The depth and lasting impact of the global recession, along with the sharp economic downturn in the UK, signal a long and challenging road to recovery.

In a tumultuous year for advertising, every market we cover except China will experience a decline in ad spending, and Google will see its first ever contraction in digital ad revenues.

If the coronavirus pandemic has produced any winners in the retail sector, digital merchants are among that number.

The pandemic is pushing more people to digital—some even for the first time—as many look to activities they may not have considered before lockdown.

Total ad spending in France and Germany will fall this year, as a result of the pandemic. Traditional media will suffer most; digital ad spend will rise marginally, to €4.93 billion ($5.51 billion) in France and €7.38 billion ($8.27 billion) in Germany.

The coronavirus pandemic has pushed UK ad spending into negative territory in 2020. However, digital ad spend will grow marginally, by 0.3%, fueled by the impressive performance of video ad spending—up 15.0% this year.

The coronavirus has upended the US travel industry. Fears of infection, governmental measures restricting travel and access to public places, and the economic downturn will depress bookings, sales and ad spending in 2020 and beyond.

The US retail market has been the largest in the world for at least a century, and although China was inevitably on track to claim this mantle from the US relatively soon, we did not expect a transition point to come as early as 2020.

Global retail ecommerce sales will decelerate to a 16.5% growth rate in 2020. Even as consumers transitioned en masse to ecommerce during the pandemic, the drag caused by multiple recessions internationally has reduced the overall outlook.

Retail mcommerce sales in the UK will grow to £61.14 billion ($78.03 billion) in 2020, according to our latest estimates. And for the first time, retail mcommerce sales will make up more than 50% of total retail ecommerce sales in the UK.

With UK adults having so much time on their hands, it’s perhaps surprising to see audio struggling to hit the same, or at least similar, heights as video. However, with commuting (a key listening environment) essentially nixed, maybe this was to be expected after all.