TikTok and Meta continue to diverge on social commerce strategies, Pinterest teams up with Wayfair on a data clean room test, and YouTube introduces unskippable ads.

Social search is growing, fueled by consumer behavior and AI—and so are the search ad opportunities on TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and others. But search on social media isn’t the same as traditional search. Here’s what advertisers should know.

The pandemic ecommerce boom that drove online sales is over. But marketplaces will continue to expand their share of US retail ecommerce, contributing almost 40% of the $588 billion in US online sales growth that we forecast over the next five years.

With user penetration nearly complete and time spent starting to plateau or decline on many platforms, social networks have run out of easy paths to incremental budget among their advertisers.

On today's episode, we discuss how we should feel about Amazon's online sales being flat, how its ad business was able to have such a good quarter, and why the company has yet to find a mass grocery format worth expanding. "In Other News," we talk about how Pinterest has been doing and just how popular self-checkout is. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Blake Droesch.

Shoppable media is gaining momentum as brands look for ways to narrow the gap between discovery and purchase. Just this month, Pinterest, NBCUniversal, Meta, and Yahoo announced shoppable media updates. From AI to QR codes, we dive deeper into these developments and why they may give companies an edge.

“Over 50% [of users] say they view Pinterest as a place to shop,” said Pinterest CEO Bill Ready. “Yet we haven’t made it easy for them to shop historically, as shoppable content was not integrated into core experiences.”

TikTok eclipsed Twitter, Pinterest, and Snapchat in US users within just a few years, according to our estimates, and now it’s chasing Instagram. After years of exceptional growth, TikTok will boast more than 100 million US monthly users in 2023—unless lawmakers stand in its way.

Over the past month, we’ve seen ad updates from all the major players, from Meta’s generative AI ads to Google’s attempts to decrease clutter. Here’s what they mean for advertisers.

From the explosion of ChatGPT to confusing economic indicators, the first quarter of 2023 has proven to be a mixed bag for retail. We break down major developments from the past few months and what they mean for the year ahead.

Nearly three-quarters of US TikTok users will also use Instagram this year, making it the most popular alternative to the social video app, per our forecast. That’s good news for Instagram Reels, which is positioning itself as a viable successor in the event of a US TikTok ban.

Pinterest tests integrating Shuffles content into the main app, starting with shopping: This move is part of a broader strategy to become a one-stop-shop for visual inspiration and online shopping. (This article was written with the assistance of ChatGPT.)

Amid privacy changes and macroeconomic headwinds, social media will be the channel hurt most by the digital advertising downturn. For 2023, we have reduced our US social network ad spending forecast by $16.21 billion.

Search is already a major component of retail media; social is the next integration. Advertisers still view social media as a discovery medium and retail media as a conversion-driver. But both platforms are “potentially full-funnel,” according to Liz Cole, executive director and US head of social at VMLY&R, speaking at our “Attention!” summit.

On today's episode, we discuss how UGC can build trust, how measurement and marketing drive product strategy and being authentic to the channel you’re marketing on. "In Other News," we talk about what Twitter’s new round of layoffs mean for the social platform and how Pinterest has been getting on as of late. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Jasmine Enberg and Jon Oberlander, CEO at Ampush / EVP Social at Tinuiti.

On today's episode, we discuss what to make of Amazon's 2% decline in online store sales, how to interpret its advertising service's 19% revenue growth, and why the company is rethinking its Amazon Fresh strategy. "In Other News," we talk about how Pinterest views the future of shoppable video and how malls are resurging. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Andrew Lipsman.

Pinterest’s shopping strategy addresses many social commerce pain points: But sluggish user growth may hinder its ability to increase its share of the market.

The UK is seeing stagnant social network user growth. But while reach remains huge, marketers should look at how their target markets are spread across platforms because this is where the real change is happening.

Our latest forecast for social network users in Canada highlights a reshuffling of the top five platforms in 2023. Twitter will fall to fifth place, while TikTok will surge into the No. 3 position.

It’s easy to be pessimistic about the state of social media in 2023. But while challenges will persist, the shifting landscape will also give rise to more opportunities for marketers to reach social audiences.