Alex Brownstein analyzes advertising platforms and marketing trends, explaining what the numbers mean for advertisers. Their posts cover topics including Spotify’s ad business, pharmaceutical advertising on TV, and how companies should measure investment in AI.
Alex Brownstein analyzes advertising platforms and marketing decisions, using financial and market data to explain what headline numbers leave out. In the posts here, they examine Spotify’s ad revenue, pharmaceutical TV spending and retail pharmacy, and how marketers might judge investment in AI.
Brownstein connects a number to the decision it should inform.
In the Spotify analysis, a 1% revenue-growth figure raises a question about the shift from direct sales to programmatic advertising—and whether advertiser demand can catch up with rebuilt infrastructure.
In the pharmacy and TV analysis, they distinguish a grocery-and-prescription delivery service from permission to target people using prescription data, then name the product, permissions and results Kroger would need.
Their AI summit reflection applies the same practical test to a newer channel: what result would justify funding it again, and which teams must make that result possible?
Brownstein also preserves counterevidence and unanswered questions rather than presenting these interpretations as settled facts.
Follow this work for data-led explanations that connect advertising trends to measurement, business choices and constraints.
Alex Brownstein's posts take a number or deal that looks like straightforward news and separate what it contains from what it is being used to prove.
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On advertising platforms, that means splitting a blended growth figure into the lines underneath and asking which metric a client is really reading.
On retail media and health marketing, it means distinguishing a delivery arrangement from the right to use prescription data, and naming the governing rules before endorsing a commercial idea.
On new channels such as AI advertising, it means starting with the result a finance team would pay for again, not the size of the test budget.
Across these posts, Brownstein keeps recommendations conditional and names what to watch next.
A blended growth number hides the business inside it
Brownstein's recurring move is to split a summary metric into the lines underneath and ask which one is actually moving.
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In the Spotify post, 1% ad-revenue growth is not a verdict on the ad business but the net of a fast-growing programmatic line and a shrinking direct-sales line.
They keep the counter-evidence in view: Spotify has guided to advertising acceleration before and missed, and audio has sold at lower CPMs than visual formats for years.
Their conclusion is that the infrastructure rebuild looks finished, while demand has not caught up.
The practical question: which number does a client believe they are reading?
Spotify grew ad revenue 1% in Q2, and the stock fell 6%.
Brownstein points to the CFO's disclosure that programmatic channels reached nearly 40% of ad revenue in Q2, up from 30% in Q1—a ten-point mix shift in one quarter—and the co-CEO's statement that 99% of impressions run on Spotify's own ad server.
Active advertisers reached 33,000, up 60% year over year.
Brownstein compares the €0.90 per ad-supported user per quarter with what comparable platforms earn per user to frame the gap.
A delivery deal is not permission to use health data
Brownstein separates the commercial logic of a retail arrangement from the rules that determine whether a marketer can act on it.
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They argue that combining groceries and eligible prescriptions gives Kroger a scheduled reason for customers to reopen its app every 30 or 90 days without another coupon, then lay out the obstacles.
HIPAA requires authorization for this use of prescription records; Meta and Google restrict health targeting; Instacart bans prescription marketing; and Kroger has no published pharmaceutical policy or product.
For comparison, Brownstein lays out Amazon's pharmacy position: in the market since 2020, One Medical acquired in 2023, a $19.8 billion ad quarter, and an Evercore estimate of $2 billion in 2024 pharmacy sales against industry estimates of 1 to 2% US pharmacy share.
The recommendation remains conditional, with Brownstein ending on the measures they would watch rather than a verdict.
Pharma led US national linear TV ad spending in Q3 2025 with 13% of the total, and iSpot put full-year prescription TV spending at $5.96 billion, up 16%.
Brownstein notes the turn: prescription linear spend fell 5% in the first half of 2026, driven by a 71% drop in diabetes and blood-disorder ads, including GLP-1s.
Against that backdrop, the Kroger–Instacart arrangement covers more than 2,200 pharmacies.
Kroger sends the refill notice and takes the order in its app, offers free eligible delivery, and gives Boost members double points.
Brownstein closes with what to watch: grocery frequency and pharma revenue per refill.
After EMARKETER's Future of Digital Summit, Brownstein asks what a CMO investing in AI visibility or paid AI ads could show a CFO to call the investment successful—and what would need to be true to move that spending from an experimental budget to a recurring one.
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Their starting point is for marketing and finance to agree on a result they would fund again.
That may require changing how the company works as AI reshapes what full-funnel means and who participates.
Brownstein frames this as an open question, not a settled position.
The specific perspectives they relay belong to other speakers: Emily Tisch Sussman on women's sports sponsorship shifting from a community expense to dedicated marketing investment; Melissa H. on consumers researching with AI and then checking answers against sources they trust; John Nitti on the mismatch between conversational AI and search-budget cost-per-click expectations; Heather Physioc on websites, earned media and customer-created content contributing to discovery; and Louis Giagrande on connecting internal teams running similar AI projects.
Brownstein adds the renewal problem: an experiment can rely on people finding time around their regular jobs, but funding it again next year means making that work part of the job.
Brownstein frames a hypothetical target: a CMO wants AI investment to generate more qualified inquiries.
Defining that target with finance also brings in the teams needed to deliver it, which could span search, PR and ecommerce.
They warn against letting the budget a test comes from dictate what it is allowed to learn.
See the method that runs through Alex Brownstein's work: take a headline number that looks like failure, split it into the underlying lines, and ask which one is actually moving.
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It shows how they read a platform's financials before deciding what to do about them.
Spotify reported 1% ad revenue growth in Q2 and the stock fell 6%, prompting coverage to say the company had failed to crack advertising.
Brownstein argues that the 1% combines a growing programmatic line with a shrinking direct-sales line.
Spotify's CFO said programmatic was nearly 40% of ad revenue in Q2, up from 30% in Q1 — a ten-point mix shift in one quarter.
Co-CEO Alex Norström said 99% of impressions now run on Spotify's own ad server and active advertisers reached 33,000, up 60% year over year.
They also acknowledge the counter-evidence: Spotify has forecast ad acceleration before and missed, and audio has sold at lower CPMs than visual formats for years.
Their conclusion: the infrastructure rebuild looks finished, but demand at the scale Spotify's math requires has not arrived.
The practical question is which metric a client is reading: €0.90 per ad-supported user per quarter, or what comparable platforms earn per user.
For brands planning a campaign
A ready-made segment for a talk or analysis on platform ad measurement: why an aggregate growth rate can misrepresent a business mid-transition. It also shows how to make a contrarian case without concealing past misses.
See the difference between a product that carries prescriptions and a right to market against prescription data.
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It answers a question anyone entering retail media or health marketing eventually faces: which rules govern the data, and what must exist before a brand can use it.
Pharma led US national linear TV ad spending in the third quarter of 2025 with 13% of the total, ahead of food and beverage. iSpot put full-year prescription TV spending at $5.96 billion, up 16%, while a 7% impression increase covered prescription plus over-the-counter through early December.
In the first half of 2026, prescription linear spend fell 5%, driven by a 71% drop in diabetes and blood-disorder ads, including GLP-1s.
Separately, the TV trade body VAB reported 53% growth across TV and streaming together, with no split between the two.
On August 24, Kroger and Instacart combined groceries and eligible prescriptions in one delivery across more than 2,200 pharmacies, with Kroger sending the refill notice, taking the order in its app, offering free eligible delivery, and awarding double points for Boost members.
Brownstein's read: a 30- or 90-day refill cycle gives Kroger a scheduled reason to reopen the app without another coupon.
The legal limits are explicit: HIPAA requires authorization for this use of prescription records, Meta and Google restrict health targeting, and Instacart bans prescription marketing.
Brownstein found no published Kroger pharmaceutical policy or product; ask Kroger what policy and product govern this use.
The piece also lays out Amazon's position: pharmacy since 2020, One Medical acquired in 2023, a $19.8 billion ad quarter, an Evercore estimate of $2 billion in 2024 pharmacy sales, and industry estimates of 1 to 2% US pharmacy share.
It closes with two metrics to watch: grocery frequency and pharma revenue per refill.
For brands planning a campaign
A strong fit for a healthcare marketing analytics firm working in retail media and pharma advertising, and a basis for a conference segment on where measurement and legal permission diverge. It also models a defensible approach: state the finding, identify what needs confirmation, and make the recommendation conditional.
Start with the question underneath most marketing measurement work: what result would the finance side fund again?
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It offers a usable test for judging any new channel, alongside concrete perspectives from people working on the problem.
At EMARKETER's Future of Digital Summit, Brownstein raised two unanswered questions: what a CMO investing in AI visibility or paid AI ads would show a CFO to call the investment successful, and what would have to be true to move that spending from an experimental budget to a recurring one.
The starting point is marketing and finance agreeing on a result they would fund again.
That may require changing how a company works as AI changes what full-funnel means and who participates.
Several examples develop the argument.
Emily Tisch Sussman described brands moving women's sports sponsorship from a treated-as-community expense to dedicated marketing investment, with fan relationships to players and teams explaining continued sponsor interest.
Melissa H. described consumers researching with AI and then checking answers against sources they trust, meaning years of brand building can determine which recommendation someone accepts.
John Nitti questioned judging conversational AI against the cost-per-click and conversion expectations of a search budget.
Heather Physioc explained how websites, earned media and customer-created content contribute to discovery, work that can span search, PR and ecommerce.
Louis Giagrande described connecting teams inside a company pursuing similar AI projects.
Brownstein links that to the renewal problem: an experiment can depend on people finding time around their regular jobs, and funding it again next year means making that work part of the job.
For brands planning a campaign
A strong basis for a conference session on measuring platform advertising, with both the audience question for a CFO and the operational question of who owns the result. For a healthcare analytics client, it offers a template for turning an AI pilot into a fundable line item.
In a post about Spotify, Alex Brownstein argues that 1% ad-revenue growth can hide a major shift: programmatic revenue rose as direct sales shrank.
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They weigh that mix change against Spotify’s past guidance misses and audio’s lower CPMs, then ask what revenue per user would need to reach. The post separates a headline metric from the business conditions behind it.
Combines reported figures, company statements, and a counterargument to explain why skepticism may be warranted before drawing an investment conclusion.
For brands planning a campaign
A useful fit for a conference talk on platform ad measurement: show marketers how to test whether a reported result reflects durable demand, a change in sales mix, or a monetization gap. Ask for platform-specific evidence rather than treating growth or user counts as proof of advertising strength.
Connect retail and pharma opportunity to operating constraints
A post on pharmaceutical TV spending considers whether Kroger could use prescription refills to bring grocery customers back to its app.
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Brownstein lays out the potential value of a scheduled customer interaction, then examines privacy rules, platform restrictions, Kroger’s lack of a documented pharma advertising product, and competition from other retailers. The post separates the commercial idea from what the evidence supports.
Builds a business case, checks it against policy and market constraints, and closes with measures to watch: grocery frequency and pharma revenue per refill.
The post says Brownstein could not find a published Kroger pharmaceutical policy or product, or confirm Amazon audience terms with Amazon. Buyers should ask both retailers what policies, products, and audience terms are currently available.
For brands planning a campaign
Relevant to a healthcare marketing analytics company assessing retail media and pharma advertising trends. A talk or briefing could help buyers evaluate the opportunity alongside permissions, measurement needs, product readiness, and competitive alternatives—not just the size of TV spending or pharmacy demand.
Make emerging-channel tests answer a renewal question
After attending EMARKETER’s Future of Digital Summit, Brownstein asks what evidence would persuade a CFO to fund AI visibility or paid AI advertising again.
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They connect measurement to brand trust, attribution across channels, and the organizational work needed to deliver results. Examples from women's sports and AI discovery discussions show why a test should not be judged only by the budget category it came from.
Turns conference observations into open evaluation questions and a hypothetical qualified-inquiry goal. Buyers should ask what evidence would make that goal measurable.
For brands planning a campaign
A fit for a talk on evaluating emerging advertising channels or building a measurement plan across search, PR, ecommerce, and AI discovery. The practical starting point is to agree with finance on the result worth repeating, identify who must contribute, and track evidence tied to that result.
Alex Brownstein writes analysis, not promotion: their brand references concern ad spending and platform performance, aimed at advertisers.
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Ask whether they have any sponsorship, affiliate, employment, client, or investment relationships connected to the companies they discuss.
Spotify
Mention
Analyzed Spotify’s ad business: 494 million ad-supported users at €0.90 each per quarter.
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They argued that reported 1% ad-revenue growth combines a growing programmatic line with a shrinking direct-sales line, citing CFO Christian Luiga and co-CEO Alex Norström, and said they would use that analysis with a client. Ask whether they have a relationship with Spotify.
Wrote about Kroger and Instacart combining groceries and eligible prescriptions in one delivery across more than 2,200 pharmacies from August 24, and whether refill reminders could bring customers back to Kroger’s app.
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Ask whether the post involved a client, sponsorship, or partnership.
Covered Instacart’s same-day grocery-and-prescription delivery with Kroger and its ban on prescription marketing, weighing whether the timing matters to pharmaceutical advertisers.
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Ask whether they have a commercial relationship with Instacart.
Examined Amazon’s pharmacy business, its One Medical acquisition, a $19.8 billion ad quarter, LillyDirect order fulfillment and manufacturer coupons at checkout, plus Amazon Ads’ stated handling of protected health information and Prime Video audience rules.
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Ask whether they have a commercial relationship with Amazon.
Said they left the EMARKETER Future of Digital Summit with two questions about how a CMO would justify AI-visibility spending to a CFO, and thanked Matthias Braun and the EMARKETER team.
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Ask whether their summit commentary involved employment, payment, or sponsorship.
Start with Alex Brownstein’s Spotify post, which separates a blended ad-revenue number into programmatic and direct-sales lines.
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Then read the pharma TV and Kroger–Instacart piece to see how a retail-media idea runs into HIPAA, platform targeting rules and missing product evidence.
The EMARKETER reflection applies the same habit to AI advertising: start with the result finance would fund again.
Across the three, follow the questions they ask about which metric is being read, what evidence is missing and what to watch next.
For a close comparator, try Guru Hariharan on AI and retail media or Don Brett on ecommerce growth; both push brand action from reported figures, but with different levels of operator prescription and promotional framing.
Both treat retail media and AI as commercial systems, using reported platform or company numbers to argue what brands should do next.
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Hariharan writes from the position of someone who ran an AI company and presses brands to audit product data and connect content with media; Brownstein more often pulls a headline metric apart and names the privacy or policy constraints that limit a marketing idea.
Both turn reported retail and ecommerce data into practical questions for brand leaders rather than leaving the numbers as commentary.
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Brett writes as a CPG ecommerce operator, gives numbered action lists and points readers to Pattern properties; Brownstein’s retail-media piece tests a commercial idea against health-data rules and evidence gaps.
Alex Brownstein publishes advertising-industry analysis on LinkedIn.
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The three posts here address Spotify's programmatic mix shift and per-user ad revenue, pharmaceutical television spending and the Kroger–Instacart pharmacy delivery tie-up, and how a CMO would justify an AI-visibility budget to a finance team.
The subject matter points to an audience of advertising, retail media, and pharma or health-marketing practitioners, along with finance and analytics professionals who scrutinize those investments.
This is an inference from the posts, not a measured description of the account's followers.
The only measured audience figure is the LinkedIn account's follower count: 9,051, recorded October 11, 2026.
That reading is within about a month of the three posts (August 29, September 9, and September 16, 2026), so the account size and content are roughly contemporary.
The follower count indicates the size of the professional audience, but not whether its members buy media, approve budgets, or work in healthcare.
For a healthcare marketing analytics campaign, they write credibly for people who evaluate ad measurement and pharma advertising economics, but the posts do not establish that the audience consists of pharma and retail-media decision-makers.
Before treating the account as a route to a specific healthcare buying audience, ask them for LinkedIn follower demographics (geography, seniority, function, and industry where the platform provides it) or a short audience survey covering job function, seniority, employer type, and region.
Also request engagement details on the pharma and retail-media posts: who commented and shared, and whether those people are brand-side marketers, agency media buyers, platform staff, or general observers.
That information would help determine whether a sponsored conference talk on platform ad measurement can reach the practitioners the client wants in the room.
Alex Brownstein’s LinkedIn posts analyze advertising and marketing decisions, including Spotify’s ad-revenue mix, pharmaceutical advertising and retail pharmacy, and how companies might measure investment in AI.
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The posts don’t establish whether they take paid partnerships; ask about partnership formats and how to make a commercial inquiry.
A healthcare marketing analytics company needs a thought leader who can interpret retail media and pharma advertising trends and deliver a conference talk on platform ad measurement.
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This is a strong match on subject and method.
Brownstein's pharma post works through US national linear TV spending by category, iSpot's $5.96 billion full-year prescription TV figure and its 16% increase, the 5% fall in prescription linear spend in the first half of 2026, and the 71% drop in diabetes and blood-disorder advertising that drove it.
It then examines the Kroger and Instacart pharmacy delivery arrangement of August 24, separating the commercial idea (a 30- or 90-day refill cycle creates a scheduled reason to reopen Kroger's app, without another coupon) from what governs it: HIPAA authorization for prescription records, health-targeting limits at Meta and Google, Instacart's ban on prescription marketing, and the absence of any published Kroger pharmaceutical policy or product.
Amazon's competing position is laid out with figures.
That is the working knowledge a healthcare analytics audience needs, and the care taken over what could not be confirmed is the credibility a client is buying.
The measurement talk has material too.
The Spotify post takes a 1% ad-revenue growth figure that coverage read as failure and shows it bundles a growing programmatic line with a shrinking direct-sales line, citing the CFO's disclosure that programmatic went from 30% to nearly 40% of ad revenue in a quarter, and the co-CEO's statement that 99% of impressions run on Spotify's own ad server with 33,000 active advertisers.
The AI-spend post supplies the framing question a finance-literate room responds to: what result would the CFO fund again.
Two limits belong in the decision.
The posts include no recording, agenda listing, or other indication of conference speaking; request one to assess delivery.
Audience information is also thin: 9,051 LinkedIn followers recorded October 11, 2026, with no job function, seniority, geography, or engagement detail.
Request audience data before treating a booked talk as a way to reach pharma or retail-media buyers.
Commission the talk as an analytical session, not as an audience buy.
When to choose a specialist
A consumer wellness or supplement brand wants a sponsored creator campaign that guarantees reach to a consumer purchase audience and reports coupon redemptions or sign-ups as the success metric.
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This campaign is a poor fit.
None of the three posts includes a paid-partnership example, a disclosed sponsorship format, pricing, deliverables, or a commercial inquiry route; the posts are industry analysis written for people who work with advertising, not product advocacy aimed at consumers.
The reach shown here is a single LinkedIn account with 9,051 followers recorded October 11, 2026, with no engagement, reach, video, or demographic data, so a reach guarantee or redemption target cannot be supported by the information in these posts.
No sponsorship offer is published here; ask directly whether Brownstein accepts sponsorships.
A second, different consumer need also fits poorly: a brand that wants original proprietary consumer research to headline its campaign.
The posts synthesize published figures and company statements, and conference reporting is drawn from sessions Brownstein attended.
The posts are strong at assembling and pressure-testing other people's numbers, not at running new primary consumer studies.
For these needs, commission the analytics work rather than consumer promotion.
A whitepaper or explainer on how a supplement category's ad spending splits across linear, streaming, and retail media, or a moderation role on a panel about health-data permissions, uses the demonstrated skills.
If the client needs consumer-facing sponsored content with conversion guarantees, look at creators whose posts contain sponsorship examples and audience data.
A worked campaign example
A worked angle for the healthcare analytics client, built from the three posts.
Session: "Which Number Are You Reading?
Platform Ad Measurement for Pharma and Retail Media."
Thirty to forty minutes, three parts, each drawn from a post so nothing has to be invented.
Part one, split the headline.
Open with the Spotify case: 1% ad revenue growth, a 6% stock drop, and coverage declaring that advertising had not worked.
Walk through the split into a growing programmatic line and a shrinking direct-sales line, the 30%-to-nearly-40% mix shift in one quarter, and the per-user figure of €0.90 per ad-supported user per quarter against comparable platforms.
Close the segment with the practical instruction: before acting on a growth rate, identify which line moved.
Part two, separate the product from the permission.
Use the Kroger and Instacart delivery deal: more than 2,200 pharmacies, Kroger sending the refill notice and taking the order in its app, free eligible delivery and double points for Boost members.
Then the limits: HIPAA authorization for prescription records, health-targeting restrictions at Meta and Google, Instacart's ban on prescription marketing, and the fact that no Kroger pharmaceutical policy or product could be found.
Amazon is the comparison point, with its 2020 pharmacy launch, the One Medical acquisition in 2023, a $19.8 billion ad quarter, and an Evercore estimate of $2 billion in 2024 pharmacy sales.
The takeaway for the room: a delivery capability is not a targeting permission, and the gap between them is where healthcare marketing plans fail.
Part three, define the result worth funding again.
Use the questions from the EMARKETER summit: what a CMO would show a CFO to call AI-visibility spending successful, and what would move it from an experimental budget to a recurring one.
Land on the concrete measures named in the posts — grocery frequency and pharma revenue per refill for the retail case; qualified inquiries tied to a jointly agreed target for the AI case.
Before booking, request three things: a recording or agenda listing from a previous talk to assess delivery; follower demographics or engagement detail on the pharma and retail-media posts to assess audience fit; and written disclosure of any current client relationships so the session can be framed honestly. Measure engagement through qualified inquiries and follow-up meetings, not impressions.
Choose Guru Hariharan when the need shifts from pharma advertising to AI-driven retail media performance and AI risk.
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The Amazon post gives a concrete measurement story: $19.8 billion in ad revenue for a quarter, and shoppers who interact with AI-powered Sponsored Prompts convert 48% higher and spend 21% more per transaction.
It argues that product-data quality now determines whether a brand captures that lift.
The AI-risk post adds governance failures, hallucination costs, bias litigation and insurance gaps.
For a conference talk on how AI changes platform ad measurement and what can go wrong, this is closer to the room than Alex's pharma TV and health-permission material.
The posts do not address prescription drug advertising, HIPAA, health targeting or pharmacy delivery.
Ask for the methodology behind the Amazon performance figures.
The AI-risk post covers enterprise risks rather than platform ad measurement.
Ask for a speaking recording or event listing to assess delivery.
Choose Don Brett when the client needs a CPG retail-media and ecommerce growth story rather than a pharma advertising analyst.
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The two posts supply comparable retailer data: in Q1 2026, median comparable sales growth was +2.9% across 47 retailers and median digital growth was +12.5% across 22 companies reporting it.
Walmart showed +2.6% comparable sales against +24% digital growth; Kroger +1.0% against +19%; Costco +6.8% against +21%; Home Depot +1.3% against +11%.
The Amazon grocery post adds shopper frequency and basket data.
For a talk on where retail media budgets should follow growth, this is a stronger fit than Alex's pharma-specific examples.
The posts cover ecommerce and retail strategy, not pharma advertising or health-data permissions.
They repeatedly promote Pattern and related properties, so ask for independent support for the data.
Ask for examples of platform ad measurement and pharma compliance if those are important to the brief.
Choose Buhir Rafiq when the need is pharmacy business finance and operations, not healthcare marketing analytics.
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Both posts compare in-house bookkeeping with outsourced specialist pharmacy accounting and recommend a hybrid model for NHS statement reconciliation, VAT, HMRC compliance, management accounts and tax planning. For a conference talk aimed at pharmacy owners about building a finance function, this is more directly useful than Alex's advertising analysis.
The posts summarize an expert article and promote RX Virtual Finance's services.
The material is aimed at UK pharmacy owners, not a healthcare marketing analytics buyer.
Ask for examples of advertising measurement, retail media, pharma marketing or audience data if those are central to the brief.
This page covers three complete LinkedIn posts written by Alex Brownstein: an analysis of Spotify's advertising revenue and its shift toward programmatic sales, a piece on pharmaceutical television spending and the Kroger–Instacart prescription delivery arrangement, and reflections on how marketing teams should judge spending on AI after EMARKETER's Future of Digital Summit.
The posts use figures through the first half of 2026.
Every comparison and recommendation on the page is tied to those three pieces, and the account had 9,051 followers on October 11, 2026.
Two open gaps should shape how you read the rest.
Individual publication dates for the three posts do not appear in the posts here, so the page treats them as recent rather than dating each one.
More importantly, the posts here do not establish whether Alex Brownstein has transcripts, recorded talks, event listings, longer bylined articles, or earlier work, so signature books, shows, businesses, and career history remain unknown, and this account may not be complete.