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Disney teams up with Standard Media Index

“Amid an industry-wide bid to improve measurement, Disney Advertising Sales struck a deal with Standard Media Index, a source of ad spending data, to help better understand the Mouse House’s revenue and audience,” Ad Age’s Ethan Jakob Craft reports.

Essential context:  “Supported by SMI’s expenditure data representing around $90 billion worth of major media buyers’ spending, the new Pricing Intelligence Suite tool will allow Disney’s ad sales arm to examine CPMs, or the cost of reaching 1,000 viewers, across over-the-top streaming, connected TV and digital video.”

Keep reading here.

WPP’s ‘very strong’ third quarter

“WPP had what CEO Mark Read described as a ‘very strong’ third quarter, with the agency holding company now seeing results that exceed 2019’s levels across each of its business lines,” Ad Age’s Brian Bonilla reports.

Essential context:  “The London-based owner of agencies including Mindshare, Ogilvy and VMLY&R reported third-quarter like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs of 2.64 billion pounds ($3.65 billion), up 15.7% from a year earlier, and up 6.9% over the third quarter of 2019. WPP now expects its like-for-like revenue to rise 11.5% to 12% this year, up from an earlier forecast of 9% to 10% growth.”

Keep reading here.

Previously:  See last week’s Datacenter Weekly for details on third-quarter results from Omnicom Group, Interpublic Group of Cos. and Publicis Groupe. Dentsu Group is set to announce third-quarter earnings on Nov. 12.

Macroeconomic news and data in a nutshell

• “U.S. Jobless Claims Fall to New Pandemic Low,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

• “Inflation notches a fresh 30-year high as measured by the Fed’s favorite gauge,” per CNBC.

• “U.S. labor cost rose by 1.3% last quarter, biggest increase since 1991,” per MarketWatch.

Previously:  “U.S. advertising employment rose by only 1,000 jobs in September as nation’s job growth slowed,” per Ad Age Datacenter.

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The hate factory

“Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have long cited social media toxicity as a factor in their decision to step back from royal life,” BuzzFeed News’ Ellie Hall notes. “And now, an analysis of more than 114,000 tweets about the couple has revealed a coordinated campaign of targeted harassment of Meghan on Twitter—and the 83 accounts responsible for approximately 70% of the negative and often hateful content.”

Essential context:  BuzzFeed’s story relies on data from Twitter analytics service Bot Sentinel, which “released a report examining Twitter activity related to the Sussexes,” Hall reports, “and found that the majority of the hate and misinformation about the couple originated from a small group of accounts whose primary, if not sole, purpose appears to be to tweet negatively about them.”

Keep reading here.

See also:  “Twitter says Apple’s privacy changes had little effect on ads,” from Bloomberg News (via Ad Age).

Halloween marketing by the numbers

ICYMI:  “A recent survey from Numerator, the market research firm, found that more consumers will go trick or treating,” Ad Age’s Adrianne Pasquarelli reports. “Some 29% of consumers say they plan to engage in the Oct. 31 activity, compared with just 25% last year. More people also said they planned to purchase decorations—47% of consumers said they will buy Halloween décor, compared with 41% in 2020, Numerator found.”

Essential context:  The National Retail Federation “expects Halloween spending to reach a record high of $10.1 billion, up substantially from 2020’s $8.1 billion,” Pasquarelli adds.

Keep reading here.

Meanwhile, a few insights about ad spending by candy and gum marketers, shared with Datacenter Weekly by TV ad analytics firm iSpot.tv:

• Ad spending by candy and gum marketers on national broadcast and cable TV is down an estimated 13% year-to-date vs. the same period in 2020.

• Generally, iSpot data shows that candy and gum marketers are putting fewer advertising dollars toward the typical big candy-consumption months, including October, and are instead spreading their spend more evenly throughout the year. That said, this October is on track to be in the top three, per usual, along with February (thanks to Valentine’s Day) and December (thanks to Christmas).

• From Jan. 1 through Oct. 26, iSpot estimates that candy and gum marketers have spent $45.3 million on TV ads (national broadcast and cable).

See also:  A roundup of this year’s creepiest, ghastliest, ghostliest, ghouliest, scariest and spookiest Halloween campaigns, compiled by Ad Age’s Parker Herren.

Earlier:  “Home Depot’s insanely popular 12-foot skeleton—key marketing stats and facts,” from Ad Age’s Adrianne Pasquarelli.

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.

Data regulation

In a guest post for NBC News, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) notes that Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen has called for the creation of a federal regulatory agency that oversees Facebook and its peers. Gillibrand writes,

Haugen is right: We need a federal agency whose sole focus is safeguarding Americans’ personal data and civil liberties. My legislation, the Data Protection Act, would create that agency, as well as a comprehensive data rights framework that can protect individual and collective privacy. Having a Data Protection Agency (DPA) would give our government the ability to not only evolve alongside the biggest companies in tech, but go toe-to-toe with them in the fight for privacy. Right now, the United States is one of few democracies, and one of the only members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, without such an agency. 

Keep reading here.

Just briefly

Addressable:  “GroupM forms new addressable ad practice as brands grapple with reaching consumers,” from Ad Age.

Data dodge:  “TikTok dodges questions about biometric data collection in Senate hearing,” TechCrunch reports.

Facebook is forever*:  “Why Facebook keeps collecting people’s data and building their profiles even when their accounts are deactivated,” from Digiday.

Squid Inc.:  “Nielsen Streaming Ratings: Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ Is the First Show to Garner 3 Billion or More Viewing Minutes in the Post-Pandemic Era,” from Next TV.

Browser data handling under scrutiny:  “Your browser can tell websites how to treat your data. But companies didn’t have to listen—until now,” from The Washington Post.

*Facebook Inc., the brand’s owner, is not forever. It’s now Meta Platforms.

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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.

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