Counterpoint Research vs eMarketer

Samsung Mocks Apple's First Foldable iPhone with New Ad

Following Apple's unveiling of its first foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo, Samsung launched a multi-pronged marketing campaign to mock its rival. This includes a video titled 'Welcome to Foldables' and billboards in Seoul, Tokyo, and London with similar messages. Additionally, Samsung New Zealand created a social campaign featuring a local man named Tim Cook to promote the Galaxy Z Fold8, mimicking Apple's presentation style. The campaign, credited to Madison Hill and Cheil New Zealand, reinforces Samsung's leadership in foldable technology. With Counterpoint Research predicting Samsung will hold 38% market share in 2026 versus Apple's 25%, Samsung's aggressive strategy positions itself as the pioneer, continuing a history of targeting Apple's marketing.

• Apple introduced its first foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo, on September 9, with a starting price of $1,999.
• Samsung launched a marketing campaign titled 'Welcome to Foldables' including a video and billboards in Seoul, Tokyo, and London.
• Samsung New Zealand created a social campaign using a local man named Tim Cook to promote the Galaxy Z Fold8.

AI Shopping Agents Challenge Amazon's Retail Media Model

AI shopping agents could disrupt the retail media business model of Amazon and Walmart by taking over product search, comparison, and purchase. Currently, Amazon and Walmart control 88% of the US retail media market, valued at $74.4 billion. Amazon is attempting to block external agents like Meta's Muse and Perplexity's Comet to maintain control, while Walmart is opening its infrastructure to AI agents since October. This shift threatens the lucrative advertising revenue, as brands pay for prominent placement on retailer platforms. The future of retail media will depend on how these platforms adapt to the agentic commerce revolution.

• Amazon and Walmart control 88% of the US retail media market, valued at $74.4 billion.
• Amazon has blocked Meta's AI shopping agent Muse and taken legal action against Perplexity's Comet.
• Walmart introduced infrastructure in October allowing external AI agents to access their systems for purchases.

Pixability Launches Pixie to Detect AI Slop on YouTube

Pixability, a YouTube technology and data platform, has launched a new solution called Pixie to help brands and agencies avoid AI-generated 'slop' content on YouTube. The tool uses a combination of human verification and AI to identify and exclude made-for-advertising content, clickbait, and 'brain rot' videos from ad placements. Pixability assesses over 8 billion YouTube videos across 40 million channels. The launch comes as studies show a significant portion of YouTube feeds are AI-generated, and 53% of U.S. media experts cite ad adjacency to generative AI content as a top challenge in 2026. Pixability partners with Famous Birthdays to verify human creators. The company claims that avoiding slop can improve conversion rates by over 50%.

• Pixability launched a new solution called Pixie to detect and exclude AI-generated slop content on YouTube.
• Pixability assesses over 8 billion YouTube videos across 40 million channels.
• Pixability partners with Famous Birthdays to verify human creators.

EMARKETER acquires research arm of RetailX for global expansion of trusted retail brand rankings

EMARKETER acquires research arm of RetailX for global expansion of trusted retail brand rankings