Every week on eMarketer’s “Behind the Numbers” podcast, we take a few minutes to discuss some of the most intriguing headlines of the past seven days. This week, we're chatting about the the first GDPR fine, Facebook's data, and more.

"Time is money" has never had more meaning than it does today. The attention economy has become another challenge for advertisers—particularly on mobile devices where users have lower tolerances for attention-grabbing ads. But short attention spans may have met their match in playable ads, which embed games or puzzles into ad units.

Amid prevalent data breaches and growing consumer distrust over personal data, regulators are becoming more stringent on imposing fines for those who violate privacy laws.

Will the duopoly dominate in 2019? Will consumer privacy concerns challenge marketers’ efforts? This report explores these digital display trends and more.

In the latest episode of "Behind the Numbers," Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst at eMarketer, discusses the underlying reasons internet users pick different social networks, and how Snapchat fits in, both in the US and worldwide.

Instagram’s future is deeply intertwined with Facebook. Much of Instagram’s ad business growth is largely due to the fact that extending an ad buy is as easy as checking a box in Facebook Ad Manager. And with features like Instagram Stories becoming highly successful, there's pressure to continue delivering hit marketing concepts.

In the latest episode of eMarketer's "Behind the Numbers," analyst Debra Aho Williamson highlights some of her predictions for social media in 2019. What's in store for Facebook? What pitfalls must Instagram avoid? Will the stories format continue to win over users?

After Facebook’s tumultuous year, the future of social media is in question. In this report, we predict what’s in store for 2019.

Advertisers are investing in products that help them accurately identify the audiences they plan to target. In recent years, a few ID consortiums launched to give advertisers an audience identification alternative to the Facebook-Google duopoly.

In the latest episode of "Behind the Numbers," forecasters Monica Peart and Eric Haggstrom dig into eMarketer's latest estimates for global social network use, highlighting markets where players other than Facebook show noteworthy uptake.

How big is the audience for Facebook's video channel, Facebook Watch, and how has the social network's video strategy evolved? In the latest episode of "Behind the Numbers," analysts Debra Aho Williamson and Paul Verna discuss Facebook's various video efforts and how they stack up against the competition.

In our new report, "Ten Key Digital Trends for 2019," we predict some hard times for Facebook—but not so hard that the Facebook-plus-Google duopoly will loosen its grip on digital ad revenues.

Facebook took a drubbing all year long—or did it? The social network's usage edged down in the US as teens migrated to other platforms (among them, Facebook unit Instagram) and consumers worried about privacy and other issues. But the company also rolled out waves of new products and scored huge revenue gains. Throughout the year, "Behind the Numbers" tracked Facebook's challenges, triumphs and evolving ambitions.

In the annual Digital Trends report, eMarketer predicts what will matter to marketers in 2019, in areas ranging from voice technology to digital video to the “ad tech tax.” It also notes some buzzed-about topics that won’t achieve trend status next year.

Facebook Watch users still make up a small percentage of total worldwide Facebook users. Can the video service compete with the likes of Youtube and Netflix?

eMarketer’s Lauren Fisher recently spoke with Lorne Brown, CEO of Operative about how TV businesses are looking at programmatic as a way to win some digital ad dollars from the Facebook-Google duopoly.

Social behaviors are shifting to stories. Advertisers want to be where users are, but how can they create effective ad campaigns that drive results? We spoke with executives at Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to get the secrets to story advertising success.

In the latest episode of "Behind the Numbers," the first in a two-part series, eMarketer demographics specialists Mark Dolliver and Jennifer Pearson discuss kids and screens—and how parents approach the mix.

Social commerce has reinvented itself many times over but has yet to prove itself as a solid sales tactic. Next year, the version that has been evolving during 2018 could finally take hold.

Despite all of the controversy surrounding Facebook, marketers are not leaving the platform. In fact, the number of US marketers using Facebook continues to increase.