New metrics for Reels and Instagram Live: Facebook is providing a new set of metrics for Reels and Live as competition for influencer marketing budgets heats up.

Bargain hunters drive strong Q1: TJX and Ross Stores reported strong earnings last week as discount retailers prepare to rapidly expand their brick-and-mortar operations this year.

We forecast that this year, adults in China will spend an average of 3 hours, 16 minutes (3:16) per day on smartphone activities, which we define as excluding calls on the cellular network. Up 25 minutes, or 14.6%, from 2020, this total will vault China to first place in the world for that metric. The US will drop to No. 2, with adults there spending 3:10 on smartphones daily.

For some time now, consumers have been moving toward demanding more frictionless payment methods across online and offline channels. The social distancing and sanitizing practices brought on by the pandemic proved to be the push that encouraged many consumers to try proximity mobile payments (paying for goods using a mobile phone as a physical POS) for the first time. Ecommerce retailers, not to be outdone, are finding ways to improve their transactions as well.

On today's episode, we discuss why Uber is trying to be a one-stop shop and how DoorDash outperformed Uber during the pandemic. We then talk about The New York Times' Q1 subscriber and revenue performance, NBCUniversal's thoughts on regional sports, and what stood out at this year's NewFronts. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Eric Haggstrom.

The Series D round gives Figure a $3.2 billion valuation. The fintech is still awaiting the verdict for its Fintech Charter application, which, if successful, will likely push more crypto firms to apply.

HSBC won’t hop on the crypto train: The banking giant’s CEO cited the asset class’s volatility as reason to stay out—a decision that could complicate its customer acquisition efforts.

Mission Lane becomes a neobank: The fintech with a credit-building focus acquired finance platform Honeydue—giving it access to a product suite that includes bank accounts and debit cards.

Banking tech vendor Zeta eyes US market boost: The company plans to enhance its global footprint with proceeds from a $250 million round led by SoftBank—placing it in a strong position to make clients out of smaller banking players that are eager to upgrade their offerings.

Teladoc, Epic rank best in KLAS: The latest KLAS report throned Teladoc and Epic for having the widest range of telehealth capabilities on the market—and having dynamic range in digital health can pay off down the road.

The Quest for AI-powered clinical diagnostics: Quest Diagnostics partnered with AI-driven digital diagnostics company Paige—another sign of the ongoing digitization of the diagnostics market.

Spelling out the value of virtual care: The AMA released a framework to measure the value of virtual care—this could help health systems get a clearer idea of the return on their telehealth investments, but they still have patient and provider woes to deal with to reap its full ROI.

The new IoT specialized 5G modem will improve IoT functionality in mission critical applications and may ultimately accelerate IoT device adoption among various industries.

Travel's on the up: With US adults' demand for domestic travel on the rise, prices are following. But there are still a few ways for marketers to capture that demand among price-conscious travelers.