eMarketer forecasting analyst Eric Haggstrom and vice president of content studio Paul Verna discuss the details of the new short-form video platform Quibi. They then talk about Australia suing Facebook, Amazon selling its cashierless technology to other retailers and Postmates new "non-contact" food delivery option.

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?

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.

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.

As COVID-19 shut down most brick-and-mortar stores in China, many businesses integrated with short-form video platforms (as well as Alibaba’s live ecommerce channel Taobao Live, which lives under its C2C platform Taobao) to conduct live streaming commerce. Digital Video Time Spent.

Social networks are no longer what they used to be. Case in point: The rise of short video-app TikTok in 2019 is a sure sign that what defines a social network will be very different in 2020.

Marketing simply isn’t what it used to be. From big data, AI, GDPR and agile workflows—it’s a lot to keep in check. If you want to compete in today's digital landscape, you need to make your customers happy. Constantly. Join Michael Trapani, director of marketing at Acoustic, for eMarketer One-on-One, a new short-form video interview program. Michael sits down with us at our New York studio to discuss Acoustic’s findings from their recent marketing trends report and shares several developing benchmarks to improve your business outlook and stay competitive.

Short-form video apps arrived in China in early 2017 and have established themselves as viable entertainment options, allowing users to create content in 15- and 60-second spurts. In fact, we estimate that average daily time spent with short-form video among mobile internet users has risen from 9.9% of total mobile internet time in Q3 2018 to 13.5% in Q2 2019. Meanwhile, time spent on over-the-top (OTT) apps experienced a slight decline.

Instagram launched its highly-anticipated feature Reels, which allows users to create short videos set to music. YouTube rolled out Shorts, its mobile-first short-video product, in India. And Snapchat introduced a slew of new TikTok-like features, including adding music and a test for vertical navigation. How are social networks preparing for the US presidential election?

TikTok put its stamp on US culture in 2020, growing its user base in the country by 85.3% and inspiring other major social platforms to build their own copycat short-video features. Unless it is banned (which we do not think is likely), TikTok will reach about one-quarter (25.1%) of internet users in the US in 2021.

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.

As internet users in China become highly fluent in short-form content creation, "vlogging"—which has not been as popular in the country like it is in the US—seems like a logical next step. And indeed, new research shows that vlogs (video blogs) are on the rise in China. Video platforms like the Tencent- and Alibaba-backed Bilibili are now capitalizing on this type of creator-driven content.

The market for getting people to pay for highly produced short-form videos was suspect. Mobile-centric streaming services like go90, Vessel, Milk Video, and Watchable had already failed. Then the pandemic happened, which made the service’s main value proposition—bite-sized episodes that could be watched on the go—even less sensible.

Younger people are embracing online platforms and short-form video apps without moving away from TV, and the continually strong adoption rates for linear TV provides an ever-increasing pool for eventual VOD and digital users. “Cord-cutting” has not yet taken a hold in India.

In this year’s Key Digital Trends report, we identify what changes are coming to the digital media and technology landscape in 2020 and why they matter to marketers.

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.

By now, the story is a familiar one: Thanks to the pandemic—and, unfortunately, to record unemployment—US consumers had enormous amounts of time to fill last year, and many turned to social media to stay in touch; to talk about the pandemic, politics, and elections; and to upload short-form videos of themselves doing ridiculous dances.

Driven by heavy use in Q2 2020 during quarantines, the habit of tapping streaming and online video for long- and short-form content will persist for years to come. The subscription OTT market is getting more crowded with a host of new entrants. The launches of Disney+ and Apple TV+ in late 2019 provided more programming choice, but Netflix is still dominant as the top service in Canada.

“Video is socially shared, and it’s short-form content that often has an engaging audience,” Frampton Calero said. “That is what’s currently growing.”. April 2020 data from the Office of Communications (Ofcom) highlighted the importance of social platforms for video viewing.

And as long as TikTok sticks around, Instagram’s short-video feature, Reels, is more likely to heighten engagement among existing users than attract new ones. Instagram will continue to make up for Facebook’s losses (and then some) in countries where the latter platform is struggling.

“We produced a short-form AR animal documentary, where you were turned into a proud African elephant, and then you were de-tusked,” Williams said. The experience concludes by going back to selfie mode with an image of the user wearing an ivory necklace.

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.