The Top Three

🏆 THE INDUSTRY’S MOST IMPORTANT STORIES TODAY

🥇 MASSIVE MISCATEGORIZATIONS

A study by Adlook found that digital ads often mislabel people as parents. In the “Moms” segment, over half were actually men, and 62% said they didn’t have kids. In the broader “Parents” group, 67% also said they weren’t parents. Adlook says this shows how unreliable traditional targeting is and that brands should use behaviour-based data instead to avoid wasting money. more

🥈 TIKTOK CPMs ARE CRASHING

As the U.S. deadline for a possible TikTok ban nears on April 5, ad prices on the app are dropping. Data from Varos shows TikTok’s U.S. ad rates (CPMs) have fallen sharply in 2025, while Facebook and Instagram’s short-form video ad rates are rising. more

🥉 IT WASN’T JUST YOU

Google $GOOG ( ▼ 3.92% ) confirmed that its Local Service Ads (LSA) advertiser console was down for much of the day yesterday, with users facing timeouts and errors starting around 8 a.m. ET. The issue made it hard for advertisers to manage their LSAs. Google said it was working on a fix, and by 6 p.m. ET, the problem was resolved more

Today’s Other News

📰 EVERYTHING ELSE THAT MATTERS

Advertising 📣

• Alexa is launching support for standard Asset Based Creative (ABC) ads used by desktop and mobile advertisers. Amazon $AMZN ( ▼ 8.89% ) DSP self-service advertisers using ABC creatives, directing to to any landing page, now have the opportunity to run their display ads on Alexa Home Screen. more

• Google deprecated Display & Video 360 API v3 yesterday. We will sunset v3 (non-API) on October 7, 2025. It recommends migrating to v4 as soon as you can. All new feature releases will target v4 exclusively. more

• Publishers are still struggling to make real money from ads on Apple News $AAPL ( ▼ 9.32% ) , even though it drives lots of traffic. Some say revenue is far below what they’d earn on their own sites. more

  • Apple takes a 30% cut from ads it sells

  • Programmatic ads aren’t allowed

• TikTok is now letting approved sellers offer pre-owned sneakers through TikTok Shop. To avoid fakes, sellers must upload a Certificate of Authenticity from a trusted third party. Big names like Dappz Kicks are already onboard. This move taps into the app’s huge sneaker fanbase and could boost in-app shopping by linking sneaker videos directly to purchase pages. more

• Spotify $SPOT ( ▼ 1.24% ) has officially launched its ad exchange, letting advertisers buy programmatic ads through platforms like The Trade Desk $TTD ( ▼ 12.82% ) , Google’s DV360, and Magnite. For now, ads will run only in music, with podcasts coming later. Spotify is also updating its self-serve Ad Manager with new tools like custom audiences, app install tracking, and AI-generated audio ads, giving advertisers more ways to target and create campaigns. more

Social Media 🌍

• A new report from Emplifi shows that most people follow brands on social media to catch deals and promotions—not just product news. Offers, user-generated content, and quick replies in DMs help build trust and drive sales. more

  • About 32% expect a reply within an hour.

  • Most users also prefer brands to post a few times a week—not too often, but enough to stay on their radar.

Wordpress 🚧 

• Automattic $AUTMTC ( 0.0% ) is laying off 16% of its staff to boost productivity and free up money to invest, even though the company is growing and profitable. This comes six months after 8% of employees left on their own. CEO Matt Mullenweg says the cuts aren’t about survival, but efficiency. more

The Ticker

📈 HOW DIGITAL MARKETING STOCKS ARE DOING

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