As AI agents become more sophisticated and digital twins evolve, marketers have even more to gain from the emerging technology.

B2B ecommerce growth is outpacing B2B product and electronic sales growth. And ecommerce site sales are taking an increasing share of the market. Macroeconomic conditions, buyers’ preferences, and AI use are fueling increased digital transactions, particularly through third-party marketplaces.

How can Spotify grow its advertiser appeal? The music platform must tread carefully to attract advertisers while retaining customers.

As marketers integrate generative AI (genAI) into their creative workflows, they must ensure the technology enhances, rather than replaces, creativity. Creatives must be active in AI policy development, maintain transparency of AI use, and be thoughtful about the way they use genAI. Brands that balance AI efficiency with human insight will stand out.

On today’s special edition podcast, we discuss the evolution of creator content, how content is migrating off social channels, brand partnerships and the implications of AI on content. Join Vice President and Principal Analyst, Jasmine Enberg as she hosts Nicole Weltman, Head of Social from Taco Bell, Bryan Reisberg, Creator, CEO, and Co-Founder of Little Chonk, and Sarah Crockett, Senior Vice President and CMO of DSW. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

AI-powered summaries from OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Perplexity misrepresent facts, yet audiences buy in—fueling misinformation and risking brand reputation

A lot happens in a week, so every Friday we're going to analyze all the new data and provide you with some of the key takeaways. Welcome to the Friday 5. This week, Temu and Shein get a scare, consumers use buy now, pay later (BNPL) apps to discover new products, and Super Bowl viewers don’t really care about ads for AI products or services.

Key stat: 66% of US adults are unaware of, haven’t used, or aren’t interested in augmented reality (AR) shopping apps as of January 2024, according to a January 2025 EMARKETER and CivicScience study.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss how much is too much when it comes to AI-generated ads, the relationship between how much people notice ads versus how intrusive they find them, and the main reason consumers say they feel “ignored” by marketers. Tune in to the conversation with Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Director of Reports Editing Rahul Chadha, and Senior Analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolff. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Oregon bill seeks to ban AI nurses: If passed, the bill could provide a framework for other states as they work to regulate the use of AI in healthcare settings.

61.3% of US consumers think media publications should always disclose when content is created by AI, according to a May 2024 EMARKETER survey.

60% of US B2B marketers plan to boost spending on AI tools and on social media advertising in 2025, per November 2024 data from Madison Logic and The Harris Poll.

A lot happens in a week, so every Friday we're going to analyze all the new data and provide you with some of the key takeaways. Welcome to the Friday 5.

Voluntary buyouts in its Platforms and Devices unit suggest a pivot toward AI and cloud as its hardware struggles in a saturated market with slowing upgrade cycles.

Meta AI updates hint at future advertising: The company’s chatbot will store “memories” and pull from user data to personalize answers.

As marketing becomes more directly tied to revenue goals, the ability to measure and report on its impact has declined. Some of that can be attributed to signal loss as the industry moves away from third-party tracking to more privacy-safe identifiers. Today’s audiences are also spread across multiple channels and devices. This makes it harder to track the customer journey and attribute results to specific marketing efforts.

A scrappy Chinese startup disrupts the AI hierarchy with a lean, open-source model, challenging Big Tech’s costly infrastructure and rewriting the rules of AI competition.

As genAI expands beyond chatbots, app categories like banking and messaging could see AI-driven disruption, reshaping mobile habits and spending trends

Retail media networks (RMNs) are expanding beyond retailers' websites and apps, pushing into connected TV (CTV) and in-store displays. As the industry matures, experts predict 2025 will be marked by significant growth in these off-site channels, with new technologies and partnerships reshaping how brands reach consumers throughout their shopping journey.

The AI agent interacts with the internet like a human and could replace personal assistants—but its data storage and cost implications loom large.