China’s Q4 spending reinforced platform consolidation, as advertisers concentrated budgets on large platforms with data, scale, and commerce integration.
As funding concentrates among fewer companies, smaller players may need to sharpen differentiation.
As consumer health AI tools expand, companies must tread carefully or risk eroding consumer confidence.
In the crowded clinical market, trusted data, accuracy, and speed will shape adoption.
1,500 layoffs and budget cuts at Reality Labs signal a shift toward AI glasses and real-world ad integration.
Amazon’s silent rollout sparks backlash as users question privacy and ad motives.
Nearly 6 in 10 US teens (59%) say they've used ChatGPT, more than double Gemini's 23%, according to an October survey from Pew Research Center.
"Retailers are reinventing the ways that they connect with their customers in real life," said our analyst Blake Droesch during a recent “Behind the Numbers” episode. "The D2C revolution that we saw play out online has now really reached its limitations, giving way to a disconnection between brands and their customers."
As budgets consolidate and scrutiny intensifies, retail media networks are being asked to prove their value in the same way that the rest of digital media does. That shift was on full display at CES, where platform updates from Albertsons, DoorDash, Instacart, and Walmart Connect signaled a deeper evolution underway. Rather than chasing more inventory or novel formats, retail media players are investing in the foundational capabilities that underpin long-term credibility: measurement, data access, and intelligence.
Google’s latest AI tools let users buy via chat as the company tries to turn its search dominance into agentic commerce gains.
As genAI assistants play a more prominent role in shopping, retailers and brands will have to rethink how their loyalty programs support direct consumer relationships, and how loyalty benefits can be surfaced in AI conversations.
Cost, not brand, fuels genAI growth in emerging markets—marketers must rethink influence channels.
Gmail is getting its own agentic AI, signaling that email marketing could undergo a major shift if users bite on the feature.
Apple taps Google to power its next-gen voice assistant as it outsources AI to stay competitive, boosting Gemini’s user reach.
As GEO competes with SEO and paid search, teams lack tools and clarity to deliver content at scale.
Gemini creates targeted offers mid-chat, pushing brands to meet users where intent is forming
Our analysts (or “bakers”) compete in a Great British Bake Off–style episode, discussing why Google may overtake OpenAI in 2026 and how the AI boom could get a reality check this year. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, along with Principal Analyst Nate Elliot and Analyst Jacob Bourne. Listen everywhere, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
AI search advertising is growing, but lingering problems mean overindexing risks wasted spend before ad formats mature.