Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Cruella’s Revenge
Inflation isn’t only for consumer goods apparently. Disney’s ad sales team has wrapped up its upfront negotiations with double-digit CPM increases, a huge win for the network, Jason Lynch reports for Adweek. Disney CEO Bob Chapek said at a Credit Suisse conference, “Forty percent of our sales this year were actually in streaming and digital, which I think speaks to the nature of how this business is rapidly changing.” Disney was the third network giant to finalize its upfront bargaining process, following the CW and NBCUniversal, indicating rampant advertiser demand. Often these deals aren’t finalized until late June or July. Read on.
Facebook Plateau
Facebook ain’t growing as it used to. Insider Intelligence released data projecting a sub-1% increase in US users of the blue app this year, down from 3.3% last year and 1.9% in 2019. However, the growth is not as anemic as it sounds. According to the researcher, the COVID pandemic “helped to push future accelerations forward, and as a result, Facebook will see slower user growth for the rest of our forecast period, which ends in 2025.” Even so, Facebook is definitely losing younger folks. Both the 12-17- and the 18-24 demographics will decline through the next four years. More.
Global Rebound
In a sign that the global advertising industry has turned a corner following the uncertainty during COVID, two new reports this week paint a rosy picture for the year ahead. Magna’s global advertising forecast projects record growth, with global advertising spending increasing by 14% to $657 billion, an all-time high. Meanwhile, GroupM forecasts even greater digits for global advertising revenue, which it said will jump 19% to $749 billion in 2021 (excluding political advertising), a significant upward revision from its December forecast and 15% higher than 2019. Economic recovery in key industries that were hit hard by the pandemic, including auto, travel, entertainment, restaurants, and sports (basically everything that benefitted from people not being stuck in their homes) is driving that increase. Digital is hot, of course, with expected ad sales to leap more than 20% to $419 billion and account for 64% of total ad sales, according to Magna. The Drum has more. GroupM, meanwhile, fresh from releasing its US ad forecast last week, also expects digital to juice the recovery, which will jump 26% compared to 15% at the time of our December update. That move upwards reflects more ad revenue at digital behemoths Amazon, Google and Facebook in the first quarter, as well as greater insights into a flurry of digital companies that opened their books to the public. The Wall Street Journal has more. Related in AdExchanger: GroupM: Digital Will Capture More Than Half Of All Ad Spend In 2021]
But Wait, There’s More!
A look inside Instacart’s playbook to take on Google and Facebook as it tries to build a $1 billion ads business. [Business Insider]
Instagram’s new affiliate tool brings influencer marketing closer to proving ROI. [Ad Age]
US Supreme Court revives LinkedIn bid to shield personal data. [CNBC]
Premion expands CTV and OTT capabilities with Polk Automotive Solution by HIS Markit. [release]
Black diversity execs weigh in on changing DE&I leadership, intersectionality. [Digiday]
You’re Hired
Tinuiti has hired Crystal Duncan as SVP of influencer marketing. [release]
Vevo has hired former Sky exec Richard Brant as UK advanced TV director. [DigitalTV Europe]
