Social media and TV are the top channels that consumer packaged goods (CPG) consumers use to find new products, but in-store still plays an important role in product discovery. Meanwhile, Amazon and Walmart are fighting to capture share of CPG product searches, though in-store consumers are more likely to turn to Google for help.

On today's episode, we discuss what happens now that Montana has approved a ban on TikTok, what Amazon's AI chatbot might look like, why Meta got a record fine from the EU, what space advertising looks like, a Supreme Court ruling on an infamous internet law, how good humans are at multitasking, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman, analyst Evelyn Mitchell, and vice president of Briefings Stephanie Taglianetti.

TikTok's privacy debacle deepens: Internal documents reveal ByteDance employees have been sharing user data on internal platform Lark, undermining the company's claims of robust security measures and stirring fresh concerns about potential security risks and ties to China

Alibaba and JD.com, China’s other ecommerce giants, never gained substantial traction in the US, partly due to their lack of spending to acquire customers. US-based Wish spent heavily on digital ads and rode the pandemic-driven ecommerce boom to an IPO—but has since lost its way.

Step one: Make sure you have the right data, said Chris Penn, co-founder and chief data scientist at Trust Insights. Also important is bringing in an attribution model to ensure a complete view of which marketing efforts are moving the needle. Lastly, be careful who you partner with—they may not be giving you the full story.

We slashed our 2023 US ad revenue estimates for almost every social platform. For Snapchat (revised down by $505.2 million), TikTok (down $649.0 million), and Twitter (down $991.0 million), the cuts are significant. For Pinterest (down $31.5 million) and Reddit (down $40.9 million), the cuts are smaller but still impactful—$40.9 million is nearly 10% of Reddit’s annual revenues.

Gen Zers are flocking to emerging payment methods, but card-based options, led by debit cards, remain supreme. Payment providers must align offerings with Gen Z’s preferences now as their spending power grows.

The rise of shopping apps selling ultralow-cost goods from China is drawing more value-driven US consumers. But are their strategies sustainable over the long term?

The US isn’t the only country with serious talks of TikTok bans. Japan, the UK, Germany, and France are all countries with over 15 million TikTok users each that could be left with a lot of time on their hands if TikTok bans succeed.

With user penetration nearly complete and time spent starting to plateau or decline on many platforms, social networks have run out of easy paths to incremental budget among their advertisers.

One-fourth of creators said they go live to their followers via YouTube, making it the most popular livestreaming app ahead of TikTok (18.7%), Facebook (17.4%), and Instagram (14.0%), per an April 2023 survey by The Influencer Marketing Factory.

On today's episode, we discuss the implications of Twitter's new CEO choice, what Tucker Carlson moving his show to the platform means for advertisers, and what to make of Twitter alternative Bluesky. "In Other News," we talk about the effect AI will have on social media and what to expect from TikTok's US shopping platform. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Jasmine Enberg.

The 2023 upfront market will likely be the last one transacted primarily on Nielsen’s legacy currency. A shift from traditional TV to digital video advertising is the main factor driving this change.

Cross-border ecommerce is rising in popularity as US consumers look for value amid inflation. But growth has slowed from previous boom years.

Generative AI is poised to reshape the search advertising market. With a significant first-mover advantage, will Microsoft grow its share of search ad budgets? How can advertisers stay ahead of the curve?

On today's episode, we discuss Snapchat's first quarterly revenue decline since going public in 2017, what to make of the social platform's My AI chatbot, and how concerned we should be by Snapchat's inability to innovate (without being copied). "In Other News," we talk about TikTok ads bringing viewers back to bigger screens and what people are doing on different social media platforms. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Jasmine Enberg.

TikTok and generative AI have changed the brand marketing game more than any other development since the pivot to mobile, and social media marketers must adapt. Here are six takeaways from CMOs and marketing professionals on how to do just that.

Google turns to generative AI to give shoppers a helping hand: The search engine aims to simplify consumers’ purchase decisions by arming consumers with more information.

The grand final of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Liverpool, UK, on May 13. Attracting a Super Bowl-sized audience, tourists, and viewing parties, the competition’s global reach will provide marketers and retailers with a notable opportunity to drive brand awareness and sales.

Digital ad spending will increase slightly faster this year than in 2022, but the bump will be minimal. Total media ad spending growth will roughly hold steady. But there are parts of the world where spending is surging.