Fleetwood Mac’s TV commercial boost, plus the marketer categories backing March Madness: Datacenter Weekly

Welcome to Ad Age Datacenter Weekly, our data-obsessed newsletter for marketing and media professionals. ‘TV-accessible households’ explained “TV measurement was already complicated, but it’s about to get more so,” Ad Age’s Jack Neff reports. “One of the industry’s leading trade groups, the Advertising Research Foundation, wants to expand the definition of TV households to include most households that don’t have TVs.” Say what? “Marketers long have seen TV households as nearly universal in the U.S. and easily defined as households with TVs,” Neff explains. “But neither is quite true, according to new research from the ARF, which is calling on the marketing industry to move toward a new definition called ‘TV-accessible households.‘’ The details: “These would be considered households that don’t have TV sets, but do stream TV content to mobile devices via broadband. They account for about 4% of the U.S. population, with another 1% of households being true TV avoiders, owning neither TVs nor mobile broadband streaming. While only 4% of the population overall, the mobile-only group is growing fast and a much bigger segment among young adults.” Keep reading here. Upfronts and NewFronts blog Tracking the latest TV and digital ad pitches Read more here Macroeconomic news and data in a nutshell • “Jobless claims rise to 3-week high of 198,000, but layoffs still extremely low,” Marketwatch reports • “Only a Quarter of Unemployed US Workers Filed for Benefits in 2022,” per Bloomberg News • “With 62% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck amid inflation, more people have a side job,” from CNBCDon’t miss: Layoffs and budget cuts—tracking economic moves and news Become an All Access subscriber Get access to exclusive resources including Leading National Advertisers, World’s Largest Advertisers, Agency Report, Agency Review Tracker and TV Pricing Report. Click here Fleetwood Mac’s TV commercial boost According to B2B music intelligence company and licensing platform Songtradr, Fleetwood Mac has been having a moment—lots of moments, actually. Over the past 15 months (since the beginning of 2022), the British-American rock band’s music has been featured 16 different times on TV across series and commercials. That’s not counting brief snippets of Fleetwood Mac songs that were played in news reports last Nov. 30 when keyboardist/vocalist Christine McVie died in London at 79. Among recent high-profile uses of Fleetwood Mac songs in commercials: “Everywhere” in a fall Chevy EV campaign—the song was essentially the star of the spot, with smiling Chevy drivers and passengers singing along—and “Everywhere” again in a Kohl’s campaign that kicked off earlier this month. Meanwhile, “I’m Coming Home to Stay” was featured in the heartbreaking third episode of HBO’s “The Last of Us,” which debuted on Jan. 29. The chart below shows Songtradr’s tracking of Fleetwood Mac’s Spotify popularity score (on a scale of 0 to 100) from April 2022 through March 2023. The score compares the band’s music against all other music on the streaming platform, and which influences Spotify’s discovery, recommendation and algorithmic playlist generation. (By comparison, Taylor Swift is currently at 100, while the perpetually popular Beatles are hovering at 86.)Previously: How Apple commercials help fuel hit songs: Datacenter Weekly (Jan. 13 edition) Fleetwood Mac song popularity on Spotify Credit: Data courtesy of Songtradr Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs How the TV industry is making ‘alternative currencies’ work—a guide What does it take for TV industry players to transact on so-called “alternative currencies”—i.e., alternatives to deal-making-ready measurement data from incumbent Nielsen? Ad Age’s Parker Herren explains: New systems and workflow: “Implementing data from Comscore, VideoAmp, iSpot or even Nielsen One—the crop that emerged as front runners this year—requires an overhaul of systems and workflow, as well as educating clients,” Herren writes. A lot of prep work from measurement providers: “Much of the onus falls on the measurement providers themselves to integrate with the software that buyers and sellers need for transacting with one another,” Herren notes. “For example, data sets need to be input into platforms including Mediaocean or FreeWheel’s Strata, where agencies report and bill marketers; Lake 5, which provides performance analytics to networks and agencies; and any proprietary systems media agencies have created to be viable throughout a campaign’s entire lifespan.” Internal education: “After making sure measurement data is integrated with ad tech partners,” Herren adds, “the next step for media companies is to educate internal teams, including product, engineering and selling teams, on how to understand, work with and ‘ingest this data,’ said Andrea Zapata, executive VP, head of ad sales, research, measurement and insights at Warner Bros. Discovery.” In short: It ain’t easy. Keep reading here. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs The top 10 marketer categories advertising during March Madness so far Speaking of TV measurement, here’s data on the top marketer categories that have been backing March Madness telecasts—both the men’s and women’s tournaments—shared exclusively with Datacenter Weekly by iSpot.tv. The rankings shown are based on share of household TV ad impressions (for first airings only on national linear TV), from the First Four through the Elite 8. Men’s tournament top advertiser categories 1. Automakers (11.25%) 2. QSR (9.31%) 3. Auto & General Insurance (8.59%) 4. Wireless (6.57%) 5. Beer (5.83%) 6. Casual Dining (3.31%) 7. Theatrical Movies (2.85%) 8. Credit Cards (2.55%) 9. Investment Services (2.47%) 10. Energy & Sports Drinks (1.94%) Women’s tournament top advertiser categories 1. Automakers (14.81%) 2. Deodorants/Antiperspirants (4.55%) 3. QSR (4.40%) 4. Investment Services (3.92%) 5. Wireless (3.83%) 6. Auto & General Insurance (3.02%) 7. Apparel: Shoes & Socks (2.93%) 8. Energy & Sports Drinks (2.61%) 9. Tax Filing Services (2.49%) 10. Business Supplies & Services (2.39%) Note: We’ve excluded network promos as well as commercials from the NCAA itself and conferences/schools from the rankings above.Previously: Top 10 March Madness advertisers so far: Datacenter Weekly (March 24 edition) Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Just briefly • “Meta wants EU users to apply for permission to opt out of data collection,” per Ars Technica • “$335,000 Pay for ‘AI Whisperer’ Jobs Appears in Red-Hot Market,” from Bloomberg News • “Here is the FBI’s Contract to Buy Mass Internet Data,” from Vice Motherboard • “Americans are returning to cities after remote-work exodus, data shows,” The Washington Post reports • “The Data Delusion,” from The New Yorker 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 Joy R. Lee. Become an All Access subscriber Get access to exclusive resources including Leading National Advertisers, World’s Largest Advertisers, Agency Report, Agency Review Tracker and TV Pricing Report. Click here

Fleetwood Mac’s TV commercial boost, plus the marketer categories backing March Madness: Datacenter Weekly

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