Employees working from home want more than just an extra monitor

On today's episode, we discuss what "going back to the office" may actually mean, the dawn of “tiered-access journalism,” video safe havens for brands, possible surges in travel plans, Facebook's new video speed dating app called Sparked, why the Rubik's Cube was invented, and more. Tune in to listen to the discussion with eMarketer principal analysts Jillian Ryan and Jeremy Goldman, and analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch.

The news: Working from home during the pandemic shifted energy use, but it did not reduce it significantly, per Protocol. More on this: A white paper by Steve Cicala, associate professor of economics at Tufts University, studied the energy impact of one-third of the US workforce working from home in 2020, as well as the ramifications of the impending mass return to offices.

Internet outages of this magnitude are expected to continue with more users working from home and consuming more bandwidth. The proliferation of streaming services, online gaming platforms, IoT devices, and online services are also taking their toll on an internet infrastructure that simply can’t scale fast enough.

eMarketer principal analyst Mark Dolliver, junior analyst Blake Droesch, vice president of research Jennifer Pearson and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of working from home, Instagram for news, "Starbucks Pickup," YouTube's "Direct Response" ads, Spotify's interactive ads, the truth about shooting stars and more.

Among US employees who are currently working and/or working from home, nearly nine in 10 believe that companies will now be working more virtually.

eMarketer principal analyst Mark Dolliver, junior analyst Blake Droesch and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss what it might be like to work from home forever, Hulu's new transactional ads, Google paying select publishers, America's diversity, switching brand loyalty, YouTube's short videos, an eerie fact about corn and more.

eMarketer principal analyst Mark Dolliver and senior forecasting analyst Oscar Orozco discuss how digital adoption has made it possible—or not—for people to work, study and entertain themselves from home during the COVID-19 outbreak. Who doesn't use the internet? Do people spend more time watching Netflix or YouTube? And which platforms get the most social media attention? They then talk about Spotify Kids, faster same-day delivery and Sling TV losing customers.

Roughly a third of US parents said working from home, while taking care of their kids at the same time, has been one of the biggest ordeals they’ve had to deal with during the pandemic.

eMarketer principal analyst Mark Dolliver and junior analyst Blake Droesch discuss whether people will have an appetite for the upcoming video streaming services, the future of online grocers, if the pandemic has eased the techlash, examples of companies building goodwill, whether it's OK to always wear pajamas when working from home, and more.

Employees worldwide were pretty mixed on their preference of permanent working situation, per July 2020 research from Qualtrics. Among those who reported working from home due to the pandemic, 60% said they wished to permanently work from home either part-time or full-time.

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.