The news: Apple reported strong Q2 earnings last week, with revenues increasing 9% year over year to $97.3 billion. The strongest sector for the company was the iPhone category, which brought in $50.57 billion in revenues.

The biggest jump came in Q2, shortly after the launch of Instagram Checkout. “Instagram Checkout definitely helped jump-start the appeal of completing a purchase on a social platform,” said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer principal analyst and author of our latest report, “US Social Trends for 2020: eMarketer's Predictions for the Year Ahead.”.

As more people cut the cord, viewers are increasingly tuning in to live digital video services.

According to GlobalWebIndex, the percentage of internet users worldwide (not including China) who reported visiting TikTok on a computer or mobile device in the past month rose by 72% between Q3 2019 and Q2 2020.

The biggest jump came in Q2, shortly after the launch of Instagram Checkout. Still, even with investment in social advertising, social media isn’t going to suddenly become the go-to channel for purchases. Though consumers are becoming more comfortable with shopping this way, sales coming from social channels are still relatively low—particularly when compared with ecommerce via the web and mobile.

In our Q2 2021 “US Digital Trust Survey,” preferring not to give social platforms access to payment information was the No. 2 most cited reason why US social media users had not made a purchase on a social platform. Preferring to interact directly with the retailer or merchant just narrowly took the top spot.

The New York Times gained 669,000 digital subscribers in Q2 2020—pushing digital revenues into the majority for the first time, per our recent Mobile App Monetization 2020 report. Read More. US Disney+ Viewers on Track to Surpass Hulu by 2024. Apple's Subscription Bundle is Economical—But May Not be Enticing to Those Not Already in its Ecosystem.

About a quarter (24%) of internet users in the US watched a livestream in the past week, according to Q2 2021 research by GWI. That closely matched the global average of 23% and likely includes viewing outside of social platforms.

Our new Digital Trust Benchmark Report 2021, based on a Q2 2021 survey of 1,730 US social media users, evaluates how these users feel about nine major social media platforms—Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube—and reveals the extent to which trust affects usage and attitudes toward advertising.

The ad-free services Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+ accounted for nearly half of all time spent with streaming in Q2 2020, according to Nielsen. The two most popular services with advertising, YouTube and Hulu, feature subscription ad-free tiers, so a portion of viewing on those platforms also happens without ads.

Snap reported it ended Q2 2020 with:. Worldwide: 238 million DAUs, up by 17% from Q2 2019. North America: 90 million DAUs, up by 9% from Q2 2019. Europe: 71 million DAUs, up by 12% from Q2 2019. Rest of World: 77 million DAUs, up by 37% from Q2 2019. Marketer Takeaway: Despite the strong DAU growth, it’s clear that the pandemic’s effect on user gains has ended.

On Facebook’s Q2 2021 earnings call, CFO David Wehner noted that DR advertisers continued to be “the bulk of our business and the primary driver of growth.”. During the pandemic, even advertisers that typically focus on branding moved their ad objectives down the funnel amid shifts in consumer behavior toward ecommerce.

In its latest earnings report, Kuaishou said time spent on the platform by daily active users increased 25.2% YoY to 106.9 minutes per day in Q2 2021. Short-video apps’ blend of addictive content and interactivity will pull more consumers into their ecommerce orbits and away from traditional players.

The hike was cited as a reason why the number of subscribers dropped in Q2 2019, though growth returned in H2. Currently, Netflix has several advantages that could help grow its user base, including its regularly updated slate of original content. The company has said it doesn't expect its content release schedule to be changed this year.

Data from SocialPubli’s Q2 2020 study also supports the importance of Instagram Stories in influencer marketing—particularly Stories that include the ability to swipe up.

Some 72% use the digital video platform on those devices and 63% browse Facebook. Practical apps Google Maps, Gmail, and Google Search each capture more than half of US adult smartphone app users. More like this:. Audio: The most impressive part of Google's Q2, YouTube's CTV ad offerings, and CMOs' budgets (26-minute listen).

It also helps Shopify capitalize on social commerce and increase its gross merchandise volume and revenues, which hit $1.119 billion in Q2. The features could also be bundled with Shop Pay, Shopify’s dedicated buy button, if the company decides to expand the solution to TikTok—merchants can already use it on Facebook, Instagram, and Google.

But a subsequent report covering all of Q3 found that Northern America ad spending on Facebook and Instagram was up 61.7% compared with Q2 2020. “A large percentage and a large majority” of advertisers that boycotted have returned to Facebook, said Patrick Harris, vice president of global agency development at Facebook.

While a slowdown was to be expected after the pandemic-induced gains last year, Snap isn’t likely to be the only social platform to struggle to meet its expectations for Q2.”. No immunity: Like other social media apps, Snapchat has bet on in-app shopping and social commerce to boost revenues.

The apps in this category are competing not only for social network time spent (and the accompanying ad dollars), but also digital video time spent (and its ad dollars).

The pandemic has brought an influx of new users for subscription OTT, live videos, and video games in 2020, but other activities such as social networking, mobile messaging, and digital video haven’t seen the same bump.

As an increasingly attractive shopping destination, Tiktok will likely give Square a jump in gross payment volume, which surged 88% YoY in Q2. Square’s merchant upsell opportunity will likely also cushion revenues, which hit $4.68 billion last quarter, a 143% YoY increase.

Greater studio competition, coupled with an increase in digital video viewing in Spain amid the nationwide lockdown, will push the number of subscription OTT video service users in Spain to 20.2 million in 2021. That’s 40.1% of the country’s population. Netflix reported that it gained 10.1 million subscribers worldwide in Q2 2020, a direct result of both the pandemic and heavy expansion initiatives.

Even before COVID-19 caused a spike in TV time in Canada, TV continued to be a strong medium of choice. But amid stay-at-home measures, consumers turned to a blend of TV and digital video for long-form content.