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The biggest trends in TV advertising revealed: Datacenter Weekly
Plus: TV’s most expensive shows, Omnicom and Interpublic results, Facebook responds to the data drought, and more
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Omnicom sees healthy revenue growth
“Omnicom Group posted third-quarter organic revenue growth of 11.5% as it continued a comeback from a COVID-19 contraction,” Ad Age Datacenter’s Bradley Johnson reports. “This marked the company’s second consecutive quarter of organic growth since being punched by the pandemic in early 2020.”
Looking ahead: “Chairman-CEO John Wren said he expects full-year 2021 organic growth of ‘approximately 9%,’ which would suggest fourth-quarter organic growth in the range of 5% to 6%,” Johnson notes.
Keep reading here.
... and Interpublic did it better
“Interpublic Group of Cos. posted third-quarter net organic revenue growth of 15% compared to last year’s third quarter,” Ad Age’s Brian Bonilla reports, “which was negative due to the impact of the pandemic.”
Looking ahead: “CEO Philippe Krakowsky said he expects full-year 2021 organic growth of ‘approximately 11%,’ which is ahead of the 9%-10% range the holding company had previously indicated last quarter,” Bonilla notes. “This would indicate IPG’s fourth-quarter organic growth is estimated to come in around 8.4%.”
Keep reading here.
Previously: “Publicis raises its 2021 revenue forecast on the strength of its third quarter,” from Ad Age, Oct. 14.
Marketing on purpose
Datacenter Weekly readers are invited to download a free copy of “Brand Purpose,” a new white paper that examines how consumers value brands with a purpose, what media choices can say about a brand, and what Gen Z expects from brands and employers. Ad Age Datacenter produced “Brand Purpose” based on data and analysis from Kantar.
Get it here.
What TV’s top shows command for their ad time
“The cost to air a 30-second commercial in TV’s biggest primetime shows has remained relatively stable even as advertisers shift their attention to the streaming marketplace,” Ad Age’s Jeanine Poggi reports. “Of 61 returning series on the big four broadcast networks and The CW tracked by Ad Age, 21 saw the cost for a 30-second commercial remain flat for the 2021-22 season compared with last year, while 19 received a price bump. Another 21 experienced a decrease on a year-over-year basis.”
Keep reading here.
See also: “Black households increasingly ditch linear TV, study finds,” from Ad Age.
Q3 TV advertising trends revealed
TV advertising analytics company iSpot.tv gave Datacenter Weekly a first look at its “Q3 TV Advertising Report.” Some key insights:
Primetime bounced back: “Primetime broadcast ad impressions were up 17% YoY [year-over-year] in Q3 ... with spend up even more—39.5% compared to Q3 last year,” per iSpot’s report. “As the fall TV schedule gets back on track too, broadcast spend in primetime is also up over 16% compared to the last ‘normal’ year back in 2019.”
Consumer packaged goods TV advertising settled down: “CPG TV ad spend declined (8.8% YoY) in Q3 as consumer spending habits normalized, though CPG brands were still spending nearly 17% more on national TV in 2021 than 2019. For retail brands, spend was up nearly 5% YoY thanks to an actual back-to-school schedule, but was also up 10% compared to 2019.”
Movie ad spending surged: “With theaters reopened, movie ad impressions were up more than 5x YoY in Q3. Spend was also up over 7x as studios capitalized tentpole events (Olympics, NFL) to encourage the masses to go see and/or stream movies. However, spend and impressions were about 10% lower than in 2019, as behavior around movie watching and releases has still have not fully returned to ‘normal.’”
Sports won the quarter: “Not only was the Tokyo Olympics the biggest TV event in Q3, but the top three programs (by ad impressions served) were all sporting events (Tokyo Olympics, NFL Football, College Football). Combined, they made up nearly 5% of total impressions served in Q3.”
You can request an instantly downloadable PDF copy of the (free) 22-page report here.
Facebook adjusts to data drought
“Facebook is making more changes to its ad platform to adjust to Apple’s new data restrictions, which have affected how millions of marketers measure campaigns on the social network, giving many brands a distorted view of their ad performance,” Ad Age’s Garett Sloane reports.
For starters: Facebook’s VP of Product Marketing Graham Mudd announced “improvements to how it measures ‘conversions’ from ad campaigns that run on iPhones,” Sloane writes. “Facebook also made it easier for smaller advertisers to deploy its conversion software, called Conversions API Gateway.”
Keep reading here.
See also: “Snapchat says Apple data changes ‘disrupted’ its ad business,” from Ad Age.
Macroeconomic news and data in a nutshell
• “Jobless claims fall to 290K, reaching new post-lockdown low,” per The Hill.
• “U.S. existing home sales surge to 8-month high in September,” Reuters reports.
• “Climate change is skewing economic data—and the stakes are high for economists to get it right,” from NBC News.
Previously: “U.S. advertising employment rose by only 1,000 jobs in September as nation’s job growth slowed,” per Ad Age Datacenter.
CPG data analytics
InfoTrust is teaming up with Google for the CPG & Multi-Brand Digital Analytics Virtual Summit from noon to 4 p.m. ET on Oct. 27.
Who it’s for: “Key digital analytics and marketing stakeholders at consumer packaged goods (CPG), fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), and multi-brand organizations,” per the event organizers.
Register here.
Just briefly
Stocking up on data: “Kroger launches programmatic market built on loyalty data,” from Ad Age.
Streaming data: “HBO Max’s data science chief, whose team helped the streamer add 14 million customers, reveals audience insights and what she looks for when she’s hiring,” from Insider.
No kidding: “Consumers may already be tired of holiday marketing, poll shows,” from Ad Age.
Think small: “‘Small Data’ Are Also Crucial for Machine Learning,” from Scientific American.
Because of course: “U.S. Warns of Efforts by China to Collect Genetic Data,” from The New York Times.
The newsletter is brought to you by Ad Age Datacenter, the industry’s most authoritative source of competitive intel and home to the Ad Age Leading National Advertisers, the Ad Age Agency Report: World’s Biggest Agency Companies and other exclusive data-driven reports. Access or subscribe to Ad Age Datacenter at AdAge.com/Datacenter.
Ad Age Datacenter is Kevin Brown, Bradley Johnson and Catherine Wolf.
This week’s newsletter was compiled and written by Simon Dumenco.
