The coronavirus pandemic has pushed UK ad spending into negative territory in 2020. However, digital ad spend will grow marginally, by 0.3%, fueled by the impressive performance of video ad spending—up 15.0% this year.

Among a variety of traditional and digital channels, YouTube was the second-most likely to lead to a purchase, after TV ads, according to a Takumi survey of internet users ages 16 and older in the US, UK, and Germany in September 2020.

The “TikTok effect” on influencer marketing is palpable, but Instagram and YouTube are still highly relevant venues for creator video.

Last month, Snap, TikTok, and YouTube were called to testify before the US Congress about each platform’s effects on children. At the hearing, TikTok said it would support regulatory changes that would prevent or increase the difficulty of gathering data from minors.

In the UK and US, for example, the rate of social buying was 33% and 25%, respectively. According to a December 2020 Bazaarvoice survey conducted by Savanta, 24.5% of adults in Canada said they were most likely to use Facebook to make purchases, followed by Instagram (17.1%) and YouTube (16.5%). While Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter, and Snapchat also registered some responses, their shares were very low.

Insider Intelligence spoke with Martha Welsh, who leads strategy, operations and go-to-market initiatives for Google Commerce, which includes Google Shopping, Travel, Payments, and Next Billion Users.

Results are based on public Stories posted over the previous 30 to 90 days and are available in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. Marketer Takeaway: Think of it as Google Trends meets TikTok hashtag search that brands can use to inform marketing strategy.

In some cases, TikTok may facilitate this behavior: It allows businesses to direct people to their Instagram (and YouTube) accounts with an embedded link at the top of their TikTok profiles.

In the UK, digital video time is about the same as in Canada, but the main difference comes in TV hours: just 2 hours and 37 minutes in the UK versus 3 hours and 6 minutes in Canada. This pushes digital video’s share up to 39.9% of viewing time in the UK.

In May 2020, GlobalWebIndex asked UK and US consumers in the Gen Z and millennial generations about the platforms they used to watch a virtual event in the past two months. Close to half (46%) had watched a virtual event on YouTube, compared with 28% on Facebook Live, 27% on Zoom, 26% on Instagram Live, and 15% on Twitch.

YouTube dominated mobile video time spent in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand with a 63% share in Q3 2021, followed by TikTok’s 26%, according to Media Partners Asia. Subscription video on demand services collectively accounted for another 10% of time spent, and the remaining 2% was spent on game livestreaming. Unleashing the Power of Connectivity.

China’s National Security Law, which came into effect in Hong Kong in June 2020, effectively penalizes the expression of opinions that the Chinese government considers detrimental to its increasingly firm control of the former British colony.

Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are by far the most commonly used platforms for social commerce in Canada. According to a Bazaarvoice survey in December 2020, 24.5% of adults in Canada said they were most likely to use Facebook to make purchases, while 17.1% cited Instagram and 16.5% pointed to YouTube.

In combination with greater smart TV penetration in Canada, a larger share of viewing will move to streaming apps like YouTube. Trend: Food and Grocery Delivery Cross the Chasm. Food service apps are now mainstream in Canada.

In response, it launched a series of “Ask a Pharmacist” videos on YouTube, in which pharmacists addressed the most common COVID-19 questions they received. The videos were then amplified on the company’s other social channels.

Sub OTT usage has become nearly as mainstream as YouTube. This year, 55.7% of all digital video viewers worldwide will be sub OTT users. That’s just a shade behind YouTube, at 63.5%. YouTube remains the most popular way to consume digital video globally (it is still well ahead of TikTok and other social media), but the combined might of the world’s sub OTT services are getting close.

The pandemic has hastened the digital future, but ill-conceived marketing tactics predicated on current events should be avoided. UK consumers are more wary of empty marketing rhetoric, so a mindful approach should be cultivated.