The news: Direct messages (DMs) are becoming a key channel to reach consumers as follower growth, once the gold standard for social media success, declines. The average number of shares for brands on TikTok increased 60% quarter over quarter in Q1, per Dash Social’s 2025 Social Media Trends report, showing a pivot toward private content distribution. At the same time, average monthly follower growth for brands on TikTok dropped 27% YoY. Our take: The rise of DMs as a preferred engagement channel signals a deeper shift in social media strategy—from public broadcasting to private conversation—that requires brands to prioritize intimacy to maintain trust and drive meaningful outcomes.

Time spent with social media is plateauing, but Gen Z and Gen Alpha are still platform-hopping. As Gen Zers steadily overtake millennials in terms of share, brands must understand the nuances of how each generation uses its platforms of choice.

After advertisers spent Q1 2025 reacting to the threat of tariffs, they shifted their focus back to the business of figuring out how social platforms’ automated offerings complement more established methods of investment.

This is the first installment of our annual “Brazil Ad Spending Benchmarks” series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.

This is the first installment of our “Brazil Ad Spending Benchmarks” series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.

This is the first installment of our “Brazil Ad Spending Benchmarks” series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.

This is the first installment of our “Brazil Ad Spending Benchmarks” series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.

The news: TikTok renewed its Lionel Messi-focused live broadcast deal with Major League Soccer (MLS) after a successful 2024 livestream, per a blog post. TikTok will partner with Apple TV to broadcast four select matches in the current MLS season, with a dedicated camera angle focused on Messi during each match. Our take: TikTok and Apple TV’s newest move is another bid to capitalize on a well-known athlete in a profitable genre, where advertising opportunities are plentiful and success is essentially guaranteed. Sports are one of the most reliable ad environments, offering scale, loyalty, and global reach.

YouTube is the No. 1 US media platform when it comes to time spent by US adult users, reaching 11.4 billion minutes per day in 2025.

The news: Reddit’s ad business is on a path of steady growth, with ad revenues expected to reach $1.8 billion this year and grow 29% to reach $2.5 billion in 2026, per a new WARC forecast. Brand participation on Reddit shows promising results: One organic brand post per week increases positive mentions by 3.5%. Our take: Though Reddit’s massive growth is partially attributed to its smaller reach, its ability to reach users that aren’t frequenting more popular platforms warrants investment, and a diversified approach combining Reddit’s unique community-driven base with larger platforms’ massive reach is key.

The news: Meta is experimenting with letting users sign up for Threads through Facebook, potentially attracting older users and further separating Threads’ identity from Instagram. Our take: Combining data from Facebook and Threads will give advertisers deeper insights and opportunities to optimize campaigns. Marketers can use this to tailor platform-specific campaigns or create unified cross-platform content to better resonate across demographics.

Social search is gaining ground. Roughly two-thirds of US consumers search on at least one social platform in ways that can influence every part of the consumer journey.

Social network user growth will be slow on a worldwide level, but 2025’s meager 2.9% increase will still equate to more than 115 million new users. Facebook remains in the lead in most countries and regions, even though its share of internet users is declining.

Despite high penetration of social networks among internet users in Asia-Pacific, population-wide adoption lags. As such, we expect 209.6 million new social media users in the region between 2025 and 2029.

A young, culturally influential, and economically powerful group, Black consumers are shaping digital trends through high engagement with streaming and social media while shaping retail with their distinct shopping preferences.

The news: Meta announced numerous updates to its messaging ad options, with a heavy focus on WhatsApp. Meta is expanding Ads Manager to include WhatsApp campaigns, centralizing multi-campaign management across its platforms. The feature allows businesses to upload subscriber lists to use Advantage+ to optimize ad budgets or manually choose messages for additional placements. Our take: The ongoing potential for divestiture could have significant implications for advertisers that rely on Meta’s ecosystem—but the new features will still make WhatsApp a more appealing option for those that haven’t considered it as a key ad channel.

Germany’s digital landscape is evolving fast, driven by shifting consumer behaviors, increasing ecommerce adoption, and changing media habits. Recent data reveals the trends shaping digital spending, retail sales, and more.

Online fashion sales are stable and growing slowly, but they lag wider ecommerce. Consumers are concerned about sustainability, but price is a bigger priority.

TikTok will see healthy user growth this year in the US, even as its future remains unclear. User time spent on the app is falling YoY, but it still leads other social networks. However, it’s facing more competition from Instagram and YouTube.

Latin America’s ad market will surpass $40 billion this year as it continues to defy economic uncertainty. Rebounds in Argentina and Chile, along with double-digit growth in retail and social media spending, will fuel momentum. Here are the latest trends you need to know.