New tools let creators link to brand sites in Shorts ads, driving fast conversions during peak shopping season.

Lululemon athletica’s CEO Calvin McDonald will relinquish his role on January 31, 2026 to an as-yet-unnamed successor. Whoever that person is will face the task of restoring the brand’s authority in a category it once dominated—particularly in North America, where sales have been stagnant or negative for seven straight quarters. Whoever takes the helm at lululemon should look to refocus the brand on its athleisure roots. The company needs to make sure that its core product lines are resonating with consumers before devoting significant resources into other categories like footwear, where it faces a tougher path to building credibility amid entrenched competition.

ChatGPT is closing 2025 as the most downloaded iPhone app in the US, vaulting past entrenched social platforms, search, and shopping apps, per TechCrunch. Google Gemini was the only other AI app in the top 10, landing in the final slot. This is the first time an AI assistant has outranked every social and utility app in the US. AI assistants are the new entry point for mobile discovery, and brands should optimize content, creative, and ad journeys for users who start—and often finish—inside conversational interfaces.

Over half (52%) of senior data and technology executives worldwide use generative AI to boost internal productivity, according to a June survey from MIT Technology Review Insights.

Podcast advertisers are relying on contextual targeting tactics but leaving demographic tactics—and reach improvements—off the table. Contextual targeting accounted for 95.5% of podcast ad campaigns with declared targeting parameters in Q2, per NumberEight’s Global Podcast Advertising Compass report. This imbalance suggests podcast ad buyers are prioritizing simplicity—at a cost. Marketers should focus on building campaigns with depth, not just category alignment, to increase incremental reach, reduce resource waste, and better match ads with listener intent.

AI enters 2026 facing energy bottlenecks, regulatory battles, and a gap between promise and performance. From market corrections to voice assistant limits and physical AI’s unreadiness, hype is meeting reality.

Adobe and OpenAI have partnered to enable editing tools like Photoshop within ChatGPT, where users can fine-tune images, alter backgrounds, and apply effects using prompts for free, with no paid ChatGPT or Adobe subscriptions required. The creative stack is shifting from specialty software to conversational tools that sit closer to the brief. Brands that embrace this new workflow should use ChatGPT as a creative front end by building prompt libraries and standardizing asset templates. These integrations can help brands test more, waste less, and push fresh creative into the market faster than rivals.

Substack is testing its first structured sponsorship program, allowing selected writers to insert paid brand placements directly into newsletters—an opt-in beta that keeps creators in full control and avoids programmatic ads. The move follows significant audience growth, with US uniques doubling in a year, but minimal marketer adoption: only 5% of brand marketers use Substack today. Sponsorships offer a way to monetize large free audiences while preserving the platform’s editorial identity. For advertisers, the beta introduces a premium, high-intent environment suited to thought leadership and niche expertise—an early indication that creator newsletters may become more formal components of influencer and upper-funnel strategy.

OpenAI, now 10 years old, is expected to accrue about $143 billion in negative cumulative free cash flow between 2024 and 2029 before it starts turning a profit, per Deutsche Bank. “No startup in history has operated with losses on anything approaching this scale. We are firmly in uncharted territory,” Deutsche Bank analysts wrote. This could foreshadow a correction in the AI sector if revenues keep lagging behind escalating spending. The next few years may reward those who find sustainable monetization models, not necessarily those who build the most powerful tools.

Google is quietly exploring how Gemini could support advertising in 2026, per Adweek, even as the company publicly denies any such plans. Agencies say Google has framed potential Gemini ads as high-intent, conversational opportunities for ecommerce brands—signals emerging alongside rapid user growth. Gemini’s global MAUs have climbed roughly 30% since August, and its US footprint is projected to reach 85.7 million users by 2029. If prompt-level signals become targetable, conversational AI could function as a new, more precise form of intent advertising.

2026 is set to be another strong year for the global travel industry. A record 5.2 billion people are expected to travel by air, up 4.4% YoY, according to the IATA. While global demand remains robust, the US industry is contending with several headwinds, including weakening interest in domestic travel—from both US consumers as well as international visitors—which is pressuring budget carriers and pushing prices upward as airlines target premium customers. With the softening jobs market and growing uncertainty contributing to consumers’ “bad vibes” about the economy and their personal finances, US demand for travel is likely to continue to be uneven in 2026.

77% of worldwide consumers are comfortable with AI resolving a question or issue, according to an August survey from CSG.

Attention metrics (AUs) in the social media video landscape are gradually fragmenting as audiences shift to platforms with interest-driven feeds, per our industry KPI data provided by Adelaide. Consumer attention fragmenting across platforms means that advertisers who are already struggling to reach target audiences on social media are facing an uphill battle. Focusing on interest-driven platforms like Reddit and Pinterest as they gain AUs can help drive stronger results, while maintaining investment in leaders like YouTube will remain essential.

e news: Multicultural consumers—a segment whose buying power has grown 345% over the last 20 years—now expect brands to prioritize representation in ads, per a Snapchat study. Brands must tailor ad strategies to appeal to multicultural consumers, but should understand that simple, one-off campaign inclusion won’t be enough to drive action.

Meta acquired AI wearables startup Limitless as part of an effort to accelerate development of AI-enabled devices. Limitless’ main product is an AI-powered pendant that records, transcribes, and summarizes users’ conversations. Acquiring Limitless is likely less about the pendant itself and more about getting access to the startup’s technology. Meta could integrate Limitless’ Rewind software—which can compress over 10 GB of data into a 3 MB file, per 9to5Mac—into its glasses to maximize storage. The winners in the AI wearables category could be those that balance hardware innovation with the privacy challenges that come with always-on intelligence.

The US accounts for just 10% of TikTok users but generates 41% of the platform's ad revenue worldwide, according to a July forecast from EMARKETER.

Listening patterns from 2025 show how audio fits into everyday moments differently across markets, from commutes to cooking to winding down at night. Spotify’s Wrapped for Advertisers pulls those signals into a clearer picture for 2026 advertising decisions.

L’Oréal is doubling its stake in cosmetic injectables company Galderma to 20%, the company said, as it looks to expand in the fast-growing aesthetics market and support growth amid global headwinds. While some competitors retrench, L’Oréal is pursuing acquisitions in categories like fragrance and haircare with the strongest growth potential. L'Oréal's moves reflect the shifts in consumer beauty spending. Resilient demand for self-care, wellness, and premium products is fueling growth in fragrances and haircare, while K-beauty is gaining traction as consumers search for affordable and effective skincare products.

This is the Q4 2025 installment of our “Retail and Ecommerce Sales Benchmarks” series, which helps retailers and brands gauge their sales mix against the market.

LinkedIn released a report on the trends shaping small businesses in 2026, proving that technology, trust, and relationship building will be the pillars of success for small businesses in the years ahead. Despite the unique roadblocks small businesses face amid current macroeconomic conditions, success is possible for those who stay on top of emerging technologies, invest in their digital presence, and build professional relationships.

AI isn’t replacing search—it’s moving earlier in the journey. OpenAI data shows only about 2% of ChatGPT prompts mention purchasable items, yet product suggestions appear in nearly one-third of prompts unrelated to shopping. For health and productivity queries, those rates jump above 40%. Meanwhile, AI minutes have quadrupled year over year while Google search usage remains slightly up, meaning AI is adding a new discovery layer, not cannibalizing intent-based search. For marketers, this creates a new upstream battleground where LLMs shape category awareness before comparison shopping begins. Brands must map the non-shopping conversations where their products naturally surface.

After Netflix announced its plans to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Friday, advertisers were left questioning the future of streaming advertising across two of the industry’s strongest ad-supported platforms. Even amid uncertainty on the deal’s future, the current strategy for advertisers is to prepare for a consolidated streaming market where a select few players command audience attention.

In 2026, dominant platforms like Google and Amazon will flex their muscle against ChatGPT; smaller players like Perplexity and Claude will need to make either product moves or M&A moves; and AI-focused marketers will spend more on YouTube than ads on AI platforms.

This year’s Spotify Wrapped went out with fewer hitches than its underwhelming 2024 edition, but it now competes directly with recap offerings emerging from rivals like Amazon, YouTube, and Apple. Wrapped-style roundups have become cultural elements—shareable, identity-driven moments that make passive listening a form of social currency. As competitors replicate the format, the concept is shifting from a Spotify differentiator to a baseline expectation. Other brands could enter the space by creating their own Wrapped summaries, turning purchase behavior, sponsored influencer posts, or product usage into shareable moments.