Mobile Fix / December 13
NewTV
Netflix don’t share much data but have said that the Irishman had 26m people watch in the first week — and watch means 70% completion — so that’s about 2 and a half hours. The Irishman got 5 Golden Globe nominations — and Netflix programmes got 34 in total.
But neither the quantity or quality insulates them from the new — cheaper — competition. A Bank thinks they will lose customers without a lower price point — and to do that they will need ads to compensate for lower subscription revenue. Amazon are showing the way with their IMDB service (Infectious share our enthusiasm) and Spotify is another good model.
Having ads in their Premiership coverage didn’t stop Amazon driving record new subscriptions on each of the days the matches were shown. To be fair we have heard of people having problems streaming the games, but these people have similar issues with Netflix etc so it’s an infrastructure issue. And the appetite for sport is growing — Amazon now has Champions League rights for Germany.
The current UK rights holders are rethinking how they package sport with BT introducing a monthly pass as an alternative to the traditional contract. Sky seem to have made this work with NowTV passes. Lots to learn from how the NBA are innovating in their new deal with Disney owned ESPN.
More evidence of the benefits of an ad model from the success of Roku but their dominance is under threat from Google, Amazon and Apple. I was told that Amazon scrutinised the IPO documents of Roku and were impressed by the size and resilience of the Roku ad model.
As they negotiate selling TV inventory on the services they distribute, Amazon will soon be a major player in newTV advertising. And TV manufacturer Vizio are building an ad business, hoping to emulate the success of SamsungAds
Glasses
The barriers to entry for smart glasses seems quite low; whilst Apple work away on their offer Bosch have a simple product and Chinese hardware firm Oppo have announced their Glasses — with launch planned for Q1 next year.
And Snap have collaborated with Gucci at ArtBasel in Miami with new Glasses that can film in 3D.
AR
Constant innovation with AR as Cameo, a new Snap feature, lets you add your selfie into Video and a fashion brand has used AR in an interesting way on T shirts. Google are adding depth into their ARCore kit — and whist this can all seem a bit of a novelty, Google have enabled AR in search results and talk of use cases like trying shoes on in ecommerce ads.
I think AR will be normalised quite quickly and it’s worth thinking now about how you could solve problems for your customers with this technology
Social Ads
Some data from SocialBakers suggests that Instagram Stories are now 10% of all Facebook ad revenue and has grown by 70% over the past year. Pinterest want some of this ad action and are developing the way brands can access their trends data
The rumoured TikTok music service is being trialed in Asia as Resso — this is the website.
And a good FT piece looks at the ad team at TikTok with an interview with Blake Chandlee;
the guy who build the ad sales team at Facebook and is now tasked with doing the same at TikTok.
Privacy
The effect of privacy initiatives and the reduction of tracking with cookies is quantified with some data from Rubicon saying ad prices for Safari users have plummeted by 60% over the past two years. Adweek have a good round up of the move to a post cookie world.
More proof that Apple are pursuing Privacy as a strategy as they will talk at CES for the first time for decades. On a panel about Privacy.
Influencers
I am fascinated by live streaming and how Chinese influencers are using this approach. This WSJ piece is an in depth look at what is already a $4bn business in China. Keen to know about anyone doing this in the West.
Wired have a good look at Influencers and cut through lots of the fluff. And this is an interesting look at the different types of influence.
DTC
The purist DTC model is morphing as more familiar business models like wholesale and partnerships gain traction. The idea of DTC Holding Companies, where expertise in marketing and production can be shared, makes perfect sense — and is a route for real growth beyond being Bonsai Brands.
And the use of pop up stores is being supplemented by DTC Department Stores like Neighbourhood Goods and more traditional retail distribution.
The crossover between DTC and Luxury brands is increasingly strong — with both sides learning from the other. But luxury budgets tend to be a whole lot bigger. This is a good look at luxury Digital Marketing — and shows how important Google Shopping Ads are becoming. So no surprise that Google have hired an ex PayPal exec as the President of Commerce.
Looking Back
Fix friend Glyn Britton shares the propositions he discovered this year
And this list of 52 things Tom Whitwell learned has been widely shared but still worth reading.
The Contagious rundown of the biggest trends and best campaigns of the year
Interesting list of cool things from a NY writer
And the TikTok top 100 for 2019 — watch these ‘influence’ ads over 2020
Looking Forward
Interesting report on emerging entertainment, media and technology trends
Accenture owned Design Studio Fjord always do good predictions
Deloitte TMT predictions for the UK
20 predictions from Exchange Wire
Quick Reads
Amazon are planning a home internet service using satellites
Great piece on Butter as the analogy for great customer experience
Google thinking on balancing personalisation and privacy
Good piece on being a Media Entrepreneur
Deloitte report on Food home delivery and dark kitchens
As you can tell from our podcasts I am fascinated by Agencies and their struggle to stay relevant. One firm that nails this is You&MrJones — who have just raised more funds for BrandTech M&A
Good Podcast interview with Terry Kawaja of Luma
As we learn how the election played out this morning this article on how smartphones affected politics is a must read.
Amazon Accounted For 50% Of Ranch Road Boots’ Sales — But The Retailer Still Left
The rise of Asian superapps and FinTech
Finally.. we shared our Soulful Christmas playlist last week but we are constantly looking for new tracks. This Biggy track is a classic but not on Spotify. Play it loud.
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