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's strong earnings boost stock by 6%, owing to efficient cost-cutting measures, rebounding online ads, increased Reels engagement, and successful AI integrations.

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

What’s happening? Apple announced in June that iOS 17 would provide “even greater protections against trackers,” in a move that will affect links shared from Mail, Messages, and in Safari’s private browsing mode.

Snap has weaker Q2 but makes progress: The company posts a smaller loss, demonstrates a 14% increase in DAUs, and sees strides in innovation.

TikTok's new phase: The platform now supports text posts, further broadening its creative canvas beyond short-form videos.

Following three consecutive quarters of ad revenue losses, YouTube faces an urgent need to restore growth. This could present marketers using YouTube with opportunities to target audiences on both connected TVs and smartphones.

Retail media has transitioned from its 1.0 era, defined by on-site search and sponsored product ads, into the era of retail media 2.0, which consists of a mosaic of ads on-site, in-store, and across other media channels. “The opportunity gets much bigger, but realizing the opportunity also gets a lot more complex,” our analyst Andrew Lipsman said on “Behind the Numbers: Reimagining Retail.”

The US ad market grew for the first time in 11 months this May, according to Standard Media’s US Ad Market Tracker. Now the question is if expansion can continue. June and the start of July brought a host of ad updates that could help continued growth, including ad tools enhancements from Google and Microsoft, retail media opportunities from Roku and Uber, and more. Here’s a breakdown of what’s new.

On today's episode, we discuss the impact Threads will have on Twitter usage, how much of a revenue boost this could be for Meta, and what advertisers should be thinking about with the arrival of this new app. "In Other News," we talk about Snap's efforts to tempt creators and whether it's possible to actually prove that social media is bad for teens. Tune in to the discussion with our analysts Jasmine Enberg and Debra Aho Williamson.

Threads has staying power, but Meta must ensure that the novelty and intrigue don’t wear off before the network effects take hold. It’s already a formidable rival to Twitter, but it’s not a replacement, and Threads must find its identity outside of Instagram to become a viable platform for users and advertisers.

Threads engagement unspools: Despite a promising start, Meta's new app faces a dip, potentially dimming ad potential.

In Threads’ first week, 33.5% of app downloads came from India, followed by Brazil (22.5%) and the US (16.1%), according to data.ai.

This first-of-its-kind report compares and contrasts our US ad spending forecast with our US time spent with media forecast. It identifies unexpected incongruities between how marketers are spending ad dollars and where consumers are spending their time.

On today's episode, we discuss what to make of Meta's new Threads app, whether the internet is becoming more like TikTok, the argument against "click to cancel," ad-supported versus ad-free video streaming, how shipping works, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our forecasting writer Ethan Cramer-Flood and analysts Zach Goldner, and Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf.

Ad spend across digital channels has been mixed so far this year, with spend on social networks slowing and connected TV spend boosted by new ad-supported subscription tiers. Meanwhile, retail media is diversifying at a rapid rate as nonendemic retailers get in the game

Threads plans first updates: User interface complaints lead to changes that may make the new app appeal to Twitter power users.

We have upped our social user forecast since our last revision in December 2022. And next year, there will be nearly the same number of social users in the US as there are TV viewers, a historic audience shift. If there’s any medium that’s “dying,” it’s linear TV.