{"slug": "marketers-embrace-ai-just-not-for-media-buying-holdco-gen-z-summer", "title": "Marketers Embrace AI, Just Not For Media Buying; Holdco Gen Z Summer", "summary": "More than 100 marketers surveyed by Digiday said they primarily use AI for data analysis and content creation, but only 32% use it to buy ad placements due to concerns about poor performance and lack of human oversight. Havas acquired experiential youth culture agency Archrival to expand its youth-focused division Havas Play, following a trend of holding companies buying creator agencies rather than building them in-house. LinkedIn plans to release influencer monetization tools in its 2027 fiscal year, including a brand deal marketplace and subscription features, as the platform shifts toward a creator economy model.", "body_md": "**Not On My Dime**\n\nMarketers are increasingly using AI, but mostly for low-stakes tasks, not media-buying decisions.\n\nA Digiday [survey](https://digiday.com/media-buying/marketers-ai-for-social-retail-media-skepticism-in-ai-ad-buying/) of more than 100 marketers names data analysis and content creation as the most popular AI use cases. Advertisers surveyed also prefer AI for social and retail media compared to other channels.\n\nOne could argue that the closer a task is to media spend and performance outcomes, the less likely marketers are to rely on AI. Among marketers using AI for social campaigns, two-thirds use it for data analysis and 57% for content creation – but only 32% use it to buy ad placements, which matches the percentage of advertisers who let AI buy ad space for retail media campaigns.\n\nWithout human oversight, brands worry AI could make poor media-buying decisions that hurt performance or even go totally awry, and marketers would be on the hook. Thus their reticence.\n\nIn contrast, marketers appear comfortable delegating AI grunt work, such as stock-style creative generation or data analysis, so long as they’re subject to human approval.\n\nIn other words, marketers draw a distinction between assistive AI and autonomous decision-making.\n\n**The M&A Trend**\n\nBrands need experts that can help them connect to young people in authentic ways. So ad agencies are opening up their wallets to attract that expertise.\n\nAgency holding company Havas has acquired experiential youth culture agency Archrival, [Adweek](https://www.adweek.com/agencies/havas-acquires-youth-culture-agency-archrival-to-expand-play-in-north-america/) reports. Archrival will be folded into Havas Play, a division the holdco [relaunched last summer](https://www.adweek.com/agencies/havas-play-levels-up-in-north-america-with-new-leaders/) in North America that’s focused on youth-oriented channels like creators, gaming, music, sports and live events.\n\nThe plan is for Archrival to use Havas Media Network’s Converged.AI tool to find new ways to engage with communities and be more responsive to shifting trends.\n\nHavas isn’t alone in making this bet.\n\nAccenture Song made a similar acquisition earlier this week by buying creator-focused agency Whalar. The deal represents a coming-of-age moment for creator marketing, with the large agency budgets managed by Accenture finally moving into the sector, [according to](https://www.businessinsider.com/what-accenture-buying-whalar-means-for-creator-economy-acquisitions-2026-6) Tristan Rice, a partner at M&A firm SI Global.\n\nAnd these are just the latest influencer-focused acquisitions on the buy side. Since 2023, Havas has also bought Wilderness, WPP has acquired The Goat Agency and Publicis has added Influential and Captiv8.\n\nWhen it comes to creators, agencies seem to prefer M&A to DIY.\n\n**LinkedInfluencing**\n\nRemember when LinkedIn was for job hunting and posting about career advancements?\n\nCute.\n\nNowadays, the professional networking-focused social media platform is leaning into the creator economy model, following the playbooks of YouTube and TikTok. And we all know what that means: new monetization products for influencers.\n\n[Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-creator-plans-new-features-roadmap-2026-6) reports that LinkedIn is planning to release a slate of influencer tools during the company’s 2027 fiscal year (which starts in July 2026 – don’t ask).\n\nThe new releases include a dealmaking marketplace where creators can partner with brands on sponsored content, a subscription feature and a direct purchase or consultancy-type way to “buy ‘experiences’ from creators, like a paid advice session,” per BI.\n\nAlthough LinkedIn is “investing heavily in creators and creator marketing,” it’s still “early stages” for the platform, says Gigi Robinson, a creator in LinkedIn’s partner program.\n\nLinkedIn has started down a long road that may take it from a business networking and prospecting site toward something that looks a lot more like TikTok or YouTube – although hopefully not a full slide into dating-app territory. (We shudder, cross ourselves and throw salt over a shoulder at the prospect.)\n\n**But Wait! There’s More!**\n\nOpenAI announces a data partnership with LiveRamp using the latter’s conversion API hub. [[Adweek](https://www.adweek.com/media/can-chatgpt-ads-get-people-to-buy-openai-partners-with-liveramp-to-prove-they-do/)]\n\nMeanwhile, OpenAI is in talks with NVIDIA to lease a $500 billion data center in Ohio that would require 10 gigawatts of energy, which is roughly 4.5 times the energy-generating capacity of the Hoover Dam – and enough to [increase US total emissions by 0.5%](https://bsky.app/profile/ketanjoshi.co/post/3mnxd745ll22z). [[The Information](https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openai-talks-lease-10-gigawatt-ohio-data-center-backing-nvidia)] (h/t to [@ketanjoshi.co](https://bsky.app/profile/ketanjoshi.co) for calculating the total emissions increase)\n\nOh, and a proposed [$100 billion data center project in Utah](https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelposner/2026/06/09/one-utah-countys-fight-over-a-100-billion-data-center---and-what-it-means-for-all-of-us/) has AI super PACs spending more than $1.3 million to influence the state’s congressional primaries for the upcoming midterm elections. [[Deseret News](https://www.deseret.com/politics/2026/06/09/anthropic-pac-public-first-and-openai-pac-leading-the-future-are-pouring-money-into-utah-congressional-primaries/)]\n\nWhat the future of Google might look like. [[Search Engine Journal](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/what-the-future-of-google-looks-like/578349/)]\n\nThe Trump administration is urging the UK government to reconsider a proposed social media ban on users under 16 because the measure would “impose disproportionate compliance burdens on American companies.” [[The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/09/white-house-urges-uk-not-ban-social-media-under-16s)]\n\nTV and streaming networks are laying the groundwork for outcome-based buying. [[Digiday](https://digiday.com/future-of-tv/future-of-tv-briefing-how-tv-and-streaming-networks-are-laying-the-groundwork-for-outcome-based-buying/)]\n\nMedia agency Mile Marker acquires creative agency LIFT. [[release](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mile-marker-acquires-lift-to-advance-content-marketing-capabilities-302793745.html)]\n\n**You’re Hired!**\n\nDisney promotes Brette Lipari to VP of advertising sales. [[post](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/brette-lipari-5a10a311_newjob-ugcPost-7470467993668304896-R0uD/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACIUnB4Bq_sHshb02LCfivzbuCthD7aoTco)]", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/marketers-embrace-ai-just-not-for-media-buying-holdco-gen-z-summer", "canonical_source": "https://www.adexchanger.com/daily-news-roundup/thursday-11062026/", "published_at": "2026-06-11 04:03:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-11 19:05:42.370975+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "generative-ai", "ai-tools", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["Digiday", "Havas"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/marketers-embrace-ai-just-not-for-media-buying-holdco-gen-z-summer", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/marketers-embrace-ai-just-not-for-media-buying-holdco-gen-z-summer.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/marketers-embrace-ai-just-not-for-media-buying-holdco-gen-z-summer.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/marketers-embrace-ai-just-not-for-media-buying-holdco-gen-z-summer.jsonld"}}