A monthly roundup of the updates worth knowing about and what they actually mean for your brand.
May’s been a busy one so far. Between a genuinely historic shift in the ad market, a couple of new platform features that are worth paying attention to and a broader conversation about where AI is taking us — there’s a fair amount to catch up on.
Here’s what caught our eye this month.
Meta Has Overtaken Google in Ad Revenue
This is big. For the first time ever, Meta is on track to generate more in global digital ad revenue than Google in 2026 — $243 billion versus $239 billion, according to Emarketer/AdWeek.
Google has held that top spot for as long as most of us have been working in marketing. So this isn’t a small headline.
What’s driving it? A few things. Meta’s growth rate is forecast at 24.1% this year, compared to Google’s 11.9%. Reels is performing well. Advantage+ has made running ads easier (and more effective) for smaller brands that couldn’t previously justify the time to manage campaigns properly. Plus, AI-generated creative tools are starting to actually work.
If your business already has a Meta-heavy strategy, you’re in a decent position. But this shift does raise a question worth thinking about: is your budget split still based on where your audience actually is, or is it based on what felt right a few years ago?
TikTok Is Becoming More Searchable — and That Changes Things
TikTok now lets you add keywords directly to your post metadata. It sounds technical, but what it actually means is simple: your content can now show up for searches on TikTok in a much more intentional way.
We’ve been saying for a while that TikTok functions like a search engine — especially for anyone under 35. People go there to find recommendations, how-tos, reviews, honest opinions. Not just entertainment.
This update just makes that more explicit. Brands that treat TikTok purely as a place to go viral are missing the point. The real opportunity is discoverability. If someone searches for a product or service like yours, do you show up?
Start thinking about your TikTok captions and metadata the way you’d think about a page title or meta description. What would your customer actually type to find you?
Instagram Is Launching ‘Instants’ — Yes, Like Snapchat
Instagram has announced a new feature called Instants. It’s pretty much what it sounds like: candid, disappearing photos shared with close friends within 24 hours.
Snapchat, anyone?
It’s no secret that Instagram has been borrowing features from other platforms for years — Stories from Snapchat, Reels from TikTok — and this is the next one in line. Whether it catches on with users the same way Stories did remains to be seen.
For brands, the interesting question is whether Instants creates a new way to reward your most loyal audience. A behind-the-scenes moment, a first look at something new, an exclusive offer. It’s inherently low-stakes content because it disappears — which could actually make it easier to produce.
Don’t rush to build a strategy around it yet. But keep an eye on how your audience responds to it.
