In Latin America in 2022, digital payments will make gains, consumer expectations around ecommerce will shift, corporate sustainability and social issues will come to the fore, SMBs will bank on social commerce, and retail media networks will make their presence felt.

Digital ad spending across several industries in the UK has been up-and-down the past two years. There will be across-the-board growth this year, but at uneven rates, ranging from 33.0% for travel to 7.8% for automotive.

After an inconsistent year for digital ad spending in 2020, every industry in the US will increase their outlays in 2021. The retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and entertainment industries will provide the biggest boosts, driving up overall digital ad spending by 25.5%.

After a complicated 2020, most industries in Germany will accelerate their digital ad spending growth in 2021. The rebound for travel and auto will underwhelm, but retail spend will soar.

How should businesses view these global trends and events? How are behaviors and spending changing? In this report, Insider Intelligence analysts weigh in on the questions they’re being asked by both clients and the media about the shifting landscape in key areas like digital advertising, retail and ecommerce, and financial services.

Meta is aggressively pursuing ecommerce. “As Apple's changes make ecommerce and customer acquisition less effective on the web, solutions that allow businesses to set up shop right inside our apps will become increasingly attractive,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during the company’s Q3 2021 earnings—likely a play to boost retailers’ adoption of Facebook and Instagram Shops.

The pandemic-driven two-year ecommerce boom of 2020 is set to decelerate considerably this year. Brick-and-mortar retail, meanwhile, returned with a vengeance last year and is in better shape than expected going into 2022.

From new ad products and ecommerce tools for brands to updated video and ephemeral messaging features for users, the main social platforms—Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and Twitter—now have more in common than not. How has our forecast for worldwide social network users changed?

The region’s seismic pivot toward ecommerce prompted a change in the way consumers search for products. Many are now beginning their consumer journey directly on ecommerce websites and apps like Mercado Libre, Amazon, Americanas S.A., and Magazine Luiza—rather than on search engines like Google.

As the pandemic elevated ecommerce adoption (and temporarily slowed social ad spending), Facebook, Instagram, and others quickly expanded their social commerce offerings to help drive conversions within their apps. That said, we don’t expect most users to check out on social in 2021, at least not on a regular basis.

Amazon’s net US digital ad revenues will rise by 41.0% this year as consumers shift dramatically to more ecommerce shopping and advertisers pay to get in front of shoppers at their leading destination.

Digital advertising confounded the conditions of the past year or so and will attract more than three-quarters of total media ad spending in 2021—£19.23 billion ($24.66 billion). Video has been the biggest driver of digital spend during this time.

Argentina’s policy changes could also pave the way for local retail media networks, like Mercado Ads (Mercado Libre’s advertising division), to take some share of the digital ad spending pie away from the Facebook and Google digital ad duopoly, especially since ecommerce has seen a surge of growth across the country during the pandemic.

Reliance Jio Platforms operates ecommerce platform JioMart, as well as other services from music streaming to smartphones and payments. Facebook is likely looking to secure its position in India’s competitive and fast-growing ecommerce market, which is dominated by Amazon and Walmart-backed local player Flipkart.

Notably, retail advertisers—which make up the largest share of display spending—will boost these investments by just $300 million this year, in spite of increased ecommerce spending by consumers. We estimate total US retail sales will fall by 10.5% this year. The list of industries increasing—and decreasing—investments in video specifically looks similar.

We estimate that worldwide, Amazon retail ecommerce sales will increase by 26.4% this year to $626.56 billion. Marketplace sales will account for 61.3% of the total, up from 60.2% last year. In the US, we estimate Amazon retail sales will be up 24.9% this year to $386.40 billion. Marketplace sales will account for 60.1% of the total, also up from last year (59.0%).

Within retail and ecommerce, CPMs across Facebook properties were down 14%. In education, CPMs declined 21%. And in food and beverage, they were down 30%, according to Dobrowolski. Facebook CPMs for an education-sector client of ad agency Jellyfish fell 9% between February and March, according to Kelly Schmidt, paid social director. Some Marketers Remained Consistent, but Others Actually Spent More.

The big picture: Facebook (including Instagram) is on track to surpass $100 billion in net worldwide ad revenues for the first time, with $107.72 billion in 2021. That will give it 23.7% of the worldwide digital ad market. Google is No. 1 with a 28.6% share.

The Great Recession was a worldwide phenomenon and the largest global downturn since the Great Depression. It lasted in the US from December 2007 until June 2009, and the economic contraction resulted in two straight years of declines in US ad spending. More than 10 years later, as the new coronavirus spreads around the world, the US faces what looks to be another recession.

Shopify: Already the one-stop-shop of choice for small- and medium-sized ecommerce merchants with its storefront, checkout and payment, the fast-growing Canadian ecommerce platform’s recent rollout of fulfillment services will put it on a more direct collision course with Amazon in 2020.

Google dives deeper into ecommerce with Shopify: The two companies have worked out an integration that will give Shopify's merchants easy access to Google's suite of features, contributing to its over 1 billion daily shopping journeys.

On today's episode, we discuss Amazon's Q1 advertising performance, where its ad dollars are coming from, the retail media competitors to watch out for, and whether a fourth digital ad giant will emerge. We then talk about why TV networks aren’t prioritizing programmatic as they move into the world of streaming, Verizon's new digital out-of-home ads, and why Netflix might be preparing to venture into the video game universe. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Eric Haggstrom.