Each day, New Digital Age gathers the most interesting digital marketing industry news from around the web…
AI
Digiday – Sam Bradley, 13th August 2026
CMOs are struggling to link AI visibility with sales
AI visibility isn’t the only zero-click concern keeping marketers up at night. Now that tools like Scrunch and Profound are commonplace, CMOs are thinking ahead to the next task: finding evidence that a strong zero-click search presence actually drives sales.
Performance Marketing World – Robin Langford, 12th August 2026
Gemini hits 1bn users as Google takes aim at ChatGPT dominance
The milestone puts it on a par with ChatGPT and intensifies the battle to become the AI platform of choice for consumers – and marketers.
Adweek – Mark Stenberg, 13th August 2026
Why The Arena Group Has, Implausibly, Rebranded Into an AI Company
The media company, now known as Paradium.AI, is pivoting toward a contributor model, amplified by AI, in response to declining traffic and revenues.
Business Insider – Lara O’Reilly, 12th August 2026
The dream of serving ads to AI agents has hit a snag
Now the bots see them. Now they don’t.
WSJ – Alexandra Bruell, 12th August 2026
Apple in Talks to Pay Publishers to Improve AI-Powered Siri
The content deals could provide the tech company’s voice assistant with current news and information
ExchangeWire – Sheila Obeng-King, 13th August 2026
Digest: French Publishers Cry Foul Over Google AI Summaries; Perplexity Moves to Block Time’s Ads
In today’s Digest, we discuss French publishers taking Google to the competition regulator over AI Overviews, Perplexity moving to block Time’s ads aimed at AI agents, and Disney+ and Hulu adding iHeartMedia video podcasts as streaming platforms race into the format.
PUBLISHERS
Digiday – Sara Guaglione, 13th August 2026
Media Briefing: Publishers are replacing Google with a little bit of everything
Publishers know they need to become less dependent on Google. Figuring out what replaces it is proving to be much harder. This earnings season offered a glimpse into what publishing businesses might look like when not relying on search traffic: The New York Times is betting on video, News Corp is leaning on subscriptions and B2B products, BuzzFeed is cutting costs and adopting a more flexible contributor model, and People Inc., USA Today Co. and Ziff Davis are cultivating audiences across social, video, newsletters and other channels.
MARKETERS
Advanced Television – 13th August 2026
Survey: Marketers lack confidence explaining campaign performance
Despite having access to more campaign data than ever before, 80 per cent of marketers admit they do not fully understand why their advertising campaigns succeed or fail, according to polling by Brand Lift measurement company On Device.
ADTECH
Digiday – Michael Burgi, 13th August 2026
Moloco launches an agency partner program, in part to expand beyond mobile programmatic
As other DSPs move their business closer to clients, inadvertently or consciously avoiding agencies as middlemen, one is looking to recruit more agencies to its cause as it seeks to expand its client base, as well as help them get closer to delivering on outcomes.
CREATORS
Digiday – Alyssa Mercante, 13th August 2026
Brands can’t just flip the ’employees as creators’ switch
Employee creators are a new brand strategy in marketing circles. Making them work, however, is another matter.
STREAMING
Advanced Television – 12th August 2026
Report: Streaming takes majority of primetime upfront ad dollars
Media Dynamics Inc (MDI) reports that, for the first time, streaming in the US captured more primetime upfront ad dollars than linear TV as the shift to streaming continues.
TV Technology – George Winslow, 12th August 2026
Tubi Media Group Inks Content Discovery Deal with Gracenote
Gracenote has announced a deal with Fox’s Tubi Media Group that will see Gracenote supply advanced content discovery and advertising capabilities on Tubi Media Group properties, including Tubi and Fox One.
AD CREATIVE
Marketing Report – Bob Koigi, 13th August 2026
Agentio finds creator ads need continuous testing
The report, Unlocking an Infinite Creative Engine, draws on performance data from 137 brands.
