Marketers are striving for transparency and brand safety in the programmatic world of advertising. According to the World Federation of Advertisers, 49 percent of marketers have adopted whitelists and blacklists of sites where advertising should or should not appear and 68 percent have suspended or intend to suspend investment in ad networks that raise red flags on brand safety.

To assist in this effort, 54 percent of respondents say they have worked with third-party verification companies to monitor the environments where their ads are placed.

Sixty-eight percent of marketing leaders say their company is increasingly competing on the basis of customer experience, according to the fourth annual State of Marketing report from Salesforce Research.

Shifting technology and social media landscapes often make it difficult to keep up with customer expectations, however. On average, marketing leaders today say 34 percent of their budget is spent on channels they didn’t know existed five years ago—and they expect that to reach 40 percent by 2019.

Millennials are almost 40 percent more likely to call out a brand on social media than other generations, according to the Q3 Sprout Social Index. Fifty-six percent of millennials surveyed say they have complained about or called out brands. In addition, 59 percent said they would use it to address an issue with a brand, compared to 51 person who would address the issue with an in-person conversation.

While 65 percent of Gen Z don’t think there’s much they can do about what they read in the news, 79 percent said they would engage with a brand that could help them make a difference, according to a study by Saatchi New York. In-person interviews with 50 members of gen Z between the ages of 10-to-19 and a survey online found that when it comes to social interactions, 70 percent want more time to hang out with friends outside of digital devices.

Publishers are successfully engaging readers through email. Ninety percent of publishing brands had statistically significant increases in unique open rates during the second quarter, according to Cheetah Digital’s Quarterly Benchmark Report for Q2 2017. Year-over-year open and click rates rose for publishers in the reporting period.

YouTube released the 10 most-watched ads for July. At number one, Apple’s The Rock x Siri Dominate the Day spot caught the most attention. Currently sitting at over 14.3 million views, fans enjoyed watching Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s use his iPhone 7 to accomplish whatever life goals he felt like accomplishing at the moment.

Louis Vuitton came in second with its Connected Journeys spot, focusing on its Tambour Horizon connection watch. Rounding out the top five are Geico’s Running of the Bulldogs, Audi’s Driver’s Test (Spiderman: Homecoming) and Driver Versus Fierce Cute Dog by Genesis.

Ads that make the list are determined by an algorithm that factors in organic and paid views, watch time and audience retention.

Sixty-three percent of Instagram users consider themselves to be “fashion-forward,” according to a new study by Dana Rebecca Designs. The brand surveyed 2,000 Instagram users to see how the photo-sharing app impacts purchasing decisions.

The answer? Quite a lot, according to the report’s findings, with 74 percent of millennial respondents saying they have made a fashion or beauty-related purchase after seeing a related post on Instagram. In addition, 29 percent of respondents say they have purchased jewelry or jewelry accessories after seeing the product on Instagram.

Forty-seven percent of retail marketers say their companies struggle to keep up with the latest trends, according to a study by RetailMeNot. While 99 percent of respondents said they want to improve the customer shopping experience, 54 percent say that technology moves too quickly for them to keep up. As mobile commerce continues to rise, 90 percent of retailers believe their companies would benefit from partnering with a company that has mobile marketing experience.

Digitally oriented media owners saw growth of 20 percent in the second quarter this year, according to new data from Pivotal Research. Digital advertising drove a five percent expansion in the US ad market, despite TV being down one percent.

Ten tech firms including Amazon, Google and Expedia increased marketing and advertising spending by a median growth rate of 24 percent in the quarter.

Editor’s Note: This story will be updated daily until Friday, August 25. Have a new report, study or tip? Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.com.