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Web Publisher Monetization 2024 (Subscription required). Programmatic Ad Spending Benchmarks: Q4 2024 (Subscription required).

AI darlings split the spotlight: Anthropic鈥檚 $30 billion valuation underscores its safety focus and enterprise ties, while Perplexity, worth $9 billion, battles legal woes and bets on ads to stay competitive.

US P2P apps need to tap new uses and services to stay competitive, especially amid Zelle鈥檚 dominance. Here鈥檚 how each app sizes up and differentiates to attract younger generations.

I mean, Wall Street is just really looking for a clear evidence of monetization of generative AI. They've grown more skeptical of generative AI capital expenditures and OpenAI is certainly, with this relationship with Microsoft, is one of the players that their scrutiny over on that front.

Physical campuses for creators set to return: These spaces could offer creators and brands opportunities to collaborate and learn as the industry professionalizes.

Create new revenue streams from the monetization of data. Large-scale retailers can leverage comprehensive customer data as the foundation for retail media offerings with advanced targeting capabilities. Read the full report, Unified Commerce Ecosystem 2024.

So if we read between the lines, the softening of growth sort of signals the upper limit of on-site ad monetization where the majority of retail media ad revenue still comes from.

Trendspotting: Video podcasts are gaining momentum with both creators and users, in part because video allows listeners to feel more connected with podcast hosts, video clips have a propensity to go viral on TikTok and Instagram, and monetization options through video ads. 42% of US adults prefer listening to podcasts with video elements, per Morning Consult, an increase of 31.3% from October 2022.

Cash App鈥檚 gross profit increased 21% YoY in Q3, thanks to inflows per active growth and better monetization rates. On the back of those successes, Block increased its gross profit guidance for the full year by $240 million. Diving into Square鈥檚 growth: Square鈥檚 banking push is paying off. Gross profit from Square鈥檚 banking products increased 22% YoY.

With limited monetization opportunities, however, marketers must get creative and rely largely on organic efforts. Much of this revolves around creating shareworthy content, i.e., posts and videos that people want to send to their networks.

The news: Meta鈥檚 focus on AI-powered ad targeting and content recommendation is fueling engagement and monetization across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Revenues reached $40.6 billion, up 19% YoY and above expectations of $40.3 billion for Q3 2024. However, AI-driven investments also come at a high cost as Meta scales its data centers and infrastructure.

However, since OpenAI hasn鈥檛 yet disclosed its monetization plan for its free tier鈥攁nd given how expensive generative AI is鈥攊t鈥檚 hard to imagine a near-term future where the free service isn鈥檛 supported by ads. Another competitor, Perplexity, plans to launch ad-supported answers in Q4, partnering with brands like Nike and Marriott to sponsor responses in its chatbot.

Read the full report, Web Publisher Monetization 2024.

Monetization via subscriptions limits digital audio ad slots. The relatively low ad spend reflects, in part, limited inventory. Audio subscriptions will account for 63.0% of digital audio revenues in 2024. Even when taking time spent into consideration, audio advertising remains low. Digital audio will earn 5 cents per user hour in 2024, compared with 8 cents for radio and 21 cents for TV.

But lingering questions regarding credit reporting and data monetization privacy issues could lead to larger industry changes for players like Affirm if implemented. Our take: Affirm鈥檚 UK rollout should help the provider grow its user base and payments volume in the long run and help it catch up to rival Klarna, which already operates in the country. But it will face an uphill battle pulling it off.

Platforms like TikTok and YouTube have made affiliate monetization simpler, allowing influencers to boost brands while benefiting financially from their audience engagement. However, on a recent 蘑菇AV webinar, Awin North America president Adam Weiss noted that on his company鈥檚 network, creator participation has soared by 80% in the past year, but revenues per creator dropped by 40%.

鈥淲ith that, opportunities for monetization are going to evolve and expand.鈥�. Social search ads and genAI players like ChatGPT and Perplexity also pose a threat to traditional search ad revenues. But Google isn鈥檛 going away. 鈥淕oogle鈥檚 status as the default search engine across most major browsers and devices will help protect its dominance,鈥� Mitchell-Wolf said. 3. Retail media will face growing pains.

Creators have more monetization options than ever before. Expanding on and owning their revenue streams will set them up for long-term success. For more on how creators are diversifying their revenue streams, look out for our next creator economy report, publishing in May. 蘑菇AV research is based on the idea that multiple sources and a variety of perspectives lead to better analysis.

叠谤补颈苍迟谤别别鈥檚 monetization journey. PayPal is revamping 叠谤补颈苍迟谤别别鈥檚 economics. In re-negotiating with merchants, it鈥檚 accepting lower near-term revenues in exchange for better margins on new contracts. So far, this strategy has paid off: CEO Alex Chriss said Braintree meaningfully contributed to transaction margin dollar growth in Q3, which increased 8% YoY.

The tentative search for alternative monetization strategies has not slowed mobile ad growth. X (formerly Twitter), Snap, and Facebook鈥攁long with a handful of other media companies鈥攈ave all explored ad-free versions of their services. But that trend has had little effect on the growth of mobile ad sales, which should increase by 14.4% YoY in 2024 to top $200 billion for the first time.

More complex casual games with a variety of monetization strategies and rich media ad formats are available, as developers rely less on hypercasual games. This was originally featured in the 蘑菇AV Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.

Trump win could fuel conservative media growth: Fox News likely to thrive, while creators reshape the digital narrative with direct-to-audience engagement.

However, this shift poses monetization challenges, as social news consumption rarely drives traffic back to publishers' sites. Opportunities in messaging. Some publishers are experimenting with news delivery via messaging apps like WhatsApp. The platform's new Channels feature allows one-way broadcasting to followers.

Tepid fixed POS terminal growth masks evolving monetization and upgrade opportunities. From 2023 to 2027, it will rise by an average annual rate of just 1.7%. But 鈥渁s a service鈥� models turn a single purchase into recurring hardware and software revenues. Autonomous and biometric checkout could increase terminal replacement rates. Portability and new use cases drive mPOS growth.

Short video will face a reckoning as monetization problems persist and messaging grows. TikTok will encroach further on Amazon as it eyes super app status. Platform partnerships will shift the ad spending landscape. China鈥檚 influence shakes up online shopping. Digital wallets will cement their position as everyday commerce enablers鈥攊n or out of the store.