The DL: Research shows that in the second half of 2024, brands plan to increase their ad spending, focusing on social media, display ads, and connected TV. Advertisers are confident and are prioritizing connected TV, AI, and TikTok. The report emphasizes AI's crucial role in data analysis. Companies are diversifying their investments across various ad channels, including social media and video. There's also a growing emphasis on better understanding customer data and being clear about how advertising budgets are used.

Read More: Marketing Dive

The DL: As summer winds down, it's time to think about the holidays. There will be fewer days between Black Friday and Cyber Monday compared to 2023. Google introduced new advertising tools to save time, set goals, and enhance customer convenience. Advertisers can now automate onboarding by syncing in-store availability from retail websites with Merchant Center, integrating local inventory ads to drive store sales and foot traffic while maintaining ad budgets. The new feature, "Profit Goals," helps merchants understand ad performance and optimize campaigns, offering advanced sales and profit insights for Google Ads. For U.S. users, Google added AI-powered insights in Merchant Center to summarize recent product performance. Holiday sales in 2024 are expected to rise by 4.8% from 2023, though it's unclear if this is due to more items sold or higher costs per item.

Read More: MediaPost

The DL: NBCUniversal saw a significant increase in viewership for the 2024 Paris Olympics, averaging 30.6 million daily viewers across all platforms. Ratings rose 82% compared to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, thanks to favorable time zones and better streaming options. Streaming reached record levels, totaling 23.5 billion minutes, and Telemundo's Spanish-language broadcasts grew by 26%. The Olympics also positively impacted NBCU's news programs and other business areas. This ratings boost highlights the renewed relevance of the Olympics for advertising across both broadcast TV and streaming services.

Read More: Hollywood Reporter