Ad Market Expands For 15th Month, Continues To Decelerate

• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, Yesterday

The U.S. ad economy expanded for its 15th consecutive month in May, but it was the most tepid growth since ad spending pulled out of its recession, according to a MediaPost analysis of data from Standard Media Index's U.S. Ad Market Tracker.

May's 1.3% expansion is the fifth consecutive monthly deceleration in the U.S. ad economy, though it likely reflects relatively tough comps with May 2021, which boomeranged 53.6% over May 2020, when the ad industry was in the depths of the COVID-19-triggered ad disruption.

According to an SMI analysis of its agency pool data, the deceleration is attributable entirely to traditional electronic and print media, with out-of-home and digital soaring in both the first quarter and second quarter through May of this year.

Automotive TV Spending Up Nearly 38% In May

  

AUTOMOTIVE

Automotive TV Spending Up Nearly 38% In May

• by Tanya Gazdik , Yesterday

Automakers spent 37.6% more on their national TV advertising spend in May compared to the same month a year ago, per iSpot.tv. 

The total estimated spend on TV was $199.8 million compared to $145.2 million. 

Meanwhile, TV ad impressions dropped 1.9% year over year (down to 25.8 billion compared to 26.3 billion.)

The top five brands by spend for the month were Toyota ($23.6 million), Kia ($15.6 million), Lexus ($14.7 million), Chevrolet ($12.0 million) and Buick ($12.0 million).

The most-seen automaker ads for the month were Cadillac: Lead the Charge (1.22 billion TV ad impressions), Buick: Family’s New Alexa (1.08 billion), Infiniti: Wild World (742 million), Kia: Beachcomber (671 million) and Dodge: We Only Do Power (587 million).

Over half (51.07%) of Toyota’s national TV ad spend in May was allocated to NBA games as the playoff field continued to narrow, per iSpot.tv.

Kia was similarly basketball-focused, with over 47% of national TV ad spend put toward the NBA, and another 5.8% during TNT’s "Inside the NBA." During the month, four of the top 20 NBA advertisers were automakers, with Toyota and Kia joined by Nissan and Honda.

Automakers have a huge opportunity to get messaging in front of large audiences during events like the NBA and NHL playoffs, says Stuart Schwartzapfel, senior vice president, media partnerships at iSpot. 

"Some have been using those buys to introduce 2023 models in their vehicle lines,” Schwartzapfel tells Marketing Daily. “As summer begins, it’ll be interesting to see how much of auto brands’ national TV advertising remains focused on moving 2022 inventory, versus emphasizing those vehicles with more local ads instead.”

The top five brands by TV ad impressions for the month were Toyota (2.73 billion), Lexus (2.31 billion), Chevrolet (2.16 billion), Hyundai (1.99 billion) and Cadillac (1.45 billion).

The biiggest spend increases among top 15 brands by spend, May 2022 (vs. May 2021) were Infiniti ($5.8 million vs. very minimal national TV ad spend in May 2021), Buick (up 437%), Toyota (up 178%), Chevrolet (up 132%) and Cadillac (up 94%).

With the NBA Playoffs back to its normal place on the calendar, league advertisers like Toyota are showing large year-over-year increases in spend for May since the comparison is mostly against the end of the 2020-21 regular season, per iSpot.tv.

Meanwhile, Infiniti’s climb is fueled by a much larger investment in the PGA Championship as well as various Fox News shows when compared to last year (just $17K, put toward cable programming). 

After minimal May spend was put toward NBA and NHL games last year, over 46% of Buick’s spend this May was seen there. Additionally, just 10.6% of Buick TV ad impressions were local this May, versus 45.3% in May 2021, per iSpot.tv.

The top programs for automakers by TV ad impressions share of voice for the month were NBA (8.7%), NHL (2.8%), SportsCenter (1.9%), 2022 PGA Championship (1.3%) and NASCAR Cup Series (1.1%).

Sports-related programming is once again a huge source of impressions for automakers, and increases considerably year-over-year. In May 2022, 27.3% of TV ad impressions were delivered by sports programs, versus 20.1% in May 2021.

At the same time, auto brands actually saw a smaller share of impressions during reality TV shows (11.4% vs. 13.0%), while movies climbed slightly from 8.2% to 8.7% of auto impressions.

The top networks for automaker TV ad impressions were ESPN (1.27 billion), NBC (1.14 billion), TNT (1.09 billion), Fox News (903 million) and CBS (893 million).

ESPN leads the way, thanks in large part to the NBA Playoffs (39.4% of auto impressions on the network), while NBC leans more on news and entertainment programming for automaker impressions instead – though the network also aired the Kentucky Derby and Indianapolis 500, which were both among the top 10 programs on the network by impressions served. Over 75% of May impressions on TNT were due to NBA or NHL playoff action, per iSpot.tv.

Go Avs!

 

 

COMMENTARY

Are Consumers Really Receptive To Ad Messages?

• by Todd Wasserman , Staff Writer, 8 hours ago

Are consumers really hearing the message you paid ungodly sums to transmit to them?

A new report uses neuroscience to get to the bottom of that question. The report, by Aki Technologies, gauged brainwave activity among consumers who watched the Super Bowl. During the game, consumers were outfitted with EMOTIV headsets primed to detect six emotions: excitement, interest, stress, engagement/boredom, attention and relaxation.

Here’s what the research found:

Receptivity increased with game volatility: During the game, researchers found attention didn’t peak in the first break in action as many expected. Attention peaked after Cooper Kupp’s 11-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

Viewers were most receptive during the Super Bowl halftime. Commercial breaks didn’t meaningfully change receptivity, but the halftime show significantly boosted attention, engagement, interest and excitement.

Context is crucial. Excitement increased most when participants consumed alcohol. Still, it actually fell for those watching the game in public (at a bar or restaurant).

A consumer’s response varies by demographics. During Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, women were 14.3% more receptive to mobile advertising. Interestingly, during the Academy Awards, men were 9% less receptive to mobile advertising than women, but after the slap, men’s receptivity grew 5% faster than that of women.

Stephanie Klimaszewski, senior vice president marketing at Aki Technologies, said the purpose of the report is to help marketers make more informed and strategic media investments.  “By understanding audience receptivity in response to big media events like the Super Bowl, and other major news and cultural events, like the January 2021 invasion of the Capitol, unseasonable weather and the Academy Awards, marketers can gain new insight into audience receptivity to advertising during marketable moments."

 Local TV still tops! Philip Jay LeNoble, PhD.

COMMENTARY

Customer Satisfaction Scores Vary For Top Streaming Brands: Study

• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, 6 hours ago

Customer satisfaction with some of the top brands in streaming -- including Netflix, HBO Max, Peacock and Apple TV+ -- is surprisingly lower than expected, according to a new study from research firm ACSI (American Customer Satisfaction Index).

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Telecommunications Study 2021-2022 was conducted to gauge customer satisfaction with streaming video, subscription TV services, Internet and WiFi providers, VOD and even landline phone services.

The study is “based on interviews with 23,605 customers chosen at random and contacted via email between April 2021 and March 2022,” said Ann Arbor, Michigan-based ACSI.

“Customers are asked to evaluate their recent experiences with the largest companies in terms of market share, plus an aggregate category consisting of ‘all other’ -- and thus smaller -- companies in those industries.”

The streaming service that ranked highest in customer satisfaction was Microsoft Store with a satisfaction score of 79 (out of 100), followed by the “all others” category (78), Disney+ (also 78), Paramount+ (77) and YouTube TV (77). 

ACSI classifies the subscription services and services such as Microsoft Store, which sells movies and TV shows on a pay-per-view basis, in the same “video streaming” category.

The other majors were lower down on the list, including Hulu (ranked ninth with a 75 score), Amazon Prime (10th, with 74), Netflix (11th, with 74), HBO Max (14th, with 73) and Peacock (15th, with 72). Apple TV+ was second from the bottom in the list of 21 streaming services with a 69 score.

The streaming portion of the ACSI study covered service categories on an industry-wide basis such as Quality of Mobile App (83), Reliability of Mobile App, i.e., minimal down time, crashes and lags (82), and near the bottom of the streaming list, Availability of Current Season’s TV Shows (71) and Availability of New Movie Titles (70).

Elsewhere, the ACSI study found that satellite and broadband services ranked higher in customer satisfaction than cable providers. 

In ACSI’s ranking of customer satisfaction with subscription TV services, U-verse TV (a DirecTV service), ranked highest with a 73 score, followed by Verizon Fios (71), DirecTV (66) and Dish Network (65).

Those services were followed by cable operators such as Xfinity, Spectrum and Cox. Optimum (57) and Suddenlink (54) -- both Altice USA -- were second to last and last, respectively, in the list of 12.

In this category, HD Picture Quality garnered the highest customer satisfaction with a 77 score. The lowest score in the list of services provided in the subscription TV category was a 65 score for Call Center Satisfaction.

Rankings on the list of Internet providers in customer satisfaction were Verizon Fios first followed by (in order) T-Mobile and AT&T Internet.

The three also took up the first three spots on the customer satisfaction list for in-home WiFi service -- T-Mobile first, Verizon Fios second and AT&T Internet third.

In the VOD category, U-Verse and Verizon Fios ranked higher than Cox, Spectrum, DirecTV, Dish and Xfinity.  

A list of Satisfaction Benchmarks By Industry included in the study puts the customer satisfaction data for video streaming, VOD, subscription TV and Internet service providers in perspective.

Topping the list is the food manufacturing industry, which had a customer satisfaction score of 80, tied with full-service restaurants. Rounding out the top five, in order, are breweries, cell phones, and personal care and cleaning products.

On this list of 47 industry categories listed in descending order of Customer Satisfaction Benchmarks, video streaming services ranked 32nd (74 score).

The bottom three among all of those industries were, in order, VOD services (45th - 68), subscription TV services (46th - 66) and Internet service providers (47th - 64).