Tag: advertising

Musk Says X Will Open Source Its New Algorithm

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:08:48 +0000

Elon Musk says his social media platform X will open its new algorithm to the public.

The change, set to happen six days from now, includes all code for organic and advertising post recommendations, Musk said in a post Saturday (Jan. 11) on the platform.

“This will be repeated every 4 weeks, with comprehensive developer notes, to help you understand what changed,” the post said.

The announcement follows a decision last week by the European Commission (EC) to extend a retention order it had sent to Musk last year until the end of 2026. That order relates to algorithms and dissemination of illegal material.

“This is saying to a platform, keep your internal documents, don’t get rid of them, because we have doubts about your compliance … and we need to be able to have access to them if we request it explicitly,” EC spokesperson Thomas Regnier said last week in a news briefing.

Musk is under fire in the EU and elsewhere after the revelation that Grok, the chatbot behind his xAI startup, has been used to generate nonconsensual sexual images of women and children.

A report by Reuters noted that prosecutors in Paris last year investigated X for alleged algorithmic bias and fraudulent data extraction. The platform called this a “politically motivated criminal investigation” that threatens the free speech of its users.

X was also fined $140 million in December by the European Union, which said the company violated the Digital Services Act.

The EU says X had violated the law’s prohibition against deceptive design practices by selling a blue checkmark denoting users’ verified status without verifying who is behind an account.

It also accuses the company of breaching the DSA’s transparency and accessibility requirements by preventing the use of its ads repository by researchers who want to identify scams and other threats, and imposing “unnecessary barriers” to those researchers.

xAI announced last week that it had raised $20 billion in a Series E funding round to boost its effort to develop advanced artificial intelligence (AI). The company added that the new funds surpassed its target of $15 billion.

“This financing will accelerate our world-leading infrastructure buildout, enable the rapid development and deployment of transformative AI products reaching billions of users, and fuel groundbreaking research advancing xAI’s core mission: Understanding the Universe,” the company said in a news release

The post Musk Says X Will Open Source Its New Algorithm appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Walmart’s OnePay Employee Share Repurchase Hints at $4 Billion Valuation

admin — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 23:04:33 +0000

Walmart-backed FinTech OnePay is now reportedly a $4 billion company.

OnePay reached that valuation, up from $2.5 billion in 2024, after repurchasing shares from employees, Bloomberg News reported Friday (Jan. 9), citing a source familiar with the matter.

As the report noted, OnePay was formed from the combination of two smaller FinTechs, with the aim of establishing an all-in-one financial app. The company has flourished thanks to its distribution partnership with Walmart, growing to upwards of 3 million monthly active users.

The company’s offerings now include a credit card, cryptocurrency trading, a buy now, pay later (BNPL) product and an investing platform.

OnePay also recently joined Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), saying it will help make agentic payments more secure, transparent and useful. OnePay will be a credential provider in AP2 and will help define how payment methods are stored, chosen and used by artificial intelligence (AI) agents, the company said in December.

Writing about OnePay’s work with Walmart last year, PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster noted that the companies can use their connectivity with brands to disrupt pure-play FinTechs.

“That can become the basis for a disruptive business model that doesn’t rely on investor checks to cover up shortfalls in positive unit economics,” Webster wrote.

“The sheer scale of their customer base and supplier relationships, and the ability to connect purchases with offers and financing, is unmatched by any except for one other retailer — Amazon … [OnePay] looks like it could be a winner, and highly disruptive.”

More recently, PYMNTS examined how OnePay’s pending launch of its crypto functionality is an example of how Walmart is “testing how emerging financial tools can be integrated into everyday commerce without requiring customers to leave a familiar ecosystem.”

That same report looked at how Walmart is both adopting artificial intelligence tools while embedding AI leadership at the strategic decision-making level.

Days earlier, the retail giant had announced it was embedding advertising into its AI shopping agent, Sparky, “reflecting a growing confidence in conversational commerce,” PYMNTS wrote.

Instead of seeing AI as a utility, Walmart is treating it as a new interface, one that can guide discovery in more natural ways than search bars or category menus.

“This past week also saw Walmart add an AI specialist, Superhuman CEO Shishir Mehrotra, to its board of directors, a move that combines governance with strategic direction at a moment when every major retailer is grappling with how artificial intelligence should shape product recommendations, personalization, supply chain automation and customer engagement,” the report added.

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Elon Musk Promises Open Algorithm, But Vitalik Wants Proof Users Can Trust

admin — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 21:11:20 +0000

X (Twitter) is at the center of a high-stakes tech debate. Elon Musk recently announced that the platform’s recommendation algorithm, which determines both organic and advertising content distribution, will be open-sourced in seven days, with updates every four weeks and detailed developer notes explaining changes.

The move, framed as a step toward transparency, has drawn immediate attention from users, developers, and critics alike.

X’s Algorithm Will Be Open—But Can Users Really See What’s Happening?

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin weighed in, offering cautious support while highlighting a critical nuance: transparency is more than just publishing code.

“If done properly, this is a very good move. I hope it can be verifiable and replicable,” Buterin said, proposing a system where anonymized likes and posts could be audited with a delay to prevent gaming.

He stressed that such verifiability would allow users who feel shadow-banned or de-boosted to trace why their content is not reaching the audience it should.

“Four weeks may be over-ambitious,” he added, noting that frequent algorithm changes could complicate this goal, and suggesting a one-year horizon for a fully transparent system.

Community reactions highlight the challenge of striking a balance between openness and usability. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT called for a less sensitive feed, noting that engaging with posts outside one’s usual interests floods the “For You” recommendations with similar content, crowding out posts from followed accounts.

Please make the algorithm less sensitive.

If I like or scroll replies on a post outside my niche on “For You” it will flood it with the same type of posts vs posts I missed from accounts I follow or topics I engage with.

Seems to happen most with geopolitics, sports, rage…

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) January 10, 2026

Other community members took the discussion further, proposing cryptographic proofs of feed execution.

“Open algorithms help developers. What users actually experience is distribution,” they wrote. “A transparent system should let any user answer three questions without guessing: Was my content evaluated? What signals mattered most? Where did I lose visibility—and why?”

Not all reactions warm up to algorithmic complexity. Some users argue that feed sorting could be simpler, relying on follows, likes, timestamps, and AI-generated topic tags, rather than intricate predictive models.

i still don’t understand why there has to be a feed sorting algorithm at all.

imo ai is used in the wrong place here and feed sorting should be much simpler, based on who/what you follow and how many likes it has / how recently it was posted.

any further sorting can be done…

— jalil.eth (@jalilwahdat) January 11, 2026

This approach, they suggested, could allow deterministic and verifiable feeds without compromising user experience.

Buterin Champions Algorithmic Accountability in Ongoing Dialogue with Musk

The debate highlights a longer-running dialogue between Musk and Buterin. Buterin has previously critiqued X’s amplification mechanics, warning against algorithms that promote ragebait or arbitrary content suppression, even while acknowledging Musk’s efforts to champion free speech.

He's clearly actively tweaking algorithms to boost some things and deboost other things based on pretty arbitrary criteria.

As long as that power lever exists, I'd prefer it be used (without increasing its scope) to boost niceness instead of boosting ragebait.

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 9, 2025

He has advocated for ZK-proofs on algorithmic decisions and on-chain timestamping of content to prevent server-side censorship. According to Buterin, these measures aim to restore trust and accountability.

I would go further. ZK-prove every decision made by the algorithm (ideally have content and likes/RTss timestamped onchain so the server can't censor or lie about time), and commit to publishing the full algorithm code with a 1-2 year delay.

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 15, 2025

While Musk’s plan signals a potential breakthrough in algorithmic transparency, Buterin and other voices in the crypto and developer community challenge that open code is only the first step.

Without verifiable outcomes and replayable data, the power asymmetry between platform operators and users remains. A truly transparent X (Twitter), they argue, would let users:

Audit their reach
Understand the mechanics of content distribution, and
Engage confidently without fear of unseen suppression

Such a vision could redefine trust in social media in the digital age. As the open-source rollout approaches, all eyes will be on whether Musk’s promise can meet these high standards of verifiability—or if X will remain a platform of speculation rather than accountability.

The post Elon Musk Promises Open Algorithm, But Vitalik Wants Proof Users Can Trust appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Opaque Advocacy Group Runs Anti-DeFi Ads as CLARITY Act Vote Nears

admin — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 13:56:33 +0000

A new advocacy organization has launched a national advertising campaign opposing the inclusion of decentralized finance (DeFi) in the upcoming cryptocurrency legislation.

The effort intensifies a lobbying battle just days before a critical Senate vote on the crypto market structure bill.

‘Investors for Transparency’ Group Attacks DeFi While Hiding Donors

The group, calling itself “Investors for Transparency,” began airing spots during prime-time programming on Fox News.

A new advocacy group, ‘Investors For Transparency,’ is running prime-time ads on @FoxNews, urging viewers to oppose DeFi provisions in the upcoming crypto market structure bill just a week before senators are due to cast votes on it in relevant committees next week. The treatment… pic.twitter.com/jsZ3GcDuVX

— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) January 10, 2026

The advertisements urge viewers to pressure senators to exclude DeFi from the favorable regulatory framework expected in the market structure bill scheduled for a markup by the Senate Banking Committee on January 16.

The campaign has sparked immediate backlash from cryptocurrency industry leaders and pro-crypto lawmakers. They argue the group represents traditional financial interests seeking to stifle competition.

US lawmaker Warren Davidson criticized the campaign as a defensive measure by established institutions to maintain the status quo.

“Decentralized Finance (DeFi) scares big financial institutions and the surveillance state. With DeFi you could cut out middlemen, lower costs, protect privacy… In short, DeFi helps defend freedom so they want to kill it,” he stated.

Notably, industry participants also pointed to the irony of the advocacy group’s name.

While its website states a mission to build a “golden age of durable financial innovation” based on trust and integrity, the organization does not disclose its funding sources or leadership team.

“A group named ‘Investors for Transparency’ is running public ads + lobbying to kill defi, the most transparent financial system on earth. Ironic but unsurprising, their site does not disclose who funds them,” Hayden Adams, the founder of DeFi protocol Uniswap, said.

Meanwhile, this controversy highlights a central tension in the proposed legislation. It centers on how existing financial rules can be applied to software protocols that operate without centralized intermediaries.

While the bill aims to create a cohesive framework for digital asset exchanges, custody, and classification, DeFi has remained a sticking point.

Regulators argue the sector needs strict oversight to prevent money laundering, while developers argue that applying bank-style compliance to code is technically impossible.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, who is shepherding the legislation, has stated that the new rules aim to balance innovation with security.

Chairman @SenatorTimScott is moving forward on digital asset market structure legislation – delivering clear rules that protect Main Street, keep innovation here at home, and safeguard U.S. national security.

Read his statement on next week’s markup ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/mWBTqwgVsS

— U.S. Senate Banking Committee GOP (@BankingGOP) January 10, 2026

Scott noted that the framework is designed to give entrepreneurs confidence to build in America while making it “difficult for criminals and foreign adversaries” to exploit the technology.

Industry experts expect the committee to release the final text regarding DeFi provisions shortly before its vote.

The post Opaque Advocacy Group Runs Anti-DeFi Ads as CLARITY Act Vote Nears appeared first on BeInCrypto.

AI Pushes Personalization From Guesswork to Growth

admin — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 21:45:54 +0000

Data is being collected at unprecedented scale, but its real value emerges when analytics and AI translate signals into experiences that feel timely, relevant and human rather than intrusive.

That distinction matters. According to “Personalized Offers Are Powerful — But Too Often Off-Base,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and AWS collaboration, 83% of consumers are receptive to personalized offers. Yet only 44% of consumers who received tailored offers say those offers were very relevant to their needs, underscoring a widening gap between data availability and execution. Nearly half of consumers say they would switch merchants for more relevant offers, a signal that personalization has become a competitive lever rather than a marketing add-on.

Consumers Want Personalization, But on Their Terms

Relevance matters more than raw discounts: consumers who find offers poorly tailored place greater weight on personalization than price alone, indicating that precision often outperforms promotion.

The opportunity for brands and platforms was underscored by a Thursday (Jan. 8) CES panel discussion, moderated by Melissa Harrison, vice president of marketing and communications at the Consumer Technology Association. As Harrison noted, marketers are walking a fine line “where you want to deliver what customers want but you also want to surprise and delight them,” introducing new experiences without crossing into discomfort.

From Prediction to Understanding

Panelists emphasized that effective personalization is less about predicting behavior in isolation and more about understanding context across the customer journey. Najoh Tita-Reid, growth chief officer at Mars Petcare, said predicting behavior is important, but anticipating consumer needs is equally critical. With more than half the population owning pets, she said, understanding those households “at every touch point that is relevant” includes recognizing breeds, life stages and even when families may be acquiring a new pet.

That shift from static prediction to dynamic understanding is increasingly powered by artificial intelligence. Angela Zepeda, global head of marketing at X, described how AI examines where conversations are trending in real time, allowing brands to place relevant advertising as those conversations unfold. She said the approach is “effective and efficient without anyone else getting involved,” reflecting how automation is reshaping speed and scale.

Physical and Digital Converge

As platforms expand, data unification becomes more complex and more valuable. Toby Espinosa, vice president of ads and growth services at DoorDash, said the company’s expansion beyond restaurants and into multiple categories has opened access to data points that were previously inaccessible. With roughly 25% of users ordering outside restaurant delivery, he described viewing data through multiple lenses, including consumers, merchants and Dashers.

Espinosa later noted that DoorDash’s Smart Campaign offering has helped smaller merchants prospect across DoorDash and other channels, driving incremental sales. “Physical and digital, coming together as one,” he said, “unlocks pockets of growth.”

Breaking Down Silos

The panel noted the value inherent in breaking down organizational silos. Allison Stransky, VP and CMO at Samsung Electronics, said Samsung’s business lines operate as “companies within their own right.” To address this, Samsung created a Connected Experience Center to better understand how customers use its products, alongside a dedicated media team focused on search and social as AI reshapes media performance.

Peggy Roe, executive vice president and chief customer officer at Marriott International, said data “has finally caught up to what our industry wants to do, which is anticipating what customers want.” With deeper insight into preferences and passions, she said brands can more effectively “put the right product portfolio in front of you.”

Trust underpins all of it. As Zepeda noted, “trust is the number one metric for a long time brand.” PYMNTS Intelligence data referenced above reinforces that point. AI and data are powerful tools, but their impact depends on relevance, transparency and integration across the enterprise. When data moves freely and insight drives action, personalization stops being a gamble and starts becoming a growth strategy.

The post AI Pushes Personalization From Guesswork to Growth appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

DraftKings faces down seven state wide class-action lawsuit over gambling limits

admin — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 14:11:03 +0000

DraftKings has been hit with a lawsuit accusing the betting company of breaking wagering laws in seven different states. The multi-state class-action is being headed by Michael Koester, based in Michigan, who claims that DraftKings is allowing players to increase gambling limits, circumventing state law.

This type of law is implemented in Michigan, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, and New York. However, according to court documents reviewed by ReadWrite, Koester alleges that DraftKings allows users to go around this without a waiting period before kicking in.

Koester claims to know this information, as he himself has done it. According to the lawsuit, Koester has been a DraftKings user since 2021, with a spending limit implemented on December 31 of that year. Over the following year, he repeatedly got around this limit without being made to undergo the cooling-off period usually expected.

“The plain meaning of this regulation is clear that once a patron establishes any responsible gaming limitations (deposit, spend, time, wager amount), there must be at least a 24-hour waiting period after patron requests an increase to their self-imposed limits before that request can take effect.”

Koester also didn’t immediately jump into the lawsuit. It’s reported that he had contacted both DraftKings customer service and the Michigan Gaming Control Board, both of which shut down their investigations.

By law in these seven states, DraftKings should have imposed a waiting period before higher wagering limits could take effect.

DraftKings interprets law a little differently

However, DraftKings doesn’t see it that way. Instead, the betting app company claims that restrictions can only be circumvented if they expire.

Should the lawsuit be won, Gambling Insider reports that the case could expose DraftKings to large-scale refund claims. DraftKings will presumably be fighting this one hard, as it would open them up to refunds and other federal trouble.

In Connecticut, DraftKings has already had to hand back more than $3 million to thousands of customers after regulators decided some of its bonus offers broke state gaming and advertising rules. On top of that, a couple of class-action lawsuits over misleading sign-up and so-called “risk-free” bonuses are still moving forward after judges refused to throw them out.

In April of 2025, DraftKings was met with another class-action lawsuit, which took them to task over “risk-free” promotions. Massachusetts hit them with a $450K fine over credit card bets in August.

ReadWrite has reached out to DraftKings for comment on the lawsuit.

Featured image: DraftKings

The post DraftKings faces down seven state wide class-action lawsuit over gambling limits appeared first on ReadWrite.

YouTube now lets you hide Shorts in search results

admin — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 09:47:22 +0000

YouTube is updating its search filters to enable users to select Shorts or long-form videos exclusively, add a Popularity option, remove ineffective filters, and rename the sorting menu, addressing user complaints and improving utility.

Currently, YouTube searches display a combination of long-form videos and Shorts, which frustrates users seeking a single format. The updated filters introduce a choice between “Videos,” displaying only long-form content, and “Shorts,” showing short-form videos alone. Testing confirms that selecting “Videos” excludes Shorts entirely, while “Shorts” limits results to that format.

YouTube is eliminating the “Upload Date – Last Hour” filter and the “Sort by Rating” option. The company states these “were not working as expected and had contributed to user complaints.” Remaining Upload Date filters include “Today,” “This week,” “This Month,” and “This Year,” preserving options for recent content discovery.

The new “Popularity” filter replaces the previous “View count” sort. YouTube explains that the “Popularity” filter employs a video’s view count combined with other relevance signals, such as watch time, to rank results for a given query. This approach determines popularity tailored to specific searches.

YouTube has renamed the “Sort By” menu in search filters to “Prioritize.” The company indicates that “this refined sorting menu aims to maximize utility,” aligning the label more closely with its function of emphasizing relevant sorting criteria.

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Disney+ to launch TikTok-style short-form video feed in the US

admin — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 09:28:00 +0000

Disney announced at its Tech + Data Showcase event during CES 2026 that it will launch short-form video content on Disney+ in the U.S. this year to boost daily engagement by targeting younger users who prefer quick clips over long-form TV shows and movies.

The announcement follows the success of platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels. In a company blog post, Disney stated the experience “will evolve as it expands across news and entertainment and delivers a more personalized, dynamic experience that reinforces Disney+ as a must‑visit daily destination.”

Disney provided details to Deadline about the content. The short-form videos could consist of original short-form content, repurposed social clips, scenes from TV shows or movies, or a combination of these elements.

Erin Teague, EVP of Product Management for Disney Entertainment and ESPN, explained the integration approach to Deadline. She said, “We’re obviously thinking about integrating vertical video in ways that are native to core user behaviors.” Teague added, “So, it won’t be a kind of a disjointed, random experience.”

This initiative builds on Disney’s prior effort in the space. The company launched a personalized vertical video feed in the ESPN app last year. Disney+ enters a market where other streamers have tested vertical video. Netflix introduced a vertical feed last year, enabling users to scroll through clips from its original titles.

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Walmart Connect takes a play out of the Amazon playbook to make agentic AI the next battleground in retail media

admin — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 05:01:00 +0000

Walmart is going all in on artificial intelligence and agentic technologies for its ad platform. What was a retail media arms race has morphed into an agentic AI race so far this year, and Walmart seems to be taking aim at Amazon’s ad business.

On Tuesday, Walmart execs said they would put ads in Sparky, its AI shopping agent, as well as provide generative AI-powered performance insights and creative. There’s also a Marty advertising assistant, a new agentic capability under Walmart’s Marty super agent, now in beta for Sponsored Search campaigns to help with billing and bidding, with plans to roll it out more broadly later this year. The announcements come on the heels of Walmart’s tests last year with Sparky and Marty.

It’s a play out of Amazon Ad’s playbook with Rufus, which began running ads in 2024, according to commerce execs. At last year’s unBoxed conference, Amazon rolled out agentic AI tools that can generate creative, build campaigns, recommend targeting and write Amazon Marketing Cloud queries using natural language, as Digiday previously reported.

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Future of Marketing Briefing: The ad business arrived at CES in a holding pattern

admin — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 05:01:00 +0000

CES functioned less as a turning point than a temperature check for the ad industry.

Behind the stage demos and glossy AI announcements, the advertising industry arrived in Las Vegas with a quieter set of questions than previous years. Q4 held up better than feared but not well enough to justify old certainties. Budgets remained cautious. Flexibility continued to beat commitments. Linear dollars kept leaking into CTV, retail media and data-rich platforms. And the promise of automation — once sold as a cure-all — is now colliding with a more unforgiving arbiter: the CFO.

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Walmart’s Retail Media Scores Wins While Amazon’s AI Goes Ambient

admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 21:46:10 +0000

The holiday shopping spree has come to a close. And while returns are no doubt occupying a fair amount of time at the world’s two biggest retailers, a relatively quiet (but consumer retail-focused) week at Amazon stood in contrast to some interesting developments around AI and retail advertising data and media at Walmart.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2026 in Las Vegas Tuesday (Jan. 6), Omnicom highlighted a partnership with Walmart integrating purchase data into influencer planning on Meta platforms, effectively using real transaction history to identify which creators’ audiences are most likely to buy certain products.

This is a step beyond simple sponsored listings: It treats retail purchase data as a source of truth for influencer ROI, helping brands quantify not just impressions or clicks, but purchase-probable audiences.

And across the retail landscape, from Walmart’s artificial intelligence-powered shopping agents and Amazon’s redesigned smart carts at Whole Foods, Walmart’s financial services expansion and Amazon’s ambient computing, the news this week did not point to a single disruptive breakthrough.

Instead, it revealed a coordinated shift. Retail’s future is becoming less about isolated transactions and more about the systems that connect shopping, media, payments and technology into something closer to an operating layer for everyday life.

Data as the New Marketplace Currency

At a business model level, Walmart has been doubling down on its retail media strategy, launching its “Marty” solution for brands an advertisers in July. The Marty super agent is an agentic AI advertising assistant that helps suppliers, sellers, and advertisers manage onboarding, orders and campaigns; although the assistant won’t be made fully available to all Sponsored Search advertisers in the Walmart Connect Ad Center until later in the year.

For brands and agencies alike, this may represent a structural shift. The result could be tighter coupling between demand generation and conversion attribution.

On the consumer-facing front, Walmart on Tuesday moved to introduce advertising into its AI shopping agent, Sparky, reflecting a growing confidence in conversational commerce. Rather than positioning artificial intelligence solely as a utility, Walmart is treating it as a new interface, one capable of guiding discovery in ways that feel more natural than search bars or category menus.

This past week also saw Walmart add an AI specialist, Superhuman CEO Shishir Mehrotra, to its board of directors, a move that combines governance with strategic direction at a moment when every major retailer is grappling with how artificial intelligence should shape product recommendations, personalization, supply chain automation and customer engagement.

Before joining Superhuman, Mehrotra was CEO and co-founder of Coda, a productivity and AI platform, and before founding Coda, Mehrotra served as chief product officer and chief technology officer at YouTube.

The addition is emblematic of a broader tilt: Walmart is not simply adopting artificial intelligence tools; it is embedding AI leadership at the strategic decision-making level.

At the same time, the launch of crypto functionality within Walmart’s OnePay FinTech platform, going live in 2026, is a case in point. By enabling users to buy, sell and convert digital assets for spending, Walmart is testing how emerging financial tools can be integrated into everyday commerce without requiring customers to leave a familiar ecosystem.

Amazon Goes Ambient at CES

Amazon’s presence at CES this year reinforced a different but complementary vision. Rather than spotlighting a single hero product, Amazon emphasized how its devices and services work together, across Fire TV, Ring and Alexa, to create more seamless experiences.

The throughline was ambient intelligence. Amazon continues to refine systems that anticipate needs and reduce friction, whether that’s controlling a home, managing entertainment or facilitating commerce through voice and screens. Shopping, in this model, becomes an extension of daily routines rather than a discrete activity.

Physical retail is also evolving, not disappearing. Amazon’s freshly redesigned Dash Cart at Whole Foods, which is lighter, larger and equipped with tap-to-pay and navigation features, illustrates how in-store experiences are being reimagined with technology as an enabler rather than a replacement for human interaction.

Smart carts address familiar pain points: long checkout lines, uncertainty about total spend and inefficient store navigation. They also unlock new insights into how shoppers move through stores and make decisions, data that can inform better layouts, assortments and promotions.

Across all the initiatives at both Walmart and Amazon, data plays a central role, but one increasingly as a foundation rather than a headline. Purchase histories, interaction signals and contextual insights are being used to improve relevance, reduce friction and connect disparate parts of the retail experience.

The opportunity for retailers is to translate this data into clear consumer value. When personalization saves time, recommendations feel timely and payments become simpler, data use becomes less abstract and more tangible. The question is how Amazon and Walmart can compete in demonstrating that the technology powering the future of retail is being applied in service of the customer.

The post Walmart’s Retail Media Scores Wins While Amazon’s AI Goes Ambient appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Spotify challenges YouTube with easier video monetization

admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 09:38:18 +0000

Spotify has lowered eligibility criteria for its video podcast partner program to three published episodes, 2,000 consumption hours, and 1,000 engaged audience members within the last 30 days. This change enables more creators to monetize content on the platform through premium user views and free-tier ad revenue shares, supporting expansion against YouTube competition.

The partner program launched last year with higher thresholds that creators needed to meet. Those requirements included publishing at least 12 episodes, accumulating 10,000 consumption hours over the prior 30 days, and having at least 2,000 people stream the content during that same 30-day period. Consumption hours represent the total time premium and free users spent watching the video podcasts.

Under the program, Spotify compensates podcasters directly based on the number of premium subscribers who view their video episodes. Podcasters also receive a portion of the advertising revenue generated from free-tier users who watch the content. This dual payment structure applies to all eligible video podcasts once creators qualify under the updated or prior criteria.

Spotify plans to introduce sponsorship tools next month that permit creators to manage host-read ad spots within video podcasts. These tools support updating sponsorship details, scheduling placements for specific episodes, and measuring performance metrics such as views and engagement rates. The features will integrate into the Spotify for Creators app, used by independent podcasters for distribution and analytics, and into Megaphone, Spotify’s enterprise-level podcast hosting and monetization platform designed for professional producers.

To facilitate broader distribution, Spotify is releasing a new application programming interface, or API. This API enables creators to publish video podcasts and access monetization directly on Spotify while operating from their preferred hosting platforms. At launch, five providers have integrated the API: Acast, Audioboom, Libsyn, Omny, and Podigee, according to the company. These platforms host millions of podcasts globally and now support seamless Spotify video uploads and revenue sharing.

Spotify pursues these updates to draw more users and strengthen its subscription-based streaming revenue. Since introducing the partner program, video podcast consumption on the app has nearly doubled from pre-launch levels. The average Spotify user who listens to podcasts now streams twice as many video shows per month compared to the period before the program’s start.

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Media Briefing: Here’s what media execs are prioritizing in 2026

admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 05:01:00 +0000

This week’s Media Briefing looks at the main business areas publishing executives have their sights set on as they head into 2026, recalibrating around AI advertising revenue opportunities, brand marketing, and video and creator opportunties, after a humbling 2025.

Publishing execs have their eye forward and sleeves rolled up for the new year
What OpenAI’s new Academy for News Organizations means for journalism, GQ editor steps down, and more.

All eyes forward

Media execs have big goals for 2026. They’re setting their sights on AI revenue and visibility opportunities, brand marketing pushes, plus a big year in U.S. politics and sports.

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Yat Siu: “Tokenize or Die”—Charting Web3’s Course for 2026 and Beyond

admin — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 23:25:37 +0000

As we step into 2026, the crypto industry stands at an inflection point. The regulatory fog that long shrouded digital assets is finally lifting, institutional players are moving from the sidelines onto the field, and the very definition of what constitutes an “asset” is being rewritten.

Few people have a better vantage point on these shifts than Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands. BeInCrypto sat down with Siu to discuss what the new year holds for Web3—and why he believes companies face a stark choice: tokenize or die.

A New Year, A New Era for Altcoins

Siu acknowledges that Bitcoin has earned its place as “digital gold,” but as 2026 begins, he sees the real action happening elsewhere. “Most people don’t enter crypto by buying Bitcoin,” he observes. “They come in through tokens that offer some kind of utility—whether that’s DeFi, gaming, NFTs, or something else entirely.”

He draws a parallel to traditional markets: no single company comes close to gold’s market cap, yet the global stock market dwarfs it many times over. “The same dynamic is taking shape in crypto. And what excites me about this year is that the opportunities aren’t just in new token launches anymore—they’re in tokens that have already proven themselves.”

It’s a pattern Siu has seen before. “Think about what happened after the dotcom crash. Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Netease—they didn’t disappear. They came back stronger. I believe 2026 will mark the beginning of a similar resurgence for established Web3 players.”

The Year Regulatory Clarity Finally Arrives

If there’s one development Siu is watching closely this year, it’s the fate of the CLARITY Act in the US Congress. Building on the foundation laid by the GENIUS Act for stablecoins, the CLARITY Act aims to establish clear jurisdictional boundaries between the SEC and CFTC over digital assets.

“I’m confident the CLARITY Act will pass in 2026,” Siu says. “And when it does, it will trigger a wave of tokenization we’ve never seen before—from Fortune 500 companies down to small businesses. The uncertainty that’s held so many players back will finally be lifted.”

He sees this regulatory clarity as the key that unlocks corporate adoption at scale. “Companies have been waiting on the sidelines, not because they don’t see the potential, but because they couldn’t navigate the legal ambiguity. This year, that concern disappears.”

Institutions Move from Spectators to Participants

The introduction of crypto ETFs in recent years marked a turning point, but Siu believes 2026 will be remembered as the year institutional adoption shifted from experiment to strategy. “What we’re seeing now is just the beginning. RWAs and stablecoins will lead the narrative for institutional players this year.”

Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, in particular, holds transformative potential. “RWAs offer something crypto has always promised but struggled to deliver at scale: genuine financial inclusion. We’re talking about crypto wallets for the unbanked, access to yield-generating products that were previously reserved for the wealthy. This is the year those promises start becoming reality.”

Current estimates suggest tokenized RWAs could reach $30 trillion within the coming decade. The adoption of institutional-grade frameworks, such as the EU’s MiCA regulation, is giving major banks and asset managers the confidence they need to engage with public blockchains. “The infrastructure is ready. The regulations are coming into place. Now it’s about execution.”

The Post-Crash Playbook Repeats

Siu sees clear parallels between the current moment and the years following the dotcom bust. “The funding cycle has fundamentally evolved. In Web3’s early days, the biggest opportunities were in hotly anticipated token launches. That’s no longer the case.”

Today, investing in tokens with liquidity and market presence is becoming the norm. “After the dotcom crash, companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo, and eBay didn’t just survive—they became vastly larger. The same pattern will repeat in Web3, but with a twist: we’ll also see major tech players—the Googles and Metas of the world—entering the space in meaningful ways.”

Altcoins make up ~30% of the crypto market.

Do you think they could eventually surpass Bitcoin’s market dominance?

Our own @ysiu shared his perspective around altcoins during his recent sit-down with @RaoulGMI, providing viewpoints to where the underlooked aspect of the market… pic.twitter.com/aNtFU6ZDKw

— Animoca Brands (@animocabrands) January 7, 2026

This shift demands a different skill set from investors. “The situation is far more nuanced now. Succeeding in this environment requires greater analytical capabilities. The easy money from simply catching the next hot launch is largely gone.”

“Everything Will Become an Asset Class”

When asked about his boldest prediction for the years ahead, Siu doesn’t hesitate: “Everything will become an asset class through tokenization. Intellectual property, royalties, advertising inventory—if it has value, it will be tokenized.”

He acknowledges that tokenized RWAs remain fragmented across chains and marketplaces today, but sees consolidation and growth ahead. “The technology is ready. What’s been missing is regulatory clarity and institutional confidence. Both of those pieces are falling into place.”

There’s also a generational dimension to this shift. “Crypto is becoming the asset class of younger generations, just as the internet and social media defined previous generational divides. Any company that wants to reach that audience effectively will need strategies that incorporate tokenization. It’s not optional anymore.”

Blockchain Fades Into the Background

One of Siu’s more counterintuitive predictions is that blockchain technology will become invisible to most users. “Think about digital music. We used to say ‘MP3’ or ‘digital download.’ Now we just say ‘music.’ The technology faded into the background. The same thing is happening with blockchain.”

He points to prediction markets as an example. “They run on crypto rails, but users don’t care about the backend. They care about the service. That’s the model for mainstream adoption: deliver value, and let the blockchain do its work invisibly.”

This practical approach opens doors across industries. “Gaming with in-game assets as NFTs. Yield-generating products accessible to everyday users. Faster payments. Digital ownership. These use cases will bring traditional users into crypto-based services—not because they’re excited about blockchain, but because the services are simply better.”

From Crypto Natives to the Crypto Curious

Siu predicts a significant shift in crypto’s target audience this year. “2026 will see the emphasis move from crypto natives to the crypto curious. And from entertainment to utility and value.”

Memecoins, he argues, were a product of regulatory ambiguity. “Until now, memecoin launches have been targeted squarely at crypto natives. They weren’t designed to appeal to mainstream users.” But as friendlier regulatory frameworks take shape globally, that dynamic is changing.

“Under clearer regulations, projects can discuss their value proposition openly. They don’t have to hide behind the memecoin label anymore. The CLARITY Act will accelerate this trend—tokens will be judged on their actual utility, and those without real value will struggle to survive.”

Financial Literacy Becomes Essential

As we look toward the rest of 2026 and beyond, Siu sees financial literacy emerging as a critical skill. “Crypto is already solving real problems—reducing remittance costs, improving access to yield generation, enabling participation in opportunities that were previously gated.”

He expects crypto to penetrate deeper into everyday financial infrastructure. “Student loans, consumer credit, eventually unsecured lending—crypto will become embedded in the financial solutions that affect ordinary people’s lives.”

This mirrors the digital literacy revolution of the 1990s and 2000s. “Back then, businesses had to become digitally literate or risk irrelevance. Consumers followed. The same pattern is playing out now with financial literacy. Tokenization leads to financialization, and people who develop financial literacy will have access to significantly greater opportunities.”

Tokenize or Die

Siu closes with a message that doubles as both a warning and a rallying cry for the year ahead.

“Companies that don’t tokenize their assets—making them accessible to AI systems and Web3 liquidity—will become less relevant. We saw this movie before: traditional businesses that ignored the internet lost to competitors like Amazon and Steam. The same fate awaits companies that ignore tokenization.”

He pauses, then delivers the line that has become something of a personal mantra: “Tokenize or die. That’s not a prediction for some distant future. That’s the reality of 2026.”

The post Yat Siu: “Tokenize or Die”—Charting Web3’s Course for 2026 and Beyond appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Changes to IP Address and Session Attribute Support in the Google Ads API

admin — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 16:31:00 +0000

Starting on February 2, 2026, the Google Ads API will no longer accept new adopters of session attributes or IP address data as part of conversion imports. To ensure a more robust and scalable experience for handling complex data, we recommend that Google Ads API developers transition to the Data Manager API - where session attributes and IP address are accepted - as their primary conversion and user data import API.

Developers who have already adopted session attributes or IP addresses in their click conversion imports can continue importing that data using the Google Ads API until they’ve moved their conversion imports over to the Data Manager API.

Technical details

Developers will be allowlisted by their developer token.
Once this change is rolled out, you may notice the error CUSTOMER_NOT_ALLOWLISTED_FOR_THIS_FEATURE in the partial_failure responses of your conversion import requests. This error indicates that the associated conversion was rejected due to the presence of session attributes and/or IP address.
Resolve this error with these steps:
- Temporarily remove session attributes and IP address from conversion import requests and continue importing conversions to the Google Ads API.
- Update your code to use the Data Manager API with session attributes and IP address.
- Discontinue conversion imports to the Google Ads API once you’re successfully making imports to the Data Manager API.

Reach out to the Google Ads API support or Data Manager API support channels if you have any questions.

If you have any questions or want to discuss this post, please reach out to us on our “Google Advertising and Measurement Community” Discord server.

- Ben Karl, on behalf of the Google Ads API Team