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Video Viewing Rises Significantly in U.S. Internet Households

Premieredr — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 17:41:09 +0000

U.S. Internet households now consume an average 43.5 hours of video per week across all viewing devices. That’s an increase of more than six hours in 2020, when the average was 37.2 hours, according to Parks Associates.

The new Parks research also found that 61% of these households watch paid streaming services on a TV set, consuming an average of 7.5 hours per week of content from these sources. Worth noting: 50% of people who consume video on a viewing device (TV, computer, tablet, or phone) watch a free, ad-supported service (FAST) or ad-based video on-demand service (AVOD) at least once a week.

This data was released during the 2024 NAB Show by Parks Associates in a new research report entitled, ‘The Viewer Journey: Navigating Streaming Options’. The study surveyed 8,000 consumers and 10,000 internet households to find out how viewers access video content across broadcast, traditional pay TV, and streaming video models, including SVOD, AVOD/FAST, TVOD, and vMVPD (streaming TV) services.

“Video-viewing households report watching on average more than 21 hours per week on a TV, accounting for half of their viewing hours,” said Sarah Lee, research analyst at Parks Associates. “Video consumption on a cell phone continues to rise—excluding social video sources, US internet households spend 6.5 hours per week watching video a smartphone and 3.9 hours on a tablet. TVs are still the main video-viewing device, but platform usage continues to diversify.”

The Viewer Journey lists paid streaming services as the most popular content type consumed across TV, mobile, computers, and tablets, but noted households watch several different types of services across their devices over the week. 78% of households report watching an SVOD service weekly, followed by 67% of households who watch user-generated content found onYouTube and other sources.

“The flexibility and convenience that on-demand services offer is highly appealing to viewers, but many households enjoy a balance between finding something to watch and watching what they find,” Lee said. “Given the popularity of FAST and user-generated content, consumers may soon decide they do not need to subscribe to as many services as they do now.”

Parks Associates graphic

(Image credit: Parks Associates)

Study Shows AM/FM Radio Outscores TV For Ad Context And Engagement.

Premieredr — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 13:42:28 +0000

Once again challenging the long-held assumption that advertising on television is clearly more effective than on radio because of its combination of “sight, sound and motion,” results of a study from emotional impact researcher Mediaprobe tell a different story, showing greater effectiveness from radio ads.

“For advertisers, this means the AM/FM radio context for their ads has greater engagement than the TV context,” Cumulus Media/Westwood One Audio Active Group Chief Insights Officer Pierre Bouvard says in Westwood One’s weekly blog’s analysis of the study. “Mediaprobe audio benchmarks reveal the sound contrast between AM/FM radio programming and the ads drives higher attention and brand recall. For example, ads with music and jingles perform very well in spoken word programming due to the contrast.”

Mediaprobe’s study, conducted among more than 200 adults age 18+ during June and July of 2023, was its first to measure participants’ at-home emotional response to ads in pre-recorded AM/FM radio segments via second-by-second electrodermal activity. Using a palm-in-hand sensor that picks up changes in the electrical conductance of skin, Mediaprobe synched the results to the moments from audio ads, comparing those to TV ad norms from earlier studies.

Respondents listened to three of four possible half-hour AM/FM broadcasts, each including three ad breaks with 36 national spots, across four genres: all news, adult contemporary/pop, urban, and rock/classic hits.

The results showed that the emotional impact score of the AM/FM radio advertising commercial pods was 12% higher than TV’s, while the individual AM/FM ads scored 5% higher than the TV ads. Mediaprobe’s measurements also showed AM/FM radio programming outperforming TV norms by 13%. “These findings validate the recently-released Dentsu/Lumen Attentiveness Study, which revealed audio ads outperformed video ads for attention and brand effect,” Bouvard says.

Of the four AM/FM genres tested, all news emerged as the most impactful, 8% higher than all AM/FM programming and 14% higher than TV news. “News is consistently measured as a very high quality contextual environment for ads,” Bouvard notes.

Mediaprobe’s analysis also identified those creative elements in ads which drove the strongest emotional impact, which include using a female voiceover, jingles, and background music, and five mentions of the brand. The blog shows how Nielsen’s data backs up the latter finding. “Nielsen reports significant lift in familiarity, affinity, and likelihood to seek information based on the number of brand mentions in audio ads,” Bouvard says. “Nielsen[‘s] brand effect studies [recommend having] the advertised brand appear within the first few seconds and say the brand at least five times in the thirty second ad.”

Using this testing method to show AM/FM radio’s edge over TV “gets to the heart of what consumers really feel about media and ads,” Bouvard says. “People might come up with reasons why they buy certain products or what they think of an ad. But often, they are just trying to rationalize their unconscious reactions. That’s why neuro studies are so interesting, as they measure the unconscious responses of consumers.”

That Ad Sounded Good, Now Where’s The Buy Button? Study Finds Link Between The Two.

Premieredr — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 19:47:08 +0000

Inside Audio Marketing
It may be intuitive to think that an advertisement that sounds good is more likely to connect with listeners. Now there is some tangible evidence that is true. Veritonic has released a study that it conducted using four variations of a podcast ad for a vitamin subscription service with various creative elements and volumes. Among the findings is voiceover volume matters, and three-quarters of study participants reported that a commercial’s good quality audio positively influences their product purchase consideration.

To conduct the research, Veritonic teamed up with Realeyes, a research company that uses technology to capture and overlay study participant’s self-reported reactions to ads with the passive attention and reaction metrics captured via a webcam. They then delivered four separate creative executions of the vitamin ad, ranging in length from 32-seconds to one minute and 35 seconds. The shorter ads contained a succinct message. But while one was at a normal volume, the other used a much louder music bed. The longer ads contained more detailed messages, one had more than three sound effects and a music bed with normal volume, and the other had a music track that was lower in volume.

The research found that the proportion of the ad where people had sustained attention, and did not look away or get distracted, was the weakest for audio ads with voice overs that were low in volume, at 10% below the benchmark. It also found that the proportion of the ad where people had sustained attention was similarly weak for audio ads that contained many competing sonic elements – including lengthier messaging, more sound effects, and music –coming in seven percent below the benchmark.

The research also shows 22.7% of participants showed a confused expression during audio ads too low in volume. This was more than double the percentage for the ad with normalized volume. Veritonic says that suggests participants struggled to follow the ad with the low-volume voiceover.

What worked? Veritonic says the ads’ attention quality was highest for the audio ad that had the highest voiceover volume (36%) as opposed to the ad that had the lowest voiceover volume (27%) and the ad that had too many competing elements within the creative (25%).

The study also found that 32-seconds was the shortest ad which scored highest in engagement, followed by the ad with the loud voiceover, the ad with competing sound elements, then the ad with the voiceover that was too low.

Veritonic says its latest Audio Attention Report provides data-backed insight into the importance of creative efficacy programs for audio and podcast advertising. As noted in the report, audio is one of the most immersive and effective media channels available to brands and advertisers today, yet it’s still not getting the focus and investment it deserves. Consequently, those advertisers who seize the opportunity to invest in impactful audio advertising stand to gain remarkably outsized returns.

“Our work with the Audio Attention Report will provide advertisers with granular and unparalleled performance data that allows them to optimize their audio and podcast ads, and increase their ROI,” said Alex Browne, Head of Partner Strategy at Realeyes.

The research builds on Veritonic’s brand lift research for advertisers, delivering such metrics as awareness, favorability, use, intent, and recall data for audio campaigns of all sizes. CEO Scott Simonelli says teaming up with Realeyes to measure and categorize human response to sound complements the work they have done during the past decade in audio measurement and optimization.

“This unique combination allows us to provide advertisers and brands with unprecedented insights into audience reactions to audio and podcast ads—cognitive, emotional, and physical,” Simonelli said. “We take pride in offering a level of insight for audio advertising optimization that has never been available before, contributing to the success of podcast and audio advertising globally.”

How TikTok, Temu, and Sephora are making online shopping fun

Premieredr — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 15:44:08 +0000

For some, shopping online is functional, enabling consumers to get what they want quickly, without straying from their budget or list. By creating a more engaging ecommerce experience, retailers can make shopping online fun, enticing consumers to browse and buy like they might in-store—and perhaps, increasing their basket.

Here are three ways to improve the online shopping experience and the retailers that are doing it right.

1. Promote discovery
One of the biggest benefits of shopping in-store is discovering new brands and products, which can be difficult for most retailers to replicate online.

To bring discovery into the ecommerce experience, brands need to consider how customers currently shop with them online and the tools required to shift (or leverage) that behavior.

Online shoppers often turn to Amazon and Walmart.com to start their shopping journeys online, per Jungle Scout data from Q3 2023. To take advantage, both retailers have revamped their website and apps to surface more new products and be more easily searchable.

Smaller brands without the ecommerce presence of Amazon or Walmart may want to focus on discovery outside of their branded properties, specifically on social platforms like TikTok.

79% of consumers worldwide say they often discover products through social media, according to an August 2023 survey by Bazaarvoice.
TikTok is particularly good at reaching younger consumers. Some 29% of US Gen Zers say they discover consumer packaged goods products via TikTok, versus just 10% of the total population, per a February 2023 survey from Tinuiti.
Consider the Stanley cup, a 110-year-old company that has developed a cult-like following after going viral on TikTok.
This strategy requires less upfront investment and can help brands reach a more targeted set of consumers, especially with TikTok’s powerful algorithm.

2. Lean into novelty
Another way to replicate the joy of shopping in-person is to create a more curated, novelty experience, something akin to going to a specialty store.

Almost a third (32%) of US adults cite more relevant products as a top reason to purchase from D2C companies, per a May 2023 survey from SurveyMonkey.
Nearly a quarter (24%) cite a more personalized shopping experience as a top reason.
Offering an endless collection of affordable gadgets you never knew you needed, Temu feeds consumers’ “desire for novelty” while lowering the barrier to purchase, Wendy Woloson, a historian of consumer culture at Rutgers University and the author of “Crap: A History of Cheap Stuff in America,” told Vox.

Though Temu’s merchandise may not be of the highest quality, the app’s personalized recommendations uncover goods that consumers may not be able to find anywhere else.

3. Gamify the shopping experience
Gamification isn’t exclusive to ecommerce, but it is something that digital retailers can easily adopt to make shopping online more exciting and engaging. Gamification can be anything from enabling customers to collect points via different purchases or actions to a full-blown game.

Last year, Sephora launched Beauty Insider Challenges, a gamified experience of four tasks users complete to earn points. Some tasks require a purchase and some don’t, but all are designed to expose users to the different services and products Sephora offers.

“We saw it as an opportunity to drive awareness of some things that we offer that maybe not everyone is aware that we have,” Emmy Brown Berlind, senior vice president and general manager of loyalty at Sephora, said during a Retail Brew webinar, citing Sephora’s in-store Color iQ experience, which helps customers find the correct shade of foundation or concealer for their skin tone.

Why advertisers need to keep up with consumer changes in streaming, social search, and gaming

Premieredr — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 15:42:06 +0000

“Understanding how consumers are spending their time and money is paramount to your business being successful,” our analyst Jeremy Goldman said on “The Future of Digital 2024” webinar. Here are three shifts in media consumption, purchasing behavior, and mobile usage, and how each is prompting new advertising strategies in streaming, social search, and gaming.

The digital shift: Streaming ads are the new norm

“The average person who is streaming is getting more and more comfortable with the fact that they’re seeing ads on streaming platforms. As a result, new inventory is opening up,” Goldman said.
The recent rollout of Prime Video ads isn’t the only contributor to rising competition in connected TV (CTV) advertising—other subscription over-the-top (OTT) players are stealing market share.
US adults will spend 4.1% less time on Netflix in 2025 than they did in 2021, but they’ll increase time spent by 4.2% with other subscription OTT services, according to our forecast.
The opportunity: Spread your CTV ad budget

Linear TV ad spend is expected to decline three consecutive years starting in 2025, when it will account for only 13.4% of total media ad spending, prompting advertisers to put their dollars elsewhere.
“Diversify your spend across different channels, especially at a time when CPMs are relatively affordable and there are targeting and personalization options to take advantage of,” Goldman said.
The digital shift: Social search fuels product discovery

Five years ago, paid search strategy was completely Google-dominated, focusing mostly on the lower-funnel buying journey. Today, the funnel has expanded. “Consumers, especially younger ones, are searching on a constellation of platforms before they’re anywhere near ready to convert,” our analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf said.
Some 43% of Gen Zers will start their online product searches on TikTok, per February 2023 data from Jungle Scout.
Social impressions are growing and costs are declining, while click-through rates are holding up, per October 2023 data from Skai, allowing advertisers to experiment at comparatively lower costs.
The opportunity: Increase your presence where shoppers want to learn more

Brands should seize their chance to own and control their social media image, “essentially bidding against their own name when people search for it,” Goldman said.
To do so, ensure organic social content is searchable by incorporating relevant keywords and hashtags.
Create content that relates to popular search trends and queries, such as how-tos and explainers.
The digital shift: Gaming claims more mobile time

“Even older demographics that are spending more time through mobile devices are doing so playing games,” Goldman said.
By 2027, 26.5 million US digital gamers will be 65 or older, per our August 2023 forecast. That’s the third-largest age group we track, preceded by digital gamers aged 25 to 34 (33.0 million) and 35 to 44 (28.3 million).
Most digital gamers (90.1%) will play on mobile devices this year, compared to 51.2% playing on consoles and 38.2% on desktops and laptops, per our August 2023 forecast.
The opportunity: Trial and error with mobile gaming ads

As developers release more high-production mobile games, they will also add more in-app buying options for subscriptions, game currency, and premium content, giving brands more options for ad formats. Intrinsic ads, for example, blend into the gaming environment, often with 3D effects as a graphic billboard.
“It makes sense to look at gaming ads and see if there’s an opportunity to even test and learn,” Goldman said.

Report: Ad Revenue-Wise, 2024 Will Hold ‘Plenty Of Opportunity’ For Radio.

Premieredr — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 15:39:05 +0000

With local and national ad spend estimates as high as $10.5 billion, and political’s share a potential $400 million – all while 71% of advertisers say they will up or maintain their radio ad budgets – the outlook for the year ahead is bright, according to Marketron’s just-released 2024 Radio Revenue Outlook.

“It will be an interesting year with plenty of opportunity,” says Marketron’s report, which cites data from multiple industry sources. “2024 has some unique opportunities for the broadcast radio industry to increase its spot ad revenue, [and] to displace other traditional media channels. [Radio] continues to be the leader in ad-supported audio and the preferential choice for in-car listening. Digital may get the headlines, but it’s hard to beat radio’s reach and ability to engage and drive buyer intent.”

Noting studies showing higher engagement levels for audio vs. video ads, the importance of radio’s locality, and AM/FM listeners’ high purchase intent, the report addresses the need for the medium to correct long-held assumptions. “Radio has much to provide its advertisers, yet many misconceptions exist about its value as an advertising vehicle,” it says, pointing out brand beliefs that “no one’s listening” to AM/FM, that its reach is low compared to other ad-supported media including audio streaming, or that radio ads have no ROI or sales lift. “It’s easy for this fallacy to permeate a world where some think digital listening and watching are the only media worth discussing.”

Radio, says Marketron’s report, is positioned to gain revenue from political ads, which for the 2024 election have already brought in $43 million for radio as of late November, according to data cited. “Even though it’s a national race, most spending will occur at the local level, even for the presidential campaigns.” the report says, “because nominees will spend much more in swing states [such as Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin].” Marketron recommends salespeople should “complement radio with digital ad tactics to increase the total campaign revenue amount, [and] prioritize the tightest races when prospecting media buyers.”

Other ad categories poised to increase local ad spend this year, according to the outlook, include retail, real estate, local auto dealers, financial services, and health care. Across all the above, the report reminds execs that “there’s always a chance to grow [these] by ensuring they know radio drives results for just about any ad goal. Top radio advertisers have new challenges and concerns; be ready to address them with ideas on how to be more strategic with the creative. Presenting new angles for radio spots and collaborating with on-air talent can make a station more appealing to advertisers.”

As to the bigger picture of the 2024 economy, Marketron’s forecast sees “cautious optimism,” as “analysts predict inflation continuing to ease and GDP growing,” noting a source pegging U.S. retail growth at 6.5%. The report stresses, however, that while economic forecasts are “the story of Wall Street, radio operates more on Main Street. A specific market and its growth or retraction will inform how local advertisers spend their dollars. Any customer will have objections to ad spend no matter how the economy is performing, [but salespeople] can overcome these with data on radio’s reach, ROI, cost-effectiveness and power to influence consumers.”

The report makes one more key recommendation to station sales staffs: become experts at selling radio and digital together, noting that “it increases your share of wallet, and allows you to expand the types of companies you prospect.”

Podcast Ad Spending Grew In Q4 Magellan AI Analysis Shows. So Did Ad Loads.

Premieredr — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 15:37:35 +0000

Podcast advertising spending grew 29% during the fourth quarter of 2023 as the top ten advertisers spent an estimated $122 million during the final three months of the year. Yet the pace of gains came beyond just the biggest spenders. Magellan AI’s quarterly benchmark report says the top ten’s rate of growth was ten points slower than the industry overall, as it tracked 2,268 new brands that advertised on podcasts for the first time during the quarter. They spent an average of $20,000 with Sports the podcast genre most likely to see their dollars.

Overall, Magellan AI says the average monthly spend increased 30% year-to-year for brand awareness campaigns and was up 21% for direct response advertisers. Its analysis shows brand ads made up a majority 55% of the market during Q4.

The biggest advertiser during Q4 was the online mental health brand BetterHelp, which spent an estimated $25.6 million. Amazon ranked second at $23.3 million, followed by HelloFresh, which spent $13.2 million according to Magellan AI estimates. It says seven of the top ten advertisers were repeats from the third quarter, while three – Apple, Shopify, and AT&T – are new to the list.

The holiday season resulted in the gifts ad category being the fast-growing ad segment during Q4 per Magellan AI’s calculations. It says the category saw a 509% increase from third quarter for a combined $13.3 million in advertising. Home Décor ad spending more than doubled to $7.2 million, making it the second fastest-growing ad category, followed by shaving, which was up 83% to $4.6 million. The fantasy sports category, which was the fastest growing industry during third quarter, further expanded in Q4 when Magellan AI says its spending was up 49% to $20 million.

The Magellan AI data also give a fresh read on advertising loads. It reveals that despite what some companies say has been an uneven ad market, the average ad loads across episodes sampled increased to 7.66% of episode time dedicated to ads during Q4. That was up from 17% from the third quarter. And it was a 29% increase versus the prior year when less than six percent of an episode went toward advertising.

Magellan AI says it detected higher ad loads across all of the major genres, with True Crime the category with the most ad time among the podcasts in the sample. It says 13.2% of True Crime episodes were ads, not content. It was followed by Society & Culture (10.1%), Kids & Family (8.9%), Education (7.1%), Business (7.1%), News (6.9%), and Health & Fitness (6.8%).

Magellan AI’s quarterly analysis shows that despite efforts to spread ad dollars deeper into the medium, ad buyers continue to focus heavily on the top podcast. During the fourth quarter, it says about $5.43 of every $10 spent on podcast advertising went to a top 500 show. And advertisers spent an average of $270,000 per month on podcasts in the top 500 versus a $35,000 average for shows ranked 501 to 3,000.

Among the other findings in the quarterly analysis is that eight percent of episodes had all their ad spots filled by a single advertiser. That one brand domination was most common among shows in the Technology genre, where 18% of episodes had a single advertiser. It was also a common feature in Education (16%) and Business (12%).

Download a copy of Magellan AI’s Quarterly Podcast Advertising Benchmark Report HERE.

Programmatic Ad Spend Is Forecast At $157.35 Billion For This Year

Premieredr — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 15:37:05 +0000

Programmatic ad spending is just now starting what should be a very good year — relatively speaking.

Of all ad dollars, over $157.35 billion will go to programmatic, according to Programmatic Ad Spending Forecast H1 2024, a study by Insider Intelligence/eMarketer, presented by LiveRamp. That reflects a 15.9% growth rate and is 91.3% of all ad spending.

The year 2025 will be even better, with programmatic spending expected to total $178.25.

In contrast, nonprogrammatic will grow at only a third of that rate in 2024 at 5.3%.

However, cookie depreciation has hit ad spending — programmatic advertisers have been “refocusing strategies around first-party data and investing more heavily in closed and private ecosystems,” the study says. “This will leave the open exchange with less than 10% market share by the end of 2024.

Open exchange ad spending represented 74.5% of the programmatic display market when eMarketer began tracking it in 2013.

Triton Reports Podcast Listening Up 12% During The Past Two Years.

Premieredr — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 15:36:11 +0000

The pandemic boom in podcast listening was just a warmup act it turns out. Triton Digital says the number of monthly podcast listeners has continued to rise, with it tracking a 12% growth rate during the past two years. Based on its measurement of podcast downloads, as well as companion survey data, Triton says during 2023, four in ten (40%) of U.S. adults reported listening to a podcast within the past month. “This growth was reflected across all segments of the population, especially those late to adopting podcasts as a preferred medium,” Triton says.

The just-released U.S. Podcast Report finds that older Americans and women are listening to podcasts at a faster rate, with a 22% increase in listeners over the age of 55 and a 13% increase for 35- to 54-year-olds.

“2023 was another year of significant growth for the podcast industry, and with increasing female and over 55+ audiences, we can expect more content production to serve those groups in the coming year,” Trion Senior VP Daryl Battaglia said.

In terms of gender, there has been a 19% increase in female listeners over the past two years, which is more than double the 7% increase among male listeners. But overall, men still over index for podcast listening versus women. At the same time, younger age groups – those 44 and younger – all over index relative to the population as a whole. The data confirms that podcast listeners are also more educated and more diverse. Triton says Hispanics are 18% more likely to be a podcast listener than the general population, and African Americans are 10% more likely.

Despite reports of news fatigue, Triton’s year-end report says the top podcast genre last year among the publishers it measures was News, which accounted for 22% of downloads. It was followed by True Crime (18%) and Comedy (15%).

As to be expected, the different genres reached different audience segments. News podcast listeners skewed male with listeners 55 and older 66% more likely to tune into shows in that category. Meantime two-thirds of True Crime podcasts were women, with women 25-34 most likely to be listeners of the category. And among Comedy podcasts, men – especially 18–24-year-olds – were the easiest to be found.

Triton’s report also shows the continued rise of YouTube as a listening platform for podcasts, as well as why that may be good for the industry overall. It says YouTube is attracting new podcast listeners with 47% of those using YouTube reporting they have started listening in the past year. And 31% saying they have begun in the past two or three years.

Overall, Triton says a third (34%) of podcast listeners say YouTube is the app they used most often to consume podcasts last year, up four points from 2021. The data shows YouTube users skew younger, and more male, and they also typically have lower income than users of traditional podcast apps like Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The report incorporates data from multiple sources, the Triton Podcast Metrics service, which measures server log data from the Triton Omny Studio platform and a variety of other industry hosting platforms. It also includes data from Triton Podcast Metrics Demos+ solution, which provides demographics and audience characteristics for podcasts of all sizes, as well as the Demos+ survey of 12,000 monthly podcast listeners in the U.S., done in collaboration with Signal Hill Insights.

Kantar Ups Midterm Election Ad Spend Estimate To $8.4 Billion, Nearing 2020’s $9.0 Billion.

Premieredr — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 17:01:32 +0000

This year’s midterm election season is shaping up to be like no other before it, with political ad dollars already far ahead of 2018’s $5.4 billion and now expected to challenge the $9.0 billion spent during 2020’s Presidential race. As a result of the enormous political spending so far, Kantar CMAG has again adjusted its originally-projected media spend of $7.8 billion, raising it to $8.4 billion.

“We’ve been reevaluating our estimate for spending across broadcast TV, cable TV, OTT, radio, Spanish language local TV, Facebook, and Google,” Kantar CMAG VP and General Manager Steve Passwaiter, who has run the political ad intelligence unit of Kantar since 2016, tells Forbes. “Of course, the totals for all political ads will exceed this number when you factor in unmeasurable platforms like direct mail, texting, etc.”

In a season with all 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats and 36 State Governor seats up for grabs, plus statewide and thousands of other down-ballot contests and ballot measures, ad spending has clearly increased so far. Passwaiter points to Alabama’s Senate and Los Angeles’ mayoral primary races, both of which generated $30 million in ads, plus $100 million already spent on California’s statewide ballot measure on online gambling. Aside from California, Passwaiter expects the biggest spends to occur in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Nevada, although Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, and Texas shouldn’t be far behind.

Neither an inflationary nor potentially recessionary economy should impact political ad spend, according to Kantar. “There’s been a little discussion lately about some fatigue with lower dollar donors on the Republican side, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with their Democratic counterparts,” Passwaiter says. “If we look back to the early days of the pandemic back in 2020, the lull in the economy from all the shutdowns had zero impact on spending. That was a record year, if you’ll remember.”

Driving the midterm spending activity is broadcast TV’s projected $4 billion in political ads, although Kantar predicts significant growth for ad-supported streaming platforms. “Projections are likely to be close to or equal to cable TV’s totals this year,” Passwaiter says. “There’s a lot of belief being shown in this platform by political buyers. It’s got targeting capabilities and a growing audience that’s helping buyers offset the losses in viewers available on linear TV. It also has a generally different audience made up of younger viewers.”

While not as significant a player, social media sites also remain in the mix, Passwaiter says. “They’ve become a permanent part of the advertising mix, even if some of these players don’t have all the usefulness they once had for campaigns. TikTok is an interesting platform in that it doesn’t allow political ads, but it is frequented by many political influencers that use the platform to actively promote any number of agendas.”