Cumulus v. Nielsen: What the audio measurement fight means for marketers
The Cumulus Media v. Nielsen lawsuit isn’t just a dispute between two major players in audio. It exposes how fragile and concentrated the audio measurement ecosystem has become. At its core, this is a fight over the currency that underpins billions of dollars worth of audio advertising. Here’s what’s happening, why it matters and why marketers should be paying attention: Cumulus v. Nielsen: Current status Last October, Cumulus Media filed an antitrust lawsuit alleging that Nielsen has leveraged its dominant market position to force broadcasters into purchasing...
How should brands be thinking about OOH advertising in 2026?
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising plays a unique and powerful role in the customer journey, offering real-world touchpoints that complement both online and offline marketing strategies. Whether it’s a billboard on a morning commute, a transit ad near a favorite lunch spot or a digital screen in a shopping center, OOH meets audiences where they are — both physically and emotionally. As a host of new industry-wide updates bring greater precision and consistency to how OOH environments are defined and bought in 2026, the channel is only becoming more measurable, scalable and effective. Live: building brand awareness with residential OOH OOH...
What ChatGPT’s shift on in-chat checkout means for marketers
OpenAI is reportedly having second thoughts about handling e-commerce transactions directly within ChatGPT, instead steering users to retailer-run ChatGPT experiences and merchant websites to complete purchases. When it comes to shopping, the AI giant appears to be positioning ChatGPT as a discovery and recommendation platform rather than the universal purchase processor some expected it to become. OpenAI had announced its in-app e-commerce plans with quite a bit of fanfare in a Sept. 29 in a blog post titled “Buy it in ChatGPT: Instant Checkout and the Agentic Commerce Protocol.” It boasted about how hundreds of millions of people “turn to ChatGPT each...
Bing just made GEO measurable. What does that mean for marketers?
Microsoft just made one of the most important moves in the generative engine optimization (GEO) space to date. Bing Webmaster Tools now includes AI performance reports, giving publishers visibility into how their content appears across Bing’s AI-powered experiences. Brands can now see: Total citations: the number of times your site is cited in AI-generated answers Average cited pages: the average number of URLs from your site referenced by AI-powered experiences Page-level citations: the number of citations by URL Visibility trends over time: how citation activity ebbs and flows within...
Media Sync for February 19, 2026: TikTok Shop’s new promotion program
Rise Media Sync is a regular column from Rise that quickly summarizes media and platform news of interest to marketers. Here are four key developments the Rise team is monitoring: 1. Meta upgrades Creator Marketplace recommendations What’s happening: Meta is rolling out updates to Creator Marketplace designed to improve how brands discover and evaluate creators for paid partnerships. What we know: The changes focus on improving creator recommendations based on prior interactions, surfacing creators who have tagged a brand, expressed interest in partnerships or previously engaged with...
TikTok’s privacy policy changes: what marketers need to know
On Jan. 22, TikTok announced the creation of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, a majority U.S.-owned entity formed in response to an executive order signed by President Trump last fall. A stated goal of this new corporate structure is to ensure that U.S. user data is not accessible to non-U.S. entities. TikTok has outlined four priority areas for its new U.S.-based entity: trust and safety, data protection, algorithm security and software assurance. TikTok investor/partner Oracle will play a significant role in supporting these efforts, including infrastructure support, transparency measures...
Google’s new AI shopping framework is gaining traction. Are brands ready?
The customer who just bought your product may not be human. While that may sound like science fiction, it’s the emerging reality of commerce in today’s “AI everything” world. For brands and retailers alike, this shift forces a fundamental rethinking of how your products are discovered, evaluated and purchased. Welcome to the age of agentic commerce, now with a foundational technology backbone via the recently announced Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) from Google. Here’s what marketers need to know now: E-commerce is shifting from AI-assisted to AI-executed Like most things AI-related these days, this evolution is moving fast. Really fast. It’s not just...
Super Bowl 2026: 5 key marketing questions, answered by Rise leaders
The Super Bowl has long been marketing’s moment to shine. But in 2026, the game is bigger than a single broadcast. From AI-powered creative and record-breaking streaming audiences to a fragmented social media landscape, traditional narratives about game day — one of the few remaining monoculture touchstones for marketers — are clearly shifting. Here, Rise and Quad experts weigh in on five key questions marketers are asking during the runup to Super Bowl LX. What role will AI play in Super Bowl marketing this year? AI will...
Media Sync for January 29, 2026: Shoppable YouTube ads hit CTV
Rise Media Sync summarizes media and platform news of interest to marketers. Here are four key developments the Rise team is monitoring: 1. Shoppable YouTube ads hit CTV What’s happening: Google has launched Shoppable CTV ads with Demand Gen, allowing viewers to browse and purchase products directly from YouTube ads on connected TVs. What we know: Shoppable CTV ads are available via Display & Video 360 and Google’s Smart TV app, pulling product images and data directly from Google Merchant Center feeds. Ads appear as non-skippable, 15-second...
