Every week on eMarketer’s “Behind the Numbers” podcast, we take a few minutes to discuss some of the most intriguing headlines over the past seven days. This week, we’re talking about Twitter and Facebook’s day on Capitol Hill, plus the brouhaha over Nike’s new ad, an Instagram bid to get users buying, and more.

Google might leave Bing and Yahoo in the dust for visits, but the popular search engine has been losing some shine as the go-to platform for product search. A number of consumer surveys have shown that more US digital shoppers now start their searches on Amazon.

A few particular categories are most susceptible to new regulations, like behavioral targeting.

Many companies now use big data to optimize marketing efforts, but what about broader company initiatives? eMarketer explores how some firms are using marketing data to power product and merchandising efforts.

Web browsers, Facebook and the GDPR have each done their part to make third-party data less appealing.

Quorum mined statements from members of Congress over the past decade and found that they talk more about technology than any other sector of the economy.

Mike Sands, co-founder and CEO of Signal, discusses how companies use marketing data to modify their merchandising efforts, and why they need to pay extra close attention to Amazon.

Andreas Reiffen, founder and CEO of Crealytics, discusses how fashion retailers are using marketing data to efficiently identify trends and adjust their production efforts accordingly.

Wes MacLaggan, senior vice president of marketing at Marin Software, discusses why marketers need to keep mining search and other types of data to stay competitive.

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, some of the topics we’re talking about include Google’s expected return to China, plus a new kind of tutor.

Google's Kishore Kanakamedala explains Store Sales Direct, a product that helps advertisers see if their digital campaigns drove store purchases.

The Guardian’s ad-buying test shows that domain spoofing is rampant for video inventory, but not display.

YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, responding to marketers’ alarm over brand safety concerns, are ramping up efforts to block offensive content and prove they can be transparent about the process. Here’s how it’s working.

Michael Zimbalist, chief strategy and innovation officer at the Philadelphia Media Network, discusses the changing relationship between publishers and the internet's biggest behemoths.

Growing numbers of internet users in France and Germany now watch digital video, stream music and play games online. Younger people are leading this digital charge, while many older residents are more loyal to traditional media.

With smartphones ubiquitous, marketers have new ways of linking online advertising with offline actions. This enhanced online-to-offline (O2O) view exposes a broader swath of the path to purchase and more accurately reveals advertising effectiveness.

All the social stats you need to know for 2018 and beyond. Bookmark this StatPack page to keep these key estimates handy throughout the year.

Digital video spending is growing on both ad-supported and subscription-based platforms, while TV ad spending will decrease for the first time since the Great Recession. Time spent on each of those mediums is following similar patterns.

Advertisers’ dollars continue to shift from traditional to digital channels at a fast pace, with mobile leading the charge. In 2018, mobile advertising alone is expected to surpass TV ad spending.