Consumers pulled back on spending in December: Even as inflation eases, consumers’ diminished spending power is forcing them to make choices about what they buy.

On today's episode, we discuss the impact of OpenAI's ChatGPT, how brands are celebrating the holidays, what users actually want from streaming TV, disability representation in ads, Major League Soccer sponsorships, some facts about money, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Ross Benes, director of reports editing Rahul Chadha, and director of forecasting Oscar Orozco.

The ad downturn isn’t bad news for everyone: Smaller brands are getting extra visibility from ad spend now that big advertisers are pulling back.

We forecast that total retail holiday sales will total $1.297 trillion this year. Brands looking for a piece of the pie need to maximize their social media presence, which, of course, includes TikTok.

Consumers kept pace with inflation in September: But there are signs that they may not be able to do so much longer.

Nearly three-quarters of US adults will likely use standard delivery for their purchases this holiday season.

Half of US adults plan to fly in the next six months as of October 2021, up 14 percentage points from October 2020.

Gen Z is the most likely age group among US adults to travel this holiday season, with 59% of those ages 18 to 24 saying they’ll probably venture to other places.

eMarketer senior analyst Bill Fisher hosts senior forecasting analyst Cindy Liu, research analyst Man-Chung Cheung, researcher Xiaodi Xu, and research analyst at Insider Intelligence Matteo Ceurvels to discuss holiday shopping around the world. They talk about the origins of Thanksgiving weekend shopping, why China's Singles' Day is the largest shopping holiday in the world, and how the Buen Fin in Mexico is adapting in 2020.

Consumers in the US are planning to spend roughly $196 on Valentine’s Day this year, an increase of 21% over 2019, according to research from the National Retail Federation (NRF).

More women are turning to resale sites, including The RealReal and Poshmark, as they continue to compare deals and make more of an effort to spend less.

According to an August 2018 Pitney Bowes survey of US digital shoppers, 56% of respondents said they encountered an issue while purchasing gifts online last holiday season, up from 36% the prior year.