Temu and Shein face a highly uncertain future, with both at the mercy of global trade policies amid growing tensions over ultra-cheap Chinese exports.
Most retailers are still in the early stages of genAI adoption; while results are limited thus far, companies are bullish about opportunities for efficiency gains and improved CX.
Reddit ad spend is growing 46.3% YoY, more than double Instagram's growth rate and five times TikTok's, according to a November report from Sensor Tower.
The Trade Desk is laying off fewer than 1% of its 3,900 employees, a small reduction that nonetheless comes at a pivotal competitive moment. The cuts follow notable departures and last year’s major reorganization, as TTD prepares for an AI-first future centered on Kokai. Agencies say Amazon’s DSP is winning share with lower fees and strong performance, pushing TTD to negotiate pricing and offer service incentives once considered off-limits. At the same time, scrutiny over transparency, reseller accountability, and TTD’s OpenAds wrapper is rising. For marketers, the moves signal a company recalibrating—not retreating—as it works to steady growth heading into 2026.
"Creativity is not just a nice-to-do activity, but in fact, it's something that is a critical life skill for kids and an incredible kind of a joyful moment of expression for adults," said Victoria Lozano, CMO at Crayola, on a recent “Behind the Numbers” podcast. For more than 120 years, Crayola has been woven into childhoods. Now in the second year of its "Campaign For Creativity," the iconic brand is expanding its mission beyond art supplies to position creativity as an essential skill for today's digital-native children.
Mercury has filed with the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) for a national bank charter and applied to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for deposit insurance. By obtaining a bank charter, Mercury will de-risk by eliminating the need for partner banks and putting banking services entirely under its control. Partnerships between fintechs that are bank lookalikes and sponsor banks are giving way to the next wave of licensed financial institutions (FIs) and a new definition of “traditional banking.”
Thinkwise Credit Union selected InvestiFi to embed digital investing in online and mobile banking, giving members the ability to invest on the credit union’s digital platform. For FIs without dedicated investing tools, embedded tools are a way to defend deposits as D2C investment platforms and roboadvisors move into banking. FIs can quietly meet rising customer expectations by plugging investing into digital channels generally focused on basic banking services.
In 2025, retail media found itself at a turning point as networks, advertisers, and platforms pushed into new territory and redefined what the channel could be. Here are five of our top stories from the year, from the challenges of tracking CTV campaigns to the evolving competitive landscape shaped by Amazon, Walmart, and a wave of innovative smaller networks.
The insurance industry has been an early mover on AI adoption, outpacing all industries but one among those studied in a BCG survey. But progress has stalled at the pilot stage: the majority of insurers (67%) are testing genAI programs, while only 7% have scaled them. Insurers should modernize their data architecture and tie their technology investments to business outcomes. Opportunities abound, from claims automation to embedded distribution.
Quarterly equity funding for insurtechs has settled at $1.0 billion in Q3, a 17% drop from Q3 2024 according to CB Insights. Investors have grown more selective, focusing on B2B insurtechs that offer a faster path to profitability than their consumer-facing counterparts. The quiet winners in insurtech are now B2B, focusing on supporting other players with underwriting, claims management, and operations infrastructure. These firms are reshaping the industry from the back end rather than trying to disrupt it head-on.
Eighty-three percent of US consumers would switch insurance carriers due to a poor claims experience, per Invoice Cloud’s 2025 Consumer Claims Experiences Survey. This suggests that claims interactions, while rare, are make-or-break. Relationships between insurers and insureds are traditionally very sticky—insurance is a “get it and forget it” product, with most customers only interacting with their carrier at purchase and at claim. That makes claims one of the few moments where customer loyalty is actually tested.
Consumers traded down or tapped out throughout 2025, making value deals essential for restaurant survival.
The White House issued an executive order reclassifying cannabis from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance—a lower-risk category that puts it on the same plane as some controlled prescription medications. The US legal cannabis industry is worth $35 billion and served by at least 800 FIs. Even if Congress follows through as cannabis is reclassified as a lower-risk substance, banks will likely be slow to get involved. Enhanced due diligence and reporting requirements are in force until further notice, and being in the cannabis business has a stigma among banks regardless.
Human oversight, GEO, and distribution knowledge keep agencies relevant—even as AI becomes the decade’s defining disruptor.
Firms that train workers and rethink roles—not just slash jobs—are best positioned to maximize AI adoption.
Once a TikTok trend, vertical video is now a core format reshaping ads, news, and entertainment apps.
In 2025, OpenAI shifted from viral success to structured dominance. The launch of GPT-5 in May turned its genAI edge into a full-scale platform spanning ChatGPT, API integrations, and enterprise deployments.
2025 marked an inflection point for agentic AI—autonomous systems that don’t just assist, but act. The year saw AI shift from text generators to decision-making collaborators embedded across business and creative workflows.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss airline passengers’ receptiveness to ads, share best-in-class examples of contextual campaigns, and explore where in-flight ads are headed next. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Senior Director of Content Jeremy Goldman, and Ragu Kamakshisundaram, Vice President of Media and Monetization at Viasat Ads. Listen everywhere, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.