August 10, 2026

Sberbank increased GigaChat's television advertising volume fourfold in the first half of 2026, reaching 10,900 GRP among Russians aged 18 and older, including dacha and out-of-home viewing, according to Mediascope data cited by Vedomosti. The AI assistant's campaign made up 14% of Sber's total federal TV ad volume from January through June, then eased to 9% between June 1 and July 15. Starlink's ad group specialists confirm the multiple rise. Yandex's Alisa AI, launched last autumn, accounted for 5.5% of the company's federal TV ad volume in the same period, a more moderate figure. Among all AI services in Russia, Alisa AI leads audience reach among people 12 and older with a 14.3% share, followed by DeepSeek at 9.4% and GigaChat at 4%.

Trade Desk chief executive Jeff Green used the company's August 6, 2026 earnings call to attack a category of rivals building fixed-price and guaranteed-deal products wrapped in agentic technology. He compared the approach to ad networks from 2006 and said these vendors compete on fee instead of outcome. Green argued that Programmatic Guaranteed delivers certainty and a fixed price, while decisioned buying uses data and real-time optimization to chase the best business outcome. The critique came alongside second-quarter revenue of $715 million, up 3% year over year, and third-quarter guidance of at least $650 million, roughly 12% below the prior year. Green blamed part of the shortfall on advertisers under budget pressure shifting spend into what he called "low-cost, low decisioning methods." Trade Desk keeps its own take rate private.

North American ad-supported streaming tiers are on track to generate 54% of total OTT subscription revenue by the end of 2026, according to Ampere Analysis. Advertising revenue alone is projected to exceed $18 billion (€15.6bn) this year, more than one-fifth of total subscription OTT revenue in the region for the first time. North America produces close to 60% of global ad-supported subscription OTT revenue, helped by stronger ARPUs, higher CPMs and a more mature connected TV advertising market. Prime Video leads the segment, with revenue forecast to top $14 billion in 2026 after Amazon defaulted subscribers into ads in 2023 unless they pay extra to opt out. Procter & Gamble, Amazon and Walmart together account for 22% of US subscription OTT ad impressions so far this year.

Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro told investors the company is actively exploring a free, ad-supported tier for Disney+, which has 131.6 million subscribers. D'Amaro, who took over from Bob Iger earlier this year, said a free option would appeal to price-sensitive customers reluctant to absorb repeated price rises. Disney+ raised prices in October 2025, adding $2 a month to ad-supported plans and $3 to ad-free plans. Netflix, with more than 325 million subscribers, raised its ad plan by $1 a month and ad-free plans by $2 a few months ago. Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said on a July investor call that the company must stay "careful" about free tiers, since they could cannibalize its more profitable paid subscriptions. Neither company has announced concrete plans.

OpenAI is staffing a dedicated small-business advertising unit, according to six live job postings reviewed by Digiday. The listings span growth, data science, demand strategy and sales operations, led by a Lead Data Scientist for SMB Ads Growth role in San Francisco paying $293K to $515K. A Growth Lead for SMB Ads pays $284K to $315K, and a Growth Marketing Manager beneath it pays $177K to $196K; both seek candidates from Google, Meta, TikTok, Amazon and Reddit. In Dublin, OpenAI is hiring a Senior Vendor Manager for SMB Sales to hold outsourced sales vendors accountable, the model Google and Meta have used for years. eMarketer's Nate Elliott said SMBs make up the majority of ad revenue at Google and Meta, adding that 'ChatGPT is nothing if not ambitious.' OpenAI did not respond to Digiday's request for comment.

Around 30% of large-screen media budgets in India have shifted to connected TV, according to Nishit Kanchan, General Manager and Head of Revenue (India) at Samsung Ads. Samsung's CTV client base grew from roughly 300 advertisers last year to nearly 450 in the first half of this year, with Kanchan projecting around 600 by year end. Traditional advertisers who allocated below 10% of budgets to CTV three to four years ago now commit 30% to 35%, he said. Retail and other previously cautious categories are moving the bulk of their spend into CTV. India has an estimated 220 million to 230 million TV households, of which 55 million to 60 million are CTV-enabled, and Samsung accounts for around 17 million of those, a 30% to 35% share. Programmatic buying makes up half of Samsung's CTV volume, with home-screen and marquee formats still outside programmatic access.

Crocs turned to Instrument in 2026 after facing sharper competition from Ugg and Birkenstock once its patent expired, according to Digiday. The Stagwell agency, part of the Code and Theory Network, won the account through a multi-agency review and received its first assignment the day after pitching. Instrument built a new homepage template for the holiday season, is now redesigning Crocs' full website, and manages thousands of content pieces across the brand's e-commerce operations, including CRM and performance marketing. The agency also built asset-production tools on top of Figma, reviewed quarterly, to automate work Instrument CEO Laurel Burton said normally took weeks, months and multiple people. Crocs vp of creative Ginny Golden said Instrument's mix of creative ideas and data-backed rigor gave the brand confidence in the partnership.

VK has combined behavioral data from VKontakte, VK Clips and VK Video into a single anonymized AI model it calls a neuroprofile, Forbes reports. The transformer-based system treats a user's actions across all three services as one continuous, de-identified sequence, tracking what people watch, skip, repost or ignore, along with context: where the action happened, the content format, the author and how recently the user engaged with similar material. VK Clips total watch time rose 5.5% since the rollout, and users now open videos in full-screen mode 10% more often. Sources cited by Forbes estimate VK spent around 1 billion rubles building the system. VK says advertisers get more precise targeting against user interests as a result.

E.W. Scripps reported Q2 CY2026 revenue of $490.4 million, down 9.2% year on year and short of Wall Street estimates, with a GAAP loss of $12.68 per share. CEO Adam Symson said a sudden change in Nielsen's television audience measurement methodology drove roughly half the revenue pressure in the company's Networks segment, compounding steady declines in linear TV viewing and temporary blackouts with major pay TV providers. Symson said, "Our financial performance for the quarter did not meet my expectations." Scripps is leaning on a transformation plan built around cost cuts, new live sports rights deals, expanded digital news streams and AI-driven local news production to rebuild margins. Management is banking on a recovery in sports advertising and the resolution of carriage disputes to lift results, and expects political advertising to ramp as the election cycle advances. Shares traded at $3.61, up from $2.97 before the earnings release.

Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) ruled that TNT-Teleset, operator of the TNT channel, breached advertising law by running an oversized banner overlay. The violation occurred in May 2026 during a broadcast of the series "SashaTanya," when an ad for children's food brand Bibicol Rus appeared as a banner overlaid on the bottom of the screen. FAS measured the banner's area and found it exceeded the legal limit of 7% of total screen size. The agency issued a mandatory order requiring TNT-Teleset to stop distributing the improper ad, and it is now weighing administrative proceedings under Russia's Code of Administrative Offenses. TNT-Teleset has been managed by GPM Entertainment Television since February 2016, with Tinatin Kandelaki serving as managing director since November 2021. The case adds to a string of recent FAS ad rulings, including one against Fonbet TV over unauthorized use of a coach's image.