AI Marketing
All research in AI Marketing — 2 reports.
AppLovin is now essentially a focused ad-tech platform centered on Axon after selling its Apps business. The core thesis is that cash generation and operating leverage are exceptional, but the roughly $482 share price already prepays for many years of high growth and leaves little margin of safety. Rating Watch: a high-quality business, but the ideal entry range is $180 to $260.
AI advertising and marketing automation has moved from "showcasing model capabilities" to a "revenue-execution layer." The first profit pool still belongs to traffic-gateway platforms: Google AI Max lifts conversions 14%, Meta's AI ad infrastructure runs at an annualized rate above $60 billion, Amazon Ads totaled roughly $68.6 billion for full-year 2025, plus AppLovin Axon and The Trade Desk Kokai at 5x ROAS. The second profit pool belongs to software platforms that own first-party data, the content supply chain, and workflows: Salesforce Agentforce ARR of $800 million (Agentforce + Data 360 above $2.9 billion), HubSpot Q1 2026 revenue of $881 million, Klaviyo NRR of 110%, Adobe FY26 Q1 AI-first ARR up more than 3x year over year. On the China side, Baidu's AI-native marketing reached ¥2.8 billion in Q3 2025, up 262%, and ¥2.7 billion in Q4, up 110%; Alibaba's "Quanzhantui" penetration is lifting customer-management revenue. On the agency and data side, Publicis acquired Lotame, covering 1.6 billion IDs across 100+ data sources. Standalone, single-point AI creative, AI SDR, and pure generation tools detached from data and channels are the most exposed to being made free by platforms or eroded by price wars. Rating Overweight: the durable profit pools sit with platforms and data-rich software, not with point tools.