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layers browse, click, and buy real merch inside their favorite games, ushering in a new era of immersive ecommerce.

Latin America鈥檚 digital revolution is marching full steam ahead, with consumers spending more than a third of their day online. As social commerce and retail media propel the region鈥檚 digital economy to new heights, the runway for growth remains long.鈥�

TikTok debuts AI Alive, an image-to-video generation tool: The feature is part of TikTok鈥檚 push to maintain dominance in a competitive short-form market.

TikTok brings DMs directly to livestreams: The update is part of TikTok鈥檚 broader livestream push, designed to keep brands and creators around.

Meanwhile, Gen Z overindexes compared with other generations in terms of watching influencer videos, with YouTube as the predominant platform, per Ampere Analysis as cited by The Media Leader. But Gen Zers are always looking for the next big thing. From media consumption to social networking to digital buying, video is a core element of most Gen Zers鈥� digital experiences.

Netflix remains a revenue leader in the streaming space, however tariff concerns and tightening budgets for both consumers and advertisers have increased the pressure across all providers to stand out.

LinkedIn rebrands its Wire Program as BrandLink: The move reemphasizes its pivot toward creator-led B2B video.

Key stat: 87% of Gen Zers say online reviews had at least a little influence over their decision to purchase a product, according to January data from CivicScience. 31% of US adults use review and rating websites to research and plan their travel itineraries, per August 2024 YouGov data. 46% of worldwide consumers switched brands/retailers after hearing a positive review from a social media influencer,

TikTok makes a bid to encourage creators, agencies to livestream: The push is part of the platform鈥檚 strategic effort to avoid a US ban.

Marketers face rising pressure from tariffs, triopoly dominance: Growth is coming from mid-tier platforms and smarter strategies, 蘑菇AV analysts say at Possible conference.

Doing Things, a company of 40 creator-led brands including OverheardLA/NY and Recess Therapy, is ready to evolve from a meme account incubator into a comprehensive media company.

Citations by trusted third-party sources鈥攕uch as media outlets, influencer blogs, and professional forums鈥攃an reinforce a brand鈥檚 credibility in AI-powered search. Mentions across platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit, and trusted publisher sites help build domain authority and increase the odds of appearing in AI-generated summaries. Scalable content strategies boost visibility.

This maturation will bleed into a range of verticals, including influencer marketing and social media strategy. From deprioritizing virality to sharing data across channels, here鈥檚 what marketers are focused on in 2025. Using AI to personalize, rather than generalize.

On today鈥檚 podcast episode, we discuss why the Trump administration extended TikTok鈥檚 sell-by date again, what deals are on the table, and how creators feel about the potential ban at this point. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Vice President and Principal Analyst Jasmine Enberg, and Analyst Marisa Jones. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Finding the right creators remains the biggest hurdle for brand marketers, with 43.9% citing it as their top challenge despite 77.7% saying they increased their creator marketing budgets this year. That鈥檚 a key finding of new research from Spotter and 蘑菇AV on brands鈥� approaches to long-term partnerships.

And again, that comes with a diversity with other influencers that we work with, with email campaigns, SMX. We sell the backpack. Well, now she wants out of the backpack. We sell the backpack, but I'm not making constant content about, "Here's the product, here are the benefits," because it's just something people know us for.

Many of those customers feel emboldened by the ease of engaging in such practices (as demonstrated by social media influencers) as well as the relatively low stakes鈥攚ith the worst outcome being that they have to pay for their purchases.

The opportunity: RedNote is China鈥檚 leading social media platform for influencer-driven campaigns, with 59% of brands choosing the platform for viral brand building, per Pjdaren. There are 140,000 brands on RedNote, per Vogue Business. By comparison, TikTok said it was the preferred platform for 5 million businesses in 2023.

Child influencers: Ryan鈥檚 World, a channel starring 12-year-old Ryan Kaji, is one of the highest-earning YouTube accounts, at $35 million in 2024. Kaji is one of several wildly popular 鈥渒idfluencers鈥� whose content centers around toy reviews, slice-of-life, and challenges. Targeted advertising toward children on Kaji's channel contributed to YouTube鈥檚 $170 million fine for violating COPPA in 2019.

Sports remains a profitable ad opportunity: Two-thirds of Americans are sports fans and over half have made a purchase based on audio ads.

Retailers looking to capitalize on retail media鈥檚 growth opportunities need to understand the market developments, formats, and challenges shaping ad spending in Latin America.