Worsening economic conditions will take their toll on Latin America’s digital ad market this year. Despite gains of 12.7%, digital ad spending will fail to outpace the rate of inflation for the first time since we began tracking the region in 2011. Here are our latest forecasts.

TikTok promotes learning and automation at product summit: Simplicity is a big buzzword for TikTok this year, with automation at the heart of simplifying the ad creative process.

D2C ecommerce will continue to grow at above-average rates. But that growth will be driven by established brands selling directly—not digitally native brands.

Both companies are fighting to grab a larger share of digital ad spending growth.

The battle against TikTok took center stage at this week’s NewFronts, as Meta, Snapchat, and YouTube unveiled new ad products tied to short-form video. While none of them can compete with TikTok’s lock on the youth market or the enormous amount of time its users spend on the app, these new ad products are an attempt to bring Reels, Spotlight, and Shorts into greater parity with TikTok’s ad formats.

TikTok is going all-in on in-app purchases; Meta is focused on shoppable ads; and YouTube hopes to gain a competitive advantage through its strong creator relationships. All of this is happening as we forecast US retail social commerce sales will grow nearly 30% this year to hit $68.92 billion

Ad spending is looking shaky for many of the legacy formats across digital and traditional. New channels have arrived, however, and there are bright spots. This year could be rough, but 2024 is looking better.