Financial Times vs Insider

Anthropic's Q3 Revenue Hits $16.8 Billion Ahead of IPO

Anthropic, the AI developer behind Claude, reported Q3 2026 revenue of $16.8 billion, a 45% QoQ increase and roughly four times its 2025 total, with an annualized run rate of $76 billion and net revenue retention around 900%. However, growth sharply decelerated from 147% to 45%, missing internal targets and fueling investor concerns over an AI bubble. The company achieved its second consecutive quarter of adjusted profitability, with an 85% gross margin and 11% operating margin, though adjusted figures exclude training costs, stock-based compensation, and cloud partner shares. A leaked S-1 filing reveals an $80.7 billion net loss in H1 2026 on $16.3 billion revenue, primarily due to $72 billion in accounting effects from convertible notes, compared to a $13 billion loss a year earlier. Anthropic spent nearly $9 billion in H1 2026 on compute, up from $2.3 billion in 2025, and anticipates over $750 billion in future cloud spending. CEO Dario Amodei plans a November IPO targeting a $1.8–$2 trillion valuation as a Public Benefit Corporation, with about 20% of shares earmarked for public purposes. Key risks include revenue concentration (two customers ~25%), reliance on Amazon/Google, $518 billion in non-cancelable infrastructure commitments, and potential AI liability.

• Q3 2026 revenue: $16.8 billion, ~45% QoQ, ~4x 2025 total; annualized run rate $76 billion; NRR ~900%.
• H1 2026 net loss of $80.7 billion on $16.3 billion revenue, up from $13 billion loss on $1.1 billion revenue in H1 2025; loss largely due to $72 billion in accounting effects.
• Spent nearly $9 billion on compute and infrastructure in H1 2026, up from $2.3 billion in 2025; potential future cloud spending over $750 billion.

Publishers at Digiday London Weigh AI Metrics and Agentic Trading

At Digiday's Media Strategies Town Hall in London on October 13, 2026, publishing executives discussed the shift from page views to engagement metrics, the risks of blocking AI crawlers, licensing content to LLMs, and agentic media trading. They emphasized the need for a common engagement standard, challenges in identifying legitimate bots, and the potential impact of the New York Times lawsuit against OpenAI. Simultaneously, OpenAI's removal of UTM parameters from ChatGPT links is causing attribution issues, misclassifying visits as direct traffic. This complicates AI visibility tracking for brands, with new direct visitors often behaving like ChatGPT visitors. Additionally, a separate investigation revealed that Israeli ad agency Discover-Tech used malicious ads to spread spyware, compromising 45 Windows devices at Al Jazeera and reaching sensitive organizations like the Pentagon, highlighting severe ad security risks.

• At Digiday's October 2026 Town Hall, publishers discussed moving from page views to engagement metrics like dwell time and conversions.
• OpenAI removed UTM parameters from ChatGPT links, causing traffic to be misclassified as direct, complicating AI visibility tracking.
• Adobe's Cedric Huesler found that new direct visitors often behave like ChatGPT visitors.

Brand Metrics Launches Outcomes Prediction for Advertisers and Agencies

Brand Metrics, a global ad tech firm based in Gothenburg, announced on October 1, 2026, the launch of brand outcomes prediction for advertisers and agencies, along with a new brand identity and website. Since its founding in 2018, the company has measured over 60,000 campaigns across 35+ markets, building a database of 13 million survey responses. Media owners such as the Financial Times, Bloomberg Media, and The Wall Street Journal use the platform to prove inventory effectiveness. The new prediction capability uses campaign delivery data and creative assets to forecast impact on awareness, consideration, preference, and action intent—without requiring integration, surveys, or personal data. It can be used at various campaign stages: before (pre-testing), during (live tracking), and after (post-campaign analysis). The company also unveiled a new logo created by Huston, combining the brand and metrics elements with a movement arrow, and launched a new website with dedicated routes for media owners and advertisers.

• Brand Metrics launched brand outcomes prediction for advertisers and agencies on October 1, 2026.
• Brand Metrics has measured over 60,000 campaigns across 35+ markets since 2018.
• Media owners including Financial Times, Bloomberg Media, and The Wall Street Journal use Brand Metrics.

Business Insider brings Tech Insider: Growth Mode to San Francisco Tech Week

Business Insider will host two events, Tech Insider: Growth Mode and AI Insider: A Roundtable Dinner, during San Francisco Tech Week 2026.