Cross-border ecommerce is rising in popularity as US consumers look for value amid inflation. But growth has slowed from previous boom years.

Generative AI is poised to reshape the search advertising market. With a significant first-mover advantage, will Microsoft grow its share of search ad budgets? How can advertisers stay ahead of the curve?

On today's episode, we discuss Snapchat's first quarterly revenue decline since going public in 2017, what to make of the social platform's My AI chatbot, and how concerned we should be by Snapchat's inability to innovate (without being copied). "In Other News," we talk about TikTok ads bringing viewers back to bigger screens and what people are doing on different social media platforms. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Jasmine Enberg.

TikTok and generative AI have changed the brand marketing game more than any other development since the pivot to mobile, and social media marketers must adapt. Here are six takeaways from CMOs and marketing professionals on how to do just that.

Google turns to generative AI to give shoppers a helping hand: The search engine aims to simplify consumers’ purchase decisions by arming consumers with more information.

The grand final of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Liverpool, UK, on May 13. Attracting a Super Bowl-sized audience, tourists, and viewing parties, the competition’s global reach will provide marketers and retailers with a notable opportunity to drive brand awareness and sales.

Digital ad spending will increase slightly faster this year than in 2022, but the bump will be minimal. Total media ad spending growth will roughly hold steady. But there are parts of the world where spending is surging.

Worsening economic conditions will take their toll on Latin America’s digital ad market this year. Despite gains of 12.7%, digital ad spending will fail to outpace the rate of inflation for the first time since we began tracking the region in 2011. Here are our latest forecasts.

TikTok promotes learning and automation at product summit: Simplicity is a big buzzword for TikTok this year, with automation at the heart of simplifying the ad creative process.

D2C ecommerce will continue to grow at above-average rates. But that growth will be driven by established brands selling directly—not digitally native brands.

Both companies are fighting to grab a larger share of digital ad spending growth.

The battle against TikTok took center stage at this week’s NewFronts, as Meta, Snapchat, and YouTube unveiled new ad products tied to short-form video. While none of them can compete with TikTok’s lock on the youth market or the enormous amount of time its users spend on the app, these new ad products are an attempt to bring Reels, Spotlight, and Shorts into greater parity with TikTok’s ad formats.

TikTok is going all-in on in-app purchases; Meta is focused on shoppable ads; and YouTube hopes to gain a competitive advantage through its strong creator relationships. All of this is happening as we forecast US retail social commerce sales will grow nearly 30% this year to hit $68.92 billion

Ad spending is looking shaky for many of the legacy formats across digital and traditional. New channels have arrived, however, and there are bright spots. This year could be rough, but 2024 is looking better.