According to fresh Nielsen data, more than half of 18- to 49-year-olds in the U.S. are either light viewers of TV or do not subscribe to TV; but over 90 percent of these people watch YouTube. Nearly 7 in 10 YouTube viewers say they watch YouTube on a TV screen. Nearly 7 in 10 of YouTube TV viewers report watching YouTube on TV during primetime. Eighty-five million unique sports fans connect with ESPN and every single day 28 million fans turn to ESPN across desktop, mobile, and OTT. ESPN Digital is 42% larger than the number two sports property. ESPN also operates as a seamless, measurable platform so when you combine television with digital, we in fact reach 215 million sports fans a month. Jon Werther, President of Meredith’s National Media Group, said, “Meredith now has 42 trusted and iconic brands, at-scale reach against highly coveted audiences like Millennials and Latinas, unique and actionable insights, and immersive cross-channel experiences that drive impactful results and make a difference for consumers, advertisers and the world.” Meredith also unveiled a new slate of programming at its NewFronts presentation. Werther concluded, “With these capabilities, a collective audience that represents two of every three dollars spent in virtually every key consumer category in the U.S., and the extension of our sales guarantee to video, Meredith delivers impact for marketing partners in premium brand safe environments like no other media company.” #4 Group Nine Media now reaches nearly 40 million people each day On Thursday afternoon, May 3, Group Nine Media, the parent company of digital brands NowThis, The Dodo, Seeker, and Thrillist, held its NewFront event at the edgy Skylight Modern space in the Chelsea Gallery district. She introduced herself by answering the question, “Why does The Times have a gender editor working to expand its coverage of how gender is shaping the lives of people across the globe?” Bennett told the media buyers in the audience, “Female global consumer spending power is now $20 trillion.” #7 Nearly 60% of advertisers’ digital budgets are allocated to video On Monday, April 30, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released the “Digital Content NewFronts: 2018 Video Ad Spend Study.” You will want to examine it as closely as you examine YouTube Analytics, Facebook Audience Insights, and Tubular Intelligence. Half of buyers plan to spend more on social media video advertising in next 12 months.
I’ve just spent the last week attending half a dozen events at the 2018 Digital Content NewFronts. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sharing some strategic insights that I gleaned from the annual series of events founded by AOL, DigitasLBi, Google/YouTube, Hulu, Microsoft, and Yahoo in 2012. But, because I know that data masters are preparing their action dashboards even as we speak, I wanted to share the critical data from last week’s NewFronts that you need to know now. Here they are – hot off the press.
#1 YouTube now has more than 1.8 billion monthly logged-in users
On Thursday evening, May 3, Susan Wojcicki, YouTube’s Chief Executive Officer, told the nearly 4,200 people (100% capacity) attending the Brandcast event at Radio City Music Hall, “With more than 1.8 billion monthly logged-in users (and those are only the logged in ones) and localized versions of YouTube stretching across 90 countries and 80 languages, we’re opening up the world to anyone with a cell phone and an internet connection.”
Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s Chief Business Officer, said, “We’re also building on the success of YouTube Originals… Last year, we launched… 7 shows, which amassed over 700 MILLION views.”
Deanie Elsner, the President of Kellogg’s Snacks Division, told the Brandcast audience, “We went from spending very little on digital platforms to now spending 60-70% of our overall marketing budget (on them). In fact, since 2015 we’ve increased our spend on YouTube each year, including a 300% increase last year alone. And, in many cases, our digital campaigns are now driving the creative and strategy behind everything else we do.”
Other critical data unveiled at Brandcast that data masters will want to know about includes:
- Availability of YouTube TV has expanded to over 85 percent of U.S. households in nearly 100 TV markets.
- According to fresh Nielsen data, more than half of 18- to 49-year-olds in the U.S. are either light viewers of TV or do not subscribe to TV; but over 90 percent of these people watch YouTube.
- Google Preferred Lineups reach more 18-49 year-olds monthly than any cable network or full episode player.
- Based on Ipsos Lab Experiments, YouTube ads shown on TV drove a significant lift in ad recall and purchase intent, with an average lift of 47 percent and 35 percent respectively.
- Looking across Nielsen Matched Panel Analysis (MPA) studies run to date, over 70% of YouTube campaigns drove a significant lift on offline sales.
- TV screens are YouTube’s fastest growing screen counting over 150 million hours of watch time per day.
- Nearly 7 in 10 YouTube viewers say they watch YouTube on a TV screen.
- Nearly 7 in 10 of YouTube TV viewers report watching YouTube on TV during primetime.
#2 ESPN reaches 215 million sports fans a month in the U.S.
On Wednesday afternoon, May 2, I wasn’t able to wangle an invitation to ESPN’s NewFront event at Cedar Lake in the West Chelsea historic district, but I was given a link to the webcast, so I was able to watch from my hotel room. So, I was able to watch Travis Howe, ESPN’s Senior Vice President of Platform Ad Sales Strategy & Global Operations, say, “At ESPN we live our mission every day. To serve the sports fan anytime, anywhere. It’s because of our passion for the fan that ESPN is always first with the clip, the highlight, the point of view, and the story about the game. Which is the reason why fans always choose ESPN first.”
He added, “It’s because of our commitment to the fan that ESPN is unmatched in the industry and we continue to grow, and in 2017 alone our digital video consumption increased by 79%. Eighty-five million unique sports fans connect with ESPN and every single day 28 million fans turn to ESPN across desktop, mobile, and OTT. Now recognizing the size of those numbers, I thought I’d provide you some industry context. ESPN Digital is 42% larger than the number two sports property. The ESPN app is 1.5 times larger than the number two sports app. And fans spend more time with ESPN Digital than the second, third, and fourth sports property combined. But I’m not done. ESPN also operates as a seamless, measurable platform so when you combine television with digital, we in fact reach 215 million sports fans a month. So, in the US, that means we are larger than Facebook and right behind Google as the largest platform.”
He concluded, “So, though you might be familiar with our size, what you might not be familiar with is that our audience continues to transform. Today, 30% of our audience is female and across our 285 million social followers, 80% is under the age of 35.”
#3 Meredith’s digital network reaches more than 140 million UVs monthly
On Thursday morning, May 3, Meredith Corporation made its inaugural appearance at the NewFronts. The presentation in the Hudson Theater marked the first time that the entire portfolio was showcased since Meredith acquired Time Inc. earlier this year. Jon Werther, President of Meredith’s National Media Group, said, “Meredith now has 42 trusted and iconic brands, at-scale reach against highly coveted audiences like Millennials and Latinas, unique and actionable insights, and immersive cross-channel experiences that drive impactful results and make a difference for consumers, advertisers and the world.”
Meredith also unveiled…
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