Amazon is expanding its Prime Video live sports push through major deals with the National Basketball Association (NBA). For advertisers, the betting landscape, combined with mounting options to advertise in live sports, offers opportunities to connect with highly engaged and passionate audiences as platforms expand.

B2B digital ad spending is rising as marketers lean into formats that build visibility and engagement. Video and display are growing faster than search, reshaping strategies to reach decision-makers.

Several channels and platforms saw viewing hikes in August, largely driven by live sports, per Nielsen’s August 2025 Media Distributor Index. The platforms that thrive in an increasingly fragmented media landscape will be those that go all-in on live sports and build a diversified portfolio combining tentpole events like the Super Bowl and emerging growth drivers like women’s sports.

This year, retail will underperform overall US ad spending growth for the first time since 2018 as advertisers cut budgets amid tariffs and economic uncertainty. But the outlook for 2026 is more optimistic.

Digital markets are being reshaped by genAI search and shifting platform and monetization dynamics. These 10 charts reveal the forces that will define 2025 and beyond.

OpenAI is preparing to turn ChatGPT into an advertising platform, posting a new role for an engineer to build systems for ad integration, campaign management, and attribution. The move could position ChatGPT as a new challenger to Google, Meta, and Amazon’s ad businesses. Already a major driver of referral traffic to retailers like Walmart, Etsy, and Target, ChatGPT has clear potential to evolve into a commerce and ad engine. But execution will be critical: Poorly integrated ads risk undermining user trust, even as AI-driven ad formats are projected to grow at triple-digit annual rates in the coming years.

Consumers are increasingly receptive toward digital ads and generative AI in marketing, per Kantar’s Media Reactions 2025 report. While consumers increasingly see digital ads as the norm, advertisers must work harder than ever to cut through the clutter and deliver relevant, memorable experiences that drive action.

Global ad spending is now expected to rise 7.4% to reach $1.17 trillion in 2025, driven by social media and digital investments, per WARC’s updated forecast. Advertisers aren’t slashing budgets, but instead rethinking spending as economic uncertainty accelerates the shift to digital channels, performance campaigns, and newer formats like influencer marketing.

Amazon will sell products from its Whole Foods private labels in Singapore, a country where it has no physical stores, per Bloomberg. That experiment could be repeated in other markets, giving the retailer an opening to grow its grocery business without investing in brick-and-mortar retail.

DirecTV has launched on Vizio Smart TVs, broadening its reach and opening fresh advertising opportunities for brands, the companies announced Monday. DirecTV’s expansion into Vizio’s smart TVs dramatically widens its streaming footprint and gives advertisers a more measurable, performance-driven environment.

Walmart is adding pharmacy home delivery for specialty drugs that need to be refrigerated, such as GLP-1s, insulin and liquid antibiotic amoxicillin. Walmart’s move to add GLP-1 drugs to its pharmacy delivery services will be a customer pleaser and could force other players operating in retail and prescription drug markets to make similar moves as consumers grow increasingly frustrated with their drugstore experiences.

The holiday sales season is set to begin in earnest in October, with a number of retailers rolling out events to compete with Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days. Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Kohl's will all run sales that coincide with Amazon's October event, putting them in a better position to capitalize on shoppers' desire to get a head start on holiday shopping.

Marketplaces have been driving US ecommerce growth. But established players face a shake-up from new entrants and advances in AI and agentic commerce.

Amazon used its annual seller conference, Amazon Accelerate, to unveil new tools and fulfillment capabilities that underscore its ambition to serve as the infrastructure of retail. The retailer is weaving together AI-driven tools, externalized logistics, and its vast seller network to extend its influence beyond its own marketplace. As Amazon extends its reach through MCF and Buy with Prime, it increasingly sees merchants and marketplaces not as rivals but as collaborators.

Meta is back in licensing talks with publishers like Axel Springer, Fox Corp., and News Corp., marking a reversal from its 2022 exit from news payments. The move comes as AI tools like Google’s AI Overviews cut publisher traffic, pushing outlets to secure compensation. Meanwhile, Reddit is pressing Google for richer terms, citing undervaluation of its human-authored content under existing $203 million contracts. For publishers, licensing deals provide revenue but risk cementing dependence on platforms that control discovery. For marketers, the shift highlights how AI-driven answers—rather than search results or feeds—are becoming the gateways to consumer attention and content discovery.

Beauty companies are rapidly diversifying beyond traditional sales channels to adapt to changing consumer behaviors and seize opportunities made possible by ecommerce, social platforms, and digital tools. This push is designed to forge closer, more direct connections with shoppers. Selling through multiple channels is no longer a choice in beauty. Consumers now shop across apps, websites, social media and stores, and brands that don’t meet them where they are will lose out. Still, distribution alone won’t set brands apart. Beauty companies that win will offer technology like AR try-ons, use their physical stores as hubs where people can gather for makeup classes and to sample products, and sell through external retailers while also beefing up their own direct channels.

Robotaxi deployments are moving from pilots to broader rollouts as companies try to cash in on advancements in autonomous driving. Lyft recently began robotaxi tests in Atlanta, and Amazon's Zoox launched in Las Vegas. For companies investing in robotaxis, the opportunity extends beyond passenger rides. These fleets could eventually serve as a backbone for cost-saving delivery services, expanding the commercial applications of the technology. With Uber and DoorDash testing delivery robots, robotaxis could be the next move in on-demand logistics, moving beyond transporting passengers to carrying packages, meals, and groceries.

Last week’s Amazon-Netflix partnership represents a convergence between commerce media and streaming TV that promises to blur the lines between brand-building and performance marketing while raising fundamental questions about which budgets, which teams, and which strategies will control advertising's future.

How can B2B buyers calibrate their ad spending and budget allocations against the market, and how can media companies and solution providers assess whether their ad revenues are in line with industry trends?