Google’s Gemini surpassed longtime leaders like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Meta’s Threads to become the No. 1 free iPhone app in the US App Store. Downloads surged due to the viral success of its Nano Banana AI image-editing feature, which sparked intense social media engagement, per ZDNet. Gemini’s breakthrough demonstrates the power of social media to amplify AI tools overnight, yet its long-term position will hinge on whether it can evolve from a trend into a staple. For now, Nano Banana’s popularity is a huge win for Google, but the next test is whether Gemini can convert that buzz into habit.
The Trump administration stated Monday that a TikTok sale deal has finally been reached with China after months of uncertainty, allowing TikTok to remain operational in the US. TikTok’s US operations may be safe for now, meaning brands can continue investing in the platform for its massive reach without immediate disruption—but caution is still warranted until details emerge on how its critical algorithm will be handled.
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.
TikTok shared new data to highlight the potential of its search ads for driving action. TikTok showed that activations with dedicated search campaigns led to 2 times higher purchase lift overall, while enterprise advertisers saw 2.2 times higher purchase lift and higher incremental return on ad spend (ROAS). TikTok’s success with search ads is promising, but advertisers ultimately need answers about the platform’s longevity in its core market. Questions about data security, content moderation, and political pressures are still casting a shadow.
The latest Apple Watch update will introduce a new feature that notifies users of potential high blood pressure, rather than providing continuous blood pressure readings. This strategic choice from Apple suggests that health wearables don't need to offer constant, highly technical readings to be useful. Smaller health wearable companies should take note: Doctors may not trust frequent wrist-based blood pressure data anyway. Instead of focusing on constant readings, the priority should be on developing features that provide meaningful, actionable insights for users and their doctors.
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 Google Pixel could grow to lead the smartphone market as sales surge, highlighting a strong consumer shift toward devices that balance competitive pricing, cutting-edge AI features, and ecosystem flexibility. The Pixel saw a whopping 105% YoY increase in sales in H1 2025, per Counterpoint Research, while overall global premium smartphone sales grew 8% YoY. Pixel’s growth points to an industry pivot where software-driven intelligence, rather than hardware specs alone, lead consumer choice. The smartphone race could move away from who offers the most storage or fastest processors and toward who delivers the most useful tools for daily life.
At Tuesday’s “Awe Dropping” Apple event, the hardware giant unveiled next-gen AirPods, Apple Watch models, and iPhone 17 series. Apple is pacing its AI rollout, waiting until users are ready and the tech can show real value. By banking on product innovation and design, it secures its dominance in the smartphone space. However, as rivals push out increasingly capable AI features, Apple’s silence may come across less like strategy and more like struggle. It may be time for Apple to consider more outside generative AI (genAI) partnerships, lest it fall too far behind to catch up—even on its own terms.
Ahead of an impending US sale deadline, ByteDance-owned TikTok has announced significant growth in Europe, adding 5 million active users YoY and seeing over 200 million EU users monthly. Even as TikTok grows in the EU and other key markets, the platform faces an uphill battle to reassure advertisers amid persistent uncertainty over its US regulatory future.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss what will happen now that the new ESPN app has hit the market, if it can become the “default home” of sports, and what will happen to sports rights in the future. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host, Marcus Johnson and Vice President of Content, Paul Verna. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
The news: Atlassian—maker of Jira, Confluence, and Trello—willbuy Arc and Dia creator The Browser Company for $610 million in cash, per TechCrunch. The deal could transform Arc from a niche experiment into an Atlassian-owned gateway for enterprise work, much like how Chrome became a container for Google’s services. Our take: Chrome’s continued dominance could lead to a more concentrated browser market—pushing competitors to seek smaller niches to control. With over 300,000 customers worldwide, Atlassian has the reach to seed Arc across enterprises as the “work browser.” If it succeeds, the shift could pressure Chrome’s dominance, at least for business use, and signal a broader redefinition of browsers from neutral gateways to productivity ecosystems.
The news: Apple will reportedly launch an AI-enabled web search tool powered by Google’s Gemini, potentially accelerating long-awaited software improvements and helping Apple enter the AI search race, per Bloomberg. The “answer engine” would be integrated with Siri and could help Apple compete with OpenAI and Perplexity. The feature, internally called World Knowledge Answers, will aggregate information from across the web into AI Overviews-esque summaries. It may eventually be added to Safari and Spotlight. Our take: Apple’s pivot toward external AI partnerships highlights how unready it is to compete head-to-head in foundational AI or search. While a Gemini integration could improve Siri and add powerful search capabilities, it could threaten Apple’s core advantage: total control over the user experience.
Meta will allow advertisers to exclude specific words or phrases from AI-generated ad copy to protect and align with brand image as it accelerates its AI advertising push. While barriers to adoption remain, Meta’s continued push toward AI ad automation signals where the future of advertising is heading: One where AI will increasingly balance scale with control to give marketers confidence in experimenting with automated campaigns.
The news: OpenAI will acquire product-testing startup Statsig for $1.1 billion as it expands its applications division. Statsig CEO Vijaye Raji, formerly vice president and head of entertainment at Facebook, will join OpenAI as CTO of applications. OpenAI said the deal, pending regulatory approval, will help it develop “even better, more responsive experiences for the people and businesses we serve,” per a press release. Our take: This deal positions OpenAI to launch entirely new categories of AI-powered experiences—personalized content feeds, collaborative AI tools, or productivity suites.
The news: Instagram’s latest updates to direct messaging could help brands and creators better organize communications, making the platform a go-to for striking brand partnerships and engaging with customers. Meta added several filtering options to Instagram, including the option to sort DMs by unread or unanswered messages as well as by the senders’ follow count and verification status. Creators can also streamline inbox management with new folders. Our take: These are more than just admin updates—they’re features that pave the way for a future where DMs are central to engagement. Investing time and resources in intentional messaging workflows can help treat DMs as a high-impact channel and a meeting point between companies and consumers.
Instagram is currently testing a picture-in-picture (PiP) viewing option for Reels that will allow users to watch the short-form service outside of the Instagram app. Instagram is reportedly prompting a small number of users to test the option, which includes a toggle for PiP in Instagram’s playback settings. While it’s a late move for Instagram, PiP Reels will extend the platform’s role beyond active scrolling, letting advertisers reach consumers during passive moments, unlocking a critical advantage in a crowded social landscape.
Snap debuted a new ad suite for marketers and developers, offering an “App Power Pack” that includes new bid strategies, ad formats, optimization strategies, and targeting capabilities to boost ROI, per MediaPost. Snap’s ad suite is an important step in the company’s efforts to cement its strength in advertising and curb slowing growth. We forecast the platform’s ad revenues will continue falling in the low single digits through 2027. But with competitors already offering similar products, Snapchat needs to go a step further to stand out.
The news: IDC has nearly doubled its worldwide smartphone forecast for 2025. Once projected at 0.6%, growth is now expected to hit 1%, fueled by iOS momentum, replacement demand, and a premium-device push, per 9to5Mac. Our take: Smartphones are entering a new cycle of innovation and moving upmarket. AI-first features and foldables will reset consumer expectations, open premium price tiers, and change which brands consumers choose and build loyalty toward. Advertisers and marketers should plan for richer, device-native experiences. Build campaigns that tap into AI-driven personalization, visual search, and generative content creation.
The news: ChatGPT’s referral traffic to websites plummeted 52% in a single month after a fundamental shift in how the AI model operates. OpenAI manually reweighted its system to prioritize sources that provide direct, helpful answers, per Search Engine Land. Our take: Declining web traffic means declining revenues. For marketers and publishers, the mandate is to adapt to GEO or risk invisibility in a world where AI answers, not clicks, dominate. Reshaping web content to be more answer oriented could help surface it in ChatGPT, but that’s easier said than done for publishers with legacy content. Companies that move early to understand and influence AI citation patterns will secure a competitive edge as this new content distribution landscape takes shape.
The news: Skylight is a new short-form video app like TikTok, but instead of using algorithms to decide what videos users see, it lets real people create and share their own video feeds, similar to Pinterest’s curation model. Built on Bluesky’s decentralized and open protocol, Skylight has clocked 240,000 downloads and 100,000 video uploads since April, per TechCrunch. Our take: Skylight’s reliance on creator-led feeds gives marketers a glimpse at what post-algorithm engagement could look like. But it remains to be seen if users take to an alternative way of consuming short-form video.