Each day, New Digital Age gathers the most interesting marketing and ad tech news from around the world…
PLATFORMS
Digiday – Krystal Scanlon, 10th July 2026
Platforms’ AI dilemma: scale without sameness
Nearly every big platform at Cannes Lions said AI makes creativity faster. Some of them quietly acknowledged that might be the problem.
ADVERTISERS
Performance Marketing World – Robin Langford, 10th July 2026
Half of advertisers ‘disconnected’ from finance teams on marketing metrics
Conflict with leadership expectations cited as the main reason for deviating from strategies recommended by media planning tools, new data reveals.
DIGEST
ExchangeWire – Sheila Obeng-King, 9th July 2026
Digest: Netflix Expands Short-Form Video; YouTube Tops UK Podcast Market; OpenAI launches GPT-Live-1
In today’s Digest, we cover Netflix expanding its short-form video offering through publisher content deals, YouTube becoming the UK’s leading podcast platform, and OpenAI launching the GPT-Live-1 voice model for ChatGPT.
AI
MadTech Magazine – 9th July 2026
DoubleVerify: Less than half of UK consumers can spot AI content
DoubleVerify study highlights low confidence in identifying AI content, as the company also issues a new warning on “FanFarming” targeting UK sports fans with AI slop.
TechCrunch – Sarah Perez, 9th July 2026
Google will now disclose which ads are made with AI
Google is rolling out a new feature aimed at helping people understand when an ad they’re seeing was made using AI technology.
ADSPEND
Performance Marketing World – Robin Langford, 9th July 2026
Display tumbles as video, social and retail media soar: Top 16 channels for Europe adspend revealed
Europe’s digital advertising market has defied broader economic pressures to expand by 10.5%, outpacing growth of traditional ad channels, according to a major continent-wide study.
Digiday – Seb Joseph, 10th July 2026
Future of Marketing Briefing: The ad industry’s next mediapalooza is loading
Marvel has its Avengers movies. Advertising has mediapalooza. Every few years the biggest media budgets get thrown into review, agencies scramble to hold their accounts, and the trade press reaches for the same nickname. And every time, the industry convinces itself this cycle will be the one that actually changes things. It never quite does. The clock resets. The conditions build again. The next installment begins.
MAD//Fest
Performance Marketing World – Bethany Lee, 9th July 2026
Extremism, AI, and shifting metrics: 5 key takeaways from MAD//Fest 2026
From why human-created ads outperform AI to Louis Theroux’s warning on algorithms, here is what went down at this year’s MAD//Fest.
RETAIL
The Retail Bulletin – Patrick Overall, 10th July 2026
Two thirds of UK retailers only react once problems have already impacted commercial performance
Despite widespread investment in AI, most UK retailers remain stuck in reactive decision-making, according to new research from UiPath.
STREAMING
Broadband TV News – Julian Clover, 10th July 2026
Netflix explores Live TV to grow viewer engagement
Netflix is reportedly exploring a range of new product and distribution strategies as it looks to increase viewer engagement, despite remaining the world’s largest subscription streaming service.
