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.

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.

New research highlights the financial and mental toll of pitching

Pitch processes are becoming longer, more onerous and are leading to agencies becoming far more selective about what they pitch for.

That’s according to a recent global survey of media agency professionals, conducted by global independent media advisors MediaSense. 

Why it matters

Pitching has always been a vital mechanism for clients to review or change their agency relationships, and for agencies to strengthen and showcase their offering in a highly dynamic and competitive marketplace. 

However, as the media landscape has evolved and clients’ requirements have changed, such reviews have become increasingly complex and time consuming for all parties. While agencies have become more accepting of this reality, there is a growing weariness about the current state of pitching, and a desire for more transparency and focus.

Takeaways

• 86% of agency respondents find pitching excessively time and cost exhaustive
• 64% find pitching damaging to agency culture
• 54% said pitching is increasingly affecting staff mental health
• Transparency received on selection criteria rated 4/10

Key quote

“While the pitch still remains a necessary vehicle for advertisers to source the right agency partner, this study reveals an overwhelming desire to evolve the process to one which is more streamlined, practical and transparent. While tempting to test everything, advertisers should focus on the capabilities and values that matter, and design a process accordingly” – Ryan Kangisser, Managing Partner, Strategy, at MediaSense.

Read the full MediaSense ‘Pitch Smart’ Study on WARC

Where generative AI formats go next

Generative AI has a huge number of potential applications for the many industries that produce ‘content’ – advertising being one of them – and new formats are in development that hint at the direction of their momentum.

Why it matters

The possibilities of AI in a marketing context are extensive and far from limited to specific formats. These are an increasingly prominent aspect of the possible AI arms race among the major tech groups, and the subject of some of Microsoft Bing’s proposals. Other firms – some with far bigger advertising businesses – are now on manoeuvres.

Google tries to solve its big question

When OpenAI released a public version of its ChatGPT bot late last year, everybody knew that Google had been developing a formidable AI operation, and had been a leader in the research side of the field.

But it had two problems: the potency of the technology on its release to the world, and the implications for its vast search advertising business when the search engine’s output is no longer sponsor-friendly links but prose-based answers.

Now it appears to be integrating the technology more and more into its central search operation, according to reports in TechCrunch, from the company’s Google Marketing Live.

• Context: Adding to last year’s automatically created assets, and drawing from landing pages, the new changes aim to make search ads more contextually relevant to the search query.
• AI for ad creators: In a system likely aimed more toward (the incredibly important) small business segment, Google is also introducing a natural language interface to aid search ad creation.
• Imagery: Photographers beware, as the company’s new Product Studio feature seeks to help sellers create AI-generated product imagery based on existing assets.

Spotify plans voice-based AI ads

Semafor reports that audio giant Spotify is developing generative AI tools that will allow host-read adaptations to ads based on variables like geography. For the moment, this will only take place with the host’s permission and won’t yet be stealing any jobs.

Two questions come to mind: is an AI-adaptable ad that powerful if the data that informs the adaptations might be compromised? The second is bigger: as voices and likenesses filter into generative AI systems – similar to CMOs’ worries about their brands being spoofed – who polices, or limits, their use?

Sourced from TechCrunch, Semafor, WARC

[Image: Dall-e]

New emotional brand metrics for dark times

Measuring brand metrics that inspire human emotions could sit alongside standard business metrics in future, says a new report from the Wunderman Thompson agency. 

The age of re-enchantment suggests that emotional KPIs that measure “heart swells, goose bumps, jaw drops, spine tingles, and more” will become increasingly important as people look for brands to bring some joy into their lives. 

Context 

War, climate change, disease and economic uncertainty are all contributing to a global mental health crisis, with young people, in particular, more stressed and anxious than ever before. Wunderman Thompson’s research indicates that almost half of people (46%) say they “feel tired and burned out all the time”, and two-thirds (67%) agree that technology is making us “feel more detached from the real world”. 

But 89% also say awe-inspiring experiences make them feel good, and 83% actively seek out experiences that bring them joy and happiness; 77% say “I just want to feel something, to feel alive”.

Why it matters 

There’s an opportunity for brands to step into this doomfest and lighten the load for consumers by giving them the sort of experiences they crave. More than six in 10 survey respondents (3,000 from the US, UK and China) felt brands should make more effort to wow them with spectacular advertising or marketing (67%).

What brands can do 

• Stand up for fun. Not only does fun offer a welcome respite in tough times, it’s a potential triple win for brands – delivering pleasure not only in the moment but also in its anticipation and recollection.
• Prioritise connection. With 85% complaining that we have less time for one another these days, brands can help facilitate meaningful connection via rituals and spaces (both physical and virtual) that bring people together.
• Enthrall the senses. Sixty-three percent wanted brands to provide multisensory experiences – and that applies in digital and virtual worlds as well as IRL.
• Escape the rational. Three-quarters (74%) enjoy an element of mystery and surprise in the things they do. Brands can build in moments of serendipity and the unexpected.
• Strive for better. Just 25% are positive about the way things are going in the world. By applying themselves to solving societal and environmental challenges, brands can foster some much-needed optimism.

Sourced from Wunderman Thompson

Unexpected ads gain attention but make sure it’s the right sort

Salient advertising features, such as using abrupt onset or motion, increase unexpectedness and attract more attention to online advertisements, according to a paper in the Journal of Advertising Research (JAR).

Why it matters

It seems axiomatic that an unexpected advertisement would be more effective in attracting consumers’ attention than an expected one – when consumers ignore online advertisements it’s often because they know what to expect and can easily filter them out. 

But it’s the nature of the unexpected ad that’s important. Pop-ups (abrupt onset) that get in the way of the information people are seeking are hugely annoying; floating ads (abrupt onset and motion) garner attention with less negativity.

Also important is the mindset of the viewer, whether they’re focused on a task or just browsing.

Takeaways 

• Online advertisements embedded with unexpected features – motion and abrupt onset, for instance – attract consumers’ attention in a bottom-up perspective (as opposed to top-down control of attention which is associated with the viewer’s awareness of the stimulus and its features).
• Unexpected advertisements more likely will capture consumers’ attention during goal-oriented tasks than free-browsing ones.
• Consumers are more likely to disengage from central processing during goal-oriented tasks and, therefore, are more attracted by unexpected advertisements than they might be during free-browsing tasks.
• Unexpected advertisements are associated with a more favourable attitude and less perceived intrusiveness than unexpected advertisements that obstruct the web content.

About the study

• How consumers process unexpected online advertisements: The effects of motion and abrupt onset on consumers’ attention and attitude was written by Emna Cherif (University of Clermont Auvergne) and Theirry Baccino (University Paris 8).
• The authors analysed the effects of three levels of advertising unexpectedness: high versus moderate versus low during both goal-oriented and free-browsing tasks. The context was a series of web pages that mimicked the front page of online newspapers.

Sourced from JAR