eMarketer analyst Ross Benes, forecasting analyst Eric Haggstrom and senior analyst Audrey Schomer at Insider Intelligence discuss what the return of live sports will look like, what brands should think about and what the lack of fans could mean. They then talk about TV companies getting together to enhance targeted TV commercials, YouTube's new "Chapters" feature and the future of TV advertising.

Sports are on hold in the US due to the coronavirus pandemic, but digital live sports viewership will still rise more than 14% this year thanks to continued organic growth and accelerated cord-cutting.

COVID-19 has altered the relationship between TV viewership supply and advertising demand.

TV ad spending in the US will decline by between 22.3% and 29.3% in H1 2020, about $10 billion to $12 billion less than expected. Our previous forecast, completed on March 6, 2020, called for a 2.0% increase for the full year.

With the coronavirus pandemic leading to a significant economic slowdown, we’re providing updated guidance to our clients about what we expect for ad spending during the first half of this year.

As the government continues to wrestle with the coronavirus pandemic, US consumers and news organizations have rediscovered one of the things that made social media so valuable: Democratizing information about a fast-moving global story brings to light important narratives that official sources may miss, ignore or suppress.

eMarketer principal analyst Nicole Perrin and vice president of content studio Paul Verna discuss the NBA suspending its season and YouTube monetizing COVID-19 videos. They then discuss the first retailer to use Amazon's "Just Walk Out" technology, if a lawsuit could derail Quibi's launch and Twitch partners with Comscore on measurement.

Consumption of digital video is booming. The number of new formats and innovative content has flourished. And traditional broadcasters are experimenting with digital channels to keep pace with the changing user behavior.

Ad dollars and viewers are pouring into digital video platforms as the TV industry continues to lose subscribers.

Esports probably won’t replace baseball as America’s national pastime, but it’s now just as popular as the NBA. Last year, 63 million US viewers watched competitive video games, according to Activate Inc., putting esports on par with the NBA's viewership.

The sports video streaming landscape in Canada is a mix of legacy TV network groups Bell Media and Rogers Media; digital media giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Amazon; and independent startups like DAZN.

State media network China Central Television (CCTV) is the main purveyor of sports programming in China, but OTT players, including Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu, have disrupted the ecosystem by securing streaming rights to major sports properties.

In the US, disruption in the sports broadcasting industry is coming from league-based subscription services; standalone services run by broadcasters and independent startups; linear OTT providers; and social and digital media companies.

YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, responding to marketers’ alarm over brand safety concerns, are ramping up efforts to block offensive content and prove they can be transparent about the process. Here’s how it’s working.