Digiday vs Marketing Dive

Publishers at Digiday London Weigh AI Metrics and Agentic Trading

This AdExchanger roundup covers critical AdTech issues: publishers shifting from page views to engagement metrics (dwell time, conversions), the risks of blocking AI crawlers and licensing content to LLMs, and OpenAI's removal of UTM parameters misclassifying ChatGPT traffic as direct, complicating AI attribution. Security concerns include spyware via ad tags (Discover-Tech) and Apple's WebKit blocking EIDs following privacy research. Apple TV's F1 streaming boosts ad business, while retail media faces controversy over Flock surveillance partnerships. Also noted: creator challenges, Meta's Muse, new iPhone, and a key hire.

• At Digiday's October 2026 Town Hall, publishers discussed moving to engagement metrics and risks of AI crawler blocking.
• OpenAI removed UTM parameters, misclassifying ChatGPT traffic as direct, complicating AI visibility tracking.
• Apple's WebKit blocks EIDs, citing privacy research from NJIT, DeepSee.io, and Adalytics.

Target's snack sales jump after grocery refresh

Target reported a 15% year-over-year increase in snack sales in Q2 2026 after expanding shelf space for snacks, fresh food, bakery and other emerging grocery categories as part of a broader grocery refresh. The company’s second-quarter food and beverage sales rose about 7% year over year, according to Target’s Q2 2026 earnings release. The article is a Big-Box Briefing column published by Modern Retail on August 20, 2026 and written by Mitchell Parton.

• Target reported snack sales increased 15% year over year in Q2 2026.
• Target said it added more space for snacks, fresh food, bakery and other emerging categories within its grocery areas.
• Target's second-quarter food and beverage sales rose about 7% year over year.

Social Ad Dominance May Be a Measurement Illusion

An opinion piece by Vicky Chang (Tatari) argues that social platforms’ apparent advertising dominance is partly a measurement confidence effect rather than pure performance. Citing an eMarketer report showing social capturing 27.7% of US ad spend despite 12.5% of time spent, the article contrasts in-platform, self-reported attribution (ROAS, last-click, view-through) with true incrementality measurement. It notes major walled gardens (Meta, Google/YouTube, Amazon) have built internal measurement infrastructures that make performance easy to report but not directly comparable across platforms. Tatari’s analysis of 100 brands finds TV exposure often drives higher conversion rates attributed to social, highlighting the need for independent, cross-platform measurement—especially across the fragmented CTV landscape.

• eMarketer reported social networks will capture 27.7% of all US ad spend in 2026 while accounting for 12.5% of Americans' time spent with media.
• Convergent TV (linear and CTV) accounts for 38.5% of media time but receives 18% of ad budgets, per the cited eMarketer data.
• The author states that in a Tatari analysis of 100 brands measured on social-driven traffic, 9 out of 10 had higher conversion rates from visitors who had seen a TV ad in the prior week; 60% saw lifts over 50% and one-third saw conversions more than double.

ViralGains Wins Fierce AI Innovation Award for Programmatic Marketing

New press releases added to Marketing Dive's press release page, including ViralGains, FouAnalytics, MERGE, and more.

Gap launches fall denim campaign starring Inde Navarrette

Gap launched a fall campaign called “Denim on your own” that pairs actor Inde Navarrette with singer-songwriter Malcolm Todd. The spot, directed by Tanu Muiño with creative direction by Gap’s Calvin Leung, features Todd’s cover of Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own” and was rolled out across Gap’s digital and social channels, email, stores and out-of-home placements (including billboards in Times Square and on Sunset Boulevard). Paid media elements will run on major social/video platforms and via creator partnerships. The campaign highlights Gap’s continued focus on music-and-movement-driven marketing and follows recent celebrity collaborations that have helped revive Gen Z relevance and improved comparable sales.

• Gap launched a fall campaign titled “Denim on your own” starring Inde Navarrette and Malcolm Todd.
• Malcolm Todd recorded a cover of Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own” specifically for the campaign.
• The campaign rolled out across Gap’s digital and social channels, email, in-store, out-of-home (including Times Square and Sunset Boulevard billboards) and includes paid media and creator partnerships.