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Tag: WARC Media

  • Retail media is set to draw over a quarter ($93.8bn) of all search adspend this year, notes Warc

    Search is King!

     

     

    Search marketing is on the cusp of its most consequential transformation since Google first introduced its sponsored keyword search auction over 20 years ago, and the more recent introduction of the use of data and algorithms to provide greater personalisation in search results.

    Now a third era of search beckons – one defined as much by image or video as text, and by artificial intelligence and natural language processing, in which marketers shift from targeting keywords to targeting intent and context.

    WARC Media’s latest Global Advertising Trends report, Search 3.0, explores the impact of retail media on advertisers’ paid search investments, the growing role of social platforms on search journeys, and the rise of generative AI search.

    Author of the report, Alex Brownsell, Head of Content, WARC Media, says: “The search market is on the cusp of an era of innovation. Google’s long-standing market dominance is set to come under unprecedented pressure as consumers pivot away from text-based search towards discovery on social, generative AI reinvents the search experience, and the explosive growth of retail media, the majority of which is search-orientated, continues.”

     

    Steady growth for search, even in tough times

    Amidst an ongoing digital ad market slowdown, traditional search spend (excluding retail media) is proving to be resilient. While global advertising investment is forecast to grow just 2.9% to $907.2bn this year, paid search, the largest media channel by ad spend globally, is set to increase 6.2% according to WARC Media.

    40% of the global search market is in the US, where WARC Media forecasts a robust 12% growth rate this year, taking its value to nearly $100bn.

    In APAC, where social commerce is far more established, paid search’s share of advertising budgets falls to 17%. Japan, the APAC market outside of China with the biggest search spend, is forecast to see search investment expand to $7.4bn in 2023. In China search spend is expected to grow to ¥131bn ($19bn).

     

     

    The search market, including retail media, is forecast to reach $350.4bn in 2023

    Retail media has transformed the search advertising market over the last few years. According to WARC Media and GroupM forecasts, total search advertising spend, is set to be worth $350.4bn this year, of which just over a quarter (26.8%) will come from retail media, valued at $93.8bn.

     

     

    As brands commit more budget towards retail media, and the number of platforms increase, marketers may be forced to make trade offs where their ad spend goes. Advertisers will also need to rethink their approach to paid search and SEO, and particularly how their brands show up towards the bottom of the purchase funnel.

     

    Search experiences are fragmenting across platforms

    Younger audiences increasingly favour searching for information and inspiration on visual platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube or RED, Douyin and Zhihu in China. According to data from GWI, in 2020, 19.2% of internet users turned to TikTok to search, rising to 27.5% last year.

    As search evolves into a “system for exploration” and search strategies diverge depending on category and demographic, Google’s dominance of the global search advertising market is being challenged.

    According to WARC Media, whilst Google remains the dominant force in search and is forecast to earn $176.4bn in advertising revenue in 2023, its share of total search, which includes retail media, is set to drop from 51.0% in 2021 to 50.4% in 2023.

    Over half (53%) of global advertisers surveyed by WARC for The Marketer’s Toolkit 2023 report said they plan to increase ad investment with Google this year, down from 59% the previous year.

     

    Generative AI threatens to disrupt search behaviour

    A race has begun to develop the most compelling AI chatbot search product. Microsoft plans to incorporate OpenAI’s ChatGPT – estimated to have become the fastest-growing app in history, reaching 100 million monthly active users in only two months – into Bing.

    However, as it stands, Bing is only forecast to earn a 5.2% share of the global search market in 2023, per WARC Media. Yet the news was deemed a “code red” situation for Google, which has subsequently rushed to launch Bard, its conversation technology.

    The arrival of generative AI will cause major considerations for brands, such as how paid ads will fit into the conversational nature of the content, the partiality of chatbot responses, risk of content misinformation and misalignment with brand guidelines.

     

    Download a complimentary sample report of WARC Global Ad Trends: Search 3.0 here.

     

    Global Ad Trends, is a quarterly report which draws on WARC’s dataset of advertising and media intelligence to take a holistic view on current industry developments. It is part of WARC Media, which provides rigorous and accurate benchmarks aggregated and verified from over 100 reputable sources, empowering media decision makers to plan strategies with precision. WARC Media is available by subscription.

  • The world's most awarded campaigns and companies for media

    WARC Rankings Media 100 announced

    By A Correspondent

     

    The WARC Media 100, the independent benchmark celebrating the best media ideas from across the marketing industry, has been released featuring the most awarded campaigns, agencies and brands in the world.

     

    Compiled by WARC, the international marketing information company, the annual Media 100 Ranking is produced by combining the results of the industry’s most important global and regional media award shows tracked throughout 2019, as determined by the WARC Rankings advisory board and a worldwide industry survey.

     

    ‘Monty: The World’s First AI Predictive Commentator for Foxtel’, by Mindshare Sydney, is the most celebrated campaign for media excellence of 2019. Australian pay TV network Foxtel ran a game-changing campaign to encourage people to pay to watch cricket, a product they had previously enjoyed for free.

     

    To deliver more value and transform the viewing experience, Foxtel created Monty, a predictive AI commentator able to forecast when wickets would fall in live games. When Monty predicted a wicket, it triggered mobile display ads, pre-roll video and OOH to get people to watch, delivering an average weekly sales increase of 18 per cent.

     

    Said Katie Rigg-Smith – CEO, Mindshare Australasia: “As a self-respecting Aussie I love the cricket and I am thrilled to see Monty not only recognised as best in class but best in the world. It shows the power of provocation, one of our core values at Mindshare. It sees a great consumer insight married with powerful AI that delivered innovation and real outcomes. Credit to Jack Smyth and the team for dreaming it up, the Foxtel and the Fox Sports team who were bold enough to back it and our partners at Google.”

     

    In second place is ‘The First Colonel to Conquer eSports’, by Mindshare Shanghai, which strengthened KFC’s relationship with gamers in China by integrating itself in League of Legends. In third, ‘The Adaptive Data Lighthouse’ by Mindshare Mumbai for soap brand Lifebuoy, targeting people in rural India, at most risk of infections preventable by good hand hygiene.

     

    Starcom Chicago is ranked #1 media agency, having climbed up from #20 last year. Campaigns for Samsung, Vans, ESPN and The North Face, all ranked in the top 100, driving the agency to the top of the table.

     

    Added Kathy Ring – CEO, Starcom USA, Starcom: “It’s an honour to be named to WARC’s Media 100 list. It reinforces that Starcom’s Human Experience approach – putting the consumer at the forefront based on astute analytics and insights and arresting creativity – changes behavior that drives business outcomes for our clients.”

     

    Mindshare Shanghai improved its rank by one place, up to second this year, with work for KFC, Maybelline and Lay’s ranked in the top 30 campaigns. Mindshare Sydney follows in third place, up from 12th last year, largely driven by Monty, the top ranked campaign.

     

    Mindshare Worldwide claims top position as the most awarded Network, improving its rank from third last year. The media network had 27 different agencies contributing to its total points, eight of them in the top 50; and an impressive 16 campaigns ranked in the top 100. MediaCom drops down to second place and IPG Mediabrands is up one place to third.

     

    Said Nick Emery – Global CEO, Mindshare: “The best media agency the world. How cool is that? My Mum is impressed! The only reason we get out of bed in the morning is to produce great work and have some fun doing it. I could not be prouder of our whole network. Thank you to all our clients who took the risks and if anyone else wants to break some rules and share our values of speed, teamwork and provocation then you know where to come!”

     

    WPP continues its run at the top of the media holding companies ranking, driven by the strong performance of its Mindshare Worldwide network, together with a further 10 networks in the top 50. Omnicom Group retains its second position, as does Interpublic Group in third.

     

    A strong performance in Asia by KFC led the fast food retailer to the top of the brand rankings this year, with two campaigns in the top 100, including #2 campaign, The First Colonel to Conquer eSports.

     

    Foxtel improved its rank from sixth last year to second this year and Lifebuoy moves up from 13th to second place. Three brands entered the top 50 for the first time: Sport Chek / Canadian Tire goes straight in at #7, while Uber Eats and Uber rank #9 and #10 respectively.

     

    Unilever improved its rank to hit the top of the advertisers table this year. The FMCG giant has three brands in the top 50 – Lifebuoy, P/S, Knorr – with a further 25 brands contributing to its success. Yum! Brands follow in second place and Procter & Gamble in third.

     

    Added Conny Braams – Chief Digital & Marketing Officer, Unilever: “We’re thrilled to be announced as the #1 Advertiser in WARC’s Media 100 for 2020. We’re proud of Unilever’s consistent achievement in this category of media excellence. This is testament to the innovative and effective work of our media teams and media agencies across the world and we look forward to more such accolades in the future.”

     

    USA retained its top country rank for a third year with 22 campaigns in the top 100, three of which made the top 10. Australia improved its rank by one place to take second place, with 10 campaigns within the top 100. China jumps from sixth to third place with 11 campaigns.