Retail media has revolutionized the search ad market, where most of the focus still is. But display and video ads that target consumers higher in the funnel are becoming a more important part of the mix, and technological innovation is ushering in new ad products that bring together the best of branding and the best of performance marketing.

eMarketer was pleased to moderate a Tech-Talk Webinar featuring Jonathan Woodward, head of demand generation and account-based marketing (ABM) at Adobe Digital Experience Cloud, Americas. He discussed why A/B testing is such a powerful strategy for email marketers, and shared testing ideas you’ll want to tell your team about.

By definition, direct-response ads need to elicit a response from the user—and need to do so quickly, particularly on social where users are rapidly scrolling. Videos for lower-funnel campaigns should be quick hitting to capture users’ attention right away, immediately communicate information, and drive momentum toward making a purchase.

Direct-response (DR) advertisers—those driving any type of lower-funnel action, like a purchase—have seen performance declines on their Facebook ad campaigns due to the impact of signal loss on targeting, measurement, and attribution. Advertisers using Facebook for branding reach have been less affected or not at all.

As UK consumers settle on new ways of shopping and buying post-pandemic, retailers must keep pace and cater to these new habits.

The email inbox is valuable territory for marketers looking to guide consumers through the purchase journey.

Consumers are frustrated by intrusive or invasive ad experiences, and they’re concerned about how advertisers use their data. Here’s how consumers perceive their ad experiences across media channels, how they avoid ads, and how brands, advertisers, and publishers are responding.

It’s our third episode of Brand Anatomy, where we get exclusive looks inside leading brands! Today, eMarketer Briefing director Jeremy Goldman sits down with Ryan Alovis, CEO of LensDirect, to discuss how his direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand pivoted toward subscriptions to build a profitable D2C business, what marketing channels he leverages, and the benefits of being a smaller, more nimble player in the market.

Once a reliable direct response channel that could consistently drive conversions, data privacy changes have limited social media’s effectiveness at delivering the type of performance advertisers are accustomed to. In turn, they are seeking out other options, and it appears CTV is a popular alternative. CTV represents a direct response ad alternative.

Shopify lets merchants go worldwide: A new global commerce hub and a recent investment in marketing tools hint at Shopify’s future.

On today's episode, we discuss what the direct-to-consumer (D2C) playbook 2.0 contains, which D2C players are the ones to watch, and which spaces are ripe for D2C disruption. We then talk about what people currently expect from a loyalty program, how much context really matters, and how to avoid treating customers like data points. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Jeremy Goldman.

For years, delivering strong customer experience (CX) has been critical to an organization’s success—yet it’s still difficult to deliver on. Here’s how marketers need to think about CX success in 2021.

Instagram's US ad revenues are growing faster than Facebook's overall, but ad growth for both platforms is driven by similar factors, including more ecommerce and retail ads and more investment into direct response video ads. We expect Instagram will grow 52.0% in 2021 to reach over $26 billion in US ad revenues after growing 40.4% in 2020.

The social network boasts a uniquely diverse advertiser base with over 10 million different advertisers ranging from brands, direct response, and small and medium-sized businesses to large organizations. Facebook's revenues are still primarily mobile: 97% of US ad revenues come from mobile devices.

Some ad spend shifting out of iOS: Some advertisers—particularly direct-response advertisers like mobile app developers—are proactively shifting spend out of iOS on Facebook to reclaim deterministic user tracking that remains on Android mobile devices. Efforts to reach Android users have intensified, elevating CPMs among those audiences relative to iOS users.

eMarketer principal analyst Mark Dolliver, junior analyst Blake Droesch, vice president of research Jennifer Pearson and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of working from home, Instagram for news, "Starbucks Pickup," YouTube's "Direct Response" ads, Spotify's interactive ads, the truth about shooting stars and more.

SMS marketing has long remained under the radar. But several tailwinds will make sending text messages to customers a common practice in 2021.

Retail media goes beyond direct response. Retail media has revolutionized the search ad market, where most of the focus still is. But display and video ads that target consumers higher in the funnel are becoming a more important part of the mix, and technological innovation is ushering in new ad products that bring together the best of branding and the best of performance marketing.

Marketer Takeaway: Direct response paid Snap's bills in the early part of the pandemic, but Snap’s stellar Q3 earnings show that brand advertising is now returning. In its call with investors, Snap said that some existing advertisers have even increased their budgets.

Retailers have traditionally leaned marginally toward direct-response advertising rather than branding, and thus they slightly exceed industry averages when it comes to spending on search rather than display.

More brands and agencies are using connected TV (CTV) as a direct-response performance channel. MNTN’s CTV ad platform saw a nearly 70% year-over-year increase in the number of advertisers compared to Q4 2019.