It’s an unusual time, to say the least. But Americans are reacting to the coronavirus pandemic and resulting stay-at-home orders partially by retreating to a number of familiar activities, including hanging out with other household members and spending time on hobbies. The need to stay occupied and entertained at home has led to a boom in sectors like video gaming—but also lower-tech crafts, toys and games.

As shelter-at-home and quarantine measures keep consumers in China at home, brands ramped up their efforts to meet consumers' high expectations for digital services by offering free online tools and courses, streaming live events and adopting new ecommerce strategies.

Brands are pulling or pausing their ad spending as the COVID-19 crisis puts a strain on their businesses, but new research shows that consumers may not want them to stop advertising altogether.

Some consumers are refraining from buying items they might have been eyeing before as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, particularly big-ticket purchases. According to March 2020 GlobalWebIndex data, nearly a third of US internet users ages 16 to 64 have delayed booking any vacations.

As the 2020 presidential race continues, some candidates are turning to social media influencers to spread their messages and garner support for their campaigns. It was reported that former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg recently partnered with popular Instagram accounts to create meme content for promoting his candidacy, called the Meme 2020 project.

eMarketer principal analyst Karin von Abrams and GlobalWebIndex (GWI) chief research officer Jason Mander discuss eMarketer’s ninth annual Global Media Intelligence report, a comprehensive review of traditional and digital media usage in 41 countries, based on GWI data. Focus areas include the growth of digital video, the shifting device landscape and the latest on voice assistants and smart-home devices.

eMarketer, in collaboration with Starcom Worldwide and GlobalWebIndex, released its annual Global Media Intelligence Report on key digital trends worldwide this week.