Agencies & Marketing — AI reshapes search and advertising models for major tech firms.

Agencies & Marketing · 2026-05-01

TODAY'S SIGNAL — The May 1 news cycle crystallizes a single overarching shift: AI is simultaneously inflating ad-platform revenues and deflating the traditional click-based value chain that agencies have optimized for two decades. Google and Meta both posted surging Q1 ad revenue driven by AI-powered campaign tools, yet the downstream effects are fracturing. Publishers like USA Today Co. are…