蘑菇AV

The news: Budget concerns are top of mind for consumers as they plan their summers. Our take: Consumers鈥� inclination to save is likely to fuel anxiety in the hospitality industry鈥攅specially as uncertainty causes travelers to delay booking until practically the last minute.

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%).

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.

And so you've got a very big audience of kids there. 33% of time with audio listening is with audiobooks, according to Edison Research. So there's a market of young folks. And also, you're pointing out Bloomberg saying last summer, Spotify thinking about an additional premium tier with expanded audiobook access and higher-quality audio streaming as well.

Similar to Netflix, they were early on the audio streaming scene, so they continue to benefit from that. But I think they just have such good personalization recommendations. It's so linked to broader social media too that I think there's always going to be a pretty strong appetite for it. They also have a really good onboarding process.

CEO Christopher Ruddy criticized the inefficiencies of the cable bundle and framed Newsmax as a modernized platform with revenues from advertising, carriage fees, podcasts, and streaming. Why it matters: The rise of Newsmax reflects a broader recalibration among advertisers, who are increasingly willing to spend on conservative media outlets.

This year鈥檚 festival highlighted a maturing creator economy, a reality check for AI, and bigger and bolder brand activations and marketing trends.

The news: Weaker-than-expected travel demand is driving JetBlue Airways to launch cost-cutting measures, including eliminating underperforming routes, ending service in some cities, halting nonessential aircraft refreshes, and restructuring its leadership team, per Bloomberg. Our take: Macro uncertainty is compounding the pressures on already struggling companies鈥攚hether it鈥檚 JetBlue, auto parts maker Marelli, or home furnishings retailer At Home鈥攁s each grapples with weakened demand, rising costs, and limited financial flexibility.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss where ad dollars outweigh time spent with media, where time outweighs the ad dollars, and where the two are most closely aligned. Tune in to the discussion with host Marcus Johnson and forecasting writer Ethan Cramer-Flood.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the unofficial list of the most interesting retailers for the month of August. Each month, our analysts Arielle Feger, Becky Schilling, and Sara Lebow (aka The Committee) put together a very unofficial list of the top eight retailers they're watching based on which are making the most interesting moves: Who's launching new initiatives? Which partnerships are moving the needle? Which standout marketing campaigns are being created? In this month's episode, Committee members Arielle Feger and Sara Lebow will defend their list against analysts Blake Droesch and Sarah Marzano, who will dispute the power rankings by attempting to move retailers up, down, on, or off the list.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the reason why CMOs at top US advertisers are leaving their roles sooner, the main ways the role is changing, and how GenAI is helping them with their jobs. Tune in to the discussion with host Marcus Johnson, director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman and analyst Kelsey Voss.

Their strategy includes significant investment in upper-funnel marketing through streaming video, streaming audio, and other brand-building channels. This balanced approach has yielded measurable benefits across their marketing funnel, with valuable channels in paid search, organic search, and elsewhere.

The news: BetterHelp inked a deal with three WNBA teams to market and raise awareness of mental health services. Our take: Marketing healthcare products and services by making brand connections to aspirational healthiness via sports is a savvy strategic play for BetterHelp. The company鈥檚 lean into women鈥檚 sports, and especially tapping the surging popularity of the WNBA with relatable personal stories on Instagram, carves out a niche.

Anxiety around inflation, a deteriorating labor market, and trade war consequences have deepened consumer uncertainty about the US economy, with wide-ranging implications for retail.

A lot of digital audio platforms around the world have put a lot of time and effort and money investing into this space, and it is incredibly popular, and the listeners are there and the ad opportunity is real.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss what Chipotle has that Starbucks is trying to gain, how Starbucks can turn the ship around, and what its struggles tell us about the greater retail world. Listen to the conversation with our analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts analyst Sky Canaves and vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian.

On today鈥檚 podcast episode of The Banking & Payments Show, we do a deep dive into Maria Elm鈥檚 蘑菇AV report, The Bank in 2030. In the 鈥楽tory by Numbers鈥� segment, we find out how banks will promote their brands to consumers in the future. We argue nicely in the 鈥楩or Argument鈥檚 Sake鈥� segment about the end of banks as we know it and if it鈥檚 true that 90% of consumer-serving banks and credit unions won鈥檛 exist by 2030. Listen to the conversation with host, Rob Rubin, and analysts Maria Elm and Tiffani Montez.

Disney also revealed a bundled version with Hulu and Disney+, highlighting the centrality of sports to its streaming model. CFO Hugh Johnston reported that ESPN's US ad revenues rose 22% last quarter, even as ad dollars for entertainment content declined by nearly 10%. At the same time, YouTube has rapidly scaled its sports ambitions:.

Recently, Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke asked employees requesting more resources to prove they 鈥渃annot get what they want done using AI,鈥� according to a memo posted to X. The directive reflects a wave of anxiety among workers that AI will eliminate potential jobs鈥攐r their current ones.

Brands are shifting away from traditional influencer marketing to tap into the power of everyday consumers sharing authentic content about products they genuinely use and love.