Linear TV is still top dog in reaching Asian consumers. Philip Jay LeNoble, PhD.

Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders Are Wary of Online Marketing

• by Ray Schultz , May 22, 2023

Here is some grim news for marketers using email or other online channels to engage Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI).  

Only 29% of these communities feel brands understand them, according to a new study by My Code.  

There are many issues, including one that the study refers to as “cultural agnosia.”

People in these communities want to see “representation that breaks from centuries of fetishization locking their identities in ancient histories that force them into subcultural species as anachronistic caricatures.”

But the opportunity for meaningful engagement is there, given that 98% of AANHPI consumers use the internet at least one a day, outpacing the national average.  

Moreover, 77% do so when away from home at least one per day.  

Their main priority online is gaining knowledge and being better informed. 

The main devices used to access the internet are: 

• Mobile phones — 96% 
• Computer — 92%
• Smart TV — 59%
• Tablet — 59% 
• Video gaming console — 32%
• Smart speaker/screen — 27% 
• Smart DVD Bluray player — 5%

How do brands communicate that they understand AANHPI consumer audiences?

The required creative elements include: 

• Includes relevant elements of AANHPI cultures 
• Depicts people in “everyday life” situations.
• Illustrates clear stance on issues I care about.
• Features ANHPI people in ways that break racial stereotypes.  
• Features mixed-race families.
• Depicts home/work settings similar to mine. 
• Depicts diversity as part of mainstream American culture.
• Has people of the same age as me.
• Uses a language other than English I speak at home.
• Has people of same ethic background as me. 
• Features non-traditional family structures.' 

But many feel a threat from the internet: 51% say racial hate is a serious problem. That number rises to 61% among 18-24 year-olds and to 62% among community members earning $50,000-$75,000.

COMMENTARY Test Drive: Audi Q8 E-Tron Is Epitome of Green Luxury

 Here's another goodie to talk soon to your client auto dealer. Philip Jay LeNoble, PhD

COMMENTARY

Test Drive: Audi Q8 E-Tron Is Epitome of Green Luxury

• by Tanya Gazdik , Staff Writer, May 22, 2023

Audi is framing its Q8 e-tron as “Sophisticated. Seamless. Electrification.”

Now, with increased range and faster charging, the vehicles provide pampering with features such as seriously good massaging seats, while still making less of an impact on the environment. 

The maximum DC charging power has been increased from 150 kW to 170 kW, permitting recharging from 10% to 80% capacity in about 31 minutes at a Level 3 fast charger. On a Level 2 charger at home or in public, it will take between 6.5 and 13 hours, depending on what kind of charger the car is plugged into.

The EPA estimated range is 300 miles for the Q8 Sportback e-tron with ultra package, an increase of around 30% compared to the previous generation of the vehicle. 

Elegant design enhancements optimize aerodynamic functions, and incorporate Audi’s new minimalist two-dimensional logo and Singleframe projection light grille. The Q8 e-tron will also be the first Audi model to feature laser-etched model badging on the B-pillar. 

The purchase price includes two years of Electrify America DC fast charging and and one week of complimentary Audi on Demand rental benefit through the Always Audi program. So if you want to take a long road trip without worrying about stopping to charge the vehicle, you can borrow an Audi that is gasoline-powered.

Previously just called the e-tron, the Q8 designation highlights its position as the automaker’s flagship. It is available in two body styles, an SUV or Sportback. 

The brand also makes smaller Q4 e-tron. Audi has confirmed a new model called the Q6 e-tron, which will be an electric SUV positioned between the Q4 e-tron and Q8 e-tron models. It is expected to debut sometime during the 2023 calendar year and enter the market for the 2025 model year.

The SUV version starts at $74,400, and the more streamlined Sportback is available from $77,800. But if you want those aforementioned massaging seats, you’ll have to spring for the Prestige edition, which starts at $84,800 for SUV and $88,200 for the Sportback. Trust me, it’s worth it. 

The vehicle is just starting to arrive at dealerships, with full availability by the summer. Marketing includes social posts like this one on Instagram highlighting the vehicle's new features, like cool Digital Matrix LED headlights. 

For the first year of production, both body styles are available in an even pricier Launch Edition, which will set you back $87,550 (SUV) and $91,950 (Sportback), respectively. 

“When we launch something new or something refreshed, we have some sort of special edition for the customers who come and get it first,” Anthony Garbis, senior manager, product planning, Audi of America, tells MediaPost. 

The Launch Editions include all-black wheels, a special flint gray interior, and a two-tone dashboard. The seats are trimmed with orange piping, “which signifies the high-voltage system in the car,” Garbis says. “And there are also new high-tech mesh inlays, which are recycled plastic bottles. So we melt down the bottle, spin it into fibers, and we make the inlay from it, which I think is super cool.”

Audi’s customer base is evenly split between men and women, with an average age of early 50s, Garbis says. Some of the sportier sedans have a higher take rate among men, he says. 

“But this one, it is for someone who comes in and they say: ‘I want an SUV, luxurious, and it happens to be electric.’ And you get in this car, and you know exactly what to do because it’s a normal car. It just happens to have a battery and electric motors,” he says.

AUTOMOTIVE New Mustang Dark Horse Geared Toward Younger Consumers

 Get over to your Ford dealer as a new breed of Mustang is on the way to their showroom. Philip Jay LeNoble, PhD

AUTOMOTIVE

New Mustang Dark Horse Geared Toward Younger Consumers

• by Tanya Gazdik , May 22, 2023

Ford Motor Co. hopes to attract a new generation of Mustang enthusiasts with some key attributes exclusive to a new version of the quintessential pony car.

The Mustang Dark Horse, which starts at $60,865, won’t be available at dealers until later this summer, but auto show visitors have already been getting a look at it. 

The vehicle has an aggressive, track-focused look and style both inside and outside. Exclusive to Dark Horse, cooler shades of blue are appointed throughout, featuring Indigo Blue interior accents, a signature anodized blue titanium shift knob with the manual transmission and available Blue Ember metallic paint.

The are two features that are only available on the Dark Horse, the drift brake and remote rev. The remote rev is only available on an automatic, not a manual. 

“Both [features] are really targeted at what I’ll call the next generation of enthusiast,” says Laurie Transou, Ford’s chief engineer for the Mustang. “So we’re trying to get our younger generation to love Mustang as much as my generation.”

The essence of Mustang hinges on three elements, she says.

“One is really distinctive exterior styling,” Transou tells Marketing Daily. “So you’ll notice the exterior styling and all of the Mustangs are kind of tied to our heritage, but also offering something new. This vehicle is much more edgy, I’ll call it fresh looking, but yet it has views from the 1960s Mustang. We always try to do that.”

The second is performance, she says. With every new Mustang, Ford tries to amp up the performance. The Dark Horse has the most horsepower ever in a Mustang, at 500 hp.

“And then the last thing we always try to lean into is fun,” Transou says. “People buy these vehicles because they're fun. So when we were thinking about who is our target customer, what can we do to appeal to that customer, we thought about what would be fun, and drift brake would be fun.”

Ford partnered with Vaughn Gittin Jr.,  a Formula Drift champion who helped develop the drift brake.

“You basically pull up on it and it allows your whole vehicle to kind of shift and allows it to drift,” Transou says. “It’s really intended for the novice -- you can learn how to drift by using it."

Remote rev is the other smile-worthy new feature, she says. 

“You can be outside your vehicle, and if you turn your engine on -- let’s say you’re at ‘Cars and Coffee’ or whatever -- and you’re down the way a bit and someone’s looking at your car, you can do a sequence of buttons on your key fob and it revs your engine and then you do it again,” Transou says. “And it does a triple rev, like really loud. So I like to say ‘Cars and Coffee’ will never be the same again because of remote rev.”

Another feature geared toward Gen Z and Millennial drivers is a new screen design that allows for such customizations as choosing the primary and secondary colors on displays and ambient lighting.

“One of the things Ford did with the screens is, they used Epic Games’ Unreal Engine for high-definition 3D graphics which is used for video gaming,” Transou says. “My kids [who are in their 20s] who are into gaming would totally be like, ‘Oh, it’s Unreal Engine,’ to them it’s a big deal. So again, trying to, you know, find a way to hook that customer.

 

Google Enters Next Phase of Advertising Through Automation, Generative AI

• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, Yesterday

Google continues to advance search advertising by expanding its suite of products through automation, generative artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs).

Several announcements made Tuesday at Google Marketing Live support the move across Performance Max, Google Ads and Shopping.

Automatically generated custom advertisements being tested in Search and Shopping will roll out in the coming months. The feature will integrate directly into the AI-powered tool that Google calls Snapshot, also based on generative AI.

The additional information serves up when in the Search generative experience, an experiment and early step toward changing the way that people search and discover information and products, said Dan Taylor, vice president of global ads at Google.

“I feel like it’s a very transformational time,” Taylor said. "Not just for Google, but the entire industry.”

If someone searches for “outdoor activities” in Maui, for example, and then narrows the search to ask about activities for kids or surfing, they might see a custom ad for a travel brand promoting surfing lessons in Maui.

“It’s a new experience we’re experimenting with,” Taylor added.

As search evolves, so will advertising. Google will bring AI to campaign, marketer, and merchant workflows with help from large language models and generative AI.

The change forges nuances in automation and campaign setup and creation to improve performance for all channels across Google Performance Max.

Google introduced two experiments in Search Labs that will explore the integration of Search and Shopping ads directly into the AI-powered snapshot and conversational mode. The formats use generative AI to create relevant, high-quality custom ads.

In the conversational experiences for Google Ads, the marketer adds a landing page from the company’s website. The Google bot crawls the page and AI summarizes the content. It then generates relevant and effective keywords, headlines, descriptions, images and other assets for the campaign.

Marketers can review and edit the suggestions. This experiment is now in a global open beta for English, with plans to expand to additional languages this year.

Avoidance of repetitive, automatically created assets over time that are based on the same signals being fed into the system relies on a diverse set of keyword, headlines, and descriptions. The automatically created assets and the generative AI will be grounded in the assets the advertiser provides.

The feature can be considered a natural-language conversational experience that is designed to start campaign creation and simplify the production of search ads.

There’s an unlimited number of responses that marketers can generate, but there’s a fix number that can be inserted into the rotation.

“We are experimenting with limits as part of the beta,” said Brian Burdick, senior director of Search Ads Automation. “On the automatically generated assets, we will generate them on [the marketer’s] behalf and rotate them at run time. Then you’re able to see all those and/or disapprove them.”

Automatically created assets in the campaign level run continually after a campaign is set up to provide even more combinations of ads based on pre-approved headlines, landing page and queries.

The campaigns adapt to changing consumer demand. Google said the early adopters of automatically created assets for headlines and descriptions see 2% more conversions at a similar cost per conversion among ad groups with responsive search ads.

Google is working on providing a way to inform the consumer that AI has generated the created assets. Two possible identifiers are watermarks and metadata. The metadata, in the initial rollout -- especially in images -- will have a distinguishing mark of some sort.

Performance Max will soon give marketers this feature across all channels. Advertisers will have the ability to create professional-grade videos, images, and text creatives that correspond to YouTube, Display and Search. Google will pull in the details from a brand’s website.

About 25% of YouTube video advertisers use a video ad created by Google’s AI. Adding at least one video in an advertisers Performance Max campaign delivered 20% more conversions in YouTube compared with horizontal videos alone.

Google also included ecommerce in today’s announcement. Data suggests that having the correct mix of images drives business.

There is an increase in shopper demand for products when ads have multiple images -- creating as much as a 76% increase in impressions and 32% increase in clicks. But creating images is expensive and time-consuming. Product Studio for merchants helps them create and edit scenes, and improve the quality of lifestyle images for free.

Jeff Harrell, senior director of shopping at Google, said the company is working with a few smaller merchants “struggling to create the correct assets needed to better engage with users. But we see this as a larger opportunity that embraces all.”

Merchants in the U.S. can access Product Studio from Merchant Center Next -- an improved platform that lists products across Google -- starting in the next few months. These features will become available to merchants using the Google and YouTube app on Shopify.

 2023 IAB Podcast Upfront: Key Takeaways

MediaVillage Knowledge Exchange mediabizbloggers@mediavillage.com via gmail.mcsv.net	8:03 AM (6 hours ago)
to me

Commentary from MediaVillage 2023 IAB Podcast Upfront: Key Takeaways Publish date May 24, 2023 (ET) Channel Active International InSites The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) hosted its annual podcast Upfront earlier in May. Over 20 publishers, ad networks and tech companies presented marketers their new slate of programming and innovations in a one-day event. With the Upfront concluded, several major moments signified growth in the markeplace. Active International's Jason Endres, Associate Director, National Audio, highlights three areas which will have the most impact moving forward. To continue reading scroll down or view this article on MediaVillage.com Read The Podcast Marketplace Continues to Grow The program began with a presentation from the IAB on the state of podcasting. During this presentation, the IAB released its annual report titled "U.S. Podcast Advertising Revenue Study," which provides total ad revenue for 2022 along with projected ad revenue through 2025. In 2022, podcast ad revenue grew by 26% to reach a total of $1.825 billion. Podcasting’s annual growth percentage of 26% is more than double that of total Internet ad revenue, which increased by 11% in the same time period. Furthermore, it outpaced social media (4% increase), paid search (8%), display (12%), digital video (19%) and digital audio (21%) in 2022. Looking ahead, the IAB is projecting a 25% increase in 2023 and for podcasting to surpass $2 billion in annual ad revenue. By the end of 2025, the IAB expects ad revenue to reach $3.98 billion, more than double what it was in 2022. From a content perspective, News was the clear top ad revenue content genre in 2021 representing 19% of all revenue. That percentage decreased significantly down to just 12% in 2022. As the United States moved farther away from the presidential election cycle, the interest in news content decreased. In response, listeners gravitated towards more lifestyle-focused content. Sports (increased from 11% in 2021 to 15% in 22%), Society & Culture (12% to 14%), and Comedy (13% to 14%) all saw their share of revenue increase in 2022. In fact, Sports is now the No. 1 ad revenue category in podcasting when just a year prior it was fourth. AI Powered Brand Safety In recent years, podcasting has addressed many of the industry’s questions. It has developed a diverse content slate providing opportunities for a diverse set of voices, while following suit with other digital channels in providing traditional targeting parameters including demo, geo and behavioral segments. Publishers have willingly partnered with third-party attribution companies, allowing advertisers to see their return on investment in real time. As podcasting has grown, publishers have been looking to aggregate inventory and sell run of network offerings to advertisers to further maximize revenue. The deterrent from marketers is a lack of control of where ads will run. As podcasting is not governed by FCC guidelines like terrestrial radio, brand safety has been a major concern. If an advertiser runs a targeted ad buy across a network of hundreds of podcasts, what safeguards are in place to ensure that an advertisement doesn’t appear in controversial or detrimental content to a brand? One of the most anticipated panels of the IAB Podcast Upfront featured ArtsAI, an AI focused attribution, tracking and optimization company, and Barometer, an AI company focused on brand suitability in audio. The two companies revealed that they are partnering in order to provide advertisers more control over where their ads will run. They also announced the launch of AB Daily, which combines ArtsAI’s pixel technology and Barometer’s Cloud Technology, allowing for show- and episode-specific suitability. In short, the partnership will provide real-time monitoring of where an advertiser’s ads are running. Barometer’s technology monitors every line of spoken word in a podcast and measures against a brand’s specific safety protocols. If an ad runs in what is deemed unsafe content by an advertiser’s parameters, the ad is flagged allowing for the advertiser to modify the campaign. The two companies announced that they are also working on a product which will allow for real-time brand safety in podcast advertising. In this future offering, an ArtsAI VAST Tag will serve ad creative only if a podcast is deemed brand safe as determined by Barometer’s Brand Safety Scoring mechanism. If Barometer deems the podcast unsafe, the ArtsAI tag will serve either an ad from another advertiser or a PSA ad. This new technology will provide marketers with the most advanced safety mechanism currently in the podcast marketplace and the necessary guardrails to prevent ads from running in controversial content. The VAST Tag offering will be available for both direct and programmatic ad buys. Mental Health in Focus In recent years, mental health has taken on a much larger conversation in public discourse. Happiness is vital whether it’s at the workplace, at home, or within the individual. Podcasting is a space where larger conversations can occur, and people can both educate themselves and hear stories from others who have struggled and are fighting to overcome these complexities. iHeartMedia, the top-ranked publisher in Podtrac’s Monthly Podcast Industry Ranking, is at the forefront in podcasting on this important topic with a slate of podcasts including: Happiness Lab w/ Dr. Laurie Santos: The Yale professor hosts a course at the prestigious university on the science of happiness. She guides listeners through the science and shares inspiration that is aimed at changing the way people think about happiness. On Purpose w/ Jay Shetty: A long running personal development-focused podcast. Recent episodes include Methods to Increase Work Productivity, How to Change Your Social Media Habits and How to Transform a Negative Mindset. Therapy for Black Girls: A podcast hosted by psychologist Dr. Joy Harden Bradford focused on mental health and personal development. Recent episode topics include how does trauma effect the brain, dating and relationships in the digital age, and healing through sound meditation and breathwork. Unbreakable w/ Jay Glazer: NFL Insider Jay Glazer shares his own personal story on mental health living with anxiety and depression. Glazer discusses mental health with celebrities, athletes and coaches. Glazer recently interviewed Olympic Gold Medalist ski racer Lindsey Vonn in what was a candid discussion about her own struggles with depression. Other publishers mentioned content in this category as well, but the podcast that received the biggest reaction from marketers was Cumulus Media’s The Shawn Ryan Show. Ryan, a former U.S. Navy Seal and CIA Contractor, talked about his own struggles with mental health. This podcast focuses on the ups and downs along with the wins and losses endured by people from all walks of life. Betterhelp, the mental health platform that provides online services to consumers, has become one of the largest advertisers in podcasting. Comedian and TV personality Conan O’Brien, host of the award winning Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast, has a long-time partnership with Betterhelp and uses his platform to discuss the importance of mental health. Podcasts are a great source of both entertainment and education, but just as importantly can provide a comforting community when people need it most. Outlook Podcasting continues to be one of the fastest growing digital media channels. With the IAB reporting a 26% year-over-year ad revenue increase in 2022, the medium is now poised to exceed $2 billion in 2023 and approach $4 billion in 2025. With technology enhancements to improve brand safety and an increase in programmatic offerings, there is anticipation that this will garner additional interest in podcasting from large-scale advertisers.

Comcast Starts Low-Cost Streaming Platform NOW TVby

 

Comcast Starts Low-Cost Streaming Platform NOW TV

• by Wayne Friedman , Yesterday

In a move to add direct-to-consumer (D2C) streaming platforms, Comcast is starting a new service -- NOW TV, for a low price at $20 a month.

Built from services coming from its Sky TV operation, NOW TV will have more than 40 live channels from A&E, AMC, Hallmark and Warner Bros. Discovery, plus more than 20 free advertising-supported streaming channels including NBC, Sky and Xumo Play.

NOW TV will also have a free subscription to Peacock Premium.

NOW will be available on the company’s distribution sites including Xfinity.com, Xfinity Streama and Xfinity Flex.

It is also available on Amazon Fire TV, iOS and Android-powered devices.

In a press release, Comcast said: “NOW TV was built to meet the needs of the value-conscious consumer who wants an entertainment product that is simple and convenient with quality programming movies, top shows, live sports, and news."

The announcement did not mention whether broadcast TV channels are included in the service. Typically, broadcast TV stations can mean high distribution carriage fees and subsequently, higher monthly consumer costs.  A Comcast representation confirmed to  Television News Daily no broadcast stations would be part of NOW TV.

 

White House Task Force to Study Social Media's Effect on Teens

• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, Yesterday

Citing concerns over minors' mental health, the Biden administration on Tuesday launched a task force aimed at addressing the impact of social media on teens and children. 

The new group, lead by the Department of Health and Human Services, will “identify current and emerging risks of harm to minors associated with online platforms, as well as potential health benefits of using online platforms,” the White House said when announcing the initiative.

The task force plans to develop “voluntary guidance" along with policy recommendations.

Fairplay, which advocates for children and teens, praised Biden's move and renewed its call for Congress to pass the new laws.

That organization supports the federal Kids Online Safety Act, which would require platforms to take “reasonable measures” to prevent and mitigate a host of harms potentially associated with social media use -- including depression, eating disorders, and online bullying -- when displaying material to users the platforms know or should know are 16 or younger.

Critics of that bill, including the think tank TechFreedom, say the measure could prevent minors from accessing material protected by the First Amendment, which generally protects a wide range of content that might be harmful -- such as photos associated with eating disorders.

News of the White House's task force comes the same day that Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy said in a report that social media use may be unsafe for minors.

“The current body of evidence indicates that while social media may have benefits for some children and adolescents, there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents,” that report states. “At this time, we do not yet have enough evidence to determine if social media is sufficiently safe for children and adolescents.”

That report contains several recommendations, including that policymakers heighten privacy protections for teens.

“Six-in-ten adolescents say they think they have little or no control over the personal information that social media companies collect about them,” the report states.

The Surgeon General's report also calls for “age-appropriate health and safety standards” -- including “protecting children and adolescents from accessing harmful content (e.g., content that encourages eating disorders, violence, substance abuse, sexual exploitation, and suicide or discusses suicide means).”

California, Arkansas and Utah have already passed laws that aim to regulate social media companies.

California's recently enacted Age Appropriate Design Code requires online companies that are likely to be accessed by users under 18 to prioritize their “best interests” and “well-being."

That law also includes prohibits online sites that are likely to be accessed by minors from collecting or sharing their personal information -- unless it's necessary to provide a specific service that the minor is actively using, or unless collecting or sharing the information is in minors' best interests.

The tech industry group NetChoice is seeking to block California's law, arguing it violates the First Amendment by interfering with social media companies' editorial decisions.

Arkansas and Utah have recently passed laws that prohibit minors under 18 from using social media without parental consent. Those laws likely will also be challenged as unconstitutional infringements on teens' right to express themselves online and accessing editorial material.

 

Netflix Finally Lowers The Boom On U.S. Password Sharers, Initiates $8-Per-Month Fee

• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, 9 hours ago

A year after signaling that it would eventually crack down on password sharing in the U.S., as well as its other global markets, Netflix has launched the initiative domestically, with a $7.99 monthly fee for each user outside of an account’s main household location.

The world’s largest streaming service, which estimated that some 100 million households around the world were engaging in password sharing, on Tuesday sent an email to U.S. customers whose accounts are being shared by “someone who doesn’t live with you.”  

If a main account holder is unwilling to pay the additional $7.99 per month, users outside of their  households can start their own paid accounts and transfer their profiles.

The third, unstated option for current password sharers: Simply stop using Netflix.

Extra members can be added for subscribers to the $15.49 Standard plan and the $19.99 Premium plan, but not to Netflix's $6.99 ad-supported plan or the $9.99 no-ads Basic plan. 

“Starting today, we will be sending this email to members who are sharing Netflix outside their household in the United States,” the streamer wrote. “A Netflix account is for use by one household…”

Netflix also rolled out its password sharing ban in other major markets, including the UK, where the monthly fee for adding a user is £4.99 and €5.76.

In an effort to soften the blow, Netflix is emphasizing that everyone living in the account holder’s household can still access the service “on the go” and “on holiday,” as well as at home, and promoting its ongoing commitment to delivering a wealth of quality content.

“We recognize that our members have many entertainment choices,” states the email. “It’s why we continue to invest heavily in a wide variety of new films and TV shows — so whatever your taste, mood or language and whoever you’re watching with, there’s always something satisfying to watch on Netflix.”

The message also mentions two “new features,” both of which are needed to facilitate the transition from free sharing to paid accounts: the profile transfer function, and a “manage access and devices” area where account holders can view details about signed-in devices that have been active on the account in the last 90 days and sign out those devices, if desired.

Reflecting the streaming industry's shift from driving subscriber numbers at all costs to making a profit, Netflix launched its paid sharing program in Latin America last year and started to roll it out in Canada, New Zealand and Portugal, as well as Spain, in February. But it delayed the rollout to the U.S., UK and the rest of its markets from this year’s first quarter to the second quarter, saying it wanted to incorporate more learnings from its earlier experiences before pulling the trigger.

Research firm Kantar has estimated that the password sharing crackdown cost Netflix 1 million subscribers in Spain in Q1 2023.

While Netflix has acknowledged that it had seen a “cancel reaction” in all markets where it has implemented the program, it has also insisted that subscribers will return, and that overall numbers will eventually rebound. In Canada, paid membership is now larger than it was prior to the program’s launch, according to the company.  

“Based on what we have seen in markets where Netflix has rolled out its plan so far there hasn’t been a huge amount of consternation among the subscriber base,” said Richard Broughton, an analyst at Ampere. “Netflix has had plenty of time to test this. It is not too uneconomical to upgrade to add more people, we don’t see large numbers of people furious about not being able to access Netflix for free."

 

Cost Of Advertising Fell in Q1, While Website Visitors Rose, Study Says

• by Ray Schultz , Yesterday

There was some good news for advertisers in Q1: Ad costs were at their lowest level in two years. But conversions fell early in the quarter, although they began to rise later, according to AdRoll’s State of Digital Marketing Report, a study released on Tuesday. 

Compared to Q1 2022, cost of advertising, as measured by CPM (cost per thousand), fell by 33% in Q1 YoY. But this was more the result of the relatively low CPM in Q4 2022 than an unusual drop. 

There was also a 13% increase in website visitors YoY. But there was a 19% decrease in conversions, although this started recovering later in the quarter. 

“While recession concerns may have been top of mind at the start of 2023, these numbers seem to show these financial worries were somewhat shrugged off as the year progressed,” writes Vibhor Kapoor, chief marketing officer at AdRoll.  

Looking forward, CPM will probably rise in the coming months while still remaining below the levels of 2021 and 2022 through the summer.

“The main concern advertisers have now is not budget, but how to allocate that budget,” Kapoor continues. “Return on ad spend (ROAS) is king.” 

The respondents reported using 6.2 different types of paid media, and one said they utilized 17. 

“Imagine how much work is required to understand the ROI across all those channels, never mind optimizing performance,” Kapoor notes.

Kapoor adds, :Maximizing ROAS demands an integrated approach to media planning, assisted by marketing technology that enables marketers to scale their campaigns across more channels without multiplying their workloads.

The channels used included, in this order:

1. Google Search Ads
2. Google Display Ads
3. Facebook Ads
4. Instagram Ads
5. YouTube Ads
6. LinkedIn Ads
7. Microsoft/Bing Ads
8. Direct Mail
9. Twitter Ads
10. Affiliate Marketing
11. Tiktok Ads
12. Influencer Marketing
13. Podcast/Audio Ads
14. Retail Media Networks
15. Pinterest Ads
16. Connected TV (CTV)
17. Snapchat Ads

Kapoor concludes that, as ad budgets shrink and ROAS is prioritized, “retargeting will become an important lever.” 

But marketers need to “to leverage both owned and paid channels to reach and engage with their target audiences” to take advantage of retargeting, Kapoor states.

 

For New Streaming Subs, Complexity Is as Big an Obstacle As Price

• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, 3 hours ago

While price is consistently shown as a top impediment to stacking streaming services, the number of entertainment options available and the complexity of using multiple streamers are just as big of an obstacle, according to the latest wave of streaming research from Hub Entertainment. 

The Hub survey, conducted in March with 3,000 U.S. entertainment decision-makers with broadband, ages 18 to 74, found 82% saying that budget is the main factor limiting their number of subscriptions, but the same percentage agreeing that there is a limit to how many platforms they can use, even if they could afford to have them all. 

Some of this has to do with a proliferation of entertainment options, with gaming and social media taking greater shares of time and disposable income. The average household uses about the same number of premium video sources and non-video sources: 6.1 and 6.7, respectively. Young people and households with kids use significantly more non-video sources.

 

Across categories — including video, audio, gaming, social media, podcasts and reading — the average household is using 12.7 different sources, which is the same as found in 2022’s survey. Younger consumers use more (15.8, on average), and households with kids use the most (16.3). 

But regardless of segment, consumers only consider about half their sources to be “must haves” (“something my household can’t do without”).  All the others are classified as “nice to have — something they might miss if it were gone, but not essential. The 50-50 ratio of “must haves” versus “nice to haves” is consistent across segments.

  

The research “underscores the threat churn represents to entertainment providers,” notes Jon Giegengack, principal at Hub and one of the study’s authors. “Consumers are using many sources, but only half of them are considered essential: the others are at risk of being cut. But the data also show the opportunity for companies that can simplify the user experience. Complexity is as big an impediment as cost — and for companies trying to maximize their bottom line, creating a simpler experience should be more palatable than cutting their price.”