Paid Media News

13/02/26

OpenAI have announced the first official US test of ads on ChatGPT, after months of closed beta testing and expectations from the advertising community. These ads will only show for Free and Go level users.

Interestingly, there will be an option to opt out of ads entirely, in favour of a reduction in the number of daily free messages in the system. This may have been a response to the initial backlash the idea of ads in Generative AI systems received, and the fairly pointed advertising performed by OpenAI’s competitor Claude at the Super Bowl. The ad mocked the concept of ads In AI and highlighted the risk of undermining a user’s trust that the information they are receiving is unbiased. OpenAI is clearly worried about the potential harm ads could have to their brand image.

They are being incredibly cautious in this initial test, and this caution may pose a significant challenge to charities looking to advertise on the platform.
Specifically, in their post OpenAI state that “ads are not eligible to appear near sensitive or regulated topics like health, mental health or politics.”.
For charity advertisers, who very often work within these areas, this could pose a very significant challenge to gaining any relevant traffic from the system.

There is hope for change however, this is an initial test, and there could well be significant developments to come. We’ll be keeping an eye on this story and updating you all here as more information comes out.

16/12/25

We’re keeping a close eye on two striking developments in the AI-ad space and what they could mean for charities looking to invest in Paid Search.

Firstly, OpenAI has denied recent reports that ChatGPT has been displaying ads. What appeared to be branded prompts seen by US-based users (e.g. ‘Shop for home and groceries. Connect Target.’) were described instead as ‘app-suggestions’ by OpenAI, who proceeded to officially disable this feature amidst backlash. The company claims they were ‘not real ads’ and no live ad tests are running… for now.

Meanwhile, Google has reportedly been telling major ad clients on recent calls that it plans to roll out ads in its AI chatbot Gemini in 2026. But Google’s own Ads leadership has denied any plans for that rollout. In the words of Google’s Vice President of Global Ads, Dan Taylor, “There are no ads in the Gemini app and there are no current plans to change that.”

This is a reminder that these gen AI companies are focused on improving their search platforms’ UX to a level where they can comfortably introduce paid ads without a significant traffic dropoff from disgruntled users. But the introduction of AI ad schemes seems inevitable, and we can reasonably expect 2026 to be the year the AI business model fundamentally changes. We’ll be keeping a close eye on these developments as they could drastically shape how paid search and digital strategy evolve.

20/05/25

Exciting paid media news for charities! We’ve received confirmation that the Ads for Social Impact program with Microsoft Advertising is scheduled to re-open for new applications.

This provides nonprofits a fantastic opportunity to enhance your visibility and expand their reach via search. The Microsoft program provides nonprofits with a voucher each month to be added to an otherwise normal paid account, unlike the Google’s Ad Grants scheme where Ad Grants operate in their eco-system and cannot compete with paid accounts.

While the program is not fully reinstated yet, you can now join the waitlist and apply for approval. You’re not guaranteed to be enrolled onto the program and receive the voucher (in the last round only a handful of charities received this) but it’s definitely worth trying!

Step 1: Join the waitlist here:

https://nonprofits.tsi.microsoft.com/EN-US/ads-for-social-impact/

Step 2: Apply for the nonprofit program here:

https://nonprofit.microsoft.com/en-us/getting-started

Why should you apply?

It’s completely free, open to all registered UK charities and nonprofits, and comes with the following benefits:

• $1,000 monthly ad credit.
• Access to Microsoft’s full ad network.
• No restrictions on keyword competition (unlike Ad Grants).
• Ad credits apply to real paid campaigns.
• Especially effective at donation ads, due to the older, wealthier demographic average.
• Different built-in audiences to Google Ads, potentially better suited to your specific target audience.
• No dual auction system with free ads below paid ads, so stronger overall visibility.
• And in case you’re worried about the time commitment, bear in mind you can easily import your campaigns from Google Ads!

15/05/25

Last week, Google announced a new campaign setting coming soon to Ads: AI Max.

When setting up a search campaign, you’ll soon start seeing the option to apply AI Max. It’s keywordless, in the vein of DSAs, but it won’t replace the keywords in your campaign. Rather, it’ll be an additional layer of targeting, not dissimilar in reach from broad match. You’ll notice the strongest effect on campaigns where you’re using exact and phrase match.

So what does AI Max include? Let’s break it down:

• Expanded Query Matching:  Uses “keywordless technology” that brings together broad match and Dynamic Ad Groups (DSA) and sits on top of your existing keyword targeting (broad, phrase, exact).
• Text Customization: Google can review your other ads, landing page, etc., use AI to write new headlines, descriptions, and assets for you.
• Final URL Expansion: Similar to a feature from Performance Max, it gives Google permission to pick any part of your website as a landing page instead of just your specified final URL. You can put rules around this expansion, for example, to only target or not target certain kinds of pages.
• New Control Features: These include location and brand controls, such as ad group level location interest targeting. This could allow you to target a broader area at the campaign level (e.g. the United States) but narrow that down to interest targeting to a specific location within that area (e.g. Los Angeles) at the ad group level, potentially simplifying keyword requirements.
• Increased Transparency: With AI Max insights, you will be able to see not only the search terms but also the headlines that served with them and the URL people landed on. 

Of course, the big drawback of automation is a lack of control over your ad copy. For charities especially, maintaining consistent brand messaging is critical, so just like PMax, AI Max will need to be deployed selectively and strategically.

Curious how to best incorporate AI Max into your ad strategy? Just get in touch and we’ll book in a chat — charity-tailored digital strategy is our speciality!

29/01/25

Google has made some interesting updates to Performance Max campaigns. In theory these new settings should afford you a more granular level of control over your PPC campaigns. They include…

• Campaign-level negative keywords, allowing you to better refine which searches your ads appear on.
• A new ‘High Value Mode’ for customer acquisition goals, which prioritises long-term customers more likely to convert.
• Age exclusions and device targeting – these might be available to you now, but are a partial beta so may take some time to fully roll out.
• More data on how exactly the search themes in your insights report were triggered.

If you’re running Performance Max campaigns on any of your Ads accounts, it’s well worth having a look at these added features and considering how you could use them to your benefit. As always, drop us a comment if you want to learn more or discuss!

25/11/24

The US Department of Justice has demanded that Google sell Chrome, its flagship browser, as part of its ongoing effort to dismantle Google’s illegal monopoly on online search.

Granted, the demand currently lacks any legal heft; it doesn’t compel Google to change anything as of yet. That power will fall to Judge Amit Mehta, who will rule a decision next summer.

The proposal also targets Google’s sweetheart deals with tech giants like Apple and Samsung to make Google Search the default on billions of devices. The government’s message is clear: “Competition, please! And, while we’re at it, let’s throw in a few more restrictions.”

Google, predictably, have described the move as a wild overreach that could unravel many of the products people rely on. Kent Walker, the company’s president of global affairs, argues that these interventions would “break” the functionality of Search and Chrome.

The ball is now in Google’s court—they must respond with their own set of remedies by December 20th.

And while all this legal wrangling plays out, there’s the small matter of the next presidential administration looming over the case. While it’s unlikely the Republican administration will apply any meaningful pressure to Big Tech, given the business-friendly policies it campaigned on, legal experts suggest that even if Trump tries to pull back, the states involved in the case could press on without federal backing.

With Google’s near-total dominance of the search market—and its tight grip on Chrome and Android—there’s a genuine belief that these sweeping changes could pave the way for new competitors to emerge, allowing the search market to become just a little less Google-y.

27/09/24

TikTok has announced its search ads solution, a keyword-based platform to show in TikTok’s search results.

This is a fairly direct shot at Google, being a very similar model to Google Ads’ ability to show in Google’s Search results page.

Data shows that TikTok is increasingly being used as a search engine, particularly by younger users, rather than going to traditional engines such as Google. If this trend continues, this new TikTok search ad system could pose a fairly significant threat to Google.

That being said, it should be noted that currently the volumes are still low, and it is unclear how users will respond to ads placed in the search results. It is likely that the approach will remain the same to other TikTok ads – the creative needs to appear like organic, user-generated content to get any good engagement.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Will this only degrade user experience on the app? What’s your experience with TikTok ads?

27/09/23

Google Tag Manager are moving the GA4 Configuration Tags to a more generalised Google Tag. The purpose of this change is to allow the Google Tag to be used in wider contexts, such as within Google Ads, making multiple different systems and services integrate easier and more intuitively. However, this does have an effect on how the tag works in the context of GA4.

First of all, when creating a new Ga4 tag, there is no longer a tick box to send a pageview event, as this is now controlled by a parameter called “send_page_view” which, when supplied with the value “true”, will fire as the config did prior. Also, you can no longer select the config tag to load the measurement ID of your GA4 property, which now has to be entered either manually within each event, or by selecting a variable.

Worth noting that for any existing tags, this update should have been automatically updated and function as before.

11/09/23

Google announced that Discovery campaigns are upgrading to Demand Gen starting in October 2023, with automatic upgrades from early 2024.

Discovery ads were introduced in April 2020, allowing advertisers to reach users across all Google feeds, including Discover, Gmail and parts of YouTube. The Demand Gen campaign format was later introduced in May 2023 to ‘drive performance beyond what you’ve come to expect from Discovery ads’. What that means is more conversion-focussed performance, more granular targeting, and more efficient use of budget, relying on AI to do so – as well as expanding to YouTube In-Stream and Shorts and offering more video formats.

While Demand Gen aren’t a campaign type we have experimented with much, they are a natural fit for advertisers who rely on more Paid Social advertising platforms, so one to be open to as we embrace AI more and more into paid media.

05/09/2023

Meta announced that they’re partnering exclusively with PayPal Giving Fund UK (PPGF) to support donations benefitting charities in the United Kingdom.

Charities enrolled with Meta Charitable Giving Tools must accept the new terms by 1st November 2023 and switch to PPGF in order to receive donation payouts. Also worth noting that from 15th September, charities won’t be able to receive donations via Facebook or Instagram (or allow fundraisers to be set-up) for new donors unless they have accepted the new terms.

Advertisers running On-Facebook donation ads, will need to reconfigure their campaigns to avoid disruption. Existing ads can continue to run, but after 15th Sept won’t be able to receive donations from new donors, whereas campaign delivery will stop entirely from 1st Nov.

07/08/23

In an important but inevitable move, TikTok has unveiled a set of measures in response to the European Union’s forthcoming Digital Services Act. The platform will cease personalized advertising for users aged 13 to 17 across Europe, ensuring compliance with regulations.

Additionally, users of all ages will have the ability to disable personalized content discovery. This move aligns with TikTok’s existing safeguards for younger users, such as defaulting accounts of those under 16 to private settings, limiting content visibility in other users’ feeds, and offering the option to opt out of personalized ads.

Advertising to minors has been a contentious issue for TikTok; they’ve previously received fines in the UK and USA for mishandling children’s data.

The platform will, however, continue running personalised ads for users under 18 outside the European Union. To offer more transparency, TikTok plans to furnish EU users with enhanced information on content moderation decisions. Furthermore, it intends to introduce new content reporting mechanisms, enabling European users to flag content violating TikTok’s policies.

If you’re curious about how a TikTok ads strategy can improve your organisation’s reach, don’t hesitate to get in contact with us today.

10/07/23

A new TikTok update has rolled out, which will bring their pixel more in line with Meta’s in terms of amount of data collected. On top of data such as interactions and reach being collected, the TikTok pixel will now also gather information directly from the website you are advertising for. This can include information from the site’s metadata, as well as how the user interacts with the site such as if they click certain buttons or fill out specific forms.

By doing this, TikTok will now have a) the ability to see and provide insight into how users reach certain goals, b) an increased data set to feed their machine learning algorithms, leading to better campaign optimisation. The update has rolled out for all new pixels, and any older pixels will be updated by the end of the month, if not opted-out.

From a performance perspective, this could significantly benefit advertisers by brining down CPAs, however advertisers need to be mindful of their website data collection/cookie policies. Read our full blog here on the potential problems and our solutions regarding data collection through pixels.