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WeChat has become the Swiss Army knife of the socio-digital world in China, says James Hayle, MEC Social Insight Executive The Great Firewall of China, the Chinese government's censorship project, blocks many popular western sites and services such as Facebook, Google, Twitter and Instagram.
Social media hasn't set the ad industry back, nor is it a poor misguided cast-off. Brands that get it right, benefit from campaigns with greater reach, engagement and creativity By Ed Kitchingman, MEC Ian Leslie wrote a much-praised piece last year in the Financial Times on How the Mad Men lost the plot .
In this blog, MEC's Ed Kitchingman suggests that Social media hasn't set the ad industry back, nor is it a poor misguided cast-off.
In this blog GroupM’s Adam Smith examines the ad forecast for 2016 and explains some of the reasons why UK ad investment could be outrunning GDP growth for five years in a row.
In the fast-moving world of social platforms, Facebook and Twitter are now part of the establishment and using TV advertising to fend off new and innovative rivals.
Programmatic is not a revolution, but a necessary evolution and will drive agencies, advertisers, and media owners to understand and develop new ways of collaboration.
The most effective examples of hashtags in ads have been where they lead the way to a social media campaign, which engage the audience and speak their language.
All channels, apart from news and magazine brands, saw increases in adspend, with overall mobile adspend in the first half of 2015 hitting the billion-pound mark for the first time.
Fast-growing markets, such as China and Indonesia, dominate VPN usage. However, flying under the measurement radar could lead them to suffer from a lack of investment in digital.
With a plethora of information coming from traditional media, new media and word of mouth, brands that develop relevant messaging will appeal to mums.
Twitch.tv dominates the esports streaming services in the West. Its unique audience allows brands to target hard-to-reach young, high-income, tech-savvy males.
The annual report on the UK's media habits reveals a steady increase in the use of video-on-demand services, smartphones and mobile online behaviour through 4G.
The popular social media app may be the 'coolest', but it should reconsider its aversion to data if it is to compete with Facebook and Twitter for advertising.
The UK is always vulnerable to external shocks, but media has run ahead of GDP since 2010, and if it does so in 2016, UK media investment will have reclaimed its 2007 peak in real terms.
With a decline in active users, Facebook has turned its attention to other areas such as video, messaging and offering internet access to impoverished countries.
This post is by Rebecca Newman, research executive at MEC. As streaming services, such as Netflix, grow in popularity, advertisers should be aware of audience discomfort over what is seen as inappropriate content.
This post is by Gearóid Godson, It's impossible to have missed the exponential rise in the popularity of instant messaging apps over the last couple of years.
This post is by Louise Twycross-Lewis Mobile is increasingly becoming the number-one platform for digital transactions, with smartphones set to become the dominant device.
This post is by Edward Kitchingman. Despite the strong performance of rivals such as Instagram, whatsapp and Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook are fighting back in the social war.
This post is by Kathryn Saxon, research group consultant director at MEC. Personalisation is a priority for marketers in 2015, though we still have some time to go until consumers fully embrace it.
This post is by Jo Coombes, Senior Research Executive at MEC. Despite slowing sales, tablet devices will continue to increase penetration and with more models emerging, the iPad's dominance will be challenged.
This post is by Millie Thakker, a graduate at MEC. As more of us carry the technology to create videos wherever we go, it is no surprise that online video will become the fastest-growing form of advertising.
This post by GroupM's Adam Smith summarises the latest forecasts for 2015 ad expenditure in the UK and how they will impact on media categories.
The two celebrity-based programmes still attract high viewing figures but what do their fans think their characteristics are? Jo Coombes of MEC finds out.
With reference to Kantar Media's recent study, MEC's Matthew Knowles analyses the extent to which the popularity of TV shows are reflected in the volume of viewers' tweets.
About MEC
MEC, the media agency, contributes regular posts on topical issues relating to media planning and research.