Cut through the noise. Whether you’re growing affiliate campaigns, optimizing media buys, or just keeping your edge, this news roundup brings you the updates that actually matter. Let’s dive in.
Events to Keep an Eye On This Week
The right moment can make all the difference. These upcoming events and cultural touchpoints provide an opportunity to connect, make a meaningful impact, and stay ahead. Save the dates — they’re the ones that count.
| Date | Event Name | Description | Location |
| April 27-30 | Web Summit Rio | Major tech and marketing conference covering AI, advertising, and startups. | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| April 28 | POSSIBLE Miami | High-level marketing event with keynotes from top industry leaders. | Miami, FL, USA |
| April 28–30 | B2B Online Chicago | Focuses on B2B digital marketing trends and eCommerce innovation. | Chicago, IL, USA |
| May 1 | May Day / International Workers’ Day | Global observance, ideal for labor-related or appreciation campaigns. | Worldwide |
| May 4 | Star Wars Day (“May the Fourth Be With You”) | Big pop culture event — great for themed marketing and brand engagement. | Worldwide |
| May 5 | Cinco de Mayo | Celebration of Mexican culture, popular for festive promotions and ads. | Worldwide / USA |
Weekly News Highlights
Advertising & Tech
- Google has decided to stick with third-party cookies in Chrome, backing away from plans to phase them out
- Meta is expanding ads on Threads worldwide, and advertisers are now diving into the first wave of testing campaigns
- Roku’s latest tech developments and patent filings highlight its ambition to push more disruptive ad formats
- Samsung insists its “Screens Everywhere” strategy doesn’t mean users will be bombarded with ads, at least for now
- Criteo is actively pitching a fresh video advertising solution to hundreds of retail partners
- Reddit and Moloco are now being recognized alongside Google, Meta, TikTok, and Apple as major players in mobile advertising
Search Trends
- Alphabet posted better-than-expected sales, thanks mostly to strong performance in Google Search ads
- Google’s AI Overviews has over 1.5 billion impressions every month
- GA4 just rolled out some updates, including new snapshot templates and improvements to Aggregate Identifiers
- Google’s AdSense Policy Center introduced three new policy issues, plus added filters and an updated review process
- Heads up: Google Ads API v17 is being retired soon
- Google Ads also introduced a new way to view reports with its tree table layout
Social Media Buzz
- Meta is rolling out new updates aimed at cracking down on spammy content across Facebook
- TikTok is getting ready to jump into Japan’s e-commerce market
- TikTok is also testing out a new profile layout design on Android devices
- Instagram’s new Edits app saw over 7 million downloads in its first week — an even bigger debut than CapCut had
- Instagram is expanding its “Share Only to Profile” feature to more users
- Meta has launched updates to its Verified plans for brands, including the ability to request a human review for original content on Instagram and other features
- Meta is adding dynamic overlays to Advantage+ Catalog ads to help brands customize their promotions even further
- Snapchat is rolling out a new Affiliate Program
- LinkedIn just introduced Qualified Leads Optimization, a new tool aimed at improving ad targeting
AI Insights
- The CEO of Perplexity says their new browser will track everything users do online to deliver “hyper-personalized” ads
- OpenAI, Perplexity, and Yahoo are all reportedly interested in buying Google Chrome
- Brands are starting to shift their focus to AI chatbots as more users turn away from traditional Google searches
- Adobe has relaunched Firefly, transforming it into an all-in-one AI engine for creating images, videos, audio, and more
- Meta is scaling back some AI features in the EU, citing concerns around Llama 4’s licensing and data regulations
- Grok’s AI chatbot is getting major upgrades, including new vision features and support for multiple languages
- A new report suggests OpenAI might integrate Shopify into ChatGPT
Microsoft made an ad with generative AI, and nobody noticed
The minute-long ad has been live for months, but Microsoft only just explained AI’s involvement.
Yes, AI will redefine marketing – but not the way you’d expect
If you think AI will ‘make’ ads, you don’t get advertising. Leading industry consultant and new The Drum columnist Tom Goodwin believes the real gains will come in less obvious ways.
