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Despite skyrocketing adoption and falling costs, most companies are stuck with small wins—highlighting a need for sharper, use-case-driven strategies.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss how March Madness viewership stacked up this year, if women’s college basketball was able to sustain the bump from the ‘Caitlin Clark effect’, and how viewers of women’s sports are both different and the same. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Analyst Paola Flores-Marquez, Vice President of Content Paul Verna, and Vice President of Inclusive Insights Charlene Polite Corley. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

An EU tax on Meta could mean higher ad prices: The EU may take retaliatory measures against Trump’s tariffs that could shake up the advertising world.

Companies waste no time hiking prices: The cost of everything from coffee to video game consoles to sexual wellness products is going up, which will prompt shifts in consumer spending habits.

It’s hard to plan around Trump administration policies: One day, smartphones and other electronics are spared from tariffs; the next, the exemption is called temporary.

Almost nine in 10 (87%) US executives are comfortable with agentic AI taking over some number of decisions and tasks for customers, according to February data from NLX and QuestionPro.

The FTC’s challenge to Meta’s deals could fracture the social media giant's empire and signals that no acquisition, no matter its age, is safe from antitrust scrutiny.

Foot traffic to Target declined for the tenth straight week, according to Placer.ai. Visits to Target fell 7.9% the week of March 31, per the latest data. Walmart’s foot traffic has also fallen for 10 consecutive weeks, while visits to Best Buy are down from a slight rise in mid-March.

No matter when or how they land, President Donald Trump’s tariffs will shake up retail and digital media.

JD plans $27.9 billion investment in Chinese manufacturers to ease tariff impact: Ecommerce peers Alibaba and Meituan will join to help export-oriented companies attract domestic customers.

2025 could be another tough year for luxury companies: LVMH’s rough Q1 reveals considerable challenges as US spending drops.

Its next-gen models are built to generate big ideas, not small talk—aiming squarely at science and high-value enterprise work.

As AI agents take over the grunt work, coders can step into roles that look more like architects and less like keyboard jockeys.

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

Over a third of adults in the region don’t have a bank account. Only the Middle East and Africa has a larger proportion of unbanked consumers, per 2021 World Bank data analyzed by BCG. And the unbanked population is unevenly distributed: Just 59% of low-income consumers and 40% of rural inhabitants in Latin America have access to a banking account, per a January 2023 Mastercard and Americas Market Intelligence (AMI) survey.

Novartis is the latest Big Pharma company to invest billions in US production capacity: The largest drugmakers continue moving manufacturing to the US as the industry awaits Trump’s tariff plan for pharma. Generic drugmakers—which supply 90% of US prescriptions—won’t have the same maneuverability.

Online health information drives consumer decision-making: It’s an opportunity for healthcare and pharma brands and marketers to turn consumers into customers—and patients.

Physicians aren’t burning out at the same rate as the COVID years: While doctor burnout rates are improving, it’s likely not enough progress to significantly impact turnover rates, and expense, to the healthcare system.

Australia’s digital landscape is evolving fast, driven by shifting consumer behaviors, increasing ecommerce adoption, and changing media habits. Recent data reveals trends shaping digital spending, retail sales, and more.

Snap doubles down on immersive brand tools: AI Lenses, creator events, and AR vending machines highlight its experiential marketing push.

TikTok builds its creator offerings while revenues thrive: While ByteDance is seeing notable growth, the tide could turn with an impending US ban.