Author: Jazmin Brooks

‘Ad Mix Synergy: Myth or Reality?’ Study Compared Combinations of Linear, CTV and Mobile Ad Buys to Reveal Best Scenarios for Purchase Intent and Brand Awareness

New York, NY- November 2, 2022 – A new study by MAGNA Media Trials, MAGNA’s industry-leading proprietary research offering, in partnership with Spectrum Reach, the advertising sales business of Charter Communications, Inc., reveals that consumers are more likely to respond to advertising if they see it across different screens, with 41% of survey respondents claiming better recall when they had seen the same spot across linear, connected TV (CTV) and mobile devices.

The “Ad Mix Synergy: Myth or Reality?,” study explored the impact of advertising when viewed across single or multiple media screens, testing combinations of linear TV, CTV, and mobile for recall, retention, search intent and purchase intent. The study found that not only does a multiscreen approach increase ad attention and retention, it also increases purchase intent. Also, the order in which the various screens are employed also impacts ad effectiveness. For example, leading with linear TV on a cross-platform campaign lifted purchase intent by 25%, with streaming first and mobile hitting 14% and 4%, respectively.

“The study confirmed that brands will do the best job telling their story when their spot is delivered across multiple screens,” said Kara Manatt, EVP, Managing Director Intelligence Solutions, at MAGNA. “It also shows that, when possible, brands should plan the order in which ads are delivered across screens with a focus on casting the widest attention net in the first exposure.”

This same pattern held true for unaided brand awareness and search intent in a multiscreen buy. A linear-first approach lifted unaided brand awareness by 44%, with streaming first at 29% and mobile first at 26%. As for search intent, 21% of respondents responded positively to campaigns that were linear-first, with streaming at 11% and mobile at 7%.

“The findings reaffirm what our customers have already recognized –  the importance of linear TV and power of multiscreen advertising to deliver full-funnel results,” said Michael Guth, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Spectrum Reach.

Additional findings from the study include:

• Three forms of media are better than two, or one: Of the viewers who were exposed to three types of advertising, 81% of them agreed the message was clearly communicated, and 39% felt the ads had provided new information. Yet, these numbers are significantly lower when viewers were only shown one or two types.
• The right combination of media is critical: Purchase intent increased 13% when the combination of CTV, linear TV, and mobile were all used. However, CTV seems to be the main driver as CTV and mobile increased intent by 11% and CTV-only increased intent by 10%.
• Ad fatigue is real: Over 25% of viewers felt that they had seen “too much” of a brand when they were exposed to multiple ads on linear TV and CTV. Brands wanting to avoid this need to diversify their platforms, once they have exhausted the bigger-screen options.

“Ad Mix Synergy: Myth or Reality?” surveyed 1,684 people who qualified for the study based on natural media consumptions over one week. Panelists were randomized into test and control groups and took a brand lift survey to measure the KPIs.

The full study is available here.

About MAGNA

MAGNA is the leading global media investment and intelligence company. Our trusted insights, proprietary trials offerings, industry-leading negotiation and unparalleled consultative solutions deliver an actionable marketplace advantage for our clients and subscribers.

We are a team of experts driven by results, integrity and inquisitiveness. We operate across five key competencies, supporting clients and cross-functional teams through partnership, education, accountability, connectivity and enablement. For more information, please visit our website: https://magnaglobal.com/ and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Spectrum Reach

Spectrum Reach®, the advertising sales business of Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR), provides custom advertising solutions for local, regional and national clients. Operating in 36 states, 91 markets and nearly 100 DMAs, Spectrum Reach creates scalable advertising and marketing services driven by aggregated and de-identified data insights and award-winning creative services. Spectrum Reach is the one-stop shop that helps businesses of all sizes reach anyone, anywhere, on any screen. Additional information about Spectrum Reach can be found at spectrumreach.com.

 

Media Contacts:

Zinnia Gill
Mediabrands
[email protected]

Stacey Mitch
Charter Communications
[email protected]

MAGNA of IPG Mediabrands distilled 610 Nielsen podcast studies to determine best practices, including when to use host-read copy, why longer ads work best and how industries differ

New York, NY- October 26, 2022 – A new meta-analysis on the advertising effectiveness of podcasts, commissioned by MAGNA and conducted by Nielsen, represents the largest ever undertaken. It included 610 separate studies and involved over 140,000 respondents. “Podcast Ad Effectiveness: Best Practices for Key Industries”, released today, reveals the consumer impact of podcast advertising in driving key brand metrics. The study found that while podcast ads are generally effective at driving key brand metrics, fine-tuning the placement and structure of ads can create even more value for advertisers. In addition, longer creative generally drives higher lifts, but 35-seconds to a minute seems to strike the right balance between results and the listener experience. The study also found that custom content seems best suited for brands seeking to build awareness, as recall is strong.

Another key finding of the report is that brands seeking to reach Hispanic/Latinx or Asian American listeners, should leverage podcasts in their advertising strategies as they are particularly good at driving mid-to-lower funnel metrics. Also, ad copy with eight or more brand mentions consistently drives higher lifts than creative with fewer mentions. The study findings recommend brands focus on pre- and mid-roll placements to maximize impact and should also consider which ad type to use based on brand KPIs: For example, non-host read ads can be existing audio creative—and thus more cost effective and easier to use for dynamic insertion—but without sacrificing too much in terms of results, whereas host read ads are better for building awareness and driving search.

Podcast advertising proved to be particularly effective at improving aided awareness, with 79% of those surveyed recalling spots, a 15% lift over control groups. The study also found a 7% increase between control and exposed groups for intent to seek information, a 6% lift in recommendation intent and 5% lift in purchase intent. The report also revealed how listeners responded to familiar hallmarks of the medium, such as host-read ads and long-form spots. Host-read ads proved to be particularly effective at driving listeners to search for more information (+7% lift) and ads that were longer than one minute delivered higher scores on search intent (+8%) and purchase intent (+6%). Other conclusions included adults aged 50 and older clocking larger gains across affinity, search, purchase and recommendation intent than younger demographics.

“Podcasts are one of the few growth areas in terms of consumer time spent with media, and as more of our clients invest in the space, we wanted to surface best practices to maximize impact,” said Brian Hughes, EVP, Managing Director, Audience Intelligence & Strategy at MAGNA. “By leveraging the extensive work Nielsen had already done in this space, we were able to not only create overarching guidelines, but uncover useful nuances for specific industries.”

“Podcast Ad Effectiveness: Best Practices for Key Industries” also identified characteristics that were unique to auto, CPG, financial services, retail, and telecom categories that advertisers can factor into their decision-making. Key highlights of the study include:

● Sports Wins for Auto Brands: Sports podcasts delivered stronger results for affinity (+7%) and intent to seek information (+8%) compared to comedy and society & culture podcasts.
● Repetition is Good for CPG Advertisers: While 8 or more brand mentions in a spot performed better in podcast advertising in general, repetition proved to deliver even stronger results for CPG brands, for example earning a 7% lift for purchase intent, compared to 6% for all advertisers.
● No News/Good News for Financial Brands: Counter-intuitively, financial services ads scored much better, across all metrics, on sports and society & culture podcasts compared to news shows–for example, purchase intent rated +8% for sports, +5% for society & culture and only +1% on news podcasts.
● Telecom Take 2: Podcasts can add incremental reach on top of media where younger audiences are harder to connect with, like broadcast and cable TV.
● The Read on Retail: While non-host-read ads scored better in increasing familiarity lower down the funnel (+4% in exposed vs. control groups), host-read ads scored better for affinity (+6%) and search (=8%), purchase (+5%) and recommendation intent (+5%).

“Podcasts continue to grow and represent a vibrant medium for brands with dialed-in, active audiences who are eager to engage,” said Arica Mckinnon, Vice President of Solutions Consulting, Nielsen. “Our research continues to uncover how podcasts can push behavior through the funnel and how brands fine-tune their campaigns for better results across categories, unlocking new opportunities for consumer engagement.”

“Podcast Ad Effectiveness: Best Practices for Key Industries” analyzed findings from 610 Nielsen Brand Impact simulated studies, encompassing 147,525 respondents, age 13 and up between 2018 and this year, examining both macro trends and drill-down insights across six major advertising categories including auto, CPG, financial services, retail and telecom.

The full study can be found here.

About MAGNA
MAGNA is the leading global media investment and intelligence company. Our trusted insights, proprietary trials offerings, industry-leading negotiation and unparalleled consultative solutions deliver an actionable marketplace advantage for our clients and subscribers.

We are a team of experts driven by results, integrity and inquisitiveness. We operate across five key competencies, supporting clients and cross-functional teams through partnership, education, accountability, connectivity and enablement. For more information, please visit our website: https://magnaglobal.com/ and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Nielsen
Nielsen shapes the world’s media and content as a global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics. Through our understanding of people and their behaviors across all channels and platforms, we empower our clients with independent and actionable intelligence so they can connect and engage with their audiences—now and into the future.
An S&P 500 company, Nielsen (NYSE: NLSN) operates around the world in more than 55 countries. Learn more at www.nielsen.com or www.nielsen.com/investors and connect with us on social media.

Press Contact:
Zinnia Gill
Vice President, Global Corporate Communications
Mediabrands
[email protected]

Pre-eminent industry barometer transforms into an actionable tool for brands to evaluate responsibility of multiple media types across 150+ global partners  

NEW YORK (October 13, 2022) — IPG Mediabrands and its intelligence arm MAGNA, today unveiled the 4^th issue of its signature Media Responsibility Index (MRI 4.0), an initiative that strives to raise industry awareness and standards around harm reduction for brands and consumers in advertising. MRI 4.0 has transformed from an analytical study of 10 social platforms into an actionable toolset, now assessing 150+ partners from a variety of formats across 15 countries and establishing four new ESG-aligned priorities for partner accountability.

The index allows for teams and clients to incorporate brand and consumer safety priorities into their investment decision-making for a variety of media types, from the largest global social platforms to local broadcast media outlets.

The original MRI, the first-of-its kind, was launched in August 2020, in response to concerns about social media platforms not taking steps to acknowledge, measure and reduce their contribution to online and real-world harms. In effect supersized, MRI 4.0’s evaluations now encompass 80% of Mediabrands’ global investments and allow for clients to identify and invest in the media outlets that support their values without compromising ROI.

MRI 4.0 assessed each outlet across four priorities of partner accountability—Safety, Inclusivity, Sustainability and Data Ethics—in alignment with industry-adopted ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) frameworks so businesses can easily extend how they are measuring their impact in these spaces to include media. Previous versions of the MRI had ranked the platforms upon Mediabrands’ 10 Media Responsibility Principles, which are now consolidated within the four priorities.

More than 150 major partners were surveyed, expanding into the realms of Broadcast & Cable, Connected TV, Online Video, and Display. Across Broadcast & Cable, the traditional-first networks also span several subsidiary companies across Connected TV and Online Video properties; The findings illuminated that strict, longstanding federal regulations within Broadcast & Cable have had a trickle-down effect to their digital properties, in effect enhancing safety standards when compared to digital-first counterparts surveyed.

“We developed our first media responsibility index in 2020 to determine exact protocols of the major platforms, as people started questioning the impact of social media in their lives, from the prevalence of misinformation to hate speech and data-collection practices,” said Elijah Harris, EVP Global Digital Partnerships & Media Responsibility at MAGNA. “We have always believed in the need to bring the lens of media responsibility to a broader set of media types. Consumers digest content and opinions from an ever-increasing list of mediums. It only made sense that this rigor we’ve developed for social platforms would be translated for a more diversified mix of media partners. With each iteration, the MRI is becoming more robust and establishing itself as a mainstay in driving industry accountability and powering responsible advertising investment.”

Key highlights include:

• Social media platforms showed continued improvement across the four priorities (averaging +3-point in overall performance). Partners attained a ~10% increase in Inclusivity, driven by increased focus on internal accountability and creator equity.
• Safety is a standout priority for broadcast & cable, based in part on federal industry regulations forcing uniformity and 3^rd party enforcement in safety standards – including children’s safety rules and advertising approvals.
• Tech proficient digital-first CTV partners are driving higher Data Ethics performance than their traditional-first counterparts, in part due to their origins and operating in a more tech-oriented space, versus a TV-first space
• In a mixed marketplace for Sustainability practices, online video platforms showed strength in their ad-business emissions measurement + setting net-zero goals.

Advertising environments remain under the microscope as brands pursue ESG commitments and consumers become more critical of where brands choose to advertise. A Mediabrands survey found that one-quarter of clients adjusted their media mix based on MRI findings, and 90% said they were interested in finding new methods to assess media value beyond price efficiency alone.

“The MRI is an important underpinning of our Media for Good positioning, putting responsibility at the heart of every media decision, as concern over the interplay and societal impact of advertising, media and misinformation increases,” said Eileen Kiernan, Global CEO of Mediabrands. “Our clients are increasingly pursuing ESG criteria within their own businesses and we are providing a resource to support these goals along with advocating for stronger, safer standards in media.”

Examples include Snap achieving a 6-point lift YoY, outperforming all platforms in its efforts to protect people and combat misinformation and disinformation due to their robust publisher diligence; TikTok continuing to raise the bar, gaining an 8-point lift on brand safety practices and 24-point lift in children’s wellbeing; and YouTube setting the benchmark for online video across all categories, most notably in Inclusivity for delivering 60% diversity in behind the camera casting for owned and diverse content, and Safety for their policy and enforcement tools to manage UGC.

“Looking back at the strides made by social-media platforms since 2020 not only validated the need for a media responsibility monitor, it motivated us to expand the lens of media responsibility to more media types and markets,” said Harris. “We are proud to be a part of the greater journey to make social media safer for all and excited about the opportunity to improve our industry for all.”

“The 4A’s has been proud to endorse the Media Responsibility Index as an important tool for advertisers to assess how the big social-media players are handling safety issues on their platforms,” said Marla Kaplowitz, President and CEO, 4A’s. “Expanding to include other media types and global markets is a welcome next step.”

To compile MRI 4.0, MAGNA surveyed 150+ global media partners on a dynamic assessment, customized by media type, covering the most pressing safety issues of the day facing consumers and brands and specific accomplishments made by these outlets to help alleviate them. Scores were analyzed based on the varying weights of each question, as well as nuance within the individual platform, against the four brand-safety priorities.

ABOUT MEDIABRANDS:

IPG Mediabrands is the media and marketing solutions division of Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG). Mediabrands manages approximately $40 billion in marketing investment globally on behalf of its clients and provides strategic services and solutions across its award-winning, full-service agency networks UM and Initiative and through its innovative marketing specialist companies Reprise, MAGNA, Orion, Rapport, Healix, Mediabrands Content Studio and the IPG Media Lab. Mediabrands clients include many of the world’s most recognizable and iconic brands from a broad portfolio of industry sectors.  The company employs more than 13,000 marketing experts in more than 130 countries representing the full diversity of humanity. For more information, please visit our website: www.ipgmediabrands.com and be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram.

ABOUT MAGNA:

MAGNA is the leading global media investment and intelligence company. Our trusted insights, proprietary trials offerings, industry-leading negotiation and unparalleled consultative solutions deliver an actionable marketplace advantage for our clients and subscribers. We are a team of experts driven by results, integrity and inquisitiveness. We operate across five key competencies, supporting clients and cross-functional teams through partnership, education, accountability, connectivity and enablement. For more information, please visit our website: https://magnaglobal.com/ and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

 

PRESS CONTACT:

Isabelle Brenton

SVP, Global Corporate Communications, Mediabrands

[email protected]

INNOVATION KEEPS THE AD MARKET MOVING

KEY FINDINGS
• In the wake of a historically strong 2021, U.S. media owner’s advertising revenues grew by +11% to $151 billion in the first half of 2022, based on financial reports.
• Media channel performance varied greatly in the first half with strong revenue growth in out-of-home (+30%), and robust growth in keyword formats (search, retail media) (+19%), contrasted against stagnation in social media (+3%).
• The weaker economic environment will cause several industry verticals to reduce ad spend in the second half, but stronger-than-expected political spending will mitigate the impact on revenues of media owners.
• Full-year media owner revenues will thus cross the $300bn market for the first time, to reach $323bn. That’s +9.8% above 2021 levels (+8.1% if we only consider non-cyclical ad spend and exclude political dollars).
• For 2023, the continued economic slowdown and the lack of major cyclical events led MAGNA to reduce its growth forecast to +4.8% from +5.8% in the previous report.
• MAGNA expects Entertainment (Movies, Streaming), Travel and Betting to grow advertising spending next year, possibly joined by Automotive as the car market finally stabilizes.
• Keyword search formats (+13%) and OOH (+8%) will continue to outperform, while long-form AVOD spending will be driven by the addition of ad-supported tiers from Disney+ and Netflix (+33%).

Vincent Létang, EVP Global Market Intelligence at MAGNA and author of the report, commented: “Following a strong first half, non-cyclical advertising spending is slowing down as several industries are facing an uncertain economic environment. There are several growth factors that will help stabilize media owner ad revenues in coming months, however. In the short-term (2H22) cyclical factors: Billions of ad dollars will be spent by political campaigns in TV, direct mail, and digital media. In the mid-term (2023) there will be multiple organic growth factors, driven by marketing technology innovation: Retail media networks bringing below-the-line marketing budgets into digital media, programmatic spending in digital audio and digital OOH formats, and the expansion of AVOD and CTV advertising with new ad-supported tiers from Disney+ and Netflix.”

FIRST HALF RECAP: A STRONG START FOR AD SPEND

Based on the analysis of media owner’s financial reports, MAGNA estimates that total net advertising sales grew by +11% year-over-year in the first half of 2022 to reach $151 billion. Ad sales grew by +14% year-over-year in the first quarter, and by +7% in the second quarter (+4% above first quarter).
OOH was the fastest growing ad format (+30% year-over-year). OOH media is driven by the recovery of consumer mobility since January and return of national and local advertisers following the deep COVID decline in 2020. MAGNA just published a detailed report on global OOH trends, looking at the growth of OOH ad sales in the U.S. and internationally. Cinema advertising grew by +430% in the first half, as both blockbusters and moviegoers finally returned en masse into theaters.
Other growth formats in 1H22 included Search (+19%), Digital Audio (audio streaming and podcasting, +19%), AVOD/CTV (Hulu, Peacock, etc. +18%) and short-form digital video formats (YouTube, Twitch, etc. +14%).
On the other hand, social media ad sales continued to slow down dramatically, from +38% in 2021 to +7.5% in the first quarter and -1% in the second quarter, to end the first half up by just +3% to $30 billion. Social media apps continue to suffer from the reduced access to user data in the iOS environment, which impacts the attractiveness and pricing power of social ad formats, while total social media usage has reached maturity.
Meanwhile, traditional linear ad sales slowed down in the first half. National television sales increased +2% to $20bn, partly thanks to incremental ad sales around Beijing Winter Olympics. Local TV sales rose +10% to $9bn in the first half, thanks to political spending, or +2% on an underlying basis.

SECOND HALF AND FULL YEAR 2022: CYCLICAL DOLLARS HELP MITIGATE THE IMPACT OF ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN

Economic uncertainty and rising inflation are affecting several industries and driving brands and local businesses to moderate their marketing expenses in the second half. CPG verticals (food, drinks, personal care, and household goods) are especially at risk as they are forced to increase product prices and face the possibility of consumers trading down in favor of cheaper brands. Restaurants and retail face a similar business challenge while some industries, like mortgage lenders, see their businesses suffer from the rise of interest rates.

As a result, MAGNA anticipates non-cyclical ad spend will slow down to +6.6% in the second half. This will be offset by the record influx of cyclical ad spend around the mid-term elections and the soccer World Cup in November. Based on unprecedently large fund-raising year-to-date, MAGNA expects political advertising spending to grow by +63% over the previous mid-term cycle (2018) and generate $7.3 billion in incremental advertising revenue for media owners, with 70% of it concentrated in the second half. Local television will attract almost two-thirds of that total, as political ad sales will account for 25% of total local TV ad revenue this year (and more for stations in “battleground” markets). Digital media formats will receive $1.3 billion from political campaigns, with sales up between +150% and +200% for search, digital video, and social formats.
With a strong first half and political advertising mitigating the slowdown in the second half, MAGNA expects full-year, all-media advertising revenues to surpass the $300bn mark for the first time and reach $323bn this year. That represents an increase of $29 billion over 2021 (+9.8%), with non-cyclical underlying growth at +8.1%.
On a full-year basis, cross-platform video will grow by +8% (linear television -3%, local TV +22%, AVOD +22%). Cross-platform audio (radio, audio streaming) will increase by +7%, OOH by +22% and cinema by +138%. Among “direct” media formats, search will grow by +17%, direct mail by +8% and social media by +4%.

2023: ORGANIC FACTORS KEEP THE AD MARKET GROWING

The lack of major cyclical events and the weakness of the economic outlook has led MAGNA to reduce its advertising forecast for 2023.
In terms of industry spending, MAGNA anticipates below-average growth for CPG verticals, Finance and Retail. On the other hand, Entertainment ad spend will grow from the continued recovery of moviegoing and re-ignited competition in the AVOD/SVOD industry. Travel will continue to recover, and Online Betting will develop further as more large states (Ohio for sure, possibly Texas, California and Florida) may legalize the activity at some point during the year. Finally, there’s hope that the Automotive vertical may start to recover in 2023 after two years of decline in car sales and advertising activity. Car sales have stabilized since August, mostly due to a comparison effect (they had started to fall a year before), and, as soon as the supply-chain conditions and production capacities improve, manufacturers and car dealers will compete again to meet the pent-up demand.
Nevertheless, MAGNA still expects total ad revenue to grow in 2023 (+4.8% vs. +5.8% in our prior forecast) thanks to organic drivers, many of them derived from innovation in media offering and media technology. Among these:
The rise of retail media networks. Retail media advertising will increase from $31 billion this year to $42 billion in 2023. The bulk of it comes from Amazon’s product search but all other large retailers are now developing advertising sales through keyword search or display ads on their apps and websites. Retail media is mostly fueled by consumer brands reallocating below-the-line, trade-marketing budgets from in-store towards digital retail networks, as a greater percentage of retail sales comes from e-commerce. Furthermore, retail-owned media networks are mostly immune from the privacy-based limitations on data usage and targeting, that display or social media owner’s face, because they can leverage their own first-party data.
The expansion of AVOD. The transition from linear to on-demand, CTV-based television has been going on for 10 years, and it has been mostly SVOD-centric until now. The imminent launch of cheaper, ad-supported tiers from both Netflix and Disney+ will expand the reach and ad inventory offered by AVOD. While the two new offerings may take ad budgets from other media properties (AVOD or linear TV) MAGNA believes these new offerings will “grow the pie” rather than cannibalize existing budgets or incumbent vendors like Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+ and “FAST” channels, which will continue to grow. As a result, the long-form AVOD/CTV segment will accelerate from +22% in 2022 to +33% in 2023, to reach $6.3 billion in total advertising sales.

Next MAGNA forecast (U.S. and Global): December 2022

U.S. NET ADVERTISING REVENUE: GROWTH FORECASTS

 

ABOUT THE RESEARCH
The MAGNA research is media centric. It monitors net media owners advertising revenues based on a bottom-up analysis of financial reports and data from media trade organizations; other ad market studies are based on tracking ad insertions or consolidating agency billings. The MAGNA approach provides the most accurate and comprehensive picture of the market as it captures total net media owners’ ad revenues coming from national consumer brands’ spending as well as small, local, “direct” advertisers. Forecasts are based on economic outlook and market shares dynamic. The full report contains more granular media breakdowns and forecasts to 2025, for 70 markets.

Next Global Forecast: December 2022 – Next U.S. Forecast: September 2022.

ABOUT MAGNA
MAGNA is the leading global media investment and intelligence company. Our trusted insights, proprietary trials offerings, industry-leading negotiation and unparalleled consultative solutions deliver an actionable marketplace advantage for our clients and subscribers.

We are a team of experts driven by results, integrity and inquisitiveness. We operate across five key competencies, supporting clients and cross-functional teams through partnership, education, accountability, connectivity and enablement. For more information, please visit our website: https://magnaglobal.com/and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
MAGNA has set the industry standard for more than 60 years by predicting the future of media value. We publish more than 40 reports per year on audience trends, media spend and market demand as well as ad effectiveness.

To access full reports and databases or to learn more about our market research services, contact [email protected].