Is social media dead? Not exactly. But it has become “less social and more media,” as Insider reported.

The Hollywood strikes are revealing the full power of creators. They’re accelerating the diversification of platforms and revenue streams, and they will lead to more TV-like content and creator-owned media. Here’s how marketers, social platforms, and media companies should respond.

Reels' next frontier: Instagram's strategic play against TikTok's and YouTube's video offerings, maximizing advertising opportunities.

B2B digital ad spending will continue to grow at a slower pace across key industries in 2023. More B2B buyers are millennials and Gen Zers, shifting ad buys from search to display, from Google to social media, and from desktop to mobile.

TikTok will beat Facebook in time spent in 2025, with US adults spending over 5.19 billion total minutes per day on the platform, while they will spend a total of 5.02 billion total minutes per day on Facebook, according to our forecast.

Key stat: About 98% of creators use Instagram feed posts, Instagram Stories, and Instagram Reels, putting the platform above TikTok, Facebook, and other popular social networks for creator use, according to Mavrck.

TikTok’s addictive videos add up to a huge amount of time spent on the platform. It’s already the No. 2 social app in daily minutes and will top the list by 2025.

Holiday retail sales will grow 4.5% to reach $1.317 trillion this year, according to our forecast. Retailers who want to carve out a share of that spend will need strong promotional strategies and a seamless digital-physical experience. It’s also not a bad idea to have a plan ready for when the returns start rolling in.

Of US Gen Zers on Threads, 40.1% downloaded the platform because it looked fun, while 38.7% wanted to try something new, according to our survey data.

Daily social network time is reaching a plateau, as the explosive growth in social video is approaching a saturation point. Even growth in time spent with TikTok is slowing, a sign that there’s a limit to how much social video people want to consume daily.

By 2027, there will be a combined 135.5 million Gen Z and millennial social network users in the US, over half of total US social network users, according to our forecast.

Our first-ever marketing and retail media survey explores the latest trends unfolding in Latin America, how the regional landscape will evolve, and the broader implications for ad buyers’ and retailers’ go-to-market strategies.

Gen Z’s entry into adulthood will be the main source of growth in US social media users over the next five years. While there are some parallels with millennials, this is a generation that has long been immersed in social media and has come up with its own rules to navigate it. They are self-aware, quick to adapt, and ready to push back on the standards set by their predecessors.

What were the three biggest ad-related takeaways from Meta’s stellar Q2 2023 earnings report? Reels’ revenues, AI ad products, and a return to ad growth in Europe.

With the rise of TikTok and all its copycats, there’s a lot to keep track of in terms of paid advertising. Creators frequent TikTok, Reels, Shorts, and Spotlight in some capacity, but the ad ops on each platform vary. Here’s a quick guide to what’s available on each platform.

Meta accounts for 19.5% of US digital ad spend, despite US adults spending only 7.6% of their time with digital media on the platform, according to our forecasts.

Meta brings generative AI to Instagram users: Popular instances of consumers using AI for amusement make the app the perfect testing ground.

Meta is one of the two most successful ad publishers in history (along with its duopoly rival, Google), but its ad dominance does not come in tandem with an equally dominant hold over consumers’ time. In fact, Meta’s share of ad revenues is surprisingly out of step with how much time people actually spend on its platforms, particularly when compared with competitors like YouTube and TikTok

Meta’s Q2 points to continued rebound: An 11% revenue increase shows that new products and advertising offerings are helping right the ship.

The greatest amount of growth will come from Gen Zers as they enter adulthood, but millennials are still a force to be reckoned with due to the sheer size of their user base.