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It’s opening a community center on the US-Mexico border and creating financial handbooks for migrants.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how shopping will get even more social, how brands will be fighting their way into your messaging apps, and more. Tune in to the conversation with Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Vice President and Principal Analyst Jasmine Enberg and Senior Analyst Minda Smiley. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

From the rise of sophisticated AI-driven tools to new policies reshaping data privacy and competition, 2025 promises to be a year of relentless change. Companies that adapt will thrive, while others risk being left behind in a swiftly moving market.

Earlier this year we debuted retail and ecommerce projections for 25 additional countries in Europe, 10 in Latin America, and three in the Middle East, bringing our worldwide total to 66 countries. Although the US and China still carry most of the weight, there will be 53 countries with at least $1 billion in ecommerce sales in 2024. Croatiawill be the next to reach that level later this year.

Latin America will leapfrog North America for the top spot among internet users in 2024. Among the countries we break out, only South Korea exceeds the US in both penetration metrics. South Korea, the US, and Canada will be the top three countries for digital gaming among the population overall, with Brazil a close fourth.

Here’s why: Remittance inflows into Latin America will reach $135.26 billion in 2022, making up 17.5% of global remittance inflows, according to our forecasts. Bringing Venezuela into the formal remittance system would expand this already huge opportunity.

Amazon will capture more than half (51.1%) of all retail ecommerce sales in Germany this year, according to our forecast. Canada will have the second-highest share of Amazon ecommerce sales among the countries we track, at 41.5%, followed by the US, UK, Japan, and Mexico.

In Threads’ first week, 33.5% of app downloads came from India, followed by Brazil (22.5%) and the US (16.1%), according to data.ai.

Only 10% of marketing executives worldwide have fully integrated generative AI (genAI) into their regular marketing processes, according to a July 2024 survey from SAS conducted by Coleman Parkes Research.

A hot mic moment revealed Disney’s advertising audience: The company’s Q4 earnings came with AVOD revelations and significant gains in India.

Among internet users, podcasts will essentially be just as popular in Latin America as in Western Europe (28.2% versus 30.3% in 2023). Outside of China, most of the fastest podcast growth in the world will come from Latin America for the next several years.

Rebranding may be the best option for financial institutions that can’t otherwise shed their outdated perceptions.

Both apps see user spikes in light of Trump’s win and Musk’s divisive moves, signaling an appetite for other social media models and the potential for new advertising platforms.