This week: Google rolled out AI-powered campaign advisors and expanded display creative visibility, Amazon launched location-based interactive video ads for Prime Video, Meta reported significant performance gains from its AI targeting tools, Reddit highlighted automated targeting improvements across all objectives, and TikTok introduced new Group Chat features for creators while releasing its Shop Safety Report.
Google made its Ads Advisor and Analytics Advisor chatbots available to all English language accounts last week. These in-platform AI agents analyze campaign performance and provide optimization recommendations directly within Google Ads and Analytics interfaces.
If you're spending millions on Google Ads, you know the Death by Dashboard problem too well. These AI advisors promise to cut through the noise and deliver actionable insights instead of just more data visualization. The catch? Early testing shows they're still error-prone and not ready to fully manage campaigns autonomously... but this is Google solving three steps ahead while others are still building fancier dashboards.
Amazon Ads launched location based interactive video ad units on Prime Video, allowing small and local businesses to reach specific geographic audiences with interactive elements on the platform's connected TV inventory.
This is huge for local advertisers who've been Throwing Money Into the Wind on broad CTV campaigns. The combination of geographic precision and interactive functionality means you can finally run high-impact video campaigns that drive actual local response... not just brand awareness you can't measure. For brands managing multi-location strategies, this breaks through the traditional CTV limitations of spray-and-pray targeting.
Meta reported that its AI-powered ad targeting tools are generating significantly improved campaign results across its platform, with performance gains showing up in advertiser reporting and platform metrics.
Remember when everyone was skeptical about Zuck's Law? Well, Meta's AI targeting appears to be the real deal this time. The key question remains: what's your Back-End Truth saying? Don't just trust platform reported metrics validate these AI-driven performance claims against your own attribution system. If the gains hold up in your Single Source of Truth, this could justify shifting more budget to Meta's automated targeting... but verify first.
Reddit announced that its automated targeting capabilities are driving improved response rates across all campaign objectives, with the platform highlighting particular strength in automotive and high consideration purchase categories.
Reddit's been the Needle in the Haystack for many advertisers, lots of engaged users but historically tough to target effectively. These automated targeting improvements suggest Reddit's finally solving its Data Normalization Problem and making campaigns actually work at scale. If you've written off Reddit as too niche or difficult to optimize, last week's announcement might be your signal to revisit it... especially if you're in categories where community conversation drives purchase decisions.
Industry analysis highlighted how AI's maturation is fundamentally changing marketers' relationship with data, shifting focus from pure scale to smarter, actionable owned data strategies as we head into 2026.
This is the shift from Drowning in Data to actually using it. Scale still matters, but it's no longer sufficient on its own. AI is exposing the limits of Solving Yesterday's Problems, you can't just aggregate more data and expect better results. The winners in 2026 will be brands that build Statistical to Predictive capabilities using their own first party data... not those chasing bigger and bigger third party datasets. If you're still focused purely on scale, you're already behind.