Social listening is helping businesses take the pulse of their consumers and make faster marketing decisions during the pandemic. It’s still not a perfect analytics tool, but right now the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

This report explores the latest developments in the social media landscape, including the Facebook ad boycott and new monetization opportunities from the platforms, as well as our latest forecast for social network ad revenues.

eMarketer principal analysts Debra Aho Williamson and Nicole Perrin and forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Eric Haggstrom discuss the different Facebook boycott camps advertisers fall into, the potential damage to the social media giant and what happens next.

The vast majority of mobile time is browsing online. We estimate that US adults will spend, on average, more than 4 hours with mobile internet, with 88% of that time spent within apps.

In a tumultuous year for advertising, every market we cover except China will experience a decline in ad spending, and Google will see its first ever contraction in digital ad revenues.

Our revised estimates for total ad spending in Canada this year show a big decline, mirroring what’s expected overall for the Canadian economy. Digital will hold its level after years of double-digit growth.

Total ad spending in France and Germany will fall this year, as a result of the pandemic. Traditional media will suffer most; digital ad spend will rise marginally, to €4.93 billion ($5.51 billion) in France and €7.38 billion ($8.27 billion) in Germany.

eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson and junior analysts Blake Droesch and Nina Goetzen at Insider Intelligence discuss the recent conversation around a Facebook ad boycott. They then talk about why Zynn ditched its pay-to-watch feature, Snapchat's announcements and why WhatsApp's digital payments service in Brazil was suspended so quickly.

For the first time since we began estimating ad revenues at Google, the company’s net US digital ad revenues will decline in absolute terms. Facebook and Amazon will continue to grow but at severely depressed rates compared with earlier expectations.

eMarketer forecasting analyst Eric Haggstrom and principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Nicole Perrin discuss the implications of users being able to turn off political ads on Facebook. They then talk about the current controversy over Apple's App Store.

The coronavirus pandemic is putting a major dent in US digital ad spending growth. Outlays will increase by just 1.7% this year—read on to learn what that means for major ad channels and platforms.

When US consumers started spending more time at home in March and April, they also started using social media more, providing an unexpected boost to the platforms. That increased engagement continued into May.

eMarketer principal analyst Mark Dolliver, junior analyst Blake Droesch and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss polarization on Facebook, whether kids spend more time on TikTok or YouTube, how much people trust influencers, Facebook trying to make TV social, out-of-home advertising in Q1, podcast ad skipping, pyramids where they shouldn't be and more.

Ecommerce’s share of total retail in Canada is higher than we previously expected, as brick-and-mortar outlets are forced to shutter and online shopping becomes a necessity.

eMarketer principal analysts Mark Dolliver, Nicole Perrin and Debra Aho Williamson at Insider Intelligence discuss what a new executive order could mean for user-generated content. They then talk about why The Wall Street Journal is doing well, publisher expectations for Q2 and Facebook's latest TikTok-like music making app Collab.

The number of social buyers in the UK will rise to 10.0 million in 2020, a 13.3% increase from 2019, according to eMarketer estimates.

Well into the pandemic, consumers still say they are spending more time with social media. Activities like live streaming, video chatting and gaming are drawing some of them in.

Insider Intelligence junior analyst Blake Droesch, research analyst Daniel Keyes and principal analyst Andrew Lipsman discuss Facebook Shops and whether businesses and customers will want to use it. They then talk about the significance of Walmart shutting down Jet.com, whether polls will work on LinkedIn and what shoppers expect to do after shelter-in-place orders end.

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand Cuts Clothing has grown a lot since it first launched in 2016 on Kickstarter. “Since day one, we have been focused on making premium minimalist shirts for the modern man,” said Steven Borrelli, CEO and co-founder of Cuts.

More time spent at home during the pandemic means more time being spent on social media. But not all social platforms are benefitting in the same way. In our latest forecast on time spent with media in the US, we expect adult social network users to log an average of 1 hour, 22 minutes (1:22) per day in 2020, up nearly 7 minutes over last year.