced plans to center creators in its marketing, and has since built an army of 300,000 of them, activating 50,000 at this year’s FIFA World Cup.
STREAMING
AdExchanger – 30th July 2026
Leveling Up With Show-Level Data; Step Outside The Box
No Business Like Show-Level Business. Third-party ad tech companies and some agencies have started testing ways to effectively jury-rig show-level CTV reporting – even when streaming media sellers don’t make that data available. Which, typically, they don’t.
COMMERCE MEDIA
Affiliate Leaders – Ellen Jennings-Trace, 29th July 2026
Commerce media to make up almost a quarter of digital adspend by 2030
A new Emarketer report reveals nearly $1 in every $4 of digital adspend will flow through commerce media by 2030.
