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.
Employment and equality fears add baggage to AI messaging, making disclosure and performance testing critical.
AI agents could weaken retail media data and ad exposure, pushing brands to rethink their Amazon strategies.
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.
In today’s podcast episode, we discuss what would convince us that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) has actually arrived, whether OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra is truly a “generational leap,” and what ordinary Americans might do with AGI. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, along with Analyst Jacob Bourne and Principal Analyst Yory Wurmser. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch on YouTube or Spotify.
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.
As AI becomes standard across marketing, simply having the technology won’t set brands apart. The advantage may come from better signals that show how consumer interests and intent are changing in real time.
Cross-border transfers can deepen customer ties, but reach, speed, and pricing will matter.
AI-driven drug research investments are surging, but results will take years. Pharma should measure progress at each R&D stage rather than promise near-term breakthroughs.
Peer influence and brand sharing have grown, while 85% of loyalists still favor multiple brands.
Despite broad adoption, limited training and creative concerns make human skills as important as AI fluency.
Publishers get more auction data and interoperability with rivals, but Google keeps ownership and its scale advantage.
Purchase limits and merchant rules could ease fears about handing shopping decisions to AI agents.
Marketers can spot overcrowded inventory while preparing for AI search to disrupt web advertising.