Lane Ellis

YouTube is a $15 billion-a-year business, Google reveals for the first time
For the first time in nearly 15 years YouTube has released its advertising revenue information, showing that the video platform annually accounted for some 10 percent of Google-parent Alphabet’s revenue, heftily topping Wall Street expectations, while Google Search accounted for $98.1 billion in 2019, the firm revealed. The Verge

By 2021, More than Half of Companies Will Use LinkedIn for Marketing
For the first time in its history, by 2021 the majority of U.S. marketers will use LinkedIn (client) for advertising, according to newly-released report data from eMarketer, which expects the Microsoft-owned professional social network to see a 49.6 percent marketer usage rate in 2020, up from 48.8 percent in 2019. eMarketer

Google Search Console launches new removals tool
Google has rolled out three sizable changes to its widely-used Search Console, including the ability to temporarily hide URLs, new filtering insights, and information on outdated content, the search giant recently announced. Search Engine Land

Instagram Is Adding a New Way to Find and Share Stories that Mention Your Profile
Instagram has launched an addition that allows brands to conveniently view all of their mentions in Instagram Stories, along with a slew of re-sharing options that bring digital marketers new brand insights, the Facebook-owned platform recently announced. Social Media Today

This New Facebook Tool Reveals How You Are Being Tracked Online
Social media giant Facebook has launched a tool for showing how users of the platform are being tracked through non-Facebook apps and websites, with its new Off-Facebook Activity utility offering additional tracking insight and opt-out options, the firm recently announced. Forbes

U.S. Advertising and Marketing Spend to Grow to Nearly $390 Billion in 2020
Marketing and advertising spending in the U.S. is set for strong growth during 2020, according to newly-released forecast data showing a high-point of nearly $390 billion, representing a 7.2 percent increase from 2019, while online ad spend is expected to grow even more, hitting 14.5 percent, the report from Winterberry Group notes. Adweek

Google: Webpages with Featured Snippets Won’t Appear Twice on Page 1
Brands worldwide with Google featured snippets in search results pages will no longer have a second similar entry in the SERPs, Google recently announced, with featured snippets henceforth counting as one of the 10 first-page results. Search Engine Journal

LinkedIn to Grow Faster than Expected
LinkedIn (client) is on pace to grow more rapidly than expected, with new forecast data predicting the professional social media platform will hit some 66.8 million active monthly users by 2022, and in 2020 it will see nearly $1.6 billion in advertising revenue, according to the forecast data. eMarketer

Ad-Supported Music Streaming is a Growing Opportunity for Advertisers
With some 77 percent of streaming music accounts being of the ad-supported free variety, and more than 500 billion on-demand music streams in the first half of 2019 alone, digital marketers are seeing the large audiences as a growing opportunity. MarketingCharts

Twitter Is Removing the Audience Insights Element from Twitter Analytics
Twitter has announced that it will do away with the current version of its Audience Insights portion of Twitter Analytics. On January 30 the platform will mark the end of the five year old follower data tool used by many digital marketers. Social Media Today

CCPA Is Here, But Many Companies Are Still Not Compliant
On January first the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) went into effect, however newly-released data shows that only 30 percent of firms were compliant as of November 2019, with some 18 percent expecting to be compliant by the beginning of 2020. eMarketer

B2B Sellers: Marketplaces Are Here — Are You Ready?
B2B buying and selling has changed alongside similar shifts that are being seen in consumer areas, and research firm Forrester takes a look at the new center of commerce that B2B marketplaces represent. Forrester

Facebook quietly acquired a startup to build a live-shopping feature
Facebook recently confirmed that it has acquired live-shopping startup Packagd, which will augment the social media giant’s Marketplace selling feature, and eventually offer new options for digital marketers. AdAge

Pinterest CMO on Marrying Aggressive Growth with the Company’s Brand Image
eMarketer takes a look at how Pinterest’s first chief marketing officer is tackling the unique challenges faced by the image-centric social platform, as it attempts to woo greater numbers of digital marketers as well as users. eMarketer