Pharma B2B digital ad spend will jump 15% this year. Marketers can build consumer awareness and equip doctors with treatment information for patient conversations.
Enclosed mail can convey credibility, but the mail still needs easy digital next steps.
In today’s podcast episode, we discuss why some of the biggest names in AI are now calling for a slowdown in development, what we would gain and lose if the pace of AI progress decelerated, and whether these doomsday concerns are about a distant existential risk or consequences that are already showing up in everyday work and life. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, along with Analyst Jacob Bourne and Senior Analyst Asa Hiken. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch on YouTube or Spotify.
US retail sales will surpass $1.4 trillion this holiday season, growing 4% over last year, per EMARKETER. That growth arrives under pressure: tariff refunds that major players like Walmart ($2.7 billion) are using to slash prices, rising consumer costs for gas and travel, and the unpredictable impact of AI on shopping behavior.
Commerce media has ambitions beyond the bottom of the funnel. But expanding into CTV, social, and the open web does not automatically make it a full-funnel channel. That was one of the central discussion topics at EMARKETER’s Future of Digital summit last week. Commerce signals can help advertisers understand and reach consumers well before they are ready to buy. But brands already have direct relationships with search engines, social platforms, video providers, and publishers. Commerce media networks need to prove what they add to those investments, particularly as they ask advertisers to accept more cost and complexity.
Nike topped EMARKETER’s apparel rankings in August as scale, publisher credibility, and wide assortments continued to favor legacy brands.
Partnerships with athletes can help the app capture sponsorship payouts and expand its reach.
What chatbots surface about a product can matter beyond the visibility brands pay for.
AI agents could weaken retail media data and ad exposure, pushing brands to rethink their Amazon strategies.
Dress-code changes and training investments are meant to improve service and support discovery.
Low admission pricing and promotions show retailers how to draw traffic without blanket discounts.
Advertisers could gain broader bundled reach but lose negotiating leverage.
75% of US consumers who used AI to find a local business checked Google or Maps before contacting them, according to a July report from BrightLocal.
Employment and equality fears add baggage to AI messaging, making disclosure and performance testing critical.
In August 2026, we analyzed 4,940 ChatGPT responses across seven travel and hospitality categories to compile the AI Visibility Index.
Marketers should feed AI tools campaign goals, governance, and historical context alongside raw data to improve analysis.
Temu drew 108.2 million unique US visitors in June 2026, up 79% from 60.6 million a year earlier, according to an August report from Comscore.
AI is changing how search captures intent and adding new questions around consumer trust. As clicks become less predictable, performance TV could give marketers another way to build demand and drive measurable action.
Small advertisers are flooding connected TV (CTV). Media data shows brands spending under $1 million per year on CTV platforms are increasing, opening TV advertising to buyers who could never afford it. That shift is reshaping performance marketing as AI disrupts traditional channels like search and social media. "The environment is perfectly tailor-made for exactly this to happen," said Matt Collins, vice president of product marketing at MNTN, during EMARKETER's Future of Digital summit this week. "Digital infrastructure allows for precision of audience targeting and measurement, to be able to give advertisers a very clear read for budgets that are very deliberate."
The promise of agentic commerce is that AI will collapse the path to purchase, handling everything from product research to checkout on consumers’ behalf. Shoppers aren't ready to give up control, and AI may actually be adding complexity to their journeys, according to EMARKETER principal analyst Sky Canaves, speaking at the EMARKETER Future of Digital summit this week.