Follow the developments that change your market view.

Grok 4.7 Launch: SpaceXAI Enhances Coding, Safety

SpaceXAI has released Grok 4.7, the next generation of its AI model, focusing on improved programming capabilities, handling of complex multi-hour tasks, and enhanced safety architecture. The model is designed to maintain context over longer workflows, verify intermediate steps, and work as an AI agent within technical environments. SpaceXAI claims Grok 4.7 outperforms Grok 4.6 on several benchmarks and is competitive with other leading models, though these results are self-reported. New safety features aim to better reject malicious requests without over-refusing legitimate ones. Grok 4.7 is available through Cursor, Grok Build, and the Grok API, with pricing unchanged from previous versions. A faster variant is offered exclusively via Cursor and Grok Build at double the cost.

• •Grok 4.7 has been released by SpaceXAI and is available immediately.
• •It focuses on programming, long-horizon tasks, and improved self-checking.
• •Security benchmarks: 62.4% on LatchBio biosafety test, 3.3% risky Dual-Use queries allowed on HackerBench.

Sorrell's S4S Ventures Invests in AI Video Startup Higgsfield

S4S Ventures, co-founded by Sir Martin Sorrell, has invested in Higgsfield, an AI startup that enables users to create AI images and videos. Higgsfield recently closed a $400 million Series B round at a $5.4 billion valuation, led by DST Global with participation from Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Valor Capital, and Tribe Capital. S4S co-founder Sanja Partalo highlighted Higgsfield's potential to address brands' need for high-volume, fast content production. The investment underscores the growing interest in AI-driven content creation tools for marketing and advertising applications.

• •S4S Ventures, co-founded by Sir Martin Sorrell, invested in Higgsfield.
• •Higgsfield closed a $400 million Series B at a $5.4 billion valuation.
• •The Series B round was led by DST Global.

Tuning out the global noise and focusing on operations: Business leaders opt for pragmatism

New insight article published on 22 Sep 2026 discussing how business leaders are focusing on operations amid global noise.

AI Won’t Replace Marketers, But It Will Change What They Do

New blog post featuring Scott Brinker discussing how AI will change the role of marketers, published on 22/09/2026.

Axis's Anastasia Skliarenko Shortlisted for ExchangeWire's Ad Tech Rising Star 2026

Axis's Anastasia Skliarenko has been shortlisted for ExchangeWire's Ad Tech Rising Star 2026, as announced in a new press release on the company's newsroom.

Xiaomi MiMo-V2.6-Pro tops open weights, trained for $3M

Xiaomi released MiMo-V2.6-Pro, a natively omnimodal open-weights model with 1.02T total / 42B active parameters, trained for $3M (about 130 hours and 75B tokens). It debuts as the top open-weights model on Artificial Analysis' Intelligence Index (46) with cost efficiency at $0.435/M input and $0.87/M output tokens, under an MIT license. Xiaomi also open-sourced the RL training environment code and recipes, but not the full 7k+ task datasets, signaling an emphasis on transparency in RL training.

• •Xiaomi released MiMo-V2.6-Pro and MiMo-V2.6-Flash, natively omnimodal open-weights models.
• •MiMo-V2.6-Pro has 1.02T total / 42B active parameters and tops the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index at 46.
• •RL training run cost $2.6M, used 75B tokens over 130 hours.

Cautious optimism for late-night economy after closures slow

New press release added: 'Cautious optimism for late-night economy after closures slow' dated 22 September 2026.

Alibaba unveils Zhenwu V900 AI chip, expands data centers

Shares of Alibaba jumped about 3% in Hong Kong after the company unveiled its next-generation AI chip, the Zhenwu V900, and announced plans to expand its global data center capacity to over 20 gigawatts by 2032. The announcements were made at the Apsara Conference in Hangzhou, highlighting Alibaba's intensified investment in AI infrastructure. The new chip delivers three times the performance of its predecessor, the Zhenwu M890, and is scheduled for mass production in Q1 2027. Alibaba also revealed that its Qwen 4 model is in training, with future Qwen 4.5 and 5 series planned. The move aligns with similar AI infrastructure investments by Nvidia, Meta, and Huawei, underscoring the global race for computing power.

• •Alibaba unveiled the Zhenwu V900 AI chip with three times the performance of its predecessor.
• •Alibaba plans to expand Alibaba Cloud's global data center capacity to over 20 gigawatts by 2032.
• •The Zhenwu V900 chip is scheduled for mass production and commercial release in Q1 2027.

Google's ad tech remedies arrive as platform battle moves to AI

Google has been ordered by a federal judge to implement behavioral remedies to its ad tech business, avoiding a forced divestiture of its ad exchange (AdX) and publisher ad server (DoubleClick for Publishers). The six-year regime requires Google to integrate more closely with Prebid, allow AdX to bid on competing ad servers, facilitate publisher data portability, and limit preferential treatment of its own ad tech. This comes as the antitrust focus shifts toward AI-powered advertising platforms. The article is paywalled and provides limited substantive detail beyond the headline and initial paragraphs.

• •Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a remedies opinion in the Google ad tech antitrust case.
• •Google will retain AdX and DoubleClick for Publishers under a six-year behavioral regime.
• •Google must integrate its technology more closely with Prebid and allow AdX to bid into competing publisher ad servers.

AI Chatbot Shares Fragment Beyond ChatGPT, Comscore Data Shows

Comscore's Q2 2026 AI Intelligence Report reveals that AI chatbot usage is diversifying, with ChatGPT's share of prompts dropping from 70% to 50% between January and June 2026. Gemini's share nearly doubled to 30%, while Claude rose to 11%. Despite fragmentation, overall AI assistant usage is growing, with 35% of desktop users visiting an AI assistant in June 2026, up from 25% in January 2025. Google AI Overviews are also expanding, appearing in 39.4% of desktop searches in June 2026, up from 25.8% a year earlier. This shift compels publishers and marketers to adopt multi-platform GEO strategies, measuring visibility and citations across various AI assistants. The report highlights that being sourced by AI doesn't guarantee visibility, as seen with Tripadvisor being sourced 61% for travel but cited only 21%.

• •ChatGPT's share of prompt volume fell from 70% to 50% between January and June 2026.
• •Gemini's share grew from 17% to 30%, and Claude's from 2% to 11% in the same period.
• •Google AI Overviews appeared in 39.4% of desktop searches in June 2026, up from 25.8% in July 2025.

Gartner Raises AI Spending Forecast; Infrastructure Remains Largest Segment

Gartner projects global AI spending to reach approximately $2.67 trillion in 2026, a 49.5% increase year-over-year, revising up from its May forecast of $2.59 trillion. Infrastructure remains the dominant category, expected to account for about $1.48 trillion (56% of total). AI services and software are forecasted to reach $576 billion and $462 billion respectively. Spending on AI agents and assistants is set to grow to $29.2 billion in 2026 and over $65 billion by 2027. Generative AI model spending is projected at $28.3 billion, with growth expectations raised to 117%. The firm also forecasts 2027 AI spending to reach $3.64 trillion, more than doubling from 2025 levels.

• •Gartner forecasts global AI spending to reach $2.67 trillion in 2026, a 49.5% increase year-over-year.
• •Infrastructure is the largest AI spending segment in 2026 at $1.48 trillion, representing 56% of total.
• •AI services spending is projected at $576 billion, and AI software at $462 billion in 2026.

IAB Tech Lab Introduces AAMP 3.0 to Standardize the RFP-to-Buy Process for Agentic Advertising

IAB Tech Lab Introduces AAMP 3.0 to Standardize the RFP-to-Buy Process for Agentic Advertising (September 22, 2026) and IAB Tech Lab's Programmatic Standard Practices Available for Public Comment (September 16, 2026). The IAB Tech Lab announced AAMP 3.0, introducing 'OpenProposal,' a specification to standardize the negotiation phase between an advertiser's brief and a buying commitment, enabling AI agents to discover, compare, and negotiate media proposals. Additionally, IAB released the Measurement Services Addendum v1.0, a contractual framework for advertising measurement, verification, attribution, and analytics services, part of a broader modular legal framework. Both initiatives are open for public comment until October 22, 2026, and aim to improve efficiency and standardization in programmatic media buying and measurement across the digital advertising industry.

• •IAB Tech Lab announced AAMP 3.0 with OpenProposal specification for agentic media buying.
• •OpenProposal standardizes machine-readable description of ad products and responses to briefs.
• •IAB released Measurement Services Addendum v1.0 for measurement, verification, attribution, and analytics contracts.

Meet a Didomian: James Ensor, Global Lead - Server-Side

Learn about James, his career path, his take on the server-side tagging landscape, and what's coming next for him and his team.

Equativ Brings ChatGPT Ads to Brands as Advertising Partner

Equativ announces partnership with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT ads to brands as an advertising partner.

SiteMinder unveils Dynamic Commerce Engine to close the ‘execution gap’ in hotel distribution

SiteMinder has announced the launch of its Dynamic Commerce Engine, a new product aimed at closing the 'execution gap' in hotel distribution. This appears to be a significant product launch for the company.

SiteMinder unveils Dynamic Commerce Engine to close the ‘execution gap’ in hotel distribution

SiteMinder has announced the launch of its Dynamic Commerce Engine, a new product aimed at closing the 'execution gap' in hotel distribution. The announcement was made on 22 September 2026, and the news is featured prominently on the company's news page.

Equativ Brings ChatGPT Ads to Brands as Advertising Partner

Equativ announces partnership with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT ads to brands as an advertising partner.

Clarivate to Report Third Quarter 2026 Results on November 3, 2026

Clarivate announced it will report third quarter 2026 results on November 3, 2026. Additionally, the company commenced an offer to purchase for cash certain of its outstanding debt securities, and revealed the 2026 Citation Laureates.

Paramount Agrees to Keep Pluto TV Running in Merger Deal

As part of the consent decree for the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, a group of state attorneys general secured a requirement that the combined company, often called 'ParaBros', must continue operating a free, ad-supported streaming service under the name Pluto TV or a comparable successor brand for at least five years. The agreement also stipulates that service and quality standards must not fall below current levels. Other conditions include boosting U.S. production, creating an editorial independence board for CBS News and CNN, and keeping cable carriage negotiations separate. Pluto TV is currently the only free, ad-supported service in either company's portfolio, with usage around 1% of U.S. TV viewing. The goal is to preserve a low-cost viewing option for consumers.

• •Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery agreed to a consent decree with 12 state attorneys general.
• •The combined company must keep operating a free ad-supported service named Pluto TV or a comparable successor for five years.
• •Service and quality standards must be at least equal to those at the time the decree takes effect.

Brainlabs Publishes New Articles on Measurement, Agentic Buying, and TikTok Features

New blog posts added: 'Your Measurement Is Rewarding the Wrong Channels' (Sept 21), 'Should Media Buying Evolve Into Agentic Buying?' (Sept 17), 'TikTok Is Removing the Friction From Platform Diversification' (Sept 15), 'Organic traffic is falling, but AI isn’t replacing it' (Sept 14), and 'Google Ads Is Testing PMax Channel Controls' (Sept 3).

Amazon Blocks Meta's Muse AI Agent from Shopping

Amazon has blocked Meta's AI shopping agent, Muse, from accessing Amazon.com, citing unauthorized access, lack of transparency, and violations of its terms of service, privacy, and security. Muse, launched in September 2026, quickly gained over 900,000 downloads but failed to identify itself as automated and bypassed sponsored products, reducing Amazon's ad revenue. This move is part of Amazon's broader crackdown on AI agents from Perplexity, Google, and OpenAI. Meanwhile, Shopify is partnering with Meta to integrate Muse with Shop Pay, and Meta plans to connect Muse with Meta Business. The conflict underscores tensions over AI agents' control of customer interfaces and data, with Amazon's own 'Buy for Me' agent openly identifying itself and allowing opt-outs, setting a precedent for AI agent behavior in e-commerce.

• •Amazon blocked Meta's AI agent Muse from its platform due to unauthorized access and lack of transparency.
• •Muse has over 900,000 downloads in six days and can autonomously make purchases without identifying as a bot.
• •Amazon cites privacy/security concerns and bypassing of advertising as reasons for the block.

Henry’s Verstappen showdown

Daily Mail Sport goes racing

AppLovin Platform Ad Spend Rounds to $20 Billion Annual Run Rate

During the All-In Summit 2026, AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi revealed that the company's platform ad spend grew 60% year-over-year to approximately $20 billion annually. He emphasized the scale of mobile gaming, with over a billion daily players, and estimated that total mobile gaming ad spend across all companies exceeds $50 billion. Foroughi argued that personalized ads offer greater economic expansion potential than chatbots, advocating for relevant ads despite privacy regulations. He also discussed AppLovin's past struggles, including a stock decline in 2022, and the strategy of buying studios as a data play before divesting.

• •AppLovin's platform ad spend grew 60% Y/Y to approximately $20 billion annually.
• •AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi spoke at the All-In Summit 2026.
• •Foroughi estimated that total mobile gaming ad spend across all companies is around $50 billion per year.

Google Fined €400 Million for Location Data Misuse

Google has been fined €400 million by the Italian competition authority for the misuse of location data. The authority found that Google did not clearly inform users about how their location data is collected and used for advertising, and that the company engaged in aggressive practices to obtain consent. This fine represents a significant regulatory action against Google's data collection practices, with potential implications for the broader digital advertising industry.

• •Google was fined €400 million by an Italian authority.
• •The fine is related to the misuse of user location data.
• •Google was found to have not clearly informed users about data collection.

Permutive and TransUnion Partner to Enhance Sell-Side Curation

Permutive has integrated with TransUnion's identity graph, enabling publishers to match their first-party audience data with TransUnion's consumer profiles for more effective sell-side curation. This addresses the challenge of limited addressability (only ~30% of traffic is addressable). The integration allows publishers using Permutive's DMP to activate audiences against TransUnion's data, which includes information on 250 million consumers. An initial test with a financial services advertiser showed a 12x increase in addressable impressions and a 170% overshoot of the KPI target. The partnership aims to provide advertisers with a viable alternative to walled gardens, reduce data fees, and monetize previously unsold inventory.

• •Permutive and TransUnion announced an integration on Monday.
• •The integration allows publishers to match their audiences to TransUnion's ID graph.
• •Only about 30% of web traffic is currently addressable via cookies or alternative IDs.

ZoomInfo Launches Talent Autopilot for Recruiting

ZoomInfo, the Go-To-Market Intelligence Platform, announced the launch of Talent Autopilot, its most advanced technology for recruiting. This new platform leverages ZoomInfo's professional and company intelligence combined with autonomous reasoning and action to help talent acquisition teams discover and engage qualified candidates that traditional search methods might miss. Instead of relying solely on titles, keywords, and filters, recruiters provide role context, and Talent Autopilot reasons across skills, experience, career paths, and company intelligence to surface non-obvious candidates. The platform supports the entire recruiting workflow from discovery to initial engagement, offering features such as natural language feedback, candidate management, personalized outreach via connected email accounts, and integration with existing applicant tracking systems. The launch underscores ZoomInfo's evolution of its Talent Solutions, aiming to improve recruiting outcomes through better data and automation.

• •ZoomInfo launched Talent Autopilot, a recruiting platform combining its data with autonomous candidate discovery and engagement.
• •Talent Autopilot uses context from recruiters rather than relying primarily on titles, keywords, and filters.
• •The platform supports candidate discovery, natural language refinement, personalized outreach, and integration with applicant tracking systems.

Numerator Launches Conversational Consumer Insights In-Platform and Across Client AI Environments

New Nexa Agent and Numerator Connect Now Live, Expanding Trusted Numerator Data Across In-Platform and Client AI Workflows.

Amazon Invests Another $1.9 Billion in the Delivery Service Partner Program with New Safety Initiatives and AI-Powered Technology

Amazon announced a $1.9 billion investment in its Delivery Service Partner program, including new safety initiatives and AI-powered technology. Additionally, Amazon raised minimum starting pay for full-time core operations employees to $20/hour, with average pay reaching nearly $24/hour, and launched grocery discount and lifetime banking benefits.

BigID Launches AgentIQ: Run Your Entire Data & AI Program From a Prompt

BigID announces AgentIQ, a new product that allows users to run their entire data and AI program from a prompt, and also announces a partnership with Microsoft to bring data context into security operations.

Google Antitrust Remedies: Practical Effects on Ad Ecosystem

Ari Paparo analyzes the practical implications of the Google antitrust remedies for publishers, ad exchanges, agencies, and advertisers. Publishers may gain the ability to switch ad servers more easily, as AdX will be required to bid into other ad servers and Prebid, and the removal of Unified Pricing Rules (UPR) will allow them to manipulate demand pricing in GAM. Ad exchanges could benefit from non-discriminatory access to Google Ads demand, though technical and operational hurdles remain. Agencies with supply-path optimization strategies may find new leverage, and the exclusion of DV360 from remedies could create bidding differences between Google's DSP and ad network. The article outlines potential opportunities and challenges across the digital media ecosystem.

• •Google antitrust remedies include allowing AdX to bid into other ad servers and Prebid, enabling easier ad server migration for publishers within six months.
• •Unified Pricing Rules (UPR) in Google Ad Manager will be removed, restoring publishers' ability to set pricing preferences across exchanges.
• •The remedies require non-discriminatory access to Google Ads (AdWords) demand, potentially shifting bids from AdX to other exchanges.