Below is a roundup of last week’s notable industry news, with summaries and our opinions. Google’s playing AI commerce chess…

Google rolls out AI commerce tools for retailers
Sources: Various
January 11th-12th, 2026

Summary: Google unveiled a suite of tools to help retailers navigate the shift to AI-powered shopping. The announcements include a new ad format, checkout capabilities, an open commerce standard, and branded AI agents, positioning Google to compete with OpenAI and, more importantly, Amazon, in the emerging agentic commerce space.

Direct Offers, a new ad pilot in AI Mode, lets advertisers present exclusive discounts to shoppers who are ready to buy. When someone searches for a product with specific attributes, like a modern rug for a high-traffic area that's easy to clean, Google's Gemini AI uses contextual information from the conversation and what shoppers have clicked on to determine when to show relevant offers. Advertisers pay per click. The pilot is live with Petco, e.l.f. Cosmetics, Samsonite, and Shopify merchants. 

Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) is an open standard co-developed by Google, Shopify, Target, Walmart, Etsy, and Wayfair that lets different AI shopping assistants communicate with each other. The protocol creates a shared framework so AI agents can handle everything from product discovery to returns without custom integrations for each platform. UCP is backed by over 20 major companies, including The Home Depot, American Express, Best Buy, and more. 

A new checkout feature lets shoppers buy products directly inside AI Mode and Gemini from US retailers using the UCP framework. Payment happens through Google Pay or PayPal. Retailers control the experience and remain the official seller. Walmart and Google have already partnered to surface products in Gemini, with checkout happening through Walmart's system. (This capability is also already available through OpenAI's ChatGPT, and Microsoft launched the feature in Copilot on Monday.)

Google's Business Agent lets retailers run their own AI chatbot inside Google Search results. The bot responds to customer questions using the retailer's tone and messaging. Lowe's, Michaels, Poshmark, and Reebok are already using it. 

New Merchant Center data helps products appear more naturally in conversational AI results. Google expanded the types of product information retailers can submit to Merchant Center, going beyond basic specs to include FAQs, compatible add-ons, and alternative options shoppers might consider. 

Opinion: Google wants to move into commerce from the inside out (AI commerce infrastructure) in order to compete with Amazon, who owns commerce today from the outside in (commerce consumer experience).

Recruiting Walmart and Target as co-developers for UCP is smart. These retailers bring tons of transaction volume and strong anti-Amazon ambition, making UCP adoption feel like a competitive frontier for retailers rather than Google encroaching on their territory. It's the same playbook that made Android successful: give competitors a shared weapon against the market leader, then monetize the ecosystem through advertising.

When transactions start flowing through Gemini, enabled by UCP, Google will finally get what it's always lacked: actual purchase data at scale. Not "clicked on a product" data. Not "visited a retailer" data. Real conversion data showing who buys what, when, and for how much. That has the potential to significantly close the commerce media gap with Amazon.

The twenty-plus retailers backing UCP should recognize this isn't altruistic standardization by Google. They're trading Amazon's first-party data dominance for Google's infrastructure dependence. Different landlord, same rent.

Be wary, retailers. And watch out, Amazon. And Sam, THIS is how you monetize AI shopping intent with ads.

Apple picks Google's Gemini for AI-powered Siri upgrade - Speaking of Sam, Apple inked a multi-year partnership with Google to use Gemini models for a major Siri upgrade expected later this year and to power Apple Foundation Models. Despite currently integrating OpenAI's ChatGPT into Siri for complex queries, Apple chose Google's tech after "careful evaluation," citing it as "the most capable foundation" for its AI ambitions. The deal reportedly could cost Apple around $1B annually and represents a major win for Google's AI comeback against OpenAI. Google just briefly hit a $4 trillion market cap and logged its best year since 2009. This deal also deepens the already lucrative relationship between the two tech giants; Google has long paid Apple billions each year to be the default search engine on iPhones.

Disney introduces new measurement metric and AI tools to streamline advertising🔒- Disney rolled out several ad tech updates at its annual CES Tech and Data Showcase focused on giving advertisers better data and more efficiency. The new Disney Advertising Brand Impact Metric is designed to connect ad exposure to direct results; it tracks attention, brand health, and search data to show the complete picture of brand performance, combining insights from established measurement providers with Disney's own data. Disney is also expanding its Disney Compass data platform with a new Brand Portal that gives advertisers a unified view of campaign performance across Disney's properties, along with category benchmarks and AI-powered summaries. An AI video generation tool uses existing brand assets for creating CTV commercials, and an AI planning tool aims to reduce campaign setup time. 

Havas' builds new AI platform to upskill 25K employees and upend hour-based billing🔒- Havas’ new platform AVA lets its employees build and share AI applications using Claude, GPT-5, and Gemini models, with the goal of automating low-value work so people can focus on strategic and creative problem-solving. Chief data and technology officer Dan Hagen is in early talks with clients about contracts based on outcomes rather than headcount and hours. If AI lets teams do better work faster, then hourly rates "punish efficiency," he says. Currently, only 10% of Havas employees are highly AI-proficient, but the agency holding company has a goal of reaching 100% AI efficiency. 

Media buyers say Yahoo’s DSP is one to watch🔒- Yahoo's DSP is enjoying a "reputational turnaround" among media buyers after it was rebuilt to be an "AI-native buying environment." At CES, Yahoo unveiled its "Yours, Mine, and Ours" framework that allows advertisers to deploy their own AI agents, use Yahoo's native agents, or connect both through APIs, which is a more open approach than DSP rivals. The agents can tackle audience exploration, campaign activation, and pacing issues, with more advanced optimization and measurement agents coming later this year. Commerce media has recently become an unexpected strength for Yahoo DSP, with buyers praising its ability to blend retail data with its ConnectID identifier and extend into categories where Amazon is less active.

Beehiiv expands ad sales team to court larger ad buys - Newsletter platform Beehiiv is ramping up its advertising play by beefing up its sales staff and doubling its ad solutions team to pitch brands on its newsletter ad network. The company just named Andrew MacMannis as VP of ad sales and customer success to focus on brand and agency partnerships. Co-founder Tyler Denk says the platform is "playing this massive middleman" to deliver results for advertisers while driving revenue for newsletter publishers, many of whom don't have dedicated sales teams. Beehiiv's ad network pays out more than $1M per month to publishers across newsletters ranging from 1,000 to over 1M subscribers, with advertisers including Notion, Google, Netflix, HubSpot, and Roku.

For the record, Beehiiv pays $0 to U of Digital. U of Digital only pays Beehiiv.

Blackstone invests $100M in mar tech firm Applecart - Applecart got its start using data and social graphs to help Republican political campaigns, but it has branched out to also offer insights to brands and marketers and influence C-suite executives, policymakers, and other decision-makers. This investment pushes the New York-based company's valuation to around $500M.

PMG acquires influencer agency Digital Voices - Digital Voices, launched in 2017 and with offices in New York and London, has developed its own AI-powered tech to drive efficiency, precision, and performance.

Meta names former Trump advisor Dina Powell McCormick as president, vice chair - Powell McCormick most recently served as President Trump's deputy national security advisor. Meta also hired Curtis Joseph Mahoney, a former deputy US trade representative, as its new chief legal officer.

inDrive turns to ads and groceries to diversify revenue - The ride-sharing app, which lets riders and drivers negotiate fares, wants to pursue advertising in its top 20 markets. Its first ad units will be placements within the app when riders are waiting for rides or are en route.  

Coca-Cola takes an interactive ride with Uber Advertising - The Coca-Cola Company and Uber Advertising collaborated on Uber's new Journey Takeover ad unit, which includes branded map displays and destination-specific creative shown during the user’s entire ride. 

WPP Media lands $102M US media account for Norwegian Cruise Line - WPP Media won the account in December from Publicis-owned Digitas, which did not defend the business.

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