Advertising in Wales

Do you want your brand to be seen by a mass and diverse audience, across Wales?

If so, check out the latest statistics for different advertising media in Wales!

---

TV

On average, people in Wales spend 2 hours 45 minutes per day watching broadcast TV, the second most of any nation. Unsurprisingly given the passion for  sport in Wales, the most-watched TV program in 2022 was Six Nation Rugby: Wales vs. France (Ofcom, 2023).

On average, ITV reaches 80% of adults per month in Wales, with “I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here” becoming one of Wales’s most popular programs – reaching up to 615K adults in one episode alone (ITV, 2023).

S4C, aimed at a Welsh-speaking audience, offers a potential yearly audience of almost 2.5 million people in over 1.3 million homes. 

CTV

CTV ‘Connected TV’ is content accessed via apps and streamed over smart TVs, or a connected device, such as Amazon Fire Stick, PlayStation, and Apple TV; Nationally, CTV is heavily on the rise with a 15.7% growth rate expected for 2023 (Statista 2022).

7 in 10 TV users in Wales had a connected TV device, and users were more likely to connect their TV to the internet via a box (Sky+ or Virgin Media) by 44%, compared to England with 32% (Ofcom 2023)

VOD

According to Ofcom 63% of all Welsh households are currently subscribed to at least one VOD service and the average viewing duration for these services is 4 hours and 43 minutes whilst people in Wales are estimated to spend 15% of their total video viewing time on video-on-demand services, as well as 15% on video-sharing websites/apps.

Radio

Radio is a highly effective form of advertising, reaching 88% of the adult population weekly, equivalent to 49.4 million people.

The average listener tunes into 20.5 hours of live radio each week, and a record 39.2 million people are tuning into commercial radio every week, up by 1.3% on the quarter and 8% on the year.

North Wales appeared to have the most success in Q2 2023 RAJAR’s update; Capital North Wales’ reach increased from 100,000 to 121,000, up a staggering 21% and Heart North Wales reach has also increased from 89,000 up by 14%. Its total listener hours are up by a staggering 40% from 606,000 to 846,000, whilst the share of listening is up from 2.9% to 4.1%.

Heart South Wales in Q2 has the highest number of active listeners with 403,000, with a 21% reach.

Radio advertising makes it possible to customise messages to each audience, helping targeting specific demographic groups, local communities, and geographical regions.

Radio has the highest rate of ad avoidance, demonstrating how radio listeners are much less likely to “tune out” when there are radio commercials.

(Rajar 2023)

Transport

The Q1 (2023) TFW report has recorded across South Wales alone that 300,000 passengers have used bus transport to commute every week and is estimated that around 100 million bus journeys were made in 2022.

Reportedly bus advertising is the most-seen outdoor advertising medium, reaching over 48 million adults over a two-week period (Route, 2023).

There has been a total of 5.4m passenger journeys made on TFW trains across Wales in Q1 of 2023, this is still down in comparison to pre-pandemic levels (Wales Online, 2023), On average 71% of regular rail users have noticed an OOH ad in their respective station in the past week (Clearchannel, 2023).

OOH/ DOOH

Out-of-home and Digital out-of-home advertising has the ability to reach 98% of the UK population at least once a week, highlighting that OOH is a very powerful method of advertising (outsmart 2023). It has been suggested that on average 71% of the UK population acknowledges an advert at the roadside (75 Media, 2023).

OOH and DOOH drive online engagement as well as purchase intention or service use, almost 26% of surveyed customers have visited a website in response to an OOH advert, and a 38% increase in mobile engagements (75 media, 2023).

The top 3 performing OOH/ DOOH sites in Wales are:

1. ‘M4 Super 6’ located in Newport with 574,923 weekly impacts.

• Swansea Bus Station Large Digital Format with 498,000 weekly impacts.

• Static 6 sheet located on Newport Road, Cardiff with 259,346 weekly impacts.

Digital Audio

Amazon Music accounted for the highest listening time in Wales on music streaming services with 24% – 4 times the UK adult national average (Ofcom, 2023).

The average Spotify user is estimated to spend 25 hours per month listening to music (Ferjan, 2023).

Podcasts have grown massively in popularity in recent years, from 2022 it was estimated there would be an average of 22 million monthly listeners in the UK (Cybercrew, 2023). As a result, advertising through podcasts has become highly favourable in a marketing mix, expecting to see a growth rate of 15.7% at the end of 2023 (Thepodcasthost, 2023).

Social Media

More than 9 in 10 (92%) homes in Wales had an internet connection in the first half of 2023 (Ofcom, 2023).

An average person in the UK is estimated to spend 145 minutes every day on social media platforms (Workup, 2022), with Facebook remaining the most-used social media platform with 44.8 million active users nationally (Thesocialsheppard, 2023).

Instagram came in second with 35 million active users at the end of Q2, while YouTube was third with an estimated 16.3 million users in the UK (Statista, 2023).

If your looking to start an advertising campaign across Wales, Get in touch with our experienced team.

[email protected]

Social Media Statistics Update

At the end of the Q4 of 2022, there were 4.9 billion people globally who use one or more social media platforms daily (Forbes, 2022).

An average person spends 145 minutes every day on social media (Workup, 2022).

Short-form video will remain the top marketing content format for 2023, it has the highest ROI and growth rate, with 90% of marketers now using this media format (HubSpot, 2023).

Facebook

• Facebook has remained the most-used social media platform with 2.98 billion monthly active users as of Q1 of 2023, a 7.18% increase year on year (Dean, 2023).
• On average 78.63% of these users use the platform daily, equivalent to 1.9 billion (Dean, 2023).

Instagram

• At the end of 2022, it was estimated that there were 1.28 billion monthly users, it has been forecasted there will be an increase to 1.44 billion (Dixon, 2022).
• Static images posted on Instagram achieved an average reach of 1,850 users and carousels reached an average of 2,325 users (Dixon, 2022).

YouTube

• At the end of 2022 there were 2.5 million active monthly users (Omicore, 2023)
• The average time spent on YouTube globally is 19 minutes daily (Omicore, 2023)
• 500 billion YouTube videos are watched daily (Omicore, 2023)

Twitter

• In 2022, there were 229 million daily active users, this is a 15.9% increase compared to 2021 (Oberlo, 2023).
• On average, 500 million tweets are shared daily (Oberlo, 2023).
• 6 out of 10 (59.2%) Twitter users globally are between 25 and 49 years old (Statista, 2021)

TikTok

• TikTok had 1.6 billion active monthly users at the end of 2022 and is estimated to reach 1.8 billion by the end of 2023 (Kurve, 2023)
• Gen Z dominates TikTok, with 83% using the platform in Q1 2023 (Kurve, 2023)
• TikTok is the most engaging social media platform, with an average session length of 10.85 minutes, the time spent on TikTok globally in 2022 was a mammoth 68 billion hours.
• Over 1 billion videos are viewed daily (Kurve, 2023)
• TikTok has the highest engagement rate 4.25% compared to Instagram 0.60% (Kurve, 2023)

If you need some help with any areas of your marketing, get in touch by emailing us on [email protected]

4 Instagram Marketing Trends You Need To Know

In less than a decade since its launch in 2010, Instagram has enjoyed exponential growth, with the platform recently reaching 1bn active monthly users.

In doing so, it has become an attractive platform for brands eager to learn if Instagram marketing can help them forge a closer connection with their consumers.

Here a four of the latest trends in Instagram marketing that brands should be aware of when devising their social strategy for 2019.

1. Micro influencers

Influencers dominate Instagram, but scandals around purchased or fake followers has brought into question the viability of influencer marketing on the platform.

Despite these concerns, research has shown that the popularity of influencer marketing has not been negatively impacted. Rather, the direction has simply changed, with brands increasingly turning to networks of micro-influencers.

Their belief is that influencers with a smaller, yet more niche following and can better forge engagement than celebrities with a massive following but a hollow connection.

2. Video

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Snapchat must be feeling pretty flattered by the resounding success of Instagram’s 2016 launch of Stories, signalling the platform’s foray into video territory.

After a slow start, it is now of the most popular aspects of the platform and recently hit the 400 million daily users mark.

Stories’ accessible interface exposes viewers to a wide range of content before they choose to settle on one that catches their eye.

This is prime digital real estate for brands to insert ads between stories and snare viewer attention. Moreover, with specialised features like polls and contests and the ability to see the number of views your story has received, Stories are an excellent means of measuring community engagement and gaining consumer insight.

Instagram allows third parties to create branded stickers which can be attached to consumer Stories. This tactic was used most effectively by Aperol to complement its most famous, Instagrammable drink – the Aperol Spritz.

As the summer months rolled in, so did the images of people enjoying their Aperol Spritz al fresco, and the alcohol brand jumped at the chance to create its own digital stickers.

Brands are discovering a new lease of life by moving their content onto social media and have found the Stories function particularly helpful through this transition.

One such brand is Glamour UK: once a monthly glossy magazine, in 2017 the publication decided to decrease its physical output to just two issues a year and reinvent itself as a fully digitised online beauty and fashion platform. A radical change, but she who dares wins in this case: the magazine’s following has grown steadily since this shift.

3. Augmented reality

Another way in which brands are able to benefit from the Instagram social network is through the use of filters. Instagram comes complete with its own inbuilt camera and filter selection, which similarly to stickers, can be purchased and created by brands.

We’ve seen these filters be used by celebrities to promote their work including Arianna Grande for her 2018 ‘Sweetener’ album, Rihanna for her Clara Lionel Foundation and Kylie Jenner for her Kylie Cosmetics line.

Seeing the success of these filters has prompted brands like Adidas and Gucci to take notice, and for them to follow suit in launching their own.

These are accessed in the camera function of Instagram, are free to use and innately promote both your brand and your work in a non-ostentatious way.

4. Instagram shopping

Against other platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, Instagram’s visual edge lends itself readily to the world of online shopping. With high street brands like Weekday and Asos seeing their engagement on Instagram steadily increase, it was only a matter of time before they started actively advertising their products via the platform.

This is currently achieved by promoting products on the brand’s feed, as well as across Stories. These stories showcase the products and include the call to action, ‘Swipe up’, which then redirects the viewer to the product for sale on their online shop.

Want to know more about how social media advertising could work for you? Get in touch today.

Sources:
https://www.thedrum.com/news/2019/04/26/instagram-marketing-trends-advertisers-need-know

How are students are using technology?

What technologies are students using in 2018, and for what purpose?

Smartphones

Smartphones and students are more inseparable than ever in 2018, with average daily usage as high as 5.6 hours.

Across the 11,500 students asked during the UCAS Media student lifestyle there was 99% ownership  

The most popular usage (74%) is for messaging friends and family, followed by 54% usage for social media.

Just 4% of students use their smartphone for shopping.

Tablets

Tablets are yet to become a staple in the student lifestyle, owned by less than half of students.

Used just 2.6 hours per day on average, tablets appear to be more aligned to entertainment than laptops and smartphones. The most popular use was streaming video (45%), closely followed by playing games (43%). 

One key point to make is that among students who own tablets, almost a quarter use them for online shopping. Compared to the 4% who use their smartphone for the same activity.

Laptops

Laptops are owned almost as exclusively as smartphones, with 98% of students having one to hand.

While used less than smartphones – at 3.8 hours on average per day – laptops were the primary device used for online shopping.

Desktop PCs, perhaps due to being fixtures of most university libraries and study areas, still command 3.9 hours from students each day, and are also more popular for online purchases than smartphones or tablets.

Online shopping

This distinction between the devices students are using to make online purchases is indicative of a multi-device shopping experience.

Research published earlier this year shows that the vast majority of online shoppers are using a combination of devices, but the wider marketplace has already made the shift to a mobile-first purchase experience.

Perhaps students have more faith in their laptop’s security than that of their smartphone, but for now, it’s a clear message that laptops and desktops are the drivers of student online purchasing.

Source: UCAS Media

How could you use different platforms to reach your target market?
Give our team a call on 02921 320 200.

Study sheds new light on social media retail campaigns

A new study out this week has suggested that brands need to turn social media platforms from “a source of inspiration” into an “actual purchase channel.”

Fewer than one in ten UK shoppers claim social media plays a role in buying habits.

The research was published by agency UM London. It shows that retailers who focus their marketing budgets on social media and smartphone campaigns might be on the “wrong track”.

Consumers still using laptops for purchases

In addition, 54% of those surveyed use a home computer or laptop for online research or look for inspiration before making a purchase. Only 38% use their smartphone.

The study was conducted among 4,800 adults in the UK. The categories where social media has the most influence are when people buy a new kitchen or bathroom (15%) or beauty products (11%).

By comparison, only 6% of DIY/garden centre shoppers and only 7% of fashion/apparel shoppers say that social networks play a role in their purchase.

“Brands need to look at turning social platforms from a place of inspiration into something that prompts an actual purchase,” said Glen Parker, chief insight officer EMEA at UM. “Instagram, for example, is great at building engagement but sometimes integrating a purchase mechanic on the platform itself can feel incongruous.”

Glen Park, chief insight officer EMEA at UM. 

Integrated experiences

Parker said one way to do this is to integrate social content into retailers’ shoppable channels instead. For example, having social feedback in the stores themselves or on their websites via reviews, user photos and influencer content.

“Developing an Instagram campaign for your brand just because you think ‘that’s where all the millennials are’ is unlikely to bear fruit,” he said.

“Similarly, websites need to be mobile-ready but ‘smartphone first’ may not always be the right way to approach digital marketing. Particularly for fashion and grocery brands. Laptops and PCs are still the main device people use for research and inspiration, probably while at home or at work rather than on the go.”

Source: Media Tel 

How can we integrate social media marketing into your campaigns?
Send us an email at [email protected]

Facebook announces WhatsApp adverts

It’s currently a free platform enjoyed by nearly two billion people.

But users can expect a significant change in their experience of WhatsApp, next year – when Facebook bosses plan to flood it with adverts.

The Android and iOS chat app, which was originally released in 2009, will start to embed paid-for content in the app’s Status feature from 2019. 

It comes five years after Mark Zuckerberg’s company bought the platform from co-founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton for a whopping £22billion.

Both Koum and Acton later quit Facebook, citing differences with the social media company.

Insiders believe they were unhappy that their beloved product – which was originally marketed as advert-free and end-to-end encrypted – would soon host commercial content at the expense of users’ privacy.  

Specifically, although the latter will remain unchanged, the men were unhappy that Facebook wanted to share data across platforms in order to customise the adverts.

Source: The Daily Mail 

What do you think about the prospect of advertising on WhatsApp?

Love Island: inside ITV’s social media strategy

When your show sells thousands of branded water bottles, it has to be doing something right. For 2018, the broadcaster’s social media team are being pragmatic about the platforms they’re using to interact with viewers; decoupling from Snapchat to crack on with Instagram Stories instead.

 

ITV senior digital producers Kenny England said he believed ITV 2’s Snapchat issue weren’t due to a sudden decline in interest of Love Island, but that the dip was platform-specific, and in part due to the app’s poorly-received redesign.

In the first month alone Love Island’s official account has “nearly doubled” its Instagram audience. The page has been using Instagram’s Stories product to direct fans to quizzes, divulge teaser soundbites and share its popular ‘The First Look’ video, which gives viewers a two-minute daily preview of the upcoming episode.

While it is pulling away from Snapchat, the show is still investing a lot of resource in Twitter, which England said gives fans a platform to discuss the show, especially its “watercooler moments” in real-time.

“Love Island has become so important to Twitter that the company took out a cover-wrap of the Metro on the day of the first episode, just to remind people to use it while watching the show,” he added.

Of the platforms Series Four is using, England described Instagram as the ‘perfect‘ one. The visual tone of it, he noted, matches the show’s own attention to visual perfection, which affects everything from set backdrops to the contestants themselves.

The partnerships too have expanded from those with [main sponsor] Superdrug and Ministry of Sound that ran during Series Three, to 10 partners for Series Four, including Missguided and Domino’s.

This expansion is allowing Love Island’s team to achieve more for their audiences, and for commercial partners to explore new engagement avenues. It could lead to larger audiences, and a few more accolades along the way.

Source: https://www.thedrum.com/news/2018/07/03/inside-love-islands-social-media-strategy-why-itv-has-abandoned-snapchat-instagram

 

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 [email protected]

The battle for top spot: Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook

It’s been a rocky start to 2018 for some of the social media giants!

When Instagram began testing adverts, they had just reached 150 million daily users. This month, Facebook has announced they are rolling out the function in the US, Brazil and Mexico.

Eytan Oren, CEO of full-service agency Block Party, said his agency tracked 100 brands for two weeks in March and found that 79 of them were using Instagram Stories, while just seven were using Facebook’s version, but a look at those same 100 brands today revealed that seven had posted Facebook Stories in the past 24 hours alone.

A year ago, the stories function in the Facebook app wasn’t well-known, or well-used. But now, the function is being used more and more, and the hope is that the ads will be targeted to get people interested in new products and services.

Instagram are also releasing new features; the ability to add an image post to your story was added last week, allowing users to easily share content. However, Snapchat is faring less well than the other “big two” after a disastrous re-design earlier in the year. The new offering from Snapchat is the introduction of un-skippable ads and it may not be their best move.

Snapchat attempt to appease unhappy advertisers

To appease brands that were not happy with short average view times on their ads—less than 2 seconds on average, according to top Snapchat advertisers, the platform has introduced forced-view 6-second adverts. As well as the possibility of angering users, the adverts don’t link to longer videos or e-commerce sites as they did previously.

Snapchat slumped in Q1 2018, with its growth rate sinking to 2.13%, down from 5.05% reported in Q4. They spent the year’s first quarter trying to capitalise on Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal while overhauling the design of its own app. Initial app store reviews were predominantly negative, but first-time installs and its App Store rank increased. Celebrity backlash and anecdotal declines in usage for some people have pushed Snap to waffle on the changes, in some cases changing the app to work more like the old version.

Will Snapchat ever dominate the market?

With Instagram and WhatsApp capitalising on Snapchat’s poor redesign, dwindling growth and declining revenue per user it may be time, according to Josh Constine, “it may be time for it and the world to face the fact that Snapchat could be a world-changing product without ever becoming a world-dominating business.”

Angel to Apprentice

The end of August saw our Agency Support Executive, Daniel take to the streets of Cardiff to offer school leavers advice and support ahead of their GCSE results.

Showcasing what apprenticeships have to offer and talking about their first-hand experience of undertaking an apprenticeship.

Daniel joined the team back in May and since been going from strength to strength. Working closely with our client ACT Training Ltd we saw the great opportunities and benefits of an apprenticeship.

Daniel who has a thirst for learning jumped at the idea of doing an apprenticeship. As a team, we discussed what would be best for Daniel and the team. This September Daniel will be undertaking a Level 3 apprenticeship in Social and Digital Marketing.

Daniel said, “I’ve always been interested in the world of media and advertising so I’m really grateful for the opportunity to undertake an apprenticeship in social and digital marketing as it’s provided me with the opportunity to turn a long-standing hobby into a career.”

He added, “I’m looking forward to learning more about the practical applications of social media for a professional purpose and seeing how I can transform the social media channels of The Media Angel.”

As a team, we are very excited to see what Daniel will be learning and how we will put that into practice.

 

Watch the full interview with Made in Cardiff Tv – http://bit.ly/2caUWsv

Facebook Revenue Continues to Increase

Facebook’s advertising revenue has increased 63% year-on-year to $6.24 billion in the second quarter of this year.

Video is the main driver behind this surge in revenue according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg who says that video is at the heart of Facebook services.

For the three months ending in June, Facebook posted $6.44 billion in revenue, a 59% increase on Q2 2015, while profit rocketed by 189% to $2.06 billion year on year.

84% of revenue stream is attributed to mobile up 76% from last year, enhancing the impact that mobile has on the user.

The number of daily active users continues to increase, 17%  up in June to 1.13 billion users on average a day.

The platforms in which we use to deliver our campaigns are continuously evolving, The Media Angel team keep updated with all current developments to get the best outcomes for our clients. Get in touch  today to discuss the best channels for your marketing campaign.

Beyonce Takes Cardiff By Storm

 City Centre shoppers and concert goers alike were stunned to come across international pop sensation Beyonce walking around alongside them.

The ‘Crazy In Love’ singer was seen popping into Cardiff’s Park Plaza Hotel on Wednesday night and spotted having a drink with rugby pundit Jonathan Davies.  She was also caught last minute shopping in St David’s 2 shopping centre prior to her Formation tour performance at The Principality Stadium on Thursday 30th June.

OK!, we confess, it wasn’t the real Beyonce. It was an awareness campaign for our client ACT Training Limited. We hired a high-profile look-a-like Beyonce to tie in with Queen B’s concert, with the objective to raise awareness amongst young people about the apprenticeship schemes ACT has to offer.

Watch the promotional video below.

Gemma Shaw, our hired Queen B spent two days in Cardiff, travelling around in an ACT branded taxi and interacting with fans in the City Centre, followed by “Paparazzi” and accompanied by her entourage, drawing large crowds and taking selfies with fans.

Hired entourage and promo staff were briefed to engage with the general public, ideally targeting 16 – 24 year olds. As they eagerly waited to have a snap with the look alike pop queen, they were informed of ACT’s key messages.

Traineeships, Apprenticeship and Higher Apprenticeships – all offer an opportunity to earn and learn, working towards nationally recognised qualifications, whilst earning a wage, gaining skills and building a rewarding career. ACT works with over 700 employers across Wales who are waiting for young, ambitious candidates.

The first orchestrated sighting of “Beyonce” was on Wednesday evening at the Park Plaza Hotel the night before the concert, accompanied by ACT brand ambassador Jonathan Davies. We thought this scene of an unlikely couple would be perfect to create talkability across social media and ignite the buzz of Queen B’s arrival to the Welsh Capital.

• Reaching 2,000 views on a video in 24 hours was perfect thanks to a post from I loves the diff.
• #BEYanapprentice was trending on Twitter across Cardiff due to a high volume of tweets, retweets, and social interaction.

Thursday 30th the day of the concert, we arranged for the lookalike to visit ACT apprentices in their workplaces, The Early Bird Cafe, and The Vanilla Rooms in Cardiff where the look alike Beyonce used their services to promote the schemes. The entire process was documented and leaked across social media channels to achieve interaction across our client’s social media channels.

The stunt was reported on WalesOnline – monthly audience of 2 million unique visitors. The stunt reached the site’s most read section of the website and achieved almost 1000 shares.

 

Jayne McGill Harris, ACT Training’s marketing and PR manager said:  “The Beyoncé lookalike, was spotted all over Cardiff and we’ve had a great reaction on social media. We are hoping that the extra attention our channels are receiving will help to raise awareness of the options available for young people to live, learn and earn with apprenticeships.”

Our Managing Director of The Media Angel, Alison Debono, added: “This was a great way to engage with youngsters on an interactive and unique level, ensuring that ACT’s campaign message Live Learn and Earn was seen by as many potential apprentices as possible.”

In 48 hours the campaign  –

• achieved a massive 496.2% increase in Facebook engagement
• reached 142,139 Twitter accounts
• gained 170 ,936 Twitter impressions
• had a 125.0% Increase in received Twitter messages
• saw 2,093 Twitter link clicks

If you want help to STAND OUT with your Marketing then contact The Media Angel  on 02921 320200 or [email protected] for award–winning advice on your next advertising campaign.

 

Brands are losing consumer trust on social media

Brands should be concerned as social media is a key source of information for consumers when making purchase decisions. When questioned by CIM, 62% of people said they now ‘Often’ or ‘occasionally’ use social media when deciding whether to make a purchase.