COMMENTARY

What Brands Can Learn From Retail Media

• by Elise Stieferman , July 11, 2022

Data is power in the world of business when used wisely. Data allows you to make smarter, more informed decisions about critical business matters, from store locations to product innovations to P&L. Arguably, compliantly collected consumer data is the most important and valuable piece of information for marketers.

Early entrants in the loyalty marketing space are seeing the enormous opportunity this data holds for their own companies as well as other brands looking to reach those same consumers. Furthermore, brand marketers without access to these robust customer databases are realizing they need to find long-term targeting solutions (and fast) as they face the impending challenges of the cookieless future.

Thus, retail media networks were born and have exploded, with a new solution seeming to emerge every other week.

Marketers who are continually pressured to show immediate ROI are drawn to the end-to-end solutions from targeting to measurement, being able to tie incremental sales to their advertising efforts.

But what are the roots at the foundation of retail media’s success? Trust, segmentation, accountability, scale.

Learn how brands can build on these four key principles of retail media networks and improve their marketing efforts across all channels.

#1 Trust and convenience are everything. This valuable consumer data is available because brand loyalty was a priority for these retailers. And in order to gain brand loyalty, you first have to build trust. Is there consistency in their consumer touchpoints? Are the desired products and services always, or at least consistently, available? Are the employee-customer interactions positive and helpful?

If the answer is yes, the customer will continue to return, warranting the time spent to enroll in a loyalty program. One-time shoppers won’t even spend the two minutes to save $5 if the experience is negative to neutral and they don’t have a reason to return.

#2 Smart customer segmentation and analysis are essential. Without proper segmentation and analysis of your customer base, consumer data is only providing a fraction of its value. Drive learnings from this data collection to help improve the customer experience and provide personalized engagements. By understanding your customers on both a personal level as well as cohorts based on common likes and interests, you will be able to drive affinity through unique offers and discounts, leading to cross-selling, upselling, and incremental store or site visits.  

#3 Accountability is the gateway to success. Retail media is wildly popular with CPG brands because it informs the answer to the question of “Is the marketing working?” Being able to tie ad exposure to sales is important to show how and if marketing efforts are resulting in meaningful business outcomes. Without the proper accountability to understand if your marketing is driving results, you are, at worst, causing waste and, at best, flying blind. Put together a smart strategy to keep your media accountable at each stage of the marketing journey. Even if retail media isn’t the ideal solution for your brand, identify measurement partners that can help you determine if you are moving the needle in the right direction.

#4 Scale sells. When you are talking about retail networks the size of Kroger, Walgreens, and Walmart now offering access to their customer data for targeting, the number of customers alone is enough for marketers to see dollar signs in their eyes. This is especially true for brands whose CRM data is minimal. Lean into these second-party data providers to supplement your own data targeting, while continuing to use lead-generation strategies to grow your data over time.

 

COMMENTARY

Emotional Attachment To TV Commercials - Should We Care?

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, July 11, 2022

Emotional attachment to TV commercials is something NBC wants to consider -- as well as its value for its marketers.

Now before you roll your eyes and take a big sarcastic breath, let’s dig deeper. This isn’t your father's fuzzy consideration of what value a TV advertising is worth. New science is behind it.

Let’s start with the general premise, concerning other TV content -- TV programming.

Kelly Abcarian, executive vice president of measurement and impact for advertising and partnerships at NBCU, in a blog post, suggests that if TV networks continue to hone in on why certain shows emote specific “emotional” attention -- and get high viewership and engagement -- shouldn’t marketers also want the same thing for ad creative?

It kind of makes sense, especially in a streaming world where there can be limited ad availability. Thus, each piece of creative -- with hopefully less frequency as well -- becomes that much more important. At the same time, we know that TV sellers selling streaming ad inventory may want a higher price. (Oh well. You get what you pay for -- mostly).

Consumers would generally rather not want to see any advertising.

Cost is always an issue. Want to spend $15 or $16 a month for the likes of an HBO Max or Netflix, or -- on the other end of things -- $5 or so a month for a Apple TV+, Paramount+, and Peacock? That's the new TV battleground.

So what might then make it easier for consumers when it comes to those lower-priced considerations? Finding the best possible advertising content that goes along with the programming content, that's what.

But what about that "fuzziness" -- creative value attached to emotions for each consumer, and then attached to those TV commercials?

Well, that apparently was in the past. New measurement systems -- such as Dumbstruck -- can combine insights from psychology, cutting-edge facial coding and eye tracking AI, says Abcarian.

Other companies are doing similar work -- including System 1, Emoto.AI, Kantar’s Link Ad Test, and Dynata's Ameritest.

Abcarian says NBC is working on building a “scalable model for creative testing” that “evaluates the emotional resonance of creative.”

This is all to say that future “alternative” measurement systems -- which are all the rage -- should not just be concerning measuring or guaranteeing on a specific set plain-old, diverse pieces of audience data, such as marketers' pre-set business outcomes levels or matching first party data of NBCU viewers with that of first party data of marketers.

The bigger question starts not only figuring out what viewers liked -- whether they were entertained by a commercial -- but what specific emotions were revealed. Consider everything I'm guessing: Cry, laugh, mull, or melancholy gazing into space included.

Legacy Cable TV Operators Continue To Seek Another Bundling Metamorphosis

 

PErhaps good for trqaditional TV broadcasters. Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.

Legacy Cable TV Operators Continue To Seek Another Bundling Metamorphosis

• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Yesterday

Broadband growth for legacy cable TV operators continues to slow down -- while the likes of Comcast, Charter, Altice and others continue to look for the next big thing.

Decades ago these companies and others made a prescient, and obvious, move in transitioning from being just cable TV operators into a fast-growing broadband business (which now makes up the majority of revenues) as many communications lines led into the homes.

But now that business has slowed -- and in future estimates, will continue to weaken -- in terms of subscriber growth. Wells Fargo estimates cable broadband growth to slow to an average of 2.4% per year (2020 to 2025) from around 4%.

Benjamin Swinburne, media analyst at Morgan Stanley, adds: “With competitive intensity rising and cyclical headwinds building, it remains too early in our view to get more bullish on this defensive group within our coverage.”

He sees “the reality of rising cable broadband competition from fixed wireless, an uncertain path to 5G success at Dish [Network], and cyclical pressures at SiriusXM.”

There is some hope, however: Mobile.

With the big three cable operators renewing agreements with mobile partners, it will allow for more “flexibility around packaging and pricing their wireless products within the bundle. Comcast, Charter, and Altice have all come to market with new unlimited wireless offerings starting at $30/line.”

Initial results, according to Swinburne, indicate that net mobile subscribers have initially ticked up.

Longer-term, these companies -- especially Comcast and Charter -- are looking ahead to perhaps move into other modern distribution of content -- the streaming apps distribution business, which Roku and Amazon Fire TV are in. However, those companies have a major head start -- each with around 50 million to 55 million monthly active users currently.

This is not to say that Comcast/Charter (which have a joint venture for a new streaming distribution platform) and perhaps other cable operators, cannot catch up.

Bundling services has always been at the core of their communications operations. Currently, the big bundle elements are cable/video, broadband, and phone (now mobile).

If they can figure out a way to pull in potential consumers -- especially those who are now looking to trim back on services, including cord-cutters -- they might be able to find yet another communication transition.

Then again, those legacy cable TV operators were a key reason why many consumers became “cord-cutters” in the first place: High cable TV monthly fees on the order $90 to $125 a month depending on your favorite estimate.

'Maybe someone needs to redefine then what “bundling” means.

 

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).