Digital will account for 50.1% of total media ad spending in 2019, reaching the halfway mark for the first time.

This year, we expect China’s total retail ecommerce sales will grow more than 30%, reaching nearly $2 trillion—the highest-grossing retail ecommerce market worldwide, according to our latest forecast. Behind China, the US retail ecommerce market will reach $600.63 billion in sales, growing nearly 15% year over year.

Despite a faltering economy and subdued growth across traditional media, total media ad spend in China will maintain strong growth on the back of increases in digital and mobile, where the top digital publishers will maintain their dominance.

In 2019, digital will account for 50.1% of total media ad spending worldwide thanks to strong growth from major digital ad sellers like Google, Facebook, Alibaba and Amazon. Traditional channels will remain important, however, as advertisers begin to think more holistically about their advertising and marketing budgets.

The 2018 holiday season brought big rises in digital sales in Western Europe. The online grocery sector also experienced growth last year. Meanwhile, Amazon and Alibaba have both set their sights on major gains in the region.

Amazon and Alibaba continue to expand into Western Europe—Amazon with hopes of capturing a greater European consumer base, and Alibaba selling luxury European goods to its tens of millions of consumers in China.

Unlike Alibaba or JD.com, Pinduoduo relies on its users to leverage their social networks to drive conversions. The more friends and family a shopper can get to buy a product, the lower the price drops for everyone in the group.

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.

China is poised to become the world’s top retail market in 2019, surpassing the US by more than $100 billion, according to eMarketer’s latest worldwide retail and ecommerce forecast.

In the past few years, some key ecommerce players—including Amazon, China’s Alibaba, and eBay—have rolled out visual search tools that allow users to submit images as queries instead of text.

Smaller ad players in China are nipping at the heels of Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (BAT) as programmatic ad spending grows faster than expected. According to eMarketer’s latest programmatic ad forecast for China, category spending will increase more than 33% to ¥208.55 billion ($30.86 billion) in 2019.

How does the average person in China use digital? In the latest episode of "Behind the Numbers," eMarketer's Man-Chung Cheung and Shelleen Shum dig into data about internet use, mobile, time spent with media and more.

China’s fast-paced retail ecommerce growth hasn’t spelled doom for physical stores. Rather, brick-and-mortar is undergoing a transformation of its own, underlined by an infusion of technology and the growing integration between online and offline.

Among the $327.28 billion spent worldwide on digital advertising in 2019, 61.2% will go toward advertising on Google, Facebook and Alibaba. This report includes our latest global ad spending forecast by country, region and company.

Singles' Day racked up another year of double-digit growth, and consumers around the world spent more than $1 billion in the first 90 seconds of the day. But as the annual shopping event enters its second decade, growth is slowing and expectations are being revised. eMarketer's Man-Chung Cheung was on the ground in Shanghai on Nov. 11. He and analyst Andrew Lipsman join Marcus Johnson to discuss the shopping event and what comes next.

Of the $62.55 billion spent on digital advertising in China this year, at least 80% will go toward mobile formats. This report includes our latest ad spending and time spent with media forecasts for China.

Already firmly established in the US ecommerce market, Amazon is ramping up its international efforts. Prime is the primary driver behind its global growth, but the membership program looks very different from country to country.

Singles’ Day is the world’s biggest shopping event, and Black Friday is just around the corner. Holiday shopping is a major driver of retail and ecommerce around the world, but spending and which holidays drive the most activity vary by region.

Alibaba's Singles' Day is expected to be the biggest selling day for smart speakers in China, and a key driver to adoption in the market.

Alibaba's Singles' Day, China's massive ecommerce festival held annually on November 11, has grown to surpass pretty much every other online shopping event in the world.