Industries / Media & marketing

AI in Media & marketing

AI clearly pays off in ad targeting and in producing ad creative, where the platforms report big revenue and conversion gains. Whether AI firms may train on journalism, and what AI answers do to publisher traffic, is still being fought in court.

Profile reviewed 23 Oct 20267 news stories5 timeline entries

Meta's reported annual run rate for Advantage+ AI ad products, Q2 2026: $75bn+
share of Google visits with a result click, with and without an AI summary (Pew, 2025): 8% vs 15%
publications Google says it pays in its news AI pilot, October 2026: 400+

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Latest in media & marketing AI

Adoption23 Oct 2026 Google says it now pays more than 400 publications for its news AI pilot CNN, Axios, the Financial Times and others have joined a paid Google programme testing AI article overviews and audio briefings that link back to sources. Applications Adoption6 Oct 2026 OpenAI puts ads inside ChatGPT image generation OpenAI will start testing a visual ad format inside ChatGPT's image generation later this month in the US, and says the ads will be clearly labelled and kept… Applications Adoption3 Oct 2026 OpenAI doubles its backing for AI engineers in US local newsrooms OpenAI is putting $5 million plus up to $5 million in credits into the Lenfest Institute's fellowship that embeds AI engineers in local newsrooms, now running across 11… Applications Adoption23 Sep 2026 ChatGPT Ads reaches seven more Asian markets ChatGPT Ads lands in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan, taking the product past 60 countries. Applications Adoption16 Sep 2026 OpenAI puts sponsored agents inside ChatGPT Click an ad in ChatGPT and you can now talk to a business-sponsored agent, with HubSpot and Shopify distribution, and no stated answer yet on how these get… Applications

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Reviewed monthly · Sources (12)

Where AI works today

Advertising is where AI has the clearest commercial results. Meta says the annual revenue run rate of its Advantage+ AI ad products passed $75 billion in the second quarter of 2026, and that new ad-ranking models raised Facebook conversions by 15.7%. Google says advertisers using the full AI Max for Search feature set get about 7% more conversions or conversion value on average. Creative production is getting cheaper too: Unilever says AI digital twins of its products make product imagery about twice as fast at about half the cost. Licensing has become a revenue line for publishers, and Google says it now pays more than 400 publications to take part in its news AI pilot.

Still unproven

AI search answers may be reducing publisher traffic, and that harm is real but hard to price. A Pew Research Center study of 900 US adults found people clicked a traditional result on 8% of Google visits that showed an AI summary, against 15% of visits without one. Publishers have struggled to turn this into a legal case: a US judge dismissed Penske Media’s and Chegg’s antitrust suits over AI Overviews in September 2026. The accuracy of AI news answers is also weak: a study led by European public broadcasters found 45% of AI assistant answers about news had at least one significant problem. The biggest open question is whether training on articles is fair use. Two California rulings in 2025 favoured AI firms, but the New York Times case against OpenAI and Microsoft is still awaiting a summary judgment ruling. Most newsroom productivity claims are single case studies.

Regulation

United States: There is no federal labelling law. California’s AI Transparency Act has applied since 2 August 2026: generative AI providers with more than one million monthly users must embed hidden markers in AI images, video and audio and offer a free detection tool, with platform duties from 1 January 2027. In the courts, a judge approved Anthropic’s $1.5 billion settlement with book authors on 20 July 2026, and the New York Times v OpenAI case is at summary judgment. European Union: The AI Act’s transparency duties applied from 2 August 2026, including labelling deepfakes and AI-written text on matters of public interest unless it has had human editorial review; systems already on the market have until 2 December 2026 to start marking content. United Kingdom: In Getty Images v Stability AI (4 November 2025), the High Court ruled that the Stable Diffusion model is not an infringing copy; an appeal is pending. China: Labelling rules in force since 1 September 2025 require visible labels on AI text, images, audio and video, plus hidden labels in metadata. Canada: Major news publishers sued OpenAI in 2024 and Anthropic in October 2026.

Proven deployments

Named organisations, measured results, linked sources only

15.7%MetaNew ad-ranking and user-understanding models raised conversions on Facebook by 15.7% and ad clicks by 8.3% in Q2 2026. Company-reported.Meta Q2 2026 earnings call highlights (Nasdaq, July 2026)
~7%GoogleAdvertisers using the full AI Max for Search feature set get about 7% more conversions or conversion value on average. Company-reported.Marketing Dive (April 2026)
~50%UnileverAI digital twins of product packs cut product imagery costs by about half and doubled production speed. Company-reported.Unilever (March 2025)
730%VG+ (VG, Norway)One journalist used AI for research, outlining and drafting to produce five subscriber articles in a day, which drew 1,204 subscription sales, 730% above the median. Company-reported.INMA case study (2026)
$20m+ a yearNew York TimesLicensed its content to Amazon for AI use; the Wall Street Journal reported Amazon pays at least $20 million a year. Reported, not confirmed by the companies.GeekWire (July 2025)

Who’s putting AI to work

GoogleSearch and ads · AI Overviews under legal fire; pays 400+ publications in its news AI pilot
MetaAd platform · Advantage+ AI ads report a run rate above $75bn
OpenAIAI developer · signs publisher deals while being sued by the NYT, USA Today Co and others
AnthropicAI developer · $1.5bn settlement with authors; now sued by Canadian publishers
The New York TimesPublisher · lead litigant against OpenAI and Microsoft, and an Amazon licensee
USA Today CoPublisher, formerly Gannett · sued OpenAI in October 2026
Penske MediaPublisher (Rolling Stone, Variety) · AI Overviews antitrust suit dismissed
Disney and UniversalStudios · suing Midjourney over AI images of their characters

What to watch

Coming months: the summary judgment ruling in New York Times v OpenAI and Microsoft
2 December 2026: end of the EU grace period for marking AI content from systems already on the market
1 January 2027: California’s provenance duties extend to large online platforms
Date to be set: the UK Court of Appeal hearing in Getty Images v Stability AI
Whether Penske Media refiles its AI Overviews suit, dismissed without prejudice on 30 September 2026
The Canadian publishers’ suit against Anthropic in Ontario, and USA Today Co v OpenAI in New York

Sources

Keep exploring

IndustryAI in RetailChatbot shopping and the ads inside AI assistants. SectionAI SecurityDeepfakes, fraud and AI-made scams. CountryAI in the European UnionAI Act labelling duties. CountryAI in the United StatesCopyright suits and California's labelling law. SectionTimelineKey rulings and deals over time.

Media & marketing on the timeline

Full timeline →

Jun 2025Disney and Universal sue Midjourney
Jul 2025Pew finds fewer clicks when Google shows an AI summary
Nov 2025UK High Court rules for Stability AI against Getty
Jul 2026Court approves $1.5bn Anthropic settlement with authors
Sep 2026Judge dismisses publishers’ AI Overviews antitrust suits

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