The pandemic led to many upward revisions of our UK digital user forecasts. Some changes (podcast listeners) will be permanent, while others will be temporary (digital gamers). Our social network user numbers, meanwhile, didn’t change much at all.

The COVID-19 outbreak undermined many of our pre-pandemic US forecasts. Insight can now be gleaned by examining the difference between what we thought would happen as of February 2020 vs. what our forecasts now show.

Global insurers have been rocked by large, unexpected payouts and falling revenues amid the coronavirus pandemic. Yet, P&C and life insurers in leading markets will still increase their tech spend and accelerate their digital transformations in the next several years to enhance the online user experience.

TikTok’s user base will increase substantially in 2020. Despite a ban on the app in India and efforts to restrict it in the US, TikTok will continue to expand in many countries in 2021.

The 2020 holiday season’s unprecedented ecommerce surge helped total US retail spending remain positive, setting the tone for healthy outlook for 2021 holiday season growth.

The unprecedented social and economic disruptions that affected all areas of life in the US in 2020 also skewed many of our pre-pandemic forecasts. Valuable insights can be gleaned by examining the difference between what we thought would happen as of February 2020 versus what we now project for this year and the coming years.

This report presents our inaugural forecast on US mobile network users. It focuses on 5G subscriptions, connections, and users, and profiles the major mobile telecom providers.

This report reviews our final 2020 numbers and new 2021 forecast for US time spent with media, highlighting pre- and post-pandemic estimates and expectations. Special attention is paid to TV, connected TV, OTT, digital audio, and social media.

In 2020, Facebook’s worldwide user base will grow 8.7%, nearly double the rate we had forecast before the global pandemic began.