WARC Talks: 3 in 15 – Working with creators

In this episode of the WARC podcast, Lena Roland, Head of Content for WARC Strategy talks to Catherine Driscoll, Commissioning Editor for EMEA, about the latest WARC Guide to working with creators.

As the digital media landscape continues to evolve apace, new dynamics are emerging between brands and the creators they partner with online. Creators are challenging established brands by entering the packaged goods space; think MrBeast Burger, or PRIME. 

This episode also addresses best practices for brands partnering with creators and how to measure the impact of influencer campaigns.

Listen to the full episode here

Timestamps

01:19 – Evolving brand-creator relationships.

04:58 – Creators and physical products.

07:53 – Best practices for working with creators.

11:15 – Measuring the impact of influencer campaigns.

14:22 – Diversity and equity in influencer marketing.

See the full list of WARC podcasts here

WARC Media Platform Insights: YouTube

YouTube continues to command a strong position in the online video advertising market and is actively looking for ways to forge deeper connections with viewers, creators and brands through multi-format video strategies.

Context 

YouTube is prioritising Shorts and CTV engagement, and is innovating with unskippable 30-second ads and “pause experiences” on TV to help marketers engage audiences across screens and achieve both performance and brand-building goals.

Takeaways 

• Ad investment with YouTube is set to rise 4.0% in 2023 to reach $30.4bn

That marks a turnaround from Q4 2022 when ad revenue declined 8.8% year-on-year, as marketers shifted investment to retail media and search. But growth is expected to resume in 2023, at more than double the rate of growth recorded in 2022. WARC Media forecasts YouTube’s revenue growth to accelerate 10.3% in 2024, to reach $33.5bn by the end of that year.

• Commerce brands are expected to spend $4.1bn on YouTube ads in 2023 

This is a 4.6% rise on 2022. Retail remains YouTube’s most important category for ad investment, but growth from other sectors has been harder to achieve. While some categories will see double digit spending increases in 2023, including technology and electronics (+13.9%) and toiletries and cosmetics (+12.1%), figures elsewhere are more modest.

• YouTube advertisers can reach half of all internet users globally. More than one billion hours of video are watched every day on YouTube

YouTube is the world’s most popular online platform, with an adult advertising reach estimated at 2.07 billion people, almost twice as much as TikTok and Instagram respectively. YouTube Shorts (60 seconds or less) will provide more opportunities for marketers to reach new audiences, but its 50 billion daily viewer total is some way behind the 140 billion daily views achieved by Instagram Reels; under-18s, meanwhile, spend on average 60% longer on TikTok than with YouTube content.

• YouTube has overtaken Netflix as the biggest TV streaming platform in the US

YouTube accounted for 22.9% of OTT viewing in March 2023. It is also the most popular channel for US Gen Zs to catch up with sports news, and last year it was the most popular platform for both music and podcast listening in the US.

APAC is a key growth region for YouTube – from live shopping and Shorts to gaming – while in Latin America, YouTube delivers brand impact more cost-effectively than any other video platform, according to research by Kantar.

Platform Insights is a new series of reports exclusive to WARC Media subscribers. These include an overview of platform investments, media consumption and performance insights. More information is available here.

Apple’s India strategy taps deep demand

New reports from Apple’s latest retail locations in India indicate strong demand for the tech giant’s products in a market of major focus as its first two stores set electronics sales records.

Why it matters

Apple’s Mumbai (pictured) and New Delhi stores, which opened in late April, were not only a sign of a pivot towards India as a source of new sales in a high-potential market, but also for manufacturing operations as it moves away from its reliance on China.

Of course, new device sales aren’t the end of the process: the iPhone maker’s deeper services strategy, including its burgeoning advertising business, will be key to its India strategy.

The story

First reported in the Economic Times, industry executives aware of the stores’ performance tell the paper that they have made gross monthly sales of ₹22-25 crore ($266,9326 to $303,325).

Largely, one source says, it’s down to “the fact that the average selling price of Apple products is much higher, which leads to higher revenue,” adding that sales “have far exceeded” Apple’s own internal estimates.

In context

• The presence of the stores is somewhat symbolic, as the figures are a small part of the $6bn of sales the company made in India in 2022.
• Overall India sales are expected to grow 31% this year, a strong subsequent act on 2022’s nearly 50% year-on-year growth.
• More broadly, new product sales are only part of the strategy in a relatively price-sensitive market like India, where a lot of potential to bring people into Apple’s ecosystem exists alongside the aspirational purchases of the fast-growing middle class.

Sourced from the Economic Times, WARC, Reuters 

[Image: Apple]

Digital ad spend slowdown set to persist until 2025

The days of fast-paced, double-digit percentage year-on-year growth in global digital advertising spend may be gone for good, a new forecast by Dentsu suggests. 

Why it matters

The industry has witnessed two decades of rapid market expansion for digital media. Dentsu figures show that digital ad investment growth has only dipped into single digits twice previously: in 2009, at the height of the global financial crisis, and again in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, Dentsu’s latest report predicts a 6.6% three-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in worldwide digital ad spend to 2025, with year-on-year decelerating from +7.8% in 2023 to +5.9% in 2025. It appears to confirm that digital media is nearing the top of its ‘S-curve’ and entering a period of slower, more steady growth. 

Exceptions to the rule

Despite the slowdown in investment with established digital ad formats like display (+7.3% in 2023, totalling $224.8bn worldwide) and search (+8.9%, $150.0bn), some parts of the digital ecosystem are seeing much higher rates of growth. 

As more inventory becomes available and technology improves, both connected TV (+22.3% three-year CAGR to 2025) and retail media (+20.4% three-year CAGR) are expected to markedly outpace the wider digital sector. 

Social spend is also forecast to maintain double-digit growth (+12.8% three-year CAGR), assisted by the adoption of social commerce and the popularity of short-form video platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels.

Key quote

“We still expect global advertising spend to grow despite the economic uncertainty. However, media price inflation is the true driver of this increase and hides the more lacklustre reality: 2023 will be a flat year for ad spend” – Peter Huijboom, Dentsu.

Sourced from Dentsu

WARC Creative Ideas that work: Combining creativity and media

How do brands navigate a fragmenting media and content landscape, and build ideas that can work across it? This report looks at the intersection of creativity and media using three award-winning case studies.

Context 

Media is one of the main levers that marketers can pull to generate effectiveness: the more channels you use, the more effective your campaign tends to be. But the mix of those channels, and how marketers use them, has in some cases become detached from the creativity, with creative agencies and media agencies working in silos. 

When planning for reach and brand recognition, the media framework into which brands place their creative is a vital part of the effectiveness equation - this report explores how the very best have put these ideas into practice.

Takeaways

• Channel mix: Leading brands effectively maximise the number of media channels in the mix; but the magic lies in the integration of those channels: how they work together to achieve campaign objectives.
• Partnership with influential allies is an effective way to extend a campaign’s reach and strengthen its credibility, particularly when the messaging is emotional or cause-focused.
• Participation: When consumers are an active part of a campaign’s story, their attention is kept for longer and memory encoding is stronger. The campaigns highlighted in this report reveal the gains achieved from participatory elements. 
• Distinction: Re-imagine the use of media to stand out from the crowd. These campaigns took traditional channels and innovated with them. Dove turned a billboard into a live stunt and Volkswagen turned a TV spot into the start of an online, gamified customer journey.
• Use media to be unmissable. Remember that media can be used multiple times, in different ways to reach different audiences. The case studies in this report show how multifaceted approaches within the same media channel can combat audience fragmentation. 

Ideas that work is a new series of reports exclusive to WARC Creative subscribers, read the first of these here. These include an analysis of a trend or theme using three award winning campaigns from the WARC Creative platform. More information is available here. 

New categories turn to children’s genre during India’s summer

Summer holidays mean children watching TV for longer than usual and that is attracting more of India’s advertisers to the kids’ genre.

Why it matters

Despite the attractions of digital platforms, TV remains the preferred visual medium for a majority of children in India. Consequently, children’s channels like Cartoon Network, POGO, Discovery Kids, Sony YAY! and Nickelodeon all develop new offerings for the summer period. And parental co-viewing attracts different advertising categories – with some coming just for the summer season, according to an industry executive speaking to e4m.

Takeaways

• 2022 research by Sony YAY! and Kantar found 57% of children surveyed preferred watching TV; just 10% watched only content on OTT, while 33% watched both. 
• Locally developed and local language content has been an important factor in boosting viewership in the children’s genre.
• Japanese anime is popular among young adults and children thanks to increased exposure to global and local content.
• With parents and children often watching together, brands in diverse categories are advertising on children’s channels, including: snacks, food and beverages, stationery, personal care, home care, and consumer durables.

Key quote 

“These are fascinating times we live in. Children nowadays are confident in expressing themselves and have clear preferences for the content they enjoy and want to see. They look for stories and conversations that are both relatable and engaging” – Uttam Pal Singh, South Asia, Head of Kids Cluster, Warner Bros Discovery.

Sourced from e4m

Mobile gaming experiences can be ‘premium’

Activision Blizzard Media, which owns gaming titles such as Call of Duty and Candy Crush, is on a mission to dispel the notion that mobile gaming constitutes a low-end platform for brand messaging.

It's yet another way that gaming companies continue to challenge advertiser stereotypes of the industry – one of the most notable being the perceived predominance of young, male gamers.

Premium by design

A new report – revealed at Advertising Week Europe in London – explores whether mobile games can be considered premium.

The company surveyed 2,000 mobile game players in the US to get their views. Unsurprisingly, given the nature of the audience, 73% said they consider mobile games to be high quality. Perhaps less expected was that more than two-thirds (69%)­ of PC and console gamers also perceive mobile games to be of a high standard.

Other findings include:

• Explicit factors determining a game as premium include being “stress reducing”, “thought-provoking” and “worth the price”. Implicit qualities prompted by premium mobile games are feelings of “fun”, “relaxing” and “competitive”.
• 61% of respondents said that high-quality graphics were important for a premium gaming experience, while 51% wanted to be challenged.
• Mobile gamers are more concerned with value for money: 54% said premium games must be free to play, versus 49% of gamers across all devices.
• 87% of those surveyed prefer mobile gaming ads to be “short”, while 78% prefer ads in game to be reward-based.

Why it matters

Gaming is at a tipping point which may bring it closer to mass media – perfectly exemplified by Activision Blizzard’s on/off acquisition by Microsoft. Brands understand that gaming reaches vast audiences, especially among younger consumers, but many remain hesitant to invest. For gaming media owners, a key challenge will be persuading marketers that their campaigns can be effective.

Key quote

“The bar for premium games is high but the payoff for brands is clear. Players have expectations for how they want experiences to look and feel, and brands should be committed to meeting them where they are. When they do, everyone wins” – Melinda Spence, Activision Blizzard Media.

The measurement question keeping marketers up at night

Campaign measurement across a fragmented media landscape is a key concern among marketers, according to a new report.

Why it matters

Based on a survey of more than 700 marketers across 20 countries, Mediaocean’s 2023 Mid-Year Advertising Outlook report generally paints a picture of a resilient global advertising market. Measurement across an increasingly complicated landscape, however, is harder than ever and only getting harder, with connected TV’s high potential hampered by reach and frequency concerns.

Top concerns

• Decline in ability to measure campaign effectiveness on tech platforms and open web (cited by 42%)
• A lack of preparedness for cookieless future and other data deprecation relating to consumer privacy and walled garden behaviour (39%)
• Consumer ad avoidance / ad blindness (36%)
• Poor ability to manage reach and frequency across CTV and digital channels (36%)

While not the top concern, CTV’s position amid marketer concerns reflects the swift growth of the channel.

Reach and frequency are tough on most channels, but there are notable difficulties both for buyers and media owners. Compared to last year’s report, concern has grown by around 40%, the report states. Of course, Mediaocean has significant interests here, so it suits the organisation for measurement to be of concern to marketers.

But in a moment in which retail media, with its promise of closed loop measurement, is on the rise, it’s possible to make out a deeper trend that justifying and evidencing activity is increasingly important to the discipline.

Sourced from Mediaocean, WARC

In-housing no longer a trend

An ANA report finds that 82% of member respondents have an in-house agency, with cost savings one of the strongest reasons for favouring internal teams; but external agencies stand out for capacity and capability.

Why it matters

The report notes that in-housing is no longer a trend but a fact of life for the vast majority of firms surveyed, with cost efficiencies the most commonly cited primary benefit (see chart). But external agencies are still critical for creativity and media capabilities.

Creative in the spotlight

Still, agencies should be aware that cost and speed are increasingly the preserve of in-house teams and are therefore a less interesting area in which to compete – creative expertise, meanwhile, ranks lower down the list.

Effectiveness concerns increasing

What’s interesting, however, is the trend away from cost savings as the main measure of performance – it stood at 69% in 2018 and is down to 62% – while business performance is now a similar measure of effectiveness for 59% of respondents.

Key ideas

• Historically, in-house agencies have been about being “cheaper” and “faster” but not necessarily “better” than external agencies.
• Over the past three years, 65% of respondents have moved some established business that used to be handled by their external agency(ies) to their in-house agency (mainly creative services for digital and traditional media).
• Media, too, hasn’t seen the same in-house rush as the industry had imagined back in 2018, with only a third of respondents having some of their programmatic capabilities in-housed.
• Media planning and/or buying services are handled in-house, at least to some degree, by 54% of respondents. Those who have considered bringing media in-house but have not yet done so point to the fact it is “too complex.”

Sourced from the ANA

Reliance JioCinema takes IPL streaming record amid deeper market moves

Free streaming of the highest-profile match in Indian cricket appears to be part of the evolving ‘flywheel’ powering Reliance Industries’ rise as a giant of media and retail, among many other things.

TechCrunch reports that JioCinema, part of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, broke Hotstar’s streaming record of 25.3m simultaneous viewers by bringing in 32m for the finale of this year’s Indian Premier League – a victory of the Chennai Super Kings over the Gujarat Titans.

Why it matters

Many other telcos have tried, but the investment in content has often proved too costly. Reliance Industries is betting otherwise, as it streamed the IPL cricket tournament for free following a $3 billion bid for the digital rights to the league between 2022 and 2027. At the opening of the season, rights holders were expected to take a loss, but this can also be read as a big investment.

What has been interesting about Reliance’s JioCinema move is how it could give the company – which requires viewers to be Jio network subscribers, so not totally free – not only a foothold but a grip on mobile life and cement its position as the dominant telco in the country. But it has bigger plans.

E-commerce

The company at large has significant interests in several other sectors, including e-commerce. A recent report from Bernstein, a brokerage firm, notes that Mumbai-headquartered Reliance is in a good position to expand its interest in the fast-growing Indian e-commerce market.

“The advantages of its retail network, mobile network, digital ecosystem and ‘home field advantage’ in a famously complex regulatory and operating environment means, in the long term, it will likely claim the lion’s share of the $150-billion-plus e-commerce marketplace,” reads the report in the Economic Times.

Snacks for the show

Reliance’s expansion doesn’t stop there: adding to its interests in energy, petrochemicals, mass media, telecoms, and textiles, LiveMint reports that Reliance is also moving into the western snacks category of FMCG with the launch of General Mills’ Bugles chips in India.

The report adds that a critical element of the strategy is the network of Reliance Retail (of which the FMCG arm is a wholly owned subsidiary) to power the consumer products business.

Sourced from TechCrunch

Fraud concerns pose a problem for social shopping

New research from UK-based Lloyds Banking Group suggests that Meta-owned properties of Facebook and Instagram are fuelling the rise of purchase scams on the platforms.

Why it matters

Trust in brands matters, and for brands a critical route to building trust runs through media. Lloyds doesn’t break down how many scams per channel but many come through Facebook Marketplace, the peer-to-peer listings platform.

While the research doesn’t say that social media sites are culpable, it suggests that 80% of payment scams start with the tech sector. It argues that “relying on the banking sector alone to detect scams and provide refunds means those platforms where the vast majority of the fraud starts have no incentive to stop it”.

Although there’s no indication that this perception could spread to the vast majority of legitimate brands that advertise on the platform, it could dampen some of the willingness for consumers to convert there. This remains to be seen. It is also worth noting that given the financial burden falling on banks for reimbursement, the sector would stand to gain from a reapportioning of the responsibility for making good on scam victims.

Key message

“Lloyds Banking Group is calling for technology and telecommunication companies to do more to stop scams at source and play their part in refunding victims of fraud which originates on their platforms.”

The data

Based on an analysis of reported cases among the bank’s 25m retail banking customers, the study finds that:

• 68% of all purchase scams start on Meta-owned social media platforms (though this includes Facebook Marketplace).
• While this channel appears to account for a majority of the volume of cases, it accounts for “around 40%” of the total money lost to shopping scams.
• Across the industry the average amount lost by the victims of purchase scams is around £570.

Bottom line

Given that brands don’t ask for bank transfer payments or sell on Facebook Marketplace, there’s no suggestion of any brand safety issues. However, as there is a rising interest in resale in certain sectors, this news carves out an opportunity to provide a verified brand platform. The likes of retailer John Lewis to high-fashion brand Balenciaga are already exploring their own programs.

Sourced from Lloyds Banking Group, WARC

Research decodes how to talk sustainability with consumers

Research from global measurement firm MetrixLab found online conversations about carbon emissions have increased by 38%, signaling growing consumer interest in environmental issues, sustainability and the need for change.

Why it matters

As consumers show more interest in the environment and adopt more environmentally friendly behaviors, brands may benefit from a deeper understanding of their consumers’ expectations regarding their sustainability initiatives and attitudes around sustainability topics.

Takeaways

• Brands may benefit from first improving overall sustainability communications and credibility.
• Sustainability efforts should live up to communications to avoid consumers thinking brands are “greenwashing”; consumers want to see how brands live the values they preach.
• Communicating with consumers about sustainability topics requires a tailored media plan, with the brand’s messages being optimized for each distinct platform, eg, long-form discourses on YouTube, shorter content on Instagram and Facebook.
• Sustainability is not a single-demographic issue, so communications should include all genders and age groups, especially older age groups who engage with sustainability with the same urgency as younger people. 
• Brands should also be mindful that men are more skeptical, rather than supportive, concerning environmental issues.

Key quote

“Conversations about consumer and company action are closely related. Consumers demand companies take action on emissions. At the same time, companies expect consumers to engage with their initiatives for them to be successful” – Jon Arthurs and Gilbert Saktoe, MetrixLab.