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.

Of course, YouTube accounts for a sizable share of video consumption. GlobalWebIndex includes YouTube in its list of social network destinations, which tends to increase the reach of social networking, as well as time spent with the medium.

“As normalcy returns in 2021, overall digital consumption will hold all of last year’s gains,” Goldner said. “Desktop/laptop time will return to negative growth this year, but smartphone time will more than make up the difference.”. Smartphones are driving a significant portion of adults’ total digital time.

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.

Are Hispanics heavy users of social media? Social media has natural appeal for people with far-flung relatives and friends, often including some living abroad. And the youthful skew of the Hispanic population yields a receptive audience for platforms like Snapchat and TikTok. Hispanics overindex for social user penetration, but just slightly.

Social Media and Mobile Messaging. Many people turned to social media in recent months to stay connected with friends and loved ones and to share information. But the pandemic didn’t increase the number of people using social networks or messaging apps.

eMarketer principal analysts Mark Dolliver and Sara M. Watson, along with junior analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch, discuss the true power of the social media giants, how Gen Z viewers like to consume sports, Twitter leaning into audio, news use on social platforms, how the pandemic has reshaped children's screen time, why people get "red eye" in photos, and more.

The share of US internet users engaging with social media rose by 4.5 percentage points year over year (YoY). Some 82.0% of respondents said they had used social networking sites or apps (including YouTube) in the prior month, and spent an average of 2:09 per day with social sites.

The average time spent with social media each day climbed to 1:20, a gain of 4 minutes compared with H1 2019. Smartphone and tablet ownership rose in 2020, with penetration skewing highest among affluents. Desktop/laptop ownership in Austria dropped below 90% in 2019 but remained robust in H1 2020, at 89.5%—one of the highest percentages recorded worldwide by GlobalWebIndex.

Compared with video streaming, fewer internet users in Italy (83.6%) engaged with social media. On the other hand, the time spent daily with social platforms averaged 1:50—almost an hour more than time devoted to video streaming, at 58 minutes. This may partly be because GlobalWebIndex includes YouTube in the category of social media.

(GlobalWebIndex includes YouTube in its social category, and this tends to boost both reach and time spent for social media overall.). Time spent with music streaming has now surpassed time spent with broadcast radio, however. In H1 2020, respondents spent an average 1:13 daily streaming music, vs. 1:03 with radio. Ownership of advanced digital devices barely increased during the year.

Social media also registered an uptick, as the share of internet users visiting social platforms at least once in the prior month rose from 88.7% to 90.9% YoY. Yet respondents estimated that they spent, on average, 10 minutes less per day with social media than the year prior, at 2:03. Adoption of several smart devices, including wristbands and smart home products, has slowed dramatically.

Time spent with social media is rising in many countries—but not all. One might have expected major increases across the board, as consumers used social platforms to communicate with friends, family, and colleagues during enforced stay-at-home orders arising from the pandemic. Social time did climb YoY in several countries, including France, Portugal, and India. But these increases were often small.

GlobalWebIndex also measured podcast consumption in 2020 for the first time; in Egypt, podcasts accounted for 49 minutes daily on average. Similarly, online press accounted for more time per day than print press, at 1:23 and 46 minutes, respectively. But both values rose from H1 2019.

Penetration of smart home products, such as energy consumption monitors, reached 10.9%, higher than smart wristbands at 10.0%.