SMS marketing has long remained under the radar. But several tailwinds will make sending text messages to customers a common practice in 2021.

The pandemic accelerated payments industry digitization across the entire landscape, as merchants turned to ecommerce to keep doors open, consumers eschewed cash in favor of electronic and contactless payments, and payments technology providers rapidly developed and launched new solutions to keep up.

In 2021, we expect more major marketers will pull or severely restrict their ad spending on social media platforms due to brand safety or ethical concerns.

eMarketer research analyst Mariel Soto Reyes and principal analysts at Insider Intelligence Mark Dolliver and Jeremy Goldman discuss the future of short-form video, HBO Max's release structure experiment, a new service to streamline streaming, how the pandemic affected computer usage, why Apple wants in on cars, what actually happens when you experience déjà vu, and more.

Consumers’ growing willingness to get their financial services from non-FI providers is spurring consumer brands to embed financial elements in their products and services. But this new form of finance will mean dramatic changes for incumbent and startup FIs.

eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Victoria Petrock discusses how to make marketing more accessible. She then talks about the most interesting takeaways from this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), how to make people feel more comfortable with facial recognition technology, and the significance of two driverless car developments.

Advertiser demand for video impressions has always outstripped supply, but supply has gotten a big boost as consumers started adopting streaming video viewing in larger numbers—especially on CTV devices—and more of those impressions have been made available programmatically.

Connected TV (CTV) and other forms of OTT video were an advertising bright spot despite last year's recession. Alison Levin, vice president of global ad revenue and marketing solutions at Roku, joins eMarketer principal analyst Nicole Perrin and forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Eric Haggstrom to discuss what advertisers want from CTV, how they're accessing OTT video inventory, and where ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) fits into the 2021 media ecosystem.

Incumbent insurers have accelerated their use of mature AI deployments in the past year to meet changing customer expectations and better compete with insurtechs. They’ll now need to infuse the tech across their business segments to unlock the full potential—including enhanced personalization, cost cutting, and stronger risk management—of AI-driven digital transformation.

eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Victoria Petrock discusses how to be an inclusive marketer. She then talks about new guidelines for drone delivery, retailers turning to augmented reality (AR) to help online shoppers try products on, and the ceiling for virtual reality (VR) adoption.

Not every marketer does influencer marketing, but a large majority do. In our first-ever forecast, we estimate that 67.9% of US marketers with 100 or more employees will use influencers for paid or unpaid brand partnerships in 2021.

With many retail stores temporarily closed during the pandemic, and more consumers turning online to buy goods, major social networks have taken steps to improve their ecommerce offerings.

Many social media platforms have started making measurable gains in social commerce, but according to a June 2020 Bizrate Insights survey conducted for eMarketer, there’s still a ways to go.

The returns process has always been a hassle for many shoppers—particularly the task of having to ship something back. Amid the pandemic, these pain points are just as prevalent, if not more so.

US programmatic display ad spending was up more than 10% in 2020 despite the pandemic-induced recession and will rebound this year as advertisers continue shifting budgets to flexible, measurable media.

eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Nicole Perrin discusses some big questions heading into 2021: What kind of traditional media rebound do we expect, will there be a tidal wave of pent-up demand, and how has the customer journey changed forever? She then talks about the implications of IAC spinning off Vimeo, whether we have already given up on privacy, and Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) opening a public beta.

Proficiency in English is increasingly the norm among US Hispanics, as more and more of the population is US-born. But Spanish isn’t going away.

More US adults would feel comfortable getting the vaccine at their physician’s office, rather than at a hospital or a health clinic.

Click and collect has been a growing trend for some time now as US consumers found they enjoyed the convenience and cost-savings of purchasing online and picking up their order on the way home from work or while running errands.

eMarketer senior analyst Ross Benes, principal analyst Mark Dolliver, and junior analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch discuss Disney+'s price increase and content slate, Amazon's foray into healthcare, whether mothers are actually moving over to TikTok, if co-viewing is here to stay, whether Amazon can draw NFL fans with an exclusive stream, how to easily get people to agree with an essay, and more.

From the growth of TikTok and of social commerce to the challenges of brand safety and the cookieless future, 2021 will be another year of big stories for social media.

Buy now, pay later solutions are quickly gaining adoption as consumers look for new financing options and merchants aim to drive sales. But the industry is still unsettled as a number of firms are battling to lead the space, while card networks and issuers are looking to get involved too.

With the pandemic causing unprecedented spikes in unemployment, many boomers have chosen to retire rather than remain in the workforce.

eMarketer senior analyst at Insider Intelligence Sara M. Watson discusses what she's paying attention to in 2021 and why: a new federal privacy law and reimagining antitrust rules.

eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Yoram Wurmser discusses what he's paying attention to in 2021 and why: how the coronavirus changed mobile, the importance of iOS 14, and regulation's impact on location data.