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On today's podcast episode, we discuss what happens now that the actors strike is over, how the Super Bowl is fundamentally changing, whether live sports need new shorter content, what's next for WhatsApp, why people immigrate to the US, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our forecasting writer Ethan Cramer-Flood, forecasting analyst Zach Goldner, and director of forecasting Oscar Orozco.

Meta鈥檚 Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram dominate Colombia鈥檚 digital landscape, but they also serve as primary tools for traffickers to recruit, groom, and exploit minors, per Bloomberg. Putting platforms on notice: 52.3% of Colombian children live in monetary poverty, per UNICEF, increasing their vulnerability to exploitation.

Meta gained a strong hold over the US social media app rankings last year, with Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Facebook all boasting the highest numbers of downloads, according to Apptopia. Messaging app Telegram broke into the top 10 this year, as did relative newcomer BeReal.

Hispanic digital media usage rivals or exceeds that of the total population on most media platforms, especially Instagram and WhatsApp. Their strong online presence and enthusiasm for sharing product recommendations with friends make them both a target and an ally for advertisers.

We expect WhatsApp business revenues, excluding click-to-message ads, to surpass $1 billion worldwide in 2024 and to rise by 29.3% next year. Instagram has been building up DMs and Channels. While neither host ads, the focus on these two spaces indicates that Instagram is serious about the space. Marketers are also taking social messaging seriously.

I think the answer is, I mean, short of the E-marketer team advising the DOJ and FTC on all these major acquisitions ahead of time, I mean in all seriousness, you do need to have a little bit of the foresight of why an Instagram is acquired for the price that it commanded or WhatsApp going for a lot more than that.

Meta鈥檚 Mark Zuckerberg cited Brazil as especially engaged with WhatsApp, sending four times more voice messages on the service than any other country. Broadcast TV and online TV/streaming daily averages also led the region at 2:22 and 1:41, respectively.

Similar to Meta鈥檚 click-to-message ads鈥攚hich let users chat with a brand on Instagram, Messenger, or WhatsApp鈥擳ikTok is testing ads that let users start conversations with businesses in the US. It鈥檚 also testing ads that direct users to Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp to have those conversations. Brands are putting a small portion of budgets toward messaging-related ads.

Latin America鈥檚 digital revolution is marching full steam ahead, with consumers spending more than a third of their day online. As social commerce and retail media propel the region鈥檚 digital economy to new heights, the runway for growth remains long.鈥�

Meta is also looking to grow and further monetize WhatsApp, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg described as the company鈥檚 鈥渘ext chapter鈥� in an interview last year. In Meta鈥檚 most recent earnings call, Zuckerberg said WhatsApp鈥檚 number of daily active users and message sends in the US 鈥渒eeps gaining momentum.鈥� We expect WhatsApp to have 67.6 million US users in 2024, up 2.1% YoY.

Though Meta is losing US spend from Chinese advertisers, a forced divestiture of Instagram and WhatsApp would harm Meta鈥檚 core advertising-based business model. AI investment could offer Meta a hedge by leveraging new revenue streams and strategic positioning that doesn鈥檛 rely on personal data for targeted advertising. Despite those headwinds, Meta still dominates social.

Meta revenues up 16% YoY in Q1: The company started the year off on a positive note, but tariffs could foreshadow strife.

Social sharing aims to boost usage, yet without real-time info or buzz, it may struggle to stick