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📊 Google adds AI visibility reports to Search Console
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- Google has rolled out new Search Console reports that show site owners how their pages perform inside AI Overviews, AI Mode, and AI-powered Discover, giving publishers visibility data they previously had no way to isolate.
- The reports break down impressions from generative AI features by page, country, and device, with hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly tracking, as AI Overviews now reaches 2.5 billion monthly users and AI Mode crossed one billion.
- A new Search Console toggle lets publishers opt out of generative AI Search features entirely, stopping their content from grounding AI responses without hurting rankings in traditional Search, with the rollout starting in the UK before global expansion.
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🤖 AI agents now buying things, and fraud looks identical
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- HUMAN Security's 2026 benchmark report, published April 9, found AI agents are now browsing, logging in, and completing purchases on behalf of shoppers, with only half a percentage point separating legitimate automation from fraud.
- Agentic AI traffic grew 7,851% year over year, with product and search pages making up 77% of activity, account pages 8.82%, authentication flows 4.95%, and checkout pages 2.31% of agent behavior.
- OpenAI's bots accounted for roughly 69% of all AI-driven traffic, followed by Meta-ExternalAgent at 16% and Anthropic identities at 11%, while retail, media, and travel made up over 95% of AI-driven traffic.
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🏛️ Illinois enacts 10% targeted ad tax
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- Illinois lawmakers passed SB 3019 on June 1, 2026, creating a 10% tax on gross receipts from targeted advertising services in the state, joining Maryland and Washington as US states levying digital ad taxes.
- The Targeted Advertising Services Tax Act applies to any business whose annual cumulative gross receipts from such services exceed $1 million over the previous 12 months, covering digital, social media, and display advertising revenue.
- The Illinois Policy Institute projects the targeted advertising levy will raise $200 million annually, with the 10% rate taking effect January 1, 2027, giving ad tech and programmatic businesses seven months to build compliance frameworks.
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🎬 Meta tests Series for episodic Reels
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- Meta is trying out a new Series option for Reels on Facebook and Instagram, letting creators group linked videos into episodic collections that viewers can follow through playback shortcuts and series displays on profiles.
- The Series format echoes Meta's 2019 IGTV experiment and the 2020 Guides option on Instagram, both aimed at helping creators stitch related clips together to build community and stretch engagement beyond single posts.
- The test follows Instagram product VP Tessa Lyons saying the platform wants to support creators' long-form strategy alongside short-form, with plans covering podcasts, live-streams, and mini-dramas, a format that pulled in $1.3 billion in the U.S. during 2025.
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💸 Tariffs forced Temu to slash U.S. ad spend
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- U.S. tariffs and the end of the "de minimis" rule pushed Temu to cut its American ad spend across nearly every major social platform in 2026, with X bearing the steepest reduction, per Sensor Tower data.
- Between January and May 2026, Temu's spend dropped 95% year-over-year on X, 74% on YouTube, 74% on TikTok, 46% on Snapchat and 10% on Instagram, with Meta now absorbing 75% of its U.S. budget.
- Pinterest bucked the trend, with Temu growing its spend there by 66% into seven figures and lifting its allocation to 12%, while U.S. monthly active users still rose 21% year-over-year despite the cuts.
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