We expect US social commerce sales to rise by 35.8% in 2021 to $36.62 billion. That’s only a slight deceleration in growth from 2020, when sales surged by 38.9% thanks to the pandemic-driven boom in ecommerce, increased social media consumption, and brands continuing to leverage these platforms to sell directly to consumers.

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.

On today's episode, we discuss which platforms have the most creator-friendly environments, how influencer marketing is evolving, and what the next stage of the creator economy will look like. We then talk about Pinterest's new livestreaming feature, the popularity of influencer marketing on TikTok, and how companies should navigate social media coming out of the pandemic. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior analyst at Insider Intelligence Jasmine Enberg.

On today's episode, we discuss sustainable shopping: the "circular economy" leading to the popularity of recommerce, social media playing a role in secondhand selling, and how smaller retailers can benefit from the pandemic-fueled local shopping trend. Tune in to the discussion as eMarketer principal analyst Bill Fisher hosts principal analyst Karin von Abrams and research director at Insider Intelligence Matteo Ceurvels.

On today's episode, we discuss the pandemic challenges that fashion brands are facing, how female digital buyers have changed, and how social media strategies are evolving. We then talk about how engagement with brick-and-mortar retail is changing, how Walmart+ stacks up against Amazon Prime, how significant a problem porch piracy is, and whether in-garage delivery is the solution. Tune in to the discussion with director of marketing and ecommerce at Cloe Raquel Garduño Arroyo, eMarketer director of research Matteo Ceurvels, and analyst at Insider Intelligence Daniel Keyes.

Social network ad spending has substantially rebounded since the early days of the pandemic. In 2021, the biggest issues social media marketers will face are in the areas of brand safety, ethics, and privacy.

On today's episode, we discuss the highlights from Snapchat's user growth and revenue picture in Q1. We then talk about Snapchat integrating a fashion recommendation company into its app, how social media behaviors have evolved because of the pandemic, and Facebook's latest ad offerings. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson and forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Nazmul Islam.

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).

On today's episode, we discuss Clubhouse's content and competitors, how the pandemic changed social media, the future of social networking, the potential of Instagram Lite, Facebook launching a kids' version of Instagram, some eerily accurate predictions about 2021 from 100 years ago, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analysts Jeremy Goldman and Debra Aho Williamson, and forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Peter Vahle.

Augmented reality (AR) is becoming more widely available on social platforms. It’s mainly been a tool for entertainment and brand awareness, but the pandemic is pushing marketers to explore new use cases.

On today's episode, we discuss which “digital habits” are just myths, whether travel has reached pre-pandemic levels, whether conversational commerce can take online shopping by storm, social audio getting some new big partners, which platforms creators want to create for, what it would look like if companies were mini countries, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analyst Paul Verna, forecasting analyst Peter Vahle, and analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch.

Like many regions around the world, Southeast Asia experienced an ecommerce boom in 2020, as various pandemic-driven social lockdowns encouraged more shopping from home. According to our estimates, ecommerce grew by 35.2% collectively in the region last year, and our newest forecast projects 14.3% growth this year. However, traditional retail is still overwhelmingly dominant.

The adoption of social commerce—the ability to shop and buy, directly or indirectly, via social media platforms—accelerated during the pandemic. The vast majority of social commerce today is within the discovery and consideration stages. However, checkout capabilities are not available from the leading social networks in Canada.

Livestreaming was an existing trend that gained newfound relevance during the pandemic. Over the past few months, nearly all of the major US social networks have expanded their services and introduced new livestreaming opportunities, many of which are aimed at boosting commerce on the platforms.

The pandemic led to many upward revisions of our UK digital user forecasts. Some changes (podcast listeners) will be permanent, while others will be temporary (digital gamers). Our social network user numbers, meanwhile, didn’t change much at all.

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.

As with other social networks, Twitter’s user base grew unexpectedly this year as pandemic-driven stay-at-home orders drove up social media usage overall.

On today's episode, we discuss whether augmented reality is the future of marketing, how Clubhouse launching on Android can help the social audio platform grow its user base, how much the pandemic changed boomers' online behavior, whether "buy now, pay later" can move beyond retail, how to help people find something to watch on Netflix, how to swim up in the sky, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer analysts Nina Goetzen and Daniel Keyes, and principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Jeremy Goldman.

Well into the pandemic, consumers still say they are spending more time with social media. Activities like live streaming, video chatting and gaming are drawing some of them in.

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.

eMarketer principal analysts Mark Dolliver and Sara M. Watson, vice president of research Jennifer Pearson, and junior analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch discuss the pivotal decision of Facebook's Oversight Board to ban former President Donald Trump, private search engines making a push, whether social media damages teenagers' health, whether baby boomers will want to shop online post-pandemic, Apple's reported paywalled podcast platform, what happens to astronauts when they're in space, and more.

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.

Amid the pandemic, more people began trying to earn extra income by selling items online—most notably on social media. Similarly, consumers who were strapped for cash also took to social media channels to find secondhand products at cheaper price points.

A massive leap forward for Canada’s retail ecommerce market resulted from the pandemic. The momentum continues this year.

As with every other aspect of our lives, COVID-19 is impacting social media usage and advertising. Some of those changes, along with other important ad product launches, will continue to affect advertisers once the pandemic ends.