Snapchat will have 347.3 million users this year, up 16.1% year over year. Emerging markets, particularly India, will fuel these gains, while growth in core regions will be more modest.

eMarketer forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Peter Vahle discusses the latest podcast deals and what the mean, how listenership is changing, and the state of podcast advertising. He then talks about the recent Unity and Snap mobile gaming partnership, YouTube's 15-second audio ads, and which sports Americans are currently most comfortable attending in-person.

TikTok continues its ascent, but Instagram is still king.

eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Debra Aho Williamson discusses Snapchat's latest earnings, what stands out, and how this year will look. She then talks about which alternative social media platforms are most likely to rival the giants in the near future and why.

We predict reasonable Snapchat user growth of 6.8% in Western Europe this year, resulting in 76.2 million new users on the platform, or nearly 22% of internet users. However, this growth is up only slightly from our November 2019 prediction of 6.3%.

eMarketer senior analyst Jasmine Enberg and forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Nazmul Islam discuss Twitter's stellar Q4 performance and how it managed to close out a terrible 2020 on a high note. They then talk about Snapchat redefining what friendship should mean, TikTok's fate in the Biden administration, and how much Shopify's "Shop Pay" could help boost Facebook and Instagram Shops.

*Social networks will boost US mobile video ad spending this year.* In-app video advertising on platforms like Instagram and Snapchat was the main driver of growth, with new YouTube and Roku ad inventory helping, too.

The iPhone 12 Pro became the first phone to have a back-facing Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) camera, which enables more sophisticated augmented reality (AR). (Top-end Android phones use a similar Time-of-Flight, or ToF sensor.) Lidar can near-instantaneously detect depth and size, allowing for rapid and very detailed mixed reality functions for apps, such as furniture placement or full-body Snapchat Lenses. This should supercharge mobile AR spending and make such ads more feasible.

eMarketer principal analyst Mark Dolliver, junior analyst Blake Droesch, vice president of content studio Paul Verna, and senior analyst at Insider Intelligence Sara M. Watson discuss how social media might (actually) be regulated, social commerce, the ceiling for Disney+, Snapchat rolling out TikTok competitor "Spotlight," Spotify testing Snapchat-like Stories, Facebook paying UK publishers for news in 2021, why you should never trust a raven, and more.

eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson and junior analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch discuss Snapchat's surprising Q3 earnings. They then talk about the current TikTok debacle, how Facebook is monetizing WhatsApp, and the development of Facebook Gaming.

In recent months, both Instagram and Snapchat have made several changes to their products that are reminiscent of growing contender TikTok. Instagram launched its highly-anticipated feature Reels, which allows users to create short videos set to music, and Snapchat introduced a slew of new features, including adding music and a test for vertical navigation.