The 2019 holiday season posted modest retail sales growth amid a strong consumer economy but challenging calendar. With more economic risks ahead, the 2020 season may be even more challenged for growth.

Mobile dethroned TV in 2019 as the channel where US adults spent the most time. While it may be a symbolic threshold for now, it’s still notable that the average US adult spent 3 hours, 43 minutes (3:43) on their mobile devices in 2019, compared with the average 3:35 spent watching TV. As recently as 2016, US adults watched nearly an hour more of TV than they spent on their smartphones and tablets (4:05 vs. 3:08).

With 2020 shaping up to be a chaotic year, these are the video trends marketers will need to pay attention to.

Marketers have embraced location data for several reasons. It can help personalize experiences for customers, better isolate customer paths to purchase, create better customer segments, and identify opportune moments to target potential clients. But new restrictions on collecting location data will make it more costly for advertisers in 2020.

As the use of smart-home technology increases, brands are experimenting with ways to use these connected IoT devices and systems—and the massive amounts of data that flows from them—in their marketing activities.

eMarketer vice president of business development Marissa Coslov discusses our latest estimates for revenues derived from app installs in the US and growth drivers like Snapchat and TikTok.

In this year’s Key Digital Trends report, we identify what changes are coming to the digital media and technology landscape in 2020 and why they matter to marketers.

Advertisers are making significant investments in connected TV as the TV landscape becomes more fragmented.

Programmatic transactions for digital display account for 86.4% of the market in Canada this year, even though global privacy reform and device tracking protections are making it more challenging to execute.

For the first time, a generic mobile payment app is more popular than the Starbucks mobile app, which had long led the category despite being specific to one retailer. Apple Pay became the market leader last year, when 27.7 million Americans used the app to make a purchase.

Apple launched its subscription gaming service Arcade in late September as part of the company’s wider iOS 13 release, betting big on subscription gaming services and joining others like Google and Microsoft. As more adults spend time with mobile gaming apps daily, these companies are steadily developing their mobile gaming strategies.

The battle to maintain licensing rights for high-profile shows is intensifying. Chad Mumm, senior vice president and head of entertainment for Vox Media Studios, spoke with eMarketer about how the business of video content licensing is evolving.

More people are leaving pay TV for digital alternatives, as TV networks increase their subscription costs and end promotional prices.

Digital and mobile video viewership, adoption of subscription over-the-top (OTT) services and video ad spending are on the rise throughout the world as audiences, programmers and advertisers continue to shift focus from traditional to digital platforms.

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

Traditional text messages may (finally) be getting an overhaul. In June, Google announced that it will allow Android users in the UK and France to opt in to Rich Communication Services (RCS), the new texting standard intended to replace the current SMS protocol. That's a step forward for RCS, which has been off to a slow start, but it's not likely to mean much for consumers or marketers yet.

eMarketer principal analysts Nicole Perrin and Mark Dolliver discuss Uber’s plans to be the go-to transport hub, four ideas on how to rein in big tech, the changing motivations for watching the NFL and which types of ads are mostly likely to influence purchasing decisions.

US advertisers are spending about a third of their nonsocial programmatic display ad dollars on fees this year—aka the “ad tech tax.” Read on to learn more about our inaugural estimates of spending on programmatic fees.

Media and entertainment companies are increasing their digital ad spend at a greater rate than other verticals as revenues surge in the music and film industries and digital video and gaming platforms try to outcompete one another.

eMarketer senior forecasting director Monica Peart discusses our usage numbers for Netflix in the US and the anticipated arrival of new subscription OTT services. Watch now.