Amazon takes on AI shopping agents

Today’s Social Media advertising rates are feeling 2016:

↘️ META: $6.93  | ↗️ TIKTOK: $2.86 CPM | ↗️ SNAPCHAT: $8.47 CPM

In this week’s edition: 

• 🎸 Reels rolls out music targeting

• TikTok’s new Gameplan for sports ⏰

• 👽 Reddit bids 👋 to the 2-second view

But first…

🤖 Amazon, Perplexity, and the future of AI shopping

Amazon and Perplexity AI are locked in a high-stakes legal battle over "agentic" shopping that could fundamentally upend the digital advertising world. 

In a lawsuit filed late last year, Amazon claims Perplexity’s AI agentic browser Comet is a security risk that unlawfully disguises itself as human shopper—constituting fraud and potentially damaging goodwill with Amazon’s customers. In response, Perplexity argues that Amazon is simply trying to protect its ad revenue—because AI agents don't have "eyeballs" to see sponsored results. 

Why it matters: If Perplexity wins, we could see a massive shift from traditional retail media to a new era of "advertising for machines" where brands have to pitch to algorithms in addition to humans.

The Inside Scoop🍦: Now trending in performance media

♾️ Meta has rolled out a couple of new options for Reels Trending (i.e., TikTok Pulse for Instagram Reels): 

• You can now target the Music topic.

• They’ve released a new breakdown to view Reels Trending performance by topic:

🔎 Google has launched a new beta that lets advertisers A/B test different asset sets within Performance Max (PMax). The feature is designed to make testing easier and allow for more asset-level performance insights for advertisers.

📹 And that’s not all: More changes may be coming to PMax, as an eagle-eyed advertiser noticed their PMax campaigns now have the ability to include up to 15 videos—up from the five allowed before. While Google has yet to issue an official announcement, the update is appearing in more advertiser accounts, suggesting either a stealth rollout or an active beta phase. 

💅 Pro Tip: Demand Gen is emerging as one of Google’s most underrated campaign types going into 2026. Check out Search Engine Land’s thorough refresher, which includes these reasons why advertisers are leaning in:

• Full suite of Google’s audience targeting options.

• Better inventory than standard Display (less spam, higher intent)

• The quality of traffic is usually much better than Display and has a lower CPC compared to search.

• Action-focused bidding (Clicks, Conversions, Conversion Value, Target CPC, Target CPA, Target ROAS, etc.) 

• Unlike PMax, Demand Gen provides placement transparency, asset-level reporting, and channel segmentation for greater control.

⏰ TikTok announced a new partnership with FIFA that will make the platform a key hub for 2026 World Cup content, including exclusive videos, creator access, highlights, and tournament info. The deal also opens up new brand and sponsorship opportunities, reflecting TikTok’s growing push into sports content. 

⚽ And just in time for that World Cup / Summer Olympics rush, TikTok also recently launched a new offering called “Gameplan,” a global suite built for the sports ecosystem that aims to turn passive scrolling into real business outcomes. The tools include a range of add-on tools that can help sporting advertisers stand out in-stream. According to TikTok, here’s what it does: 

• Anchors from sports videos link to dynamic in-app destinations where fans can discover official accounts, check schedules/standings, buy tickets and add games to calendars, all without leaving TikTok. 

• Encourages fan-generated content with tools like post campaigns, Easter eggs, and incentive hubs tapping into the platform’s 60M+ sports creators. 

• Offers real-time analytics so partners can see what fans care about and optimize faster.

👽 Reddit is moving a key metric into the modern age. After debuting its 6-second engaged view option in September, the platform announced it will discontinue its 2-second view goal as of January 31. Moving forward, advertisers will only be able to optimize toward 6-second engaged views. 

📌 Pinterest is pitching itself as a key platform for marketers looking to connect with Gen Z. The company says Gen Z values visual-based exploration, personalization, and slower, less chaotic feeds, which makes ad content feel more native and less intrusive on the platform. Upcoming moments to tap into:

• Valentine’s Day: Pinners are 37% more likely to celebrate Valentine’s Day than non-Pinners. Reps suggest leaning into "rom-com" inspired creative or themes of "self-love.”

• Awards Season: Take advantage of the season by connecting with Pinners searching awards-season hairstyles, fashion, etc. of their favorite stars and movie titles.

👁️ GumGum—the contextual digital-ad platform—is introducing several new formats:

• In-Screen Velocity: A newly-introduced unit, Velocity is a scroll-powered, attention-driven display format that reacts to user behavior. It activates animation as people browse content across desktop and mobile. Built to disrupt passive scrolling without being disruptive, it combines strong creative design with a user-first experience. (At the link, scroll down the unit to see it in action.)

• In-Screen Corner: Banner ad that appears in the bottom corner on mobile. Captures attention immediately with a uniquely mobile experience, drives engagement with swipe-triggered expansion, and delivers high visibility with a fixed corner placement.

• In-Screen Expandable Video: Leverages your video assets to boost banner engagement.

🥊 Fight night: Meta vs. Australia, X vs. the music biz, xAI vs. everyone

🧠 Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, is facing a global crisis over its Grok chatbot, which is built directly into the X social media platform. The bot’s image-editing tools have been widely abused to create non-consensual explicit deepfakes of real people, including children, leading to immediate bans in Indonesia and Malaysia, a formal inquiry by British regulators, and a new investigation launched this week by California’s Attorney General. 

🎵 Meanwhile, X has filed an antitrust lawsuit against the National Music Publishers Association and major publishers, alleging they are colluding to force the platform into "inflated" licensing deals. While publishers demand standard industry rates, Musk maintains X’s music usage is “minimal.” This dispute follows a 2023 lawsuit in which 17 music publishers sued X for up to $250M in damages for alleged copyright infringement on some 1700 songs.

🦘Meta claims that since Australia’s new under-16 social media ban went into effect in December, the platform has removed over 540,000 teen accounts, including over 300,000 from Instagram and over 170,000 from Facebook. (FWIW: Social Media Today’s Australian correspondent claims teens are still accessing the platforms without much trouble by using VPNs and other workarounds.) Meta is now exploring verified “AgeKeys” as more countries consider similar rules.

Thanks for reading! We’ll be back next week to fill your inbox with more tips, tricks, and treats from the addressable universe.

In the meantime, stay up to date with the latest performance marketing intelligence by following us on Linkedin, Instagram, and X.

This week’s edition of the Thread was created by Jess Dashner, Anoushka Madan, Mariya Samardzhieva, Lara Spijkerman, and Carly Carioli.