Media Buying

We forecast that this year, adults in China will spend an average of 3 hours, 16 minutes (3:16) per day on smartphone activities, which we define as excluding calls on the cellular network. Up 25 minutes, or 14.6%, from 2020, this total will vault China to first place in the world for that metric. The US will drop to No. 2, with adults there spending 3:10 on smartphones daily.

The recovery continues: The US ad economy grew 52% year over year in April, according to the Standard Media Index, more than doubling March's growth figure.

A price hike at the upfronts: Networks are reportedly pressing for double-digit increases to the ad rates during their annual upfront negotiations.

Android advertising, post-iOS 14.5: Research is still mixed on whether Apple’s privacy changes will benefit Android, but Google’s plans for the Android 12 may attempt to change that.

On today's episode, we discuss how The Walt Disney Co., ViacomCBS, and Roku started the year. We then talk about the new WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, Nielsen's new ratings service for streaming, and NBCUniversal's new ad formats. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Eric Haggstrom.

Google dives deeper into ecommerce with Shopify: The two companies have worked out an integration that will give Shopify's merchants easy access to Google's suite of features, contributing to its over 1 billion daily shopping journeys.

Google antitrust suit dismissed: One of many complaints against the search giant has been dismissed, but advertisers can still hold out hope that a similar December 2020 suit alleging anti-competitive ad practices will pan out.

On today's episode, we discuss how Spotify did in Q1, what to make of its new subscriptions for podcasts, and how we expect audio consumption habits to change this year. We then talk about why people still listen to the radio and best practices for voice ads. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Peter Vahle.

Although 2020 was ad spending’s most disappointing year on record worldwide, it could have been worse. In fact, the final figures outperformed dire mid-pandemic projections.

The second year of virtual upfronts: Today is the first day of the TV upfronts; this cycle will likely see a greater focus on cross-platform offerings and higher prices for inventory.

Yelp boosts small businesses: The platform is rolling out new, more expansive targeting options as we head into a full-swing summer.

The ad market in the UK suffered during 2020, but the decline in spending was only marginal as digital investment took up much of the slack. Indeed, the resilience of digital formats has been palpable amid the pandemic.

Digital political ad spending broke records in the 2020 election cycle. Grace Briscoe, senior vice president of candidates and causes at programmatic media firm Centro, joins eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Nicole Perrin to discuss what, when, and where political advertisers bought digital ads last year, how much attention they paid to connected TV (CTV), and why they love digital video ads so much.

Unifying digital billboards: The Out of Home Advertising Association of America released new guidelines in an attempt to standardize measurement of digital out-of-home media.

Before the pandemic, linear addressable TV ad spending was soaring in the US, with annual growth rates of 50.7% in 2018 and 36.5% in 2019. But that spending increased by just 7.3% in 2020, amid advertising budget cuts in the TV industry.

On today's episode, we discuss what has stood out the most about Twitter's Q1. We then talk about Twitter's Scroll acquisition, what to make of its "Professional Profiles" test, and whether tipping via social media might catch on. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior analyst Jasmine Enberg and forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Nazmul Islam.

The duopoly of Facebook and Google still dominates digital ad revenues worldwide, but a collective rival from the ecommerce industry is showing momentum.

NewFronts recap: Exclusive content on ad-supported platforms, shoppable shows, and creator-driven video content on social media were three major trends we saw at the NewFronts this past week.