| | Media Buyer & Planner Today | | | | | | | | | #1 Snapchat Plans Redesign in Wake of Weak Earnings | | Following a net loss of $443 million in third quarter, along with lower than anticipated user increases, the social media platform is planning a major redesign aimed at making it easier to use. Even though Snapchat added 4.5 million new users in third quarter to boost its daily active user total to 178 million, it failed to meet expectations of both the financial community and its own executives. "One thing that we have heard over the years is that Snapchat is difficult to understand or hard to use," says CEO and founder Evan Spiegel. "As a result we are currently redesigning our application to make it easier to use." | | WHY THIS MATTERS: Snapchat did take in $208 million in ad revenue in third quarter, up 62% over same period last year, and up from $181 million in second quarter. But ad sales and user growth are not keeping up with expenses. Still, Snapchat is clearly a key way for marketers to reach younger audiences, so the ad community has to be pulling for it to solve its problems. According to Ad Age, Snapchat reaches 70% of 13-to-34 year olds in the U.S. and in other developed countries. But it does have to find a way to entice more other viewers and non-digital natives to try it and like it. | Three Takes: Ad Age | Adweek | MediaPost
| | | | #2 Pandora Offers Connected-Device Targeting | | The online music streaming site is pitching brands ad targeting for connected-home devices, Adweek reports. As devices like Amazon Echo, Google Home and others grow in popularity, Pandora is rolling out granular ad targeting in hopes of boosting ad revenue through more contextual advertising. Advertisers can overlay Pandora's 2000 audience segments on audio ads that run specifically on voice-enabled devices. As a result, a fast-food restaurant could run ads during a morning window to promote its breakfast menu. Nestle Waters has been testing Pandora's connected-home targeting. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: What makes this attractive to marketers is that Pandora has 10 million users across connected devices. And on average, people who own a connected device enabled with Pandora spend three hours a day listening to streaming music. And over the past year, active users from voice-activated devices have grown 282%. | | A Take: Adweek | | | | #3 Which Agency Jobs Could Be Replaced by AI? | | Many creative, media and digital agencies have created artificial intelligence or cognitive technology divisions. While at present time AI's real impact on marketing seems to be limited, the question is, what does the future hold as far as AI functions replacing agency staffers. Dave Meeker, VP of U.S. operations at digital agency says, "If automation matures, we will embrace it, [but] we will not use it to replace our workforce." But Digiday examines what areas might be most vulnerable. Tops is data analytics which is where AI is currently used most and where machines are actually being taught to understand consumer emotion. AI is also infiltrating ad tech and has a big impact on media buying because of its targeting capabilities. AI can offer up a lot more data and testing than humans can. AI can also play a large role in e-commerce. However, while AI is experimenting with creating ads through robots like IBM's Watson, agency execs feel this is the area where employees have to least worry. | | WHY THIS MATTERS: Whatever the case, most agency execs believe AI is not a real threat to replace people in any areas over the next several years. Most see it as just a tool that helps employees do their jobs for clients more efficiently. | | A Take: Digiday | |
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| | 50 | | Percentage of worldwide marketers who say that analytics or predictive marketing is most likely to lead to increased return on investment, according to a survey by Ascend2. Some 45% also listed data management, while 38% mentioned marketing management and 37% listed content or user experience. Down on the list was advertising or promotions, mentioned by 35%. | – Reported by eMarketer
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| | Potent 'This Is Us' Paces NBC | by Michael Malone
NBC seized top prize in Tuesday prime, riding a robust This Is Us to a decisive 1.8 rating in viewers 18-49, per the Nielsen overnights, and a 7 share. In second was CBS at 1.2/5. The networks were against the World Series on Fox a week ago, and Halloween as well. On NBC, The Voice did a 1.9, down a tenth from its performance Monday (it had an encore show the Tuesday before), and This Is Us climbed 25% to 2.5. Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders grew 29% to 0.9. On CBS, NCIS increased 25% to 1.5 and Bull went up 20% to 1.2. NCIS: New Orleans rated a 1.0, a tenth better than last week. ABC did a 0.9/4, as The Middle grew 18% to a 1.3 and Fresh Off the Boat ticked up 11% to 1.0. Black-ish went up 10% to 1.1 and The Mayor increased 14% to 0.7, then Kevin (Probably) Saves the World climbed 17% to 0.7. Fox rated a 0.8/3. Lethal Weapon did a 1.0, up a tenth from its last fresh airing, and The Mick was down 13% to 0.7, then Brooklyn Nine-Nine posted a flat 0.6. The CW was at 0.7/3, as The Flash blew up 29% to 0.9 and DC's Legends of Tomorrow went up 25% to 0.5. Telemundo and Univision both did a 0.5/2. | |
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| • ANGELA STEELE was named to the newly created position of chief strategy officer at media agency Carat USA. She was previously global product lead for the General Motors account at Carat parent Dentus Aegis Network. In her new role, she will be responsible for overseeing Carat's insights, strategy and innovation teams, as well as product and technology strategies. And she will work with Dentsu's data platform M1.
• LEO LEONE was appointed executive creative director at creative agency Barbarian. He was most recently senior VP, executive creative director at Edelman Digital. Prior to that he was executive creative director at MRY and also served as group creative director at DigitasLBi.
• BOB BOWMAN is leaving his position as president and CEO of Advanced Media at Major League Baseball. In that role, he spent 17 years as MLB's head digital strategist and was responsible for, among other things, MLB's move into the streaming of games via multiple devices. • TERENCE CARTER was promoted to executive VP, development, for drama and comedy at Twentieth Century Fox Television. He was previously EVP, drama programming, development and event series. CHARLES ANDREWS succeeds Carter in his previous role. Carter joined Fox in 2009 from NBC Entertainment/Universal Media Studios, where he served as VP, drama programming. | |
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