US media habits show a split between heavy streaming and enduring live TV. Gaming, immersive tech, and short video add complexity, making the market both advanced and fragmented.

Despite economic uncertainty, 77% of consumers plan to spend the same or more this holiday season, but their shopping timelines and behaviors are shifting. Klaviyo’s 2025 BFCM Forecast shows why brands must rethink peak-season campaigns with omnichannel and AI-driven personalization.

When it comes to mobile marketing, SMS is a timely approach to bringing brands closer to their audience.

This week, beauty buyers take action on texts, influencers have indirect influence, and podcast fandoms benefit brands.

A lot happens in a week, so every Friday we're going to analyze all the new data and provide you with some of the key takeaways. Welcome to the Friday 5.

SpaceX and T-Mobile’s direct-to-cell service promises to eliminate vast dead zones, but the cost to consumers could hinder widespread adoption.

AI enables large brands to unlock valuable insights from vast customer data, turning it into predictive analytics, personalized recommendations, and benchmarks. With these tools, brands can anticipate customer needs, enhance engagement, and drive growth.

Ecommerce trends come and go, but delivering a great customer experience is more critical than ever. With fierce competition, one misstep can make shoppers rethink hitting “add to cart.” Personalization, multi-channel engagement, and seamless integration of digital and in-store experiences are key to staying ahead.

69% of consumers worldwide say email is their preferred communication channel with brands, according to a June 2024 survey from Emarsys. Email was followed by SMS/MMS, at 53%.

77% of B2B decision-makers worldwide leverage chat tools for product discovery, according to January 2024 data from Forrester Consulting and Zoovu.

Nearly 4 in 5 people in the US own a smartphone, per our March 2023 forecast. US adults check their phones an average of 114 times each day, and usually do so within the first 10 minutes of waking, per a Reviews.org study.

45% of US retailers are planning a change to their contextual marketing strategies, which include sending SMS and emails to customers in-store, according to October 2023 Retail Systems Research data.

On today's episode, we discuss what the biggest impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) will be, whether time spent with ad-supported media is falling, why Lululemon is looking to sell its connected fitness company Mirror, the battle between SMS and email, what makes a shopping experience convenient, which country could see its population cut in half; and more. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian, and analysts Blake Droesch and Paul Verna.

Industry KPIs show how email compares to SMS

Focus on cross-platform messaging: Google is ramping up pressure on Apple to adopt Rich Communication Services (RCS) as an equitable cross-platform standard. We breakdown RCS and its potential to unify mobile messaging.

Find out how sending a marketing text or SMS message can effectively cut through the noise to reach consumers instantly and directly. Hear from David Ross, SVP of growth, partnerships, and revenue at Community.

The number of mobile messaging app users worldwide will rise by 6.1% in 2021, and new business features facilitate brand-consumer interactions.

For our recent “Ecommerce and Retail Customer Experience 2021” report, we spoke with Sasha Siddhartha, co-founder and CTO of Thrive Market, about how the company uses first-party data to improve personalization and, in turn, drive customer loyalty.

A direct-to-consumer (D2C) strategy wasn’t top-of-mind when soda brand Olipop launched in 2017. In fact, during its first year of business, the brand didn’t even have a website—primarily relying on retail brick-and-mortar partnerships to drive sales. But last year, everything changed.