Jack Dorsey is reviving nostalgic short-form video culture with diVine, a Vine reboot designed for authenticity at a time when AI-generated creator content is surging. The new app launched with over 100,000 restored Vine videos. Vine gives diVine an emotional head start—but survival will hinge on converting that sentiment into fresh creative momentum. Brands that lean into authenticity will find diVine a clean slate—one where trust and creativity drive engagement. Still, it must overcome one hurdle: persuading audiences to make room for one more app in an already-saturated attention economy.
50.3% of US grocery shoppers say they'd use in-store digital tools if instant savings and coupons were exclusive to those tools, according to July 2025 data from Amazon Ads and EMARKETER.
Apple and Google are aligning around safer AI use and user data protection through their private cloud computing platforms. The dominant smartphone and mobile computing ecosystems now have security and privacy at the heart of their AI expansion, which addresses the desire for safer AI use. Brands that design within secure ecosystems—where AI learns preferences without revealing identities—will earn audience trust, regulatory protection, and enduring loyalty.
CNN is adding a short-form video feature to its app’s homepage in a bid to attract younger audiences and boost engagement amid declining linear TV viewership. The “Shorts” tab, which previously existed outside the homepage, includes clips from CNN stories in a vertical video format similar to Instagram Reels or TikTok, per The Verge. CMOs should explore how news-aligned short-form content can enhance credibility and trust in brand storytelling and monitor how legacy media brands experiment with short-form video to inform their own content strategies.
Consumers without experience using digital health tools—like wearables, health apps, or devices to manage a condition—say they’d try one if recommended by a doctor or insurer, according to a recent report from Merge. Direct-to-consumer marketing isn’t the only effective way to drive digital health tool adoption. When it comes to their health, many consumers trust medical professionals over brands—giving health tech players a chance to further prove to insurers, employers, and doctors that their tools deliver real value.
Eighty-five percent of adult mobile gamers in the US, the UK, Japan, and South Korea play daily—but how they play and pay diverges sharply, per Mistplay’s 2025 Mobile Gaming Across Markets report. The East–West loyalty gap is redefining how mobile game studios and advertisers compete. Asian markets lean on depth and narrative while Western ecosystems chase reach and novelty. Brands and publishers must find ways to localize the full player journey—from discovery to monetization. Cultural fluency and first-party data will define who retains gamers’ attention.
Snapchat revenues and users grew in Q3—but the company warned that age verification laws would have unpredictable results on its business. While innovative ad tools and a new partnership with Perplexity could offer more value, stagnant growth and new policies that would restrict access to over 18% of Snapchat’s audience make the social platform a riskier investment than those with ad businesses less reliant on a youth-oriented audience like Instagram.
Meta’s internal documents show it knowingly earned up to 10% of its annual revenues in 2024—around $16 billion—from scam and banned product ads, per Reuters. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, reportedly served 15 billion high-risk scam ads daily, often letting them run unless 95% fraud certainty was detected. Brands should audit ad placements to see if scam ads dilute their impact. Seek platforms guaranteeing ad integrity, and require clear enforcement and accountability from ad platforms.
After more than a year of AI stumbles, Apple will reportedly pay Google $1 billion annually to use a custom-built version of Gemini, Google’s flagship AI model, to power a next-generation Siri—marking one of Apple’s boldest AI moves yet, per Bloomberg. A smarter Gemini-infused Siri could redefine how users find information, products, and services—shifting search and ad engagement from text to voice. For marketers and advertisers, this means adapting quickly to a world where voice agents become the new gatekeepers of attention.
Uber partnered with ad measurement firms Kantar and Adelaide to launch a custom attention metric for in-ride ads and Uber Eats checkout screens, the companies announced Tuesday. The partnership is Adelaide’s first custom, platform-specific attention metric partnership. As the ad industry inches toward universal standards, Uber’s launch shows the challenges in creating a one-size-fits-all approach. Even post-standardization, advertisers will have to navigate an ecosystem with multiple platform-specific offerings.
Spotify’s Q3 2025 results show a company redefining success around efficiency and engagement rather than scale. Revenue rose to $4.62 billion, with 713 million monthly active users and 281 million premium subscribers, up 12% YoY. Gross margin reached 31.6% as AI integration, subscription pricing, and product diversification drove profitability. The company’s upcoming leadership transition—Daniel Ek to executive chairman, Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström to co-CEOs—signals continuity through maturity. While ad sales grew just 7%, Spotify’s dominance in user time and audio engagement positions it as the anchor of digital audio. The next chapter: sustainable margins, smarter growth, and steady leadership.
Dating app fatigue has set in for many consumers, but one entrant in the market is quietly catching on among younger consumers—Facebook Dating. The feature, which launched in 2019, has amassed more than 21 million daily active users (DAUs), compared with Hinge’s 15 million, per The New York Times. To capitalize on the dating feature's growth and user engagement, brands should use zero-party data to target ads based on profile preferences—such as users who are interested in shopping, outdoor experiences, or live events—while ensuring placements don’t feel intrusive in an intimate, high-intent environment.
The race to succeed Twitter is maturing into a two-lane race. Meta’s Threads has surged to 150 million daily active users, per Meta, while decentralized rival Bluesky has climbed to 40 million users, per TechCrunch. The post-Twitter world is segmenting. Threads offers scale and a burgeoning ad ecosystem, but Bluesky might be better for more organic brand engagement with specific user groups. For brands, the opportunity lies in balance: Use Threads for audience growth and measurable performance and Bluesky to test tone, voice, and authenticity. Together, they offer a preview of where digital conversation and brand storytelling are headed next.
Mobile gaming in-app purchase (IAP) revenues reached $21 billion worldwide in Q3 2025, per Sensor Tower—a number not seen since pandemic quarantines. Strategy, puzzle, RPG, and casino games led the field, with each bringing in over $2 billion. Time and money spent in gaming continues to rise, yet only 5% of media investments around the world go to gaming, per Dentsu. Start considering formats such as in-game ads, interstitial ads, and adjacent ads. Brands can also entertain partnerships for in-game gear and mini games. The time is now to boost advertising budgets for gaming platforms and titles as revenues grow.
58% of retail professionals strongly agree that sharing customer location data with partners positively impacts revenue, according to a June Retail Systems Research (RSR) survey.
The Trump administration claimed Thursday that China has greenlit a US TikTok transfer agreement, just over a month after President Trump signed an executive order to keep the short-form video leader operational in the US. China’s commerce ministry simultaneously announced that it will collaborate with the US to solve “issues related to TikTok,” but similarly did not elaborate. Tentative talks around TikTok’s future offer short-term stability for advertisers but don’t resolve issues TikTok will face in the long-term.
Netflix is testing vertical short-form video content on mobile devices to diversify its platform offerings. The streamer’s goal isn’t to compete with TikTok since it won’t feature user-generated content (UGC). Instead, videos will include clips from Netflix’s longer-form content, such as live events or stand-up comedy sets. Netflix’s move into shorts could create new ad inventory or brand placement opportunities, pairing the brand safety of curated clips with the engagement of short video. Marketers should keep an eye on how Netflix’s short-form ecosystem evolves.