On today's episode, we discuss where B2B marketing is headed and what some of the biggest challenges will be along the way. We then talk about our brand new influencer marketing spending forecast, what to make of TikTok Stories, and Instagram testing ads within its Shops tab. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analyst Jillian Ryan and senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Eric Haggstrom.

US retail mcommerce sales grew 41.4% during the pandemic year of 2020 and are set to double from this elevated base by 2025. This report looks at what’s driving this growth and how sellers should respond.

US influencer marketing spending will rise by 33.6% in 2021 to $3.69 billion. Our inaugural forecast shows that US marketers will allocate nearly $1 billion more to influencer marketing this year than they did in 2020, representing the strongest spending growth in the industry since 2019.

TikTok’s rapid rise during the pandemic has been well-documented, but until recently, its fate had been uncertain due to increasing government scrutiny in several countries.

This quarter, we are adding TikTok to our social media update series, which analyzes key developments for marketers from the major social platforms.

The explosion in vertical video is creating both opportunities and challenges for the Story format. Stories are evolving quickly on Instagram and remain a top venue for influencer activations. But Twitter’s decision to kill off Fleets shows they aren’t popular on all platforms.

Watch AR ecommerce at Snapchat's quarterly earnings: The company is sure to give more details on its push to make AR shopping a bigger part of its platform, especially after announcing two major partnerships earlier this week.

Stories are hardly a new social media format—they are nearly 8 years old on Snapchat and almost 5 on Instagram. But they are still heavily used for social media marketing, even as short-video platforms like TikTok have taken off.

Influencer marketing spending in the US is set to grow more than 30% this year and surpass a key milestone. According to our inaugural forecast on US influencer marketing spending, the category will exceed $3 billion in 2021 and will surpass $4 billion next year.

For the first time, we have published our TikTok user forecast for Mexico, one of the hardest-hit countries by the pandemic. As people there stayed home more in 2020, many turned to the internet for entertainment, and the number of monthly TikTok users surged 222.5% year over year, according to our estimates.

Creator economy crescendo: Amazon is quickly building out areas of its business that center on influencers, as the walls between social media and ecommerce erode and creators' roles in those spaces start to blend together.

On today's episode, we discuss what the most interesting areas of Amazon's business are, what longer videos mean for TikTok, why marketers should focus on Clubhouse and/or podcasts, why one company is bringing TV ads to console games, where Walmart beats Amazon, when we can expect to enjoy space tourism, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer director of forecasting Cindy Liu, forecasting analyst Peter Vahle and analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch.

The pandemic was disastrous for many retailers; we estimate that total retail sales worldwide plunged 2.8% in 2020. Though, while many physical stores were shuttered, digital retail sales soared by over 25% in a single year.

Attack of the clones: Now that most major social platforms have a TikTok-like feature, each is exploring different ways to use short-form video to further their longer-term goals.

On today's episode, we discuss what Google delaying getting rid of third-party cookies means for everyone, whether people will want to listen to audio on Facebook, what to make of TikTok's new mini apps called Jumps, Google's EU ad tech antitrust case, if moviegoing is making a return, what if time didn't exist, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior analysts Audrey Schomer and Sara M. Watson and analyst at Insider Intelligence Nina Goetzen.

Livestreaming was an existing trend that gained newfound relevance during the pandemic. Over the past few months, nearly all of the major US social networks have expanded their services and introduced new livestreaming opportunities, many of which are aimed at boosting commerce on the platforms.

NTWRK pushes live shopping in the US: The livestream-centric mobile marketplace is competing with giants like Amazon and Facebook as US companies emulate China and struggle to succeed in the fledgeling livestreaming ecommerce space.

Social commerce is rising rapidly worldwide. But to what extent can the US market mirror that of China, the world leader in social commerce?

On today's episode, we discuss Twitter's post-election malaise, Reddit's growth engine, and LinkedIn's and Pinterest's pandemic pivots. We then talk about Nextdoor's ceiling, TikTok being allowed to stay in the US, and the implications of young creator burnout. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Debra Aho Williamson.

BuzzFeed will pay up to $10K to creators: The program will award prizes for top-performing content. Though it will only last through the summer, it's likely a pilot program or a precursor to a more social BuzzFeed Community hub.