August 27, 2026

As of July 24, no company had registered as a ratings agency under India's Television Ratings Policy 2026, the government told the Rajya Sabha. The policy, notified on March 27 to replace a 2014 framework built around Broadcast Audience Research Council, requires technology-neutral measurement across cable, DTH, terrestrial TV, OTT and connected TVs. New agencies must reach 80,000 metered homes within 18 months of registration, rising by 10,000 a year to 120,000; existing agencies were given nine months, extended from six by a May 8 amendment. Exchange4Media reported on August 26 that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had approached TAM Media Research and Chrome DM about their connected-TV measurement systems. Chrome DM says a single connected TV screen represents about 2.5 viewers on average, meaning device data must be paired with panel data to avoid counting the same viewer twice across screens.

OpenAI expanded its ChatGPT ads platform on Tuesday, adding cost-per-click bidding and a self-serve Ads Manager in beta for US advertisers. The first phase of the pilot used CPM pricing only, giving OpenAI a way to measure demand and delivery before letting advertisers pay based on clicks. Dentsu, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP are now agency partners for ChatGPT ad buys, and Adobe, Criteo, Kargo, Pacvue and StackAdapt have joined as technology partners. OpenAI also launched a Conversions API and pixel-based measurement tool that tracks purchases, leads and sign-ups after ad engagement, giving advertisers aggregated performance insights while keeping individual conversations private. A new landing page walks advertisers through sign-up, and OpenAI verifies each advertiser's account. Glenn Gabe, president of G-Squared Interactive, confirmed the verification step after signing up to run ads himself.

A leaked product roadmap obtained by Adweek shows The Trade Desk moving its Ask Koa AI interface from alpha to closed beta this week. Ask Koa gives media buyers a single conversational entry point that routes them to specialized AI agents for audience building, campaign creation, insights, troubleshooting, help and search. The system is being developed alongside the company's Kokai Zuma release. Additional agents are planned beyond the initial roster, according to the roadmap. The rollout marks another step in The Trade Desk's effort to consolidate programmatic workflow tasks into one conversational layer, following a wave of agentic AI launches across adtech this year.

Google introduced Ask Advisor on Wednesday, an agentic hub built on Gemini that pulls insights and workflows from Google Ads, Google Analytics and Merchant Center into one collaborator for campaign management. The tool enters beta for English-language accounts, with more features due in the coming months, and Merchant Center is getting its own agent. Google also began testing two new AI Mode ad formats in the US on mobile and desktop: Conversational Discovery, which answers a shopper's specific question, and Highlighted Answers, which lists recommendations such as the most ideal language apps for an upcoming trip. Both are labeled "Sponsored". Google says 75% of consumers report faster, more confident decisions using AI Mode. AI-powered Shopping ads and a lead-generation format called Business Agent for Leads are also rolling out, alongside an expanded Direct Offers pilot that adds promotion bundling, native checkout and travel expansion.

Amazon Ads' Retail Ad Service (RAS) is going live outside the US for the first time, under a new partnership with UK supermarket Asda that also brings retail media to George.com for the first time. The deal puts Amazon's advertising technology behind Asda.com as well. Rachel Eyre, Asda's chief customer and digital officer, says the retailer wants to become "the easiest retail media partner to work with in UK grocery," pointing to a fragmented market where brands lack consistency planning, buying and measuring retail media across retailers. UK retail media spend rose 18% year-on-year in 2025 to £3.8bn, according to the IAB UK Digital Adspend Study. Asda expects the Amazon technology to sharpen measurement and ad relevance for brand partners, including advertisers whose products it does not stock. The tie-up follows Asda's earlier deal with Ocado this year to power its online grocery platform.

USA Today Co. is restructuring its website content, including converting pages into markdown, to make its journalism easier for AI systems to read and cite. Chairman and CEO Mike Reed told investors on an August 6 earnings call that the company expects more AI licensing deals this year and wants recurring, long-term agreements that recognize the value of its content. Kara Chiles, svp of product management, said the effort covers metadata, formats and templates built for both human readers and AI crawlers. USA Today Co. blocks about 99% of self-identified AI bots by default and whitelists only approved partners, a model already used by The Atlantic, People Inc., Reuters and Time. The publisher is also building tools to make branded and sponsored content visible to large language models this quarter.

Data Insight projects that AI agents will account for 2-4% of Russian eCommerce revenue by 2028-2029, equal to 400-850 billion rubles, rising to 7-11% (2-3 trillion rubles) by 2032. The research agency's forecast splits into two scenarios: an optimistic path where AI agents become a major sales channel, and a pessimistic one where they stay niche. Access to global generative models in Russia would speed adoption. Today's early adopters use AI mainly to compare products, check compatibility and find alternatives, with only a third of sessions reaching the cart and payment limited to routine micropayments like taxi rides. Data Insight expects the dominant model to be an "agent with confirmation," where AI builds the cart and proposes terms while the user approves payment. Large retailers plan to launch their own Copilot-style assistants, eventually running full transactions inside closed platforms.

FAST Channels TV is urging podcasters, influencers and independent media brands to convert their social media followings into dedicated FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) channels, distributed on Samsung, LG, Roku and Amazon Fire TV alongside major entertainment brands. The company positions itself as a full-service partner, handling channel strategy, content programming, playout, advertising integration and distribution, so creators do not need an in-house streaming team. The pitch: audiences built on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook remain owned by the platform and subject to algorithmic reach, while a FAST channel gives the creator a channel identity, a programming schedule and passive ad revenue. Podcasters can loop episodes and guest compilations, fitness creators can run daily workout blocks, and comedians can program stand-up marathons. The piece frames FAST as the next stage of the creator economy, moving personalities from social feeds onto the same connected TV screens as established networks.

Eighty-nine percent of marketers say they advertise on Amazon, the highest share among retail media networks for a fourth straight year, according to Digiday+ Research. The research arm fielded three surveys to 125 marketing respondents on retail media investment, tactics and challenges, plus interviews with executives from The Home Depot, Milani Cosmetics, Tinuiti and other companies. Walmart Connect reached 47% adoption and Target's Roundel reached 32%, making it the third most used network. Marketers doubled their weighted average budget share for Roundel in 2026 compared with 2025. Sales remained the top success metric for the third year running, cited by 100% of respondents for Best Buy and Albertsons campaigns, 89% for Instacart and 88% for Roundel. Engagement remained a top metric on only one network, Amazon, where 7% of respondents named it their main measure of success. Mimbi counted more than 200 retail media networks worldwide as of June 2025.

Julia Koroleva, senior account manager in FC Dinamo-Moscow's sponsorship department, writes in adindex.ru that European football clubs are shifting from matchday sponsorship toward season-long media partnerships. Manchester City has turned its digital channels into a stand-alone media operation, publishing documentary series, training footage and behind-the-scenes video between matches, with partner OKX embedded across formats, giving the brand a presence independent of matchday. Koroleva outlines a five-part sponsorship framework covering media, data, content formats, activation and measurement, and argues brands increasingly judge clubs on their ability to convert attention into measurable results. She cites Nielsen Sports research covering 100 sponsorship projects across seven countries and 20 industries: well-integrated sports sponsorship lifts purchase intent by an average of 10%, and 81% of consumers trust brands that support sports projects fully or partially.