Commercials have always been a part of the television viewing experience. But on streaming TV, the ads often feel more disruptive, oddly placed and seemingly too long. There seems to be more of an imperative to skip them altogether—either through paying a premium price for a channel, clicking the “skip” button, or walking away as the ad timer counts down. While this makes for a better viewer experience, what about the brands looking to use this space to promote their products—something they’ve always done through TV.

New ways to get products and brands in front of viewers are emerging in the streaming world. Rembrand is a company that uses AI to find areas in streaming entertainment to add product placement to programs—like on billboards in the background of a scene, or on a table in a home. I talked to Rembrand’s CMO Cory Treffiletti about how product placement and other traditional and emerging strategies are good options for the streaming age. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter.

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Google is moving in to dominate yet another digital realm: AI chatbots. New research from BrightEdge Technologies found that Gemini is now the second-most-popular chatbot and is speeding past the competition, going from a 4.3% market share to 11.6% in Q1, and reaching 13.2% in April. Gemini’s referral share is now larger than all AI competitors except ChatGPT, which still holds the top spot. And, BrightEdge CEO Jim Yu points out, this data comes from the standalone Gemini app, and does not not count Google searches in “AI Mode” or the AI overviews that appear at the top of many traditional searches. The numbers represent people specifically asking Gemini for advice, recommendations and answers.

“That franchise, all of a sudden, I think it’s on a trajectory to be … like a YouTube or a search inside Google,” Yu told me. “It’s probably one that’s not as well understood yet by the market, but it’s becoming a very big contender.”

But does this mean Google is cementing itself at the top of the AI world? Not exactly, Yu said. Statistics show that users are not loyal to a single chatbot, and are willing to use others when they find them to be more useful. BrightEdge found usage spikes that corresponded to major AI players launching their newest models. And this isn’t just personal use models; Yu said as more people started to use Anthropic’s Claude tools at work, they started using them at home as well.

Still, there doesn’t seem to be a recognizable definition of “most useful” yet. Yu said........

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