Industry Insights

The tech industry is barreling toward a future powered by AI, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it at this point. What advertisers CAN do is make sure they’re using new technologies correctly and avoiding the pitfalls that can come with rapid adoption. Artificial intelligence has a lot of potential for good and ill, and Genius Monkey is here to explore a few of the possibilities the future is now offering.

As reported by AdWeek on May 8th, 2025 – just a week after emailing publishers asking them to adopt the new product – Amazon has killed their privacy program that would allow advertisers to better integrate with Google’s new Privacy Sandbox. This would have allowed advertisers using Amazon’s DSP to target users based on Google’s retargeting data. What does this mean for the future of cookie-less advertising and user data?

Pew research reports that around 86% of Americans consume news on smart devices like phones and tablets at least some of the time, while 57% do so “often.” Though television, radio, and print media still have their audiences, they are significantly outpaced by digital platforms, which are typically ad-supported. Simply put, the advertising audience for news is huge. Many advertisers are concerned about placing ads next to news reports, fearing that contentious topics or other bad news will cast a poor light on any ads surrounding the content.

This week, Genius Monkey is taking a look at the trends that we expect to continue into this year so you can be prepared for what the industry is likely to become. From an emphasis on first-party data to a TikTok-shaped void in social media advertising, there’s a lot to dive into: The Increasing Importance of First-Party Data In 2024, Google announced that it would, in fact, NOT depreciate third-party cookies in Chrome.

Connected television (CTV) has stood out as the black sheep of the programmatic family for a while, featuring the lowest total ad spend and the trickiest audience tracking of all mediums. Early rumblings in the industry and consumer habits have convinced Genius Monkey for some time that CTV is a slumbering giant, waiting for the right moment to awaken and take the digital ad industry by storm. That day is quickly approaching, and it’s time for advertisers to take note.

MFA, or “Made For Advertising”, is the boogeyman of digital advertising, scooping up some $20 billion of wasted ad spend on bot sites, unviewable ads, or ad farms. The Association of National Advertisers reports that buyers have been spending less on MFA overall in the last few years, but it’s been on the rise in recent months. We all know MFA sites when we see them; so why are they so hard to circumvent?

Halloween is upon us, a time for dressing up, eating candy, and celebrating the darker side of pop culture. While all in good fun, there are more things on the horizon for advertisers than ghouls and goblins: we’ve got a Presidential Election about to hit directly followed by Black Friday and the holiday craze. There’s a lot going on and a lot to keep track of in the world of digital marketing; let’s avoid the end-of-year scaries and talk about what to keep in mind for these big events coming up at the end of this year.

Advertisers rightfully view the end-of-year holidays as the biggest shopping time of the year; the 2023 season turned in a staggering $964.4 billion spent. Focus on it too much, however, and you just might miss other opportunities where consumers are happy to open their wallet. Genius Monkey data shows that personalizing ads around current events increases click-through rates by 35%! Let’s take a look at the other big shopping days through the year and the best strategies for making them work for you!

The Winter Holiday season is easily the biggest time of the year for advertisers and businesses alike. With thousands of other companies competing for space in your target audience’s brain, what can you do to stand out from the crowd and attract those holiday dollars? Thanks to years of experience and a recent report from our partner Experian, Genius Monkey has the tools your business needs to thrive this season.

While athletes around the globe were competing for gold, one challenger stood out as the reigning world champion of digital ads. Making its Olympic debut this year, programmatic advertising continues to demonstrate its flexibility and dominance in the field, enabling advertisers to reach a global audience and winning mouth-watering ad revenue for NBCUniversal. Let’s take a look at Programmatic’s performance throughout the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Programmatic’s Stunning Debut at the Games For the first time in Olympic history, advertisers could programmatically purchase ad space for all competition events.