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AppLovin exits gaming in $900M sale to focus on AI-driven adtech: The company sells its entire "apps business," shifting its strategy to prioritize ad mediation, automation, and performance-based advertising.

The creator economy is maturing. While brand deals are still the No. 1 revenue stream for creators, more are going directly to consumers to monetize.

Tariffs may dominate headlines, but 2025 will belong to brands that prioritize clarity, adaptability, and performance over sheer spend.

Target is counting on newness to drive discretionary spending. The retailer is betting on partnerships with Warby Parker, Champion, and Disney to lure shoppers. It will also add products to its home and toys, gaming, and sports assortments to capitalize on those categories鈥� growth potential, as well as expand its private-label food offerings. It鈥檚 improving the ecommerce experience.

For marketers, a surge in cyberattacks can cause downtime that tanks campaign performance and reduces customer trust and revenues. Protecting digital experiences requires preemptive investment in always-on mitigation, risk tolerance, and infrastructure resilience鈥攅specially during high-traffic launches or campaigns.

Gamers who grew up on PC and console games are seeking sophistication in their mobile hybrid-casual games, AAA titles, and multiplayer mobile games. We dive into the future of gaming.

In the first 100 days of his second term, President Trump has reshaped business strategy across retail, tech, healthcare, and media. Here鈥檚 how tariffs, regulation, and market volatility are forcing brands to rethink spend, growth, and planning.

Roblox has implemented tighter restrictions, including limiting messaging outside of games for players under 13, as well as spending caps. Scrutiny aside, Roblox has been so successful with brands that our analyst Yory Wurmer expects that other developers will create similar platforms to woo advertisers.

These ads now account for over a third (37%) of in-app advertising spending, and that share should continue to grow. Diversify app install strategies. Apple鈥檚 growing share of app install revenues reflects the importance of app store visibility. But other paths remain for brands, including social networking sites and online gaming.

Twitch can enhance revenue-sharing models to retain top talent and attract more creators. It can also introduce AI-powered moderation and personalization features to engage audiences. Promoting itself beyond gaming content can lead to opportunities like streamed events or long-form video.

The number of companies earning over $1 billion in CTV ad revenue will quadruple between 2020 and 2026, according to our forecast. By 2026, nine major platforms are expected to exceed this revenue threshold, a significant increase from just two in 2020. 2. Changing viewer habits are driving this shift.

鈥淯nderstanding how consumers are spending their time and money is paramount to your business being successful,鈥� our analyst Jeremy Goldman said on 鈥淭he Future of Digital 2024鈥� webinar. Here are three shifts in media consumption, purchasing behavior, and mobile usage, and how each is prompting new advertising strategies in streaming, social search, and gaming.

Final question, Ross in the lead talking about Disney and gaming. So Disney is investing 1.5 billion into Fortnite creator Epic Games in the company's most significant venture into gaming yet writes our Daniel Constantinovich.

Nearly 3 in 4 Gen Zers are digital gamers in 2025. Gen Zers have the highest penetration rate of digital gaming (73.8%). Nearly 75% of Gen Zers are digital gamers compared with 57.2% of the total population. Digital gaming鈥檚 popularity among Gen Zers marks the adoption of digital gaming as an everyday habit for the majority of the population rather than a niche hobby.

Gamifying rewards through app-based tie-ins also adds a dose of fun to everyday spend while training users to turn to Fetch when they're shopping. Amex鈥檚 fintech push: Amex鈥檚 partnership with Fetch continues the network鈥檚 embrace of working with fintechs as a central business strategy.

Sub OTT users spend far more time per day (2:37) with their chosen services than social network users spend with theirs (1:52). Netflix has a substantial lead among sub OTT platforms, but two newer players are growing time spent the fastest. Netflix dominates in consumer attention however you slice the data.

The news: At Cannes Lions 2025, Netflix announced it has added Yahoo鈥檚 DSP to its growing list of programmatic partners, joining Google, The Trade Desk, and Microsoft. The expansion boosts flexibility for advertisers targeting Netflix鈥檚 94 million monthly ad-tier users across 12 countries, with new capabilities for first-party data and interest-based buying. Our take: With its Ads Suite now live globally, Netflix is done crawling鈥攊t鈥檚 competing directly with YouTube and social platforms for CTV budgets. As its per-user ad revenues rebound and its content ecosystem broadens, Netflix is evolving into a full-funnel marketing platform poised to reshape premium video monetization.

This opens new data and revenue streams for advertisers. Consumers get to choose their live events, potentially boosting viewership for premieres and games. While that audience might have had to go to a restaurant or pub before, they can now watch from home at a low cost, giving advertisers more targeted viewer insights.

Makers of movies, TV shows, and immersive video games want to advertise in a way that reflects the product鈥攏amely via video. Traditionally, the industry has spent heavily on TV, but it鈥檚 rapidly making the transition to digital video.

Streameast, the world鈥檚 largest illegal sports-streaming hub, has been shut down in a coordinated sting led by Egyptian authorities and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment. The operation dismantled more than 80 domains that drew 1.6 billion visits over the past year. The crackdown comes as soccer and NFL seasons begin, underscoring how piracy disrupts rights holders by siphoning revenues from subscriptions and ads. Yet piracy remains resilient: copycats are already emerging to tap fans frustrated with fragmented, costly streaming options. With digital sports viewership surpassing pay TV, the industry faces an urgent challenge to keep audiences in paid ecosystems.

A top spending category for purchases made on the debit card was gaming, which grew 46% YoY. Square. The number of omnichannel Square sellers grew 12% YoY. They leaned on discounts to lure in shoppers, offering on average a 19% discount. Square鈥檚 restaurant sellers got a 12% transaction boost from the holiday weekend.

41% of US advertisers expecting budget cuts due to tariffs plan to cut from social media, while 24% plan cuts to linear TV and gaming, per February 2025 from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

When not watching videos, Gen Alphas are gaming. We estimate 44.9% of children under 12 are digital gamers. Many Gen Alphas are picking up the habit from their parents: 75% of parents are gaming with their children regularly, according to a September 2024 Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) survey. More than half of Gen Alphas play on mobile devices.