Display ads like banners and graphics, which have historically been less of a priority than search ads for B2B marketers, took up a greater share of US ad spending than ever before in 2020.

Facebook earnings: The company's Q2 earnings could shed light on the effects of Apple’s iOS 14.5 update, but it’s still on track to clear $100 billion in revenues by the end of the year.

While Facebook’s digital currency remains MIA, Twitter and Amazon are making their own headway in cryptos—all in a bid to simplify payments on their global platforms.

This quarter, we are adding TikTok to our social media update series, which analyzes key developments for marketers from the major social platforms.

Facebook’s CEO believes its hefty investment in AR and VR could make it a powerful player in the next stage of the internet. The proclamation comes amid rampant regulatory scrutiny and slowing user growth among Facebook’s core products.

The explosion in vertical video is creating both opportunities and challenges for the Story format. Stories are evolving quickly on Instagram and remain a top venue for influencer activations. But Twitter’s decision to kill off Fleets shows they aren’t popular on all platforms.

Stories are hardly a new social media format—they are nearly 8 years old on Snapchat and almost 5 on Instagram. But they are still heavily used for social media marketing, even as short-video platforms like TikTok have taken off.

Influencer marketing spending in the US is set to grow more than 30% this year and surpass a key milestone. According to our inaugural forecast on US influencer marketing spending, the category will exceed $3 billion in 2021 and will surpass $4 billion next year.

At Facebook, the social network is now a shopping network

On today's episode, we discuss what Facebook has become and is trying to be, what to make of social media platforms looking more and more alike, and which of these "copycat" moves might strike gold. We then talk about the significance of Nextdoor going public, how India's social media content liability laws could impact Twitter (and others), and some changes as to what advertisers can, and can't, do on social media. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior analyst at Insider Intelligence Jasmine Enberg.

Tech companies are ditching legacy industry lobbying firms like the Internet Association in favor of their own individual approach. The shift allows Big Tech firms to target particular legislation that most specifically affects their products or business practices.

A massive leap forward for Canada’s retail ecommerce market resulted from the pandemic. The momentum continues this year.

Creator economy crescendo: Amazon is quickly building out areas of its business that center on influencers, as the walls between social media and ecommerce erode and creators' roles in those spaces start to blend together.

On today's episode, we discuss what Facebook's new virtual reality (VR) ads look like, the ad formats that will be unique to VR, and what's driving VR headset growth. We then talk about the breakdown of what Americans are watching on TV, whether we will ever see ads on Disney+ and Netflix, and whether YouTube TV has the answer for sports fans. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analysts at Insider Intelligence Victoria Petrock and Paul Verna.

The pandemic was disastrous for many retailers; we estimate that total retail sales worldwide plunged 2.8% in 2020. Though, while many physical stores were shuttered, digital retail sales soared by over 25% in a single year.

Social commerce sales in the US are picking up, but the size of the market pales in comparison to that of China, according to eMarketer’s latest forecast on social commerce.

Attack of the clones: Now that most major social platforms have a TikTok-like feature, each is exploring different ways to use short-form video to further their longer-term goals.

On today's episode, we discuss what Google delaying getting rid of third-party cookies means for everyone, whether people will want to listen to audio on Facebook, what to make of TikTok's new mini apps called Jumps, Google's EU ad tech antitrust case, if moviegoing is making a return, what if time didn't exist, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior analysts Audrey Schomer and Sara M. Watson and analyst at Insider Intelligence Nina Goetzen.

Livestreaming was an existing trend that gained newfound relevance during the pandemic. Over the past few months, nearly all of the major US social networks have expanded their services and introduced new livestreaming opportunities, many of which are aimed at boosting commerce on the platforms.