Observed Signal · Jul 31, 2026 · Hiring · Source: The Drum · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
B2B Must Compete Across Human, LLM and Agentic Webs
Matt Derella, who runs LinkedIn and Microsoft’s advertising businesses, argues B2B marketers must operate across three concurrent ‘webs’ — the human web, the LLM (large language model) web, and the emerging agentic web — because buyers will move across all three during purchase decisions. He says brands must continue creative work to generate demand while becoming more rigorous about measurement, shifting from last-click and individual-lead metrics to company-level measurement using LinkedIn’s economic graph and Company Intel API. Derella also oversees expanded advertising responsibilities across Microsoft after a 2026 reorganisation; LinkedIn’s ad business grew 16% year-over-year, and the combined Microsoft/LinkedIn advertising business is now worth over $20bn.
Major platform executive articulates strategic implications of LLMs and agentic agents for B2B marketing and advocates a concrete shift to company-level measurement; LinkedIn/Microsoft ad business scale and growth make the viewpoint operationally relevant but it is not a platform-wide policy or technical release.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Matt Derella leads LinkedIn’s advertising business and, after a 2026 reorganisation, now oversees advertising across Microsoft’s wider estate.
- LinkedIn’s advertising business grew 16% year-over-year in Microsoft’s most recent quarterly earnings.
- LinkedIn and Microsoft’s combined advertising business is described as worth more than $20bn.
- Derella frames three concurrent marketing 'webs': the human web, the LLM web, and the agentic web, and argues marketers must be effective across all three.
- He recommends measuring B2B impact at the company/account level using LinkedIn’s economic graph and the Company Intel API, with outside partners such as Dreamdata verifying the measurement.
Connected Companies & Entities
4 Entities mapped“He joined LinkedIn two years ago after a career selling advertising at Google and Twitter and, following a reorganization earlier in 2026, h...”
“following a reorganization earlier in 2026, he now leads advertising across Microsoft’s wider estate, from Bing and MSN to Xbox, alongside t...”
“He joined LinkedIn two years ago after a career selling advertising at Google and Twitter...”
“A chief revenue officer holding a thousand named accounts can begin to see where the investment is actually landing, allocate against it and...”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
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