- Marketers are turning the taps back on for social media, with 51% of media decision-makers on the brand and agency side of the business planning to extend their investments within the category this 12 months, in accordance with June survey data that Advertiser Perceptions shared with Marketing Dive.
- That figure contrasts with findings from April, when 44% of decision-makers said they were mountaineering their social spending in 2023. The upshot is that social is providing a greater return on investment (ROI) versus a 12 months ago, Advertiser Perceptions said.
- Connected TV (CTV) remained the highest category tracked by the firm, with 54% of marketers and agencies aiming to ramp up their spending on this front. Breaking the findings out further, brand marketers preferred social media over CTV and linear TV, contrasting with their agency counterparts.
July’s run of tech earnings indicated that the digital ad market was beginning to escape a rut driven by difficult macroeconomic conditions and shifting privacy mandates over the past 12 months. The latest data from Advertiser Perceptions reinforces the sense that the industry is in recovery mode, with a notable shift in sentiment around social media spending for the reason that spring. That said, the winners and losers of the channel may very well be made more concrete as several platforms proceed to grapple with disruption.
The researcher’s findings were derived from a June survey of over 300 executives from each brands and agencies who’re in control of sizable media budgets, having spent over $1 million on ads up to now month. The report also highlights differences in pondering between brands and agencies.
While brand marketers express a preference for social over CTV, agencies are “significantly more likely” to ramp up their CTV and linear TV investments at 61% and 36% of those surveyed, respectively. Agencies have typically acted as key intermediaries within the forms of upfront negotiations that drive the TV business and are an increasingly essential piece of brokering promoting deals with streamers.
Most advertisers that culled the variety of CTV partners they work with resulting from belt-tightening over the past 12 months expect to re-engage “not less than some” of those partners, Advertiser Perceptions said, without offering specifics. On the flip side, one in 4 social media advertisers that trimmed their channel partners don’t expect to choose back up those old relationships.
The latter insight suggests marketers are getting more selective about where and who they advertise with on social. X, formerly known as Twitter, has experienced a mass advertiser exodus since getting acquired by Elon Musk last 12 months. The mercurial entrepreneur’s ploys at winning back Madison Avenue’s favor, including hiring a recent CEO with deep connections to adland, haven’t delivered the expected outcomes up to now. Snap has also struggled to gin up revenue in a down market, while newcomer apps like BeReal that received a pandemic boost have seen engagement stagnate.
Meanwhile, entrenched heavyweights like Meta Platforms have seen growth return in recent months. Meta has attributed a turnaround in its promoting performance to bets on artificial intelligence after years of battling policy changes implemented by Apple that make targeting and tracking mobile campaigns harder.
Among the media decision-makers surveyed by Advertiser Perceptions, one in three said delivering on the flexibility to succeed in their audience was an important consideration in choosing a media partner. This factor was even higher among the many brand marketer breakout, with 65% believing it to be decisive.
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