TikTok’s social commerce features are not as robust as Instagram's or Pinterest's, but the popular short-form video app has been slowly adding shopping ads while integrating creators along the way.

More time spent at home during the pandemic means more time being spent on social media. But not all social platforms are benefitting in the same way. In our latest forecast on time spent with media in the US, we expect adult social network users to log an average of 1 hour, 22 minutes (1:22) per day in 2020, up nearly 7 minutes over last year.

In Japan, both TV and digital time spent will accelerate more than expected in 2020 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting semi-lockdowns. However, the postponement of the Summer Olympics will limit the increase.

With in-person interactions ground to a halt, consumers in countries affected by the coronavirus pandemic are turning to live video to stay connected.

A day after launching in Ulta Beauty stores, foot care brand Barefoot Scientist received unfortunate but inevitable news: Ulta's locations would have to close due to the pandemic. For the relatively new company, it was disheartening that consumers wouldn’t be able to test its products in-store. But like other brands coping with the pandemic, Barefoot Scientist has learned to adapt and focus on the present.

When US advertisers pulled back spending dramatically in March, one of the earliest noticeable effects on the display ad market was falling CPMs. At the same time as marketers were lowering their demand for ads—either to take spending cuts as savings or merely pause and rework their messaging—consumers were spending more time on social and traditional media properties, increasing the supply of impressions. A decline in prices was the natural outcome.

Social media stories are growing in importance for consumers and marketers. Here’s how businesses can make the most of stories for organic marketing, influencer marketing and paid advertising.

Facebook had a decent Q1, all things considered. Ad revenues rose 17% year over year, reaching $17.44 billion, and user growth was especially strong. There are now nearly 3 billion people using Facebook’s family of apps on a monthly basis worldwide.

Fallout caused by the spread of the coronavirus—including travel restrictions, business closures and event cancellations—has taken its toll on the influencer marketing industry. Social distancing and fewer collaborations with brands have made it difficult for social media creators to produce regular content, causing some to shift focus.

Social media advertising will remain vulnerable in Q2 and possibly longer. CPMs will stay low, spending cuts will persist, and ad creative will be tricky to get right.

Snap Inc. reported strong gains in both users and revenues in its Q1 2020 earnings on Tuesday, despite growing concerns about the impact of the coronavirus on worldwide ad budgets. Here are three takeaways for advertisers.

Over the past few weeks, retailers have closed their stores indefinitely as the coronavirus continues to spread in the US. Many brands, like athletic apparel seller Vuori, have shifted their focus to ecommerce and social media channels to stay connected to customers. We recently spoke with Vuori's founder, Joe Kudla, about his company's direct-to-consumer (D2C) beginnings, as well as its ongoing efforts during the pandemic.

As with every other aspect of our lives, COVID-19 is impacting social media usage and advertising. Some of those changes, along with other important ad product launches, will continue to affect advertisers once the pandemic ends.

Mobile ad spending in the US was up 23.0% last year, we estimate, reaching $87.30 billion. That translated to just under two-thirds of all digital ad spending in the country.

Most influencers consider brand awareness to be their primary role when collaborating with marketers. But in the past year, social networks like Instagram have slowly begun opening commerce features to creators, indicating that influencer marketing could soon play a larger part in driving purchases on social media.

The COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to mitigate it are wreaking havoc on the economy. How will advertisers respond? We looked back at our coverage of the industry during the Great Recession of 2007-2009 for historical perspective and precedents.

The influx of political content and ad dollars for the upcoming US presidential election will inevitably impact commercial advertisers on social media. Understanding the political ad cycle and consumer attitudes toward political content can help brands better reach their audiences.

Twitter’s user growth has been plateauing for years, as social media users gravitate toward newer platforms like Instagram and Snapchat. But among the countries included in our forecast for Twitter user growth, seven of the top 10 are in Asia-Pacific—a regional trend also evident with Facebook and to some extent, Instagram.

Instagram has been working on several initiatives to enable commerce directly within the app. Last year, it made big moves that bring creators closer to that process.

The media’s obsession with Gen Z and TikTok is ever-present, but whether or not penetration levels are as high as the frenzy would indicate is debatable. Three charts paint a clearer picture of what usage and popularity currently looks like among Gen Zers.