Mobile

A direct-to-consumer (D2C) strategy wasn’t top-of-mind when soda brand Olipop launched in 2017. In fact, during its first year of business, the brand didn’t even have a website—primarily relying on retail brick-and-mortar partnerships to drive sales. But last year, everything changed.

In yesterday's live podcast (broadcast on Clubhouse), we discussed the audio social network movement: the advantages, disadvantages, key players, and what marketers should consider. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analysts Debra Aho Williamson and Jeremy Goldman, and forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Peter Vahle.

Major changes are coming to how advertisers and others in the ecosystem can identify users across channels and devices. The loss of third-party cookies and changes to Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA)—rumored to roll out this month—will affect ad addressability, but also measurement and attribution. Advertisers are taking steps in response, including more emphasis on first-party data, data collaborations, and modeling-based approaches.

From late 2019 to early 2020, the hype surrounding a potential nationwide 5G rollout was difficult to ignore. Unfortunately, the pandemic, a recession, and the limited availability of 5G-enabled smartphones further delayed 5G from bursting into the mainstream. Although millions of Americans use 5G services already, hundreds of millions still do not. Heading into 2021, however, 5G is regaining its momentum.