One-fourth of creators said they go live to their followers via YouTube, making it the most popular livestreaming app ahead of TikTok (18.7%), Facebook (17.4%), and Instagram (14.0%), per an April 2023 survey by The Influencer Marketing Factory.

Meta is way ahead of competitors in US video ad spend, with 30.1% share this year compared with YouTube’s 8.3% and TikTok’s 6.5%, according to our forecast. TikTok is on YouTube’s tail as it gains share, but the short video newcomer won’t surpass YouTube before the end of our forecast period in 2025.

US connected TV (CTV) ad spend will continue to grow through 2027, when it will reach $40.90 billion, according to our forecast. Apart from a small bump next year, ad spend on TV (including broadcast and cable TV) will decline over the next few years. Still, TV’s share of total ad spend is larger than CTV’s, indicating it remains a key player in marketers’ ad strategies.

US digital ad spend growth will return to double digits next year at 11.2% growth, following 2023’s slower growth of 7.8%. Growth certainly won’t return to the 37.6% growth we saw in 2021, but it will increase steadily. Come 2025, US digital ad spend will pass $300 billion and keep climbing to nearly $400 billion by the end of 2027.

Worldwide mobile AR revenues will more than double from $18.67 billion this year to $39.81 billion in 2027, per ARtillery Intelligence. These figures encompass revenues from both consumer and enterprise applications, such as productivity software, advertising/marketing applications, consumer spending on in-app purchases and premium apps, entertainment and games development, and retail/ecommerce enablement software.

OTT video subscription revenues will hit $50.56 billion this year, an increase of 12.5% YoY, according to our forecast. Revenues will climb to $64.12 billion by the end of 2026.

Nearly two-thirds (65.8%) of US consumers said that a company being transparent about how they plan to use personal data would help that company gain their trust, per Razorfish. Over half (55.1%) said a company would be more likely to gain their trust if it didn’t unnecessarily collect personal data. Their satisfaction with a company’s product or service had less of an impact, with 49.1% saying it would earn their trust.

Hulu was the star of upfront streaming spend in iSpot.tv’s March survey, with 74% of brands and advertisers saying they were allocating spend to the platform. YouTube TV also had a huge showing, with almost half (48%) of respondents saying they were assigning spend to it. Peacock, Roku, and Paramount+ rounded out the top five.

Next year, Snapchat’s ad revenues will increase by 10.4% worldwide after a year of almost no growth. Its ad revenues will rise from $3.80 billion this year to $4.20 billion next year, but they’ll still make up just 0.6% of total digital ad revenues worldwide.

Facebook was the leading social platform among US teens and adults in January, used by 61% of those in an Edison Research survey. Instagram came in second (44%), followed by TikTok (33%) and Pinterest (31%). Twitter and Snapchat tied for fifth, at 27%.

Concerns surrounding privacy are high, which could weigh on marketers’ efforts to target consumers. US adults under 30 are slightly less concerned (66%) than older consumers about the use of personal information for targeted digital ads, according to the Out of Home Advertising Association of America and Morning Consult.

Time spent is decreasing across cable and broadcast TV but increasing in streaming. In Q4 2022, streaming boosted overall time spent with TV among US adults, reversing the decline in TV viewing over the past few years, according to Nielsen.

The US online resale market is back on the rise this year, following a 6.6% decrease in 2022, according to our forecast. The trend shows no signs of slowing down over the next few years, with ecommerce resale volume surpassing $100 billion in 2026.

Thirty-one percent of US adults said social media has a positive effect on their mental health, per YouGov. However, almost as many (30%) feel it has a negative influence. Across generations, millennials are most likely to report a positive effect, while Gen Xers are more likely to cite a negative impact.

In the US, 77% of TV-owning households had a smart TV as of Q1 2023, according to Hub Research. Connected TVs, which include smart TVs, streaming sticks, and other devices, will be used in 115.1 million households next year, more than double the number of traditional pay TV households, according to our forecast.

US fashion online resale platform sales will increase 15.8% this year, totaling $14.14 billion, according to our forecast. Sales will continue to grow by double-digit rates through 2026, when they will reach $23.92 billion.

McDonald’s had the most downloaded app of any quick-service restaurant in the US in March, with 3.5 million downloads, about 2 million more than No. 2 Starbucks, according to Apptopia. Taco Bell, Subway, and Domino’s Pizza rounded out the top five.

In March, 37% of US teens called TikTok their favorite social media app, up from 30% the same month two years ago, according to Piper Sandler. Snapchat dropped to second place, falling to 27% from 31% during that period. In the No. 3 spot is Instagram, which 23% of teens named their top choice.

Amazon will capture more than half (51.1%) of all retail ecommerce sales in Germany this year, according to our forecast. Canada will have the second-highest share of Amazon ecommerce sales among the countries we track, at 41.5%, followed by the US, UK, Japan, and Mexico.

Global spending on AI-centric systems—including the software, hardware, and services for these systems—will increase 27% this year to reach $154 billion, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC).