Today’s Insights

🪐 Perplexity launches AI browser
🤖 X automates ad creation
🛍️ Lidl sells out on TikTok
✨ Instagram expands Partnership ads
📉 Spotify ad revenue slows

Feature

🚀 Perplexity to launch ‘Comet,’ an AI-powered web browser

Perplexity is aiming to dethrone Google as the leader in search. The company recently raised an additional $500 million in funding, bringing its reported valuation to $9 billion. Now, Perplexity is using some of that capital to build Comet—its answer to Google Chrome.

Details are scarce, but Comet will offer an "agentic search" experience—a browser designed to complete tasks, not just help users navigate the web. Like OpenAI's Operator, it could potentially handle bookings, purchases, and research on its own.

Rather than competing with Google's existing search and browser model, Perplexity is building with AI at its core. While Google has a large search advertising business to protect, Perplexity can fully embrace autonomous task completion.

That could put Perplexity ahead in bringing a reimagined browser experience to market. Comet has an open waitlist.

Read more

^{Join the waitlist for Comet here}

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Top Picks

🚀 X launches ‘Pre-fill with Grok’ to automate ad creation, analysis

Advertisers can input their website URL, and Grok will generate ad copy, images, and a CTA headline tailored to their brand. The platform also has a feature to analyze campaigns with Grok to evaluate performance, spot trends, and suggest optimizations.

🛒 Lidl becomes the first UK supermarket to sell on TikTok Shop

The retailer offered a limited drop of 3,000 high-protein bundles which sold out in just 18 minutes. Priced at £5 instead of £30, the bundles included protein-rich snacks, supplements, and branded workout accessories.

🤝 Instagram expands Partnership Ads

Instagram announced a new text-only testimonial feature - allowing Brands to include text-based endorsements from Creators, which appear at the top of the comments section.

More Headlines

🖼️ Google Ads enables advertisers to create AI images of people

Advertisers using Google’s Performance Max, Demand Gen, Display, and App campaigns can now generate AI-created images featuring adult people and faces. Powered by Google's Imagen 3 model, the tool allows customization based on age, gender, and ethnicity.

Plus Google is testing a new approach for Responsive Search ads work.

💰 YouTube plans to launch ‘Premium Lite,’ a cheaper ad-free subscription tier

YouTube’s Premium Lite will offer a reduced price for ad-free viewing of most videos. Unlike YouTube Premium, Lite will show some ads but only on music videos and Shorts. The plan will launch in select markets, including the US, Australia, Germany, and Thailand.

📢 YouTube adds a ‘Promote’ button for creators to run ads in Shorts

The ‘Promote’ button allows creators to boost their content from YouTube Studio without using Google Ads. YouTube claims the feature automatically targets viewers most likely to engage with the promoted channel.

📉 Spotify’s ad business slows as growth projections fall short

Growth slowed from 15% in the first half of the year, to just 6.4% in the second. Advertisers pointed to limited audience reach and weak ad tracking capabilities as key challenges.

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