Just Ad'Ed January 26 - February 01

This week: Meta invested heavily in AI infrastructure while its ad machine continues to print money, TikTok returned to the US with new privacy questions, Pinterest rolled out campaign oversight tools, LinkedIn saw 30% video ad growth, and Prebid took ownership of sell-side AI agent code for publishers.

The big story? Meta's betting $115-135 billion on AI dreams, funded entirely by its ad business. Meanwhile, the industry continues wrestling with AI agents, attribution challenges, and the ongoing platform truth vs. back-end truth problem.

META BETS THE FARM ON AI AND YOUR AD DOLLARS ARE FUNDING IT

📈  What Happened?

Meta announced plans to invest between $115-135 billion in AI infrastructure during 2026, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg stating that Meta's apps will become increasingly personalized through AI learning. The company reported continued strong Q4 2025 ad performance, using cash from its advertising business to fund these massive AI ambitions.

🔍  SO WHAT?

If you're spending millions on Meta's platform, you're essentially funding the next generation of AI that Meta believes will transform how advertising works. The good news? Meta's ad delivery system continues performing while they build. The concerning part? You're now dealing with platform pixel politics at an even more sophisticated level. Their AI will get better at claiming credit for your conversions. This is the perfect time to implement proper attribution tracking that validates Meta's claims against your back-end truth. Don't trust the platform-reported metrics blindly; their AI advancement means they'll get even better at taking credit they may not deserve.

META'S ANDROMEDA UPDATE CHANGES CREATIVE VELOCITY, NOT YOUR STRATEGY

📈 What Happened? 

Meta's Andromeda update, the latest iteration of their ad-retrieval system, dramatically accelerated delivery cycles, causing creative to get picked up and exhausted much faster than before. Many advertisers reported confusion about the increased velocity and optimization dynamics, with some assuming this fundamentally changed how Meta's algorithm works.

🔍 SO WHAT?

This isn't a strategy revolution, it's a speed increase. Your creative is burning faster, which means you need more of it in rotation and you need to refresh it more frequently. The underlying optimization principles haven't changed; the timeline has just compressed. Stop throwing money into the wind by letting creative fatigue hit before you notice the performance drop. Set up ad waste prediction alerts that catch decreasing engagement versus cost before it impacts your budget significantly. The velocity increase makes proper monitoring even more critical. You can't afford the four-to-six-week lag of traditional analytics when creative life cycles are now measured in days, not weeks.

PINTEREST ADDS CAMPAIGN OVERSIGHT TOOLS (FINALLY)

📈 What Happened?

Pinterest launched new campaign oversight capabilities, giving advertisers enhanced tools to maintain better control and visibility over their Pin campaigns. The update provides improved monitoring and management features for active campaigns on the platform.

🔍  SO WHAT?

This is table stakes functionality that should have existed years ago, but if you're running Pinterest campaigns, it's a welcome addition to your dashboard arsenal. The real question: does this help you solve the data normalization problem between Pinterest and your other platforms, or is it just another isolated reporting tool? At spending levels above $5M annually, you can't afford death by dashboard. You need unified insights that show how Pinterest performance compares to Meta, Google, and TikTok in a single source of truth. Use these new tools to extract better data, but don't let them become another silo in your measurement stack.

LINKEDIN'S VIDEO AD REVENUE JUMPS 30% (THE INTENT GAP MATTERS)

📈 What Happened?

LinkedIn reported 30% year-over-year growth in video advertising during its most recent quarter, reflecting continued advertiser investment in the platform's video ad formats. The platform also announced it's now one of the most cited sources for AI chatbots.

🔍 SO WHAT? 

That 30% growth isn't just about LinkedIn's ad product, it's about the intent gap between platforms. LinkedIn users arrive with professional intent, which drives materially different conversion behavior than social scrolling on Meta or entertainment consumption on TikTok. If you're a B2B advertiser or selling high-consideration products, this platform deserves budget allocation testing. But here's the critical part: LinkedIn, like every other platform, will float their numbers and claim success through their own tracking pixel. Before you shift meaningful budget, connect LinkedIn to your attribution system and validate their claims against your back-end conversions. The 30% growth is real. The question is whether it'll work for YOUR business at YOUR scale.

PREBID TAKES CONTROL OF SELL-SIDE AI AGENTS. PUBLISHERS GET A FIGHTING CHANCE

📈 What Happened?

Prebid announced it is taking ownership of code developed using Ad Context Protocol (AdCP) that will enable publishers to create their own sell-side AI agents. This move aims to help publishers avoid getting left behind as the industry races toward AI agents negotiating programmatic deals autonomously.

🔍 SO WHAT? 

This matters even if you're buying ads, not selling them. The supply side is finally getting organized around AI-powered optimization, which means the publishers you're buying from will soon have algorithmic defenders of their inventory value. Expect the efficiency gains you've enjoyed from fragmented, unoptimized publisher tech to compress as AI levels the playing field. The smart move? Start testing direct publisher relationships now, before their AI agents get sophisticated enough to eliminate the arbitrage opportunities in programmatic buying. The era of solving three steps ahead means anticipating how sell-side AI will change your buying leverage and adjusting your strategy before the shift hits.

Get Updates Like This Monthly