Curated Guide to Research
MediaPost's comprehensive guide to current research in the marketplace.
- Honestly conceived and professionally executed research is vastly more right than wrong, but nothing is perfect.
- LG Electronics has bought a more than 50% controlling stake in TV data research company Alphonso for nearly $80 million. Alphonso will continue to operate as an independent business under its current brand, the company says.
- Nearly 4 of every 10 media industry dollars spent on entertainment content this year will be earmarked for distribution on digital media, the narrowest gap in the 9 years the equity research team at securities firm UBS has been tracking it.
- What happens when a retailer's business model is completely upended, and they need to transform a marketing plan that once drove foot traffic into one that effectively drives digital customer journeys. Pandora Jewelry faced just that with only two months to Mother's Day, their biggest sales period. Their solution was a "full funnel" approach pivoting from a strategy that drove store traffic to one driving e-com. Pandora quickly shifted to a digital-only strategy.
- The bad news for U.S. network TV ad spending is it will fall again when Q4 2020 results are reported. The good news is 2021 will look good by comparison.
- Starkly divergent analyst outlooks for FuboTV have driven the stock up to $62, down to $24 and after today's Q4 preview, back up to nearly $30.
- FuboTV expects a 77%- 84% increase in Q4 revenue to $94-$98 million vs. 2019 and subscriber growth to 545,000 by year's end for 2020, up more than 72% vs. 2019. Its stock rose 17% in early morning Tuesday trading to $28.39 after the news.
- While it's no surprise that 2020 was a banner year for the CTV ad marketplace, a new year-end report from eMarketer projects it will only get better from here. The new report, "Q4 2020 Digital Video Trends," projects CTV programmatic display ad spending will expand more than half again in 2021, reaching nearly $7 billion this year, up from just $4.53 billion in 2020.
- Only a fraction of top media company executives -- both B2B and B2C -- are placing their bets on advertising growth in 2021, according to findings of a new report from consultants Long Hill Media and Media Advisory Partners, which interviewed 25 C-level execs at the end of 2020 to find out what their strategic priorities are for the new year.
- Deloitte describes technologies that can help retailers create bespoke customer experiences.
- The good news is that the number of consumer and business related complaints filed with the Data & Marketing Commission declined by more than half, according to its just-released 2019-20 annual report. The bad news is it took a pandemic to influence that.
- Racial sensitivity and brand safety were the focus of major changes in the ad industry in 2020, which will manifest in the ways consumers bond with brands in 2021.
- Growth will be driven primarily by traditional broadcasters' turning to streaming services to compete with online video giants, and 70% of streamed video sessions during the five-year period will occur on smartphones says Juniper Research.
- As much as the industry's focus on data has changed, Peter Sedlarcik says he remains focused on the role media plays in activating consumers on behalf of his clients' brands.
- Tom Hanks is the entertainment personality most apt to influence Caucasian Americans to wear masks or take a vaccine in order to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an interesting analysis we just received from The Q Scores Company (formerly Marketing Evaluations), which analyses the familiarity and popularity of various personalities and their propensity with American consumers.
- Saturday's NFL regular-season game posted 4.8 million "average minute" viewers on Amazon Prime Video and Twitch -- the highest ever for a streaming digital NFL game, based on estimated viewers per living-room streaming device, the NFL says. Amazon's Saturday game also included viewing on mobile apps from the NFL, 49ers and Cardinals apps, and Verizon Media mobile platforms. When including over-the-air TV stations in local markets, the game earned 5.9 million viewers.
- The overall OTT churn rate has declined a bit, but hovers at about 40%.
- The U.S. connected TV (CTV) advertising marketplace already rivals a major network daypart and is expanding fast, according to updated projections from eMarketer. And while ad revenues are expanding fast for CTV's "Big 3" -- Hulu, YouTube and Roku -- the dominant share and the fastest-growing segment will continue to be all others.
- As 2020 comes to an end, will next year return to a more balanced sense of reality? You know, one based on facts, not divisive demagoguery?
- Local ad agencies typically work with larger and more sophisticated buyers that historically place their money with brand-building media. In 2020, that changed.
- TV sales are up 19% so far for 2020 vs. the same period a year ago, and the average size of a new TV set is up to 51 inches, according to the NPD Group.
- The U.S. ad economy turned in its best month so far this year in November, expanding 11.5%. It was the fourth consecutive month of growth in the U.S. ad economy, which took a dive in March and continues to recede through July, before rebounding again in August.
- Total CTV advertising will soar 27% to $8.11 billion in 2020, according to eMarketer, up from $6.38 billion a year ago. YouTube will be the biggest individual platform at a gross total of $2.9 billion. But after content providers take their cut of ad revenue, the platform will net $1.5 billion -- up 32% from $1.14 billion a year ago.
- DNA information could fuel real-time email and web campaigns, judging by a Wharton study.
- "Core human values, which are formed during our late childhood/early adolescence, do not change," says company's founder.
- Streamers showed the largest TV impressions growth of all categories this year, while insurance brands accounted for four out of the top five most-seen brands, reports iSpot.tv.
- Before the election ended, news consumption was at a peak. Pew Research Center reported that 36% of U.S. adults followed election results almost constantly, with another 34% checking in fairly often. Cable news was the top platform this year to watch election results and boasted the most insatiable viewers. Fifty-one percent of individuals following cable news said they followed the election almost constantly. That viewership dropped precipitously after President-Elect Biden's acceptance speech.
- The study, from Magna, IPG Media Lab and Snap, attributes the improvement to the burgeoning supply of better quality short-form content. Also, agencies and advertisers are getting better at communicating in shorter ads.
- Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa drawing more interest for in-person activities (51%) than New Year's Eve (39%).
- Parler, the extreme right-wing micro-blogging app that surged in the days leading up to and following the election, already appears to be wearing out, according to a new report from Embee Mobile, which has been tracking the composition and usage of its user base via its proprietary panel of metered mobile users.
