Google's Universal Cart goes live in the US.
First shown at I/O, the cart saves products from many retailers across Search and Gemini, flags price drops and restocks, and suggests promo codes and card perks. Checkout runs on Google's open Universal Commerce Protocol.
Why it matters
Google moves closer to owning the basket, not just the product search.
Related trends.
AdvertisingGoogle Ads lets advertisers cap Display and Search partner spend
Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns can now set Display and Search partners to low priority and cap them as a share of daily budget, down to zero. Google only promises best effort, and API support comes later.
Why it mattersMore control over low-quality inventory, though the cap isn't a hard guarantee.
PlatformsMeta sells reserved, TV-style ad windows with Super Burst
Advertisers can now book a 3–24 hour block on a single day across Facebook and Instagram, with price and reach fixed upfront and delivery guaranteed within 5% of forecast. Meta is also testing a paid first slot in the feed.
Why it mattersGives brand teams a launch-day buy that behaves like TV, inside Meta's auction world.
PlatformsYouTube Music starts labelling AI-generated songs, main app next
YouTube Music now shows an "AI" tag on tracks it believes were made mainly with generative AI, such as AI-written compositions and vocals. The labels are coming to the main YouTube app too, backed by in-house detection and music partners.
Why it mattersBrands licensing or making AI music for ads should expect it to be visibly flagged.
