The amount of violence and profanity present in "youth-rated" TV shows airing on broadcast TV networks during prime time has substantially increased over the past decade, according to the latest edition of an ongoing tracking study released today by advocacy group Parents Television Council. The research, which analyzed all TV-PG rated programming airing during major Nielsen ratings sweeps periods, found an average of 28% more violence and 44% more profanity present during the 2017-18 season vs. the 2007-08 seasons.

In light of TiVo's launch today of an ad-supported streaming service, Research Intelligencer is republishing a study conducted by OpenX and The Harris Poll examining U.S. OTT consumers, including their elasticity for various business models. The study not surprisingly found that many OTT consumers prefer SVOD services that contain no advertising, but the majority (54%) actually prefer ad-supported models, depending on the price point of the service.

Amazon continues to expand its share of the search advertising market, taking in nearly 13 cents of every dollar spent by search marketers in the U.S. this year, according to an updated forecast released today by eMarketer. "The U.S. search ad market overall will grow nearly 18% this year to reach $55.17 billion," eMarketer's statmasters write in the report, adding, "Google will obtain a 73.1% share, translating to $40.33 billion. But, while Google will remain the dominant player for the next several years, its share is dropping. By 2021, it will capture 70.5% of the market."

With so many program choices available during this current era of "peak TV," it often takes viewers longer than ever to even become aware of a new show, much less start watching it. While this increasingly is a big problem for ad-supported linear TV networks, the hit machine for streaming services functions very differently. In this week's edition, I analyze how viewers discover the next-new-OTT-thing, and what that portends for its most dominant player, Netflix.

Consumer concerns about their personal information falling into the wrong hands has increased dramatically over the past several years, especially in the U.S., and particularly among the youngest Americans. That's one of the key findings of a global survey of consumers conducted by GfK as part of its "Consumer Life Insights" study. Globally, personal data concerns climbed to 12th place this year from 13th place in 2016, the last time the study was conducted.

While live-plus-same day and/or live-plus-seven days of time-shifted viewing are the coin of network TV's advertising realm, Nielsen has published an analysis making the case for much longer windows of playback viewing -- upwards of 35 days.

While ad executives perceive that the equity of well-established brands is eroding fast, they seem mixed about what the best possible solutions are for turning that around. The No. 1 option cited by both advertiser and agency executives interviewed by Advertiser Perceptions in September for "Research Intelligencer" is to reposition the core proposition of legacy brands to "be more contemporary." Seventy-eight percent of ad execs cited that option and 39% ranked it No. 1, while 22% ranked it No. 2.

Publicis Media's Zenith unit has revised its global ad growth estimates for 2019 and 2020 downward for the second consecutive quarter. In its October 2019 outlook released today, Zenith took 2019's growth down to 4.4% from 4.6% in July and 4.7% in March.

Following earnings reports that major consumer goods marketers' earnings have been suffering due to the erosion of their brand equity with consumers -- especially among Millennials -- "Research Intelligencer" asked Advertiser Perceptions to conduct a series of interviews with advertisers and agencies to benchmark their perceptions, the causes for them, and potential solutions for dealing with the problem.

Technological changes remain among the most difficult for creative groups to adapt to, according to a survey of 400 advertising and marketing managers conducted by professional recruiting firm The Creative Group. Nearly half (46%) said it is either "challenging" or "very challenging" for them to adapt to new technology.