Even as U.S. consumer price inflation has begun moderating, advertisers and planners and buyers are seeing their costs move in the opposite direction -- especially for TV and "print" media -- according to just-released first quarter media price inflation estimates form ECI Media Management. While TV ad costs continue to be under water and moving in a deflationary direction, the erosion of TV ad pricing power has improved from -5.1% in 2023 to -3.1% this year, according to ECI's tracking. ...

Email is a major conduit for getting videos to customers. But it is hardly the only tool supporting video marketing, judging by the State of Video, 2024 Report, a study by Wistia. First, let's look at the big picture. Of the firms surveyed, 93% rate video as an important part of their business. Moreover, 57% are investing more resources into video this year, and 38% are are remaining the same. Only 4% say they foresee a reduction. And audiences are responding: total plays have ri...

Social media is important in product discovery, especially among younger consumers, but it's only part of the picture—marketplaces, search engines, and brick-and-mortar retail also influence where and how consumers find new products. Here are five charts on what brands need to know about product discovery across digital and physical channels. 1. Younger consumers turn to social media, family, and friends Over two-thirds (67%) of US 16-to 24-year-olds say they've learned about a...

Among email marketers using artificial intelligence (AI), written content is the most common use case, according to a report [download page] from Litmus in partnership with Oracle. However, AI-generated content/copy ranks low on the list of elements that contribute at least some performance improvement to email campaigns, per the report's findings. That may be due to low adoption levels. Only one-third (34%) of respondents indicated that AI-generated content/copy had boosted their email pe...

Some social media platforms are groeing as brand engagement destinations, and research from Hootsuite finds that this can be of great value to brands, as the decision to follow a brand on social media can have an impact on purchase behaviors. In surveying more than 6,000 adults ages 18-64 across the US, UK, Canada, and Australia who follow brands on social media and say social media has at least some influence on their purchase decisions, the report reveals that for 58%, following a brand ha...

Target is one of many retailers rethinking its commitment to self-checkout Self-checkout's moment seems to be fading fast. Retailers, who had been experimenting with the technology for a decade, piled on during the pandemic. Human-less checkout seemed like a perfect antidote to the COVID era's never-ending labor shortages and a way to ease the long lines that irk so many shoppers. Yet Target has announced it is limiting self-checkout to 10 items or less. Dollar General is cutting back. And C...

OpenAI's announcement regarding the development of an AI-powered search engine marks a potentially critical development in the search landscape. The tool, which would be partially powered by Microsoft, is positioning itself as a direct competitor to Google. While it is unlikely that there will be any major shifts in the short term, advertisers should keep an eye on shifting user behavior trends. There is no reason to think the search industry will be disrupted in a major way in the near futu...

Instagram has officially launched a new 'Ads with Promo Codes' option for all brands using Meta's photo-sharing platform across the globe. The new ad product aims to provide marketers with a more visible way to highlight promotions and automatically apply them for interested consumers. Instagram advertisers will now be able to give users promo codes listed directly in the caption of an ad. When the user opens the ad, the format reminds them that the promo code will be automatically appli...

Email is at least somewhat popular with consumers, the older generations being particularly fond of it. But it pales beside social media, which now has 5.04 billion users worldwide and a growth rate above 5% judging by Digital 2024: Global Overview Report, a study by Meltwater. Of 8.08 billion people on earth, 5.35 billion are now using the internet, 66.2% of the total global population. And the percentage has hit 97.1% in the U.S. But overall growth has slowed to 1.8%, perhaps because user...

Despite vast changes to the advertising landscape over the past 20 years, the world of sports marketing has remained remarkably consistent. The Super Bowl, as recently demonstrated, remains the premier ad event of the year and broadcast and reach media form the backbone of the industry. Yet thanks to a spate of new technologies, new money and even some new sports, 2024 promises to be a year of disruption. All of which means new opportunities for marketers. New sports, new audiences...