Our new forecast for global mobile messaging app users shows that the pandemic has accelerated adoption of OTT messaging services, though not in every country nor to the same degree for every app.

Pandemic-related stay-at-home mandates have accelerated OTT messaging app adoption in most parts of the world. In the US, however, alternative means of communicating, including Zoom and FaceTime, have hindered usage of OTT messaging services.

eMarketer senior forecasting analyst Peter Newman and junior analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch discuss how the pandemic affected Americans' social networking behavior and where the major platforms now rank. Then, Blake talks about Facebook allowing cross platform messaging between Messenger and Instagram, shopping on Reels and IGTV, and a Delta Air Lines social media post.

Danielle DeLauro, executive vice president of Vab, an organization that provides video advertising insights to marketers and agencies, joins eMarketer co-founder and Insider Intelligence chief evangelist Geoff Ramsey to discuss the role of brands in addressing social issues and the importance of video to drive messaging about diversity and inclusion.

eMarketer principal analysts Mark Dolliver and Nicole Perrin and junior analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch discuss when the travel industry will recover, Facebook merging its apps' messaging services, corporate culture suffering with remote work, Google's "People Cards," social media ad load, what are we born afraid of and more.

Biometric technology may soon give marketers the opportunity to learn more about their customers and deliver personalized messaging. While this could be a potential boon for business, it also has major privacy implications.

Today’s sociopolitical events have lit a fire under brands to address social injustice and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in deeper ways than they have in the past. Companies are using marketing and advertising to respond to and support discussions about systemic racism and the Black Lives Matter protests, the fight for LGBTQ rights, the #MeToo movement, the COVID-19 pandemic, and issues of immigration reform, to name a few.

Video Chat and Video Messaging. The stay-at-home directive led to a massive explosion in videoconferencing and video messaging, for both personal and professional use. While services that are aimed at professionals (such as Zoom) have seen dramatic growth, the social platforms have also experienced gains.

Messaging. Messaging has been an integral part of remote connections during the pandemic, and this is reflected in our numbers for average time spent with messaging apps. We forecast that in 2020, US adults will spend an additional 4 minutes per day on a messaging app, bringing the total to 24 minutes. That represents a 19.8% increase from 2019.

The COVID-19 crisis has changed the way that B2Bs engage their prospects. In this episode, eMarketer principal analyst Jillian Ryan is joined by two guests, Sydney Sloan, CMO of sales engagement platform Salesloft, and Andie Cohn, vice president of corporate sales at Insider Intelligence. Their conversation will feature insights on how B2B sellers should pivot their strategies without in-person events, how to update messaging and outreach cadence, as well as tips for bringing empathy to the sales process.