Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Rain or Shine
Magna nudged its global ad spend forecast downward in its latest report, released over the weekend, but you can save the drama for your llama. The slide only amounts to a 0.2% drop.
Magna expects that ad revenue will grow 4.6% to reach $842 billion in 2023 rather than the 4.8% growth it had predicted in December.
Digital ad sales will climb 8.5% to $577 billion, or 69% of all ad sales. Retail media networks will surge 12% to $121 billion, largely driven by CPGs boosting their ecommerce and product search spend.
Echoing what GroupM noted in its forecast last week, Magna found that businesses are shuffling their budgets around, pulling from trade marketing to fund retail media.
Meanwhile, Magna says US ad spend will increase by 2.5% to $333 billion this year, a downgrade from its March prediction of 3.4% growth. While ad spend will rise 10% overall in the search/commerce category – with social and OOH up 8% and 3%, respectively – audio will shrink 2% and cross-platform video will fall 8%.
But take heart: Magna expects US ad spend to jump 7.3% in 2024 as the economy recovers and cyclical sporting events start up again. Oh, and 2024 is also an election year, so political ad dollars will be flowing.
Remote Retail
Retail media is coming for connected TV.
Last week, NBCUniversal announced a partnership with Walmart to test the impact of retail ad campaigns in live sports by making Peacock inventory available to advertisers through the Walmart Connect DSP, NextTV reports.
Advertisers can measure the impact of Peacock ads on online and in-store sales and, ideally, boost sales by reaching more Walmart customers.
Walmart Connect already has similar relationships with other media companies. Roku partnered with Walmart last year on shoppable ads and started to see click-through rates that were three times higher compared with the average video campaign running through Walmart’s DSP.
TikTok also ran a pilot campaign with Walmart, which produced engagement rates that were twice as high as the social platform’s benchmark.
Video campaigns seem to drive higher engagement among repeat customers, so NBCU has reason to hope for similar results.
Retail media ad spend has been slow to make its way to TV, but retail advertisers might pick up the pace with more evidence that upper-funnel campaigns can increase purchase intent.
Classify This
Cloud-based data platform Claravine has scooped up AI content classification company Netra for an undisclosed sum.
Netra’s tech scans, analyzes and categorizes metadata from images, videos and text to determine whether content adheres to brand safety and data quality standards. Its client roster includes SSPs, CTV vendors and video, data and AI platforms.
With the explosion of generative AI content, companies are awash in metadata. Marketers might struggle to apply consistent rules to make sense of their creative assets.
But if there’s one thing AI is really good at, it’s making rules – especially when a sea of data is involved.
Claravine joins a growing number of companies embracing AI and weaving it more tightly throughout its operations. From Adobe to Salesforce to Google to the Brandtech Group, AI is inching its way to the core of ad land.
But Wait, There’s More!
Disney CFO Christine McCarthy steps down. [CNN]
CNN’s next CEO must grapple with the network’s struggles to make a mark in digital as audiences and ad budgets abandon traditional TV. [WSJ]
Elon Musk says most advertisers that left Twitter due to brand safety concerns have come back or committed to doing so. [Digiday]
Still … here are some screenshots of ads from major brands appearing alongside a Nazi propaganda video shared by Twitter Blue subscribers. [tweet]
You’re Hired!
Wavemaker adds Natalie Yorke, Lynne Reilly and Natalia Lopez to its global growth team. [Little Black Book]
