Amid upfronts sports overload, pitches around data, AI come into focus

Legacy firms NBCU and Disney, tech titans Netflix and Amazon and publishers shaped by M&A showed off evolving offerings during last week’s shows.

By Chris Kelly • May 18, 2026

9 national TV publishers join initiative to address industry fragmentation

Industry giants, including Paramount and NBCUniversal, have teamed with OpenAP to introduce a standardized way to activate and measure campaigns.

By Jessica Hammers • May 18, 2026

Explore the Trendline➔

Top 5 stories from Marketing Dive

From the continued rise of artificial intelligence to the emergence of new digital channels, here's a look at key trends driving marketing in 2026.

By Marketing Dive staff

Publicis buys LiveRamp for $2.2B to improve AI agent sophistication

Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun says LiveRamp’s co-created data sets will provide a leg up over rivals that rely on stagnant, generic signals. 

By Peter Adams • May 18, 2026

Netflix flexes new capabilities as ad biz doubles geographic reach

At its upfront presentation, the streamer unveiled new tools, capabilities and partnerships that span planning, buying and measuring ad campaigns.

By Chris Kelly • May 14, 2026

NBCUniversal leans into legacy media status, pushes performance at upfront

The media company will roll out live contextual ads, a tool that retargets viewers of live events and its insights hub in Q4.

By Chris Kelly • May 12, 2026

Heineken focuses agency roster on fewer future-fit partners

Dentsu retains global media duties, extending a decade-long relationship, while creative is being consolidated with Publicis, WPP and Stagwell.

By Peter Adams • May 11, 2026

OpenAI solidifies ad platform ambitions with ChatGPT Ads Manager

The generative AI platform is expanding its ads pilot to new territories in addition to introducing a new self-serve portal and cost-per-click bidding.

By Jessica Hammers • May 11, 2026

Where Trade Desk sees advertising opportunity following bruising Q1

The ad-tech firm pointed to the budding market for ads in AI chatbots and with CMOs it believes will start to treat walled gardens as “leftovers.” 

By Peter Adams • May 8, 2026

Fox’s refreshed pitch to advertisers connects fandoms to outcomes

CMO Puja Vohra details how the slim portfolio of sports, news and entertainment supports a new “Turn Passion into Performance” tagline.

By Chris Kelly • May 5, 2026

Inside Opal’s attempt to reduce AI’s ‘alignment tax’ for marketers

The planning platform's new AI copilot, Gem, is designed to align campaign data with overall strategy and help teams understand results faster.

By Aaron Baar • May 4, 2026

Omnicom credits Q1 wins to core operations, reaffirms ongoing cost cuts

The company also touted the success of its AI-powered Omni marketing platform, which has now been scaled across the entire organization.

By Jessica Hammers • May 4, 2026

Fossil sees 57% brand recall lift with InMobi’s full-funnel ad solution

Using the Ad Experiences solution, the watchmaker achieved 20.5 million total impressions and a unique reach of 7.1 million for its spring campaign.

By Sara Karlovitch • April 29, 2026

Snowflake helps unlock data collaborations with consent signals from OneTrust

AI exacerbates challenges around data privacy because the only remedy for having unconsented data in AI models is rolling them back. 

By Chris Kelly • April 28, 2026

WPP says turnaround is making early progress, but there’s a long road ahead

A key revenue metric declined 6.7% in Q1 as the group contended with drags from prior account losses, Middle East conflict and polarized client spending.

By Peter Adams • April 28, 2026

VaynerX’s new agency wants to help brands master the attention economy

The Tamara Group seeks to flip the typical agency split between strategy and production work as CMOs wrestle with volume, CEO Ryan Harwood explains.

By Peter Adams • April 27, 2026

IAS touts ‘linear-like’ transparency with CTV ad measurement solutions

Total TV offers advertisers show, genre, rating, language and program-level data across platforms including Disney, Paramount and Amazon Prime Video.

By Jessica Hammers • April 27, 2026

How ‘Devil Wears Prada 2’ designed a ‘fashion collection’ of brand partners

Diet Coke, L’Oréal, Grey Goose, Starbucks and others use a variety of marketing tactics to deepen partnerships with the highly anticipated sequel.

By Chris Kelly • April 27, 2026

Adobe expands agency partnerships as part of agentic AI platform debut

Omnicom, Publicis and WPP are among the agencies that are standardizing on the new CX Enterprise platform to co-develop solutions for joint clients.

By Jessica Hammers • April 20, 2026

Publicis addresses Trade Desk spat, calls Sora shutdown ‘symbolic’

The group delivered its 20th consecutive quarter of growth in Q1 despite the Middle East conflict, which executives said hasn’t rattled client spending. 

By Peter Adams • April 14, 2026

Smashburger hires newcomer agency Understory amid creative revamp

The shop, which launched this year, looks to bring more cultural relevance to Smashburger’s marketing after the brand recently admitted it lost focus.

By Peter Adams • Updated April 13, 2026

WPP names first chief transformation officer to drive Elevate28 plan

Anne-Isabelle Choueiri joins from Estée Lauder Companies and will be tasked with designing the operations that underpin the firm’s strategic overhaul.

By Jessica Hammers • April 13, 2026

Publicis leans on Microsoft in race to lead agentic AI for marketers

The Epsilon identity solution and consultancy arm Sapient are in focus while Publicis is also taking over Microsoft’s sizable global media business.

By Peter Adams • April 9, 2026

Fever-Tree mixers celebrate mixology with first US creative platform

The “Mix With The Best” effort expands Droga5’s relationship with Molson Coors, which has a strategic partnership with the nonalcoholic mixer brand.

By Chris Kelly • April 9, 2026

Estée Lauder names WPP first global media partner to centralize media efforts

The move is designed to improve media effectiveness and represents the next step in the company’s Beauty Reimagined initiative.

By Jessica Hammers • April 6, 2026

Publicis sharpens sports marketing focus with 160over90 acquisition

Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun described sports as the firm’s “next big bet” as it tries to bring cohesion to an increasingly valuable but fragmented market.

By Peter Adams • April 2, 2026