蘑菇AV

AXON鈥檚 performance is pulling in spend across gaming, ecommerce, and connected TV, giving AppLovin a foothold in markets far larger than its original mobile gaming roots. What could trip things up? Regulatory risk, geopolitical volatility, or platform gatekeepers like Apple shifting their rules pose threats to AppLovin鈥檚 growth flywheel.

Our take: 鈥淎s competitors brace for volatility, Mercado Libre鈥檚 multibillion-dollar bet on Latin America鈥檚 ecommerce potential offers a powerful buffer against economic headwinds, reinforcing its position as the region鈥檚 undisputed ecommerce leader,鈥� said Matteo Ceurvels, 蘑菇AV principal analyst for Latin America and Spain.

US sales on Shein and Temu fell sharply following price increases: The decline is an unwelcome sign as both marketplaces fight to stay relevant with shoppers.

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.

But unless the platform is also an ecommerce hub, it won鈥檛 have transaction data to connect sales to ad exposures. Retail media鈥檚 importance has increased as legacy identifiers blink out. Closed-loop attribution has become more attractive. As cookies and other legacy identifiers (e.g., mobile ad IDs, IP addresses) become scarcer, platforms with built-in measurement advantages have benefited.

Even as ecommerce alcohol sales rise, physical stores continue to dominate the path to purchase. Nonalcoholic beverages and Dry January are also picking up steam.

ChatGPT's shopping tool threatens retail media revenues: Its product search could siphon ad dollars from retailers struggling with tariffs, higher prices, and weak demand.

The initiative aims to get customers to pay with all of PayPal鈥檚 payment solutions鈥攆rom debit cards to buy now, pay later鈥攅verywhere they shop. Debit card TPV grew 64% YoY in Q1, and the number of Venmo and PayPal debit card users shot up almost 80% YoY. BNPL volume grew more than 20% YoY in Q1, and its monthly active accounts that use the service increased 18% YoY.

If Samsung executes effectively, Creative Canvas could help reframe how advertisers think about TV not just as a brand awareness channel, but as a direct engagement platform.

But diving into advertising can help the company diversify its revenues and give it a needed boost, We forecast FMN ad spending will jump 103.11% YoY in 2025, hitting about $710 million.

Click here to view our full forecast for US livestreaming retail ecommerce buyers. Livestreaming ecommerce isn鈥檛 as big in the US as it is in China, but it has proven to be tenable. Its popularity in China, where 47.2% of digital buyers will be livestream buyers, remains unmatched.

Gen Z will let bots do their shopping. AI shopping agents will gain traction among younger demographics through initial deployment in ecommerce platforms, digital assistants, and browser extensions. AI agents will exacerbate genAI鈥檚 risks.

In March, Meta rolled out new carousel ads that drive both ecommerce and in-store purchases, with early tests showing a 21% higher incremental return on ad spend compared to ecommerce-only formats, Meta鈥檚 group lead for retail and ecommerce Karin Tracy told Adweek. Why it matters: Meta is chasing retail media, a fast-growing category with US spending projected to rise 18% in 2025 and 16.8% in 2026.

With Amazon accounting for 76.7% of the US retail media industry鈥檚 $60.81 billion in ad spend, smaller retail media networks (RMNs) have to innovate to differentiate themselves in the longtail of the marketplace.

This growth is mirrored in the US, where our forecast expects influencer marketing spending to rise 15% YoY in 2025, outpacing both social ad growth (12.8%) and overall digital ad growth (11.8%). As holding companies like Publicis Groupe and Havas race to acquire influencer marketing agencies, Omnicom鈥檚 Creo move shows it鈥檚 betting on internal unification rather than outside acquisition.