Blue Tiger Engage April 2026
BT Engage: April Newsletter
Welcome to Blue Tigers monthly newsletter Engage, bringing you all the latest news, trends and updates from across the media landscape. In this month’s edition we look at the major news stories capturing the headlines as we head into Q2.
ChatGPT Ads Have Begun Showing Up For Logged-Out Users
What advertiser wouldn’t want in on a high-demand, high-intent opportunity? The catch, of course, is having enough scale to make it worth the spend. Although buyers are eager to invest in ChatGPT, where their ads will (ideally) be served against relevant search queries, OpenAI has been having trouble meeting that need.
But now, ChatGPT ads are beginning to appear for users who aren’t logged in, expanding the pool of available inventory. To date, several advertisers participating in ChatGPT’s ads pilot have been dissatisfied with the amount of money they’re able to invest in the channel.
Although the spend minimum looks “attractive on paper,” many advertisers are having a hard time exhausting their budgets due to insufficient ad frequency and inventory. ChatGPT recently dropped its spend minimum from $200,000, when the pilot launched, to $50,000.
One way to increase delivery, of course, is to expand the number of users who are eligible to see ads. OpenAI appears to have recently started doing this by rolling out ads to ChatGPT users who are not logged into the platform. Although an OpenAI spokesperson did say in February that the next round of testing would include serving ads to logged-out users, they didn’t share a timeline for when this would happen.
It’s worth pointing out that OpenAI has made no official announcement about serving ads to unauthenticated users. OpenAI currently states on its website that the ad experience for logged-out users is designed to be “appropriate for all ages,” but further down on the page specifically notes that ads will not appear to logged-out users during the initial phase of testing.
Pinterest Launches CTV Audiences Following tvScientific Acquisition
First announced in December 2025, Pinterest’s acquisition of tvScientific, a CTV performance advertising platform, marked a surprising development in the rise of performance TV, while signalling the social sharing site’s most signficant move into the CTV space. Following the completion of the takeover back in February, Pinterest has announced the launch of its audiences in the CTV market, bringing together its audience signals with tvScientific’s ad platform.
Pinterest noted that CTV ad spend in the US is expected to surpass linear TV spending over the next two years, with performance advertisers helping fuel that growth. “As streaming platforms have become a primary way consumers watch TV, movies, and other content, advertisers are increasingly seeking more channels to reach high-intent audiences and drive measurable performance,” the company said in today’s announcement. “tvScientific by Pinterest is the first ad platform to offer direct access to Pinterest’s high-intent audiences for CTV campaigns.”
By bringing its audiences “off of Pinterest and on the biggest screen in the house”, the business aims to help advertisers find relevant viewers, using its commercial intent signals to reach audiences that use Pinterest to discover and search for products. According to the company, using tvScientific’s platform in conjunction with Pinterest’s high-intent signals drives 27 percent uplift in outcomes per $100 in spend, and 65 percent uplift in purchases.
“Pinterest brings a distinct opportunity, with more than 600 million monthly active users and growing,” said Lee Brown, Chief Business Officer at Pinterest. “Because of how users search and shop on the platform, we can give advertisers new ways to reach people at every stage of the shopping journey, from discovery to buying, both on and off Pinterest.”
Video has been a major focus for Pinterest over the past decade, ramping up its efforts with a series of product launches and video formats. The company first introduced video ads back in 2016, before launching a ‘Watch’ tab on users’ home page in 2021. That same year, Pinterest launched Pinterest TV, a live video offering featuring shows and shoppable live streams from its creators.
But the tvScientific acquisition sees the focus shift away from its own website and app, and into the CTV space, at a time when the US CTV market is seeing notable movement from performance budgets. Attracting those advertisers onto TV comes with its own set of challenges; the performance metrics available on search and social channels has made those investments easier to justify, while TV has historically struggled to prove its value in driving measurable outcomes for performance-focused advertisers.
But tvScientific has built an outcome-based CTV platform with the explicit aim of going after the digital ad market, rather than brands who would traditionally be spending on TV. The business helps “advertisers of any size run their own CTV campaigns, pay by outcome, and use data to validate TV’s impact,” according to the newly formed tvScientific by Pinterest – and with the social sharing site’s audiences available to reach through CTV campaigns, the company aims to bring further precision for performance advertisers.
“The real opportunity for advertisers is turning consumer intent into action, and Pinterest’s signals are unique because they reflect what people are planning, not just what they’ve already done,” said Jason Fairchild, CEO of tvScientific by Pinterest. “Every month, there are more than 80 billion monthly searches on Pinterest, and by bringing those signals into tvScientific, advertisers can run more precise CTV campaigns and optimise toward the business outcomes that matter most.”
UK marketing budgets revised up to highest level in nearly two years
UK companies revised their marketing budgets up to the highest level in almost two years, despite wider geopolitical turmoil, according to the Q1 2026 IPA Bellwether Report, (16 April 2026).
The latest survey, which was in field between 2-24 March 2026, reveals that a net balance of +7.3% of respondents revised their total marketing spend upwards in Q1, with 26.8% of panellists reporting an increase in marketing spend against 19.5% of the survey panel that recorded a reduction. This is up noticeably from a flatline net balance of 0.0% in Q4 2025.
Events emerged as the leading category for greater marketing investment, outperforming all other segments by a significant margin. In Q1, events recorded a net balance of +14.7%, a substantial increase from last quarter’s +1.4%.
Bellwether panellists also ramped up spending on public relations, The respective net balance rose to +6.0% (up from +3.5% in Q4 2025), marking the highest figure in five quarters.
There was also a renewed rise in budgets for main media advertising in Q1, following no change in each of the prior three quarters. The net balance climbed to +4.5%, marking its strongest upward revision since Q3 2023. Breaking out this main media category revealed that budgets were increased in two of the five tracked categories: other online advertising and video, with both posting a net balance of +5.7%. However, while the net balance for other online advertising fell from the last quarter (+13.2%), the net balance for video marketing spend rebounded from -5.0% in the previous quarter. Elsewhere, marketing budgets for audio, published brands, and out-of-home marketing continued to decline, with net balances of -3.4%, -8.5%, and -11.3%, respectively. Compared to the previous quarter, audio marketing budgets dropped less sharply (Q4: -10.2%) alongside out-of-home spending (Q4: -17.6%), but budgets for published brands saw a steeper decline (Q4: -6.5%).
Direct marketing and sales promotions both saw expenditure increase over the quarter, with net balances rising from -4.3% to +3.6% and 0.0% to +2.7%, respectively.
Reductions in marketing spend were confined to market research and other marketing expenditure. The net balance for market research fell from -4.0% to a four-quarter low of -8.5%. Meanwhile, the net balance for ‘Other’ marketing improved from -12.8% to -8.9%.
Budget plans for the 2026/27 financial year suggest that marketing executives are slightly more optimistic towards spending prospects than initial data indicated, with the net balance revised up from +1.7% in Q4 2025 to +3.0% in the opening quarter of the year. Underlying figures show that around 28.7% of companies expect their marketing budgets to increase over the coming year, more than the 25.6% anticipating reductions.
According to the latest survey, 28.6% of respondents reported greater optimism about their company’s financial outlook compared to three months ago, marginally outpacing the 28.0% who expressed pessimism. This resulted in a net balance of +0.6%. While only marginally positive, this figure represents a significant improvement from Q4 2025’s recent low of -19.0%.
At the broader industry level, sentiment remained downbeat, a trend persisting since the final quarter of 2021. Around 35.3% of marketing executives reported a pessimistic view of industry prospects, more than double the 14.4% who felt more optimistic. The resulting net balance of -21.0% (up from -30.1% in Q4) was well below the series average, yet it marks a five-quarter high, signalling that while industry-wide confidence is still fragile, the mood has improved.
For further information, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Blue Tiger Marketing, we’re here to help you navigate the changing landscape effectively, leveraging new opportunities while mitigating potential risks.
Sources:
The Media Leader, Tech Crunch, Video Week, Adexchanger, The Drum, Campaign, ipa.co.uk
