TikTok Shop drove $100 million in Black Friday sales: Efforts to introduce social commerce to users are working, but the ban looms large.

With divestiture unlikely, TikTok faces removal from US app stores, sparking uncertainty for creators, advertisers, and global regulation in an increasingly tense US-China standoff

Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and connected TV (CTV) are all competing for marketing spend. Without clear KPIs, marketers lack an understanding of—and the ability to communicate with leadership about—how campaigns are performing and where they should invest digital video marketing money.

Dr. Oz could be investigated for violating FTC influencer marketing guidelines: A consumer advocacy group triggered the investigation. We examine the complaints and explore what this scrutiny means for healthcare influencers.

Its errors show the dilemma of curbing misinformation while protecting users’ rights, especially as pressure mounts under new US leadership.

What to make of Australia’s murky social media ban: Social platforms will lose access to users under 16, prompting marketers to shift strategies.

The incoming Trump administration will indisputably affect the future of Big Tech. The breakup of Google, the forced sale or ban of TikTok, and the regulation of AI are all issues the president-elect will need to take a stance on.

This year, most buyer and sales growth will be driven by TikTok Shop, which will convert over 40% of TikTok users into buyers. Social commerce and retail media will converge as Amazon’s ad partnerships with the social platforms start to pack a punch.

Social media's new battleground: Messaging apps innovate with features like location-sharing and group chats to capture younger audiences.

Temu and Shein’s ad bidding war drove spending away from search: CPCs spiked after the two retailers claimed in-demand search ad space.

TikTok Shop gears up for busy holiday season in the US, UK: The platform expects hefty ecommerce and ad growth this year as shoppers get used to transacting on the app

As competition intensifies and consumers continue to seek value, retailers will need to double down on how to differentiate themselves and offer shoppers what they want, wherever they are.

Google and Meta landed slightly below expectations in Q3, allowing a collection of hungry competitors to inch ahead. But overall, the ad industry remains healthy. Sports events drove streaming and CTV to record gains, and retail media continues to be the sector’s fastest-growing ad channel.

Media and publishing has the highest TikTok engagement across six categories, with 317 shares per post and an engagement rate of 4.7%, according to June 2024 data from Dash Hudson.

With features like video and synced illustrations, Spotify seeks to rebrand as more than audio-only and tap into the growing audiobook market.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss the takeaways from Netflix’s record-breaking boxing event, the chances of TikTok dodging a US ban under a Trump presidency, the future of “roadblock marketing”, Perplexity’s new feature that lets you buy things directly within its search engine, the true story that inspired the 1992 film “A League Of Their Own”, and more. Tune in to the discussion with Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Director of Reports Editing Rahul Chadha, Senior Analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf, and Senior Director of Forecasting Oscar Orozco.

New mothers are increasingly digitally native. But their digital habits are defined more by their children’s life stage than by their own generational cohort.

TikTok’s US ad CPMs will rise 15.6% in Q1 2025, a bigger increase than CPMs on Meta, Snapchat, or YouTube, according to our forecast.

Not only are underbanked individuals using cash, but others are gravitating to the payment method for emergency protections and for budgeting reasons

Luxury brands are grappling with downturns in the US and China, the largest markets for personal luxury goods, and will have to seize opportunities for growth from new markets and product innovation.