Take heart, US retail salespeople: Despite premature calls to the contrary, it turns out the US will remain the most lucrative retail market in the world this year and for some years to come.

The number of monthly Instagram users in Western Europe will rise by 17.0% in 2020 to 132.8 million. That’s more than three times higher than the growth rate we had predicted before the pandemic (5.2%) and equates to 19.3 million new users from 2019.

Insider Intelligence and its eMarketer team generate roughly 1,500 forecasts on digital transformation topics every year. These estimates are mainly produced on an annual basis, with several of the highest-profile metrics reassessed one additional time during the year.

In this year’s “Key Digital Trends” report, we examine changes coming to the digital media and technology landscape in 2021—including legislation, privacy, entertainment, social media, and more—and why they matter to marketers.

It is unlikely that US adults will be doubling down on their investments anytime soon. Per July 2020 polling from consulting firm Phase5, 45% of US adults said that the pandemic has not created good investment opportunities.

The US programmatic digital display market started 2020 off strong, but everything changed in late March when the pandemic put many advertisers on pause. Freestar CEO Kurt Donnell joins eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Nicole Perrin to discuss the publisher monetization partner's experience of pandemic volatility and the K-shaped recovery of ad spending.

Athletic apparel seller Vuori is dipping its toes in a new advertising realm with its first-ever TV commercials—an opportunity to spotlight its high-in-demand product category, as many consumers are gravitating toward activewear amid the pandemic.

In 2020, Facebook’s worldwide user base will grow 8.7%, nearly double the rate we had forecast before the global pandemic began.

In 2020, Instagram’s total number of monthly users will hit 1.00 billion for the first time, thanks to a worldwide user growth rate more than double what we had predicted before the pandemic.

The pandemic has fueled greater social media usage worldwide and prompted revisions to our earlier forecasts. We now expect the total number of social network users to rise 8.1% in 2020, to 3.23 billion—equivalent to 80.7% of all internet users.

The pandemic has shifted the grocery landscape this year, accelerating digital groceries faster than we previously anticipated. Kroger—who’s digital investments over the years have helped the company navigate amid the pandemic—will see its ecommerce sales surpass $11 billion this year, growing over 79% in 2020.

This annual scorecard, weighted based on responses to a consumer survey, ranks the 25 largest US financial institutions by assets by their mobile banking capabilities. The report presents detailed benchmarking data on the availability of 42 mobile features, selected by analysts based on the features’ propensity to help financial institutions differentiate themselves from competitors.

Telemedicine users in the US will reach 41.67 million in 2020, representing a growth of 98.8% from a year prior, according to our latest estimates.

A majority share of consumers are now taking to marketplaces first when shopping online. According an August 2020 survey from ecommerce ad agency ChannelAdvisor conducted by Dynata, 53% of US adults said they began product searches at Amazon when planning to make a digital purchase.

Having a strong understanding of an email program’s return on investment (ROI) remains a competitive advantage. It might be surprising that given how great an ROI email can provide, many brands don’t actually have a good handle on how to measure its success or lack thereof.

When the UK government announced a nationwide lockdown for November, the impetus for retail holiday ecommerce shopping was ratcheted up another notch, given that Black Friday shopping falls within this period.

Sonika Malhotra, co-founder and global brand director of Love Beauty and Planet, speaks with eMarketer vice president of business development Marissa Coslov about the beauty brand’s marketing priorities, from building trust with its customers to making sustainability accessible.

The food and beverage category is seeing the biggest gains in retail ecommerce sales growth this year as more consumers have gotten comfortable shopping online amid the pandemic. Over the past few months, Kellogg’s has also experienced this digital growth and implemented ongoing efforts to adapt to the rapidly changing retail environment.

YouTube viewing is shifting to connected TV (CTV) screens, a behavioral change that could help make YouTube a powerful alternative for TV advertisers moving dollars to digital video.

Today marks a big milestone at Insider Intelligence: We launched our new platform, unifying our two brands (eMarketer and Business Insider Intelligence) into a single online experience and expanded our Financial Services coverage. We also just published a report that’s been long in the making--and it happens to be our very first under the new brand.