Marketing News: Weekly Recap (June 21st - June 27th)
What's happening in the digital marketing world? It's Friday the 27th of June, 2025, and we're sharing everything you missed in digital marketing this week.
What’s happening in the digital marketing world this week? Here’s your breakdown of the biggest platform updates, product experiments, and marketing tech shifts to keep an eye on.
1. LinkedIn Rolls Out Video Covers for Articles and Newsletters
LinkedIn is now letting users add video covers to articles and newsletters, helping content stand out in the feed and email previews. The videos appear in the article header and autoplay in-stream to encourage more clicks and engagement. LinkedIn recommends short, horizontal videos around 30 seconds in length.
This update aligns with LinkedIn’s broader video push, the platform reports that video content gets 20x more shares and 1.4x more engagement than other formats.
2. Instagram Adds Background Colours and Emojis to Notes
Instagram Notes now support coloured backgrounds and emoji avatars, giving users more personalisation tools within DMs. Notes continue to perform well among younger users, and this visual refresh aims to keep that engagement high.
Though subtle, this update is part of Instagram’s ongoing focus on DM-based features, where more peer-to-peer interactions are happening than in the main feed.
3. YouTube Expands AI Search and In-Stream Chatbot Access
YouTube is testing a new AI-powered search carousel that suggests contextual results like shopping ideas or travel spots, helping users explore topics more deeply. It’s currently limited to travel and product queries and available to Premium users in the U.S.
At the same time, YouTube’s in-stream conversational AI tool is being rolled out to non-Premium users, allowing viewers to ask questions about the video they’re watching and get tailored suggestions and content links.
4. YouTube Increases Age Limit for Livestreaming
To improve child safety, YouTube will raise the livestreaming age limit from 13 to 16 starting July 22. Streams featuring users under 16 without adult supervision may also have features disabled or be removed.
This move follows increased scrutiny in Australia and elsewhere about the age-appropriateness of social apps. It may also affect young creators, particularly in gaming.
5. Google Tests ‘Preferred Sources’ for Top Stories Personalisation
Google is experimenting with a “Preferred Sources” feature that lets users customise which publishers appear in their Top Stories section. Users can select favourite news outlets, and these choices will influence, but not replace, algorithmic results.
The experiment, currently live in the U.S. and India, signals a shift towards personalisation in Google Search. For publishers, it underscores the value of brand loyalty and consistent engagement.
6. Google Launches ‘Offerwall’ Monetisation Tools for Publishers
Google has released Offerwall, a new Ad Manager feature that lets publishers gate content behind rewarded ads, surveys, or micropayments. Early tests showed a 9% revenue lift on average.
Offerwall is particularly geared toward small publishers lacking the resources to build custom paywalls. It also uses AI to decide when and how to show access options, maximising engagement and conversions.