Curated Guide to Research
MediaPost's comprehensive guide to current research in the marketplace.
- Brands that treat creators as strategic partners, not just media channels, are poised to reap the rewards.
- Hispanic talent remains significantly underrepresented, appearing in just 7% of top programs despite making up 20% of the U.S. population.
- The primary reason people cite for not paying? There's plenty of free news available.
- A notable portion of early shoppers report feeling the effect of trade-related price increases on their household budgets.
- Amazon's annual shopping event has now eclipsed two Black Fridays in terms of online revenue.
- Three-quarters of Gen Z parents and nearly half of millennials plan to use social platforms during their shopping journey.
- A majority of MLB viewers plan to tune into at least one of the All-Star events, with nearly 40% of Gen Z respondents saying they'll watch both.
- Deloitte predicts a spend of $570 per child, as families deploy a new kind of surgical frugality.
- Google scrapes profit from advertisers through heavy use of hidden search terms, as advertisers continue to see a decline in search query data.
- Only 44% of buyers say they frequently see marketing that feels relevant to their role or organization.
- Gross subscriber additions rose to 52 million in Q1 2025 - up from 50 million the previous year, according to Antenna. Those gross additions come from 34 streaming platforms.
- Nearly 60% of global marketers identified AI-driven campaign personalization and optimization as the most impactful trend shaping the industry this year.
- Just 36% of Americans subscribe to cable or satellite services, including 64% of those 65 and older.
- Choosing between low-priced or American-made products, 39% of shoppers mostly value affordability, a feature associated with imports.
- Netflix was on top of the leaderboard for the sixth year in a row, followed by ABC, Amazon Prime Video, CBS and Fox.
- Poorly constructed AI personas risk reinforcing assumptions or generating misleading narratives disconnected from genuine consumer needs.
- Amplified's study puts a price on media investments that fail to effectively capture consumer attention. Data showed low-performing campaigns would need an additional $198 billion annually, when measured in active attention and commercial impact, to match the highest-performing campaign categories.
- Marketing struggles when it tries to be a trend-setter. We can sell culture -- and sell it well -- but marketing can rarely if ever can create culture, and certainly not create it out of whole cloth.
- More than half of current AI users surveyed expressed interest in AI-driven TV features that help them find and watch the shows they love.
- In-theatre advertising, according to long-held research, has been a plus for marketers: a captive audience that cannot fast-forward or skip commercial content results in higher overall revenue.
- Sources with relatively balanced bipartisan use include The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the New York Post.
- Selzer reported a poll in the "Des Moines Register" that showed Donald Trump losing Iowa by 3%.
- The research data was released to coincide with International Women Drivers' Day on June 24.
- A paper published by Google Research and the University of Chicago outlines a theoretical and practical framework for how ad auctions could work in the age of generative AI. That AI will require processing power and electricity - lots of it.
- Snapchat users sent more than 2.5 billion voice notes during the first quarter of 2025.
- AI is being hyped as the magic tool to give SMBs a lift in competition, but a recent study of 750 small and medium-sized businesses suggests otherwise.
- Gen Z appears caught somewhere between optimism and anxiety, favoring indulgence, spontaneity and self-care as coping mechanisms.
- Research shows U.S. viewers watch an average of 24 hours of TV every week, with 66% of U.S. consumers watching TV "all or most of the time."
- Screen activities include streaming TV, work-related computer use and social media scrolling.
- Just 41% of people support brands actively promoting equality for LGBT individuals, down from 49% in 2021 and 44% in 2024.
