Welcome to Ad Age Datacenter Weekly, our data-obsessed newsletter for marketing and media professionals.

Dramatic rise in news media video consumption

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rages on, video analytics firm Tubular Labs has been tracking the dramatic rise in consumption of online video content from U.S. and U.K. media creators that have been covering the war. Tubular shared its latest data surrounding YouTube news video consumption with Datacenter Weekly:

Weekly views of U.S. and U.K. news media creators on YouTube
• Jan. 3-9: 667 million
• Jan. 10-16: 680 million
• Jan. 17-23: 740 million
• Jan. 24-30: 741 million
• Jan. 31-Feb. 6: 754 million
• Feb. 7-13: 777 million
• Feb. 14-20: 828 million
• Feb. 21-27: 1.6 billion

Top U.S./U.K. news media creators on YouTube, Feb. 23 through Mar. 3
1. Sky News (181 million views)
2. Fox News (121 million)
3. The Sun (120 million)
4. Guardian News (111 million)
5. BBC News (110 million)
6. ABC News (104 million)
7. NBC News (85 million)
8. CNN (82 million)
9. MSNBC (78 million)
10. Noticias Telemundo (74 million)

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Disney data deal

“Disney struck a deal with Horizon Media that will look to help brands measure their online ads,” Ad Age’s Garett Sloane reports. “The move puts Disney more deeply into ad tech, where marketers are looking for creative ways to measure ads in light of data-sharing restrictions across the internet.”

Essential context: “The Mouse House is also ‘exploring a path to activation with The Trade Desk,’ one of the prominent demand-side ad platforms that manages an ad network that connects online publishers to brands. Last year, The Trade Desk built a demand-side ad network with Walmart, which was another indication of how large retailers are also getting into online media services.”

Keep reading here.

See also:  “Disney+ streaming service to offer low-cost version with ads,” per Bloomberg News (via Ad Age).

Plus:  “Disney isn’t giving up on Nielsen just yet,” from Ad Age.

Submissions are now open for Ad Age’s Small Agency Awards.

Reality check

“More than half of U.S. adults fear that the metaverse will lead them to neglect reality, and therefore prefer activations that include real-world components, such as augmented reality and virtual reality, according to new findings from The Harris Poll,” Ad Age’s ​​Asa Hiken reports. “Interest in technologies that bridge the digital and physical realm far outweighs that in more abstract, digital-only formats, such as NFTs and cryptocurrency, the poll found.”

Other findings: “The poll also found a lack of parity in knowledge of the nebulous terminology that brands are using,” Hiken notes. “Only 10% of survey respondents have heard of Web3—a new iteration of the internet based on blockchain. People were significantly more aware of concepts like NFTs (61%), the metaverse (65%) and cryptocurrency (86%).”

Keep reading here.

See also:  “How NFTs are used by marketers—a continually updated list,” from Ad Age.

Join us on March 10 for our free Ad Age In-Depth: Unlocking the Metaverse virtual event.

The latest ad industry employment data

“Employment in advertising, public relations and related services surged in February, tying the record for the biggest-ever one-month gain,” Ad Age Datacenter’s Bradley Johnson reports, citing data from the just-released monthly employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Essential context: U.S. employment in the BLS classification of advertising, public relations and related services “jumped to 466,100 jobs in February based on figures that are not seasonally adjusted,” Johnson notes. “February’s employment gain of 8,500 tied the record for the biggest monthly ad jobs increase since BLS began tracking this job category in 1990. (June 2006 also scored an 8,500 job increase.)”

Keep reading here for Johnson’s drill-downs (complete with charts) on ad industry employment by various BLS subcategories, including ad agencies.

Macroeconomic news and data in a nutshell

• “America added 678,000 jobs in February, smashing forecasts,” CNN reports.

• “U.S. Jobless Claims Fall to Lowest Level Since Start of Year,” per Bloomberg News.

• “U.S. private payrolls rise solidly as labor market continues to gain traction,” Reuters reports.

• “Fed’s Powell Says Ukraine War Creates Risks of Higher Inflation,” per The Wall Street Journal.

See also:  “How the marketing industry is responding to the Ukraine war,” from Ad Age.

Just briefly

• “Comscore CEO retiring as Nielsen rival gets big chance and more competition,” from Ad Age.

• “Data-stealing app found in Google Play downloaded thousands of times,” per TechCrunch.

• “Procter & Gamble calls for tests that do away with TV audience guarantees,” from Ad Age.

• “Why Nordstrom is expanding its retail media network,” from Ad Age.

• “Inflation could weigh on marketing budgets—and other takeaways from the year's biggest CPG conference,” from Ad Age.

• “How Data Can Make Better Managers,” from Harvard Business Review.

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.

Subscribe to Ad Age Datacenter for essential data and insights on all of the most-advertised brands.