As YouTube experiments with a new ad format — 30-second non-skippable ads in standard campaigns — marketers and brands alike should take note. This update could reshape how we use the platform, opening up premium ad inventory that was previously harder to access. But is it right for your brand?

Here’s what you need to know.

Why This Change Matters

Until now, 30-second non-skippable ads on YouTube were mainly reserved for high-budget, upfront “reservation” buys — limiting access to brands with long lead times and deep pockets. This test changes that. YouTube is now making this format available through standard auction-based campaigns, giving advertisers more flexibility and control.

These longer ad slots give brands more space to tell a story and make an impact, without the viewer being able to skip. It’s a format traditionally seen during premium TV-style placements — and now, potentially available to more advertisers through everyday campaigns.

YouTube’s Growing Role in the Media Mix

YouTube isn’t just a video platform — it’s a key player in the digital advertising ecosystem. With over 2 billion logged-in users every month and growing viewership on connected TVs, YouTube ads have become a go-to for brand awareness, product discovery, and even conversions.

In many of our client strategies, YouTube fills the gap between top-of-funnel attention and mid-funnel engagement. It’s highly targetable, increasingly measurable, and trusted by users. This new ad format simply adds another tool to the kit — one that brings the impact of longer-form video into more accessible campaigns.

Making Non-Skippable Ads Work

That said, non-skippable doesn’t mean guaranteed success. In fact, it raises the stakes. If a viewer is required to watch your ad, the creative has to hold attention and deliver value from the first second to the last.

This isn’t about louder ads — it’s about smarter ones. Clear messaging, audience relevance, and emotionally engaging content are critical. For brands that get it right, this format could be a powerful way to cut through the noise and make a lasting impression.

What are AI Overviews

AI Overviews are AI-generated answers on Google’s search engine results page (SERP) that answer consumer queries. This is beneficial to users because it gives a comprehensive answer to queries by pulling information from all the most reliable sources on the web, meaning users no longer have to click through on to web pages and saving the end user time.

How do AI Overviews affect Website Performance

Since the introduction of AI Overviews, many websites have seen a reduction in traffic on their sites as users can now get their answers directly on the SERP. We can see this in Marisa Jones’ article for EMarketer, “Google AI Overviews in search results significantly decrease clickthrough rates (CTRs) for top ranking pages compared to similar informational keywords without AI Overviews. The presence of an AI Overview in search results correlated with a 34.5% lower average CTR.”

This is currently mainly affecting sites that are ranking for informational and question-based searches, as AI Overviews aren’t being used for searches where users are actively looking to buy something.

Googles Latest Comments

Despite the fact that AI Overviews are affecting CTR to sites, Google has claimed this week that AI Overviews generate the same amount of advertising revenue as traditional search. This may come as a surprise to many who have seen a decline in traffic since the introduction of AI Overviews however, Google is expanding AI Overview advertising with ads being integrated in or near AI overviews on a global scale.

Why should Marketers care?

If Google continues to take the position that AI Overviews are not detrimental to PPC advertising and CTRs continue to drop, then this could be a negative for marketers trying to rank for certain informational queries. A good way to try and combat this is to try and rank for non-informational queries where AI Overviews aren’t currently being used, especially when spending advertising budget.

Introducing AI Max for Search Campaigns

Google Search is transforming — becoming more intuitive, visual, and predictive thanks to advancements in AI. To help brands keep pace with these changes and tap into new growth opportunities, Google is launching AI Max for Search campaigns: a powerful suite of targeting and creative tools designed to drive better outcomes across every stage of the Search journey.

Intelligent Targeting with Predictive AI

AI Max goes beyond traditional keyword matching by interpreting deeper signals of user intent and identifying opportunities in entirely new contexts. With Google AI anticipating what users might need next, your ads can appear earlier in the customer journey, increasing visibility and relevance when it matters most.

Early Results Look Promising

Rolling out globally in beta later this month, AI Max is already delivering strong results. On average, advertisers activating AI Max see a 14% increase in conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA or ROAS. Campaigns still using primarily exact or phrase match keywords see even greater gains, often up to 27%.

Reach More with Smarter Search Matching

Using a combination of broad match and keywordless technology, AI Max finds high-performing queries that would otherwise be missed. It draws from your existing keywords, creative assets, and landing pages to intelligently expand reach, without sacrificing targeting control.

Real-Time Creative That Keeps Up with Demand

As user behaviour shifts, your creative needs to respond. AI Max helps by generating tailored ad assets — like headlines and descriptions — in real time. Combined with final URL expansion, your ads direct users to the most relevant pages on your site, improving both engagement and conversion.

More Control, Clearer Insight

AI Max includes new tools for better control and transparency. Features like locations of interest, brand controls, enhanced URL parameters, and asset-level reporting give you the visibility and precision needed to confidently scale performance.

From May 5, Microsoft Advertising will start enforcing something called Consent Mode. If you run Microsoft ads or work with a team that does, this is important news – especially if you’re responsible for performance, compliance, or customer trust.

So, what is Consent Mode?

Put simply, Consent Mode is a way for Microsoft to respect user privacy. It makes sure that ads only collect data if a person has agreed to it. If someone hasn’t given consent, your ads will work differently to protect their privacy – but you’ll still get some useful insights.

This is all part of a growing shift in the digital world: more regulations, more awareness of data privacy, and more pressure on advertisers to do the right thing.

Why this matters to you

If you’re in marketing, you rely on data to see what’s working and improve performance. At the same time, your audience wants transparency and control over how their information is used. Consent Mode helps you do both.

By using Consent Mode, you stay compliant with privacy laws and still collect the data needed to measure results and improve campaigns.

What’s changing?

Starting May 5, Microsoft will require you to send a “consent signal”. This signal shows whether a person has agreed to be tracked. Without it, Microsoft might not be able to collect or report on certain data from your ads.

This applies to:

• Microsoft’s Universal Event Tracking (UET)
• Universal Pixels, Segment, and Conversion pixels used on platforms like Microsoft Invest, Curate, and Monetize

How do you make sure your ads are ready?

You don’t need to be a developer – but you do need to make sure someone on your team (or your agency) has set this up properly.

There are three main ways to send a consent signal:

1. Direct integration: Add the consent signal directly to your Microsoft tracking pixels.
2. Through a consent platform: Use a Consent Management Platform (CMP) or the IAB’s Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) to handle this for you.
3. With Google Tag Manager: If you use GTM, you can configure it to pass on consent signals to Microsoft.

If you’re not sure how your tracking is set up, now’s a good time to check in with your developers or digital team.

What are the negatives associated with this?

While Consent Mode is a positive step for privacy, it can create some challenges for marketers.

The biggest concern is data loss. If users don’t consent to tracking, Microsoft won’t collect or report on their activity. That means you might miss conversions or see incomplete performance data, making it harder to assess what’s working.

There’s also the technical setup to consider. Implementing Consent Mode correctly may require help from developers or your digital team. If it’s misconfigured, tracking could break or underperform.

With fewer people being tracked, you may also see smaller retargeting audiences and less data for campaign optimisation. Plus, expect a period of reporting disruption—even with everything set up, your numbers might dip as the system adjusts.

Finally, your cookie banner or consent tool plays a big role. If it’s confusing or off-putting, users are more likely to decline tracking—leading to even more missing data.

Planning ahead and reviewing your setup can help minimise these issues while keeping your campaigns compliant and effective.

In summary…

This isn’t just about ticking a compliance box. It’s about building trust with your audience while still getting the insights you need to grow. Consent Mode helps you do both – and now Microsoft is making it a must-have.

Make sure your team is ready by May 5, so your Microsoft Ads continue to work smoothly without any data disruptions.

Why is Meta So Important?

Facebook and Instagram, both owned by Meta, are some of the most widely used social media platforms in the world. Billions of people use them daily to stay connected with friends, share updates, and discover new content. For businesses, these platforms are a key part of their marketing strategies, allowing them to reach the right audience through targeted advertising. Most of Meta’s revenue—over 96%—comes from ads, making them essential to keeping these platforms free for users.

The Idea of a Paid, Ad-Free Experience

Meta is exploring the idea of offering a paid subscription in the UK that would allow users to browse Facebook and Instagram without seeing ads. The move follows the company’s introduction of a similar service in the EU, where users can opt for an ad-free experience starting from €5.99 (£5) per month. The subscription would be aimed at people who do not want their data to be tracked for targeted advertising.

Meta has said it is working with the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to ensure the plan aligns with data protection laws. Regulators have expressed concerns that users should have a genuine choice—either agreeing to data tracking for personalised ads or paying for an ad-free experience.

Would People Pay for an Ad-Free Experience?

Social media experts believe that most users are unlikely to subscribe. When Meta launched its ad-free option in the EU in October 2023, uptake was reportedly low. Many people are used to free social media and would rather continue using the platforms with ads than pay a monthly fee.

For Meta, introducing an ad-free option may be less about making money from subscriptions and more about preparing for future regulations that could restrict data collection for targeted advertising. As privacy laws tighten, offering a paid alternative allows Meta to continue operating within legal requirements while still relying on its primary source of revenue—advertising.

Ultimately, most people will decide whether they value privacy enough to pay for it or whether they are happy to keep using social media for free with ads.

Google Ads is a powerful platform that allows businesses to promote their products and services across Google’s search engine and other websites. By using Google Ads Editor, businesses can manage multiple campaigns, make bulk changes, and optimize their ads more efficiently. The latest update, version 2.9, introduces new features to make advertising even more effective. Here’s what’s new and why it matters.

Better Campaign Management

With Manager Account Labels, you can now organize your ads, groups, and keywords more easily. This means you can track and manage your campaigns more efficiently. Additionally, Expanded Shopping Ads allow your products to show up when people search for specific brands, even if those brands are usually excluded.

Improved Video Ads

If you’re running video ads, Vertical Video Generation can now automatically create vertical videos, perfect for platforms like TikTok or Instagram. Plus, Masthead Ads Support lets you create and manage big banner ads for YouTube directly within the editor. The VRC Campaign Conversion Tool helps upgrade older video campaigns to a newer, more effective format.

Better Tracking and Data Management

The new version also improves how you measure your ad success. Limited Lift Measurement Support lets you add or remove campaigns from studies that measure how well your ads are performing. Performance Max Age Exclusions allow you to exclude certain age groups from seeing your ads. Plus, Multi-Tab Google Sheets Export makes it easier to organize your campaign data when exporting to spreadsheets.

Why This is Important

Older versions of Google Ads Editor will no longer be supported, so upgrading to version 2.9 is essential to keep your campaigns running smoothly. Our team is already using these features to help our clients achieve better results. If you’d like to learn how these updates can improve your ads, get in touch with us today!

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads is an online advertising platform that allows businesses to display ads on Google Search, YouTube, and other partner websites. Advertisers bid on keywords to have their ads appear when users search for relevant terms. The platform helps businesses drive website traffic, generate leads, and increase sales through targeted advertising. When Google Ads experiences issues, it can significantly impact businesses relying on digital advertising for growth.

Google Ads Stops Running for Some Advertisers

Starting Saturday, March 1, many advertisers noticed their Google Ads were not serving, resulting in zero impressions or clicks on their campaigns. Reports quickly surfaced in the Google Ads Forum, where advertisers shared their frustrations about ads not being delivered. Since Google did not immediately respond—likely due to the weekend—many advertisers were left wondering if the issue was a bug, a policy change, or a technical glitch.

Google Confirms and Resolves the Issue

On March 3, Google officially acknowledged the problem, stating that a small number of Google Ads customers were affected. Advertisers experienced error messages, high latency, and unexpected behavior in their accounts. By 4:18 AM ET, Google announced the issue was fully resolved, apologizing for the inconvenience but not explaining the cause. Some industry experts speculated that the outage might be linked to the enhanced CPC (eCPC) deprecation in March or a Google Business Profile (GBP) integration issue affecting local ads. However, Google has not confirmed any of these theories.

What Advertisers Should Do Next

If you manage Google Ads campaigns, check your account data from the weekend to see if your ads were affected. Look for any drops in impressions, clicks, or conversions that may indicate an interruption. If your campaigns were impacted, you may want to contact Google Ads support for further details. While the issue has been resolved, this incident highlights the importance of staying updated on Google Ads changes and monitoring your account regularly to avoid unexpected disruptions.

Conversion rate optimisation is the process of using digital marketing techniques to increase the percentage of users on your site who take a desired action, such as making a purchase, subscribing to a newsletter, etc.

How to Improve Conversion Rate

Users may not be converting on your site but sometimes it can be hard to understand why. There are a number of different factors that could be affecting why customers abandon their journey from user experience to issues with pricing. There are steps you can take to analyse conversion rate performance that will help you understand where on your site your users are abandoning their journey which will help you in increasing CRO.

Set up key event tracking in GA4

Events in Google Analytics 4 are user interactions with your site, while key events are events that are specifically important to your site. For example, if you want to improve the conversion of customers coming to your site who make a product purchase you would set up all the events leading up to a purchase as a key event on your site, such as session start, view product, add to basket, purchase etc and any more events that are relevant to your customers purchase journey.

Create and analyse a sales funnel

Now you have set up your customer purchase journey as key events you can track which part of the customer journey your users are abandoning their purchase. This is important because it means that you can create a hypothesis about what is causing customers to abandon their purchase at said part of their journey.

A/B Test Pages

A good way to test if your hypothesis is correct is to A/B test your new page against your existing page. A/B testing is the process of comparing two different versions of a webpage to see which one performs better with users. If you see an improvement in performance with your new page then you have identified the issue and have increased your conversion rate, if not then you can A/B test new hypotheses to try and diagnose the problem.

Automation in PPC has come a long way, but traditional tools still rely on rigid rules and scripts. Enter GPT Operator—an AI-powered tool that brings adaptability to PPC automation. Unlike conventional methods, it can make dynamic decisions, reducing manual work and enhancing campaign efficiency.

What is GPT Operator?

GPT Operator is an advanced AI that can browse the web and perform tasks without requiring APIs. It offers flexibility where traditional automation tools fall short. While not yet a full replacement for human expertise, it represents a significant shift toward more intelligent automation in PPC.

How GPT Operator Enhances PPC

• Handling Complex, Unpredictable Tasks – Traditional automation struggles with changing website structures, requiring constant updates. GPT Operator adapts dynamically, making processes like competitor monitoring and keyword analysis more efficient.
• More Effective Ad Creation & Testing – GPT Operator assists in generating, refining, and testing ad copy, adapting to constraints like character limits and audience preferences—helping improve campaign performance.
• Advanced Search Term Management – Rather than just blocking keywords based on simple rules, GPT Operator can analyse sentiment and intent, providing a more strategic approach to search term optimization.
• Streamlining PPC Workflows – It helps analyse data, identify trends, and generate insights, making decision-making more data-driven while freeing up time for higher-level strategy.

The Future of PPC Automation

While GPT Operator is a powerful tool, expert management remains essential for ensuring campaigns are optimized effectively. AI enhances PPC, but human oversight is still key to strategy, decision-making, and maximizing ROI.

Automation is evolving, and with the right expertise, businesses can leverage AI without losing control over their campaigns. The future isn’t about replacing human marketers—it’s about enhancing their capabilities with smarter tools.

Google has introduced a powerful new update to its ad platform, allowing businesses to generate AI-created images of people for their ads. This means advertisers can create custom lifestyle images without expensive photo shoots, making it easier to design engaging and relevant ads.

What’s new?

Google’s latest update brings AI-generated people into ads for the first time, using its Imagen 3 technology. Advertisers can now:

✅ Generate realistic images of people based on simple text prompts.
✅ Customize features like age, gender, and ethnicity.
✅ Get AI-powered suggestions for images that connect with their audience.
✅ Test different image styles to see what works best.

How does it work?

Advertisers just describe the image they want—for example, “middle-aged man chopping carrots”—and Google’s AI will create a realistic image to match. If the first result isn’t quite right, they can refine the description or request variations until they find the perfect image.

This is particularly useful for businesses that want diverse, high-quality images without the cost and time of hiring models and photographers.

Keeping it safe and ethical

Google has set clear rules to prevent misuse. AI-generated ads cannot include:

❌ Brand-name products
❌ Celebrities or politicians
❌ Children or minors
❌ Sensitive or explicit content

All AI-generated images will also be tagged with SynthID, ensuring transparency about which images were created using AI.

What else is changing?

Alongside AI-generated images, Google is introducing new tools to help businesses improve their ads:

• Audience-based recommendations – AI will suggest image styles that are likely to connect with your target audience. For example, a travel company might find that customers respond best to “ocean” or “nature” images.
• Automated creative testing – Businesses can now compare different types of ads, including AI-generated images, to see which ones perform best.

Why this matters

This update could save businesses time and money, while allowing them to experiment with different ad visuals to find what resonates most with their audience. With more control and flexibility, advertisers can create better-performing ads while keeping their creative process simple and efficient.

Google’s AI-powered tools make it easier than ever to create high-quality, engaging ads—without the hassle of traditional photoshoots. As AI technology continues to evolve, businesses that embrace these tools can gain a competitive edge in digital advertising.