Email is the top area where marketers are increasing their budgets. Some 62% of US B2B and B2C marketers had increased their email marketing campaign in the past 12 months, according to April 2023 data from SeQuel Response and ISG. But recent email updates from Apple and Gmail add new challenges to email marketing, especially for B2B marketer.

“In the digital era, each step along the path to purchase has become significantly more complex,” our analyst Blake Droesch said on a recent EMARKETER webinar. “The store remains a vital centerpiece, but the number of digital channels that consumers are using to discover and evaluate brands continues to grow at a rapid pace.” Brands and retailers need to stay on top of evolving purchasing behavior to meet their customers where they are. Here are three trends and opportunities that can help.

Amazon Prime Day conditioned shoppers to expect bargains in July: That’s driven Google, Target, Walmart, and others to seize on the opportunity to drive consumers to spend.

The number of AR users will surpass 100 million next year and reach 116.0 million in 2028, per our forecast.

The introduction of Google’s AI Overviews has thrust generative search into the mainstream. But Google’s not the only player incorporating generative AI into search functions.

Google’s AI-powered tools enable brands and retailers to develop creative, personalized retail media campaigns that captivate consumers and drive engagement. By using advanced data insights, these solutions can enhance campaign effectiveness and foster meaningful connections with shoppers.

Retail media is taking Latin America’s digital ad industry by storm, with advertisers spending nearly $2 billion this year, per our inaugural forecast. Here are the latest trends you need to know.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how much people are actually searching on social media platforms versus looking elsewhere, what a TikTok ban could do to social search, and how AI-powered chatbots are changing how we look for things. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf.

FAST is furiously turning to ads: Google TV is the latest to spy a major opportunity to sell CTV ads at affordable CPMs.

The C2PA is a collection of representatives from companies including OpenAI, Google, Publicis, Microsoft, and Adobe with a goal to “make the world safe for generative AI,” according to Adam Buhler, steering committee member for the C2PA and executive vice president and head of creative technology at Publicis.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss why the Atlantic thinks "Google is playing a dangerous game with AI search", the best new membership perk that retailers should introduce, TV networks strategy to deemphasize age, whether every brand needs a personality, why the Taj Mahal was built, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our analysts Blake Droesch, Bill Fisher, and Carina Perkins.

Gen Z and millennials shift to social media: Both cohorts prefer TikTok and Instagram over traditional search engines.

Google and Meta will account for just over 50% of worldwide digital ad spending in 2024, marginally higher than their 47% share in the US market. Amazon’s share will be much lower (8.8%)—although it will be among the leaders in revenue growth.

Younger generations have embraced TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube as search engines. Although TikTok’s future in the US is uncertain, the social search opportunity remains robust.

Are walled gardens a thing of the past? Shrinking market share and distrust of major platforms is leading to a shift toward open-ended ad solutions.

Over the weekend, thousands of alleged Google Search API documents were leaked. The highly technical documents purport to cover Google’s over 14,000 ranking factors, how link value and click behavior are evaluated, and how Google classifies smaller sites. But for the average marketer focused on building a brand, the news may be more exciting than actionable.

Digital, traditional, and total media ad spending growth will all accelerate in 2024, although only modestly. The outlook has stabilized for most countries and regions, even if spectacular growth is harder than ever to find.

AI is revolutionizing B2B SEO, but the fundamentals still apply. By strategically using AI and focusing on SEO content, B2B marketers can leverage AI tools to stay ahead of algorithm changes and AI-powered models.

The pandemic gave advertisers in Germany a taste for digital. Digital advertising will see record levels of growth for the next three years—with retail media as the main driver—far ahead of spending on traditional media.

Though platforms like Perplexity, Arc Browser, and Bing have advanced generated search results, Google’s announcement last week that it’s rolling out “AI Overviews” to searchers will likely make AI-written search results the norm. But some marketers say the feature is not quite ready for widespread use.