#ad-preferences

#ad-preferences

Regulators are paying more attention to data privacy because their constituents consider it a 'kitchen table' issue, highlighting its importance in everyday life.

Email marketing should seemingly be obsolete. The first "email," after all, occurred in October 1971, nearly 55 years ago. Surely, social media platforms, text messaging, and various applications such as WhatsApp and Discord could have supplanted it. And let's not forget the grim industry concerns when Gmail introduced the "Promotions" tab in 2013. Today, AI inbox summaries are the latest marketing threat.

The campaign quickly generated buzz because it played to peoples' worries that inviting advertising into AI platforms which many of us now rely on - and confide in - risks blurring the line between helpful advice and paid influence. But that anxiety, while understandable, overlooks how advertising already works across much of the digital world. In many ways, ads based on our interactions with AI aren't such a big leap from the kinds of targeted advertising that already dominate search engines, social media feeds and e-commerce platforms.

Regardless of whether a media channel is addressable or not, it's still reaching strategic and high-value audiences. So, understanding how these different media buys interact with each other [helps buyers] make better investment decisions.

The digital advertising industry has always been eager to create standards that simplify complexity. Taxonomies-structured systems for labeling content and products-are one such attempt. And while the IAB Tech Lab's new guidance to connect Content Taxonomy 2.1 with Ad Product Taxonomy 2.0 represents progress, it also raises a fundamental question: Is this really the evolution we need? Or is it just a neater version of a system that no longer fits the reality of how people engage with content?

Key stat: 54% of US marketers plan to fully implement their generative engine optimization (GEO) strategy within three to six months, according to September 2025 data from Scribewise. Beyond the chart: Use this chart: Drop this into your next digital strategy review to show stakeholders the GEO timeline pressure. Use it to benchmark your team's implementation plans against the majority.

Mike Pastore is the Head of Content & Media at Third Door Media, the publisher of the Martech and Search Engine Land websites and the producer of the SMX and MarTech Conferences. In nearly three decades in B2B marketing, Mike has worked as an editor, writer, and marketer. He first wrote about marketing in 1998 for internet.com (later Jupitermedia). He then worked with marketers at some of the best-known brands in B2B tech, creating content for marketing campaigns at both Jupitermedia and QuinStreet.

If your company wants to give up its marketing budget, lay off half of its employees and solely use AI-generated content, then Airpost is "not for you," CEO and Founder John Gargiulo said.