Kantar publishes the world's first "Global Ad Equity Ranking". The ranking measures consumer attitudes to advertising in various environments and is published as part of the "Media Reactions" study. The ranking is led by TikTok - the social media platform that is currently at the center of global attention.

The Media Reactions study surveyed 4,000 consumers and over 700 senior marketers. It provides an "ad equity" metric* for selected media channels as well as social media and content-focused media brands, such as Netflix or Spotify. Detailed analytics also enable advertisers to understand the impact of different platforms on their advertising and their brands.

The gap between online and offline

Consumers perceive advertising on offline channels to be of higher quality, more trustworthy and less intrusive - however, users do respond positively to individual online platforms. Overall, consumers prefer advertising on offline channels because they tend to view them as higher quality, more trustworthy, less intrusive and less overly targeted compared to online channels. Consumers indicated a more positive attitude toward advertising on the following media channels:

Table 1: Consumers' preferred advertising channels worldwide

• Cinema advertising tops the list in four of the seven countries surveyed (Australia, Germany, the UK and the USA). In Brazil and China, sponsored events top the list. Print media and digital out-of-home ads also rank highly with consumers.
• While online formats are generally less popular than offline formats, consumer attitudes toward branded influencer content, podcast ads and streaming TV advertising are generally more positive.
• Across all formats, consumers are most frequently exposed to advertising on TV and video platforms. Across the variety of environments and formats measured, some conflicting views are evident among consumers. The study reveals that advertising in some environments is seen as fun, high-quality, relevant and trustworthy, while other environments are disliked for oversaturation and repetition.
• Despite consumer preference for offline ads, the marketing community's focus remains on digital engagement. Marketers' platform priorities are therefore at odds with consumer preferences. The industry's preferred ad platforms are (in order) online video ads, TV ads, social media newsfeed ads, streaming TV ads, and social media stories.

 

Global ranking of digital platforms 

Across a selection of global digital platforms, Kantar also measured consumers' views of advertising on the social/content platforms they use. Based on eleven variables, TikTok achieved the highest global ad equity rank. The top five digital media for advertising from a consumer perspective are:

 

Consumers' preferred digital advertising platforms worldwide:

1. TikTok
2. Instagram
3. Snapchat
4. Google
5. Twitter

In the digital environment, consumers and advertisers agree on established digital platforms such as Google, Instagram and Twitter. However, consumers are generally more positive about advertising on newer platforms such as TikTok, while advertisers prefer more established brands such as YouTube.

In contrast to the overall channel rankings, ad equity is generally higher for global digital media brands than for local (offline) media brands. It seems that the "general weaknesses" of online ads are less problematic for most of the premium digital environments in our study.

 

Outlook: Advertising Spending 

During the COVID 19 pandemic, 60 percent of companies reported reducing their marketing spend - 30 percent significantly**. The pandemic has led to a greater focus on brand purpose and digital transformation. Possibly as a consequence, marketers are now evaluating campaign appropriateness and advertising receptivity over ROI and cost considerations when making media budget decisions.

The spending shifts are largely in line with the changing media habits of consumers, who turned more to online during the pandemic than before. Budget/resource allocations to digital channels have increased as a result of COVID-19. Investments in offline media have decreased in response to the lockdowns in most countries.

The shifts of 2020 are likely to accelerate further in 2021, especially for online video. Global platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Google will certainly benefit most from this. Television is expected to recover along with digital outdoor advertising. For most other offline media, the challenges of 2020 are likely to continue into 2021.

"Understanding where great advertising can best flourish is becoming increasingly important," commented Duncan Southgate, Global Brand Director, Media at Kantar. "Our research shows that consumers are differently receptive to advertising across different media channels, platforms and formats. The rush to digital channels is understandable given the targeting and measurement opportunities, but oversaturation, repetition and excessive targeting in some environments can make this approach counterproductive. Advertisers and agencies need to develop a more quantifiable understanding of "medium as message" and the impact of their chosen media channels and platforms on their brand objectives. Media platforms need to manage the value of their advertising offering with both consumers and marketers in mind. That means they must regularly offer innovative ad formats to meet the needs of advertisers - while entertaining consumers and securing their attention."

Spending on digital advertising will increase significantly in 2020 as marketers look to optimize their media mix. 84% of marketers plan to increase their investment in online video advertising over the next twelve months. 70 percent want to increase their spending on social media networks and 63 percent want to increase spending on podcasts. This is in direct contrast to the planned spending on print media: 70 percent of marketers will reduce their spending on magazines and 66 percent will reduce their investment in newspaper advertising.

Despite the predicted growth of online advertising, digital measurement of impact remains a challenge for marketers. Information gaps affect the ability to understand cross-channel performance and therefore assess the overall performance of their brand.

For the sixth time, Getting Media Right examines the current state of marketing in a fast-moving, networked world. The study is based on in-depth feedback from almost 500 experienced marketers from advertising, media publishers and agencies worldwide. It reveals an industry that continues to diversify its use of different media contexts and needs a better understanding of how to connect ideas, content and media channels to achieve its goals: short-term sales and long-term brand growth.

 

Key findings of the study:

• The Short-term vs. long-term dilemma is coming to a head. Almost all marketers (including 88% of advertisers) now recognize the importance of balancing short-term sales with long-term brand building. However, only 54 percent of marketers use both short- and long-term measurements; 38 percent still rely solely on short-term sales results. 
• Marketing specialists are still struggling with integrated campaigns. A quarter of advertisers (25 percent) have failed to integrate their marketing organizations. 27 percent of advertisers do not have integrated strategies for media and non-media activities. 
• Programmatic targeting continues to grow. Four out of five marketers (80 percent) currently use programmatic targeting for their campaigns. By 2020, this figure is expected to rise to 90 percent. Nevertheless, almost one in three advertisers is not sure whether they are successfully addressing the right target groups. 
• Advertising without cookies could leave marketers in the dark. The majority of the industry - almost half of agencies and almost three quarters of advertisers - have not yet started preparing for a world without cookies. Many are concerned about how this change will affect the industry. 
• Almost a third of advertisers are not sure whether they want to use the Influence of advertising in context understand. Almost two-thirds of marketers agree that developing customized content is a must. However, when it comes to understanding how context affects creative executions, there is still a knowledge gap. More knowledge is needed about how specific content needs to be tailored to specific contexts to make it more recipient-friendly.

 

"While the rapid growth in digital ad spend is no surprise, this new study shows that marketers still have a long way to go when it comes to cross-channel measurement and proving ROI," said Jane Ostler, Global Head of Media Effectiveness, Kantar's Media Domain. "The next twelve months will see big changes for the industry. The emergence of newer channels such as podcasts and advanced TV, as well as the move away from cookies, will change the way advertisers target and measure their campaigns. Marketers should strive for the best of both worlds: they need to create a framework to measure the impact on business and brand metrics. This means harmonizing measurement tools and building an infrastructure that enables measurement across the entire marketing mix. With the help of these insights, it is possible to improve performance across all channels."