In this week’s digital news, Google announced Query groups in Search Console Insights. The AI feature clusters similar search queries, surfaces trends, and shows which topics drive clicks. An IAB report finds AI speeds discovery but adds steps, sending shoppers to retailers, search, reviews, and forums to verify details before buying.
Major tech companies are seeing strong growth in digital advertising as they ramp up AI investment. Google’s advertising business isn’t disappearing; it’s evolving for the AI era.
Android 17 will introduce ‘Min Mode,’ a feature that evolves the Always-On Display (AOD) by allowing apps to show full-screen, low-power interfaces. Publishers are flooding billboards, subways, and screens with ads for themselves, many for the first time in history.
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Google to use AI to group queries in Search Console
Trust in AI shopping is limited
Despite AI buzz, advertising remains big tech’s growth engine
Major tech companies are seeing strong growth in digital advertising as they ramp up AI investment. Meta, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft all reported rising ad revenues despite economic uncertainty. Meta led with a 26% jump to $51.24 billion, while Amazon’s ad sales rose 24% to $17.7 billion and Alphabet’s increased 13% to $74.18 billion. Microsoft grew 14% to $3.7 billion. Despite concerns over costs, firms plan record AI spending exceeding $380 billion this year, signalling confidence in future AI driven ad growth.
Read more here.
Android 17 will put full-screen apps on your always-on display
Google plans to add a new capability called Min Mode to Android’s Always-On Display (AOD) in Android 17. Min Mode will use the same low-power technology as AOD to display full-screen interfaces from apps. Developers must register a ‘MinModeActivity’ component in their apps for them to work with the feature. Min Mode has the potential to reshape the definition of an ‘idle’ phone.
Read more here.
Why so many publishers are launching brand marketing campaigns right now
Publishers like Reuters, NBC News, and Wired are running their first brand marketing campaigns, moving into subways and social feeds with awareness ads. They are doing it now because referral traffic is declining, AI is threatening search visibility, and Gen Z doesn’t know these brands. With AI platforms scraping publisher data, brand equity now sets negotiation leverage. These campaigns aren’t just for vanity, they’re pre-activation plays for subscriptions and future-proofing.
Read more here.
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