For marketers targeting financial services audiences, understanding the neobank landscape reveals where consumer banking behavior is heading and how to reach customers who increasingly manage money through apps rather than branches.

Substack is testing its first structured sponsorship program, allowing selected writers to insert paid brand placements directly into newsletters—an opt-in beta that keeps creators in full control and avoids programmatic ads. The move follows significant audience growth, with US uniques doubling in a year, but minimal marketer adoption: only 5% of brand marketers use Substack today. Sponsorships offer a way to monetize large free audiences while preserving the platform’s editorial identity. For advertisers, the beta introduces a premium, high-intent environment suited to thought leadership and niche expertise—an early indication that creator newsletters may become more formal components of influencer and upper-funnel strategy.

Intuit signed a multiyear strategic partnership with OpenAI with over US $100 million per year to embed OpenAI’s models into Intuit’s software. The models will enable AI agents for Turbotax, QuickBooks, Credit Karma, and Mailchimp. Intuit’s OpenAI deal foreshadows a seismic transformation in how users experience applications— where generative interactions become the norm, AI agents handle tasks on users’ behalf, and copilots integrate seamlessly into daily workflows. In financial services, it introduces the capacity to quickly interact with complex data and take action.

This benchmark covers how ad buyers can calibrate their retail media ad spending and budget allocations against the market, and how publishers and solution providers can assess whether their ad revenues align with industry trends.

NBCUniversal has sold out all advertising inventory for Super Bowl 60 months earlier than expected, marking record demand for football advertising. Digital sales tied to the game are up 20% YoY as brands invest across NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo. Prices held at $7–8 million per 30-second spot, aligning with Fox’s 2024 benchmark. NBCU’s 2026 slate—which also includes the Winter Olympics, NBA All-Star, and FIFA World Cup—positions the company to capture significant share of sports ad budgets. With ROI on Super Bowl ads nearly doubling since 2020 and consumer enthusiasm rising, NBCU’s cross-platform dominance highlights live sports’ unmatched ad pull.

The news: Sixty-four percent of Gen Z and 65% of millennial homebuyers say their financial well-being will depend on their ability to refinance to a lower interest rate in the future, per Truework’s “The State of Homebuying in America” report. But if rates don’t significantly drop over the next few years, these customers’ mortgages could be at risk of defaulting. Our take: Financial institutions (FIs) can step in to help young homeowners navigate their mortgages while they await rate changes. FIs can start by offering automated refinance alerts, enhancing digital transparency and providing a homeownership/homebuying educational hub.

In today’s episode, we talk about how AI has changed finserv’s approach to advertising and which areas of bank marketing will be affected the most. Join the discussion with host and Head of Business Development Rob Rubin, Analysts Lauren Ashcraft and Jacob Bourne.

In today’s episode, we talk about how much debt consumers have, which buckets it lives in, and the likelihood of a ‘debt jubilee’. Join the discussion with host and Head of Business Development Rob Rubin, Senior Analyst Grace Broadbent and Senior Director of Forecasting Oscar Orozco.

This is the Q1 2025 installment of our quarterly “Ad Spending Benchmarks” series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.

In today’s episode, we talk about what young people want most from a bank, their favorite alternative investments, and what their parents have taught them about saving for the future. Join the discussion with host and Head of Business Development Rob Rubin, Analyst Lauren Ashcraft and Senior Analyst Grace Broadbent.

Over a third (39%) of US adults currently have access and 28% would like to gain access to personal information removal tools, according to December 2024 data from Cornerstone Advisors.

In today’s episode, we talk about whether regulators will allow, and consumers will adopt, AI over human financial advisors. Will AI close or widen the wealth gap? What happens if an AI financial advisory loses your money? Join the discussion with host and Head of Business Development Rob Rubin, and Analysts Lauren Ashcraft and Jacob Bourne.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss what a tariff even is, what might happen when they’re implemented, and how best to prepare for them. Listen to the conversation with our Senior Analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts Principal Analysts Paul Briggs and Matteo Ceurvels, and Analyst Rachel Wolff.

CNBC+ is the latest attempt to bring news networks into streaming: The streaming service will launch in early 2025 as Comcast prepares to separate linear, digital assets.

In today’s episode of The Banking & Payments Show podcast we talk about how financial services companies partner with creators on social media to reach younger audiences. In the ‘Headlines’ segment we examine the partnerships between banks and influencers by discussing the EMARKETER article, “How to make finfluencer partnerships work with a smaller marketing budget.” And in the ‘Story by Numbers’ segment, we shift the conversation to how many financial influencers there are on social media and the steps a bank needs to take to find the right finfluencer to partner with. Join the discussion with host, Rob Rubin, content creator and finfluencer, Taylor Mitchell, and analyst, Lauren Ashcraft.

Western Union has become the latest financial company to launch a media network, joining the likes of Chase and PayPal. “The biggest advantage [financial media networks] have is just breadth. So, unlike a retail media network, they capture the entire spending history that a customer has,” said our analyst Maria Elm on an episode of our Behind the Numbers podcast.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss what commerce media encompasses, the size of the financial and travel networks, and the companies to pay closest attention to in this space. Listen to the conversation with our Senior Analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts Senior Analyst Arielle Feger and Principal Analyst Sarah Marzano.

On today's special edition episode of the Behind the Numbers podcast, eMarketer analyst Jasmine Enberg and Yahoo Finance Senior reporter Alexandra Canal discuss the creator economy during "The Creator Era: How Creators Are Redefining Media, Marketing and Commerce" at the 2024 NAB Show NY.