According to a recent survey of marketers conducted by the DMA, two out of five businesses (41%) are currently recruiting for data or marketing roles. Among those who said they are offering job opportunities in these fields, 45% work for a large business, 29% for a medium-sized enterprise and 25% for either a micro or a small company. Unfortunately, a similar proportion (45%) do not have any opportunities available for those keen to find new data or marketing roles. This is especially true for small businesses, which constitute 60% of the total number of organizations that are not currently recruiting …

For those readers who may not have the resources of big integrated media services or standalone social media agencies, social media planning platform Ripl had put together a "Social Media Playbook" for small business owners. It's a practical, step-by-step how-to guide of social media dos and don'ts -- from planning how many and which channels to use, to figuring out how to budget and even craft copy, ideas and images that will appeal to users of each platform.

One reason television series based on movies seldom work is because the stars from the theatrical movie don't ordinarily reprise their roles for the TV version. So viewers are often disappointed when the new actors don't measure up to the originals. Featuring secondary characters from the movies, portrayed by the same actors, in its first three Disney+ series is a smart move by Marvel. In this week's edition, I explain why Disney+'s Marvel series are so good (even when they're not).

A special edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer created for and released during this week's Cannes Lions festival reveals consumer trust in brands is becoming more crucial to every fact of their lives, including ones not traditionally associated with brand attributes. The study, which was fielded among 1,400 consumers in 14 markets between May 12 and June 2, indicates the COVID-19 pandemic, economic uncertainty, the environment, and overall societal issues are now intertwined with consumer expectations of brands.

The top 25 media companies now represent more than $427 billion -- two-thirds of all ad spending -- according to an analysis of company reports for 2020, compiled by GroupM's Business Intelligence unit. That's up from a 42% share of total ad spending just four years ago, illustrating just how much the ad industry is becoming consolidated in a a few very powerful media supplier hands. And while the Big 2 -- Google and Facebook -- dominate the supply, a number of China's biggest media companies (especially Aliababa and TikTok owner Bytedance) are growing fast.

Madison Avenue likes to wax nostalgic about a time when families gathered around the "electronic hearth" to watch prime-time TV shows together. While that may seem quaint, it's actually happening again, albeit with online video. According to a new report being presented at the Cannes Lions this week, two-thirds of people have watched YouTube on their TV set with other people in the same room.

This year, as the world is inching back to normal, COVID production schedules are delaying several pilots until later this summer (although I have seen a few). So, while I had planned to include my predictions of new series hits and misses in this report, that will have to wait until more pilots are available. In lieu of that, this week's report will focus exclusively on how to evaluate the success potential of new series pilots. In the 40 years or so I've been analyzing the television landscape, the benchmark of success for a new broadcast series has continually shifted, …

Both IPG Mediabrands' Magna and GroupM's Business Intelligence units have released new global and U.S. ad growth updates, reflecting marked improvements for 2021 vs. what they projected in their initial forecasts released in December 2020. While Zenith and Dentsu have yet to weigh in on 2021 revisions, expect them to shortly, and they will likely following the upward trend, too.

Both IPG Mediabrands' Magna and GroupM's Business Intelligence units have doubled their estimates for U.S. ad growth this year vs. what they estimated in March. Both agencies cited dramatic improvements in the economy following the stabilization of the COVID-19 pandemic, but 2021 has actually been a moving ad forecast target going back to early forecasts set by the Big 4 agency forecasting units in June 2020. If you eyeball the progression, expectations have been improving consistently since the agencies' year-end 2020 forecasts, and while both Dentsu and Zenith have yet to update their's, expect them to also be adjusted upward …

Roughly one in five U.S. TV ad dollars is now going to a CTV advertising unit, according to an update of the U.S. advertising marketplace released this week by GroupM's Business Intelligence team. While defining the category may be somewhat semantic to the TV and advertising industries, the report, the June 2021 mid-year update of GroupM's "This Year, Next Year" report on U.S. ad spending, includes various sub-groupings of "connected TV," OTT (over-the-top), AVOD (advertising-supported video-on-demand), etc. However, GroupM notes "it's all TV to the consumer," and suggests lumping all of it under a single category dubbed "CTV+."