In what could be one of the greatest returns on advertising investment this year, Walt Disney Co. has spent $13.6 million on ads promoting this weekend's release of "Avengers: Endgame," the much anticipated culmination of a series of blockbuster Marvel film releases. Why is that such a significant ROAI? Because some already are speculating that it could set a new opening weekend box office record -- maybe even $1 billion in domestic and overseas receipts.

Ad spending by cannabis retailers In cities and states where marijuana has been legalized jumped 23% to $4.122 million in 2018, according to estimates released by WPP's Kantar unit. The biggest beneficiary is out-of-home media, which took an 84% share of all cannabis ad spending in 2018. Newspapers were the next biggest medium of choice, taking a 5.1% share of ad spending, followed by online display's 4.1% share. Among the biggest gainers by market were Las Angeles (+600%), Denver (150%), and Las Vegas (+100%).

"People" is the highest-indexing magazine among cannabis users, while "AARP: The Magazine" is dominant among people who use the hemp derivative CBD for health and wellness reasons. These are some of the media consumption indexes being published today by "Research Intelligencer" in recognition of 420 (or April 20, which is actually tomorrow, but we don't publish on Saturdays).

It's the most successful series on premium cable since "The Sopranos." Its eighth and final season, eagerly awaited by its legion of fans, just got underway. Of course, in today's splintered video world, more than half the country has never seen a single episode, and is wondering what all the fuss is about. In this week's edition, I examine one of the things that makes "Game of Thrones" so unique: its well-written female characters.

Out-of-home ad inventory for the premium billboard locations along Interstate 10 en route to the Coachella music festival in Indio, CA, this weekend jumped 31% vs. the rest of the year -- and 14.2% vs. April 2018 -- according to a unique data visualization created by digital, self-serve out-of-home media-buying platform AdQuick.

Overall use of social media by U.S. adults has remained essentially unchanged in 2019, even for Facebook, according to the most recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. The study shows a significant upward trajectory for Facebook's Instagram platform, and benchmarks some newer social platforms including Reddit and WhatsApp.

eMarketer's digital media statsmasters have lowered their user growth estimates for Snapchat, projecting that its U.S. monthly users will decline 2.8% to 77.5 million this year from 79.7 million in 2018. The revision represents a significant downgrade from eMarketer's previous projection in the third quarter of 2018, which estimated Snapchat's U.S. monthly user base would expand 6.6% to 90.4 million.

The headline of a story ("'Cord-Nevers' Approaching One Third Of U.S. Population") in the April 9 edition of "Research Intelligencer" incorrectly stated that so-called "cord-nevers" -- people who have never subscribed to a pay TV service -- was approaching one third of the U.S. population. The correct number is 12%. The original headline has been corrected.

The number of Americans deemed "cord-nevers" who have never subscribed to a traditional TV service grew 9% over the past two years to 31 million in 2019, according to estimates released today by MRI Simmons.

The next big battle for consumer time and pocketbooks may well emerge as one of the media industry's most competitive: streaming services. In recent weeks, Apple, Discovery and the BBC announced plans for new subscription services, and both Wall Street and Madison Avenue are eagerly awaiting details of the next big new player: Disney.