Minsky Media Minute: Advertising Week, The Pope, IAB Forecasts, Impressions-Only Media?

The Pope, yes ... that Pope … has waded into the social media/tech discussions. Speaking to the World Meeting of Popular Movements (which, by the way, is the exact opposite of Advertising Week), his Holiness released the following statement:

"In the name of God, I ask the technology giants to stop exploiting human weakness, people's vulnerability, for the sake of profits without caring about the spread of hate speech, grooming, fake news, conspiracy theories, and political manipulation.

In the name of God, I ask the telecommunications giants to ease access to educational material and connectivity for teachers via the internet so that poor children can be educated even under quarantine.

In the name of God, I ask the media to stop the logic of post-truth, disinformation, defamation, slander and the unhealthy attraction to dirt and scandal, and to contribute to human fraternity and empathy with those who are most deeply damaged."

And Zuckerberg thought the Wall Street Journal and Congress were tough ...

A recent global study commissioned by TV Squared and conducted by Dynata and Advertiser Perceptions has revealed that 73% of marketers agree that all TV should be sold on impressions.

The IAB has released its latest ad spending figures. The latest projections show internet advertising spend in the U.S. will hit $153B in 2021, rising to over $200B in 2022. In the report, the IAB issued a stark warning that the industry must improve the ad experience, saying, "The landscape and consumer expectations have changed so dramatically that it is no longer acceptable to continue the same approach to the market. It is imperative that you find ways to deliver the best ad-supported experience possible in order to drive sustained revenue growth for both brands and publishers."

In the same report, the IAB highly endorsed a hybrid work model saying that those who do not embrace hybrid "risk losing top talent."

Holy Squidward! ViacomCBS is partnering with NFT company Recur to create a marketplace where SuperFans (and investors) can buy, collect and trade "official" digital images of their favorite characters and iconic images across the ViacomCBS portfolio.

WarnerMedia has published a massive report on diversity and inclusion within their programming and company as of 2020. The "Power of Stories" indicates that as of 2020, 72% of senior leadership at WarnerMedia was White, 10% Asian American, 7% Black and 6% Hispanic/Latinx. The report illustrates a small bit of progress in the hiring and promotions in 2020.

IAS released their Global Media Quality report for H1 2021. According to the report, ConnectedTV inventory remains the most viewable ad format with 93.2% viewability. Desktop video ad completion rates were strong, ranging from 90.1% for quartile one to 76.5% for quartile four. Mobile video ad completion rates also held up with 85.7% completion at quartile one down to 69.4% for quartile four. However, in comparison to the other markets measured, the U.S. had the lowest completion rates in both desktop and mobile.

Mobile ad company Kargo has acquired Stitcher Ads, a social ad platform focused on e-Commerce for $64mm.

Apple's ad business seems to be a big beneficiary of its latest privacy updates. While the updates have caused a wrench in targeting and attribution for others, their SearchAds product which places ads on the Apple App Store is now responsible for 58% of app downloads, up from 17% a year ago.

Discovery+ is now available on LG's WebOS TVs.

After a six-year hiatus, A&E is bringing back the popular trucking reality show, Shipping Wars. Episodes will begin airing on November 20, 2021. This resurrection has given new hope to the team who created Max Headroom. (Oh c'mon ... that was funny!)

Wishing you a productive and positive week!

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