As smartphones and internet technologies become increasingly accessible, brands are training their eyes on influencer advertising that continues to gain traction. This is according to a recent report by Stockapps.

The report comes as another study by Smartly.io indicated that 82% of Gen Z consumers use social media as a way of finding new brands, compared to 57% of general consumers., 87% of Gen Z is open to seeing advertising from brands they like or have purchased from before as well as from new brands and 40% of Gen Z consumers prefer Stories, Reels or TikTok videos when seeing ads from brands on social media.

Still in advertising, the global in-game advertising industry was pegged at $6.8 billion in 2021, and is expected to reach $17.6 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 11.0% from 2022 to 2030 according to a report by Allied Market Research.

Rise in interest in social and mobile gaming and increase in global internet penetration have boosted the growth of the global in-game advertising market. However, these in-game ads district users from the game, which hampers the market growth. On the contrary, advancements in technology and potential in the developing countries would open new opportunities in the future.

And InMobi, a provider of content, monetization and marketing technologies that help businesses fuel growth, has announced a direct integration of its InMobi Exchange supply-side side platform (SSP) into Yahoo’s demand-side platform (DSP), giving advertisers, brands and media buyers across Yahoo’s extensive global portfolio of clients direct access to premium in-app supply and global user base, at scale.

In acquisitions and partnerships, WPP has announced the creation of a new company, Design Bridge and Partners, formed by the merger of Design Bridge and Superunion. Launching in January 2023, the new company will enable clients to leverage a full range of industry-leading design expertise, driving growth and transformation through consumer, business, lifestyle and experience design.

Google Cloud has announced a new partnership with global fashion retailer, H&M Group. The alliance will see the Swedish multinational leverage Google Cloud's extensive data analytics capabilities and secure, sustainable global infrastructure to further enhance its customer experience and supply chain enablement.

On matters appointments, Premium content and experience business, Hearst UK, has announced the appointment of Alison Forth as Director of PR and Communications.

Forth, who first joined the business in an interim capacity in January, will be responsible for driving Hearst UK’s corporate communications agenda, as well as handling external communications across Hearst UK’s 21 prestigious brands which include Good Housekeeping, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, Women’s Health, Men’s Health, Esquire and Digital Spy.

And Daan Langbroek, innovation and transformation strategist, has made the switch to end-to-end agency iO. With more than 15 years of experience, he joins the strategy team at iO Campus Utrecht.

Daan brings with him a wealth of experience. After almost ten years at Accenture in the role of Digital Transformation Manager focusing on various sectors with digital strategy and transformation issues, he continued his career at KLM.

Elsewhere, DoubleVerify, DV, a software platform for digital media measurement, data and analytics, has announced an exclusive partnership with Scope3, the preeminent source of truth for supply chain emissions data for organizations seeking to make carbon-aware business decisions.

The DV/Scope3 partnership will provide advertiser and agency customers with a comprehensive campaign-based carbon footprint metric via DV’s flagship service and analytics platform, DV Pinnacle.

Bob Koigi is an editor at Marketing Report EU

www.marketingreport.eu