Each day, New Digital Age gathers the most interesting digital marketing industry news from around the web…
BIG TECH
Performance Marketing World – Bethany Lee, 29th July 2026
Meta ad prices reach five year low – report
Falling impression costs and algorithmic targeting drive acquisition costs down across Meta and TikTok.
HOLDCOS
Digiday – Seb Joseph and Kimeko McCoy, 29th July 2026
Omnicom CEO: ‘The marketplace hasn’t seen what the cost of this AI is’
Omnicom CEO John Wren just said the quiet part out loud: nobody’s actually priced AI yet.
STREAMING
Advanced Television – 29th July 2026
Nielsen: YouTube takes 13.8% of US TV watch-time in May
Streaming usage appeared to begin its summer ascent in May 2026 as US audiences’ time spent streaming increased to 48.6 per cent of total TV watch-time (+1.0 pt.), according to Nielsen’s latest The Gauge and Media Distributor Gauge reports.
Advanced Television – 29th July 2026
Survey: TV OS becoming front door to streaming in US
Smart TVs are becoming the most influential gatekeepers in entertainment, playing an increasingly important role in how US viewers discover and watch content, reports Hub Entertainment. Soon, asking “What good TV shows are you watching?” may be less relevant than asking, “What TV set do you own?”
AI
BBC – Kali Hays, 28th July 2026
Some people’s chats with Claude AI found to be publicly available online
Hundreds of user conversations with Anthropic’s popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Claude were found to have been available to essentially anyone online.
BBC – Gwen Aeron, 28th July 2026
We thought we were buying Welsh jewellery but the shop was an AI scam
Shoppers who thought they were supporting a Welsh jewellery shop say they have lost hundreds of pounds to an artificial intelligence scam.
Meghan Browbowsky, 28th July 2026
Mark Zuckerberg Says U.S. Should Accelerate AI Development, Not Restrict It
Meta CEO says discourse regarding artificial intelligence isn’t optimistic enough.
ANTITRUST
PYMNTS – CPI, 28th July 2026
Google Faces New Wave of Private Antitrust Claims After EU Digital Markets Act Fine
A fresh phase of Europe’s antitrust campaign against Google is taking shape as companies that say they were harmed by the tech giant’s business practices move to seek billions of dollars in civil damages following the European Union’s latest enforcement action.
ECOMMERCE
Retail Gazette – Katie Searles, 29th July 2026
DATA: ecommerce sales hit highest level since 2021
The proportion of online sales rose to 29.4 per cent in June, its highest level since April 2021, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) retail sales bulletin.
ROUNDUP
AdExchanger – 29th July 2026
The Sheep That Bit Back; Apple’s Buying The Cheap Soap
Eyewear company Blacksheep made a name for itself by asserting that the eyewear industry is predatory with unfairly marked-up prices. Now, it’s arguing that Google does the same.
Affiliate Leaders – Ellen Jennings-Trace, 28th July 2026
Tech briefing: Google, StackAdapt, GumGum, and PropellerAds
All the latest tech updates and product releases that affiliates and marketers should know about.
