Research

The music industry is in the midst of a growth spurt that has led to 15-year record revenues for the major label groups and continues to break new consumption records for the first half of 2018. Total album equivalent consumption, which includes physical and digital album sales, song sales and on-demand audio and video song streams are up 18%.

Audio plays an important role in the daily lives of hundreds of millions of Americans, and the listening audience of radio is as diverse and varied as the fabric of the American melting pot itself. In fact, radio is America’s top weekly reach platform, both overall and with Black and Hispanic consumers; 75 million of whom tune in each week. In the first quarter of 2018, the radio reached 92% of Black consumers each week and 96% of Hispanic consumers.

Marriage looks a lot different today in many ways than in years past. As our nation becomes more racially and ethnically diverse, so are married couples.

Marketing expenditures on sponsorship have increased considerably over the past several years, but progress in measuring and assessing sponsorship’s business impact has been marginal, according to a new study.

NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises released the groundbreaking study, “La Ola de la FIFA 2018” as part of the most comprehensive World Cup research initiative in the U.S. around soccer fandom.

Following the release of the new How Disruption Can Fuel Brand Growth report Bill Pink, Head of Brand Guidance Analytics in North America, and I have been mulling over whether big data is likely to inspire disruption. Our answer is that to do so you need more than just data, big or small.  by Nigel Hollis

The shifting of advertising budgets into the digital space brings a number of great opportunities and efficiencies, but it also brings many complexities. Without question, targeting audiences across digital channels is a challenging feat for advertisers, agencies and publishers. And it is not getting easier.

The implication: as more consumers avoid ads, marketers need to examine how they manage ad campaigns today and in the future, particularly if they are targeting groups with a higher propensity to do block ads or have relied on linear TV.

The data reflects the world people know and experience today. Patterns in that data may reveal opportunities for optimization, better steering behaviors in favor of a specific brand, but are unlikely to reveal opportunities for disruptive growth.  by Nigel Hollis

Young adults today are marrying at lower rates than previous generations, and self-reports suggest that a lack of economic security plays a role in the decline.

Approximately half (51.4 percent) of the nation’s 531 counties that were getting younger between April 2010 and July 2017 were in the Midwest, according to newly released 2017 population estimates. Out of the counties that were getting younger, the South also had a high proportion (32.4 percent) of the counties that experienced a decrease in median age — the age where half of the population is younger and the other half is older— followed by the West (14.1 percent), and the Northeast (2.1 percent).

The mantra fail fast, fail often, was popularized by a book of the same title which encourages readers to suspend their fear of failure and let their enthusiasm to guide them. Sadly, when it comes to marketing this advice is simply a recipe for wasted marketing spend if you do not know things are not going to plan.  by Nigel Hollis 

From our AUDIENCExSCIENCE stage, Linda Yaccarino, Chairman, Advertising & Client Partnerships at NBCUniversal and Megan Clarken, President at Nielsen Watch, share their unique perspectives on media currency and media measurement. Most importantly: their shared emphasis on getting to reliable measurement of outcomes asap.

Generation X, aged 35-53, are busy professionals who wield great spending power. This report outlines what it takes to market to them effectively.

Around the globe, few things are as ubiquitous as the sport of fútbol, le foot, calcio, or, as it’s called in the U.S., soccer.  While Americans have their own special moniker for it, the sport has certainly made its own imprint in the U.S. Soccer’s influence and power in the world of televised sports is no exception.  Behind this driving force are U.S. Hispanic viewers, whose consumption habits give televised soccer a unique and powerful profile.

Gen Zers and Millennials are the most optimistic compared to the other generations while Boomers are significantly less optimistic on how they view their finances for 2018. Additionally, U.S. Born are significantly more optimistic than the larger base of Foreign Born and those born in Puerto Rico and moved to the U.S. 

The Culture Marketing Council (CMC) believes that the addition of the citizenship question will decrease census participation, causing the census to yield inaccurate results.

ANA (Association of National Advertisers) members widely oppose the addition of a “citizenship” question to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau forms because they fear it would create inaccurate data that could lead to misallocated marketing resources, according to a new survey.

The FIFA World Cup is approaching fast, and people around the world are planning to watch it – in a social setting. Globally, more than eight in ten people (84%) report that they will watch the games with friends and family. About half (49%) plan to join with work colleagues.

The Hispanic community is the fastest-growing ethnic group in the nation and spends more than $94.7 billion on CPG products annually. Because Hispanics are one of the most sought-after ethnic groups in the retail grocery market, IRI is diving deeper into last year’s most successful CPG launches to better understand Hispanics and New Product Pacesetters.