68% of US ad spending by microdrama apps went to social networks from January to September 2025, according to US ad spend reports from ReelShort, DramaBox, GoodShort, NetShort, and ShortMax, compiled by Sensor Tower.
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Become a ClientConsumers believe the use of AI makes it harder to detect scams, according to a recently published report from risk-management fintech Alloy. It also found that fraud prevention and security measures are top factors for 97% of respondents when they choose a bank. Customer trust is paramount to a financial institution’s survival, and anything that erodes that trust can prompt them to switch or avoid certain banks altogether. With AI changing the scam landscape dramatically in just a few years, banks must accordingly invest in modern technology—including their own AI tools—and customer education.
Holding company WPP launched WPP Open Pro on Thursday, a self-serve AI tool piloted by Google and other clients that creates ad campaigns from start to finish in a push to attract small businesses. WPP’s newest move means marketers can continue to expect greater automation, cost savings, and a shift in agency relationships.
ChatGPT is less effective at converting shoppers than nearly all traditional channels except paid social, according to a working paper by researchers from the University of Hamburg and the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. That finding is consistent with EMARKETER’s latest report on AI search, which shows that traditional search engines continue to dominate discovery. Retailers should certainly be thinking about how to optimize their websites and listings for discovery on generative AI engines—but those efforts shouldn’t come at the expense of SEO, since the vast majority of shoppers continue to surface products via Google and other traditional channels.
Zelle will use stablecoins to break into cross-border payments, per a press release. Countering this integration will be challenging for all players, unless they can also find a pay-by-bank integration as convenient as Zelle with better incentives. Incumbent remittance platforms like Western Union and Moneygram may be able to harness entrenched customer behaviors to their advantage. Many US remittance users feel safer dropping off cash for overseas loved ones at storefront locations versus using an app. Fintechs may be also able to peel off some competition by leaning on the underbanked within the remittance community, who may not have banking accounts with an institution in Zelle’s consortium.
Bread Financial reported $188 million in net income in its Q3 2025 earnings—roughly flat on the year—while revenues fell 1% to $971 million. Co-brand issuers need to diversify their portfolios to withstand economic downturns and sector-specific slowdowns. However, issuers need to consider what’s going on in potential new sectors. Home goods likely is a low-growth choice based on current outlooks into the housing market, while more resilient industries may be a better play during economic uncertainty.
Coinbase debuted Payments MCP so that AI agents can access on-chain wallets, blockchain onramps, and stablecoin payments, per a blog post. Crypto payment rails don’t yet have market consolidation at the scale of the Mastercard-Visa duopoly. Crypto platforms that enable a broad range of commerce can lock up dominant positions as more mainstream payment platforms facilitate crypto and more retailers accept it. However, convincing consumers of the benefits of stablecoin will take time. Only 1.8% of the US population currently transact with crypto—but we anticipate that share to almost double by 2027, per our forecast.
A new wave of layoffs is hitting corporate America, with major firms like Target, Nestlé, Starbucks, Amazon, Rivian, and GM announcing significant job cuts amid slowing consumer demand and rising costs. More than 946,000 job cuts have been announced this year, the highest since 2020, deepening economic uncertainty. With consumer sentiment at a five-month low and a government shutdown straining millions of workers, inflation and surging insurance premiums are adding pressure. Our take: cautious companies may inadvertently fuel the downturn they fear, amplifying anxiety across the broader economy.
Sixty-two percent of the very wealthiest consumers expect to thrive next year, according to a WSJ Intelligence study, a larger share than the other two classes of affluent investors that were covered. UHNW investors see volatility as a chance to expand and protect their wealth through diversification, alternative assets, and bespoke advice. The emerging affluent, by contrast, prize affordability, digital convenience, and transparency. Banks and wealth managers that offer frictionless digital access on one end of the spectrum and high-touch expertise on the other will bridge this divide
IRYS raised $12.5 million in seed funding. The company sells technology for insurance companies—what it calls “an insurance operating system”—instead of trying to disrupt the industry with a competing offering. Insurtechs are fast becoming reliable partners. Updates to insurance industry systems, now frequently enabled by insurtechs, are long overdue. Insurers will need to work with these startups to keep up with nimble customer-facing competitors