Category: Industry News
The Most Complained About TV Shows of 2018
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Celebrity Big Brother was the television programme that Ofcom received the most complaints about in 2018.
Over the year, they received a total of almost 56,000 complaints about programmes from viewers and listeners. Together, the top ten most complained about television shows prompted more than 47,000 complaints, making up 86% of the year’s total.
Channel 5’s Celebrity Big Brother attracted the most complaints in 2018, with 27,602. Most of these were about an allegation of physical abuse made by Roxanne Pallett against Ryan Thomas.
Second on the list was an episode of ITV’s Loose Women. This prompted 7,912 complaints, most of which were about an interview with guest Kim Woodburn.
ITV reality shows Love Island and The X Factor also featured in the top 10 (ranked 4th and 10th respectively), along with storylines on Coronation Street (5th) and Emmerdale (6th) which prompted hundreds of viewers to get in touch with Ofcom. Good Morning Britain (7th), This Morning (8th), Sky News (3rd) and I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here (9th) complete the rankings.
Ofcom launched 137 investigations into TV and radio programmes in 2018. Of those, 129 were concluded this year. They found the broadcasting rules were broken in 80 cases; 33 cases were found to have not broken the rules; and 16 cases were resolved – which means in those cases Ofcom’s concerns were satisfied by the broadcaster.
The top ten in full:
- Celebrity Big Brother: 27,602
- Loose Women: 8,002
- Sky News: 4,251
- Love Island: 4,192
- Coronation Street: 1,098
- Emmerdale: 759
- Good Morning Britain: 548
- This Morning: 402
- I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!: 335
- The X Factor: 286
Sources
5 Marketing Trends for 2019
We can’t believe it’s 2019 already!
What are some trends we expect to see this year?
1. Authenticity is everything
The world is beginning to sort the fake influencers from credible, authentic sources. Influencers aren’t going anywhere, but brands that continue to do well will be the ones who work with influencers to ensure trustworthy outputs.
2. Voice is growing
There are now over 45,000 skills on Alexa, an indication of how voice is continuing to grow. Brands will move from gimmicks to finding ways of adding real value through voice. By 2020, it’s predicted that every major brand will have a voice strategy in their marketing plans.
3. Are chatbots the answer for customer service?
Chatbots are a form of software that acts as a bridge between customer and customer service agents. They are already used extensively on Facebook for tasks ranging from providing weather reports to automating customer support functions. Their effectiveness in 2019 is likely to improve.
4. Gen Z are growing up
Gen Z (people born between the mid-1990s and early 2000s) are getting older, meaning they are entering the workforce and beginning to possess buying power. This generation is seeking authenticity and socially responsible businesses.
5. Rebuilding trust in social media
While social media platforms continue to grow, consumer confidence is shaky. Users are wary of information they find on social media and younger users are not tolerant of marketing which appears un-authentic.
So, are you ready for 2019?
If you’re ready to get your 2019 marketing plan into action, then give our team a call on 02921 320 200 or email at info@themediaangel.co.uk.
Sources
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/32
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/3249014
https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2018/12/06/10-marketing-trend-predictions-2019043
How banning Iceland’s advert boosted their brand
For many brands, their Christmas advert is the pinnacle of the advertising calendar. If that advert was banned from television it would be sensible to assume it’d be a devastating blow to a brand’s Christmas campaign. However, Iceland have managed to use their advert’s ban to their advantage.
On November 9th, Iceland tweeted “You won’t see our Christmas advert on TV this year, because it was banned. But we want to share Rang-tan’s story with you… Will you help us share the story?”
You may have seen their advert before, it was released by Greenpeace a few months ago. But Iceland have used it to highlight their stance on palm oil.
The advert was blocked by ClearCast for being “overtly political.” An advertising disaster? Not for Iceland.
Their original tweet has 90,215 re-tweets, 95,206 likes and 5,100 comments.
It has been shared by James Corden, Stephen Fry, Bill Bailey and Paloma Faith. James Corden’s single tweet was viewed 13 million times.
The story has been covered by The Guardian, the New York Times and the Telegraph.
A petition to get ClearCast to reconsider their judgement has over 590,000 signatures.
The video of the advert on YouTube has received over 3 million views. Their 2017 advert only drew 97,000 views by comparison.
People have commented that Iceland knew the ad would be banned but marketing director Neil Hayes has denied this.
“There’s some compensation is the fact that it’s gained a bit of momentum and people are watching it on social media. But I would still have loved to put it on primetime TV as our main ad,”
Neil Hayes
What do you think about the advert?
The countdown has begun!
It’s that time of year when the Christmas advert competition begins to heat up, and here are some of the contestants so far.
Aldi – Kevin the Carrot
2018’s Aldi Christmas advert sees the return of Kevin the Carrot, but this year he’s driving a truck that looks a lot like the iconic Coca-Cola lorry. The advert ends on a cliffhanger (literally), and it looks we’ll have to wait for a second advert will reveal Kevin’s fate. While we think Kevin is a sweet character, the use of the Coca-Cola truck seems as odd choice.
Argos – Christmas Fool
Another brand employing a character for their festive advert is Argos. Their gremlin-like creature causes chaos around the house, until the Argos delivery man shows up and splats him. We can all relate to the carnage the character causes, and Argos’ same-day delivery is definitely appealing!
Amazon – Can you Feel It?
This ad features singing boxes, similar to a style they used earlier in the year. We think the singing boxes don’t feel very festive to us, perhaps because the song isn’t a Christmas classic? What do you think?
Tesco – However you do Christmas
Another brand sticking to a similar style is Tesco with their “Food Love Stories” campaign. It features families saying what Christmas means to them; chocolate, sprouts, staying in, going out etc… Similar to the Amazon advert, we think Tesco could have done more than using a tried and tested style.
Debenhams – Do a bit of Debenhams
There’s no better feeling than when you’ve really nailed your gift choice! The Debenhams advert taps into this gift-smugness, we really like the results!
Asda – Bring Christmas Home
Out of the six adverts, we think Asda’s is the most festive! Father Christmas, skiing, trees, food and a festive song – it’s got it all!
The world is still waiting for the arguable ‘King’ of Christmas adverts, John Lewis to release their 2018 offering. Rumours say the release date could be Friday 9th November. We’re waiting!
‘Customer experience is as much about perception as reality’
Increasing satisfaction doesn’t always require costly service improvements – sometimes shifting expectations is equally effective for much less investment.
In the early 2000s, the management at Houston airport was dismayed by the number of passenger complaints it was receiving.
The main issue was delays at the baggage carousel: by this point passengers were often at the end of their tether and even trivial delays tested their patience.
In response, the airport approved a hefty budget for more baggage handlers. At first, the cash looked well spent as waiting times dropped to eight minutes, about average for an airport. But complaints remained stubbornly high.
The authorities considered hiring more baggage handlers but that was prohibitively expensive. Instead, the managers took a psychological approach: they focused on improving the subjective experience rather than the objective reality.
One fact they had discovered earlier became key: people spent about a minute walking to the carousel and eight minutes waiting. The authorities re-routed passengers after passport control so they had to walk further. This meant they spent about eight minutes walking to the carousel and just a minute waiting.
Even though the time they picked up their bags was the same, complaints plummeted. In the words of Alex Stone, who reported on the Houston redesign for the New York Times, “the experience of waiting is defined only partly by the objective length of the wait”.
What matters more is perception and an unoccupied wait feels far longer than an occupied one.
The academic evidence
This claim about unoccupied time is not just an anecdote. In 2002, three Dutch researchers – Gerrit Antonides, Peter Verhoef and Marcel van Aalst – undertook a study on the perceived length of waiting among 236 telephone callers. They found that when people heard hold music they felt their wait was 7% shorter than when they had nothing to entertain them.
The Houston anecdote and Dutch study have two implications.
Businesses often default to trying to reshape objective reality. This tends to be eye-wateringly expensive and prohibitively time-consuming.
First, for queuing. If brands want to reduce irritation, then length is not the only consideration. Brands should prioritise minimising the tedium of unoccupied waiting. Disney resorts do this brilliantly by filling the dead time of queuing for their rides with entertainment.
There are plenty of other subjective opportunities. For example, uncertain delays are more onerous than fixed ones. Disney again recognises this by clearly labelling the expected waiting time for its queues.
Finally, queues that end on a positive note are rated as less irritating. Disney taps into this by purposefully exaggerating how long they tell people they’ll wait. Then when they arrive at the front of the queue earlier than expected it’s a pleasant surprise.
Second, businesses often default to trying to reshape objective reality. They aim for what could be called ‘engineering solutions’. But these tend to be eye-wateringly expensive and prohibitively time-consuming. In Houston, the management could have sunk vast sums into speeding up the baggage service without seriously improving satisfaction.
Luckily, they showed more imagination. They opted for a psychological solution rather than an engineering one. Before you countenance your next engineering solution it might be worth exploring whether there is a psychological solution you can apply that will be more effective.
Source: Marketing Week
UK government to hit Facebook, Google and Amazon with digital services tax
The government will soon impose a ‘digital services tax’ on UK revenues generated by “established tech giants” like Facebook, Google and Amazon.
The 2% levy was announced by chancellor Philip Hammond in the Autumn budget today (29 October). It will come into force in 2020 following a period of consultation.
The announcement follows on from heavy criticism about the amount of tax tech behemoths pay to the treasury. In most instances they are gleaned from ad revenues – in comparison to their UK profit.
How much tax do tech giants pay?
Facebook UK revenues: £1.26bn Tax: £15.8m (2017)
Amazon UK revenues: £72m Tax: £4.5m (2017)
Google UK revenues: £1bn Tax: £36.4m (2016)
Snapchat UK revenues: £26m Tax: £360K (15 months to Dec 2016)
Twitter UK revenues: £76m Tax: £1.2m (2015)
Without going into detail, Hammond said the levy wouldn’t apply to “small UK startups.” But instead be targeted at profitable digital services companies that generate “at least £500m a year in global revenue”.
Kill or cure?
Ahead of the announcement, IAB chief executive Jon Mew argued that such a levy risked harming the UK digital ad market.
“While the government has said it wants to focus new measures on larger businesses, it would be difficult to avoid collateral damage across the sector and a negative effect on competition,” Mew warned.
“A tax on revenue would create a disincentive for competitors to set up and grow in the UK market. And would impact on mid-market players who drive competition and provide choice.”
Mew suggested that if the government was truly committed to leading the charge on innovation-friendly regulation that supports the growth of the tech sector then it should focus on supporting efforts to accelerate the EU Commission and OECD process to agree to an international approach to digital taxation.
Source: The Drum
What will advertising on voice sound like?
The voice boom is coming, so brands need start shifting their focus: Forget what advertisements in the future will look like – what will they sound like?
The rising popularity of voice-enabled devices, be they digital assistants or smart home speakers, means advertising on such platforms are emerging – and paid opportunities are almost non-existent.
Consumer trusts isn’t there
Microsoft’s head of evangelism for search, Christi Olson, said her company isn’t yet advertising on its platforms because consumer trust isn’t there yet.
The company ran a survey that found consumers are unsure of how their data is being used, and when exactly the devices are listening.
Cautious advertising
This friction may hinder paid advertising opportunities, but it isn’t deterring consumers from engaging with voice-enabled devices. Information from Alpine.AI shows there are over one billion voice searches per month on smart assistants, as of January 2018.
Jim Cridlin, global head of innovation at Mindshare, explains this consumer-platform relationship as a ‘trust truce,’ where consumers are using a device that meets their needs, while companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Apple are taking a cautiously deliberate approach to advertising so they don’t alienate users.
“It’s not that brands don’t want to take advantage of [paid advertising opportunities],” Cridlin claims. “I think it’s the other side of the equation. It’s the platform owners that aren’t yet ready for brands to advertise their content. They want to get the behavior in place, go from the trust truce to one of total trust, before they introduce advertising on their platforms.”
Using data to enhance
The simple fact that speaking is easier for most users than typing means voice-enabled devices are here to stay. And advertising on such platforms must reflect that seamless mode of communication.
Senior vice president of digital commerce at Geometry Global, Doug Chavez, said platform owners are wary of paid advertisements because they may disrupt the user experience.
“As long as the ads are complementary to what [users are] looking for versus interruptive or intrusive consumers would be fine with that,” said Chavez. “One of the things that’s interesting — if you look at millennials, they are happy to give their data away if it makes their experience better. It’s just a matter of looking at the data you have and how does that magnify rather than dilute [users’] experience.
A report from Mindshare outlined an instance where Google Home users “kicked up a fuss when Google Assistant reported that ‘Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast opens today’ after it delivered the time, weather and travel update.”
Google took that ad down, but there are other ways for brands to reach consumers via voice. That starts with content optimization, as search is the what drives responses from devices.
Optimising for voice search
“It’s not necessarily advertisements. It’s serving answers to the questions that are getting asked today,” says Olson. “It goes back to really understanding organic search optimization to become that spoken response. And making sure that you are writing your content on a page in a conversational tone so when the search engines crawl the site, that they can see the questions and the responses that can then be spoken aloud back to a given customer or consumer.”
According to Cridlin, the web of the future will be invisible, thanks partly to the proliferation of voice-enabled technologies. With this inevitable platform disruption, brands that prioritize optimization will find value in opportunities that can provide valuable content.
Consumers are increasingly moving toward voice, and it’s only natural for brands to follow. The big names that adapt and find their voices on these platforms could be the ones to have the hearts of future spenders.
Source: The Drum
Rajar Q3 2018: what are the results?
The third quarter results of RAJAR 2018 have been released, and below we summarise across the Welsh and National results.
Wales
The stations with the largest increase in reach are Heart South Wales and Capital SW and Kiss (West). Capital South Wales’s reach was up from 178,000 to 210,000, a large increase of 32,000. Their average listener hours were also up slightly from 7.5 to 7.7. They were one of only two stations that had an increase in reach and listener hours.
Heart South Wales’s saw a large increase in reach from 444,000 to 482,000, an increase of 38,000. However, their average listener hours saw a big drop from 9.7 to 7.5.
Kiss (West) also saw a large increase in reach, they went up from 411,000 to 451,000 but their listener hours were marginally down from 5.1 to 4.9
The stations with the biggest losses in reach were Capital North West and Wales and 96.4 FM The Wave. Capital North West and Wales’s reach was down from 130,000 to 116,000, a large decrease of 14,000. On a positive their average listener hours were up from 5.6 to 7.6. 96.4 FM The Wave’s reach was down from 135,000 to 123,000, a decrease of 12,000. The had no change in their average listener hours.
National
For two second consecutive quarters, Total Global Radio has experienced no change, holding steady with a weekly reach of 23.7m listeners across 15 national stations.
However, four of Global’s stations recorded declines this quarter: Heart Brand (-1%), Heart Network (-2.1%), LBC Network (-0.5%) and The Arrow, which saw its impressive 24.2% growth in Q2 boomerang by recording the largest quarterly decline of all stations in Q3, at -39%.
The weekly reach of Global’s second highest ranking brand, Capital, was up 0.8% QoQ.
Bauer Radio Total – second in the rankings – gained 459,000 listeners last quarter, up 2.6% QoQ.
Bauer’s Hits Radio Brand once again saw its reach decline, down almost 0.9%; however, Kiss Network, Absolute Radio and Magic Network all made positive gains, up 2.3%, 2.4% and 4.6%, respectively.
BBC Radio 1 grew 3.9% to reach 9.6m listeners, and digital-only BBC 6 Music grew 3%.
Digital
Global made its largest quarterly gains with its digital stations, Heart 80s and Heart Extra, which were up 15.9% and 17.6%, respectively.
Like Global, Bauer gained the most ground with its digital stations, with Absolute 80s up 14.7%, Absolute Radio 90s up 11.1%, and Magic Soul up 11.3%.
Source: Rajar, Mediatel
If you want to make sure your using your marketing budget to its full potential, then give our team a call on 02921 320 200 or email at info@themediaangel.co.uk
Does TV and internet advertising feed children’s junk food habits?
“Every hour kids spend online increases chance of buying junk food by a fifth,” reports The Daily Telegraph.
A Cancer Research UK survey of almost 2,500 children found those who used the internet or watched commercial television for more than half an hour a day were more likely to ask for, buy or eat junk food (food high in fat, salt and sugar).
Researchers found the primary school-age children surveyed spent an average of 16 hours a week on the internet.
They found 4 of the 5 most popular websites the children used were commercial sites that display online advertising.
That compares to an average of 22 hours of television a week, 12 hours of which was on commercial channels that show adverts.
There are currently no UK guidelines on screen time for children. These are expected in 2019.
What did the study find?
Researchers found links between the amount of time children spent watching TV or on the internet and their likelihood of being overweight, asking for junk food, and buying and eating certain types of junk food.
Time spent watching commercial TV or online wasn’t linked to children’s activity levels.
Each additional hour children spent watching commercial TV was linked to:
- a 22% increased chance of children asking for food they’d seen advertised
- a 21% increased chance of children buying food they’d seen advertised
- a 23% increased chance of them consuming sugary drinks
- an 18% increased chance of consuming pastries
- a 16% increased chance of consuming crisps and sweets
Each additional hour children spent online was linked to:
- a 19% increased chance of children asking for food they’d seen advertised
- a 19% increased chance of children buying food they’d seen advertised
- a 9% increased chance of them consuming sugary drinks
- a 13% increased chance of them consuming pastries and sweet biscuits
- a 12% increased chance of consuming sweets
Children who watched more than 3 hours of commercial TV a day were 59% more likely to be overweight or obese than children who watched half an hour a day or less.
Those who used the internet more than 3 hours a day were 79% more likely to be overweight or obese than children who used the internet half an hour a day or less.
What does this mean for you?
The study results suggest that watching commercial TV or using internet sites with advertising may be linked to children’s desire for high-sugar, high-fat and high-salt foods they see advertised.
Cancer Research UK has called for the government to ban junk food advertising altogether on TV before 9pm and bring in similar protection for children exposed to advertising online.
Parents wanting to avoid “pester power” might want to think about restricting the amount of time their children spend online, as well as watching commercial TV.
But it’s important to note that we don’t know whether these results mean TV or internet use directly causes obesity or increased junk food consumption.
Obesity and diet are complicated, and many different factors are likely to be involved. For example, parents have a big influence on children’s diets, as well as on how much TV and internet use they’re allowed.
Source: https://www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-and-child/does-tv-and-internet-advertising-feed-childrens-junk-food-habits/
InLinks go live in Cardiff
InLinks launch in Cardiff: the second Welsh city to benefit from free ultrafast Wi-Fi and phone calls.
Cardiff joins Swansea as the second Welsh city to benefit from free InLinks, which already have more than 215,000 subscribers across the UK.
The first three dual-language InLinks have been activated in the city, providing ultrafast Wi-Fi speeds of up to one gigabit per second (1Gbps), the fastest free public Wi-Fi service available in the UK.
The first of the fully-accessible InLinks have recently gone live on Queen Street, St Mary Street and Bridge Street, with further activations expected in the coming weeks. With the roll-out of the first three InLinks in Cardiff brands have access to a busy high street audience.
Not only do 77% of consumers agree InLinks have a positive impact on their communities, our research has shown that 75% of them feel more positively about brands that sponsor services such as Wi-Fi, charging locations and travel information.
The UK rollout has so far seen more than 522 screens installed in Swansea, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Gateshead, Glasgow, Southampton, Newcastle and Sheffield, as well as nine London boroughs; with hundreds more to be installed in key towns and cities across the UK.
Since the first InLink was launched in June last year, more than 215,000 people have subscribed to the service’s free Wi-Fi, using enough data to download the equivalent of more than 24.7 million songs. The InLinks have saved people more than £980,000 in free calls, with 50,000 calls being made on average every week across the UK.
The InLinks also provide free phone calls to UK landlines and mobiles, rapid mobile device charging, the BT Phone Book app, as well as easy access to charity helplines.
InLinkUK and its partner BT have worked closely with stakeholders in Wales to ensure that the new InLinks will support both Welsh and English languages, with both the screens and the tablet showcasing dual language information at launch.
Cardiff’s local community are also benefiting from the InLink’s digital screens that display real-time information, including local events and interesting facts, as well as community messaging.
Adrian Field, Executive Director, for Cardiff BID added, “We are delighted that Cardiff will benefit from the installation of InLinks to help improve the aesthetics of an area, safety, and promoting key messages. It allows those in the city centre to have the means to make their visit an even better experience. We expect them to be widely embraced by visitors, residents and employees.”
Source: Primesight
Digital adspend increased by 15% to £6.36bn in the first half of 2018
Digital advertisers spent a total of £6.36bn in the first half of 2018, up 15% year on year, according to the Digital Adspend report from IAB UK and PwC.
Search makes up half (52%) of this, increasing on par at 15% to £3.3bn. Next is non-video display at £1.33bn (+9%). Then video display £967m (40%). Classifieds remains at £726m and other remained at £41m.
Tim Elkington, chief digital officer of IAB UK, said: “With mobile devices accounting for 75% of all UK adults’ time online, it is safe to assume smartphone penetration continues to contribute towards the 15% year-on-year growth in adspend reported.”
Jon Mew, chief executive of IAB UK, added: “With today’s half-year announcement of gross revenue of £6.4bn and with the impressive year-on-year growth of 15%, it is essential we remain focused not only on building the future for advertising but on building a sustainable future.”
Source: The Drum
2018 Marketing Trends
As businesses prepare to enter their biggest quarter of the year, we look at how the big trends are faring so far. Where are brands putting their money? And more importantly, where should they be putting it?
Organic Social Media
The general view on organic social media is that it is on its’ way out. However, research by OneChocolate showed that 59% of marketers have increased their investment in this area over the past 12 months. Notably, a big area for investment is hiring talent in the form of skilled strategists and content creators.
Social vs. traditional media
While social media platforms race to prove to users they can protect their data, there has been a resurgence of trust in newspapers and magazines (MediaCom, 2017). Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter all reported declining user numbers in their half-year results.
Brits’ concern over what’s fact and fiction is heightened. Only 4% of Brits can identify fake news stories correctly.
Podcasts: niche to mainstream
While podcasts have been around for over a decade, 2018 has seen the medium switch from niche to mainstream. 61% of UK adults now regularly listen to at least one podcast, with 21% listening once a week. 68% say that they were more likely to listen to a podcast today than three years ago (Spotify, 2017).
This increased interest in podcasts is potentially lucrative for brands. 70% of listeners have heard podcast advertising, and a huge 76% of those took action afterwards, such as looking for more brand info online, visiting a brandʼs website or sharing brand information online (Acast, 2018).
Brands and broadcast
UK streaming subscriptions recently overtook pay-TV broadcasters for the first time. Ofcom’s latest report shows Netflix, Amazon Prime and Now TV reached 15.4m subscriptions, whereas pay-TV suppliers such as Sky, BT and Virgin Media logged 15.1m. People are watching less TV – down an average of nine minutes over the past year.
Influencers: is the market saturated?
Influencer marketing has been the hot trend for what feels like forever, but marketers have had to fight to stay ahead of rapidly increasing influencer costs and stricter advertising guidelines.
25% of consumers would consider buying a product endorsed by someone with over 1m followers. Meanwhile, 50% would be “likely” or “very likely” to purchase if promoted by an influencer with a smaller following but considered to be a specialist in that area (Zine, 2018).
Video
Video continues to go from strength to strength as a key marketing tool for brands across all sectors and audiences. Viewers retain 95% of a message when they view a video, compared to 10% when reading it in text format (insivia, 2017). The average user spends 88% more time on a website with video than one without.
Voice search
Voice technologies are making their way from early adopter territory into the mainstream. 58% of consumers have used voice search to find local business information in the last 12 months (BrightLocal, 2018), while one in five EU consumers have shopped using voice or text agents (Mastercard, 2018).
Google data shows mobile searches for “should I” and “do I need” have each grown more than 65%, while those starting with “can I” have grown by more than 85%.
Download the full report here.