Talking Shop March 2024

Big Screen boom

Oppenheimer swept the board at the Oscars last week, taking home seven awards including best picture, best actor, and a first best director award for Christopher Nolan. Barbie, its arch-rival from summer 2023, won only the best song gong, despite topping ticket sales with a cool $1.4bn last year. More importantly for cinema advertisers, these movies contributed to 135.1m cinema admissions in 2023, up 6% vs 2022 (despite writer strikes). UK cinema ticket sales are still 22% lower than 2019 but Barbenheimer certainly helped the revival of a medium some were concerned had met its demise post-COVID.

The Case for Ad Free Cities

A campaign by Adfree Cities has identified that 80% of poster sites in England & Wales are located in poorer deprived areas. They raise concerns about the use of these posters to promote unhealthy products such as fast food (McDonalds was biggest spender on OOH in UK 2023) and alcohol, disproportionately affecting the physical and mental health of people living in these areas. Studies show that among young people, the likelihood of being obese is more than twice as high in those who report seeing junk food advertising daily, Adfree Cities are campaigning for more restrictions on corporate OOH panels in city centres, lobbying instead for public spaces to be used for community connection, solidarity, public art and rewilded green spaces. Will local authorities pay heed when OOH brings in much needed income?

Google Consent Mode Deadline

Google Consent Mode is a feature that aligns with EU data privacy regulations and ensures GDPR compliance. It allows website visitors to opt-in or out of Google-related cookies, particularly for Google Analytics, Google Marketing Platform, and Google Ads. The deadline for websites to implement Google Consent Mode V2 was 6th March 2024 – failure to do so may result in restrictions in using Google digital marketing tools, leading to potential gaps in Google Analytics reporting. The good news is, if you’ve missed the deadline, implementing Consent Mode v2 is relatively simple, so act now! 

ITVX Ad Streaming Success

ITV’s latest results tell a tale of two screens. Linear ad revenue dipped by 15% last year due to a tough market for traditional TV. However, their investment in ITVX, their streaming service, saw users up 19%, streaming hours up 26%, and driving a 19% rise in digital revenue (£490m) . They also saw record growth for ITV Studios, their content arm, makers of hit dramas like Fool Me Once and Mr Bates vs. The Post Office. Overall, group revenue fell by 2% but the broadcaster remains bullish, stating that their ‘strategic restructuring and efficiency programme’ will improve profitability going forward.

Ads Break into BBC Audio

Causing controversy this week was the suggestion that advertisers may soon be able place ads within BBC premium audio content, consumed via external hosting platforms such as Apple and Spotify. The public broadcaster is traditionally non-commercial within the UK, although they do already sell ads on content outside the UK. Before you get excited that you can place your brand amongst flagship shows like Desert Island Discs and The Archers, its been indicated that they will not allow ads in these high profile shows, at least not at first. However, your TMS Campaign Manager may be speaking to you about opportunities in other shows from as soon as late 2024.

TikTok to be Terminated in the US?

We’re watching closely as legislation moves to the US Senate to decide if TikTok owner ByteDance will be required to sell the social media platform, or face a total ban in the United States. India, Nepal, Afghanistan and Somalia have already fully banned the social app, and many other countries. including the UK, have implemented restrictions on it being used on government mobile devices, amidst fears the company could share personal data with the Chinese government.