As chatbots influence purchases, brands should make authentic customer feedback central to GEO efforts.

This FAQ covers how UGC influences purchases, the authenticity problem, and how brands should build UGC programs in 2026.

TikTok brings Out of Phone to more markets: Wider DOOH access lets brands extend effective user-generated content offline.

Original characters aim to own the season, though AI concerns could dampen the campaign's appeal.

Reddit helps shoppers vet AI advice: Consumers check AI recommendations on Reddit, giving brands purchase influence that clicks may not capture.

YouTube is becoming TV. As its viewing shifts to TV screens and ad budgets blur across channels, marketers need to rethink where TV ends and digital video begins.

New tools turn barista content into scalable advertising.

Social platforms want a bigger role in search ad budgets, but user habits lag behind. As search expands beyond traditional engines, these platforms must turn occasional behavior into intent-driven activity to grab ad dollars.

68% expect social to deliver the most value, pairing low costs with AI and UGC to rival bigger brands.

Fan remixes are turning into an attention engine, and brands that design for reinterpretation stand to win.

In place of the monthly retailer rankings, “Behind the Numbers” has launched the Unofficial Monthly Retailer Awards (UMRAs). Each month, the awards will spotlight retailers that stand out in three key categories: Most impactful campaign, best in-real-life initiative, and best under-the-radar move. Analysts will nominate standout brands, and host Suzy Davidkhanian will select the winners based on their cases.

"Retailers are reinventing the ways that they connect with their customers in real life," said our analyst Blake Droesch during a recent “Behind the Numbers” episode. "The D2C revolution that we saw play out online has now really reached its limitations, giving way to a disconnection between brands and their customers."

Disney will invest $1 billion in OpenAI and allow Sora users to create short-form videos featuring more than 200 Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars characters. User-generated material opens a new potential spigot of low-cost content for Disney+, which is under increased pressure to compete with YouTube. The move marks a major shift for a conglomerate that has historically held its IP close to the chest.

Authenticity (35%) and track record (32%) are the top two factors US adults consider when deciding which online product reviewers to trust, according to Ipsos data from October 2025.

The news: Gamers are more involved in gaming content than ever before, thanks in large part to titles like Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite. And they’re not keeping that interest solely on-platform. 46% of gamers say their time spent creating in-game video game content has somewhat or significantly increased over a year ago, per Bain & Company’s Gaming Report 2025. About 20% say they spend less time. 27% of gamers’ social media time and 25% of their streaming video time is spent focused on gaming-related content. Our take: The gaming audience is growing, and it’s not focused on a single platform or console. Gamers’ interests reach through the game and into social media, streaming, TV, and audio, giving marketers a wide path to reach gamers where they are.

The news: Last week, credit unions and their customers participated in the annual #ILoveMyCreditUnion social media campaign, per America’s Credit Unions. During last year’s campaign, over 1,000 organizations across all states and 15 countries reached more than 4 million people. Our take: The industrywide social media blitz underscores the importance of collective action and unified messaging. In a competitive landscape where individual credit unions often lack the marketing budgets of large banks, coming together for a coordinated campaign can amplify their reach exponentially. This collaborative spirit is a core differentiator for credit unions, helping them demonstrate their unique, member-centric value proposition to millions of potential new members.

A new Adalytics investigation reveals that YouTube served ads from major brands like Disney, HBO Max, and Hulu alongside thousands of pirated films, live TV broadcasts, and exclusive streaming content—racking up over 250 million views. The report highlights systemic failures in YouTube’s content moderation and ad placement transparency, leaving advertisers with little visibility and minimal recourse for refunds. Worse, some studios may have inadvertently paid to retarget users who pirated their own content. As copyright enforcement lags and automation is gamed, brands and rights holders face financial, reputational, and legal risks in one of digital media’s biggest ecosystems.

The trend: Gen Z is opting out of both traditional pay TV and ad-supported streaming tiers, signaling deeper changes in viewing behavior. Just 42% of Gen Z subscribers use ad-supported SVOD, while less than half of all US households now maintain a pay TV subscription. Our take: Streaming’s future depends on reaching the next generation, but current models—especially ad-supported tiers—aren’t meeting Gen Z where they are. With only 1.3 hours of streaming and 0.8 hours of traditional TV per day, Gen Z prefers social video, gaming, and music. To stay relevant, platforms must prioritize native formats, interactivity, and creator integration over legacy ad models.