Payments Ecosystem: This year will reveal how providers must adapt to lasting pandemic-driven digitization across payments channels, ranging from in-store retail to B2B ecommerce.

TikTok was the No. 1 mobile app in the US last year, with 94.0 million downloads, a 6% increase over 2020. Runners-up Instagram and Snapchat reached 64.0 million downloads and 56.0 million downloads, respectively, meaning the three most downloaded apps in the US were all photo- and video-sharing platforms.

Amazon lifts the veil over its advertising business: The retailer’s 2021 ad revenues outpaced YouTube’s and are poised for continued growth.

Meta’s future is muddled by declining Facebook users, slow metaverse adoption and a beleaguered ad model: In response to TikTok's success, Meta will shift focus to video, but will the reactionary move be enough to recover losses?

Meta’s earnings miss shows the vulnerability of its ad revenue model: The company could be in for a $10 billion hit from Apple’s privacy changes, and the rise of TikTok isn’t helping.

Marketers within the insurance industry will zero in on how to best utilize digital ad budgets, as spending growth settles at more modest levels.

Facebook was projected to pass 2 billion users worldwide in 2021 and poised to hit 2.10 billion by the end of this year. But despite boasting a massive user base, growth on the platform declined dramatically in 2021 and will slow to a trickle in years to come.

In Southeast Asia, total media ad spending snapped back to pre-pandemic levels in 2021 and will continue rising strongly this year. The growth in digital ad spending, though tamer in 2022, will again outpace that of the overall ad market.

AR, VR, and video games present opportunities that marketers can tap into right now.

TikTok takes up more of its users’ time than any other social media platform in the US. This year, adult TikTok users will spend an average of 38 minutes per day on the short-video app. Twitter ranks second, with a daily average of 35 minutes, while third-place Facebook will see 31 minutes per day from the average adult user.

Creator funds see mixed success: Social platforms offer more monetization tools than ever, but many content providers still struggle to get paid.

US Instagram ad impressions are split mostly between two formats. For the US clients of performance marketing firm Tinuiti, 47.0% of impressions came from the feed and 42.0% from Stories in Q4 2021.

Fueled by connected TV, programmatic video has expanded significantly. However, there remain concerns over difficulties with cross-platform measurement, ad fraud, and the lack of uniform standards.

Teens continue to leave Facebook, and the platform won’t be able to reverse that trend in 2022 or beyond. But in a surprising twist, the average age of a Facebook user is also starting to decrease.

Instagram introduces subscriptions as it vies for control of the creator economy: As Instagram’s cachet diminishes among younger audiences, it hopes monetization tools will keep creators from turning to other platforms.

Snapchat’s user base in the region grew almost 70% in 2021, to 107 million, compared with just 3.4% in North America.

Close to 75% US marketers will tap influencers for campaigns this year, up about 5 percentage points from 2021.

US marketers' interest in TikTok for influencer marketing has skyrocketed since early 2020, as the app has transformed from a novelty to a social media mainstay. Nearly two-thirds of US influencer marketers plan to use the video sharing app in 2022.

Asia-Pacific will no longer produce huge increases in new social network users, but the sheer scale of the region means it should remain front and center for social media marketers. Facebook will remain on top, but TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat are making waves.

The number of social network users in Canada continues to climb, as a wider variety of platforms become available that can satisfy user appetites for information, entertainment, and personal expression.