The influencer landscape is more crowded than ever, even as creator funding dries up. Leveraging smaller influencers will help your brand focus a limited budget toward a targeted audience. “We’ve had sleeper hits [with] micro-influencers,” said Fernish CMO Evelyn Krasnow, speaking at eTail West 2023 in March. Finding the right influencers is “going to be trial and error,” said Krasnow. Here are tips for finding smaller influencers who can reach niche, targeted audiences.

Gen Zs are more likely to start their shopping journey on TikTok than Google: They’re also less likely to cut back on discretionary spending, despite inflation.

Short-form video is the hot topic of 2023 Newfronts: TikTok, Meta, and YouTube are all presenting as the dominant short-form app faces existential threats.

On today's episode, we discuss why Apple and Amazon will be the two most consequential advertising companies for the rest of the decade, the ceiling on their streaming ambitions, and how their tech and health investments stack up. "In Other News," we talk about whether TikTok has been able to reassure advertisers after its recent government hearing and the Federal Trade Commission outlining how companies should communicate their environmental claims. Tune in to the discussion with our director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman.

While social commerce is on the rise in the US, livestream commerce has yet to take off. In addition, advances in technology (like ChatGPT) may help jumpstart voice commerce adoption. Here’s what marketers need to know to take advantage of the increase in physical and digital shopping channels.

Social media ad spend declined in the second half of 2022, and the category will make up a shrinking slice of total digital ad spend in the US this year, according to our forecast. But brands still need a social media presence. That’s where AI and ChatGPT can help. Here are six uses for generative AI in organic social campaigns.

As Bing makes inroads into Google’s lead, it experiments with AI ads: Disney and Roku layoffs and pivots by Twitter and ByteDance dominated headlines this past week.

The threat of a TikTok ban is enough to make waves: ByteDance, Meta, and Chinese competitor Kuaishou are all taking steps to anticipate a ban.

TikTok has broken social media with its addictive short-form videos, according to The Economist. While “broken” may be a bit strong, our analyst Debra Aho Williamson agrees that TikTok has irrevocably changed the way we engage with social media, including how much time we spend on the platform.

YouTube’s ad business took a hit in the latter half of 2022, with revenues down year over year in both Q3 and Q4. The company has since hired a new CEO, hiked YouTube TV prices, and introduced podcasts to YouTube Music to try to reverse the downward trend.

On today's episode, we discuss the effect TikTok has had on social media, what time spent on the platform looks like, and the impact of its new screen time limit for children and teens. "In Other News," we talk about whether social apps are taking up a bigger or smaller share of Americans' time spent online and what Meta's AR and VR hardware road map looks like. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Debra Aho Williamson.

Pinterest tests integrating Shuffles content into the main app, starting with shopping: This move is part of a broader strategy to become a one-stop-shop for visual inspiration and online shopping. (This article was written with the assistance of ChatGPT.)

TikTok looks strong in Asia as it faces bans elsewhere: Countries including Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand fuel the app's growth in its home region.

If TikTok gets banned (and it’s a very big “if”), advertisers need to know where consumers will go. Instagram and YouTube would be likely beneficiaries, but OTT TV like Netflix could also see gains. Advertisers may even branch out to other categories entirely, like retail media. Here are five charts showing what could happen.

US ad spend dropped 8.0% YoY in February, according to a MediaPost analysis of Standard Media Index’s US Ad Market Tracker. That marks eight months of consecutive YoY decline as part of a trend that began in July 2022.

Gen Zers are ready to spend. The majority will be adults in 2023, meaning increased spending power. And they rely heavily on digital when making purchases: Gen Z will surpass Gen X in the number of US digital buyers by 2025, per our forecast.

Social platforms are gaining in search: More US consumers are researching products on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, which could bode ill for Amazon and Google.

TikTok will see 11.6% global user growth this year, according to our forecast. That’s about double Snapchat’s and Instagram’s expected growth. The ByteDance-owned app will boast more than 900 million monthly users this year—if it manages to stay in the US, its biggest country.

Chewed out on Capital Hill: TikTok CEO testimony fails to convince lawmakers, leaving platform's future in the US uncertain

TikTok sister app Douyin is a livestream behemoth in China, where nearly 40% of internet users also engage in livestream shopping, according to our forecast. But in the US, the format hasn’t caught on in the same way.