Pundit
Evan Shapiro
2 receipts • Tracked since Apr 2026
ESHAP; the media universe maps; streaming/CTV.
Affiliations
No firm affiliations on record.
— Filed —
2 receipts
2025
1 prediction- Dec 18, 2025Story still evolving.“I think one of the predictions I'm making for next year is that the AI D2C bubble is gonna burst a bit. But that AI, a prediction I made for this year, was actually going to be a very unsexy success. And one of the great examples of this is AI operating behind the scenes, not right overtly out there, but just creating greater discoverability, much more personalization, and in particular, going to solve some of the biggest problems in the ecosystem.”
Shapiro's 2025 prediction regarding AI's 'unsexy success' in driving behind-the-scenes personalization and discoverability in streaming is supported by the Roku panel discussion, where AI-driven personalization is a key prediction for 2026 (Prediction #1). The 'AI D2C bubble burst' part of the prediction for 'next year' (2026) is still in development.
2024
1 prediction- Dec 23, 2024Partially right.“2025 PREDICTION #2: RETAIL MEDIA WILL GO MORE MAINSTREAM NEXT YEAR, WITH A WAVE OF RETAIL MEDIA ON CTV.”
Retail media on CTV continues to be a trend in 2026, as evidenced by Shapiro's comments in a Roku webinar. However, specific 2025 spend figures for 'retail media on CTV' are not provided to fully verify the prediction's 'mainstream' claim. The general growth of retail media and its overtaking of global TV ad revenues in 2025 (per GroupM) supports the overall trend, but the CTV-specific aspect for 2025 remains unquantified in the provided text.