It's morning again in America, especially if you're on a digitally-connected device. An analysis of the first three weeks of the U.S. shutdown by Tapad shows that the 6am through 2pm time period has become the new prime-time as many Americans turn to their digital devices -- computers, tablets, smartphones and connected TVs (CTV) -- for work, school, or other activities they would otherwise be doing out of their homes.

Yearly spending growth on Google gradually slowed from 15% in January to 4% in March as advertisers slashed spending.

A flash report from ECI Media Management on the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on media price inflation -- make that deflation, for the most part -- shows the effects are generally downward, but not evenly distributed across regions. "In North America, we anticipate that all non-digital media will see large deflationary values," the report notes, adding, "The U.S., which dominates the overall North America position, started from a high position, giving it a lot further to fall if there is an economic downturn.

There are mixed signals about the underlying health of the ad marketplace -- both current and projected for the balance of the year. According to revised estimates released by eMarketer, the search advertising marketplace will contract 8.7% during the first half, and 14.8% during the second half, while the digital display advertising marketplace will recede 5.5% in the first half and 18.1% in the second half of the year.

Nielsen found that audiences identified as "heavy sports viewers" are finding other shows to watch, as indicated by their tweets.

Amazon's brand value rose 32% in the past year as the e-commerce giant experienced surging demand among homebound consumers during pandemic lockdowns.

Republicans are 31% more likely than Democrats to say they feel at least somewhat free and unrestricted.

The No. 1 use of ad budgets recouped from the cancellation of sports-related TV buys is returning it to the advertiser's bottom line. That's what 43% of advertisers and media-buying executives told the equity research team at Pivotal Research Group when it recently conducted a straw poll about TV sporting events cancellations.

While there have been volumes of research indicating consumers are feeling more anxious, worried, and depressed about their lives following the COVID-19 pandemic, it doesn't appear to be affecting how they respond to advertising, including how much they smile when being exposed to it. That's the finding of a global analysis of the mean score of smiles of all the ad campaigns it's been tracking using its patented facial coding technology pre- and post- the COVID-19 pandemic.

The net effect -- difference among those Americans saying they are using a medium more vs. those who say they are using it less -- indicates video streaming and live TV have benefitted the most from the stay-at-home effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. That's based on a Research Intelligencer analysis of data from Havas Media's recent COVID-19 media study.