A bright spot for search is that substantial investment could rebound almost immediately once some signs of normal life return. That could come as early as June if the lockdown is modified in late May.

The podcast listener numbers follow a general trend in digital audio consumption in Canada, where 70% of respondents said they listened in the past month, compared with 67% in the US. Canadian research firm Media Technology Monitor (MTM) placed monthly listenership at 26% of the adult population in fall 2019.

This reverses a long-standing trend of slightly declining time spent and audiences for linear TV year after year. We expect TV’s level of media share to return to a downward trajectory post-pandemic. What formats stand to lose share of media time? Print and radio will be hardest hit.

Even without a recession, trends in the economy (like income inequality and stagnating wages) have been particularly hard on millennials—something their critical elders often overlook.

Various trends that played out during the pandemic will have a fundamental impact on marketing strategies. The biggest has been the largely enforced consumer pivot to digital properties amid stay-at-home orders. Companies that fail to move accordingly are in for a rough ride.

We have also modelled a more positive scenario, which could develop if infection rates in Europe and the US peak in Q2, and if scientists have some success in their search for antiviral vaccines or other treatments. If stimulus packages avert an economic meltdown, the rise in unemployment could also be short-lived in most countries.

Facebook is likely looking to capitalize on the trend and boost engagement on its core app. News. In late August, Facebook announced that it was expanding its Facebook News feature internationally. Facebook News is a separate tab on the core app dedicated to news and was first launched in the US in October 2019.

We have also modeled a more positive scenario, which could develop if infection rates in Europe and the US peak in Q2, and the search for antiviral medications has some success. If stimulus packages avert a meltdown, the rise in unemployment could also be short-lived.

“When you Google the term ‘CEO’ right now, you’ll see it’s all white men, because the search results reflect the world we’re in,” Visible’s Ormes said. “Speech recognition doesn’t understand accents, and laser technology that dispenses soap in bathrooms doesn’t register dark skin.

Digital transformation isn’t some passing trend. More than three-fourths of US companies are in the process of digital transformation, according to September 2018 research from end-to-end ecommerce platform AppDirect. And nearly seven in 10 executives polled believe that only businesses that digitally transform will survive over the next five years.