On today’s podcast episode, we discuss how Gen Zers are trying to limit their social media use, which platforms they are moving to (and away from), and where they are engaging with social creators offline. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host, Marcus Johnson, Analyst, Paola Florez-Marquez, and Senior Analyst, Minda Smiley. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
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Become a ClientNearly half (46.9%) of US brand and agency marketers plan to invest in marketing mix modeling (MMM) over the next year, according to a July survey from EMARKETER and TransUnion.
65% of US adults plan to begin their holiday shopping before Black Friday this year, according to August data from McKinsey & Company.
New York City filed a sweeping federal lawsuit against Meta, Google, Snap, and TikTok-owner ByteDance, accusing them of addicting children and worsening a youth mental health crisis, per Reuters. The complaint states that the social platforms “exploit the psychology and neurophysiology of youth” to drive engagement and profit. Youth protection and digital well-being are now business imperatives. Marketers should expect tighter guardrails on engagement, targeting, and design and consider it an opportunity to build trust by carefully segmenting teen and adult experiences.
Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days failed to spark early holiday shopping, with only 23% of consumers buying holiday items and just 7% picking up Halloween goods, according to a Numerator survey. Most shoppers used the event for everyday essentials, apparel, and beauty products rather than seasonal purchases. Despite 59% planning future holiday buys on Amazon, many were cautious due to inflation and economic concerns. With weaker engagement and no sales statement from Amazon, this year’s event likely underperformed expectations, highlighting a shift toward more deliberate, budget-conscious consumer behavior ahead of the holidays.
The Bank of North Dakota and Fiserv launch the “Roughrider Coin,” the first stablecoin from the state of North Dakota. While its individual use case may be limited, it opens the door for a stablecoin issued by Fiserv on behalf of a major retailer with significant use case for processing sales. A retailer like Starbucks would be a prime candidate—it’s already ingrained the habit of loading a wallet that can only be used at Starbucks in its most loyal customers. In that case, a limited network isn’t nearly as much of a liability—it’s the whole point.
JPMorgan Chase spends $2 billion per year on AI and finds an equal amount of cost savings as a result, said CEO Jamie Dimon in a recent Bloomberg TV interview. During its April investor day, JPMorgan forecast spending $18 billion on technology in 2025. JPMorgan is increasing the gap between the haves and have nots in bank technology. AI development in financial services, supported by modern platforms, is outrunning nearly everyone.
Affirm announced 0% Days, a three-day promotion running from October 22-24 for eligible Affirm consumers, guaranteeing 0% interest and no late fees for shopping completed through the Affirm app or Affirm Card. Affirm’s inability to compete with rewards from either PayPal or card-linked installment plans may stymie its promotion’s success. If it can expand its merchant partnerships to offer better cash back at more in-demand retailers, Affirm may be able to win over consumers who may have otherwise chosen another provider for their seasonal shopping.
Ent Credit Union, a Colorado financial institution (FI) with $10.1 billion in assets, has selected Lumin Digital as its new digital banking platform. Lumin Digital is one of at least 15 digital banking platforms in the US, that compete with the core providers, particularly Fiserv and Jack Henry for smaller banks. Focusing their limited resources on digital improvements that personalize the customer experience can help smaller FIs better compete with their larger peers. Partnering with the right digital banking platforms will make this possible.
A Yext analysis of 6.8 million citations across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity found that 86% of AI-generated answers rely on brand-managed content—from official websites and listings to reviews. First-party sites led with 44% of citations, followed by listings (42%) and reviews (8%). The findings suggest AI models increasingly trust structured, authoritative data over publisher or community sources. But fewer users click through—only 8% from AI summaries versus 15% from standard search—indicating that generative platforms are capturing more engagement directly. To stay discoverable, marketers must pair clean, structured first-party data with strong social visibility as AI search reshapes traffic flows.