Walmart finally lets advertisers exclude certain search terms

August 12, 2026 Walmart’s advertising platform is giving brands more control on where they show up in searches, marking a significant change in how their ad budgets are spent. Advertisement TOP STORY Retail Media Rewritten Walmart finally lets advertisers exclude certain search terms Walmart Connect said it would give advertisers the ability to exclude specific search terms for sponsored-products campaigns through “negative keywords.” OTHER THINGS TO KNOW What are leading brands and agencies actually doing with AI? Find out at AI Marketing Strategies in NYC on Sept. 24, where marketing leaders will share how they’re putting AI and agents to work today. To adopt agentic AI at scale, organizations need to prioritize critical areas of agentic readiness. Publishers who have invested in identity infrastructure for privacy compliance are already ahead, as agent readiness and identity readiness are the same project. Partner insights from Optable. The most valuable influencer in a given category probably has no followers, no media kit and no idea they’re influencing anyone. They’re the leader of a friend group. When they pay, their friends do too. Partner insights from PayPal Ads. MEDIA & PLATFORMS Member exclusive Future of TV Briefing: In TV ad market’s swing to streaming, cheap inventory is in demand This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how TV and streaming companies’ advertising businesses fared in the second quarter of 2026. PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM MOLOCO The problem with last-touch for CTV Measuring CTV on last-touch alone tells only part of the story. Across hundreds of advertisers, 30% of campaigns are significantly undervalued by last-touch models alone. THE BUSINESS OF AI Marketing on Platforms Lifestyle brand Stanley 1913 adapts its marketing for the AI search era The marketing it was doing worked well, but only for a human audience. The brand needed different approaches to ensure it was picked up by the AI platforms. The Business of AI Build or buy: Inside indie agency Mod Op's AI infrastructure Mod Op is betting that building its own AI infrastructure can deliver more value than simply licensing off-the-shelf tools. PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM CONTENTFUL As AI becomes standard for scaling marketing, leaders are finding ways to adapt More organizations are using AI to produce more with fewer resources — but the advantage comes from how creative and technical marketers activate AI, not just add it to their tech stack. Advertisement PARTNER INSIGHTS FROM 3C VENTURES Marketer’s guide to evaluating agency platform claims featuring identical language As agencies work to keep up with the competition, they bring AI-powered platforms to market that use language nearly identical to other offerings. Marketers must distinguish between narrative and measurable capability to see what claims ring true. ICYMI AI Revenue Generation Perplexity blocks Time’s ads served to AI agents, calling them 'deceptive' Perplexity has blocked Time’s markdown agent ads from influencing its AI system. Zero-click Future Zoom relies on creators to boost AI search results As AI changes how brands are discovered, Zoom is leaning on creators and journalists to shape its reputation. Written by Jim Cooper and Sara Jerde Were you forwarded this email? Sign up to get it daily. Advertise | Digiday+ | Events | Awards Update your email | Unsubscribe | Privacy policy