Livestreaming is a small but growing part of creator culture. Much like Stories, livestreaming is a way for creators and other influential figures on social media to present content that is often less polished than photos or recorded video. Livestreams also give influencers a way to interact with their audience in real time through live chat.

eMarketer principal analysts Jeremy Goldman and Jillian Ryan, along with senior analyst at Insider Intelligence Sara M. Watson, discuss what a reimagined workplace looks like, The New York Times digital transformation, what big tech can expect from the Biden Administration, whether the world is getting less colorful, podcasts as a direct line to consumers, how many people live underwater, and more.

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.

During a virtual event for the higher education sector, Questex had over 20,000 live attendees. “We set up 15 different chat areas where attendees could jump in and have conversations with each other. The chat was visible to everyone and took on a life of its own. There were still people in the chat talking hours after the event ended,” Spellman said.

On today's episode, we discuss why paid newsletter subscriptions are having a moment, the competitive advantages of the biggest players, and why marketers should (or shouldn't) get involved. We then talk about HBO Max's upcoming ad-supported offering, whether Microsoft buying Discord makes sense, and the real problem with password sharing. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer analyst at Insider Intelligence Nina Goetzen.

“If you can find a way to comment on things that aren’t necessarily about the virus, but about how our lives have changed because of video conferencing, for example, that tends to be a safer area.”. Q&A: Why Bud Light Hired a ‘Chief Meme Officer’. In August 2020, Bud Light announced that it was on the hunt for a “chief meme officer” to promote its line of hard seltzers.

Our most recent forecast shows that 52.9% of US internet users, or 155.8 million people, will watch live video at least once per month on social networks and other digital platforms. Marketer use of live video is still in the early stages, but interest in its potential for live shopping and influencer marketing—particularly on Instagram—is growing.

The ecommerce giant has also leaned into Amazon Live, a livestreaming commerce feed that functions as its own version of QVC or HSN. Along with livestreaming feature rollouts on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok over the past year, it’s clear there’s strong impetus to drive this emerging medium forward.

At the start of the pandemic, American Eagle partnered with influencers for 10 Instagram Live sessions that it said were watched by more than 19 million people. The retailer also used Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to livestream a virtual concert series in April and May.

Live Shopping. Facebook officially debuted live in-app shopping on its core platform in November, partnering with retailer Anne Klein for a series of holiday shopping livestreaming events. The launch has been a long time coming—Facebook first teased the feature during its Facebook Shop rollout in May. (In August, it also launched live shopping on Instagram.).

A direct-to-consumer (D2C) strategy wasn’t top-of-mind when soda brand Olipop launched in 2017. In fact, during its first year of business, the brand didn’t even have a website—primarily relying on retail brick-and-mortar partnerships to drive sales. But last year, everything changed.

The internationally lesser-known Kuaishou—which went public in Hong Kong on February 5—has a bigger footprint in China’s lower-tier cities and rural areas and offers a window into the lives of ordinary people. In December 2020, 64.9% of Kuaishou users were based in cities Tiers 3 and lower, compared with 58.7% for Douyin, per data analytics company QuestMobile.

May–July 2020 polling from The 614 Group found that 56.7% of US ad and marketing professionals believed that all future live events will have a virtual dimension. And more than six in 10 event marketers in Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America won’t resume in-person events until spring 2021 or later, according to the August 2020 data from Bizzabo.

The pandemic has fueled greater social media usage worldwide and prompted revisions to our earlier forecasts. We now expect the total number of social network users to rise 8.1% in 2020, to 3.23 billion—equivalent to 80.7% of all internet users.

At this point, we expect Q4 growth to decelerate, since the pandemic is well controlled in the region and consumers are returning to their normal lives. Facebook Has Massive Penetration in Many Countries in Asia-Pacific. Facebook will continue to maintain its dominance as the largest social platform in the region, reaching 42.8% of all social network users in 2020, up 1 percentage point from 2019.

Tan thinks we could see early use cases in high-definition, multi-angle livestreams, live event streaming, and virtual reality (VR). Some of the biggest challenges for marketers in China are rising ad prices and finding new, high-quality traffic. Tan cited GroupM China’s forecast that ad pricing would increase by 38% for social and 25% for digital video.

Fast-casual restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill is a pioneer in meme marketing, having incorporated memes into its social media strategies since mid-2018.

Social commerce is a fast-growing segment of the US ecommerce market that’s garnering more attention and investment from media companies and brands.

How does your brand’s email marketing integrate with SMS and live chat? What call center and in-person interactions integrate with and inform your email marketing program? Testing:. How often does your brand engage in ongoing email testing behavior designed to improve results? Does your testing strategy inform not just the email program, but the brand’s overall strategy as well? Internal Processes:.

eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst Jasmine Enberg, and junior analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch discuss what they're paying attention to in 2021, and why: the rise of social entertainment, WhatsApp's next move, and stalling social commerce.

Despite the hype, most US consumers won’t make a purchase via social media in 2021. Discovery and consideration, rather than direct transactions within social apps, will remain key opportunities for brands next year.