This week, we find out how millennial parents use YouTube, how promoted posts are viewed on Instagram and just how much customers love their PSVR.
Gone Native
Native digital display ad spend in the US will grow 36 percent this year to reach $22 billion, according to the latest forecast by eMarketer. At that level, native will make up 53 percent of all display ad spending in the states.
That’s a lot of moolah for marketers to spend—and they better do so quickly because the average tenure for a chief marketing officer of leading US consumer brands has experienced a 13 percent decrease over the last two years. According to the 13th annual CMO tenure study by consulting firm Spencer Stuart, 48 percent of CMOs have been in the role for two years or less, consistent with 2015. However, there was a decline in the number of CMOs who have been in the role for three or more years—34 percent in 2016 versus 41 percent in 2015 and 49 percent in 2014.
Millennial Moms And Dads
Young consumers aren’t fond of ads, according to the latest Deloitte Digital Democracy Survey. Eighty percent of all study participants will skip digital TV or video commercials, but 46 percent of consumers said they pay more attention to an ad they can skip versus an ad they cannot. Gen Z consumers value online recommendations on social media (27 percent) over TV ads (18 percent) when making buying decisions.
The study found that 45 percent of millennials use ad-blocking software, with 89 percent indicating that the primary reason is to avoid advertising altogether. In addition, 40 percent of these respondents noted the use of ad-blocking software on their smartphones, with over 70 percent of millennials and Gen Z viewers finding mobile ads to be “irrelevant.”
Even without ad-blocking software, millennials—especially parents—are particular as to what they want to see in a marketing campaign. Google recently conducted research with Flamingo and Ipsos Connect to see how this demographic really operates. Eighty-six percent of millennial dads, for example, turn to YouTube for key parenting topics like preparing meals or assembling a product. Sixty-five percent of millennial parents said that they watch YouTube with their children to share pieces of their own childhood with the next generation.
Socially Active
Promoted posts on Instagram have varied results, but those ages 65-to-74 are most likely to search for products after seeing them, according to a report by Influence.co. While millennials and Gen Z make up the largest group of Instagram users, the older demographic is far more receptive to promoted efforts.
According to a survey conducted by ClickZ Intelligence, 40 percent of advertisers said they plan to increase their spending on Instagram. In fact, advertisers are allocating more money to paid social in 2017, particularly on Facebook. Close to two-thirds plan to increase their investment to the social platform, according to December 2016 data, and another 40 percent said they plan to increase it on LinkedIn.
Everyone wants to be influential, and more and more brands are investing in creative partnerships. Forty-one percent of marketers said they have seen more success in influencer campaigns than in more traditional advertising efforts, according to Bloglovin’ research shared with Marketing Dive. Despite its popularity, only 32 percent said they are using influence marketing on Snapchat, but one-third of surveyed marketers reported using at least three social platforms per campaign.
Virtually Happy
Gamers are pretty darn pleased with the PSVR. Three months after the headset’s release, over 1,000 consumers have reviewed the product on Amazon and Best Buy’s US consumer websites. The product boasts an average score of 4.6 out of 5, according to a report by Strategy Analytics called “PlayStation VR: Customer Sentiment Analysis.“
“The exceptional reception the PSVR bodes well for Sony in the console wars, and for its publisher and developer partners who have committed significant resources on what many people saw as an uncertain technology,” said David MacQueen, executive director of the virtual reality ecosystem research program at Strategy Analytics. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that consumers seem to have fallen in love with it, since ‘love’ is mentioned nearly 200 times, and an unprecedented 73 percent of the reviews gave the device 5 stars out of 5.”
