The Weekly 10: marketing, media and industry statistics to know now — October 22, 2025 edition

From holiday spending at U.S. small businesses to the accuracy of AI in simulating consumer behavior, these are the data points we’re paying attention to right now.

The U.S. online grocery sales total in September — jumping 11.6% from August and 31% year over year to set a new single-month record — according to new Brick Meets Click data.

The share of consumers who prefer generative AI influencer content to traditional (human) influencer content — down from 60% in 2023, when AI influencers were still an intriguing novelty — per new research from Billion Dollar Boy and Censuswide, which surveyed 4,000 people over the age of 16 in the U.S. and U.K.

The number of video podcast franchises that Netflix will add to its library in early 2026 as part of a new partnership with Spotify. The deal, finalized last week after months of speculation, includes key programs across true crime (“Serial Killers”), sports (“The Bill Simmons Podcast”) and pop culture (“The Rewatchables.”)

The share of Japanese-grown tea that’s classified as matcha, according to a New York Times feature exploring the drink’s stateside marketing successes (and resulting supply chain stress).

The amount U.S. consumers are expected to spend at small businesses while holiday shopping this year — an increase of 44% from 2024 — according to a new Intuit study. The research also finds that 93% of small business owners and decision-makers say holiday revenue is “critical to survival” this year, compared to just 61% in 2024.

The share of holiday shoppers who say they’re open to trying new brands or visiting new stores this year, according to a new survey of 1,011 consumers by the International Council of Shopping Centers.

The share of U.S. ads featuring at least one Gen Z character, per a new report from System1, which audited a sample of 1,000 ads going back to 2022. In nearly half (48%) of these instances, a Gen Zer serves as primary character, the research finds.

The estimated share of the U.S. population born between 1997 and 2012 — i.e., Gen Z — per the latest U.S. Census data. This segment commands an estimated 17% of national spending power, according to Nielsen research published last year.

The number of days in 2025 that Facebook and Instagram carried content-level certifications from the Media Rating Council (MRC), an industry group that evaluates ad environments for brand safety. The MRC last week announced that it revoked accreditations after Meta withdrew all its platforms from auditing.

The claimed accuracy with which a novel large-language AI methodology — called semantic similarity rating (SSR) — can simulate human consumer behavior, according to a paper published by PyMC Labs and Colgate-Palmolive. Researchers measured SSR’s test-retest reliability against 9,300 human responses to 57 product surveys in the personal care segment.