蘑菇AV

Hearables are transforming, as well, from more basic audio devices into AI-powered health monitors. New form factors: New AI-powered form factors are gaining traction, particularly smart glasses and rings. Meta鈥檚 Ray-Ban success has proven the viability of AI-enhanced eyewear, while Samsung鈥檚 entry into smart rings signals growing competition in discreet health monitoring devices.

Ad revenues for digital pure players in retail media, social media, search, digital audio, and digital video are still expected to grow nearly 10%, reaching $293 billion. Retail and search ad formats will also grow 10% to reach $167 billion, and social media formats will grow 11% to $92 billion.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how Spotify reached sustained profitability, what a 鈥渄eluxe鈥� tier might look like, and where the audio streaming giant goes from here. Tune in to the discussion with host Marcus Johnson and analyst Daniel Konstantinovic.

"Digital devices are by far the most common way Americans get news," our analyst Rahul Chadha said on a recent episode of the "Behind the Numbers" podcast. "Some 86% of Americans say that's how they at least sometimes get their news," he said, citing recent data from Pew Research Center. But the digital news consumption picture is getting more nuanced as digital devices connect users to news on publisher sites, social platforms, and even messaging apps.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the many goals of ancillary services, how they drive foot traffic, and what retailers should be thinking about before introducing them. Listen to the conversation with our Senior Analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts Vice President of Content Suzy Davidkhanian and Senior Analyst Blake Droesch.

Compared with Anthropic鈥檚 Claude 3.7 Sonnet, which supports text and image analysis, Gemini 2.5 Pro鈥檚 multimodal capabilities extend to text, image, audio, and video, making it a more complete solution, per AI comparison service Docsbot. Google鈥檚 power of platform: Gemini 2.5 Pro is joining a thriving Google Workspace ecosystem.

The console features magnetic Joy-Con controllers with new mouse functionality, in-game video and audio calls, and the ability to run a host of AAA games from partner studios. The successor to its 8-year-old console also increases the screen size from 6.2 inches to 7.9 inches. A few steps forward: Launching on June 5, the Switch 2 will start at $450.

Yeah, I think a pretty easy definition is it's a digital interface that's powered by, well, currently anyway, a generative AI model, but not just any generative AI model, a particular one called large language models that basically produce natural sounding conversational output based on user prompts and the prompt can be a typed prompt or audio prompt now.

Behind the numbers: Spending will be dictated by two major trends: the need for consumers to replace electronics purchased during the pandemic and growing interest in AI-powered features. 70% of the consumer tech sector鈥檚 gains this year will come from sales of computers, portable audio, and televisions as shoppers embark on a 鈥減ost-pandemic 鈥� refresh wave,鈥� per Circana.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss why it has become so hard to get a read on consumer sentiment, the indicators we pay closest attention to to try and make sense of it, and how we expect consumers to feel for the remainder of the year. Tune in to the discussion with host Marcus Johnson, Director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman and Analyst Zak Stambor.

Marketers are now tasked with creating media in an ever-increasing number of formats鈥攊ncluding video and audio. These formats are not only labor-intensive to create, but also require specialized skills, such as knowledge of video editing software. The studio team at 蘑菇AV is small and has limited resources, but it鈥檚 tasked with producing labor-intensive video podcasts that publish twice a week.

Traditional media advertising saw the sharpest pullback (6.7%), while out-of-home, audio, print, and video all reported declines. Budget allocations shifted to short-term tactics: Sales promotions (8%) and direct marketing (9%) led growth, with event spending also up (5.4%).