TL;DR
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Short-form, authentic video is outperforming traditional ad creative across channels.
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Google, Meta, and TikTok are pushing advertisers toward more creative-heavy, vertical-video formats.
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Strong performance now depends on multi-channel presence, updated website content, and deeper search intent alignment.
What’s Actually Working in Ads Right Now
Consumers aren’t responding to digital advertising the way they used to. Watch times are shrinking, research behaviors are expanding, and every platform is pushing advertisers toward more visual, more authentic, more varied creative. The landscape feels noisy, but the conversation in this 10@10 made one thing clear: performance isn’t gone — it’s just evolving. And the brands adapting quickest are seeing the upside.
UGC and Short Vertical Video Are Dominating
Across client accounts, the clearest win is coming from videos that feel real. User-generated content is outperforming traditional, polished ad assets because it mirrors what people naturally watch in their feeds. Shorter is proving stronger — the sweet spot is now around 6–12 seconds, driven by shrinking attention spans and sub-three-second watch behaviors.
Vertical formats matter, too. On Meta, vertical video is now outpacing horizontal placements and outperforming static images. Even carousel ads — once considered a legacy format — are showing renewed strength because they introduce variety and showcase multiple products or angles in a single touch.
Google Ads Is Becoming Creative-First
Google’s biggest shift is happening inside Search itself. Historically, success hinged on keywords, headlines, and descriptions. Today, creative assets — images and videos — are playing a much larger role across Search, PMax, and Demand Gen.
The takeaway: visual content is no longer optional. Advertisers with fresh, on-brand assets are taking up more real estate and seeing better performance. Google’s AI tools can help generate placeholder creative if needed, but quality and brand alignment still require human oversight.
Why One Platform Is No Longer Enough
One of the biggest behavioral changes we’re seeing is how people research before they buy. The path to purchase is less linear, more intentional, and more spread out across platforms.
Being present in only one channel is no longer realistic if you’re aiming for strong ROI. People might see an ad on Facebook, search later on Google, visit your site another day, then convert after seeing a retargeting touch. Performance improves when we meet that journey across multiple platforms — not just one moment in one feed.
Website Content Still Drives Results
Even with all the new tools and ad formats, websites remain central. People conducting deeper research want clear, helpful, specific content. Search behavior itself is shifting from simple keywords to more detailed, intent-driven queries.
If your ads promise value but your website doesn’t deliver the detail, you lose momentum. SEO and PPC can’t operate in silos anymore — they work best when your content reflects the deeper questions people are actually asking.
Search Intent Is Evolving
The transcript highlights a major shift in search campaigns: people aren’t searching one-word terms anymore. They’re researching specifics — support types, features, comparisons, and deeper questions. That means updating your site and your campaigns to reflect real, intent-rich queries.
Performance improves when we stop optimizing for “the keyword” and start optimizing for the person using it.
First-Party Data and Retargeting Will Only Grow
Looking ahead to 2026, first-party data will play an even bigger role. Retargeting audiences — people who have already shown interest — continue to drive meaningful results. Frequency still matters; repeated exposure helps people feel ready to buy in a crowded, competitive market.
The clearer your data and the stronger your audience lists, the more efficiently your ads work.
Final Takeaway
The platforms aren’t broken — they’re just demanding more from us. Winning in paid media today means combining strong creative, multi-channel presence, intentional content, and deeper search understanding. The advertisers who embrace these shifts instead of resisting them are the ones seeing performance stabilize and even improve.
Our take: focus on authenticity, maintain fresh visuals, support ads with strong website content, and treat your channels as a connected system, not isolated tactics. That’s what’s working right now — and where the momentum is heading.