Dive Brief:

• Twitter’s dismal Q2 earnings report prompted eMarketer to reduce its estimate for the social media platform’s user growth this year from 8% to only 2%.
• The new forecast says that by the end of 2016, 52.2 million people will access Twitter at least once a month.
• eMarketer also adjusted its growth forecast through 2020 to reflect the current state of Twitter, predicting that the platform will lag behind growth of social network usage overall.

Dive Insight:

Just when things were looking up for Twitter, it all comes crashing back down. 

Weak user growth and poor ad revenue figures have plagued the social platform since Jack Dorsey came back as CEO to turn around the company. 

“Twitter continues to struggle with growing its user base because new users often find the product unwieldy and difficult to navigate, which makes it challenging to find long-term value in being an active user,” said eMarketer forecasting analyst Oscar Orozco. “Also, new product initiatives have had little impact in attracting new users.”

Twitter has been active in trying out new things to reinvigorate its product. Some of Twitter’s most recent initiatives include Promoted Stickers, opening Moments to brands and influencers to curate tweets, and a new Instant Unlock Card ad format.

But it looks like Twitter's real litmus test is its move into live streaming video. Seen by some as a proverbial Hail Mary, Twitter has struck upcoming deals with professional sports organizations to live stream games and original content on the platform, headlined by a deal to stream 10 NFL Thursday Night Football games. How people react to Twitter's live streaming video presence could be a major determining factor in the company's future.

Twitter’s Q2 earnings report fell short of Wall Street expectations and caused an immediate 11% drop in its share price.