The major social platforms hit the ground running in 2021, making substantial investments into many of today’s top social trends: audio, influencers, and short video, to name a few.

Now nearly all the major social platforms allow users to add AR filters and effects to their photos and videos, and the activity has become a primary method of social communication and entertainment. That means AR will be a familiar technology to use during the purchase journey. Social AR technology is improving.

Instagram Stories ads will bring in $15.95 billion worldwide in 2022, more than one-quarter of the platform’s global net ad revenues.

In response to consumer privacy concerns, there’s been a range of global regulatory changes to protect consumers and ensure an optimal digital experience. The central philosophy of the regulations ensure that personal data belongs to the person, not a company. The recent privacy changes include:.

The news: Both US and global marketing spending rebounded significantly in 2021, bringing projections back in line with pre-pandemic trends, per a report from forecaster PQ Media. US marketing spending will increase 8.7% this year to $539 billion. Marketing worldwide spend will climb 7.2% to $1.376 trillion.

Competitive impact: Apple tops the Ranking Digital Rights Corporate Accountability Index for global tech companies’ stance on privacy.

One that performance teams, who traditionally stick to web, paid search, and paid social channels, are finding crucial for driving consumer engagement and conversions. Budgets are shifting to CTV from linear TV and social. Team structure isn’t the only thing changing from the norm. Among surveyed marketers, 58% said they have shifted budget from linear TV efforts to CTV.

On this episode of Brand Anatomy, where we get exclusive looks inside leading brands, eMarketer Briefing director Jeremy Goldman sits down with Harold Klaje, executive vice president and president of global advertising at Reddit, to discuss which markets are the platform’s top priority, how Reddit caters to users and advertisers abroad, and how brands are building their own presences on the site.

As comfort-buying furniture online continues to rise, the direct-to-consumer (D2C) home furnishing sector has exploded with growth and competition. Watch Industry Voices: Spotlight on D2C with Joybird’s vice president, marketing and business development Eric Tsai to hear how the La-Z-Boy-owned brand scales its custom furniture business by staying in sync with consumer expectations.

The “Topic Exclusion” feature can currently be used to bar content tied to news and politics, social issues, and crime and tragedy. Facebook users will also be able to toggle whether they are included in these three topic groups via an Ads Preferences dashboard. How we got here: The move follows a trend of platforms placing increasing emphasis on brand suitability rather than brand safety.

Why this matters: After a fall report on Instagram found that the app had harmful effects on teens and children, social platforms have been racing to introduce safety features for underage users and to get the word out to regulators and advertisers that their products are safe for children.

The number of social buyers in the UK will rise to 10.0 million in 2020, a 13.3% increase from 2019, according to eMarketer estimates.

The consumer packaged goods (CPG) and grocery sector is years beyond where it was expected to be in terms of consumer adoption of ecommerce. Watch Industry Voices: Spotlight on D2C with The Clorox Company’s Jackson Jeyanayagam to hear how the cleaning products company's brand portfolio is responding to evolving behavior and encouraging consumers of all ages to buy products online.

As TikTok continues to demonstrate that it can command attention, it must also show that it can reliably convert users into buyers.

"While gaming remains at the forefront of consumer VR, other use cases such as virtual concerts and virtual workouts are also starting to resonate with buyers," Jitesh Ubrani, research manager for worldwide mobile device trackers at IDC, said in a September 2020 news release.