16 Updates - Meta Super Burst, Google Cart & Ad Spend
Happy Friday.
Meta just launched a campaign type built for TV-scale moments, Google handed shoppers a cart that works across stores, and ad spend forecasts keep climbing.
Here is what caught my eye today:
- Meta is selling short burst windows with guaranteed delivery during big events.
- Google is rolling out a Universal Cart across Search and Gemini in the US.
- Streaming ad loads are up, Pinterest is planning for the week after Christmas, and global ad spend growth got another upgrade.
ADVERTISING
Meta goes big, Google lets you rank channels, and ads get a dark twist
This section reads like a good TV episode. Big launches up front, and a dark twist at the end.
Meta opened with a new campaign type built for moments when everyone is watching. Google followed with more control over where Performance Max money goes. OpenAI added a human touch to ChatGPT Ads. Then came a sobering reminder that the same ad system that powers your campaigns can also be abused.
Meta launches Ads Super Burst for TV-scale moments. Super Burst is a new campaign type that lets you book a 3 to 24 hour window during big events. That event can be internal, like a product launch, or external, like the start of a sporting season. You get guaranteed delivery, plus optional category exclusivity.
Testers reached what Meta described as TV-like scale, with a median 34 million people per flight. It opens to everyone in phases this month. I think this one is built for launches and tentpole moments, not for everyday prospecting. If you have a date when attention spikes, this is the format to test.
Meta also announced three related extras. First Impression Ads is a US test selling the first ad a user sees on opening Facebook. Reels Trending Ads let you show ads right after the most-watched content. Aggregated view time measures attention across several video exposures rather than per view. My take: test the extras on a small budget first, and judge them on real outcomes, not on novelty.
Google Ads lets you rank channels inside PMax. Google Ads is rolling out channel prioritization for Performance Max campaigns, so your PMax campaigns fund High priority channels first.
You set the max share of daily budget that Low priority channels, like Search partners, can use inside your PMax campaign. That gives you a way to test a channel without letting it eat the whole budget. I like this change because it turns a binary choice into a dial. If you have a channel you do not fully trust yet, cap it, watch the results, and raise the cap only when the numbers earn it.
ChatGPT Ads gets human account managers. OpenAI is assigning human account managers to ChatGPT Ads advertisers, based on an email Anthony Higman posted on X.
Expect an intro strategy call, then biweekly performance reviews. Bring your optimization questions to those calls. I think this matters because a new ad platform always has rough edges, and a direct line to a person who knows the roadmap is worth a lot in the first few months. If you are testing ChatGPT Ads, use those reviews to ask about targeting, measurement, and what is coming next.
Streaming ad loads keep climbing. The top nine premium streamers averaged 18 percent more ad minutes in August than in January.
Paramount+ is the heaviest at around 9 minutes per hour. Netflix is the lightest, at 2.4 minutes per hour, while churn sits around 4 percent. So viewers are not bailing. Your spot just has more company. My take: creative quality matters even more when ad loads rise. If your ad looks like every other ad in the break, it will blend in. Make the first two seconds earn the rest.
The dark twist: ads used to plant zero-click spyware. Citizen Lab confirmed the first known case of government-backed hackers using online ads to plant zero-click spyware.
Researcher Bill Marczak now tells potential targets to block ads or turn off ad tracking. That is not great PR for the targeting your campaigns run on. I think this story is a reminder to take brand safety and placement quality seriously. You cannot control every corner of the ad ecosystem, but you can choose reputable inventory, review placements, and keep your own tracking clean.
My take on this whole section: the platforms are giving you bigger stages and finer controls at the same time. Use the big stages for moments that deserve them, use the controls to protect your budget, and keep an eye on trust. Scale without trust does not last.
GOOGLE AI
A cart, more links, and still no click data
Google pulled an Oprah-style giveaway this week. You get a cart. You get a link.
Click data? Nobody gets click data.
The big theme is that more shopping and more searching now happens inside Google surfaces, not on your site. That can still help you sell, but only if you understand where you fit in the new flow.
Universal Cart rolls out across Search and Gemini. Universal Cart is rolling out across Search and Gemini in the US. Shoppers can save items from multiple stores, get price-drop and restock alerts, see promo codes, and check out fast at Nike, Walmart, and more.
You stay the seller of record, but more shopping happens off your site. I think this is the part to pay attention to. If the cart lives at Google, your product feed, your price, and your promo become the storefront. Keep prices accurate, keep stock fresh, and make sure your promos are visible in the feed. A shopper will not click through to learn what you already could have told Google.
AI answers now show more inline links. AI Mode and AI Overviews now show more inline links, higher up in answers.
A test also gives the one or two official sites for some tasks their own top section. Run one of those official sites? It could be yours. My take: this is a clear incentive to be the obvious official source for a task. Clear pages, clear structure, and content that directly answers the task will beat vague pages every time.
Google still will not share click data. Google still will not share click data for AI answers, promising only to introduce additional metrics over time.
Until then, your own referral data is the only proof they work. I think this is the honest way to measure AI search for now. Watch your referral traffic, watch landing pages that line up with AI queries, and track assisted conversions. Do not wait for Google to hand you a dashboard that may never arrive in the form you want.
News AI pilot now pays 400 plus publications. The News AI pilot now pays 400 plus publications for content behind AI article overviews and audio briefings.
Axios, CNN, the FT, and Forbes recently joined, but the rates are not public. My take: this is a small consolation prize for publishers, not a business model. If you publish news, treat any payment as a bonus. Build the audience relationship you own, because platform payments can change without warning.
AI Mode sidebar shows up on regular search results. The AI Mode chat sidebar showed up on regular search results in a test, putting searchers one click from a conversation.
SE Roundtable sees it as a step toward AI Mode becoming the default. I would plan for more searches that never leave Google. That means your content has to win inside the answer, not just in the blue links below it. Answer the question fast, show your proof, and make it easy for Google to cite you.
My take on this whole section: Google is giving you more ways to be seen and more ways to sell, while keeping the measurement to itself. Adapt to the surfaces, feed them clean data, and build your own measurement so you are not flying blind.
Your Christmas creative expires on December 26. Q5 is next.
Every holiday campaign has a sell-by date.
Your ads spend late December shouting order before Christmas at people who already unwrapped everything. The Pinterest Business team argues that the week between Christmas and New Year, which is now widely known as Q5, deserves its own creative refresh. Engagement stays high, and it is the mindset that flips.
Gifting is over. Selfishness is in. After weeks of buying for everyone else, shoppers turn to what they want. Beauty shifts to new year, new me upkeep. Fashion trades party outfits for January basics. Home moves from festive mood to comfort and function.
What to do: swap gift-wrapped product shots for the product in the buyer own everyday life. If it still looks like a wishlist item, it is December 24 creative. I think this is the easiest Q5 win. You do not need new products. You need new context.
Do not kill Christmas, point it at January. People are still celebrating, but also planning the reset. For instance, TUI Q5 creative in Germany paired Christmas cues with sunny travel imagery to sell early-booking offers. It is an example of how a new headline, overlay, or product selection can reposition an asset that is already live. My take: remix before you rebuild. A fresh headline and a new image crop can turn a tired Christmas ad into a January ad.
Urgency retires, utility clocks in. Get it before Christmas dies on Christmas. Shopping does not. 1 in 2 monthly Pinterest users keep buying in the weeks after.
The reason to act shifts from a deadline to what does this help me do next. Show the product in use, inside a new routine or goal, and lead with an outcome. I think utility beats urgency in January. People are not rushing. They are planning.
Match the message to the goal. For awareness, sell the fresh start. For consideration, show how it fits people plans. For sales, go product-led and make buying quick.
Pinterest data also ties ad groups running 5 to 10 ads to a 2.7 percent ROAS lift over the global average. That 2.7 percent will not change your year, but variety is cheap when you are remixing existing assets. My recommendation: brief the Q5 tweaks in early December so your budget gets a second act instead of a dead week.
My take on this whole section: after Christmas, shoppers will change direction but will not stop shopping. Plan for Q5 now, and your holiday budget keeps working after the tree comes down.
DATA STORIES
The ad spend forecast keeps trending up
Most forecasts get cut as the year goes on.
WARC global ad spend forecast keeps going up. Its October update is the second upgrade in less than a year. That alone makes it worth a closer look.
WARC upgrades its global ad spend forecast again. Here is how WARC forecast for global ad spend growth has changed:
- 2026: 11.9 percent, up from 9.7 percent last December, a 2.2-point upgrade.
- 2027: 8.4 percent, up from 7.9 percent. The upgrade is smaller, but it is still an upgrade.
- 2028, first estimate: 7.9 percent.
Growth is expected to slow after this year. Even so, single-digit growth on top of a double-digit year is still solid. I think the message for planners is simple. This year was strong, next year still grows, and the easy gains are already priced in.
The catch: growth is not spread evenly. WARC Suzy Young says growth, particularly from the AI boom, benefits some companies, sectors, and consumers more than others.
The overall market is growing, but the gains are not spread evenly. AI-powered ad platforms are taking in money faster than anyone expected. The biggest platforms, with the most data and the best automation, are likely collecting most of that growth. More ad spend means more competition for the same audiences, and higher prices. My recommendation: lock in 2027 budgets early, and test smaller channels before the big ones get even more expensive.
My take on this whole section: the pie is growing, but the slices are not equal. If you wait to plan, you will pay more to reach the same people. Plan early, diversify early, and do not assume a rising market lifts every advertiser the same way.
QUICK UPDATES
ChatGPT: Direct traffic up? Do not thank your brand campaign yet. ChatGPT links seem to have dropped the utm_source=chatgpt.com tag and now hide referral data. Adobe checked about 500 pages and found ChatGPT referrals down roughly 31,000 visits a day, while direct rose about 26,000. OpenAI has not said if it is intentional. My take: check your direct spike before you celebrate it. If ChatGPT traffic is hiding in direct, your brand campaign did not suddenly get better. Your attribution just got blurrier.
TikTok: UK sellers, warm up your auctioneer voice. TikTok Shop added live group deals, price cuts, a way to re-engage runner-up auction bidders, and streams that mix auctions with fixed-price items. You can also turn product images into shoppable carousels. Live shopping drives Douyin revenue in China, so TikTok keeps pushing it. My take: if you sell in the UK, test one live auction format soon. Live selling rewards sellers who show up early, not sellers who wait until everyone else is live.
Microsoft Ads: Customer returned the order? Your conversion data can stop pretending otherwise. Microsoft Advertising Conversions API now supports restate and retract. Restate changes a conversion revenue but keeps the count, while retract removes it and zeroes its value. Both need a transactionId, so make sure your purchase events send one. My take: this is a small fix with a big effect on trust. Clean conversion data makes every later decision better.
WhatsApp: That one client who will not download WhatsApp just ran out of excuses. You can now send a call link, and guests without an account join from their computer browser once you admit them. Calls fit up to 32 people with no time limit. WhatsApp will add Google and Outlook calendar plugins later this year. My take: use this for quick client calls and group check-ins. One link, no install, no friction.