Curated Guide to Research
MediaPost's comprehensive guide to current research in the marketplace.
- Although AMC Networks' revenue declines were less than expected, analysts remained concerned about the long term. AMC's U.S. networks were down 17% to $462 million, due to ad and distribution revenue declines of 16% and 18%, respectively.
- Consumers' feelings about voting, trust in media and the election were analyzed in a poll by Lucid.
- While video entertainment ad spending will fall 0.2% this year in the 10 key markets analyzed in Zenith's report, it will perform significantly better than the 8.9% decline in overall ad spending projected for those markets this year.
- As part of the deal, Nielsen will give Nielsen Global Connect a license to brand its products and services with the Nielsen name and other Nielsen trademarks. In early 2021, the Global Connect business will be renamed NielsenIQ. The sale will allow Nielsen to significantly reduce debt.
- FTC economist Devesh Raval shows how fake online reviews can account for about half the higher average ratings for low-quality businesses on Google, compared with Yelp. He also analyzes ratings on Amazon, HomeAdvisor, and Facebook.
- Seven in 10 believe digital advertising will be adversely affected by these changes and will take a step backwards, according to a new study from Epsilon.
- A startling insight from Ipsos suggests many Americans won't accept the outcome of next week's election because they come from another planet: Fox News.
- Using a novel technique known as "intuitive research" capable of understanding what people feel vs. what they think of a brand -- or in this case, a candidate -- Kantar found that American voters overwhelmingly have more "positive" associations with Democratic challenger Joe Biden vs. "negative" ones for the incumbent presidential candidate.
- With the COVID-19 pandemic remaining the No. 1 issue influencing American voters, Democratic challenger Joe Biden continues to lead the incumbent heading into next week's presidential election, according to the last of Ipsos' 2020 election analyses before America votes.
- With the exception of Fox News Channel, ad sales for major cable news networks plummeted. And while overall cable news network ad revenues rose, it was entirely due to gains by Fox News Channel, while CNN and MSNBC fell 14% and 27%, respectively.
- Suzy, a research firm that works with companies including Microsoft, American Express, and Kraft Heinz, has unveiled a qualitative platform for video-based consumer interviews.
- Connected TV set-top-box devices continue to command the largest share of all worldwide streaming viewing, but internal, onscreen smart TV platforms are gaining. In Q3, smart TV platforms doubled their share of streaming viewing -- up to 14.8% from 7.7% vs. the same period a year ago.
- Following what could be the most uncertain and protracted network upfront ad sales season, Media Dynamics has released official estimates for the 2020-21 season, calculating that total prime-time ad sales fell 14.8% from what was bought in the 2019-20 upfront sales season. However, after factoring for about $2.87 billion in cancellations of 2019-20 upfront ad commitments, Media Dynamics notes that 2020-21's prime-time take is only down 2.0% -- so far.
- This week's edition focuses on some of the best original scripted series available to stream.
- A majority of Americans believe brands have an important role to play in politics -- including endorsing presidential and/or local candidates in the election -- especially Republicans.That's the finding from the latest wave of tracking studies conducted by Mindshare, the last to be done before the U.S. election next week.
- CarGurus found that 26% of those who bought a pickup truck during the pandemic had not planned to before.
- As we near the final days of a blistering election cycle, brand marketer interest in "social media" is piquing, suggesting that while mired in seemingly never-ending controversy, social will remain a fundamental tool for marketers.
- It's more than a month before the major agency holding company forecasters issue their 2020 year-end updates, but eMarketer today released revised projections for 2020 ad spending contraction for the major ad markets, as well as worldwide. All but one market -- China +0.3% -- is projected to decline.
- Suppose they held a boycott and nobody noticed? That might be the best way to describe the findings of a study indicating that a quarter of Google's advertisers boycotted it in the past. The study, part of a national poll of business professionals who say they advertise on Google and Facebook, was conducted by the Harris Poll.
- While the vast majority of advertisers have policies "requiring" or "requesting" media to use pre-approved measurements as the basis of their ad buys, many turn a blind eye when dealing with big digital media suppliers, especially Google and Facebook. While that's not necessarily a shocking finding, the research being released today by Advertiser Perceptions comes at a time when regulatory scrutiny is piquing for big digital media platforms, including some antitrust reviews for at least one of them: Google.
- Nielsen, which is poised to spin off its consumer marketing research division as a separate company in January, has already rebranded it. In preparation for the split, Nielsen's Global Consumer Business renamed itself NielsenIQ and created a distinctive new logo differentiating itself from the old school Nielsen one (see below), which for now remains the brand associated with the company's legacy media research business, Nielsen Global Media.
- Free shipping will be a major factor and 52% of consumers will do holiday shopping on Thanksgiving Day or later, NPD reports.
- Expect to see more retention marketing, including email, and higher investment in customer experience.
- Creative talent flooding into the marketplace will spur a new wave of entrepreneurs, establishing businesses that deliver agency and marketing services. Agencies like Dentsu, Havas, IPG, Omnicom, Publicis, and WPP will recover in 2021, but will not look the same, says Jay Pattisall, Forrester principal analyst. Virtual workplaces and an emphasis on digital execution point to combining technology and talent.
- Most U.S. ad agencies are happy with the number of advertising services they offer, but a slight majority feel there is room to add more. That's the finding of an analysis of 6,000U.S. ad agencies by digital marketing and media services agency Digital Third Coast. The study also found that most agencies currently offer more than three discrete advertising services to clients.
- Two-thirds of ad agency executives say they have fundamentally altered how they do business in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. That's the finding of a poll of 30 ad agency executives conducted recently by digital marketing and media agency Digital Third Coast. Not surprisingly, the No. 1 change cited was financial, followed by changing their existing services offering and/or adding new services.
- Automakers and dealers should continue to communicate safety protocols on their website, Facebook, Google My Business and other digital touchpoints.
- Amazon, Facebook and Google report earnings Oct. 29. Analysts are looking for these key signals to make a difference.
- Among regular TV sports viewers, 83% access illegal pirated streaming content at least once a week across the globe either paid-for or free, a recent report finds. The Middle East and North Africa have the highest rates of sports pirated content. "With more than half of all fans regularly watching sports content from pirate sources, the industry faces a pressing challenge to reduce illegal consumption and protect the value of sports rights," say the authors of the report.
- As difficult as the 2020 ad recession has been for the U.S., it's proven even more challenging for other major "Anglo" markets, especially Canada, Australia and the U.K. "Canada, which was hit hard in the second quarter (-47%), bounced back strongly to -10% in the third quarter," reads Standard Media Index's just published Anglo markets report.
