Exverus earned Gold at the 2025 Festival of Media North America Awards for "The Chosen: Indie Streams to Big Screens" The Challenge: It’s red carpet season in Hollywood, and all eyes are on the stars of Hollywood Boulevard premiering their new blockbusters. But could the next box office hit be an indie TV show…set 2,000 years ago? We proved it could! Led by Exverus VP of Media Planning & Strategy Tasha Day and Media Director Anna Elema, the planning and performance marketing teams behind the campaign engineered an entirely new model for the entertainment industry: Instead of movies starting in theaters then going home to streaming, we took an existing TV series and expanded it to movie screens. It was an unusual strategy; we didn’t have a dollar to waste. We had to build major anticipation to make Season 5’s theatrical debut successful! "It's exciting to be part of this unconventional way of bringing entertainment and content to people. I do think it very much could be the way of the future. It's shifting from traditional studios to making it about what the fans want, and they're showing (or they're proving) that they want it by investing in it." --Tasha Day, VP of Media Planning, Exverus by Brainlabs The Strategy: Infiltrate mainstream culture Our media strategy leveraged the show’s biggest strength: community. Community-building has been core to The Chosen’s business model from day one. Unlike traditional big-studio funding, they relied on a patchwork of individual contributions, nonprofits, licensing fees, and merch sales to keep the lights on. We knew video-driven media, featuring heart-stopping visuals everywhere fans gathered online, would be huge. But viewing platforms are fragmented, so measurement would be a challenge; and engaging with social media or an app does not equate to going out to the movies. We needed to bridge the gap. A job like this required a few influential people to rally the masses: Enter famed Vogue photographer Annie Leibovitz, who shot gorgeous portraits of the cast on set. With the help of NPRP Media, we took over Times Square & digital billboards around the world To maximize Leibovitz’s work in public, we planned our biggest digital out-of-home (DOOH) media activation ever: a Times Square takeover followed by multilingual billboards across the globe: Los Angeles, Rome, Madrid, Sao Paolo and more. Digital audio would be another exciting avenue for storytelling and calls-to-action; while interactive digital media builds would cultivate community and drive traffic. For fun and measurability, we designed immersive, shareable Snapchat lenses to make Gen Z fans get hands-on. The Results: A record-breaking year We catapulted awareness and fandom larger than we thought possible! And set a personal box office record in the process… Non-viewer awareness of the show increased 44%, to a whopping 72% in Season 5! DISQO brand lift studies showed an aided awareness level 4.6x Entertainment category norms. After the Times Square takeover, financial contributions to the show spiked significantly Variety, Yahoo!, IMDb, The Tonight Show w/Jimmy Fallon, The View, and other top-tier outlets featured the iconic strategy. And most importantly, "The Chosen: Last Supper" sold 6.1MM tickets, grossing $50MM in theaters to set a new record and putting the franchise at over $140MM in global lifetime revenue! Our omnichannel media plan reached beyond core audiences while expanding The Chosen as genre-breaking entertainment. We were even awarded Gold for Best Campaign by an Indie Agency at the 2025 Festival of Media: North America Awards! Watch the official campaign case video below: About the Indie Agency Award Festival of Media: North American Awards (FOMNA) was launched in 2017 and has significantly grown every year since. It recognizes, benchmarks and amplifies the best of the best media work from North America and Canada. The jury, featuring industry leaders from Google, The Coca-Cola Company, Meta, PepsiCo, Amazon, Microsoft, Mars, L’Oréal, and Audible, convened for the final round of judging to determine this year’s winners. The awards were announced live on Thursday, December 11th, 2025 in New York. See the full list of winners here. About the Director Anna Elema is a Media Planning Director at Exverus and CampaignUS' 2026 Media Planner/Buyer of the Year honoree. Currently overseeing full-funnel advertising strategy for smash TV hit 'The Chosen', Anna's 11 years growing Fortune 500 brands like MasterClass and Stella & Chewy's have earned Adweek Media Plans of the Year, MediaPost Planning & Buying Awards, and MediaPost OMMAs. She earned her degree in Psychology from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Wonder what we can do for your brand this year? Drop us a line below, and let's talk!

AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude will soon collapse the customer journey into a single conversation, and brands need a full-funnel media strategy to own them. Key Takeaways: Declining click-through rates don't mean your marketing is failing — they may mean it's working. As AI Overviews and LLM answers absorb more of the discovery process, brands should track "share of model" (how often they're cited and mentioned inside AI-generated answers) alongside traditional share-of-voice metrics, rather than relying on website clicks as the primary success signal. Agentic commerce has moved from concept to measurable reality. GenAI-driven traffic to Amazon rose 3,000% during Prime Day 2026, and roughly 8% of consumers are already completing purchases directly within AI platforms like ChatGPT — early adoption numbers that are expected to climb as retailers deepen partnerships with AI providers. Brand building and performance marketing are no longer sequential — they have to run at the same time. When an LLM answers a product question, it's weighing brand mentions, website authority, customer reviews, and product data simultaneously, not moving a consumer through separate awareness and conversion stages. Full-funnel media strategy is now table stakes, not a long-term investment to "graduate" into. Consistency across search, product data, and retail listings determines whether AI models cite your brand at all. Because LLMs pull from multiple signals at once to generate a single answer, brands need aligned, specific, and accurate information across search content and retail product detail pages (PDPs) to be surfaced and recommended in AI-driven shopping conversations. Learn tested and proven methods of outsmarting the competition with agility, brand positioning, and creativity. On a hot, Arizona day in March 2026, Exverus VP of Performance Marketing Hillary Kupferberg (now Bram) took the stage to tell a roomful of marketers and media buyers: You're behind. She was talking about the dawn of AI shopping, or agentic commerce, a process in which consumers turn to AI chatbots like Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity for product recommendations, and an AI shopping agent fills their basket. It's the future (no, the present reality) of e-commerce, and brand marketers need to adapt their marketing strategies quickly. When the whole product discovery-to-purchase pathway is collapsed into a single chatbot conversation, traditional advertising tactics like Paid Search driving clicks to a website become irrelevant. Let Hillary explain: Zero-click Search Marketing We're entering a world where better marketing produces worse-looking Search metrics. One of our CPG brands saw a 30% decline clicks to site but were actually winning and gaining share in AI overviews. Brands relying on website clicks today to measure their success are actually falling behind, and your marketing is looking worse. So, we need to measure differently. We all know the old terms of share of voice, but what we're quickly finding is that in order to win today, you actually need to be looking at share of model. Is your brand or your product being cited and mentioned in these LLMS? The reason this matters is, if we evaluate all these new forms of technology under our own old models, we're going to lose. Now we're marketing to AI and consumers. So we really are thinking about this differently today, rewriting success. And when we look at all the new new traffic sources, where are leads coming from? Is it ChatGPT? Is it Copilot? Is it Gemini? These things matter. Reddit is a huge source that's really powerful. For one of our brands, we were able to identify that Reddit is the third most visible domain on Google, and that's pulling into all of the AI Overviews. Agentic commerce On Amazon Prime Day, we saw a 3,000% increase of GenAI traffic to Amazon. That's huge! And we really entered a tipping point that is quickly transforming the commerce world. The point of sale is now inside the conversation. Discovery is happening within all of these conversations. And if you think about the first prompt you ever gave AI, "I need a new pair of sneakers" is very different than how I talk to AI now and likely you do, as well. Really in-depth prompts about exactly what type of hiking shoe I need, that it needs to fit in my carry-on, I want them to be waterproof, only in blue. These are the types of information that customers are giving; they're having deep conversations with AI to find the right products. They're not visiting your website, but ultimately what we're seeing with retailers and commerce partners actively partnering with OpenAI is the future of retail and e-commerce. Conversational AI is a new purchase channel. As of very recently, we can start to buy ads there. But even without paid media, this is a really important tool for your brands to be thinking about because AI is predicting, recommending, and ultimately completing the transactions all within that chat. The retailers, as they continue to partner with OpenAI, will have really strong purchase data that isn't happening on your brand site. And we see that people are really leaned in. 63% of users are doing this for research and discovery, and 53% take it a step further and compare products and prices. So everything from your search to your retail PDPs need to be specifically consistent and translate to the AI so the AI models can mention and cite your brands and your products when relevant. A full-funnel media approach When we talk about building a brand, we're really talking about creating authentic relationships, repeat purchases, and brand enthusiasts. But LLMs have collapsed the timeline. In the old world, you'd invest in brand awareness for months, watch awareness metrics climb, then capitalize on that brand equity through performance channels like retail media and search. Brand and performance were sequential. Now, they're simultaneous. When a consumer asks ChatGPT or Claude, "What's the best protein powder for weight loss?" the LLM is pulling from: your brand mentions your website authority your customer reviews and the specificity of your product data, all at once. It's not deciding between brand awareness and conversion intent; it's weighing credibility signals and purchase readiness in a single answer. If you've only invested in performance metrics (ROAS, conversion rates), you're invisible to the LLM. If you've only built brand awareness, you won't show up in the purchase recommendation. You need both operating as one scientific brain. That's not a nice-to-have anymore; that's table stakes. Actionable Takeaways I encourage you to save this slide because these are tangible things you can bring back to your organization to introduce new ways of measuring success in this agentic commerce world. And just remember that if your organization is still measuring clicks, you're a little bit behind. But the good news is we're here to help. FAQs about AI shopping Q: I loved your insight about Reddit and how brands could get some leverage there. Jay Walker Smith [of MediaPost] wrote a piece recently that the number one source of expert information on the LLMs is Reddit. Number two is Wikipedia. Is that dumbing down the expertise, and is there going to be kind of backlash for brands who are using LLMs for, how should I say, less than perfect information? A: Definitely. It's it really is the wild west. I can't predict what will happen, but I think it's a "both/and situation" between what's happening on Reddit and Wikipedia (more of that user-generated [content]), plus what the brand is putting out. So you have to do both to in order to succeed. And so it does take a lot to be commerce-ready and visible and consistent across many different touch points where the formats are different. How people want to consume the information is different, but brands that are paying attention to both I think will be ahead. Q. The relationship between AI and search is undeniable in terms of the level of disruption there. I'm curious what you're seeing in the ripples with programmatic and display as well, because if that whole behavior and model shifts where people aren't searching online, and we're not retargeting them, and going through that traditional funnel, what are the recommendations, or where do you see programmatic moving with AI now? A. I think programmatic will take a lot of signals from what we're seeing and learning honestly with search as new releases are happening, in terms of product, and what the actual ad formats available will be, and it'll change over time. Again, I don't think it's replacing what we've seen. A lot of fears around volume of search decreasing didn't actually come to play; volume of search is actually up, but how people are consuming and ultimately getting the information is just resulting in less clicks. So, what we're expecting in the programmatic space is even more innovation in terms of ad formats and similar results in terms of expectations around click-based performance. Q. I'm excited now that you said we will soon be making a purchase within an AI platform, and I'm just curious, can you share anything about like a personal purchase that you found very smooth through an AI platform? A. Definitely. Walmart is doing it really well. [Adoption] is low right now. We're at about 8% of people are actually transacting within ChatGPT. I think there's still concerns around adoption and trust. So, giving ChatGPT your credit card is the default, but actually you're giving Walmart your credit card. Purchases that I've made are pretty boring, but mostly in the grocery category. For further reference Watch Hillary's presentation video: MediaPost Live on YouTube. "The New Path from Discovery to Digital Shelf." March 2026. For more on personalization in AI shopping: EMARKETER. "How AI has remade product pages, discovery, and personalization." March 2026. For different retailers' offerings: ADWEEK. "Walmart and Target Are Battling to Show Up in AI Shopping Tools. Here's How Their Strategies Compare." March 2026. About the Author Hillary Bram is the VP of Performance Marketing at Exverus by Brainlabs where she holistically oversees the agency's robust retail media and e-commerce team, programmatic advertising, paid search, and paid social teams. Over a decade-plus in advertising, Hillary's expertise has expanded to meet each new technological innovation, bridging gaps between channels for the strongest possible returns. Previously, Hillary served as Director of Digital Strategy for top luxury brands, winning industry awards and speaking at conferences like IAB.

It's not all backpacks and pencils; any CPG brand can get in on the spending frenzy. Creators, Coupons, Click-and-Mortar shopping drive back-to-school sales in a year of uncertainty It's almost time for the kids to head BTS (back to school)! *Hold for applause* Beyond being the "most wonderful time of the year" for parents, it presents an incredible opportunity for a midyear revenue bump for brands of all types, not just folders and notebooks. So, how do you build a campaign that converts? Let's answer some... FAQs about back to school media planning: When should we start running back-to-school campaigns? Should we target parents or kids? How should we allocate budget between media channels? How do we compete with Amazon's dominance in the BTS space? How do we track the impact of upper-funnel awareness on lower-funnel conversions? When should we launch back-to-school media campaigns? Start in early summer and keep going. The back-to-school season is a quick flash in the pan. Many consumers decide on purchases weeks before school actually starts, so don't wait too long to launch your campaigns. In 2026, the National Retail Federation reported that 32% of shoppers had started their back-to-school shopping by early June, up from 22% just two years ago! But don't cut it short, either! Different states start school in different months. And some families wait to get teacher supply lists or class schedules to buy supplies, so last-minute deals are a key component of the season. Stay active through September! Should we target parents or kids separately? Consider parents' challenges and concerns when sending their kids back to school. After all, kids aren't the only ones with new schedules in the fall! Parents and caregivers adjust their weekday routines, too, so your messaging should reflect this. New solutions to save time or energy will surely be appreciated! For food and beverage brands, parents need on-the-go convenience for rushed breakfasts, packable lunches, dinner between practices, and car snacks. Brands that offer prepared or pre-cooked meals, ingredients that speed up or simplify the feeding process can capitalize on parents' needs through their messaging. Over half of millennial parents say their kids influence their back-to-school purchases (relatable content right there). While much of your content should center on explaining to parents why your product should be their go-to, don't forget about co-viewing media opportunities like Connected TV and YouTube, so the kids know it, too. A mix of channels that speak to both parents and children will go a long way toward your success. A one-night event and a month-long tournament are fundamentally different math problems. Here's how to plan for each. How should we allocate budget between media platforms? This, of course, will depend greatly upon your unique audience, product, budget, and goals. But there are a few main ways to frame your media strategy: a. Product-focused approach Naturally, CPG brands will want to focus their marketing budgets on retail media networks like Amazon, Walmart, and Target with sponsored search marketing. Adding back-to-school-related keywords to your search mix can boost visibility and drive sales. For example, a granola bar company could add long-tail keywords like "granola bars for school lunches", or "healthy after-school snacks" to their current bidding strategy. b. Content-focused approach These days, shoppers predominantly discover brands on social media and learn about trends from social influencers. Deloitte’s back-to-school survey showed that 75% of Gen-Z parents and 46% of millennial parents plan to use social media in their shopping journey. JanSport backpacks’ “Always With You” campaign used absurdity and humor in its TikTok and YouTube ad spots to appeal to Gen Z shoppers. This strategy hooks viewers with entertainment and then talks about the product, as opposed to centering product features like the search strategies above. Social media platforms are now brand discovery hubs, and search engines are now mid-funnel. Learn how to meet savvy consumers everywhere they search. c. Blended approach Historically, most BTS shopping took place in brick-and-mortar stores. But now, click-and-mortar shopping is the preferred modus operandi. This could look a few different ways: Buy Online and Pick Up In Store (BOPIS) Click and Collect, or buying online and returning in-store (BORIS) Discovering brands in one digital channel and purchasing in another So, a linear model of your customer journey is really indefensible now. Learn some more updated ways to think about your ideal customer's path to purchase below: How do we compete with Amazon's dominance in the back-to-school space? Though everyone is trying to save money amid inflation, offering discounts alone won't set your brand apart. The strong sales reports coming out of this year's Prime Day indicate that people are willing to spend right now! What keeps you top-of-mind in a sea of sameness is your brand equity, and it must be nurtured year-round to show up when it counts. Click to learn how to build brand equity that lasts Emphasize a specific brand value that's important to your ideal buyers. For example, clothing brands could highlight their commitment to “sustainable fashion” or “eco-friendly” materials. A food brand could boast "allergy-free" or "nontoxic", something important for most children. Highlight something unique your competitors don't have. AI LLMs are the funnel now. Surely we couldn't get through an article about product marketing without mentioning AI or agentic commerce, could we? Real quick: what the retailers and commerce partners actively partnering with OpenAI are designing the future of retail and e-commerce. Conversational AI is a new purchase channel. And, as of very recently, we can start to buy ads there. Learn more below: AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude will soon collapse the customer journey into a single conversation, and brands need a full-funnel media strategy to own them. How do we track the impact of upper-funnel awareness on lower-funnel conversions? You can do this a few different ways, depending on your campaign objectives, budget, and KPIs: A. Utilize full-funnel attribution models Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA). MTA models give credit to all touchpoints in the customer journey, allowing you to understand how upper funnel activities contribute to conversions. Media Mix Modeling (MMM). MMM analyzes the overall impact of different marketing channels on sales, helping you understand the contribution of upper funnel efforts. We’ve got the breakdown on how to determine whether MMM or MTA is right for your media campaign analysis! B. Implement testing Geo-Testing. Run campaigns in specific geographic areas to isolate the impact of upper funnel activities on sales and conversions. A/B Testing. Test different ad creatives, targeting strategies, and other variables to optimize your upper funnel campaigns. Analyze Data from Multiple Sources. Integrate data from various platforms (Google Analytics, social media analytics, advertising platforms) to get a holistic view of your marketing performance. C. Zoom out to the lifetime customer relationship Long-Term Perspective. Recognize that upper funnel marketing often has a delayed impact on conversions, and avoid focusing solely on immediate results. Avoid the trap of short-termism! Build Relationships. Emphasize building brand loyalty and fostering long-term relationships with customers, not just focusing on individual sales. Dig deep into your particular audience’s content & consumption habits, and build a custom-tailored media plan that makes your brand stand out from the crowd (in a good way). For more media buying tips, campaigns, and agency news; subscribe to our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter here.

Inside the paid media strategy behind a tentpole night in sports marketing FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2025 (LOS ANGELES) — Legendary Hall-of-Fame boxer Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao historically emerges from retirement and returns to the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) ring Saturday, July 19, 2025 against challenger Mario Barrios, and media agency of record Exverus Media is behind the promotional campaign. But the boxing world has changed since Pacquiao’s retirement in 2021 — fans increasingly gather and share their excitement on TikTok and sports podcasts, while TV viewing is more fractured than ever. Exverus and PBC have been working together since early 2024 to bring exciting matches like Tank vs. Martin and Canelo vs. Berlanga to a new generation of fans everywhere they watch. Planning media for the Super Bowl is very different from the World Cup. Learn how to plan one-night bursts and monthlong tournaments alike. So, to expand brand awareness for PBC and sell pay-per-views on Prime Video, the Exverus team (led by Media Director Vanessa Pinzon and Senior Planner Anna Acuna) has been driving a video-first media mix that includes social media, YouTube, Spotify Video ads, and custom partnerships with TMZ and Overtime. "We had our work cut out for us on this fight,” says Pinzon. “Pacquiao is such a recognizable name; all we had to do was get the word out of his return, and we knew fans would come running to buy the event.” Meanwhile, shoppable CTV ads are running across live sporting events like the MLB and NBA Summer League, while Rich Media branded takeovers provided by Kargo are reaching multicultural audiences on sites like Barstool Sports, Univision, and Telemundo Deportes. Interactive TV ads collapse the path between entertainment and purchase. As Pacquiao said last month at a media workout in Los Angeles, "This fight is very important to me because it’s history. I believe I’d be the first Hall of Famer to win another world title, and I’d also break my own record as the oldest welterweight world champion.” The event is available for purchase on Prime Video and fans will have continued access to the telecast through traditional cable and satellite outlets and PPV.com. About Exverus by Brainlabs Founded in 2014, Exverus is a Los Angeles media agency elevating growth-stage brands through full-funnel media planning, traditional and programmatic advertising, retail media & e-commerce, paid search, paid social, and analytics. Our data-driven media plans combine precise market research with creative ideas to confidently allocate every ad dollar for the maximum return. Named for the Latin phrase "from the truth", Exverus is dedicated to transparency and long-term client trust. Learn more at exverus.com. LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube About Premier Boxing Champions Launched in 2015, Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) is a live boxing television series that features the greatest array of boxing talent in all weight divisions, with fighters representing over 22 countries including the United States and Mexico. From former Olympians to Unified World Champions, the series features consistent quality programming where the best fight the best in thrilling, high-stakes matchups. Dedicated to delivering the highest quality product in the sport, PBC has consistently dominated the Boxing world with championship fights and spectacular events and has established itself as a powerhouse in the world of combat sports. For more details, visit premierboxingchampions.com. Instagram | YouTube | TikTok

How our retail media and e-commerce experts build cohesive shopping experiences that meet audiences everywhere We've said it before -- kill the funnel! The linear sales funnel is now obsolete, as the path to purchase is complex. Consumers weave between physical stores, websites, apps, and social platforms with increasing fluidity. For brand marketers and advertisers, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity: how can you create cohesive, compelling experiences that meet potential consumers wherever they are? Download our original report here The difference between unified commerce and omnichannel Unified commerce (UC) represents the natural evolution of omnichannel strategies. While omnichannel focused on consistency across touchpoints, unified commerce takes this further by integrating backend systems to eliminate silos and create truly seamless experiences. UC allows us to manage optimizations, implement automation, report data, and more all in one platform or tech stack. This shift isn't just about technology; it's about fundamentally reimagining how brands connect with consumers. The importance of unified commerce for brands Customer acquisition Shoppers don't think in siloes or channels. A 2024 report by Coresight Research (the official research partner of Shoptalk) showed that 65.8% of US consumers use multiple channels (such as online or in-store) to some degree when shopping. Winning brands need to understand their target consumers' habits in multiple areas of life and reach them at multiple, connectible touchpoints. Loyalty and retention Conventional marketing wisdom says that customer loyalty lives in CRM and email, but advances in first-party data collection are changing that. In 2026, smart brands use paid media as retention infrastructure, not just acquisition. This could look like retail media targeting existing customers (i.e. Amazon's Brand Tailored Promotions, Walmart Connect's shopper segments); paid social suppression & loyalty sequencing; and programmatic retargeting laddered to customer lifetime value. Paid media platforms are building retention strategies into their infrastructure, but most brands are still under-utilizing them. Build more effective media plans Collect insights from everywhere your consumers engage with brands and build a clear data narrative in order to develop more effective media plans in the future. Learn how your brand can show up in generative AI product recommendations to consumers. How to build a unified commerce strategy Invest in unified tech stacks Work with commerce platforms and marketing technology providers that offer integrated solutions. Look for partners that can connect the dots between physical retail, e-commerce, social commerce, and marketplaces. At Exverus, we use Skai to manage our e-commerce search efforts for the Amazon, Walmart, Sam's Club, Instacart, Target, and Kroger retailers. Other platforms include Salesforce, Adyen, and Kibo. Follow the customer, not the channel Structure your marketing plan around audience segments, rather than channels. This approach keeps the focus on delivering value to specific audiences regardless of where they engage. Use mobile as the connective tissue Mobile is often the bridge between physical and digital experiences. Prioritize mobile strategies that enhance discovery, consideration, and conversion across environments. Build measurement frameworks that cross channels Develop attribution models that account for the complex, non-linear customer journey. Focus on understanding touchpoint influence rather than siloed channel performance. Challenges to consider Data fragmentation Bringing together in-store, online, and offsite behaviors requires significant investment in infrastructure and strategy. Many brands struggle with legacy systems that weren't designed for cross-channel integration. Privacy and trust Consumers want personalization but are increasingly wary of how their data is used. Transparency and compliance will be critical as privacy regulations evolve and consumer expectations shift. Relevance at scale Delivering contextual, effective ads without overwhelming consumers or violating their privacy is a delicate balance. Brands must find ways to be present without being intrusive. Read here The path forward The brands that will dominate are obliterating the boundaries between channels completely. Your consumers are already living in a unified world. They're swiping from TikTok to Amazon to your site to a physical store without blinking. If you're still thinking in terms of "digital strategy" versus "retail strategy," you're already dead in the water. Will you be the brand that sets the standard, or the cautionary tale that couldn't keep pace? For more ad buying news and tips, join our free, weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter.

FAST, or free ad-supported streaming TV, is staking its claim in the streaming wars A growing number of Americans would rather see ads than pay for subscriptions. The SVOD (subscription video on demand), or streaming, wars are hotter than ever, between Paramount (trying to) merge with Warner Bros and Netflix getting into podcasting. But there's another, more quietly growing corner of the overall streaming sandbox. Ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) and Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST) channels are emerging as compelling alternatives for both viewers and advertisers. While the FAST market is still nascent, recent data suggests a bright future ahead. What are the most popular free ad-supported streaming services? The days of FAST being a well-kept secret are long gone. According to Comcast, 6 out of 10 households with connected TVs are using FAST services like Tubi, Xumo, Pluto, The Roku Channel, or Freevee; signaling a dramatic rise in adoption. These networks include full-screen TV programming across entertainment genres, news, sports, and local channels that premium CTV streamers don't provide. In fact, research published by Performance Marketing World shows that almost 7 in 10 CTV users prefer FAST to premium options! Learn the pros & cons of Premium CTV vs. FAST, measurement that matters, and how CTV drives downstream sales growth. Why is FAST growing in popularity (besides that it's, well, FREE)? Simply put, the ease of use. All you need is internet and your laptop, phone or smart TV. No subscription required, and sometimes you don't even need to log in. Just flip it on and scroll through channels, like TV in the good ole days. If you haven't tried it for yourself, check out Tubi or Pluto TV and you'll find everything from live sports to classic episodes of The Price is Right. More importantly, these platforms are delivering on their promise – many viewers report positive viewing experiences on FAST channels and enjoy the content they offer. News programming leads the pack in popularity, but the content spectrum spans far beyond headlines. Crime TV series, movies, and various other genres have found their home on these platforms, creating a diverse content buffet that rivals traditional cable offerings. The linear nature of FAST channels, mimicking traditional TV's familiar flow, has proven to be a significant draw for viewers seeking a more structured viewing experience. This quick yet comprehensive guide to programmatic advertising will help you make smarter investments in CTV, Display, Video, DOOH, and more. Are FAST channels worth the buy for advertisers? For advertisers, FAST platforms represent a goldmine of opportunities. These services offer precision targeting capabilities that traditional television can't match, allowing brands to reach specific audience segments with unprecedented accuracy. The ability to connect with cable subscribers through a digital medium, combined with cost-effective advertising rates, makes FAST an increasingly attractive proposition for media buyers. Benefits of advertising on free ad-supported streamers: More efficient & higher impressions than other CTV platforms Additional touchpoints to reach your audience on incremental platforms More flexibility to find your audience, given fragmented viewership habits More access to premium content across smaller platforms However, the terrain isn't without its challenges. Transparency remains a persistent concern in the FAST channel market. Direct buyers currently enjoy privileged access to valuable data – such as Samsung's automatic content recognition (ACR) information – while programmatic buyers often face limited visibility into their advertising performance. What's the future of FAST media buying? The future of ad-supported streaming services points toward a fascinating convergence with traditional linear television. Industry leaders anticipate increased focus on personalization and enhanced user experiences, blending the best aspects of both worlds. Major players like Comcast Advertising and Xumo are already pioneering this evolution, developing sophisticated tools and services for advertisers looking to capitalize on the FAST phenomenon. These platforms are also investing more resources in advertiser education, helping brands understand and leverage the unique benefits of free, ad-supported television. As viewers embrace these free alternatives and advertisers discover their potential, FAST channels are positioning themselves as a vital component of future media plans. While social media platforms face increasing scrutiny and premium CTV channels command premium rates, FAST channels represent an exciting frontier for brands seeking to connect with audiences from the comfort of their couches. Curious about telling your brand's story on FAST or traditional streamers? Drop us a line! We love talking TV. For more ad buying news and tips, join our free, weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter.

Digital streaming may dominate music and podcasts, but AM/FM radio is still king for news and sports. Learn how to build it into a high-performing, full-funnel media plan. AM/FM Radio: We're all ears When we talk about audio advertising, we usually mean music and podcasts. Those two are mostly streamed digitally these days. But for news and sports, it's...still the radio? Yes, believe it or not, recent Edison Research shows that just under 70% of all daily time spent listening to news is happening on AM/FM Radio, with sports close behind at 61%. And Radio makes up 67% of all daily time spent with ad-supported audio in the US! Source: Nielsen Meanwhile, Nielsen projects AM/FM Radio overtaking linear TV in ratings among ages 18-49 by a margin of 47% in 2025. Finally, iHeartMedia reports that the #1 use of Amazon’s Alexa smart speaker is AM/FM Radio, with iHeart-owned stations being the most popular in the US! Are radio ads still effective? These audiences are worth investing ad dollars in -- if you want thoughtful, engaged consumers in your target group! In December 2024, Digiday relayed data from Lumen Research showing: "News consumers are 2.5 times more likely to pay attention to ads when consuming trusted news content than ads displayed across social media platforms. This heightened attention is directly linked to better recall and action." Placing your brand in the context of a journalistic outlet listeners trust to provide accurate, high-quality information creates a positive brand perception that lasts. Source: Westwood One Local radio advertising vs. Digital radio campaigns Local radio advertising appears on radio stations within a specific geographic area to reach geo-targeted audiences. Benefits include: Efficiency: Reach large audiences while avoiding waste. Trust and brand safety: Radio stations adhere to strict FCC content guidelines. Versatility: Audio spots communicate a variety of messages like sales, events, & brand storytelling Loyalty: Local stations often have loyal listeners who tune in regularly and engage. Read Here How to advertise on the radio Of course, audio is just one piece of your advertising strategy. Here are a few best practices for integrating Local Radio advertising into a full-funnel media plan: 1. Clear, consistent creative Radio spots are excellent sonic branding opportunities, but they're short. Focus on one simple, memorable message with a clear call-to-action (CTA). 2. The Multiplier Medium Radio gets its nickname by converting existing demand (increasing purchase consideration by 18%) while creating future demand (increasing awareness by 50% and lifting sentiment 32%). Mix radio with sales-driving channels like search or retail, and watch the magic of the multiplier effect. 3. Get local & personalize Conduct deep market research to understand the differences in media consumption habits and lifestyles for audience segments in different parts of the country. Then, create tailored campaigns for each of your designated market areas (AI can help!) to resonate with listeners efficiently and influentially. Local stations can also lend a grassroots approach to your media plan, offering added value in terms of local event sponsorships, ticket giveaways, onsite remote activations with local talent and more. 4. Tie radio performance to multiple business KPIs Reach is good, but website traffic is a much stronger metric (a vanity URL can more directly attribute radio ads to web traffic). Brand lift or awareness studies measure radio's impact on audience perceptions. And quarterly or yearly brand revenue growth can be attributed to radio by offering radio-specific promo codes or URLs. Read here How much do local radio ads cost? The pros at Ad Results Media report that, in 2025, a 60-second spot is sold by the cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) or cost per rating point (CPP), averaging between $5 and $750. The final cost depends upon several factors, including: size of the target audience listener demographics time of day it runs ad length and more. A good media planning team will help you decide how much of your total advertising budget you should devote to radio for the highest possible return on investment (ROI). Read Here If you've been underinvesting in radio, don't worry: Your competitors probably are, too! Tell your brand's story across the airwaves, and reach millions of receptive listeners in enjoyable environments. For more advertising news and tips, join our free, weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter.

With third-party cookies on life support, it's imperative that brands target audiences based on the media they consume, not personal data. The media buyers at Exverus always consider context when targeting consumers. Why contextual advertising impacts ROI The ad industry has been studying the effects of context since 1958, but many marketers have shrugged it off like a task they'd get around to eventually. That era just ended. With third-party cookies on life support and privacy regulations tightening globally, contextual advertising isn't just timely - it's table stakes. But convincing your CFO requires answering one simple question: "Does contextual advertising deliver measurable ROI for brand campaigns?" The answer is yes, but not reasons you might expect. Unlike performance campaigns where you can draw a straight line from click to conversion, brand campaigns operate on a longer timeline and require more sophisticated measurement. Contextual advertising fits naturally into this framework because it influences brand perception at scale without relying on invasive tracking. Research from Integral Ad Science (IAS) shows that contextually aligned ads deliver a 23% increase in detailed ad recall and a 27% boost in recollection of broader brand narratives. Furthermore, research shows contextual ads are 50% more likely to be clicked on, and they deliver 30% higher conversion rates. Why? When ads appear in content consumers already care about, they inherit that positive attention. When ads align emotionally and cognitively with surrounding content, they feel helpful, rather than intrusive. Many brands know intuitively that reaching audiences in relevant content environments matters, but translating that intuition into budget justifications requires data - not just vanity metrics, but true impacts on the business. Here's how. Key metrics that demonstrate ROI Brand lift A properly structured brand lift study measures whether your contextual placements are actually moving the needle on awareness, consideration, and purchase intent. We've seen contextual campaigns deliver brand lift increases ranging from 5% to 25% depending on category, creative quality, and media mix. The key is using test-and-control methodology to isolate the impact of your contextual placements from other marketing activities. A scientific approach to measuring paid media's impact on actual business growth Viewability & Attention Because contextual ads appear in relevant content environments, users are already engaged with related topics—they're not being interrupted mid-scroll through unrelated content. Industry benchmarks show contextual placements often achieve 5-15 percentage points higher viewability rates than behavioral targeting, with some premium publishers seeing viewability rates above 80%. More importantly, attention metrics (measured through eye-tracking or engagement proxies) tend to be stronger when the ad aligns with the content context. Advertisers can now measure the quality of attention paid to their ads. But is it worth the investment? Cost-efficiency Contextual advertising typically delivers 10-30% lower CPMs than behavioral targeting, especially on premium publisher inventory. Why? Because you're not paying the "audience tax"—that premium charged for highly specific behavioral targeting segments. Lower CPMs mean your brand campaign budget stretches further, achieving more reach and frequency within the same investment. Cross-channel attribution Contextual advertising rarely operates in isolation, and its impact often shows up in downstream channels. We've tracked significant increases in branded search volume (15-40% lift is common) following contextual brand campaigns, along with measurable improvements in direct traffic and organic social engagement. Eliminating data silos and maximizing visibility into the customer journey is crucial to understanding how your omnichannel campaigns are performing. MMM can track the impact of upper-funnel, brand-building tactics on sales performance downstream. Examples of contextual targeting The Chosen meets viewers where they already watch For 2025's The Chosen: Indie Streams to Big Screens campaign, Media Director Anna Elema and her team gathered insights about their target audience using market research tools like MRI Simmons. Then, they determined the media mix based on channels the typical consumer of that profile already frequents, rather than relying on identifiable data from the consumers themselves. At the end of the campaign, the Analytics team partnered with DISQO for a cross-channel brand lift study to capture the impact of paid media across Search, Social, CTV, Audio, and others holistically. The study showed a +5.6% brand lift, or a staggering 4.6x the industry standard! This client was an indie production with a limited budget, so we couldn't waste a dollar appealing to irrelevant audiences. Contextual targeting helped us efficiently reach viewers in brand-safe environments they already trust and enjoy. Exverus VP Tasha Day explains the award-winning strategy that sold $5MM at the box office Premier Protein teases premium recipes in Pinterest One of Exverus' largest clients, Premier Protein, knows well the power of social media advertising and social commerce, but platforms like Instagram and TikTok are saturated - it's hard to stand out! Pinterest, by contrast, is more niche and specifically interest-based. Users visit Pinterest actively hoping to be inspired, learn new things, and discover new products. As part of an ongoing, integrated media strategy, the Premier Protein team at Exverus took over the Pinterest homepage and search page with dayparted recipe videos to catch coffee drinkers in the morning and fitness enthusiasts later in the day. The results? Reach that exceeded Pinterest's CPM standard by 14% and Engagement that outperformed benchmarks by 8%! Click to see more Premier Protein activations on Pinterest Seedtag explodes awareness & consideration for Colgate Click to see more of Seedtag's campaign case studies Switching gears now: An ad-tech vendor we work with, Seedtag, illustrates how contextual advertising maximized brand awareness and positive perception for Colgate Plax mouthwash. Seedtag deployed its custom Contextual Impact Display, Contextual Branded Video, and Contextual Engagement Display formats against online content related to wellness, lifestyle, sports, and health that Colgate users enjoy. The ad units felt informative, rather than disruptive. As a result, brand favorability spiked 44%, and purchase consideration lifted 12% among Colgate's target consumers. Seedtag's cookie-less solutions drove measurable impact on the brand's sustained growth. Brush up on the basics of programmatic advertising with real FAQs from marketers. Final Note Consider multidimensional alignment: Match not just the topic but the emotional tone, energy level, and cognitive environment of the content your ad runs against. A funny ad in a sitcom only works if humor connects authentically to your brand story. For more media buying tips, agency news, and case studies, subscribe to our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter.

Google's Gemini offers virtual try-on for clothes shoppers. The new brand discovery channel In 2026, product recommendations from Generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Amazon's "Buy For Me" are no longer experimental—they're fully operational. And over the next few years, agentic commerce will evolve the whole shopping experience. The question isn't whether your customers will use AI agents to shop – it's whether your brand will be the one they recommend. What is agentic commerce? Agentic commerce, or agentic shopping, is shopping online powered by AI agents acting on humans' behalf. These AI agents could be embedded into generative AI platforms and/or retailers' own e-commerce sites, automatically recommending or purchasing products based on the human's needs and parameters. What is an example of agentic commerce? To borrow an example from McKinsey, "Imagine that a promising new job opportunity requires you to relocate your family across the country....You need to find a comfortable home with a manageable commute, decide what to bring and what to sell, and engage a trustworthy moving company to deliver everything on time. Then there’s the issue of finding new doctors, veterinarians for the pets, a gym, and after-school programs for the kids. It’s overwhelming. Now imagine that you had an autonomous AI agent to handle these tasks for you. With a deep understanding of your budget, lifestyle, commute preferences, kids’ hobbies, and even your pets’ needs, the agent can get to work. To research neighborhoods and housing options, it synthesizes data from multiple sites and platforms, scanning myriad real estate listings and recommending the most appealing choices. When you e-sign your lease, the agent reviews the terms to ensure anything atypical is highlighted and gets your attention." The possibilities are truly infinite. One day soon, AI agents could: automatically research and book travel schedule appointments help with supply chain logistics, and so much more! What should marketers know about agentic commerce? It completely reshapes the customer journey. Instead of starting a product search on Amazon and a flight search on Priceline, for example, consumers could use AI chatbots as the starting point for everything. This means that, instead of splitting your media spend between "brand-building" and "performance driving" channels, you'll need to build omnichannel ecosystems that an AI agent can easily understand. As of 2026, most retail media spending still occurs onsite (mostly on sponsored search and product listings). But that model breaks down when discovery shifts upstream to AI agents who filter and recommend brands without shoppers even needing to visit a retailer or website. The path to purchase will collapse into an instant, and so will data collection and learnings for brands. There is, however, a risk of losing visibility over the customer journey. As Forbes points out, "While orders may be attributed to ChatGPT, Gemini, or other LLMs, merchants are largely in the dark about everything that happened before the transaction." Winning at agentic commerce requires product data quality, structured content, and creative assets designed for AI comprehension, not just search rankings. How can brands get recommended by AI agents? Ensure your site is visible to each major GenAI tool For example, ChatGPT uses a web crawler called OAI-SearchBot to find, access, and surface information in ChatGPT search. For your site to be discoverable in ChatGPT, make sure you aren't blocking OAI-SearchBot. You may need to update your robots.txt file, to ensure OAI-SearchBot has access. For Anthropic's Claude, log into your claude.ai account. Access your profile settings. Look for the Web Search feature and toggle it on if it's currently disabled. Other GenAI tools like Perplexity and Google's Gemini may have their own processes for ensuring searchability. Become a trusted source of information Build your brand authority as a reputable source that AI chatbots will want to reference. This cannot be done by simply buying placements in AI answers. It has to be earned through positive publicity, good reviews/referrals, and producing informative content. More on how to do that below: Our parent agency, Brainlabs, is the domain expert on GEO and organic AI visibility. Feed your products directly to the bots ChatGPT launched brand plugins back in 2023 so the bot could relay accurate, up-to-date brand information directly to searchers asking questions. Now, you can provide product feeds directly to ChatGPT to potentially show up as a recommendation. OpenAI's submission periods open and close, so sign up here to be notified of the next opening. Audit your product data infrastructure When deciding which products to recommend, GenAI tools scan the structured metadata of product pages (product description, price, etc.) and third-party reviews for its summaries. This means your copy needs to be thorough, informative, and highlight key features that searchers might be looking for (budget-friendly, limited time only, sustainable, etc.) Are your SKUs tagged with deep attributes (price, size, ingredients, ESG scores)? Is your catalog synchronized in real-time across all retail partners? Also, as website content becomes more Q&A-style and less keyword-based, so should your product copy and media messaging. Anticipate likely questions and answer them naturally to get recognized by AI platforms. "Visual search is growing, especially among younger users, so don't neglect your image SEO. Keep your product photos fresh and appealing, with thoroughly descriptive image descriptions, captions, and alt text. These steps will help users discover your brand content." -- Michael Robbins, Exverus Associate Director of Search & Social The choice is simple: adapt your retail media strategy for an agent-first world, or watch your share of voice—and share of cart—get algorithmically optimized away. Need help? The retail media & e-commerce media buying experts at Exverus know how to keep brands top-of-mind and added to baskets everywhere. This piece originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For more tips, research, and analysis; subscribe for free here.

In 2026, multicultural marketing is mainstream. But appealing to diverse audiences effectively takes some thought, care, and research. With so much public debate around DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) these days, it can be difficult for marketers to know how to proceed. But the numbers make it clear: Multicultural and diverse audiences now represent 40% of the U.S. population and are growing faster than the general market. Yet, most brands allocate only 5% of their marketing budgets to reaching these vital consumer segments. This disparity represents both a challenge and an opportunity for brands. What is multicultural media buying? Multicultural media buying is the process of strategically allocating advertising budgets to reach diverse audiences by understanding their cultural preferences and media consumption habits, then tailoring ad campaigns accordingly. In the late 90s and early 2000s, "multicultural marketing" referred to targeting and messaging intended for minority racial groups, but it has since expanded to include LGBTQ+ groups and people with disabilities. Many have argued that the term "multicultural marketing" is obsolete because thinking of it as a standalone initiative, separate from regular marketing efforts, only furthers divisions and diminishes the buying power of minority groups. As Notorious111's Chief Creative Officer Brandon Rochon said in an op-ed for Ad Age, Gen Z, the most diverse generation in history, has grown up in a world where culture isn’t segmented but shared. They don’t see hip-hop as “Black music” or streetwear as niche—they see it as the culture. Brands that fail to evolve and continue treating multicultural markets as afterthoughts risk irrelevance because, in the new economy, culture isn’t a subcategory—it’s the currency of connection. And while it's true that including potential consumers of many demographics should be a regular part of any media plan, appealing to underserved groups does take some thought and consideration. When brands go wrong and come across as tone-deaf, the results can be catastrophic. What is the buying power of multicultural consumers? EMARKETER data shows that in America, Hispanic consumers are projected to reach $2.8 trillion (with a T) in buying power by 2026, an increase of 320% since 2000. African-American consumers are projected to reach $2.1 trillion in buying power by 2026, a 183% increase since 2000. And Asian-American consumers are expected to reach $1.9 trillion in buying power, or an incredible 367% increase from 2000 to 2026. That's some serious dough. Do multicultural audiences lack scale for major campaigns? No — this is often referred to as the "scale myth." Despite representing 40% of the population, multicultural audiences receive only about 5% of marketing budgets on average. Modern programmatic advertising and addressable media tools make reaching these audiences more efficient than ever. The truth is that multicultural audiences offer tremendous scale. As Gonzalo Del Fa, president of GroupM Multicultural, noted to Adweek, "Scale doesn't come from the content. Scale comes from the audience." The Integration vs. Specialization Debate Should multicultural marketing be integrated or run as a specialized strategy? The industry is split. Some argue full integration into general market planning avoids treating diverse audiences as separate or "other." Others maintain that distinct media consumption habits require specialized expertise. Exverus's approach favors bringing multicultural expertise into mainstream planning from the start, rather than treating it as an afterthought. Advocates of the integration perspective argue that separating multicultural initiatives reinforces divisions and treats diverse audiences as "other". They point to Gen Z's fluid cultural identities as evidence that strict demographic targeting is becoming outdated. Integration supporters worry that separate multicultural teams can lead to token representation or relegating diverse markets to smaller budgets. On the other hand, devotees of the specialized expertise perspective say that different communities have distinct media consumption habits which require targeted approaches. They worry that "integration" often means multicultural considerations get diluted or lost entirely, and they point to failed campaigns where brands misunderstood cultural sensitivities as evidence for specialized knowledge. Our former SVP of Strategy, Melissa Andraos, explains: "I believe including specialists with multicultural media expertise is critical for reaching diverse audiences with relevant messaging that speaks to key values in order to build up brand loyalty. To me, it's the most authentic way to foster meaningful relationships." Best practices for authentic multicultural media buying Invest in cultural intelligence This means going beyond surface-level demographics to develop nuanced insights into various communities' values, interests, and lifestyles. What kind of TV, movies, or YouTube shows do they watch? What kind of social content do they enjoy? Build teams with firsthand cultural knowledge or partner with specialists who understand these nuances beyond demographic statistics. Plan for multicultural from the start Integrate diverse audience considerations into initial campaign planning rather than adapting general market campaigns later. Consumers can quickly detect forced or superficial diversity efforts. Instead of checking boxes, successful brands create campaigns that resonate with genuine cultural relevance and respect. Privacy-first targeting solutions Today's contextual targeting capabilities offer sophisticated ways to connect with diverse audiences without compromising privacy. Advanced AI tools can categorize content with remarkable precision, aligning context with audience taxonomies at whatever granularity your brand requires. Omnichannel media planning for scale and reach Working with omnichannel DSPs or trading desks allows brands to connect programmatic advertising seamlessly with cultural data signals. Additionally, partnering with diverse influencers who have authentic connections to your target communities can dramatically amplify your message. Test and learn Use A/B testing with brand and performance KPIs to refine your approach, recognizing that diverse communities respond differently to various content and formats. Support diverse media ownership Allocate budget to publishers and platforms owned by underrepresented groups, creating a virtuous cycle of representation. "From my 12 years' experience in multicultural advertising, I believe it is critical to have a Total Marketing Approach, which recognizes the importance of supporting different market segments (General Market, Hispanic, Asian, African-American, etc.) under one campaign idea and tailors the creative messaging and media plan for each segment. With the US population and buying power for these segments growing, we need to keep evolving toward Total Market Approaches." - Vanessa Pinzon, Exverus Media Director What is the Total Marketing Approach? It's a strategy that recognizes the importance of supporting different market segments (General Market, Hispanic, Asian, African-American, etc.) under one unified campaign idea, tailoring creative and media plans for each segment. The future of multicultural media As we move further into 2026, the distinction between "multicultural" and "general market" continues to blur. The most successful brands recognize that culture sits at the center of consumer identity and purchasing decisions. For Gen Z and younger millennials especially, diversity isn't a political statement; it's their lived reality. Brands that authentically reflect this reality in their media strategies will capture the attention, loyalty, and purchasing power of America's increasingly diverse consumer base. For more advertising news and tips, join our free, weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter.

Boutique fitness franchisor appoints Brainlabs for full-funnel media planning and performance across its portfolio of brands. JULY 15, 2026 (LOS ANGELES, CA) -- Xponential Fitness, the global franchisor behind boutique fitness brands Club Pilates, Pure Barre, Yoga Six, StretchLab and BFT, has appointed Brainlabs as its media agency of record. The scope covers full-funnel brand strategy, media planning and buying, and performance analysis. The account will be managed by Brainlabs' Los Angeles-based team. Xponential and Brainlabs share a commitment to integrating technology and scientific rigor into everyday operations. Xponential's XPLUS program delivers fitness classes digitally for at-home or on-the-go accessibility, while Brainlabs' proprietary technology platform, Cortex AI, optimizes media strategy at speed and scale. News of the partnership was announced by MediaPost today. "We chose Brainlabs because they're ahead of the curve in terms of technical expertise. Their spirit of 'growing but still boutique' is just like ours, so it's a perfect fit." - Mike Nuzzo, CEO at Xponential Fitness The partnership's first national campaign, "Every Body Club Pilates," sought to expand the brand's audience by highlighting diverse body types and making Pilates feel approachable to anyone. Future efforts will extend this approach across Xponential's portfolio, offering more classes in-studio and online with highly trained instructors and industry-grade technology. "We launched the 'Every Body Club Pilates' campaign in record time. It's a testament to the agility of our team and the speed our technology allows for." - Vanessa Pinzon, Media Director at Brainlabs Work is already underway across the Xponential portfolio. About Xponential Fitness Xponential Fitness, Inc. (NYSE: XPOF) is one of the leading global franchisors of boutique health and wellness brands. In partnership with its franchisees and master franchisees, Xponential offers energetic, accessible, and personalized workout experiences led by highly qualified instructors in studio locations throughout the U.S. and internationally, with franchise, master franchise and international expansion agreements in 49 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and 28 additional countries. Xponential’s portfolio of brands includes Club Pilates, the largest Pilates brand in the United States; StretchLab, a concept offering one-on-one and group stretching services; YogaSix, the largest franchised yoga brand in the United States; Pure Barre, a total body workout that uses the ballet barre to perform small isometric movements, and the largest Barre brand in the United States; and BFT, a functional training and strength-based program. For more information, please visit the Company’s website at xponential.com. Follow on LinkedIn. About Exverus by Brainlabs Founded in 2014, Exverus is a global, independent media agency growing brands through full-funnel media planning & buying, traditional and programmatic advertising, retail media & e-commerce, paid search, paid social, and analytics. Our data-driven media plans combine brand and performance under one scientific brain to confidently allocate every ad dollar for the maximum return. Named for the Latin phrase "from the truth", Exverus (acquired by Brainlabs in 2025) is dedicated to transparency and long-term client trust. Learn more at exverus.com. Follow on LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube Please direct all press queries to michelle.andrade@exverus.com.

Mastering your retail media search strategy can persuade shoppers already in a purchasing mindset. A new set of challengers is rising up to steal share of search from Google. No, they’re not Bing or ChatGPT – they’re retail media networks (RMNs). While social media takes the reins of brand discovery, RMNs are becoming a mid-funnel consideration-driver where consumers go to learn more about brands they discover. Amazon is now the most popular place for US adults to start a product search, according to 2024 research, and EMARKETER predicts retail media ad spend will more than double over the next five years, reaching $129.93 billion by 2028. So, how can your brand influence customers right where they already shop? Read our comprehensive guide to buying retail media for growth across the funnel FAQs about retail search What is retail media search marketing? Retail media search marketing is a strategy that helps brands appear prominently on the search results pages of retailers’ e-commerce websites and mobile apps. It can be achieved by organic or paid media tactics, onsite or off-site, leveraging the value of the immense first-party purchase data retailers hold. In other words, it’s applying the principles of search marketing to e-commerce sites and retail media networks (RMNs). What is the difference between onsite and offsite retail media? Onsite is a retail media solution that displays advertisements for brands within a retailer’s website or mobile app. An example is opening Walmart’s shopping app and seeing an ad for Premier Protein displayed at the top of the search results page for “protein shakes”. Off-site is media published by a brand on external advertising platforms, including traditional search engines, social media, display, video, mobile, audio ads, and more. Currently, the biggest driver of off-site retail media growth is Connected TV (CTV)! Is retail media the same thing as Google Retail Search? Not exactly. Retail Search is a specific service provided by Google Cloud that some retailers use to employ similar Google Search type capabilities but with the retailer’s own products. Most retail media search ads are bought through RMNs or demand-side platforms (DSPs). Why does retail media search matter for brands right now? High purchase intent Sponsored search advertising has exploded in the last couple of years because consumers come to retailer sites or apps already in a purchasing mindset – no demand generation required. Precise targeting capabilities Social media networks may have data on what you’ve shown interest in before, but retailers know what you’ve actually bought before. That makes their deep wells of first-party consumer data extremely valuable for efficient targeting and closed-loop measurement. Trouble at Google Retail search poses a huge threat to the search market dominance of Google, which regularly faces antitrust behavior allegations and steep competition from AI-powered search bots. While retail media search spend grows like ivy, traditional search ad spending growth will slow to just 0.9% YoY in 2028. How can brands sharpen their retail media search strategy? Five moves make the biggest difference: prioritize home page placements for visibility, segment audiences precisely using retailer first-party data, own long-tail niche keywords instead of relying on broad match, plan for the full nonlinear customer journey (not just the final click), and track the metrics that actually map to business sales growth. Prioritize home page placements The home page of a retailer’s site or app is a coveted placement for advertising because it’s the most visible with the widest reach, and it’s the most memorable thanks to the primacy effect. Here’s a good visualization of the purpose each page level of an e-commerce site serves: Photo Credit: Google Cloud Segment your audience If your feminine product ads are being served to biologically male customers, those wasted impressions are wasted ad dollars. Every product isn’t right for every consumer! To optimize your retail media budget, you’ll need to get precise with your targeting and segment your audiences. Fortunately, the first-party data provided by retail media networks solve this problem very well, if you’re putting in the right audience parameters. Check out this excellent list of audience segments put together by the IAB: Photo Credit: Jeffrey Bustos, IAB Dominate your niche Our own Senior Search Specialist, Michael Robbins, advises: “Find the long-tail search terms that resonate with your consumers best, and aim to own those key terms. Be specific; do not take your hands off the wheel, going broad-match and letting the ‘algorithm’ do the work.” Take this example from our back-to-school marketing guide: Adding contextual keywords to your search mix can boost visibility and drive sales. For instance, a granola bar company could add long-tail keywords like “granola bars for school lunches”, or “healthy after-school snacks” to their current bidding strategy. Learn how AI search tools are impacting our paid search strategies Consider the whole customer journey Despite the popularity of e-commerce and online shopping, most consumers are operating in a “click-and-mortar” style: either buying online and picking up in store, buying online and returning in store, or discovering brands in-store and following on social media. To beat the competition, you’ll need to meet your target customer at each point along their nonlinear journey. Don't forget to influence them BEFORE they start shopping - using tactics like TV, video, audio and OOH to improve brand perception and credibility. Choose your metrics wisely As with any media tactic, it’s imperative to use the right metrics for your brand’s specific campaign goals. The report below from IAB Europe shows there’s still a discrepancy between the information sought by media buyers and what’s provided by media sellers. Photo Credit: IAB Europe For CPG brands advertising on retail media networks, of course, the most important result is growth in business sales. But over what timeline? And by what means? Which channels are worth continuing to invest in, and which aren’t? These kinds of questions are more complex, and they’re answered with help from tools like: Holistic measurement tools like DISQO Marketing mix modeling Multi-touch attribution Brand lift studies (which predict next year’s growth) The right media agency can help you figure out what goals and metrics make the most sense for your business and how you can exceed them! Your retail media search strategy is key to eclipsing your business objectives. For more media buying news and tips, subscribe to our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter.