ROI concerns are the largest motivators both for and against investing in marketing technology, research by Ascend2 found. Of the marketers surveyed, 69 percent claimed that increasing ROI was their primary objective for acquiring martech, while 44 percent responded that forecasting ROI is a challenge to acquiring marketing technology.
Other goals highlighted by respondents were improving efficiency (48 percent), improving decision making (40 percent) and garnering a competitive advantage (36 percent).
Spending on consumer technology appears to be plateauing, per research by the Consumer Technology Association. Their forecast for Q4 predicts only a 1 percent increase in revenue, to $96.8 billion. However, according to CTA market research director Steve Koenig, the number is no great cause for alarm.
“On the surface, it sounds pretty weak, but we saw 3.8 percent holiday growth in 2016,” Koenig said in an interview with VentureBeat. “That’s a tough act to follow. It’s hard to post 3 percent to 4 percent growth rates year after year.”
Though data collection is swiftly becoming more important to successful campaigns, the crowned king is currently creativity , according to a study by Episerver. Of the marketers surveyed, 59 percent claimed creativity is more important than data.
The largest four digital media companies will repeat their Q2 ad revenue growth, according to analysis by MoffetNathanson. Its research forecasts an average 25 percent increase in spending in Q3 for Google, Facebook, Twitter and Snap. This prediction comes despite worries for the future of the digital advertising space.
“We expect increased scrutiny in the US and EU, which could create an overhang that hinders prospects for further multiple expansion of these companies,” said Michael Nathanson, senior research analyst at MoffetNathanson. “That said, these issues likely had no impact on fundamentals in the third quarter.”
Piper Jaffray Companies has released its 34th semi-annual “Taking Stock With Teens” survey, which spending and brand preference trends among 6,100 teenagers across the continental US. You can find their infographic rundown here.
Overall, spending by teenagers dropped by 4.4 percent this year, with parental contribution to spending keeping steady. Teens are spending slightly less on video games, slightly more on clothing and substantially less on food, dropping by 8 percent. Of the top brands, Starbucks was the only brand to retain higher than 10 percent mindset share among both high-income and average-income groups.
Video ads may be the future, but interactive video boosts already impressive statistics. According to research by Magna, users spend 47 percent more time watching interactive video ads than noninteractive ones. Additionally, users, whether they watch the ad or not, find interactive ads 32 percent more memorable, and drive a ninefold higher purchase rate.
Virtual reality may turn around slumping interest in conventional television, according to a study by Ericsson ConsumerLab. Of the 20,000 consumers surveyed, 30 percent anticipated watching TV in VR in the next five years, 27 percent predicted an increase in watching 360-degree content and 25 percent predicted an increase in time spent watching video in general.
However, according to Ericsson, not everything is hunky-dory in TV Land. Twenty percent responded that they will not watch scheduled programming anymore, and 12 percent claimed that they will watch less on-demand content because of too much variety.
Research by Catalyst suggests that Amazon’s share of the digital advertising space will only grow in the near future: 63 percent of Amazon’s US advertisers plan to increase their budgets for the platform, while only 54 and 53 percent said the same about their Google and Facebook ad buys, respectively.
Despite this sizable figure, only 17 percent claimed that their Amazon strategy is fully developed, and 85 percent responded that they do not use all of Amazon’s advertising products.
The zero-UI space is small, but growing, according to Catalyst. Of those surveyed, 85 percent did not have a voice-enabled skill for Alexa, though 23 percent of that group said they planned to launch one by the end of this year.
EMarketer has released a new report on American media consumption, finding that US adults spend on average of 12 hours per day with major media. Their report breaks down the figure even further, with just under half of the time spent on digital media, and a third with television.
Since Snap unveiled its Maps feature, Axios found that the company has seen a 40 percent rise in Stories posts, stalling somewhat Instagram’s blitzkrieg takeover of new user share.
Axios research also found that 60 percent of Snapchat users create content on the app daily, and 20 percent engage with its AR features.
Social media may increase sales in the short term, but the uncareful use of the platforms can lead to permanently lower engagement, according to a study by Temple University.
Though their research was of a small sample size, the study found that while one firm’s social posts led to a five-point increase in sales, in the long term it saw a 300 percent increase in unfollows.
“The main thing brands should take away from this study is that they need to be careful,” said Paul Pavlou, co-author of the report. “There’s a tendency to send too many messages, because that short-term bump looks nice, but companies [need to] focus on the long-term effect. Otherwise, they’ll annoy customers, not only in the moment but in association with the brand.”
Digital ad sales are expected to outstrip their offline counterparts in the next three years, according to a forecast put out by MAGNA.
Revenue for online ads is expected to reach $84 billion this year, a 16 percent rise over IAB’s income report for 2016.
Additionally, MAGNA predicts that offline ad spending will shrink by 3.7 percent annually, while digital is expected to grow by 9.5 percent per year over the same period.
