Internet memes are not a new phenomenon, but the events of 2020 have spurred their consumption. Despite their popularity among social media users, marketing with memes can still be a risky business for brands.

Over 80% said firms and brands should donate money or products to public organizations and institutions, produce ad campaigns and messages that are positive, and increase those that help consumption recover.

In 2020, digital video ad spending exceeded TV ad outlays for the first time in Canada. Digital video gained the most momentum of any format amid the pandemic last year, growing by 10.0% year over year (YoY). This includes both in-stream video formats (e.g., YouTube ads) and those outstream (ads appearing in social media feeds).

Social media time spiked 15.1% among US users in 2020, but it won’t hold onto all those gains. Among social network users, time spent with social media will decline by 2.0% this year. Growth will stay mostly flat through 2023 as people gradually resume in-person socializing. Read Next.

Social media is ideal for digital multitaskers, who often use such platforms while consuming other forms of media. Social media time got a bump from the pandemic that will persist this year and beyond. Facebook and Instagram claim the most users and time spent in Canada, but emerging platforms indicate a shift may come in the years ahead. Social Media Minutes Continue to Inch Upward.

The only major deviation is the spike in digital video consumption. Adults in South Korea increased their time spent with digital video by 10.9% last year, and we project 9.3% growth this year and 9.1% growth next year. The amount of time that adults devote to watching digital videos each day will increase from 1:16 in 2019 to 1:41 in 2022.

But for now, broadly speaking, the interest in using social media still seems high in 2021. In January-February 2021 research by The Harris Poll on behalf of Sprout Social, a provider of social media management software, 54% of US adults who used at least one social media platform said they had increased their social media usage compared with a year ago.

In North America, 35% of internet users ages 16 and older said they used social media mainly to find funny or entertaining content, according to Q3 2020 research by GlobalWebIndex. Among Gen Z respondents worldwide (ages 16 to 23 last year), 45% said they used social media for this purpose, making it the No. 1 reason this generation uses social media.

Social media time in browsers also increased to 14.3 minutes in 2020. We initially thought these gains would be temporary, but in our latest estimate, we expect social media apps to continue to gain time in the next few years; for example, they’ll gain another 1.6 minutes, on average, among US adults in 2021. The vast majority of time spent on social media is in mobile apps.

Social media even became a serious competitor for TV time among internet users in France.

“As people were encouraged to stay at home, the growth of ad-supported video on CTV greatly accelerated, with YouTube consumption accounting for a major part of this,” said Ross Nicol, vice president of EMEA at video ad platform Zefr.

Scroll on, Twitter: The platform's acquisition of ad-free news startup Scroll is the latest in its effort to build out enough features and content to feasibly sell paid subscriptions to its users.

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.

Lack of trust also inhibited direct checkout—42.3% said they didn’t trust social media platforms with their payment information; 36.2% said they didn’t want to provide social media companies with more personal information like shopping history; and 34.4% said they don’t trust social media platforms as an intermediary should customer service support be needed.

On today's episode, we discuss what brand-new forecasts the forecasting team cooked up in Q1, including time spent with TikTok and some direct-to-consumer (D2C) numbers. We then talk about say-through rates for voice ads, the battle between host-read and preproduced ads, and how knowledge workers will soon use a virtual assistant every day. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior director of forecasting Shelleen Shum, directors of forecasting Oscar Orozco and Cindy Liu, and forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Peter Vahle.

Where in the world do people use social media the most?