Rise Media Sync summarizes media and platform news of interest to marketers. Here are four key developments the Rise team is monitoring:
1. Shoppable YouTube ads hit CTV
What’s happening: Google has launched Shoppable CTV ads with Demand Gen, allowing viewers to browse and purchase products directly from YouTube ads on connected TVs.
What we know:
- Shoppable CTV ads are available via Display & Video 360 and Google’s Smart TV app, pulling product images and data directly from Google Merchant Center feeds.
- Ads appear as non-skippable, 15-second CTV spots with clickable product carousels and QR codes linking to individual items.
- Google also rolled out Attributed Branded Searches for Demand Gen and introduced Travel Feeds, connecting Hotel Center data to dynamic video ads.
Early indications and perspective: This move expands Google’s push to link upper-funnel video exposure with revenue outcomes, tightening the gap between CTV awareness and purchase by turning YouTube viewing into a direct commerce touchpoint. This should give advertisers a clearer way to prove how video drives downstream demand. As CTV budgets grow, formats like Shoppable CTV and new Demand Gen metrics signal a shift toward performance-accountable TV advertising at scale.
2. Meta Threads ads go global
What’s happening: Meta is rolling out ads on Threads worldwide, gradually expanding monetization across its fast-growing social platform.
What we know:
- Advertisers can run image, video, 4:5 and carousel on Threads ads via manual campaign setup or Advantage+, managed alongside Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, with third-party brand safety verification now supported.
- Threads has grown rapidly since its July 2023 launch, reaching over 400 million monthly active users after steady acceleration through 2024 and 2025.
- The global rollout for ads on Threads, which will begin expanding next week, could take months to complete.
Early indications and perspective: This move formalizes Threads as a core part of Meta’s advertising ecosystem. It also represents the platform’s transition from a growth-first model to a revenue driver, signaling Meta’s confidence in Threads as a long-term rival to X. For now, advertisers can get access to a large social feed, which is still only lightly monetized, with familiar buying tools and controls. As ad density scales over time, brands that test early may see stronger engagement before competition and pricing intensify.
3. Microsoft tests ads in Xbox Cloud Gaming
What’s happening: Microsoft is reportedly preparing an ad-supported version of Xbox Cloud Gaming that would allow non-subscribers to access the service in exchange for watching ads.
What we know:
- Microsoft is internally testing an ad-supported tier for users without Game Pass subscriptions, according to The Verge’s Tom Warren.
- These ads are expected to include unskippable video pre-rolls of up to two minutes, with recently updated loading screens for Xbox Cloud Gaming referencing “1 hour of ad-supported playtime per session.”
- Microsoft has confirmed ads will appear for users who purchased games digitally but are not Game Pass subscribers, though a launch timeline for an ad-supported tier has yet to be announced.
Early indications and perspective: This model suggests Microsoft is testing how ads can subsidize interactive experiences without fully commoditizing them. For advertisers, an ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming tier could open a premium, highly engaged environment that has largely been gated behind subscriptions. If launched broadly, it could become a high-attention upper-funnel channel to rival traditional streaming video in some key metrics.
4. Google rolls out cross-campaign testing
What’s happening: Google has launched Campaign Mix Experiments in beta, enabling advertisers to test multiple campaign types and budget allocations within a single experiment.
What we know:
- Advertisers can create up to five experiment arms with customizable traffic splits starting at 1%.
- Campaigns can appear across multiple arms, with results normalized across Search, Performance Max, Shopping, Demand Gen, Video and App campaigns (excluding Hotels).
- Reporting is available at both the experiment and campaign level, with selectable confidence intervals and primary success metrics, such as ROAS, CPA, total conversions or conversion value.
Early indications and perspective: Campaign Mix Experiments reflect a shift away from evaluating channels in isolation and toward understanding how campaign types interact. This framework allows advertisers to test budget strategy, account structure and feature adoption in a more realistic environment. For marketers, this may create a clearer path to identifying which combinations of campaigns actually deliver incremental business impact.
Other media/platform news we’re watching:
- “Yelp To Acquire AI Lead-Management Firm For More Than $270M” (MediaPost)
- “Yahoo claps back on AI search engines with Yahoo Scout” (Fast Company)
- “TikTok Launches New Ad Options for Streaming Providers” (Social Media Today)
If you made it this far, here’s a fun fact: Aomori City, the capital of the Aomori prefecture in northern Japan, is widely considered the world’s snowiest city. Between 1991 and 2020, meteorologists there recorded an average of 567 cm (223 inches) of annual snowfall.
