Digiday Daily

December 26, 2025

This year has brought winners, losers and middleground contenders when it comes to generative AI image and video tools — based on their integration capabilities, user interface and of course, final output. To get a better sense of how these tools performed this year, Digiday pulled together a 2025 agency generative AI report card ranking based on output, user experience and capabilities.

TOP STORY

Generative AI

How marketers rank this year's generative AI image, video tools

Digiday’s 2025 agency generative AI report card explores the winners and losers of the generative AI landscape.

OTHER THINGS TO KNOW

In an era defined by privacy regulations and signal loss, curation is reshaping programmatic advertising into something more focused, efficient and accountable. Partner insights from Experian.
Panelists at 4As Gaming Day underscored that the term “gamer” feels increasingly outdated and often unnecessarily creates distance between people and the behaviors they already participate in daily. Partner insights from Activision Blizzard Media.
Even many of the most successful challenger brands are stuck with siloed data and rented identity, lacking the 360-degree customer view they want. Partner insights from Adstra.

MEDIA & PLATFORMS

Brands in Culture

In memoriam: Brands we lost in 2025

Digiday Media staff rounded up some of the most notable brand names we lost in 2025, like Joann and Rite Aid.

YEAR IN REVIEW

Life Beyond the Cookie

Google Chrome will now continue to use third-party cookies

Google will not be rolling out a new standalone prompt for third-party cookies in Chrome.

PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM INSTACART ADS

Report: The state of retail media

RMNs have historically limited ad placements to their own digital properties, but now many RMNs are extending ad offerings to off-site channels like social media, CTV and email to improve growth opportunities and expand reach.

The Creator Economy

The Shorts play: YouTube steps up creator monetization

YouTube Shorts monetization has been a challenge for creators, pushing YouTube to create more sponsorship opportunities for Shorts creators.

PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM TATARI

How brands win on CTV when they pair programmatic and direct buys

Successful brands are pairing the flexibility of programmatic buying with the access to premium ad inventory and consumer data from publisher-direct buys to gain scale, efficiency and full-funnel impact across CTV.

Business of TV