Curated Guide to Research
MediaPost's comprehensive guide to current research in the marketplace.
- More than half of mobile users will leave a website that takes more than three seconds to load.
- Kantar late Wednesday announced an integration with Google Ads Data Hub. The cloud-based solution enables advertisers to measure ad campaign performance on YouTube across all devices without the use of third-party cookies.
- GroupM's MediaCom unit turned in the best new business performance in what arguably was one of the most challenging years ever for the media services industry. With 344 account wins, MediaCom generated $137.8 million in new win revenue, and $121.7 million in net new revenues (after factoring for losses), according to consultant R3's 2020 "New Business League" report.
- Emails were sent more to Whites than to Blacks, Hispanics and Asians, Pew Research reports.
- NYU report also recommends amending, rather than repealing, Section 230.
- It took a global pandemic, but for the first time since the research team at FX Networks began tracking it, the number of original scripted series available to American viewers declined in 2020. The FX researchers estimate there were 493 original series in 2020, a 7.3% decline from the 532 available on broadcast, cable and online services in 2019, and the first time the number dropped since FX benchmarked so-called "Peak TV" in 2009 at 211 original scripted series.
- It's important, not just because it might mitigate risk, but because it will instigate conversations about what's appropriate.
- Facebook, Instagram and affiliated third-party sites affiliated sites and mobile apps take about 28 cents of every online ad dollar, per a WARC Data analysis.
- Dentsu today released the last and by far most pessimistic update of the major agency holding company forecasts, estimating U.S. and worldwide ad spending fell 7.5% and 8.8%, respectively, in 2020, though those ad economies are projected to bounce back beginning this year. In terms of media, cinema and out-of-home were not-so-surprisingly the hardest hit during a global pandemic that kept many people away from public gathering places, though they also are projected to begin bouncing back this year.
- With Dentsu weighing in as the last -- and most pessimistic -- of the major agency holding company forecast updates, Madison Avenue's global consensus outlook has dropped to an average 6.2% decline for 2020, and a 7.3% increase in 2021. For the U.S. ad economy, the consensus outlook drops to -4.4% in 2020 and a 4.3% expansion in 2021.
- The once-in-decline vMVPD sector could become the dominant successor to traditional pay-TV - if the key players don't get too greedy.
- The number of advertising and marketing services providers certified as being diverse by the Association of National Advertisers has more than doubled to 212, according to an updated version of the ANA's "Certified Diverse Suppliers for Marketing and Advertising" report. The directory includes agencies and media, production, promotion, and research companies and was launched in July 2020 following an ANA report, "The Power of Supplier Diversity."
- Google and Facebook this week both warned that Apple's privacy changes in iOS 14 could impact data collection, as well as targeting and measurement of online ads.
- Most North American viewers say they'd rather use free, ad-supported streaming than subscribe to another paid service.
- "Whether a new or used model, loyalty matters," says Robert Passikoff, Brand Keys founder and president.
- A new Forrester report -- commissioned by the 4As and Google -- concludes that agency-client relationships remain strong, albeit with room for improvement.
- The major agency holding companies and/or management consultant parent companies made fewer and smaller acquisition deals in 2020 than they did in year's past, according to the just-released 2020 MarCom Agency Acquisitions report from Comvergence. While the total number of deals declined only 20% to 47 in 2020 from 51 in 2019, the drop in value and staff additions were considerably steeper, year-over-year.
- Average video time now exceeds two minutes, and total digital media time was up 15%, to 7 hours, 15 minutes.
- Twenty years ago, with very few exceptions, four broadcast networks were the only places you could find new original scripted series programming - and basically only six or seven months out of the year. This started to change in the late 1990s with the debuts of HBO's "Oz," "The Sopranos," and "Sex in the City," then changed for good in 2002 with the premiere of FX's "The Shield." In this week's edition, I examine how that all changed again with Netflix's 2013 launch of "House of Cards" and "Orange is the New Black," and why the shift toward original streaming series may mean the fall of ad-supported cable TV.
- How do you stand out when launching your first retail store in New York City, the fashion capital of North America? Add to that an extremely limited budget due to prior financial commitments, and that's what PUMA faced when opening its flagship store on Manhattan's bustling Fifth Avenue. The German sportswear company knew they needed to be strategic with how and who they reached in order to get the most from their investment. For that they executed a digital-out-of-home (DOOH) advertising campaign with geo-targeting technology. By programmatically serving ads in motion fixed on top of taxis and rideshare vehicles, the street-level campaign successfully leveraged dynamic messaging that directed consumers to PUMA's NYC grand opening.
- Two-thirds of all brands are budgeting more, and only a fourth are cutting staff, a study by the CMO Council finds.
- Total video advertising impressions rose 42%, reports Innovid.
- The U.S. advertising economy had its fifth consecutive month of expansion in December, rising 7.2% over December 2019, according to the final 2020 data generated by the U.S. Ad Market Tracker, a collaboration of MediaPost and Standard Media Index.
- A new report released as part of its campaign to convince Australian regulators not to impose a new law giving news media negotiating rights with Google, provides a glimpse inside the overall impact the company has on national economies. The "2020 Economic Impact Report" shows Google's total impact on Australia's economy totaled $53 billion last year, including $39 billions to businesses (mostly from search ads) and $14 billion to consumers Down Under.
- Should social media and search engines lean on AI to determine whether news informs or misinforms? Research from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute suggests AI can help readers make better judgements to correctly identify fake news, but only on breaking stories and when the reader has not yet formed an opinion.
- The data shared Thursday by Analyst Aaron Kessler marks the beginning of challenges that advertisers will face this year -- not only as the U.S. tries to recover from a year-long battle with a pandemic that is not subsiding, but to straddle the guidance under a new U.S. president as he tries to put people back to work during record-high unemployment rates.
- The mobile apps marketplace surpassed $100 billion for the first time, according to estimates released this week by Trading Platforms.
- The second round of the four divisional games was down 7% to a Nielsen-measured 30.6 million in the live program-plus-same-day time-shifted metric.
- The Ford F-Series is the most popular vehicle among car owners in 18 out of 50 states.
- Following one of the worst recessions recorded by the U.S. marketing industry, advertising and marketing spending are projected to expand 10.2% this year to $374.2 billion, according to estimates released today by Winterberry Group. That nonetheless represents a 1.3% declined from 2019, the previous year of U.S. marketing budget expansion.
