Articles by: "Rande Price, Research VP – DCN"

The spread of disinformation across social media has emerged as a critical threat to the role public information plays in a properly functioning democracy. This trend undermines consumer trust in media and many governments feel threatened by fake news and foreign intervention, especially during election times. A new report from Oxford Internet Institute, Challenging Truth and Trust: A Global Inventory of Organized Social Media Manipulation, analyzes the trend of organized media manipulation, and the growing capacities, strategies and resources that support this phenomenon.

The report documented that social media manipulation takes place in 48 countries, up from 28 countries last year. One reason for social media’s ability to so effectively spread misinformation the platforms ability to micro-target large groups of individuals with personalized messages. Social media employs “computational propaganda” ( the use of automation), algorithms and big-data analytics, to shape public discourse and public opinion

Additional findings include:

To combat the spread of misinformation, counter-narratives and fact checking portals are being created to support citizen awareness and engagement with the facts. However, some government agencies feel threatened with their countries’ response of censorship tools.
The research identifies evidence of political parties and candidates using automated scripts (bots) on social media during an election process in at least 30 countries.
Approximately one-fifth of the 48 countries use chat applications such as WhatsApp, Telegram and WeChat to spread disinformation campaigns.

While social media has opened doors that allow friends and families to connect and share information, the power of these platforms also led to the spread of misinformation and divisive media campaigns. This research offers an understanding of how social media platforms impact public discourse. It provides a background for policymakers to inquire about social platforms use of big data analytics and “black-box” algorithms. Importantly, the research should encourage all to question the ways in which social platforms are collecting, processing, and using personal data.

Industry-Research

GDPR triggers many European news sites to reassess their use of third-party content

September 4, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

News websites in Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the UK are placing considerably fewer cookies without user consent post the implementation of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). According to Reuters Institute’s (RISJ) new research, Changes in Third-Party Content on European News Websites after GDPR (July 2018), news sites now have 22% fewer third-party cookies than they did prior to GDPR. This study’s findings add to RISJ’s earlier report, Third-Party Web Content on EU News Sites: Potential Challenges and Paths to Privacy Improvement (April 2018). The April research showed news websites tend to have a higher volume of third-party content and cookies than other popular websites.

Websites often use third-party content for advertising and marketing purposes, for audience measurement, to optimize website design, to facilitate social media sharing, to recommend articles, and to host content such as videos. Many of these common third-party practices fall under the GDPR guidelines. The GDPR may require websites and third parties which collect user data to obtain user consent before processing the data collected.

Reuters Institute utilized the webXray software to identify close to 500 different companies and services associated with third-party content across 200 news sites.

Additional research findings:

News sites hosting third-party social media content, such as sharing buttons from Facebook or Twitter, dropped significantly, from 84% in April to 77% in July.
On average, the number of cookies from design optimization tools is down 27%, advertising and marketing cookies down 14%, and social media cookies down 9%.
Overall Facebook, and Amazon have the largest presence across the European news sites. Aside from Google, the overall reach of the 9 other companies (Facebook, Amazon, comScore, AppNexus, Oath, Rubicon Project, AdForm, The Trade Desk and Criteo) declined in July 2018 compared to April 2018.

The findings presented here reflect site activity prior to obtaining consent. Importantly, these changes suggest that some news organizations are responding to GDPR either by obtaining consent for third-party tracking or by curbing the use of outside cookies in general. The research suggests that news sites recognized the potential risks posed by third-party content and removed it or ensured affirmative opt-in from their users.

Industry-Research

Americans want platforms to be transparent about the content in their news feeds

August 24, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Americans recognize the tremendous power that internet companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter have over the news and information obtained on these platforms and they question the practice of filtered content. The Knight Foundation and Gallup examine consumer opinion on curated content in their new report, Major Internet Companies as News Editors. The research shows that consumers are more negative (54%) than positive (45%) about the idea of major internet companies targeting information to individual users based on their interests, internet search activity, and web browsing history.

Interestingly, younger respondents are slightly more positive about receiving targeted information (51%) compared to adults, ages 35 to 54 (46%) and adults 55+ (39%). However, across demographics, on thing is for certain: Consumers want full transparency. Nearly nine in 10 adults believe that internet companies should be transparent about their methods for delivering content and should publicly disclose the algorithms they use.

Additional findings include:

While three-quarters of Americans agree (“strongly or somewhat”) that major internet companies should get credit for connecting local communities, 85% have concerns with their inability to stop the spread of fake news. In addition, 69% agree (“strongly or somewhat”) that major internet companies are limiting Americans exposure to viewpoints different from their own.

Consumers recognize that the primary reason for internet companies to show personalized content is to monetize consumer usage of their platforms. More than seven in 10 say that the reason why major internet companies show certain news items to certain people is to increase the effectiveness of advertisements (79%) and to keep people interested so they regularly visit the website or use its app (74%). Both reasons revolve around revenue generation. Only one in 10 Americans (12%) believe that internet companies personalize information to help support a more informed society by connecting people to important news.

The research also finds that Americans want a standardized news feed for all users. In fact, 73% prefer that the major internet platforms show all people the same set of news and information. Only 22% of consumers prefer that the major internet companies target news and information based on people’s interests, past browsing or search history.

It cannot be denied that major internet companies now function as intermediaries between consumers and their news. According to Pew Research, about a quarter of all U.S. adults (26%) get news from two or more social media sites, up from 15% in 2013 and 18% in 2016. However, as consumers become increasingly reliant on these platforms for their news, they expect transparency about how the companies determine which news items appear in their news feeds.

Industry-Research

News publishers should tell more stories

August 8, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

The story format is a dominant force in social media because stories-style content facilitates user interaction, which drives engagement. The proof is in the numbers with close to a billion Snapchat, Instagram (and IGTV), WhatsApp (Status), Facebook and Messenger, and Google AMP Stories accounts create and watch Stories. According to a new INMA report, Stories Format: News Media’s Next Social Opportunity, the format proposes a shift in journalism and a new venture for news publishers.

Stories are a mobile-centric social media storytelling format. It’s about using multi-media (video, audio, text, photos, emojis, etc.) across multiple social platforms to tell your tale. Stories also differ from newsfeeds in that they:

stay posted for at least 24 hours.
project the personality of the reporter
serve as an overlay and not dependent on newsfeed algorithms
can offer interactivity
receive top placement on every social media app

News organizations can use the Stories format as an way to connect with a younger, mobile centric audience. In particular, the news media should look to Stories users as a special force to channel real-time, fresh content around breaking stories. In this experience, the user also controls the pace and the order in which they consume the Stories content. News publishers can experiment with Stories and participate in the lean-forward Stories experience.

The Story Principles

The INMA report identifies eight key principles (creates the Snapchat anagram) for the news media to use to create effective Stories:

Suspense and Engagement – build intrigue about your story. Think about developing Stories with multiple uploads throughout the day to build suspense and keep your audience engaged.

Native and Niche – create exclusive content for Stories, nothing repurposed.

Artistic flair – exhibit artistic expression in your Stories.

Personality – ensure your Story captures the reporters personability.

Consistency – make sure your story is update and consistent with what’s happening in the world. Stories live for at least an hour.

Hype – build excitement for your story. Use your Stories as teasers for longer pieces.

Arrange and Prepare – think about storyboarding your Stories to help tell the linear narrative.

Thumb – include interactivity and use the thumb for clicking and scrolling. Polls, voting, quizzes and others are great ways to interact with users.

Who’s Telling Stories?

BBC News, NBC, CNN, The New York Times, The Guardian, and Financial Times are all employing Stories as part of their news storytelling repertoire. Examples include NBC’s Snapchat news show “StayTuned” has 4 million subscribers. BBC News runs a Friday quiz on Instagram Stories, which questions the audience on recent news facts.

Stories offer a huge opportunity for audience growth and a clear path to user engagement. More features will be introduced, and new experiences will evolve (think Augmented Reality). Monetization must now be a focus and there is a need for a new type native ad experience.

Industry-Research

Consumers struggle to distinguish between news fact and opinion

August 1, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

News outlets must understand consumer issues in order to address the ongoing issues and impact of fake news and misinformation. In fact, trust in those who report the news matters in how information is interpreted according to a new study from the Pew Research Center. The research, Distinguishing between Factual and Opinion Statements in the News, examines American readers’ ability to correctly distinguish news statement as fact or opinion. Five news statements based on fact, five news statements based on opinion, and two ambiguous statements were included in the survey.

Fact or Fiction?

The findings show that approximately 72% of adults can correctly identify three or more factual statements and 78% can correctly identify three or opinion statements. Still, few adults can classify all five statements correctly. Importantly, nearly four-in-ten adults (39%), who trust information from national news organizations, correctly identify factual statements, compared with 18% of those who do not trust national news publishers.

Adults with higher political and high digital savviness (those who use digital devices and the internet regularly) are much more likely to know the difference between news statements of fact and opinion. Further, those with higher education are also more likely to classify factual and opinion statements correctly.

Affiliation and Attribution

The Pew research also investigates the impact of political affiliation on the ability to discern between factual news states and those of opinion. Republicans and Democrats alike are more likely to classify both factual and opinion statements as factual when they appeal to their side. For example, 89% of Democrats accurately identified the factual statement “President Barack Obama was born in the United States” compared to 63% of Republicans. In contrast, 37% Democrats incorrectly classified the opinion statement “Increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour is essential for the health of the U.S. economy” as factual, compared to 17% of Republicans.

In a second set of statements, Pew examines the impact of adding news outlet attribution (The New York Times, Fox News, and USA Today) to factual news and opinion statements. Overall, news outlet attribution has limited effect, with one exception: FOX News. Republicans were modestly more likely than Democrats to accurately classify factual statements when they were attributed to Fox News Channel. News outlets had no impact on Democrats or Republicans when it came to opinion statements.

It’s important for Americans to learn how to navigate media platforms and sort through news with an analytical lens to correctly identify between news facts from opinion. It’s also an opportunity for premium news outlets to offer prompts and clear points of distinction between news facts and opinion.

Industry-Research

Newsrooms need to step up their mobile game to satisfy the mobile majority

July 25, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Americans’ changing news habits have an incredible impact on how we function as an informed society. Mobile is now the most common way US adults get news, outperforming desktop or laptop computers according to a newly released study from the Pew Research Center. In fact, more U.S. adults report they get news on a mobile device (58%) than those who get news on a desktop or laptop computer (39%). Nearly all (96%) access news via the internet. The study is based on responses from over 5,000 adults from the Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel, a nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults.

Demographics

Not surprisingly, older adults, ages 65+, are more likely to get their news on desktop than on mobile (47% vs. 37%, respectively). While younger adults, ages 18-29, are more likely to get their news on mobile than desktop (71% vs. 32%, respectively). The research also shows men (60%) often get their news on mobile more than women (56%).
Interestingly, more nonwhite adults (61%) get their news on desktop versus white adults (56%). Partisanship also plays a role in mobile news use. Democrats (62%) are more-likely than Republicans (54%) to use mobile to access their news.
College degree users (66%) are more likely to get their news on mobile than those without a college degree (51%).

Content Creation & Delivery

It’s important for journalists and newsrooms to keep the mobile majority in mind. They must ensure that their work is accessible through mobile devices and create an optimal user experience for these news consumers. And given that almost every reporter is likely to have a phone in hand, news organizations should be working on their mobile journalism. “Mojo” focuses on teaching reporters to produce quality articles by just using their phones.

Undoubtedly, mobile offers a convenience for journalists and content consumers alike. And, given the newly minted mobile-majority, news sites need to hone their mobile skills inside and outside the newsroom.

Advertising | Uncategorized

Consumers want control to improve the relevance of online advertising

July 18, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Consumers who use ad blocking software are also more likely to say advertising is important to their purchasing behavior. Surprised? You might also be surprised to hear that—overall—consumers believe that digital advertising is improving. Unfortunately, there’s still a long way to go.

That said, today, one out of five adults report using an ad blocker all of the time according to Kantar Media ‘s DIMENSION 2018 research. And it’s not just younger adults using ad blockers. The proportion of adults 45 to 64 who block ads is almost at the same level as those aged 18-34s. It’s also not just heavy tech-savvy users blocking ads. Twenty-three percent of heavy users report always blocking advertising content compared to 21% of all connected adults. The Kantar research surveyed 1,000 Americans and 5,000 in Brazil, China, France and the U.K.

Importantly, attitudes toward advertising appear to be changing for the better. Nearly three-quarters of online adults feel that that “advertising is changing for the better, or not changing at all.” Unfortunately, consumers report that targeting practices are misaligned with a positive online advertising experience. Seventy-two percent of consumers say that “sometimes I see the same ad over and over again, it’s too repetitive.” Further, more than half of online consumers (56%) report to frequently seeing ads for products they’ve already purchased.

Control seems to be a key theme in online advertising, particularly in ensuring relevance. Approximately, 63% of those surveyed say that they would like more control over the ads they see online. Just over two-fifths (43%) report their willingness to share personal information for a more relevant advertising experience. Targeting as we know it today with third-party data streams and cookie collection is not the holy grail. There’s still a window of an opportunity to improve the online ad experience and engage users.

Consumers digital ad boycott should deliver a clear message that we need to improve the online advertising experience. The Kantar research indicates that while progress is being made in how online advertising is perceived, there’s a need to improve advertising creative, experiences, and relevance.

Advertising | Industry-Research | Perspectives

Trusted environments positively influence ads

July 11, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Media channels, more than ever before, need to develop consumer relationships throughout the funnel. To do this, they must focus on providing trustworthy content relevant to users as well as context relevant to digital advertisers. The fact is that not all content is equally trustworthy. Marketers who use reach and viewability as their key criteria need to factor trust into their media planning equation.

The new edition of Adtrust’s research, The Company You Keep , offers the latest findings about consumers’ trust in media and the impact of context on digital advertising. The study, based on 4,000 Australian adults, measures consumer trust in content and in advertising being carried by the medium. The study measures the influence of the environment on the advertising on it. The greater the trust in content, the greater the trust in ads, the greater the drive for purchase intent. Yes, environment matters.

The study measures the trust net score (TNS). This measures people’s distrust as well as their trust. The score subtracts the number of consumers who do not trust content (or ads) from the proportion that do trust. For example, if 45% of consumers trust radio content and 20% do not, the net trust score for radio content is 25%.

Among all media (online and off), newspapers earn the highest trust net score (TNS) for both content (48%) and ads (38%). Among digital media sites, news sites earn the highest TNS in both trust in content (34%) and trust in ads (23%). Social media sites earn the lowest TNS in both trust in content (-20%) and in trust in ads (-28%). Importantly, consumers’ trust in news media’s content and advertising has continued to increase over previous studies.

The study asks additional trust-oriented questions about Facebook. The social platform is distrusted more now than it was six months ago. In fact, more than half of all Australians (58%) report that they now trust Facebook less than last year. Further, only one in 10 Australian adults (14%) agree that “I trust the information provided in advertising on Facebook.”

The Adtrust research one again finds that trust of the advertising environment, the place where the ads appear, impacts advertising effectiveness and purchase intent. It reiterates the importance of marketers advertising in a clean environment with trusted publishers.

Industry-Research | Perspectives

Consumers expect brands to pressure social media companies to clean up their act

June 25, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Today’s consumers expect brands to navigate the social media landscape more responsibly. A new Edelman Trust Barometer study shows that consumers across nine countries expect brands and marketers to think about content and context and to boycott certain environments when purchasing media. Consumers are aware of the influence advertisers have in the marketplace, given their impact on revenue. Edelman’s research shows that people lack confidence in social media and look to brands to leverage their influence to act on social media problems such as fake news and data integrity

Environment clearly matters, and brands are accountable for their choices. Nearly half of all consumers globally agree it is a brand’s own fault if its advertising appears next to hate speech. They also feel that the points of view that near a brand’s advertising and marketing messages are an indication of that brand’s values and what it stands for.

Additional findings from Edelman ‘s review of social media in 9 countries includes:

Only 40% (34% in the U.S.) trust that social media platforms will address fake news and hate speech.
60% (61% in the U.S.) report that they do not trust social media platforms to behave responsibly with user data.
40% (38% in the U.S) say they have deleted at least one social media account in the past year because they did not trust the platform to treat personal information properly.
Nearly two-thirds (62% and 48% in the U.S.) said that they want government to play a stronger role in regulating social media.

Importantly, consumers want brands to apply pressure on social platforms to protect them from inappropriate use of content and misuse of personal data. Nearly seventy percent of consumrs agree that brands should pressure social media to do more about false information and fake news and protect users from offensive/harmful content and to ensure personal data is protected and used ethically.

Consumers are demanding transparency and privacy protection from social platforms. However, they have little trust in them to fix these problems. And they clearly value the efforts that brands make to influence these issues. This represents an important time and opportunity for brand marketers to step in, act and enforce on behalf of the consumer. This with help rebuild trust in the media marketplace as well as in the brands that do so.

Industry-Research

Finding a good read: Criteria to determine content value

June 13, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

With the plethora of media choices, how do consumers choose their content? There are several opinions as to how we determine if a piece of content is worthy of our attention. Clay Johnson, author of The Information Diet, advises people to include content from sources outside of their personal interests and opinions. Eli Pariser, chief executive of Upworthy, agrees that people need to get outs of their “filter bubble.”

However, most searches and social feeds are based on algorithms that select the information a user wants to see based on their user information (profile). In new research from the Knight Foundation, The Filter Map: Media and the Pursuit of Truth and Legitimacy, Deen Freelon introduces three criteria to help consumers determine which content will be most valuable to them.

The filter map criteria:

Agreeableness – aligning with your preexisting opinions with the content.
Truth value – determining whether a given message is true or false.
Legitimacy – when its genuinely safe to assume an opinion is considered acceptable.

Agreeableness

Generally, people seek content that fits their interests, often opting for information streams that are low on disagreeableness. Consumers tend to seek content that fits their interests and filter out information that does not. Sometimes peoples’ filters, through no fault of their own, allow disagreeable information to confront them. At that point, they need to assess the information and chose to accept or not. If they accept, they may, even if only slightly, allow new information to influence their thinking.

True Value

True value is about the fundamental faith in realism. It’s about determining what is and isn’t true by observing the world. Unfortunately, it is not as easy as it sounds. Today, some believe what is disagree with, is false. On the contrary, disagreeing with information does not mean the information is false. Agreeability and disagreeability have little to do with whether something is true or not. Understanding this important distinction is critical to the filter criteria.

Legitimacy

Legitimate opinions generally align with moral principles that are preserved across a broad array of societies, governments, philosophies, and religions. Content legitimacy, like true value, does not to include agreeability. Agreeableness is essentially a subjective characteristic; what is agreeable to one person may or may not be to another person. Legitimacy, on the other hand, is intersubjective. It receives its status from moral values shared across governments, cultures, religions, and philosophies. It’s not uncommon for opinions to be both be agreeable and illegitimate or disagreeable and legitimate views.

It’s important to incorporate content filters, especially, when engaging with social media platforms. Freelon’s filtering criterion allows for both agreeing and disagreeing with legitimate opinions. He readily admits that implementing such a system would be complex, particularly given the individual variations in his criteria. However, he believes that we can build a system that delivers true and legitimate content from across our personal agreement spectrum.

Industry-Research

Internet users and smartphones growth slows while time spent climbs

June 6, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Mary Meeker, the internet trends guru from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has just released her annual examination of the global technology landscape. Meeker understands consumers’ relationship with technology. Her insights identify changing marketplace strategies and business practices. In her Internet Report 2018, one shifting strategy she calls out is Google’s move from online ad platform to ecommerce platform. Equally significant, she notes, is the fact that Amazon is doing the direct opposite.

Other key highlights from the report include:

Internet penetration is slowing down. While more than half of the world’s population is now online, new Internet users only grew by 7% in 2017, down from 12% a year ago. Smartphone growth shows a similar pattern. Further, with limited new users, apps will find fewer to sign-up.

Consumer are not disconnecting from media. In fact, digital media consumption continues to increase.S. adults spend 5.9 hours per day on digital media compared 5.6 hours a year ago. Mobile, especially mobile video usage is responsible for the overall growth in time spent in digital media.
Mobile payment adoption is growing. The payment process is also becoming easier to complete.
A gap exists between mobile time spend and ad spending there. Twenty-nine percent of time is spent in mobile but only 26% of advertising dollars. This creates a 7 billion opportunity in the mobile advertising marketplace.
Tech companies are a core component of the U.S. economy. They account for 25% of U.S. market capitalization.
- However, consumers question their business strategies of using personal data to provide better consumer experiences while violating consumer privacy.
- Only one-quarter (25%) of U.S. adults report they are willing to share personal data for benefits (lower costs, etc.). Further, close to two-thirds of U.S. consumers delete or avoid apps because of data privacy concerns.

Voice-controlled products like Amazon Echo show significant growth. The Echo’s installed base in the U.S. grew from 20 million in the third quarter of 2017 to more than 30 million in the fourth quarter. News behavior in listening to news, music and shop are emerging.

Meeker’s 294-page presentation offers a snapshot of the marketplace. It provides broad economic trends and studies global growth. The report is well-worth the read to keep pace with the marketplace.

Advertising | Industry-Research

Older listeners are as likely to pay to avoid ads as they are to stop listening altogether

May 16, 2018 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Consumers value access to ad-supported content when they feel that there’s a fair trade between the content and advertising. The study, “Consumer Sensitivity to Audio Advertising: A Field Experiment on Pandora Internet Radio,” examines the balance in this relationship. Specifically, the research analyzes the correlation between the number of advertising breaks, the number of ads, and content consumption. While Pandora sells display, video, and audio advertising, this study focuses on audio ads. Today most of Pandora’s advertising revenue is generated from audio advertising.

Jason Huang, David Reiley, and Nickolai M. Riabov created an experimental design using more than 30 million Pandora listeners. The design included nine test groups (1% of listeners) and a control group (10% of listeners). Each test group received either three, four or six ad interruptions per hour. And each interruption was comprised of either 1, 1.5, or 2 ads. By varying these two dimensions, the research assessed whether listeners prefer more commercial interruptions or longer commercial interruptions. The control group received Pandora’s normal advertising experience: four interruptions with 1.5 ads per interruption. The level of audio advertising remained consistent for each test group for the 21-month duration of the research.

Quantity Matters

The findings identify aclear relationship between the quantity of hours listened and the number of audio ads per hour. Interestingly, the number of commercial interruptions per hour showed little impact on listening behavior. Reactions in the test groups in the final month support these findings.

The findings identify a clear relationship between the quantity of hours listened and the number of audio ads per hour. Interestingly, the number of commercial interruptions per hour showed little impact on listening behavior.

Results across all nine test groups included:

A 41% percent decline in the number of active Pandora listeners,
A 41% decline in the number of days per active Pandora listener, and
An 18% decline in the number of hours per active Pandora listener.

Of the three reactions, the most common (82%) reaction involves a decline in listeners or listening sessions.

Age Impact

Further, the decline in demand for Pandora’s ad-supported product that was triggered by an increase in ads suggests a potential opportunity to transition consumers to an ad-free alternative. The findings show that the correlation is highly significant and increases the older the consumer. Therefore, the probability of leaving Pandora entirely due to an increase in ad load decreases with age. It turned out that older consumers were just as likely to switch to an ad-free paid subscription as they were to leave the Pandora service entirely.

Huang, Reiley, and Riabov use of an experimental design allows for a better understanding of causal relationships. Each independent variable, the number of ad interruptions and the number of ads per interruption, is important to evaluate. Examining the impact of the independent variables and the correlation with listening time (the dependent variable) offers a dynamic learning environment. Interplay between the elements identifies the variable impacting a change in behavior.