Retail media networks rely heavily on first-party data, but those datasets capture only part of the customer journey. As advertisers push for broader reach and measurement, gaps in that data are becoming harder to overlook.

Agentic AI is expanding across ad platforms; CES reveals acceleration in autonomous planning and optimization, even as many marketers hesitate to trust full automation.

CMOs are confronting AI fatigue by refocusing on human creativity and trust. As automation accelerates, leaders are rebalancing efficiency with authenticity to restore credibility and performance.

33% of US genAI users have experienced inaccurate or misleading output when using the technology, according to a September 2025 report from Deloitte.

Despite audience preference for relevant advertisements, users across age groups maintain a generally negative sentiment toward ad personalization, per a Verve study—representing a unique challenge for advertisers. Marketers must understand the factors that make consumers more receptive to personalized ads and adapt accordingly.

GumGum’s CMO Kerel Cooper says contextual advertising has shifted from an education hurdle to a growth engine. In an EMARKETER interview at Advertising Week New York, he described how AI now interprets full-page or frame-by-frame context, allowing brands to reach audiences based on meaning rather than identity. As cookies fade, contextual ads offer privacy-safe precision and brand safety at scale. Cooper calls this “mindset marketing”—targeting users in the right headspace, not just the right demo. With the open web regaining advertiser trust and AI powering deeper relevance, contextual targeting is emerging as the foundation of a healthier ad ecosystem.

Payee preference was the largest predictor of a consumer choosing to pay in cryptocurrency in 2024, per a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. The GENIUS Act’s passage and the rising interest in stablecoins by incumbents and fintechs may reverse some of these trends as consumers gain regulatory clarity and more use cases.

Meta is planning on offering UK users paid, ad-free versions of Instagram and Facebook in the coming weeks. Privacy transforming into a priced option implies a growing consumer awareness of data use. Advertisers who make privacy a positive part of their brand messaging will better match emerging consumer mindsets.

While dynamic pricing has been around for decades, Delta Airlines has recently come under fire for announcing that it would increase its use of generative AI for flight pricing from 3% to 20% of domestic flights by year-end.

TikTok’s US operations may soon be spun off into a new entity majority-owned by American investors, with Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz, and Silver Lake leading the deal. The framework, aimed at complying with the 2024 divest-or-ban law, would give US investors roughly 80% control while ByteDance retains under 20%. The sticking point remains TikTok’s algorithm—whether ByteDance licenses its technology or a US-controlled version is rebuilt. For marketers, continuity is key: any disruption in recommendation performance, targeting, or data oversight could alter ad outcomes on one of their most important platforms.

Data privacy and security are the top concerns of 73% of C-level executives worldwide regarding AI implementation, according to an April BearingPoint survey.

The news: A California court ruled Meta’s collection of menstrual health data violated state privacy laws, per TechCrunch. The takeaway: The Meta case puts tech companies that use health data for ad targeting and marketing on notice. Explicit consent and absolute transparency is not only legally critical around healthcare data, but also key to building trust with consumers.

The news: Messaging ads are gaining traction as a key opportunity to reach customers at critical moments after Meta debuted ads in WhatsApp. In an exclusive conversation with EMARKETER, Grant Parker, president of omnichannel ad platform Innnovid, offered his take on the future of the messaging medium. Our take: The path forward for messaging ads relies on how well the format integrates with the user experience rather than interrupting it—necessitating that advertisers invest in this opportunity while accounting for consumer attitudes.

The trend: Healthcare advertising motivates consumers to go online to do more research, or talk to a medical professional—but the majority of people have privacy concerns about personalized ads. Our take: Healthcare marketers are eager to use AI and targeting technology to make one-to-one connections with consumers. And it’s true that personalized ads can be more useful for people. However, marketers need to use transparent labeling, use conspicuous ad tags on social media, and preface targeted emails with explanations about why they’re being sent.

The news: WhatsApp will begin showing ads for the first time since Meta’s 2014 acquisition, starting with the Updates tab’s Status feature. Sponsored search placements and optional paid subscriptions will also be added to WhatsApp Channels. Ads won’t appear in encrypted chats or groups, and targeting will rely only on minimal metadata unless users opt in to link accounts. Our take: Meta is threading a careful line—monetizing WhatsApp while keeping privacy promises intact. With over 3 billion global users and deep consumer trust, the platform’s subtle shift into ads and subscriptions could deliver big returns if Meta avoids sparking user backlash over commercialization.

Apple’s appeal against DMA rules frames interoperability as a privacy risk, testing how far regulators can go in dismantling its tightly guarded ecosystem.

There are now more than 80 retail media networks (RMNs) in the US. The volume of RMNs, combined with the dominance of Amazon and other established competitors, makes it challenging for new and niche RMNs to capture share.

Retailers and brands are racing to deploy AI across the shopping journey, but trust, quality, and execution will define who wins.

Our fifth annual study ranks Canada’s top seven banks on mobile app innovation, based on an exclusive survey about what features consumers value most.