Visa and Mastercard reached a new settlement with merchants to lower fees in the US this November—another attempt to end a roughly 20-year fight in the courts, per SEC filings. The modest interchange reductions and new ability to steer customers away from higher-fee cards offer meaningful cost relief for small and midsize retailers that consumers may be more willing to support by using another card. However, those concessions are unlikely to move the needle for large national chains. They don’t materially change their economics, nor do they address the fundamental issue that networks and issuers still hold most of the pricing power.
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Become a Client2025 was a big year for cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency payment users grew 24.8%, to 4.9 million US adults, per our forecast. Between institutional buy-in and unprecedented support at the highest levels of the US government, the crypto market hit record highs—before plummeting in the final months of the year. Crypto gained mainstream momentum, but its volatility hasn’t changed. For banks and crypto infrastructures, this unpredictability kneecaps efforts to integrate crypto as an accepted currency at the point-of-sale.
40% of marketers worldwide are using AI for social media management, the top reported use case, according to a September 2025 survey from MiQ and Censuswide.
2025 saw mergers, layoffs, and AI overhauls as the agency model fractured and reformed.
Our analysts (or “bakers”) will compete in a Great British Bake Off–style episode, discussing how new standards will unlock agentic ad buying and selling, and how (and why) YouTube will benefit most from the surge in video podcasts. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, along with Senior Analyst Ross Benes and Principal Analyst Yory Wurmser. Listen everywhere, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
Voice assistants evolve into AI-first interfaces—blending conversation, context, and control across ecosystems.
T-Mobile’s orbit ambitions bring SMS to dead zones, expanding ad reach to highways, oceans, and rural users.
Many of the trends that dictated travel spending in 2025 will remain in play in 2026, including market bifurcation, AI influence, and anti-US sentiment.
Chase launched an exclusive travel series, Sapphire Reserve Trips, eligible for Sapphire Reserve cardholders, per a press release. Cardholders will receive 8X points for any Chase Travel booking and can maximize points with Points Boosts, which gives members another 2X points at hotels and flights booked with select airlines through Chase Travel. Chase’s promotions of experiential, exclusive, and personalized rewards is critical to capture more wealthy millennials and Gen Zers into their ecosystem. To avoid disappointment from cardholders, issuers should cap enrollment for trips to prevent overcrowding found at premium airport lounges and preserve a private experience for a select group of cardholders.
With 95% of gamers active weekly, brands that balance ad quality and compliance can gain lasting recall.