Advertising & Marketing

On today's special podcast episode, we continue our monthly show where we discuss the biggest trends of the moment and the newest research, sprinkle in some analysis, and bundle it up into a quiz. Every month, three of our analysts representing their respective coverage area teams compete against each other. (We also encourage you to play along at home.) We keep a running score and will crown a winning team at the end of the year. Today, we cover the future of AI devices, shopping Amazon from your social feed, what happens now that the Hollywood strikes are over, and how Amazon is expanding. Tune in to the discussion with this month's contestants: our vice president of Briefings Stephanie Taglianetti and analysts Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf and Carina Perkins.

The US ad market is in recovery: The industry saw its fourth straight month of growth despite the Israel-Hamas war’s cooling effect on spending.

Google's ad network oversight exposed: Inappropriate and illegal site placements challenge industry standards.

It’s been a complicated year for advertising, punctuated by a slow first half of the year followed by better growth in the back half. Limited budgets mean brands have had to get creative. One form of creativity has been partnerships from names both big and small. Here are five that caught our eye.

AWS intensifies AI competition with Microsoft and diversifies AI services and partnerships. Its progress challenges existing platforms and emphasizes enterprise integration.

Google DeepMind makes history with new materials predictions: It could revolutionize multiple industries while bolstering Google’s leadership in AI research and development.

On today's podcast episode, in our "Retail Me This, Retail Me That" segment, we discuss how Gen Zers discover products; where they stand on buy now, pay later; and how loyal they really are to brands. Then, for "Pop-Up Rankings," we rank three campaigns that really worked with Gen Z. Join our analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts analyst Arielle Feger and editor Catherine Ollinger.

After its US launch in September, TikTok Shop faces its first holiday season, heating up competition in the social commerce space.

With the rise of digital ad channels like connected TV and retail media, there’s a lot of emphasis on making every ad and consumer touchpoint shoppable. Ad formats with direct calls to action help drive conversions and increase ROI. But brand equity can get left out of the conversation when we focus on performance marketing in isolation. Every ad should perform and provide some sort of measurable impact, but each ad is also vital for telling a brand’s story, even at the bottom of the funnel where marketers are more focused on driving conversions.

Its Cybertruck enters a slowing, competitive EV market, challenging manufacturing limits and risking reputation with quality concerns, unclear pricing, and long pre-order waits.

Competitors thrive amid OpenAI’s leadership quagmire: Other startups gain clients, investors are concerned over board changes, and questions swirl over AI self-regulation and operational reliability.

Broadcom, Unity, ByteDance, and Bungie announce layoffs amid mergers, cost-cutting, and sector realignment. A strong job market isn’t translating to certain tech segments.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss what a completely Walt Disney Co.-owned Hulu will look like, if the entertainment giant has a Marvel problem, and whether Disney+ can ever rival Netflix for the subscriber crown. "In Other News," we talk about why Roku's revenues and streaming hours are doing particularly well and why Warner Bros. Discovery's ad revenues and subscriber growth are not. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of content Paul Verna.

Snapchat experiments with an ad-free subscription model in Australia at $10.50 a month: Shift in revenue strategy could influence social media monetization.

iRobot shares fall 17% after the EU warns of antitrust issues in Amazon's $1.7 billion bid. Now the FTC could weigh in.

Apple is aiming for more affordable second-gen Vision Pro XR headsets by 2025, competing in a growing market with Google, Meta, Varjo, and Valve.

Symphony to use Google Vertex AI for voice analysis: Voice-to-text AI is booming but accuracy is still a limitation. Generative AI could help firms meet strict regulatory requirements.

Amazon’s new chatbot and chips unveiled at re:Invent: It’s making more aggressive moves in the generative AI space. Release of its Olympus model will be a defining moment.

This Banking & Payments Show episode explores new cash-back credit card features and their appeal. We discuss a CNBC article on merchant rewards, highlight a feature 58% of consumers find extremely valuable, and debate the merits of these features versus more cash-back rewards.

On today’s podcast episode, host Bill Fisher is joined by our forecasting writer Ethan Cramer-Flood and analysts Paul Briggs and Matteo Ceurvels to examine the podcast landscape around the world, looking at changes in listenership and the advertising opportunities that the format affords.