Digital Connect August 21, 2025

Our latest Digital Connect is shining the spotlight on major Google AI developments, the rise of Threads, and increased advertising opportunities on YouTube’s Shorts.

Platform Updates:

Google has announced that they are using AI to fight invalid ad traffic. This is great news for users of any Google ad product, such as YouTube and Search. This change will keep costs low while ensuring actual users are clicking through. DCW's operations teams work hard to get the most efficient results for our clients, whether it's through optimizations or smarter platforms, like Google.

Keeping the focus on Google, it has been reported that the search engine's AI overviews have led to a 25% decrease in referral traffic. Searchers are now starting to forgo clicking sites in the results and instead more quickly getting their answers from the AI-generated overviews. DCW is keeping a close eye on these seismic shifts in the search landscape and is well-equipped to help new and existing clients navigate the impacts to traffic by sharpening both SEO and AEO.

Meta's X/Twitter competitor, Threads, has now reached over 400 million users, up 50 million from April of this year. Threads benefits from its close integration with Meta's Facebook and Instagram feeds, as well as capitalizing on existing Meta accounts. DCW is well-positioned to get any advertiser started on Threads, given our decade plus of Meta advertising experience and nimble adoption of new platforms.

YouTube Shorts has surpassed 200 billion views per day, now making it more watched than TikTok. This is a massive leap forward when compared to the 40 billion daily views on the platform in March of last year. YouTube boasts that Shorts ads have been tied to significant brand lift, increased reach with Gen-Z audiences, and over 2x more ROAS than paid social. DCW is ready to work with advertisers to expand their presence on YouTube and put their short form video assets to work on Shorts, as this is a major placement to take advantage of.