Top 5 Media Landscape Insights – November

Stay on top of today’s constantly changing media environment with DirectAvenue’s Top 5 Insights. We give you specific network updates and emerging media trends in a digestible format.

November 1, 2023

1. Marketing & Advertising Driving Growth in 2024 -The marketing and advertising landscape is constantly expanding. Digital, AI, fast data – new technologies and more advancements are constantly being introduced. Marketers are prioritizing first-party data in their strategies due to the decline of third-party cookies, stricter privacy regulations, and increased customer trust and privacy concerns. Video marketing has solidified its position as a powerful channel for audience engagement, and this trend is expected to flourish in 2024. As consumers increasingly embrace  CTV devices and streaming platforms, advertisers will allocate more resources to reach audiences in these digital environments. 
2. Premium Video Ad Views See Strong 1H Growth-Connected TV ad views grew by 11% in the U.S., while mobile views grew 19%. The first half was also marked by 80% growth in use of audience-based targeting in premium video ads in the U.S., the Comcast-owned ad-tech company reports. Looking at ad views, Europe saw even higher growth — 15% — translating to combined average U.S./European growth of 9%. Large-screen viewing continues to dominate in the U.S., with connected TV accounting for 76% of ad views and set-top box (STB) platforms another 5%. Just 13% of ad views originate on mobile in the U.S., and 6% on desktop.
3. Meta Revenue Surged 23%, aided by ad market– Meta demonstrated strong earnings in its most recent quarter, continuing the positive news shared this week by Google, Microsoft, Spotify, and Snap. Family daily and monthly active people both grew 7% year over year (YoY): As of September 2023, DAP was 3.14 billion, while MAP reached 3.96 billion. The anticipated global surge in digital ad spending, poised to hit $667.6 billion next year, combined with Meta’s effective execution and cost control, puts the company on strong footing. Quarterly net income was $11.58 billion, up 164% from $4.4 billion in 2022.
4. Amazon Launches Sponsored TV for Smaller Brands -Sponsored TV represents an extension of Amazon’s Sponsor Ads offering, which showcases products during online searches, enabling advertisers to promote their products on Amazon Freevee, Twitch and streaming channels offered through Fire TV apps. Small and medium-sized brands have been a source of revenue growth for TV advertising with brands like NBCUniversal or The Walt Disney Co. Sponsored TV campaigns provide efficient reach powered by our machine learning optimization models, enabling brands to benefit from Amazon’s first-party shopping and entertainment signals to create relevant ad experiences for viewers,” Ruslana Zbagerska, VP of Amazon Ads, told Broadcasting+Cable. 
5. Women’s Sports Growing on Streaming TV- According to new research by The Collective, a female-focused sports and entertainment representation company, Women’s sports now comprises 15% of all U.S. sports media coverage. What is driving all this new focus and attention on women’s sports? Social media and streaming. According to the study, an average of 26% of streaming sports coverage has been dedicated to women’s programming since 2018 — over 4,000 hours annually. Looking more specifically at sports networks focused on women’s sports, the Pac-12, ESPNU, ACC Network, and SEC Network garnered the highest share of women’s sports coverage from 2018-2022 — all more than 15%.