Category results for "Industry-Research"

Industry Research

Consumers Will Pay a Premium for Innovation

July 22, 2015 DCN

Innovation compels consumers to make purchases. In fact, 8 in 10 of consumers (84%) reported that it is somewhat or very important that they buy from innovative companies’ reports Lab42’s Innovation Study.

Further, just more than half of respondents (51%) reported that they bought a product without fully understanding how it works or what it did because they felt or heard it was “cool.” Consumers care about owning products that give them the appearance of being innovative.

Consumers are willing to pay a premium for innovation across many categories: electronics 83%, automotive 75%, restaurants 71%, clothing/retail 70% and grocery store items 67%.

Not all consumers want to serve as a guinea pig in the marketplace. Only 2 in 10 respondents (21%) reported buying new products as soon as they come out while 63% prefer to buy a new product once it’s been out for a while.

The Innovation Study was conducted among 1,000 consumers in April 2015.

Advertising | Industry-Research

U.S. Programmatic Display Ad Revenues Totaled $10.1 Billion in 2014

July 21, 2015 Research Team—DCN

Programmatic buying and selling of online display-related advertising generated $10.1 billion in 2014, comprising 20% of last year’s overall internet advertising revenues ($49.5 billion) according to the first-ever IAB Programmatic Revenue Report, prepared by PwC US. This figure represents approximately 52% of display-related advertising in 2014 ($19.6 billion), while non-programmatic display-related revenues accounted for the remaining 48% at $9.4 billion.

As David Silverman, Emerging Company Services Practice Co-Leader of PwC, points out in the report, “over the last several years, publishers and advertisers have continued to adopt programmatic buying and selling of digital inventory into their media strategies; however, within the complex programmatic ecosystem there has been a lack of consensus around the definition of programmatic and its associated types and formats and the size of the programmatic market in comparison with the overall internet advertising market.”

For the purpose of this study, programmatic was defined, but not universally accepted, as “machine based buying and selling of digital media including auction based methods like RTB and private marketplaces as well as the automation of direct sales, sometimes called programmatic direct.”

Highlights from the IAB report include:

Open auctions made up approximately 70% of the programmatic revenue in 2014.
Display banner ads made up approximately 80% of programmatic revenues in 2014, but the findings demonstrate that mobile and video formats will take more of advertiser and publisher budgets and inventory over time
Ad tech revenues represented approximately 55% of the programmatic revenue pie in 2014 and approximately 45% of programmatic revenues ultimately found its way to the publishers.
The majority of programmatic inventory was bought and sold through Open Auctions, but the report predicts a shift to other types (i.e. Private Auction, Unreserved Fixed Rate or Automated Guaranteed) in the next few years.
Programmatic revenues from ad tech outweighed those from publishers in 2014.
Programmatic buying and selling are moving forward; however, sizing the programmatic industry will continue to be a challenge until standardization and increased transparency become more apparent.

Industry-Research | Video

Solving Digital Video Advertising’s Premium Dilemma

July 15, 2015 Research Team—DCN

Recent research commissioned by Teads and conducted by Forrester in May 2015 notes that while digital video advertising continues to show strong promise for marketers, agencies and media companies there are a few notable challenges that must be resolved in order for it to deliver value for everyone involved.

Five key findings from the report, conducted among 529 advertisers, agencies and media companies in Argentina, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Span, UK and US:

1. All market participants expect digital video spend to increase in the next two years.

2. Lack of premium inventory — and disagreements about the definition of premium — hold back video’s
growth.

3. Video is still a work in progress to fulfill its promise.

4. Advertisers, agencies, and media companies must build an accountable, transparent video ad market.

5. Outstream advertising offers one solution to these challenges.

Industry-Research | Video

TV is Now the 2nd Screen for Kids

July 14, 2015 DCN

In our latest study on kids’ preferences in viewing TV content across devices and platforms, we find that in a majority of family households with tablets and smartphones, TV is no longer the first choice for entertainment, with 57% of parents saying their child prefers a device other than the TV to watch video content. Mobile devices offer versatility, simple user interface and a ‘personal’ viewing experience.

As such, in households where tablets and smartphones are accessible, they’ve now taken the lead with kids as the preferred way to enjoy, explore and discover video content. In fact, 58% of kids in households with tablets have their own, making it even easier for them to watch the video content they want to watch, whenever and wherever they want.

TV as Punishment?
TV has become the ‘second’ or even third screen of choice for many of these kids – so much so that nearly 50% of parents say that when their kids misbehave, to punish them, they take away their tablet and make them just ‘watch TV instead’– creating a generation of kids for whom ‘TV is punishment.’

Additionally, when given the choice between dessert or more time on their tablet, 41% of parents say their child would choose the tablet over dessert, compared to just 33% choosing dessert over the tablet.

More Please…
And, in true ‘more is better’ fashion, kids are not limiting themselves to just one screen at a time – 56% of parents say it’s not unusual for their children to be watching different content on different devices at the same time – and 39% are, at times, watching the same content on different devices simultaneously.

This trend in media and platform preferences has implications for TV networks, cable and satellite companies, streaming services and content creators as they market and develop entertainment for the next generation.

Self-Directed Viewing is Here to Stay’
|As TV content providers watch their audiences rapidly shift from traditional viewing to streamed and digital, this study shines a light on kids as the ‘canary in the coal mine,’ showing a need to redefine audience reach expectations, programming and creative development, as well as measurement and monetization strategies sooner rather than later.

In effect, streamed content services are now eating into linear TV audience share, just as a large percentage of audience share shifted from broadcast to cable only a couple of decades ago – but at a more rapid pace and without a solution in place to measure viewing on new and preferred platforms.

In a meeting with a major network client the other day, I was earnestly asked – ‘Don’t you think that when they grow up, they’ll want to watch live TV just the way we do – or just turn the set on and channel surf?’ my response was ‘when they grow up, you’ll want to provide them with access to your content however they want to access it – on any platform or device, at any time and on their own terms – and the time to figure out how you’re going to do this is now.’

Robert Miner is the CEO and Founder of Miner & Co. Studio, an audience insights based strategic consultancy with a focus on trends, innovation, show concept development and brand positioning serving major television networks, content creators and digital video providers.

*Study included in-home ethnographies and a survey fielded among 800 moms and dads of kids ages 2 to 12 who live in the United States and watch at least some video content on a tablet and/or smartphone.

The margin of error is +/- 3.46% 3.4

Industry-Research

Magazine Apps Keep Publishers Profitable and Users Engaged

July 8, 2015 DCN

A new study released by Maz Publishing showcases strong profitability and user engagement in digital publishing. The findings presented by Maz, a digital publishing platform, is based on 139 million pages views from 1,030 magazine apps, like Conde Nast, Forbes, and USA. Maz’s analytic component is built into every app to track downloads, usage, user behavior, etc. This information was aggregated from 2013 to 2015 for this analysis.

Key insights include:

Bigger devices are still more popular. Close to two-thirds (63%) of all app sessions occur on a tablet.
Seven in ten users (70%) prefer private sharing of content over public. Within private sharing, 44% prefer using email, 26% save, 18% copy, 8% SMS and 4% use Evernote.
Readers of different genres (e.g. Business, Entertainment, Lifestyle and Sports) engage with apps differently. Sport app users are the most active; posting two times more on facebook than Business and Entertainment app users and tweeting two times more than Entertainment app users.
Total digital magazine views increased by 149% from 17.3 million in 2013 to 43 million in 2015.
App launches continue to grow, 44% growth on iPhone and 132% on iPad from 1Q 2014 to 1Q 2015.
Time Accessed, trial usage with an allotted time period, proved to have a high conversion rate.
Push notifications proved effective, two times more app downloads and sessions the day of notification.

PVgrowthmagapps — Digital magazine page view growth from 2013 – 2015.

Industry-Research

Native Ads Increase in Popularity and Price

July 6, 2015 Research Team—DCN

Research from Business Insider Intelligence finds that native ads perform better than non-native ads and so command higher prices.

The report from BI Intelligence examines each of the different native ad formats and looks at spending trends for each. BI finds that spending on native ads will reach $7.9 billion this year they predict that it will grow to $21 billion in 2018. According to BI, Social will remain the biggest slice of this spending but native-style display will grow its share rapidly.

According to the report’s author, Mark Hoelzel, key takeaways include:

Social native ads will account for the biggest share of native ad revenue during this time period, but native-style display ads will grow the fastest.
Social-native, including Facebook News Feed ads and promoted tweets on Twitter, will draw a majority of native ad revenue between 2013 and 2018.
Native display ads, like the splashy native ads on Yahoo’s news pages and apps, will see the fastest ramp-up.
Sponsored content, like some of the paid stories and sections on BuzzFeed and The New York Times (and Business Insider), has also attracted considerable attention.
Native ads perform better than traditional display. This is particularly true on mobile. Desktop native click-through rates (CTRs) averaged a respectable 0.15%, while native-mobile ads had CTRs over 1%, according to recent data from Polar Media Group and Celtra, respectively.
Consumers hold a generally positive attitude toward native advertising, according to survey data, but advertisers and publishers must ensure that ads are relevant and are purchased by trustworthy brands to avoid the risk of any mainstream backlash.

Industry-Research

Google Search Found to Censor Results

July 1, 2015 DCN

Tim Wu, once an FTC Advisor, twice cleared Google in 2012 and 2013 of search practices that favored its own results over the result of competitors. However, in Wu’s newly released study conducted in partnership with Yelp, a local review company, he takes an about-face claiming Google does in fact manipulates its search results. The report comes out on the heels of Google preparing its response to the European Union’s accusations that its comparison shopping product limits consumer options as well.

While the Yelp study does not disclose its full methodology, it does share the finding of 2,690 surveyed users randomly shown search results. The search results compared those of Google search to results in which external content was displayed. In all, 45% of those surveyed were more likely to click search results when they were more objective versus the Google-influenced material. Google’s responded to this study claiming the research is exclusively reliant on clicks and very limited in its scope. How this report impacts Google’s anti-trust issues remains to be seen.

Industry-Research

Kantar Finds Overall Ad Spend Down 4% in Q1

June 30, 2015 Research Team—DCN

Total U.S. advertising expenditures declined 4.0% in the first quarter of 2015 to $37.4 billion, though core spending only declined 2% according to data released by Kantar Media. Paid search advertising was the winner in Q1, climbing 7% year-over-year, while desktop online display expenditures declined 8.7% during the same period.

Spending by the ten largest advertisers declined 10.6 % in the first quarter of 2015, to $3,709.8 million. Notably, the year-ago period includes the Sochi Winter Olympics, which affects ad-spending comparisons.

Kantar reports that expenditures for the ten largest advertising categories declined 5.8% in the first quarter of 2015 to $18,697.8 million, with eight out of the ten categories experiencing reductions. The two exceptions were Telecom, with growth from satellite and TV advertisers counterbalancing reduced investments by wireless service providers, (up 3.8%) and Pharmaceuticals (up 9.6%).

Industry-Research | Perspectives

Marketing Success is Dependent on Getting Digital Right

June 29, 2015 DCN

“If you aren’t getting digital right, you’re getting marketing wrong.” It seems simple, but the reality is that digital has taken over the everyday lives of consumers, and marketers are still scrambling to understand and take advantage of the opportunities that an evolving digital landscape provides.

This statement opens the study Getting Digital Right 2015, Millward Brown Digital’s second annual look at the state of digital marketing. The study, based on input from more than 400 U.S. marketers spanning brands, media companies and agencies, uncovered the primary challenges and opportunities facing marketers today.

Three key findings emerged that marketers need to address in order to get digital right:

Only 14% of marketers stated confidence in their team’s use of big data.
Consumers are generating multitudes of data, but marketers
are struggling with how to use it. Marketers agree: “utilizing big data to create actionable insights” is the top opportunity facing marketers today. However, most aren’t confident in their organization’s usage – only 14% of marketers stated confidence in their team’s use of big data. Even further, that represents a significant drop in confidence from the Getting Digital Right 2014 study, where 39% of marketers expressed confidence.

The volume and complexity of data is clearly causing marketers heartache. In order to be successful, marketers need to determine the right mix of research tools for their business or clients, and work with partners who can assist in combining that data with internal and third-party data to create insights that can fuel growth.

Approximately half of media and agency marketers, and only 25% of brand marketers are confident in their media mix. As digital evolves, so do consumer behaviors. Cross-device media consumption has complicated the way in which marketers reach consumers. Naturally, these changes impact media budget and resource allocation. Since the 2014 study, the biggest increases in channel usage have occurred in the digital space, with Mobile up 4%, Social up 2%, and Search up 1%. But still, marketers aren’t sure they have it right – only about half of media and agency marketers are confident they have an optimized media mix, while even fewer brand marketers do – only about 25%. Instead, they shared what their ideal mix of budget and resource allocations would look like:

To capitalize on the opportunities at hand, marketers need to understand where and how to reach the dynamic, changing consumer by examining the wide array of consumer journeys that exist and the impact of multiscreen consumer behaviors.

Over 70% of Marketers would increase resource allocation to Mobile, Digital, and Social channels if ROI measurement improved. Accountability is a requirement, and tactics that can’t prove their effectiveness will be pushed to the wayside in lieu of digital channels that can provide a wealth of data and ROI measurement capabilities. In fact, nearly 50% of marketers indicate “an ability to demonstrate ROI” as a top criterion for determining media budget allocations. For publishers, this can mean a big impact to their business – over 70% of marketers indicated they would increase their media spend with Mobile, Digital, and Social channels if ROI tracking for those tactics improved; conversely, only 47% stated they would increase spend in traditional advertising with improved ROI measurement. Given the need for marketers to provide proof of success, working with partners to measure the impact of marketing activities for individual channels, as well as the varying combinations of channels to maximize ROI measurement is essential.

In the end, it’s no longer a question of whether to include digital in your marketing strategy; instead, the questions have shifted to when, where, and how much? Unfortunately, there is no magic formula. Marketers need to begin by finding the right mix of KPIs within their available data, understanding the dynamic consumer and the touchpoints they engage with, and the resulting impact on their brand.

Feel free to download a copy of Getting Digital Right 2015 if you are interested in learning more.

Industry-Research | Perspectives

High Volume of Generic Communications Disengage Digital Consumers

June 24, 2015 DCN

Consumers are highly sensitive to high volumes of mass generic communications reports the Aimia Institute. The finding is based on their global online survey, among 2,000 consumers in the UK, US, France, US, Canada and India, identifying effective brand communications.

Among the key findings:

Almost three-fifths (59%) of High Volume Sensitive consumers report that the volume of email communications they receive from brands overwhelms them, for SMS messages (60%) and for push notifications (62%).

Millennials are the generation most likely (44%) to permanently disengage with brands if they receive high volumes of mass generic email communications while Generation X is 14% more likely to fall into this group.

This study speaks to the importance of marketers tailoring their communications to consumer preferences. If not, there are clear consequences. High Sensitive Consumers report they frequently will block numbers (80%); close accounts and unsubscribe from email lists (84%); delete apps because of push notifications (82%); and unfollow brands on social channels (86%). Still High Sensitive Consumers can be a highly desirable group given their willingness to share their information as long as it is managed properly.

For more information, download the presentation.

Industry-Research | Perspectives

Liquid Audiences Impact Content and Marketing Strategies

June 23, 2015 Research Team—DCN

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and YuMe have published a new white paper “Digital Advertising Audiences: The New ‘Liquid Consumer’ Paradigm,” which collects creative, brand, agency and publishing leadership to provide insights and guidance on navigating the new “liquid audiences” that discover content across a range of mediums, devices and platforms. The report demonstrates that the need to reach the “liquid consumer” has strong and specific implications for the creation, organization, distribution, and measurement of content.

The report highlights key ways that “liquid audiences” should impact content and marketing strategies. Among them:

Definitions of “audience” must evolve – currently-used gender/age definitions no longer suffice
Unsurprisingly, “social” and “mobile” are crucial, but both embrace a wide array of meaning and nuance, which marketers must unpack to build successful strategies
Understanding how someone navigates to content can be critical to connecting with that consumer
The industry’s fixation on KPIs and standard metrics can distract from the more important goal of building fan-bases
The line between “marketing” and “content” continues to fade – it’s all storytelling

The complete “Digital Advertising Audiences: The New ‘Liquid Consumer’ Paradigm” whitepaper is available for download.