Australia has enacted the world’s first nationwide ban on social-media accounts for anyone under 16, forcing platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat to remove underage users or face major penalties. Policymakers and researchers will study the effects on mental health, offline behavior, and migration to unregulated platforms—insights that could influence US policy, where similar proposals are already gaining traction. For advertisers, the implications are significant: removing millions of teen users would constrict future reach curves, shift youth attention toward gaming-adjacent spaces, raise competition for compliant inventory, and complicate early brand-building. Australia’s experiment may foreshadow US market disruption.

Twitch introduced livestream shopping ads powered by Amazon’s advertising platform. The ad launch reflects the burgeoning popularity of livestream commerce, which despite being slow to take off in the US is now gaining traction thanks to TikTok, a booming collectibles market, and the rise of “shoppertainment.” Amazon is betting that an easier path to purchase will encourage more viewers to pull the trigger on products they discover via livestreams. However, a successful live shopping strategy requires thinking about the channel less as an avenue for direct conversions and more as an opportunity to engage potential customers and build lasting relationships.

YouTube is making livestreaming a central pillar of its platform with its most sweeping update yet. More than 30% of logged-in viewers watched live video in Q2 2025, and new features aim to boost engagement and monetization. Updates include YouTube Playables, dual horizontal and vertical streaming with a unified chat, AI-generated highlight Shorts, and side-by-side ad formats that don’t interrupt streams. The company is also enabling midstream exclusivity for members. For creators, livestreaming is now easier to scale and monetize; for brands, it’s a fresh avenue to connect with highly engaged audiences—and increasingly, to drive commerce.

Consumers in Japan have been slow to embrace digital technology, but they are gradually warming to it. Recent data shows consumers are changing their online shopping and media consumption behavior.

The news: Instagram added new limitations to its livestream feature, now requiring creators to have a public account with over 1,000 followers to go live, per TechCrunch. Our take: While it could benefit Meta’s competitive position in the livestream space, Instagram’s latest restrictions will harm creators looking to break into the influencer space—necessitating rapid adaptation. Smaller creators could shift attention to other platforms with less restrictive livestream requirements—think YouTube, which only requires 50 subscribers to go live, and Twitch, which has no livestream minimum.

The news: YouTube, Instagram, Twitch, and TikTok each offer unique advantages and drawbacks for gamer ad reach, per HypeAuditor’s 2025 State of Gaming report. Choosing the right platform depends on what kind of impact marketers want to make. Our take: Marketers should boost campaign performance with influencer partnerships on these platforms since creators often understand their audience better than companies do. Track success platform by platform to help tailor ad strategies, capitalize on UGC, and maximize return on investment.

The news: Despite its massive reach, gaming still accounts for less than 5% of worldwide media investment, per Dentsu’s 2025 Gaming Trends report—indicating a disparity between where audiences spend their time and where advertisers invest. Our take: Concerns about brand safety with in-game advertising linger, but brands that are willing to take the risk stand to gain through an approach that considers that simply investing in the format isn’t enough to drive results.

Gen Z is driving the vertical video revolution: Platforms and marketers must meet them where they are—on mobile and with creators.

YouTube brings side-by-side ads to livestreams: The move could help convince creators and advertisers that YouTube is the go-to livestream choice.

Inside Amazon’s partnerships with InfoSum and Magnite: The new integrations highlight Amazon’s goal to be an essential platform for advertisers.

YouTube has more users than Facebook, Netflix, or Spotify. But its advertising revenues do not match its vast reach. This report contextualizes the opportunities and scope for growth in various media spheres.

This year’s festival highlighted a maturing creator economy, a reality check for AI, and bigger and bolder brand activations and marketing trends.

Perplexity’s new ad makes Google a target: The company’s biggest ad yet, led by “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae, could continue the push toward a more divided AI market.

Twitch expands sponsorship opportunities: While the change might attract creators, whether brands will buy in is debatable.

While many users sell products via Twitch livestreams, Amazon has yet to position the platform as a rival to other social video commerce sites like TikTok Shop.

Latin America’s digital revolution is marching full steam ahead, with consumers spending more than a third of their day online. As social commerce and retail media propel the region’s digital economy to new heights, the runway for growth remains long.​

Digital gaming is popular across generations. But Gen Zers and millennials are more likely to game on multiple platforms, seek community around the hobby, and pass the habit on to their children.

Influencing the influencers: Harris and Trump rely on creators to mobilize younger voters and drive social media buzz.

How can in-game ad buyers calibrate their ad spending and budget allocations against the market, and how can publishers and solution providers assess whether their ad revenues are in line with industry trends?

The number of companies generating more than $1 billion in annual US CTV ad sales more than doubled from two in 2020 to five in 2024. With ad dollars spreading out among services, a few streaming platforms stand out because of their heavy usage.