In partnership with
Smarter Marketing Starts Here
Most marketers waste money on channels that don’t actually drive results. The secret? Incrementality.
The difference between attribution and true incrementality
Proven testing methods to measure real impact
How to double down on the channels that actually work
Case studies from top brands already seeing outsized ROI
Don’t just run campaigns. Run campaigns that count.
🗣️ Top Stories
If you work in marketing, product, or tech - and want to keep pace with the shifts AI is driving across search, software and strategy - here’s what you need to know this week.
🛒 Google rolls out agentic shopping tools powered by Gemini –
The Verge reports that Google is making a major push into AI-assisted shopping with new features that shorten the buying journey.
The update includes conversational product search, automated “agentic checkout” that completes purchases when price conditions are met, and a new capability that was discussed at Google I/O a couple of years back: Gemini can now call physical stores to check stock availability for you.
Combined with AI Mode in Search, the goal is to move users from vague intent (“I need a travel bag under £150”) to a completed purchase without ever visiting a traditional results page. Cutting the purchase steps significantly.
The move shows Google's ambition to keep shoppers inside its AI ecosystem at every stage. With product cards, reviews, price tracking and store inventory handled by AI, the classic SERP becomes less relevant - and brands now need to optimise for LLM-driven visibility and appear in the conversation.
Key takeout: Just in time for the holiday season, Google is reshaping shopping inside AI Mode and flexing its e-commerce muscle.
The standout feature for consumers is that Google can now call multiple stores on a user’s behalf to check stock and complete a purchase. It removes the long, tedious process of buying a gift for Christmas, a birthday or an anniversary.
The update marketers will be watching most closely is the final announcement on the Google blog: “Get the right item at the right price with agentic AI.” If the customer becomes an agent - one who doesn’t click ads or interact with those slick product carousels filled with items they don’t really need - how do you grow AOV or revenue if your model depends on ad-supported discovery?
This mirrors the exact challenge Amazon raised with Perplexity last week, and it’s almost certainly the direction e-commerce is heading.
📊 New Omniscient × Wynter research highlights growing focus on AI-influenced buying journeys –
New 2025 research from Omniscient × Wynter reveals how AI search and generative recommendations are reshaping buyer behaviour and marketing strategy.
Their research shows that 55% of B2B buyers still start with traditional search, while 42% now use tools like ChatGPT early in their vendor research. AI assistants aren’t the dominant starting point yet - but the acceleration of users turning to the likes of ChatGPT to discover and buy products online is remarkable.
Crucially, the report highlights a gap: most brands acknowledge AI-assisted buying is increasing, but very few have measurement frameworks to understand *how* they appear inside ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity - or how these models influence final purchase decisions. (👋 Obsero).
Key takeout: The adoption rate of AI-first commerce is accelerating fast, with more users turning to ChatGPT and Perplexity to guide their buying decisions.
What stood out in the research were two factors buyers said an LLM answer must include before they add a solution to their shortlist with little or no manual checking: citations and whether the response is fit to requirements.
Source: Omniscient × Wynter 2025 research. Citations and ‘fit to requirements’ are the top two factors buyers need in an LLM answer before shortlisting a solution.
This underscores a clear opportunity for brands: be present in the sources LLMs cite, and ensure your narrative accurately reflects what your product or service actually delivers. These are the two signals an inquisitive buyer relies on when evaluating options through AI search.
⚙️ Anthropic projected to outpace OpenAI in server efficiency –
The Information reports that internal projections show Anthropic gaining a potential cost and efficiency advantage over OpenAI in the coming years.
According to the leaked documents, Anthropic expects its server costs to fall more rapidly relative to revenue, driven partly by architectural decisions and diversification away from Nvidia’s GPU supply constraints. The charts show a dramatic projected decline in spend per unit of output - particularly once future models and infrastructure optimisations come online.
If accurate, this could reposition Anthropic as the more cost-efficient LLM provider at scale, enabling more aggressive pricing, better margins, or expanded free-tier experiences. For the broader AI ecosystem, this hints at a shift where model economics - not just model quality - becomes a competitive battleground.
Key takeout:
OpenAI’s eye-watering cash burn has been well documented, but it’s even more striking when compared with Anthropic.
Source: The Information - Projected server costs show OpenAI reaching $111B by 2028, compared with $27B for Anthropic.
Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, previously served as OpenAI’s VP of Research before leaving in 2021 to co-found Anthropic with his sister, Daniela - also a former OpenAI leader. Both have said they departed because they no longer aligned with OpenAI’s direction under Sam Altman.
It’s reported that OpenAI is on track to burn around 14× more cash than Anthropic before reaching profitability. Anthropic’s slower, more focused approach - fewer product lines, enterprise-led growth, and a safety-first philosophy - gives it tighter cost discipline and a fundamentally different trajectory to OpenAI’s “scale at all costs” model.
Source: The Information - Anthropic predicts positive cash flow by 2028
This week, I’ll be joining Lumar for a webinar on “AI Search Strategies: What CMOs Need to Know.”
It’s a deep dive into how AI discovery is reshaping marketing, visibility and budget planning. Details are further below - would be great to see you there.
Thanks to each and every one of you for subscribing and reading.
Have a great week!
Andy
🔥 Black Friday • AI Search Intelligence
Find out who is winning the AI Search race for Black Friday
Obsero tracks daily visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and AI Overviews - showing which brands
dominate AI discovery in the biggest shopping week of the year.
Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Apple, Target… see who shows up, who doesn’t and how it’s shifting in real time.
Book a demo call →
📖 What I’ve been reading this week
The best articles this week on AI Search and how it affects business, marketing and tech. 👇
|
|
|
Free webinar · In partnership with Lumar
Explaining AI search to your C-suite - what SEOs and CMOs need to know about AI Search.
If you’re the person tasked with defining your AI Search strategy and need some help in selling this into the C-Suite, this session gives you the framing, language, and evidence to lead the GEO / AEO / AI Search conversation internally.
SEO & digital leads: Get your C-suite aligned behind GEO / AEO / AI Search - not simply “it's just SEO”.
CMOs: Understand why AI search, LLM traffic and citations now affect brand visibility and budget planning.
|
• Why AI visibility is becoming a growth and brand-control issue to factor into 2026 plans.
|
|
• How to use citations, share of voice and query fan-out to measure your brand’s presence in AI results.
|
|
• How to pitch GEO / AEO to the C-suite with board-ready framing, metrics and a narrative that lands.
|
Hosted by Lumar's Odette Colebrook and with me Andy Francos, co-founder of Obsero and founder of Be Franc.
|
🎯 Hey content creator!
Thinking about launching your own newsletter? I recommend Beehiiv - it’s built for creators, with all the tools you need to grow:
✏️ Beautiful templates
🚀 Powerful growth features
📈 Built-in analytics
💸 Monetisation tools
All in one place, no fuss.
🐝 Try Beehiiv with my link
(You'll help support me if you sign up via this link 💙)
