Heading into the holiday shopping season, US adults plan to spend over $900 on average on consumer tech products, but they’re concerned about tariffs and prices, per a new CNET survey. Consumers’ top four worries revolve around costs, including tariffs and pricing (52%), finding quality tech at affordable prices (48%), affording new tech (38%), and straining finances (26%). Retailers and consumer tech brands will need to prove their value to earn sales. Bundles are a good bet, and short-term free subscription offers will likely bring in shoppers that could convert to recurring subscription revenues down the road.
Meta Connect, the company’s annual developer conference, will highlight how it’s weaving AI, VR/AR hardware, and ad technology across its platforms. Meta is expected to shift its multibillion-dollar bet from VR to smart glasses. Meta is shifting from experimental hardware to AI as the company’s true growth engine. Smart glasses may grab headlines, but the near-term payoff—and competitive edge—will come from campaigns built on AI. The bigger test is whether Meta can fuse its hardware, AI, and ad products into a cohesive platform that justifies its massive spending and persuades both consumers and advertisers to buy in.
China’s antitrust regulator accused Nvidia of violating commitments from its 2020 Mellanox acquisition, intensifying US-China tech tensions. The probe sent Nvidia’s stock down more than 2% in trading before it recouped most of the losses Monday, per The New York Times. If Nvidia’s access to China narrows, ad tech platforms—built on AI engines for media buying, personalization, and measurement—would see higher costs, delayed feature rollouts, and bottlenecks in innovation. Advertisers and CMOs should diversify providers, press vendors on supply chain resilience, and stay nimble in deploying AI tools.
Last week’s Amazon-Netflix partnership represents a convergence between commerce media and streaming TV that promises to blur the lines between brand-building and performance marketing while raising fundamental questions about which budgets, which teams, and which strategies will control advertising's future.
LG Electronics will integrate Xbox into its vehicle infotainment systems, allowing passengers to play games on the road, per Engadget. At the same event, IAA Mobility 2025, LG announced plans to incorporate Zoom, integrating a user experience that will allow drivers to participate in meetings without added distraction. LG’s integrations open up new in-vehicle advertising opportunities within premium ad formats, including in-game inventory. With LG’s data, brands will be able to geotarget the gaming and productivity demographics while they’re on the move—opening opportunities for gas stations, restaurants, and brick-and-mortar stores.
The 77th Primetime Emmy Awards underscored streaming’s dominance in television, with HBO Max, Apple TV+, and Netflix sweeping major categories. Traditional TV was largely absent from the spotlight, with The Late Show among the few exceptions. The ceremony’s cross-platform broadcast—CBS, Paramount+, Showtime, Hulu—reflected shifting consumption habits, as Emmys remain culturally relevant even as streaming platforms cement their awards clout.
Penske Media, owner of Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Variety, has filed the first major US publisher lawsuit against Google over its AI Overviews feature. The company alleges Google’s summaries exploit journalism while diverting traffic that previously supported ad and affiliate revenues. Penske says affiliate earnings dropped by a third as AI Overviews appeared on 20% of searches. Google calls the suit “meritless,” but traffic declines reported by others suggest otherwise—placing AI Overviews at the center of a looming legal test for publisher survival.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss why Spotify is still considered the king of audio streaming, why advertising is not working out quite as they’d hoped (yet), and how they might become a social platform. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host, Marcus Johnson, and Senior Editor, Daniel Konstantinovic. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
Roku wants to transform TV advertising with generative AI (genAI). Instead of cycling the same few commercials, the company is opening its platform to hundreds of thousands of advertisers—mirroring the endless churn of ads on social feeds. It's betting that genAI can keep its ad ecosystem fresh and accessible. Marketers should experiment with fast, inexpensive video iterations. Focus on quick turnarounds, tight targeting, and scroll-stopping creativity. The objective is to separate winners from background noise.
Hispanic audiences are leading shifts in digital behaviors, streaming at high levels, adopting AI tools, and using creator apps that position them as both content producers and consumers. That demographic is embracing streaming more than the general population, per Nielsen’s Curating the Narrative report, with a cord-cutting rate about 35% higher. Hispanic audiences aren’t just passive consumers—they’re actively crafting and customizing their media experiences and leading early tech adoption. Brands should diversify media outreach—instead of leaning solely on traditional TV or linear content—to avoid missing engagement opportunities.
Amazon is developing two models of AR glasses to compete with Meta and Qualcomm in a bet that smart glasses could power the next wave of mainstream consumer devices. The company is planning a consumer version, internally named Jayhawk, and a model designed for delivery drivers, called Amelia, per The Information. The push in AR glasses reflects Amazon’s long-standing strategy of building hardware as a gateway to services and subscriptions. If successful, the device could lock consumers even more tightly into Amazon’s marketplace, collect constant user data for AI model and product improvement, and encourage daily engagement with Amazon platforms.
The news: Spotify will bring high-fidelity, “lossless” audio to premium subscribers over the next two months across 50 markets, putting an end to years of speculation that it might gate the feature behind a more expensive subscription tier. Our take: Lossless audio certainly won’t be a detractor for Spotify and could help make it an even stickier service with low churn—something the company already excels at. While it is unlikely to drive subscriptions and doesn’t address the company’s advertising pains, it doesn’t hurt to add features that will keep users from cancelling or drifting to competitors.
Warner Bros. Discovery shares spiked more than 30% after reports that Paramount Skydance is preparing a majority-cash takeover bid backed by Larry and David Ellison. The deal would fold WBD’s studios, HBO, DC, and streaming business into Paramount Skydance’s assets, which already include CBS, Paramount Pictures, and Paramount+. A merger would unite some of the world’s most valuable IP, creating a rival to Disney and Netflix. Investors cheered the news, lifting both companies’ stocks, though regulators are expected to scrutinize the transaction. If approved, the deal could reshape Hollywood’s power structure amid linear TV’s decline and streaming’s consolidation race.
The digital ad market is shifting fast. In court, Google admitted the “open web is already in rapid decline,” contradicting its public claims, as AI Overviews erode publisher traffic. The Trade Desk’s stock plunged 12% after Netflix’s Amazon DSP deal, with Morgan Stanley citing CTV headwinds and higher fees. Meanwhile, Reddit is positioning itself as a publisher ally, rolling out Reddit Pro to help offset traffic losses from search. Together, these moves underscore a fractured open web ecosystem: Google under pressure, The Trade Desk undercut by Amazon, and Reddit stepping up as publishers seek new discovery sources.
Connected TV (CTV) is nearing a third of overall TV ad spending as audiences shift attention to streaming platforms, per Madison and Wall. Linear TV still accounts for around two-thirds of overall US TV ad spending, but CTV increased its share by three percentage points YoY (excluding political ads). The path forward for advertisers depends on balance, not an either-or approach. Audience attention will continue shifting to CTV, making it a critical touchpoint—but with ad reach still low on streaming, linear will remain relevant.
“We have a rule at Liquid Death that if you expect us to do it, we should not do it,” said the brand's chief media officer Benoit Vatere at EMARKETER’s Future of Digital Summit yesterday. Vatere outlined the brand’s paid social challenges, why it’s doubling down on connected TV (CTV), and how it plans to build standout creative as it expands into the crowded energy drink space. Here are a few takeaways from the session.
Major web publishers, including Reddit, Yahoo, Medium, and Quora, are joining forces to push for a new content licensing system for AI publishers. The group is backing Really Simple Licensing (RSL), an open standard that lets publishers dictate how AI bots scrape their content and includes payment and royalty requirements. If publishers’ collective action can successfully enforce licensing terms for content scraping, regulators may follow with broader mandates. Visibility inside generative engines could change, pushing marketers to further prioritize generative engine optimization (GEO) strategies and comprehension of how AI responses source, cite, and surface branded content.
Advertisers are missing opportunities to capitalize on strong connected TV (CTV) engagement from diverse audiences, per LG Ad Solutions’ “The Inclusive Screen 2025” series. Targeting ads to diverse audiences stands to benefit brands by tapping into consumers who are likely to take action when they feel represented—but a tailored strategy over a one-size-fits-all approach is critical.
YouTube’s NFL Brazil broadcast was a massive success, breaking livestream records in the country with over 17.3 million average-minute-audience (AMA) members, including more than one million non-US viewers. YouTube’s record-breaking NFL success proves that, for advertisers, the marketing playbook is moving to platforms where reach, relevance, and results converge.