“Most marketers want to be cutting-edge, and to be able to say that they’re exploring new technology,” Jack Johnston, associate director at Tinuiti, said about AI’s explosion into social media tools. “But our focus is not just being gimmicky and tapping into AI because it’s AI, but doing it because there’s a real business value and a positive impact that can come from it.”
Pinterest’s search enhancements continue with body type filter: The platform’s AI-enabled upgrades are boosting engagement and shopping behavior.
Ad-supported streaming and live sports are accelerating pay TV’s decline: The largest pay TV providers lost 5 million subscribers in 2023, while SVOD’s market share grew.
On today's podcast episode, we discuss the most important parts of the EU's new AI Act, what's missing, and how these rules could shape US regulation. "In Other News," we talk about what nefarious GPTs can get up to and a card-linked buy now, pay later (BNPL) offering. Tune in to the discussion with our analysts Carina Perkins and Yory Wurmser.
Out of all US generations, Gen Z is willing to pay the most ($229.14 per month) for websites, apps, and online services if they could not access them for free (no ads or subscription fee), according to November 2023 data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).
On today's podcast episode, we discuss why TikTok might not actually be a social media platform, how much young people use it to search for things, and whether TikTok Shop is ruining TikTok. "In Other News," we talk about the battle between Threads and X (formerly Twitter), as well as whether Snap distancing itself from social media will work and start a trend. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Jasmine Enberg and director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman.
LinkedIn Premium is the company’s AI proving ground: After making $1.7 billion in subscription revenues thanks to AI, the company looks to expand the tech elsewhere.
Following “voluminous” feedback from banks, regulators will reconsider their controversial proposal.
Though on-site search and display remain retail media’s bread and butter, off-site advertising—placing ads in channels outside of a retail media network’s (RMN’s) own properties—will lead the next evolution due to its ability to expand advertisers’ reach and achieve upper-funnel goals like increasing brand awareness.
“The beauty of a clean room is that it's a privacy-centric way for CVS to share data from its 74 million Extra Care members and for us to share the data from our 498 million users, and end up with a repository of powerful, completely anonymized first-party data,” said Carrie Sweeney, VP of retail at Pinterest. “Then we can connect our users with targeted ads without sharing any of their personal data, just as CVS can on its website.”
The majority (83.7%) of US retail sales take place in physical stores, per our forecast. The retailers that can infuse digitally forward strategies into their in-store experiences are more likely to win over consumer dollars. Here are five charts on why the in-store experience is so key to retailers’ success and how they can use technology to create a more seamless, engaging shopping experience.
Uber, Lyft, and Instacart fine-tune their ad strategies: The platforms are leaning into personalization and experimenting with formats as they try to boost revenues without alienating users.
B2B is the largest segment of overall US payment volume, holding roughly five times that of consumer payments. It has been slower to digitize than the consumer sector, but finally passed the tipping point during the pandemic. Even now, almost a third of the market is up for grabs.
Retailers need to take note—not having a customer’s preferred payment method can increase cart abandonment
The rise of OTT streaming and short video on social media has propelled a rapid increase in video advertising for most industries. Retail lagged far behind the average in video ad spending, but it has started to close the gap over the past five years.
Consumers care about sustainability, but often aren’t willing to buy environmentally friendly products if they’re deemed lower quality, especially if it costs more. One solution for retailers and consumers is resale, an industry worth $108.64 billion in 2024, per our December 2023 forecast. Not all environmental initiatives have to be at the consumer level, though.
Customer stories reveal why credit unions and community banks are outpacing their larger counterparts in key growth areas.
Consumers appreciate AI-driven innovation but are wary
Brands put a lot of thought into how to get consumers to discover and buy their products, but not as much into what happens after a purchase is made. However, data suggests that the post-purchase experience, which includes everything from shipping to customer feedback surveys, may have more of an impact than retailers think.
Following performance measurement is the most important factor in allocating budget to retail media, according to 56% of US consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers, per a December 2023 survey from Skai and Path to Purchase Institute.