Google took the wraps off of its latest AI model, Gemini 3, yesterday.
One of the model’s architects, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabas, told Sources’ Alex Heath, “I feel like we’re in a really strong position to come out on top… whether [momentum] carries on and there’s no bubble or there is one and there’s some retrenchment.”
Though there was nothing specific on ads in the Gemini 3 model announcement, Search VP Liz Reid said that Gemini 3 is now available “in Google Search, starting with AI Mode — marking the first time we’ve brought a Gemini model to Search on day one.”
With tests of “AI Mode” ads having already started in May, an upgraded Gemini model could be an exciting development for marketers. But, a Google spokesperson told tipsheet:
“Nothing to share right now regarding Gemini 3. That said, we already use different Gemini models to power our ads products, selecting the best model for the particular use case.”
From Google:
- A new era of intelligence with Gemini 3 (November 18) – Google’s The Keyword blog with Hassabas and Google/Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai
- Google Search with Gemini 3: Our most intelligent search yet (November 18) – Google’s The Keyword blog with Google’s Liz Reid, VP of Engineering, Search
- Generative UI: A rich, custom, visual interactive user experience for any prompt (November 18) – Google Research
Quoting Google executives, The Verge provided a use case outlining what the new model can do:
“Gemini 3 Pro is ‘natively multimodal,’ meaning it can process text, images, and audio all at once, rather than handling them separately.
As an example, Google says Gemini 3 Pro could be used to translate photos of recipes and then transform them into a cookbook, or it could create interactive flashcards based on a series of video lectures.”
Read more in The Verge. (November 18)
The Wall Street Journal noted Google’s growing leadership position in AI:
“Though Google was slow out of the gate in the AI race, it has a number of advantages that startups like OpenAI don’t have. The company designs its own specialized chips, has a roughly 90% market share of online searches and serves millions of people who use its suite of online products including Gmail, Google Docs and other tools that it is now infusing with AI. And the company last month announced record revenue as it seeks to invest billions in the AI build-out.”
Read more in The WSJ. (November 18)
From tipsheet: Publishers are likely wondering what impact, if any, Gemini 3 will have on search referral traffic given the model’s use in Google Search’s AI Mode. Google is watching, too – GOOG wants the search ad revenue and, at some point, the AI search ad revenue.
LLMS & CHATBOTS
Developments
- SAP and Mistral AI: A New Alliance for European Sovereign AI (November 18) – SAP
- Microsoft, Nvidia to invest in Anthropic as Claude maker commits $30 billion to Azure (November 18) – Microsoft
- New ChatGPT financial intelligence product: “One of my goals in joining OpenAI was to build tools that help people feel more confident in their financial lives, because AI can be a meaningful source of economic empowerment…” – Fidji Simo, CEO of Applications, OpenAI on LinkedIn
PLATFORMS
Putting the AI in Pinterest
The Information’s Catherine Perloff reported that external questions on the impact of AI on Pinterest is colliding with a measured internal approach, according to company executives.
On LinkedIn yesterday, Perloff wrote:
“Pinterest’s Chief Technology Officer Matt Madrigal told me that Pinterest is using generative AI to run its own race and ‘not to be the next Sora.’
That’s why Gen AI shows up in subtler ways in Pinterest’s products, and why the company isn’t offering users tools to create images from scratch or chatbots.
‘The reason why we don’t invest in those tools is our users don’t want that,’ Madrigal said.
Pinterest’s users and revenue have been growing lately, but traffic from Google to their website is down, and Pinterest relies more on the web for their content than other social media companies. The web has its own economic challenges in the wake of AI.
How much do Internet companies need to remake themselves into chatbot companies?”
Read more on LinkedIn. (November 18)
More: “Pinterest’s AI Strategy Focuses on What Users Want” (November 18) – The Information (subscription)
From tipsheet: One could see today’s chatbot obsession moving to tomorrow’s (next year’s?) LLM obsession and enabling applications on top of the LLM. Recent startup funding is showing signs of this increasingly feverish path.
STARTUPS
Creator ad network gets funds
Agentio, an ad network where the publishers are YouTube creators, announced $40 million in funding at a valuation of $340 million.
Co-founded by Arthur Leopold and Jonathan Myers, the company positions itself as “an AI-Native Platform for Creator Advertising.” Myers is the CTO and given his career experience at Hootsuite and Spotify, where using API use was critical, he may see even more opportunity by building with an LLM.
AdExchanger’s Joanna Gerber reported yesterday:
“Agentio aims to be a ‘frictionless’ buying experience for creator marketing, similar to how DoubleClick and The Trade Desk enabled one-click ad buying in the early days of the internet, Leopold said.
The platform uses AI to match brands to relevant creators by analyzing creator content and determining shared interests or goals. From there, the two parties can strike a deal.”
Read more in AdExchanger. (November 18)
Workflow automation appears to be the immediate low-hanging fruit for Agentio’s AI as Steven Vigilante from beverage firm Olipop said in the press release, “What used to require months of coordination for a handful of partnerships now happens in days, allowing us to activate dozens of top-tier creators while improving performance tracking.”
The 30-person firm hopes to scale to more than 100 employees within a year.
More: We’re Building the Most Important Growth Engine for Brands: Agentio’s Series B (November 18) – Agentio
AGENCIES
Making zero-click analysis billable
“Digitas is the latest agency to launch a zero-click search analysis tool. Last week, the Publicis Groupe business’s U.K. arm shipped Model Sight, software that can evaluate how LLM-powered search is representing a client’s brand back to web users.”
“[Clients] need to be able to understand how they’re being perceived by large language models. Is it positive? Is it negative? Are they even being mentioned?” said Leila Seith Hassan, chief data officer Digitas U.K.
Read: Agencies are racing to offer zero-click analysis tools, but monetizing them isn’t easy (November 17) – Digiday (subscription)
SELL-SIDE
Answer engine ad network grows
Taboola CEO Adam Singolda reported yesterday that his company’s generative AI answer engine product, DeeperDive, is seeing more traction internationally and name-checked the addition of Thailand’s Bangkok Post. Read more on LinkedIn.
In September, Gannett expressed its appreciation for Taboola’s product which is hosted on the publishing conglomerate’s websites and uses the individual publisher’s data to provide answers to consumers. The publisher gets a rev share on the ads while grabbing some answer engine traffic of their own. Gannett and Taboola talked again about its success earlier this month.
The increasing use of DeeperDive gives Taboola a compelling ad network offering in the age of AI.
From tipsheet: Mr. Singolda appears to be the first to market with an answer engine partner ad network product. He also appears to be putting the pedal to the metal in hopes of achieving scale. Competitors will undoubtedly take aim.
Announced at the end of September, PayPal has an answer engine ad network that uses Honey. The browser extension serves ads next to chatbots but is limited by Honey’s install base.
STARTUPS
Creative intelligence spin-out
Ad tech executive Max Kalehoff announced the launch of Adverteyes[dot]ai on LinkedIn calling it “a new creative intelligence company.” Kalehoff will be the company’s CEO.
Originally created inside Vision AI’s Realeyes, according to Mr. Kalehoff, the company’s new product will use “the ad industry’s largest human-response dataset” as well as AIs for emotion and attention to understand how people interact with ads.
Kalehoff continued:
“Spinning out gives us the focus and velocity to meet this moment. AI and creators are flooding campaigns and commerce with endless content. CMOs need intelligence that delivers real business outcomes for CEOs, CFOs, shareholders and customers, not vanity metrics, proxies or outputs. “
Read more on LinkedIn. (November 18)
COMMERCE
ChatGPT needs retailers to succeed
On LinkedIn, retail and commerce media analyst Sarah Marzano dropped a new eMarketer graphic yesterday on agentic commerce. She prefaced the drop with her reservations but concluded unequivocally:
“I believe that for ChatGPT and its peers to be successful in influencing and monetizing different phases of the purchase journey, they actually need retailers to succeed. Retailers provide the curation, infrastructure and trust that shape shopping decisions. Those ingredients still matter, even when consumers transact in new channels..”
Read it on LinkedIn – and see more graphics. (November 18)
From tipsheet: If Ms. Marzano is correct, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT needs retailers to succeed, OpenAI will likely need to enable retail media network strategies and not gobble up all the shopping ad business as MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Morton has prophesied.
PEOPLE MOVES
Meta monetization leadership changes
Meta’s Chief Revenue Officer John Hegeman is leaving to start a new company – no details on the startup yet, according to The Wall Street Journal. Read more. (November 18)
The WSJ added:
“Andrew Bocking would take over as product-group lead for ads and business messaging, while Naomi Gleit would become leader of business AI and other new monetization opportunities.”
Meanwhile on LinkedIn, Meta’s Guy Rosen reported on his new role at the company:
“After almost nine years of working on the safety and security of our platforms, I’ll be stepping away from my work on what we call our integrity & support team, to focus on our efforts to transform how Meta works internally to be an AI-first company. I’ll also continue to lead the security team as Meta’s Chief Information Security Officer.”
Read more on LinkedIn. (November 18)
PEOPLE MOVES
Creative changes
New leadership structure at creative ad tech firm Vidmob, according to LinkedIn (November 18):
- Founder Alex Collmer becomes Executive Chairman
- Mark Mannino moves into CEO role
- Carly Crittenden rises to Chief Revenue Officer
- Marketecture’s Ari Paparo and Teads’ Mollie Spilman join Vidmob’s Board of Directors.
More: Vidmob Announces Launch of Creative Data Collaboratory and New Leadership Structure (November 18) – press release
MORE
- Musixmatch launches Music Lens, an AI agent that ‘transforms’ catalogs into ‘actionable insights’ for publishers, labels, and creators (November 18) – Music Business Worldwide
- How TikTok just saved Meta in court – as court says no Meta monopoly (November 18) – Politico
- Podcast: The ‘hot dog vs. sandwich’ problem in AI advertising (November 18) – Digiday
- Sources: Omnicom shifting some spend from The Trade Desk to Amazon; TTD denies claim (November 18) – AdExchanger
- EU Digital Omnibus Package – A First Look at the Commission’s Draft Proposals (November 18) – Gibson Dunn