• by Michael McLaren , Op-Ed Contributor, October 29, 2020

Last week we looked at customer loyalty, acquisition costs, and in-app advertising. Now, less than a week from the U.S. election, we’ll review some interesting inflection points in intent data. 

As we near the final days of a blistering election cycle, “Social Media” is seeing an uptick.

Almost a year after Twitter banned political ads, Facebook announced it would ban all political advertising in the week prior to November 3rd.

One could speculate that a renewed interest in social media in the past week is a response to heavy political advertising winding down in the short-term.

Alternatively, news surrounding Facebook's and Twitter’s testimonies to the U.S. Senate, in addition to coverage of Facebook’s attempt to halt an NYU study on the platform’s political ads, could have led to an uptick.

While mired in seemingly never-ending controversy, social will continue to be a fundamental tool for marketers. 

“Addressable TV Advertising” is also seeing an uptick among brands, after a precipitous fall in mid-September. This could be due to increased prices for available scatter inventory, a result of brands fighting for media they were unwilling to commit to earlier in the year.

Political ad dollars will begin to scale back after the election, allowing for non-political advertising to command attention.

In addition to competitive pricing, addressable TV offers advertisers greater targeting and measurement options, two attributes that provide more control over wasted ad dollars.

And “YouTube” is seeing a slight increase among brands, as measured by Bombora. YouTube recently wiped its platform of accounts pushing conspiracy theories in an effort to curb disinformation.

The streaming platform also released new mobile app features.

These two advertiser-friendly measures are likely to garner trust from brands who may have been put off by some of the platform’s most heavily trafficked content.