Welcome to Thoughts on the Market.

I'm Brian Nock, Equity Analyst covering the U.S. Internet Industry.

Along with my colleagues bringing you a variety of perspectives, I'll be talking about

key trends and themes for Internet stocks as the U.S. looks toward reopening.

It's Tuesday, March 23rd at 11 a.m. in New York.

Earlier this month, Morgan Stanley held its annual Technology, Media, and Telecom conference.

Something particularly notable to me since our conference last year was one of the last

big public events before coronavirus lockdowns began.

This year we naturally held the conference virtually, and although it was certainly a bit different

than being in person, it reminded me of how extensively the Internet became a lifeline

for many of us in the last year.

One has to wonder what the pandemic would have been like if we didn't have the Internet

to help us shop for groceries or keep up with the news.

If we weren't able to keep the kids occupied for hours with streaming video content or

online gaming, or how would we have stayed connected with friends, family, and loved ones

without social media.

The implications of this massive reliance on the Internet, and of course the implications

of reopening later this year is what I'd like to talk to you about today.

Coming out of the conference, these two notions seem to thread throughout many of my conversations

with corporates and clients with a few big themes standing out.

First, during the conference, multiple companies across the Internet space talked about an acceleration

in digital transformation.

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