The European Commission (EC) plans to propose scaled-back digital regulations to make it easier for companies to access users’ personal data and allow AI companies to legally use personal information for model training. The changes include simplifying cookie consent and letting users accept with a single click and save preferences centrally. Access to richer data sets could improve consumer segmentation, predictive modeling, and personalization offerings. Brands that clearly communicate how they use data, what protections exist, and the benefits of personalization will be more likely to maintain loyalty.

80% of adults in France, the UK, and the US say well-integrated, non-disruptive ads are important factors in a high-quality media experience, according to The Trade Desk research conducted by PA Consulting in June 2025.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss whether Coca-Cola’s AI holiday ad is a bold move forward or a soulless shortcut—and, when everything can be generated, whether authenticity becomes the new premium. Listen to the discussion with Vice President of Content and host Suzy Davidkhanian, Principal Analyst Sky Canaves, and Analyst Arielle Feger.

A federal judge handed Meta one of its biggest legal wins in years, ruling that its Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions do not violate US antitrust law. The decision leaned heavily on how TikTok and YouTube now compete for the same user attention Meta once dominated—proof, the court said, that the company cannot be considered a monopoly. The ruling arrives just as Reels accelerates across Instagram and platforms converge on short-form video and AI-driven discovery. For marketers, the outcome underscores a simple reality: user attention sits across the big three video platforms, and planning must follow that distribution.

Less than 3% of consumers in India recall digital ads they see despite spending an average of 2.17 hours daily consuming videos on mobile devices, per a report from RK Swamy Centre for Study of Indian Markets. Digital advertising is an essential part of a well-rounded campaign strategy in the digital-first era. But with ad effectiveness low, advertisers must carefully tailor strategies to drive the best outcomes.

Three major AI releases—Microsoft’s Agent 365, Google’s Gemini 3 Pro, and xAI’s Grok 4.1—could point the way to how businesses will deploy and govern AI. Following OpenA’s GPT 5.1, each new product update approaches intelligence from a different angle: Microsoft is offering operational control, Gemini is touting multimodal reasoning and search, and xAI is demonstrating emotional fluency. The brands that map these tools to specific workflows—governance with Microsoft, discovery and search with Google, and engagement with xAI—could see faster execution, sharper insights, more resilient customer experiences, and tangible ROI.

Nearly 70% of large organizations are using genAI tools in marketing, but only 7% of global marketing leaders strongly agree that genAI use has improved the effectiveness of their campaigns, per a new study from Capgemini. The challenge may lie in budget control: More than half of AI initiatives are funded by IT. For AI to become the engine of growth that leaders envision, marketing needs to assume ownership, budget, and strategic influence to bridge the gap between its potential and its realized value.