Rising CAC & Meta/Google Dependence

Customer acquisition costs continue climbing as brands remain heavily dependent on Meta and Google. Post-iOS 14 privacy changes degraded targeting effectiveness, and ad spend is up 18% YoY.

Analysis:

Rising CAC is the single biggest pain point for DTC brands. Startups building alternative acquisition channels, AI-powered creative optimization, or new attribution models that reduce dependence on Meta/Google have enormous TAM and urgent buyer pain.