TikTok’s social commerce features are not as robust as Instagram's or Pinterest's, but the popular short-form video app has been slowly adding shopping ads while integrating creators along the way.

eMarketer analyst Ross Benes, senior analyst Audrey Schomer and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss whether Quibi is already in trouble three months after launch. They then talk about the HBO branding fiasco and why it might be time to start taking Twitch more seriously.

In December, Instagram started allowing businesses and content creators globally to tag products in Reels—its short-form video feature. At the same time, Instagram also introduced a “View Products” button in Reels, where consumers can buy, save, or learn more about products featured within videos.

TV time spent: Includes live, DVR and other prerecorded video, such as video downloaded from the internet but saved locally. Excludes digital. Digital video time spent: Includes any video content viewed on desktop or mobile devices; excludes time spent with video via social networks.

eMarketer principal analyst Mark Dolliver, junior analyst Blake Droesch and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss what it might be like to work from home forever, Hulu's new transactional ads, Google paying select publishers, America's diversity, switching brand loyalty, YouTube's short videos, an eerie fact about corn and more.

It’s now been more than a year since TikTok launched in the US, and in that short period, the Chinese-owned short-form video app has capitalized on the viral nature of its platform by partnering with a number of brands and slowly unveiling a slew of advertising capabilities.

Of course, YouTube carries a varied breadth of content types—much of it short-form user-generated video, but also much longer, professionally produced content. In fact, according to YouTube data cited by Ofcom in its recent "Media nations: UK 2019" report, six of the top 10 most-watched YouTube videos in the UK in 2018 were segments of content that had initially been broadcast on TV.

The Chinese-owned short-form video app TikTok exploded onto the social media landscape worldwide in 2019, but roadblocks could keep it from rapidly expanding its user base in 2020.

That was followed by memes/funny content (37%) and short-form videos (33%). Brands have also taken note. “Given the current state of the world, we are leaning into more comfortable, casual styles conducive to a stay-at-home lifestyle,” said Daria Burke, global CMO of D2C brand JustFab.

Short-form video and gaming were already pivotal for smartphone usage growth before the pandemic, and the stay-at-home measures simply accelerated their use. Douyin—China’s version of TikTok—and video sharing app Kuaishou, for example, both saw further increases in daily active users (DAUs) in February, compared with the same period in 2019.

Douyin, TikTok’s equivalent in China, will grow 27.8% to 442.58 million users this year, which means that more than half of China’s internet users will use the short-form video app, according to eMarketer’s new estimates. Growth will slow to 7.3% in 2020 and continue to drop in the next few years.

It’s possible that TV channels’ on-demand services are satisfying most of the demand for time-shifted viewing, and platforms such as YouTube are catering to the desire for short-form video. In South Korea, digital audio also isn’t as widespread as one might think. A little more than half (52.6%) of internet users had streamed music or other audio content in the prior month.

The top three OTT streaming services—Alibaba’s Youku, Baidu’s iQiyi and Tencent Video—are all seeing robust growth in subscribers. But advertising in other forms of video is rising. Short-video apps are seeing widespread adoption in China.

Kuaishou’s He believes that short-form video and OTT video streaming are complementary: “The rise of short video hasn’t really disrupted other types of video, as consumption of long-form content is still prevalent. The short form, however, provides a new choice for users and fits a person’s quick pace of life.”.

The short-video app added 12 million unique visitors in March, up nearly 50% since January

The pair announced that their new mobile-only short-form video service will feature Turnstyle technology, which lets users change the perspective of a show by rotating a mobile device vertically and horizontally.

On one side, TikTok and its vertical user-generated videos gained a lot of attention. But then Instagram decided in May 2019 to allow horizontal videos on IGTV after launching firmly in the vertical camp. Goodbye Celebrity Influencers, Hello ‘Nano-Influencers’.

Quibi, a mobile-centric, short-form streaming-video platform launching next spring, will try to compete with existing OTT channels by showing premium content produced specifically for mobile screens. The videos on the platform will be 10 minutes long at most and produced in horizontal and vertical orientations. It will have two monthly subscription levels: $5 with ads and $8 without ads.

No social app since Snapchat has succeeded in capturing significant usage in the US. But the Chinese-owned, short-video app TikTok is enjoying sudden growth in popularity. Can it buck the trend and challenge the existing social networks?

eMarketer vice president of forecasting Monica Peart hosts senior analyst Jasmine Enberg and junior analyst Blake Droesch in a discussion of TikTok's user forecasts, business model and place in the social media spectrum.