Kantar Media said that it has been engaged by Netflix in Spain and will provide Netflix with a cross-platform view of its performance compared to linear and on-demand networks and platforms.

Kantar’s Cross-Platform View is available in Spain and Brazil. 

Kantar said it aims to design and deliver measurement products tailored to specific client needs.

"Each subscriber to our services finds unique value aligned with their business strategy," says Antonio Wanderley, CEO of Spain, Latin America, APAC and Africa at Kantar Media. “Netflix’s decision to join our service provides them with a single view of their audience and reflects the strength of our audience measurement solutions to unlock value for media and entertainment brands.” 

Since launching its ad supported streaming service in the U.S., Netflix has worked with Nielsen to provide metrics for advertisers.

Video streaming has neared saturation, making retaining subscribers the new key to success, according to a new report from Kantar.

In its Entertainment on Demand Q4 2023 US Barometer Report, Kantar said by December, 123 million U.S. households — or 95% — had at least one video-on-demand service. 

Over half of U.S. households use a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) platform in the average week. 

But the growth of both FASTs and ad-supported VOD (AVOD) slowed during the fourth quarter, despite Cyber Monday deals offered in November.

“With near-total market saturation, streaming services are finding it harder to win new users,“ Kantar said. ”Instead, services are looking for ways to add value to their offering in order to retain their subscriber base and prevent churn. Streaming services can no longer compete on only the newest title releases. They must provide additional value to keep users engaged.”

Also Read: For Streamers, Not All Churn Is Bad, New Research Finds

Value for money is seen as the most important factor driving new video-streaming signups, surpassing specific content for the first time, Kantar said.

With subscription prices going up, diversifying the content offering is one way for services to attract and hold onto subscribers. Prime Video, Peacock and Max are offering sports or news content. (Netflix also just acquired rights to WWE’s Raw.)

Kantar noted that viewer perception of content improved in Q4 as the writers and actors strikes came to an end. New content and content variety drove a greater share of signups in Q4 compared to Q3.

Other findings in the Kantar report included:

• Apple TV Plus, ESPN Plus and Prime Video saw the greatest absolute growth in subscriber share over the quarter among paid VOD competitors, aided by promotions, trials, and holiday spending.
• The No. 1 go-to streaming service for content discovery continues to be Netflix, but Hulu and Max gained share as the Nos. 3 and 4 spots, respectively, in Q4.
• Yellowstone on Peacock was the most-watched SVOD title in Q4, followed by Netflix’s Virgin River and Loki on Disney Plus.

With the media environment changing and economic conditions becoming more difficult, Kantar has looked ahead and made predictions to help media companies and advertisers navigate 2023.

The big trends involve the evolution of VOD to have a broadcast-like appointment viewing quality, ad supported streaming helping viewers offset inflation, and the need for advertisers to contextualize campaigns to put the most effective ads in front of targeted consumers.

“We foresee a year full of challenge and opportunity for the media industry. As global price rises impact consumer spend and advertising, campaign planning could be optimized through improved data application, making budgets go further. From post-cookie solutions to better campaign planning, data is our fuel - but its usage is changing,” said John McCarthy, strategic content director for Kantar’s media division. “The future will continue to deliver a host of new technologies, each brimming with potential, and it’s important not to get lost in the hype.”

Kantar’s predictions and prescriptions include:

VOD embraces appointment TV strategies – Marking a new chapter for the TV and video market, the winners in the platform wars will deploy hybrid strategies balancing VOD (video on demand) and linear content. Broadcasters are adopting aspects of VOD strategy that fit their positioning while preserving their points of difference, and VOD platforms are adopting concepts like ‘appointment TV’ and curated content discovery. The market will shift away from all-at-once release strategies and box-set bingeing for new content in order to maximize revenues.

Ad-supported models answer to inflation worries – U.S, data shows that market penetration for ad-based video-on-demand (AVOD) grew from 20% in Q2 21 to 23% by Q2 22. Kantar’s Media Reactions 2022 study shows consumers are more accepting of advertising, and as rising costs are making ad-funded content more palatable. The timing is right to introduce ad-funded tiers to limit price-sensitive churn. However, ad-models risk creating two types of viewers: those with less disposable income who become over-targeted by ads, and those with more disposable income, who are more attractive to advertisers, but are harder to reach.

Contextualize or fail – Marketers must prepare for a post-cookie landscape by experimenting with proxy-based targeting systems and contextual advertising. Targeting within closed ecosystems, in which consented first-party data is available, will still be possible, but wider cross-platform targeting has hit the barrier of consumer privacy. There will be incremental improvement in the coming years, but the hyper-targeted ecosystem the internet once promised looks increasingly unviable and initial assumptions about the granularity of targeting outside closed ecosystems may have to be reappraised.

Dynamic product placement edges closer – Nearly 75% of all US broadcast network shows have some form of product placement, targeting those viewers difficult to reach through conventional advertising forms according to Kantar’s Future Viewing Experience 2022 report. Dynamic product placement – enabling a product, billboard or screen featured in content to be substituted or overlaid with a different brand or advert – is also growing. Like addressable advertising, different viewers could – with the right data – be shown tailored ads. However, technological possibilities will need to be balanced against what’s acceptable to audiences. A negative impact may be inadvertently achieved if a placement is clearly anachronistic, jarring or out of place. Thus, tailored content should be closely monitored.

Media companies need to respond to advertisers’ (and consumers’) Net Zero ambitions – Reducing the carbon impact of media and advertising to net zero is the business challenge of our time and a greater opportunity. 2023 needs to be a year of sustainable innovation – whether that’s brands offering green products and services, media owners offering more energy-efficient services, or agencies rethinking how their planning, buying and production strategies are impacting the climate. For example, Media Figaro has launched a partnership with French start-up Vidmizer to reduce the weight of video campaigns in a bid to use less energy. With up to 80% reductions in carbon reported, it’s a good example of how technological partnerships can reduce energy expenditure. ■

A new study conducted by Kantar found that contextually driven in-content virtual product placements and brand integrations worked better for advertisers than traditional commercials.

Kantar conducted the study working with Mirriad, which implements in-content ads for top advertisers. The study, which looked at multiple campaigns, also found that adding virtual product placement made the advertiser’s commercials more effective.

Some of the reasons for the effectiveness of virtual product placement make common sense. More viewers see product placements because they tend to tune out, change the channel or click on the “skip ads” button when a commercial break begins.

Kantar found that in content ads deliver a 22% to 49% audience gain compared to commercial breaks, depending on the product and the market.

People also say they like relevant, appropriate product placement, with 79% of consumers saying they like in-content advertising, compared to 12% who said they find traditional advertising enjoyable.

While the consumer benefits from in-content advertising–it doesn’t interrupt the program and Mirriad’s data and artificial intelligence technology–the placement relevant both in the context of the show and the product relevant to the consumers–there are advantages for media owners, who get new inventory to sell, and advertisers as well.

“Not only do we reach more people, but among those we reach, which is the totality of the viewership, we have a strong impact,” Stephan Beringer, CEO of Mirriad, told Broadcasting+Cable.

Beringer said the Kantar study confirms for clients who anecdotally have found that in-content virtual product placement works, that the strong performance is a norm.

“Across multiple campaigns, people remember the brands, people, people consider the brands and products, and they actually consume them,” he said.

Beringer added that contextual relevance is making a comeback in the advertising world and that in-content advertising takes advantage of that, both by matching the advertiser to relevant content. Increasingly sending the right integration to the right target viewer. This is increasingly happening in real time via programmatic technology.

In one recent campaign, different audiences saw different integrations at the same time, all delivered in real time as people were watching the content as a stream. “I think we are really the first who have actually done this.”

Beringer said Mirriad works with advertisers and media companies to enable contextual in-content advertising. “We are the ones that run massive campaigns for very massive brands,” he said. “We have the most advanced solution here. We like to see ourselves as a company that enables the marketplace. We are not the marketplace itself.”

"The number of executions created by Mirriad will be up 300% this year and the U.S. is the most progressive market for integrations," he said.

While in-content advertising is growing, the streaming television industry is increasingly opening its door to traditional commercials, with Netflix and Disney Plus in the process of introducing ad-supported tiers. 

Beringer declined to comment on the wisdom of that approach, but noted that streamers and other media platforms can sell both commercial and virtual in-content integrations. “It’s not an either or,” he said. “And what we’re seeing here is that they have this ability to lift the performance of their TV spots by doing in-content placements at the same time, so it’s a complimentary opportunity.”

He also noted that unlike traditional ads, which can lose their potency, or even become irritating with increased frequency, viewers continue to respond to in-person ads now matter how often they appear.

In the study Kantar looked at three groups of viewers exposed to advertising: those who saw a brand’s in-content integration in an episode of a series but not a TV spot; those that saw a commercial; and those that saw both a commercial and virtual product placement.

Kantar found that brand awareness among people who saw the in-content ad was 18 percentage points higher than those who were unexposed. Ad awareness was 25 points higher, favorability was 6 points higher and product consideration was up 9 points.

The addition of in-content ads to a running TV campaign boosted brand awareness by 10 points, ad awareness by 4 points, favorability by 3 points and consideration by 7 points.

Looking at two campaigns for consumer packaged-goods products, Kantar found that after 30 days, 56% of consumers who were exposed to in-content advertising actually consumed the product, compared to 34% among those who only saw commercials. Those consumers spent 11 percentage points more on the products advertised.

“At Lexus, we’re committed to reaching consumers through content that is meaningful and authentic to ensure that we’re meeting our audiences where they are, in a non-disruptive way,” Mia Phillips, senior manager of advertising and media at Lexus, one advertiser that has worked with Mirriad, told B+C. “With Mirriad’s AI technology, we’re able to create those experiences while simultaneously expanding our brand reach. We’ve seen proven results across all of the in-content campaigns we’ve executed with Mirriad over the last six months and are confident in the continued success.”

Kantar looked at two different types of in-content advertising and found that there was only a slim difference between virtual product placement -- putting a product on a shelf or kitchen counter -- and inserting a brand via virtual billboards that appear in the background of a scene.

In some shows, Mirriad inserts a TV set to the scene and a commercial for the advertiser is running on the screen. Beringer also said he likes it when Mirriad puts virtual signage in the blue sky of ads by adding a blimp to the scene.

Beringer adds that emotions can be a powerful part of in-content advertising. Surprisingly, sad scenes can make advertisers happy if their products are seen as indulgences or pick me ups, like ice cream or chocolates.

Another interesting finding in the study was that when two complementary brands -- a soft drink and potato chips, for example -- are inserted into the same content, their brand metric lifts were higher than the lift each got when inserted individually.

“Virtual in-content ads offer brands a unique new opportunity in the media landscape. Seamless integration into familiar content ensures high consumer receptivity and acceptance, while also being highly noticeable and impactful,” said Sparsh Pandya, Client Director, Media, Insights Division at Kantar Research. "Advertisers should be piloting now and using our established research framework to measure which flavors of placement work best for their brands.” ■

Streaming resumed its growth in the second quarter, reaching 113 million households in the U.S. as of June, following no growth in the first quarter, according to Kantar’s Entertainment on Demand streaming analytics.

The second-quarter increase gave streaming a penetration rate of 88%, up 2 percentage points from Q1.

The number of streaming services per household also grew, reaching five subscriptions in the quarter, up 0.2 per household. The downside to households having more options is that churn is also up with 8% of subscriptions cancelled.

Also: Streaming’s Share of TV Viewing Rises to 33.7% in June: Nielsen

Meanwhile cable continues to erode, losing more than 1 million customers with penetration dropping to 44%. 

Growth in streaming penetration came from SVOD (up 1.5 percentage points to 82.9%), AVOD up 1.6 to 26.5% and FAST, up 2.1% to 22.3%. While AVOD growth accelerated in the quarter, FAST slowed down by 2 points.

Netflix, which reported losing less than 1 million subscribers globally in the second quarter, saw its penetration drop to 61% of U.S. streaming households from 67% a year ago, mostly because of a 6% churn rate.

According to Kantar, Netflix had just 6.5% of new SVOD subscriptions in the quarter.

Kantar said Netflix still has a large number of loyalists and outscores competitors on satisfaction when it comes to both content and interface. Because of price increases, however, Netflix’s subscribers are seeing less value in the service, and planned cancellations remain above the levels seen before the price increase.

“Netflix’s introduction of an ad-supported tier is a suitable strategy to combat losing subscribers due to its cost  and value,” Kantar said. “Netflix can expect to continue retaining its consistently large group of Promoters, but an AVOD offering can help win back its lost subscribers. Both an SVOD and AVOD offering also creates an alternative to  churning from the platform for those who planned to cancel to save money. Netflix has proven it has  significant strengths in the market, despite losing subscribers. It has the content and easily navigable interface  to keep subscribers engaged.”

Amazon Prime Video was the leader in new subscriber signups for the fifth consecutive quarter, but Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus were giving Prime more of a run for its money in the second quarter. Prime had 20.5% of new signups, with Disney Plus at 14.9% and Apple TV Plus at 10.6%.

Kantar also noted that HBO Max now is in 20% of U.S. streaming households, up 8 percentage points this year. 

“HBO Max is unique in that its growth is coming from both its SVOD and AVOD tiers,” Kantar said. “HBO Max is driving satisfaction across both viewer types, as indicated by its Net Promoter Scores. HBO Max now has the highest NPS score of all streaming platforms, at 46 in Q2’22. This breaks down to 45 among its SVOD subscribers and 50 among its AVOD viewers.”

"HBO Max’s SVOD subscriber tends to be more satisfied with HBO Max’s new release films and original content. Its AVOD viewer tends to be more satisfied with its quality and variety of TV series,” Kantar noted.

Looking ahead, Kantar expects to see high rates of churn continuing, particularly among consumers opting for AVOD subscriptions.

“This reflects the new normal of platform hopping. Platforms that prove  their value via lower costs and a wide selection of content are better positioned for retaining subscribers. Yet, expect more consistent switching behavior and high rates of churn ongoing,” Kantar said. 

“The U.S. streaming market is not showing signs of slowing down. Platforms today should focus their strategies around this new normal of boomerang behavior. This means retaining the loyal core of streamers, marketing trending titles to win streamers leaving other platforms, and communicating the content variety available on  the platform to retain the boomerang subscribers,” Kantar said. ■

Kantar said it is working with sport-oriented streaming platform fuboTV to measure the effectiveness of connected TV advertising.

Fubo is using Kantar’s Brand Lift product to show ad campaigns’ impact on metrics including brand awareness, brand favorability, consideration and purchase preference.

Also: Advocado Buys Kantar Ad Verification Unit, Creating Data, Attribution Platform

FuboTV and Kantar said they recently ran a campaign effectiveness study with a popular over-the-counter pharmaceutical brand. The study found that media placements on fuboTV helped drive consumer preference for the brand across the overall audience and led to a +9 lift in purchase preference. The study also showed the campaign topped Kantar’s market norms for consideration and preference.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Kantar to help marketers better link investments on CTV to business outcomes,” said Diana Horowitz, senior VP, advertising sales at fuboTV. “Marketers understand that CTV is an extremely valuable advertising medium, combining a big screen live TV viewing experience and premium content with capabilities like first-party addressable audience targeting — all in a brand safe environment. Now they can prove the value of CTV campaigns using Kantar’s CTV insights.”

According to Kantar’s MarketNorms database, CTV ads excel at building short-term awareness. Ads that run across connected, streaming and over-the-top platforms are easily recalled and build purchase intent.

“Our goal is to be the single source of truth for our clients and to help them drive growth through meaningful insights. Our research shows that streaming is a category that continues to grow, not just in terms of active viewers but also ad receptivity, meaning consumers are interested in advertising featured on video streaming services,” said Marco Parente, senior VP of product at Kantar.

“We know marketing campaigns are seven times more impactful among a receptive audience and leveraging the medium in the right way is crucial for a campaign’s success. That’s why partnerships like the one we have with fuboTV are critical in helping marketers evaluate and understand how to get the full value from their investments on CTV,” Parente said.  ■

NBCUniversal's Peacock accounted for 10% of all U.S. subscription streaming service signups across fully-paid and ad-supported tiers in the fourth quarter, according to new research published by Kantar. 

The performance ranked as the market's second best, the research company said. It also increased Peacock's U.S. market penetration from 9% in Q3 to 12% in Q4. 

"It’s specific content that’s most likely to bring in new users (over 1 in 3 new sign ups), particularly Halloween Kills, Yellowstone and The Office in Q4 ’21," said Kantar in a report abstract published Tuesday, noting three Peacock hits during the quarter. 

Most of Peacock's traction keeps coming from viewers using the free ad-supported version of the service. 

NBCU reported 54 million signups for Peacock last summer, but the number of consumers paying for the $4.99 partially ad-supported tier and the $9.99 no-ads iteration has remained well under 20 million. 

Among ad-supported "AVOD" and "FAST" services measured by Kantar, Peacock commanded the top share of new users for the second consecutive quarter, 24% in Q4, leading IMDb TV (21%), Tubi (17%), Roku Channel (17%) and Pluto TV (12%). 

Notably, counting only fully paid tiers, Peacock finished last in Q4 for new signup marketshare, with 2.9% -- down from 4.4% in Q3.

Amazon Prime Video captured the biggest percentage of new fully paid customers at 20.3%. In fact, Amazon has led the market in this category for three straight quarters. 

HBO Max, which led the fourth quarter of 2020 in fully paid signups with 19% of market share, saw its percentage of new full-paid SVOD customers drop to 8% -- this was probably due to the launch of the service's partially ad-supported $9.99-a-month-tier in 2021. 

Perhaps explaining this Peacock paradox, Kantar found that the bulk of new signups tends to be for ad-supported streaming products. FAST tiers grew 4.9% quarter over quarter industrywide, while AVOD tiers expanded their penetration by 3.6%. SVOD penetration grew only by 1.8%. 

The percentage of U.S. households has more than doubled year over year to 18%, Kantar added. 

Hulu is the leader in ad-supported video-on-demand, generating 60% of the $3.5 billion in annual revenue yielded by the U.S. AVOD sector, according to Kantar.

Kantar's findings, published Tuesday morning, were followed by a tweet from another research company, Parks Associates, revealing Pluto TV -- which isn't even in Kantar's ranking -- as the most viewed AVOD platform in the U.S over the last 30 days. 

So who's No. 1 in AVOD? It's really hard to tell.

Parks ranks Tubi second in usage, followed by Roku Channel, Peacock, IMDb TV and Crackle, with all contenders controlling less than 15% of overall usage. 

Kantar ranks Paramount Plus second behind Hulu in ad revenue at $822 million from October 1, 2020 through September 30 2021, followed by Peacock ($279 million) and Tubi ($250 million). 

Granted, the two research companies are comparing apples (i.e. ad revenue) to oranges (usage). And their timing windows are different, too. But to a large extent, these metrics go hand in hand, and we see plenty of things to kick the tires on. 

For starters, Kantar -- which billed its report as an assessment of "the four leading ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) platforms" -- didn't include data for Pluto TV, which ViacomCBS recently said will generate more than $1 billion in ad revenue in 2021.

Kantar said, "Coverage of the AVOD market will expand in 2022 to include more than approximately $8 billion in reported AVOD spend, including Pluto TV, HBO Max, Discovery Plus and Prende TV." 

But until then, it seems misleading to include Paramount Plus over its corporate sibling Pluto TV in a ranking of "leading AVOD" platforms. Did the partially ad-supported "Essential" tier of Paramount Plus, which didn't debut until March 4, really generate more ad revenue than its ViacomCBS sibling, Pluto TV, over the 12-month span Kantar measured? Certainly not. 

And what about the Roku Channel? Roku reported $583 million in "platform" revenue just in the third quarter ending September 30. A giant portion of that sum had to be ads sold on Roku Channel, which would certainly seem to garner ranking on Kantar's list.

Conversely, Parks Associates ranks the "ad supported" side of Peacock fourth in usage. But the far-larger Hulu platform, which is driven by the $6.99 ad-supported basic tier, is nowhere on Parks' list.

Advocado, which started out retargeting viewers of TV commercials with digital ads, acquired Kantar BVS, Kantar’s ad verification unit, creating a first-party data management and attribution platform at a time when the ad industry is looking for alternatives to Nielsen.

Financial terms were not disclosed and the Kantar deal comes a week after Advocado acquired the VEIL watermarking technology and 46 other patents from the family of long-time St. Louis broadcaster Ted Koplar.

“What we have now is a centralized, first-party data and attribution platform that ‘s bigger than just broadcast television,” Brian Handrigan, co-founder and CEO of Advocado told Broadcasting+Cable.

He said advertisers will be able to get an independent assessment of campaign performance across broadcast TV, radio and digital platforms including CTV.

Also: Ad Industry Seeks Alternatives After Nielsen Loses Seal of Approval

At a time when the TV industry is looking for better measurement and Nielsen is under pressure, Handrigan said Advocado is ready to take on the big players in the field.

“Nielsen is squarely in our sights,” he said.

Handrigan noted that Nielsen last week announced plans to change the way it measures audiences for commercials, switching from C3 and average commercial minutes within a program to measuring impressions for individual ads.

“It's like the the old guy who buys a Lamborghini so they can look like they're cool, Handrigan said. “I think the writing's on the wall. We need new answers.”

Advocado was not one of the companies that replied to NBCUniversal's request for proposals seeking better ways to measure TV audiences and advertising effectiveness. But Kantar BVS was part of proposals in the audience verification, brand measurement, and multi-touch attribution categories. Now, by changing a logo or two, Advocado is part of the NBCU process, Handrigan said.

Many of the new approaches to audience measurement and attribution involve using big data from set-top boxes and smart TVs.

Advocado worked with VEIL and Kantar to identify television ads.

Handrigan said tagging ads using VEIL technology to track who is watching is less intrusive than using the automated content recognition data that comes from consumer smart TVs. “People are going to start wondering why my TV set is selling my viewing data,” he said. (Nielsen uses a different ad-tagging system to capture commercial viewing data).

Kantar’s ad verification was an important part of Advocado’s product and Advocado decided that it would be logical to bring that capability in house, Handrigan said.

“What Kantar BVS does is really integral in terms of the quality of the data,” he said. “It’s one thing to count other people’s data. It’s great to have a first-part data source you can control. There a lot of learnings, a lot of insights, a lot of customers we can now work with.”

Advocado sent an unsolicited offer for the unit to Pete Rumpel, executive VP of Kantar Media, North America. “It wasn’t on the market and they, appropriately, kind of laughed at us,” Handrigan recalled.

Eventually conversations were had and Kantar was convinced Advocado was serious. “We’re not disclosing the price, but it was enough to get him [Rumpel] to stop laughing,” Handrigan said.

Handrigan said the seven people who worked at Kantar BVS are all coming to work at Advocado and that the unit will continue to be headed by VP Rich Radzik.

“Through this partnership, we will continue to grow the most accurate and reliable solution that our clients have depended on for the last 33 years. With Advocado’s digital and technical expertise we will be able to launch new innovations that will further drive growth for our client partners,” Radzik said.

Some Avocado clients have already switched to BVS for ad verification, Handrigan said. At the same time there are BVS ad verification clients now looking at Advocado’s capabilities.

“Our existing customers will benefit from network, media and platform expansion as well as ongoing cross organization innovation,” said Rumpel. “Accurate, credible and independent verification is a key concern for our clients. Advocado’s expanded offering delivers that.”

As part of the deal, Advocado and Kantar will continue to work together to explore new offerings based on the data and analytical capabilities both bring to the table.

“This deal actually includes incentives for us to work together,” Handrigan said. “The initial response has been really positive because together, it's a richer offering for customers.”

Handrigan added that the Advocado platform will let advertisers have the data about their campaigns.

Google used to provide real data he said. Now it just provides models, he said.

“We think that’s really a shame. Advertisers are spending the money to create the response. They should own the data. And so our platform empowers them to actually have that granular data," he said.

By the same token, Handrigan noted that a lot of the parties providing attribution are the ones also in the advertising sales business.

“We don't do any media planning, we don't sell any creative. We're not an agency,” Handrigan said. “Let’s make sure there's data without an agenda and a platform that you guys control that’s consumer privacy compliant. At the end of the day, that’s what we're building and we think this BVS acquisition gets us up the ladder.” ■

U.S. advertising revenues for the Tokyo Olympic games on NBCUniversal channels could reach $2.25 billion, according to an estimate from Kantar.

The $2.25 billion in ad revenue would be a record, and up 20% from the 2016 Summer Games in Rio.

NBCU is planning a record 7,000 hours of Olympic programming on its broadcst, cable, digital and streaming platforms.

Also Read: Peacock Pulls In $500 Million During Record NBCU Upfront

But Kantar warns that the size and enthusiasm of the Olympic audience remains to be seen. 

Kantar Sports Monitor finds that despite the postponement from last year, 63% of the U.S population is interested in watching what is still being called the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Yet 53% of US consumers agree the games should be postponed or cancelled, according to a Express Survey conducted on Kantar Marketplace late last month.

Also Read: Peacock’s Olympics Plans Include Kevin Hart, Snoop Dogg, Kenny Mayne

There are also questions about what the broadcast will look like with arenas empty because of COVID-19.

Those issues mean advertisers should exercise caution, Kantar said. 

“Many Olympic sponsors are hastily adjusting to the ever-changing narrative around the Tokyo Olympics,” said Satya Menon, senior VP of Brand and Marketing at Kantar. ”Brands are rightly concerned about optics, and need to carefully adjust the tonality of their communication, keeping in mind that in much of the world, consumers are stressed, angry and less hopeful due to the pandemic.”  

The Games of the XXXII Olympiad will take place July 23-Aug. 8, 2021, in Tokyo.

Demand for adding subscription streaming services in the U.S. is slowing down, according to new data from Kantar.

In the second quarter just 3.9% of U.S. homes took a new subscription to a streaming service, Kantar said, down from 12.9% a year ago. 

The drop was the largest since Kantar started measuring.

Kantar says 74.6% of U.S. households now have an SVOD subscription, unchanged from a year ago. That represents about 95.8 million households.

Amazon Prime Video captured the largest share of new signups with 24.2%, up from its 13.2% share in the first quarter. Kantar said Amazon Prime Video benefited from free trial offers and from people visiting Amazon.com for online shopping. 

Also Read: Analyst: Netflix Sub Growth Could More Than Double in Second Half as Original Content Slate Expands

“Both factors indicate that Prime Video is still benefiting from the upsurge of Amazon Prime subscriptions taken out during lockdown,” Kantar said.

HBO Max picked up 12.5% of new sign-ups, having gotten 14.4% of them in the first quarter. Discovery Plus, which launched in January, grabbed 9% of new subscriptions, up from 7.7% in Q1.

“In its first 6 months, Discovery Plus is already delivering a great onboarding experience for new customers which is rivaling Netflix. The two services sit in top place when it comes to ease of setting up service on device (8.6 average score) and sign up being simple and intuitive (8.6),” Kantar said.

Discovery Plus numbers bear watching because free trial periods are ending for many current users. 

“Although only capturing 3% of the market penetration currently, if they can continue to boost their share of new subscribers and push out new content, Discovery+ could be a service to watch out for in the future,” Kantar said.

Netflix, the largest service, got 8.4% of new subscriptions, down from 8.5% in the first quarter and 14.2% a year ago, when it benefitted from the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Its installed base fell to two-thirds of U.S. subscribers, as viewers trade in for newer offers, Kantar said.

“Although share of the market outranks the competition, the saturation of the U.S. VOD market may be resulting in Netflix subscribers trading the service in for a newer model,” Kantar said. 

Disney Plus’s share of new subscriptions was steady at 11.6% in the first quarter and Hulu (also controlled by Disney) had 5.9% of new subscriptions, a big drop from 10.6% earlier.

Also showing big drops were ViacomCBS’s Paramount Plus, down to 3.2% from 11.8% in the first quarter, and Comcast’s Peacock at 2%, down from 4.7%.

Apple TV Plus got 4.6% of new subscriptions, down from 5.6%. 

Tubular Labs, the social media measurement company, named Stephen DiMarco chief strategy officer.

DiMarco, who had been chief digital at Kantar, will look to broaden Tubular’s product offering, first looking at giving media buyers and brands better data for planning social media campaigns, and then moving into other digital media, including over-the-top video.

He joins Tubular three months after Scott Ernst was appointed CEO. Ernst and DiMarco founded Compete, which analyzed the web pages consumers visited for brands and agencies, and was acquired by Kantar.

Read Also: Kantar's Project Moonshot Measures Ad Effectiveness

“Stephen is a recognized leader in media measurement with a deep understanding of the dramatic shift in consumer mindsets and what it means for media companies, agencies and brands,” said Scott Ernst, CEO at Tubular Labs. “I’m excited for Stephen to lead our product innovation with a focus on bringing together media buyers and sellers as Tubular sets its sights on becoming the content and audience ratings authority that empowers confident investments in social video programming and advertising.” 

Tubular delivers audience and time-based engagement metrics for social video that tell publishers how many people watched social content.

At Kantar, DiMarco helped build a campaign effectiveness business, creating tools for measuring the effectiveness of non-linear ad campaigns. He will bring that expertise to Tubular.

“This is a new age digital measurement company that has a lot of legs and lots of growth ahead of it,” DiMarco told Broadcasting+Cable

With linear TV ratings falling, companies are investing more in social content. “Comscore and Nielsen are duking it out, and here’s Tubular, which is slightly under the radar right now, but poised to really dominate the social video space, both on the intelligence and the ratings side,” DiMarco said. 

Read Also: Contradicting Nielsen, Comscore Says TV Use Didn't Fall in Pandemic

He plans to use Tubular’s platform to go beyond social video. “We need to nail social media first,” he said. Buyers need better measurement tools so that more ad dollars can flow into social media. “The social video market is big enough, but I know that our aspirations are larger than social media,” he said. 

In a similar vein, media buyers are looking for better measurement of OTT, so that they can plan campaigns, understand their reach and the outcomes resulting from those investments,” he said.

Social video and other forms of video are closely intertwined these days and Tubular’s platform already has the ability to ingest and analyze data from all of the over-the-top video platforms. “If we wanted to, we could go in that direction without necessarily needing their consent,” DiMarco said. “Not that we would do that. We always like to have platforms consent before we start measuring them and reporting out on them.”

Tubular’s board has an aggressive 18-month plan for rolling out new measurement products. “By the end of next year, Tubular will be singularly on the map and in the conversation with Comscore and Nielsen, he said.

DiMarco began his career in marketing in cable’s early day at Comedy Central and was at FX Networks when it launched.

HBO Max signed up the most new subscribers in the quarter ending in March as total U.S. streaming video subscribers neared a quarter billion, according to Kantar.

HBO Max has 14% of the new signups for paid streaming services, down from 19.2% in the December quarter, when it was also No 1. 

The launch ViacomCBS’s Paramount Plus and Discovery’s Discovery Plus were responsible for most more established services having a smaller share of new signups.

Paramount Plus accounted for 11.8% of new sign ups--more than all but HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video-- and Discovery Plus garnered 7.7%.

Overall Kantar said that 7% of U.S. households signed up for a new SVOD subscription in the quarter and that the total number of subscriptions was at 241 million at the end of March.

“In a quarter which saw the launch of Paramount Plus and Discovery Plus, it’s all the more impressive HBO Max held onto the No. 1 spot in share of new SVoD subscribers,” said Dominic Sunnebo, senior VP at Kantar’s Worldpanel Division. 

HBO is not just winning new subscribers, it’s also dramatically increasing the advocacy rates of its subscriber base at the same time, Sunnebo said. When HBO Max launched in 2020 its Net Promoter Score--a measure of subscriber advocacy--was the 10th highest in the SVoD market. It is  now No. 2.

"This bodes well for both retention and word of mouth recommendation to drive future subscriber acquisition. Subscribers specifically cite the number of new release films as a key catalyst to their increased satisfaction with the HBO Max service," Sunnebo said.

Kantar noted that the average number of SVOD subscriptions in each U.S. household continues to rise, hitting 3.8 in the first quarter, up from 3.3 a year ago. 

At the same time, households that plan to cancel at least one SVOD subscription in the next 3 months rose to 24.9%, up from 20.5% the previous quarter and 23.2% a year ago.

With the cost of hosting multiple video streaming subscriptions increasing, ad-supported services are experiencing strong growth, with Peacock Free and Tubi leading in growth. 

Behind HBO Max in picking up new subscribers was Amazon Prime, which got 13.2% of new subscribers, down from 18.2% in the December quarter.

Paramount Plus was third. Kantar said Star Trek was the driver for Paramount Plus’ performance,  with 53% of new subscribers saying they signed up because of a specific title and 24% of these citing Star Trek. Stephen Kings’ The Stand also proved attractive, with 9% of new content driven customers referring to the mini-series.

Disney Plus was fourth with 11.6%, down from 13%; Hulu, with 10.6%, down from 13.7% and Netflix, up to 8.5% from 7.4%. 

WandaVision on Disney Plus was the top rated SVOD title, followed by its The Mandalorian. Disney Plus is winning acclaim for the quality of its titles, but consumer sentiment is also improving significantly across the amount of original content it offers, Kantar said. Net satisfaction in this area has improved from 20% in Q1 2020 to 33% in Q1 2021, which usually helps with long-term subscriber retention.

Discovery Plus was No. 8, followed by Apple TV Plus with 5.6%, down from 5.9% and Peacock, with 4.7% down from 4.4%. 

Discovery Plus’ TV launch campaign was effective, Kantar said, with 68% of new subscribers saying watching a TV spot for the service was a key part of their decision making process, while 40% stated they were enticed through a free trial offer. The service has proved particularly older-skewing households. Titles including Ghost Adventures, Fixer Upper, 90 Day Fiancé and Expedition Bigfoot helped drive subscriber acquisition in the quarter.

AT&T’s HBO Max, which got off to a sputtering start, drew the largest share of new streaming subscribers in the fourth quarter, according to Kantar’s Entertainment on Demand Service.

Kantar estimates that the number of SVOD subscriptions reached 233 million by the end of December, with the average home having 3.5 streaming video subscriptions, up from 3.1 at the start of 2020.

During the fourth quarter, HBO Max attracted 19.2% of new subscribers, up from 13.4% in the third quarter. Kantar said HBO Max got a boost from its parent company’s decision to release the full slate of Warner Brothers films simultaneously in movie theaters and on HBO Max.

Also Read: HBO Max Extends 22% Off Promotion

Dominic Sunnebo, senior VP at Kantar, Worldpanel Division, said that 41% of new HBO Max subscribers in Q4 cited specific content as their key motivator for signing up, an increase from 32% the prior quarter. One in five of those new subscribers craving content cited Wonder Women 1984 as a factor in their choice.

In the fourth quarter, Amazon Prime Video attracted 18.2% of new subscribers, up from 17.75% in Q3; Hulu got 13.7%, up from 13.5%; Disney Plus drew 13%, up from 12.7; Netflix got 7.4%, down from 9.8% and Apple TV Plus had a 5.9% share, down from 6.7%.

“After flat subscriber growth in Q3 2020, Netflix has again seen share of new subscribers fall in the latest quarter, accounting for 7.4% of new subscribers, less than half the share achieved in Q1 2020,” Kantar’s Sunnebo said.

Also Read: HBO Max Comes Back From the Dead

“Whilst Netflix subscribers remain highly engaged, the content slate and current proposition does not appear strong enough to drive continued subscriber growth in the presence of multiple highly competitive service launches,” he said. “We are also seeing challenges coming from two other sources; the price rise in Q4 has driven an increase in planned cancellation, with this rise cited as the key reason and the continued blowback from the Cuties release. Whilst overall retention remains solid, in Q4 almost 1 in 10 cancellations was directly as a result from fallout from the Cuties release, or broader disagreement with Netflix’s political leanings. These reasons impact both potential acquisition opportunities as well as retention of existing subscribers.”

For the full year, Disney Plus attracted 18.3% of new SVOD subscribers, followed by Prime Video with 17%, Hulu with 13.2%, HBO Max with 12%, Netflix with 12.5% and Apple TV Plus with 6.2%.

In terms of individual shows, Season 2 of Disney Plus' The Mandalorian was the top-rated title during the fourth quarter. It was followed by The Crown and The Queen’s Gambit.

Spanish-language television is seeing big increases in political ad spending, particularly in swing state Florida, according to Kantar’s Campaign Media Analysis Group.

Nationwide since Sept. 1, Kantar calculates that $932 million has been spent on presidential campaign ads across TV and radio and that 62% of that ($581 million ) has been for Joe Biden. President Trump’s re-election campaign has been backed by $352 million in TV and radio ads during that time.

That number includes ads already scheduled to run through Nov. 3.

Three of the top five markets in terms of presidential election ad spending are in Florida, with Orlando seeing $51.2 million, Miami getting $47.9 million and Tampa garnering $46.1 million.

Kantar noted that since January 2019, $24 million has been spent in Florida on Spanish-language broadcast TV to reach the large Puerto Rican, Cuban and Venezuelan populations in the state.

Nearly $5 million has been spent in Orlando on Spanish-language broadcast TV, compared to less than $1 million during the entire 2016 presidential election cycle. Many ads have focused on Puerto Rican immigrants, many of whom relocated there after Hurricane Maria.

Spending on Spanish language network advertising was more than $15 million, up from $3 million in 2016. 

For the September to Nov. 3 period, Phoenix ranks No. 2  

The other top 5 market is Philadelphia.

Comcast’s Peacock added more new subscribers than any other streaming VOD services during the third quarter, according to Kantar.

Kantar also found that more consumers who added one service were cancelling another. Kantar called this subscription switching, and said 10% of new subscriptions were the result of switching, up from 9% in the second quarter.

“Q3 saw the full launch of NBC’s offering Peacock and it has strutted straight to #1 spot in share of new VOD subs. Peacock hit the market with a number of compelling price options, including offering Peacock Premium at no extra cost to certain Xfinity customer plans,” said Dominic Sunnebo, senior VP of Kantar, Worldpanel Division.

"Value for money" was the top individual subscription driver for Peacock, followed by the "variety of TV series," alongside "specific content", which was cited by 25% of new subscribers as their primary motivator for joining.

In late September, toward the end of the quarter, NBCU obtained Peacock distribution via Roku, adding an important source of customer signups.

Peacock garnered 17.2% of new subscribers during the third quarter, up from 4.9% in the second quarter. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, Kantar said that 15% of households surveyed said they were considering signing up for Peacock.

When subscribers mentioned content that motivated them to sign up for Peacock, they mentioned Psych and Yellowstone most often.

Amazon Prime, which had been tops in the second quarter with 23.2% of new subscriptions, was No. 2 during the third quarter with 16%. Prime’s The Boys season two was the top title enjoyed across subscribers to all SVOD services in the quarter. Its ease of use satisfaction score increased to nearly equal Netflix’s.

AT&T’s HBO Max, which launched earlier this year, was third in the quarter with 11.3% of new subscribers, up from 9.7% in the second quarter.

The Walt Disney Co.’s Hulu was fourth with 9.5%, followed by Disney Plus with 9.1%, Netflix with 8.3% and Apple TV Plus with 4.9%.

Kantar noted that Hulu did well with cord cutters. Only 45% of its subscribers also subscribe to cable TV, compared to the SVOD market average of 53%. Hulu also got a boost by being available in bundles with Disney’s Disney Plus and ESPN Plus, and through partnership with Verizon.

Netflix dominated the list of most-enjoyed content over the quarter with Lucifer, Ozark and The Umbrella Academy all making it into the top five titles in Q3 2020. Despite share of new subscribers falling to 8.3%, Netflix churn rate remained low at just 4.1% quarter on quarter, meaning overall subscriber numbers were essentially flat.

AppleTV Plus' share of new SVOD subscribers fell in the quarter to 4.9%, though overall subscriber numbers continue to edge up. Consumers rate the TV interface very highly, but overall advocacy levels are brought down by more negative views on the number of new release films and number of classic films, Kantar said. Planned cancellation for Apple TV Plus is higher than the industry average and among those who plan to cancel, 26% state they are not prepared to pay once their free trial is over.

Kantar's Entertainment on Demand survey is based on a longitudinal panel of 20,000 consumers and boosted by 2,500 new subscriber interviews each quarter.

Although broadcast TV — national and especially local — remains the dominant electronic political advertising avenue, and digital platforms have become the next most-used format, cable has a solid #3 role in campaign marketing this year. Steven Passwaiter, VP/general manager of Kantar CMAG, the agency’s campaign marketing and advertising intelligence unit, unveiled updated political spending data in a presentation on Thursday (Oct. 1) at the Television Bureau of Advertising’s TVB ALT Forward conference.

Passwaiter’s analysis showed that in the presidential race, the Trump campaign is earmarking 6.86% of its total spending on network cable and 1.29% on local cable and satellite ads. In comparison, the Biden campaign is putting 2.95% of its money into network cable and 17.17% into local cable/satellite. That adds up to about 8% by Trump and 20% from Biden.

Passwaiter did not specify the cable networks or local spot cable placement channels for either campaign’s spending. Nor did he identify the amounts of money out of the estimated $7 billion going into campaign advertising this year.

More From TVB ALT Forward: Emily Barr to Local Broadcasters: ‘We Must All Do Better’

For the presidential race, Republicans are spending $594 million, Democrats are spending $580, Passwaiter said, listing several other major Political Action Committee donors and then singling out the $595 million that Michael Bloomberg said he will spend on the general election contributions.

The cable buys are dwarfed by the sums devoted to local broadcast TV this year:  49% of the Democrats’ budgets and 46% of the Republicans spending. Both parties are spending about 3% of their ad budgets on national broadcasting time, he said. The Trump and Biden campaigns are devoting about the same share of their buying to local broadcast:  53.7% from Trump and 49.6% from Biden, according to Passwaiter.

Kantar's summary tallies that within the TV spending category, 70% of spending goes to local broadcast TV, 18% to local cable, 7% of national cable and 5% to national broadcast.

Passwaiter's data about the partisan differences in the presidential race jibed with Kantar CMAG’s overall findings for platform preferences in all campaigns: Democrats are putting 18% of their spending into local cable, while Republicans have allotted 7% to local cable. For national cable ads, it’s the reverse formula: 3% for Democrats, 8% for Republicans.

“It’s surprising that so little Republican spending is on cable,” Passwaiter said in prerecorded remarks to TVB’s virtual event. He called the rapid growth of targeted digital advertising on online platforms (including connected TVs) an example of the popularity of “the cool kid in school.”

“Over-the-top and connective TV is now showing up on nearly every political buy,” he said. His assessment is that Facebook “is having a better year than Google.

Related: ‘September Is the New October’ for Political Advertising

Two other TVB sessions on political campaign advertising drew universal agreement that 2020 has shaped up as the most unusual campaign ever. Republican strategist (and Fox commentator) Karl Rove acknowledged that 1968 and 1992 were also complicated races because of conditions at that time, while Democratic strategist (and CNN analyst David Axelrod) focused on the volatile style of the President this year.

Another session featuring executive directors of Republican and Democratic campaign committees cited the complexity of current issues (especially COVID-19, health care and the economy) this year, although local candidates are taking “very individual” approaches based on the conditions in their jurisdictions.   

All of the political speakers cited the importance of data — which media companies usually can supply — to tailor political messaging this year.    

“We have different tactics for buying TV and digital platforms,” explained Parker Poling, executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee. She also cited the evolving plans for using mobile and other platforms to meet quick-changing ad creation and placement needs. 

Lucinda Guinn, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, pointed to the new Disinformation Task Force that her organization has established and invited Poling to join in the commitment to stop such phony content. Poling responded with a polite/political non-committal acknowledgement that they can discuss such a mutual plan when the occasion arises.

Back to school has not only been tough on kids as they try to connect with teachers and classmates over Zoom. 

According to a report from Kantar, back-to-school advertising on national TV is down 70% so far this season compared to last year.

Back to school, after the traditionally quiet summer months, are typically a high-demand period for the ad sales teams at TV Networks.

This year, however, from June 22 to Aug. 8, Kantar said that retailers spent $23 million in back-to-school ads, versus $76 million a year ago.

Normally, back to school is also a fairly cluttered ad environment but Kantar also found that this year,  just six retailers were spending on national advertising, led by Target and J.C. Penney, which each bought more than $7 million worth of commercials.

“With so many advertisers opting out this season, there is a significant opportunity for brands to engage consumers and build customer relationships, as less activity and a scaled down competitive field give those who do participate a greater chance of winning share of consumer wallets,” Kantar said. “After all, students will need supplies whether they are learning remotely from home or attending in-person class, so cutting out advertising altogether could be a costly mistake.”

Kantar also noted that in the good old days, pre-COVID-19, back-to-school commercials were filled with scenes of happy families shopping in stores for supplies and clothing, kids meeting friends and learning in classrooms.

This year, the message is whatever else 2020 brings, we’re here for you and the images are of online shopping, delivery service and curbside pickup. Few ads show kids in school and those show youngsters wearing masks.

“Many parents are feeling anxious about the current uncertainty and conveying their needs will be met, no matter the circumstance, is key,” the report noted. “Placing an emphasis on savings and value is also especially important this year due to the economic strain many families are facing.”

Kantar looked at a commercial for Amazon that showed children learning at home with the Amazon search bar appearing on the screen several times during the spot.

Kantar said the ad connected emotionally and expected it to generate six times the gain in ad awareness compared to Target, JCPenney, Walmart and Macy’s. Kantar also said the Amazon commercial was 25% more likely to generate sales lift than a Target ad that used only illustrations, creating less human connection.

Kantar said that 9.1% of U.S. households signed up for an additional subscription video-on-demand service in the second quarter, with Amazon Prime Video getting the largest share of those new subscriptions.

According to Kantar’s Entertainment On-Demand service, Prime Video had 23% of the new signups, up from a 14% share in the first quarter. Disney Plus’ share, which led the industry in the first quarter at 30.9%, had just 13.3% of new signups in the second quarter.

Netflix, the leading service, had 15.1% of new signups, followed by Hulu at 10.4%.

New services HBO Max and Peacock had 9.7%  and 4.9% of new signups, respectively. 

In interviews, 39% of HBO Max sign-ups cited specific content as their key motivator to join, with Game of Thrones, Sopranos and Westworld the top three individual titles driving customer acquisition.

Apple TV Plus had 5.9% of new signups.

Kantar said that 44% of new subscriptions were “stacked,” which means they were bought by households that already have existing SVOD subscriptions. Overall households had an average of 3 subscriptions per household, down slightly fom last quarter despite the launches of HBO Max, Quibi and Peacock within Comcast’s Xfinity footprint.

As Quibi struggled with stay-at-home orders challenging its mobile first business model, Kantar said that already 33% of subscribers plan to cancel in the next three months.

“Q2 2020 has been a busy quarter, with seeing the launch of HBO Max, Quibi and a more limited Peacock launch. HBO can be pleased with progress to date in terms of new subscriber numbers, and importantly at the end of Q220, just 18% were on free trials,” said Dominic Sunnebo, senior VP at Kantar, Worldpanel division. “The key challenge for HBO Max will be enduring longevity of subscribers – there are already some signs that attitudinally, HBO Max subscribers do not view it as a long-term commitment, in the same way they do Netflix. Driving engagement with newer HBO content, alongside headliners like Sopranos and Game of Thrones will be important.

Kantar’s figures are based on a panel of 20,000 consumers, with 2,500 new subscriber interviews being conducted each quarter.

Data company Kantar announced Project Moonshot, an ad industry initiative that establishes direct data integrations with ad platforms to asset the impact of advertising on brands and sales. 

Project Moonshot is establishing integrations with Google, Pandora and game platform Anzu and cookie-less measurement partnership with Dish, Pinterest, Roku, Snap, Spotify and Twitter. Kantar aims to represent 95% of global digital ad spend by integrating 250 publishers on the platform by the end of 2021.

”As digital grows, it’s even more important that publishers can defend their ad revenues with an independent view of performance for advertisers,” said Jane Olstler, Kantar’s global leader for advertising effectiveness. "The gradual removal of third-party cookies from the digital landscape means that methods of online ad effectiveness tracking need to evolve, in a privacy-compliant way. We know that advertisers would ideally like cross-publisher ad effectiveness measurement, and Kantar’s Project Moonshot is making giant steps in that direction."

The goals of Project Moonshot are to establish a privacy-compliant data and tech platform as the industry moves from cookies to publisher integrations, independent ad effectiveness measurement of individual publishers and media companies, and ad effectiveness measurement across all publishers within a media plan, including polling solutions for walled gardens.

“Our direct partnership with Kantar is focused on making TV ads more targeted and measurable,” said Gaurav Shirole, director, ad measurement at Roku. “As we enter the streaming decade, platforms like OneView built on a consumer connection are designed to best help advertisers shift spend to streaming.”

Kantar’s research indicates that 80% of marketers trust third party measurement, compared to just over 40% who trust data from individual publisher or media platforms. With third-party cookie disappearing, Kantar has developed new ways to assess effectiveness, using a combination of methodologies including direct integrations and extensively validated probabilistic measurement.

“Measurement is going through a revolution and with ever increasing investment in digital channels, we need to be prepared for the change that the end of cookie data is going to bring,” said Nick Lawson, Global CEO, at buying agency MediaCom. “Kantar’s Project Moonshot initiative, and its work with publishers, ensures that we can continue to plan smarter and rely on data to deliver insights into consumer behavior. Having a consistent method of measuring brand effectiveness across digital platforms, and being able to link our messages to sales and consumer impact as part of the bigger picture, is exactly what MediaCom, and indeed the entire industry, needs.”

Kantar said it launched Link AI, which uses artificial intelligence to predict the effectiveness of advertising messages.

The automated system uses Kantar’s Link database of creative effectiveness to evaluate digital video and TV ads in 15 minutes or less, the company said.

“Using AI and machine learning, Kantar continues to forge new innovative paths helping advertisers drive stronger marketing impact through creative,” said Dinesh Gopinath, head of product and data strategy for Kantar’s Analytics Practice. “Link AI is the fastest, fully automated, AI-powered solution to guide creative and media optimization available today. It answers questions on creative assets quickly, iteratively and at scale, decreasing time to market and increasing ROI for our clients.”

Link AI is available through an easy-to-use, self-service web application.

During this time of rapid market changes and consumer sentiment uncertainty, the company said advertisers are relying on Link AI to provide the fast, creative guidance they need to market effectively.

“Link AI not only provides speed and scale, it leverages extensive training datasets and decades of Kantar’s unique deep human understanding to provide guidance that translates directly to business results” said Chris Petranto, president, Kantar’s Analytics Practice for North America. “Brands and agencies can therefore be confident that they are making the right creative decisions, backed by experts in the category, with the most accurate and reliable data available today.”

Kantar’s new Entertainment On-Demand service found that Netflix continued to dominate the streaming wars, garnering 23% of the new SVOD subscriptions during August, September and October.

Hulu was second with a 20% share of new subscriptions, followed by Amazon and HBO.

The data is based on a panel of 20,000 consumers, boosted by 10,000 consumer interviews, including 2,500 new subscriber interviews. The study covers the period before the launch of Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus. Kantar plans a report covering first-quarter activity in April.

Also read: Disney Plus: How It Went From Zero to 28.6 Million in Less Than Three Months

“The streaming wars are heating up. Entertainment On-Demand provides subscription services and investors in the media industry with a new level of insight in to the motivations and habits of subscription service users,” said Dominic Sunnebo, senior VP at Kantar’s Worldpanel Division. “From our U.S. research we can see that with the explosion in the number of digital subscription options available, the customer journey for different digital services is increasingly differentiated.” 

A majority--56%--of the new subscriptions during the period were consumers’ second or third consumers. Just 30% were by first-time subscribers.

Netflix was the first streaming subscription for 31% of new subscribers. For Hulu, 67% of its new customers already subscribed to another service.

Kantar said that subscription fatigue hasn’t kicked in year. The average consumer has nearly four video subscriptions. 

The study also found that binge watching has become a mainstream viewing habit, with 86% of Hulu subscribers saying binge watching was important to them.

The big dance that is the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament draws big ad bucks.

In fact, college hoops’ March Madness is second only to NFL football in terms of generating ad spending, according to a report by Kantar Media.

Last year the NFL playoffs generated $1.25 billion in revenue, followed by the NCAA tournament at $1.19 billion, the NBA playoffs at $944 million, Major League Baseball at $415 million, and NCAA Football Bowl games at $314 million, the report said.

Turner and CBS, which will televise the tournament, are posed to exceed last year’s total, which was up 4.8% from 2014, Kantar said.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Ad spending on TV rose 9.7% in the first quarter, powered by the Olympic games, according to Kantar Media.

Primetime Olympic coverage on NBC lifted broadcast network TV spending by 14.5%. Higher spending on the Super Bowl and NFL playoffs also contributed to the hike.

Cable TV registered a 6.2% gain in the quarter, spot TV was up 7% and syndication showed a 3.2% increase.

Spanish language TV was up 18% in the quarter according to Kantar.

Overall spending in all media rose 5.7% to $34.9 billion, according to Kantar. Kantar estimated that the Olympics added $600 million in spending to the marketplace.

"The Winter Olympics delivered its expected windfall in the first quarter, adding about $600 million of incremental ad spending to the marketplace. But the nature of the event is that this money is narrowly distributed and doesn’t benefit all sectors of the market," Jon Swallen, chief research officer at Kantar Media North America, said in a statement. "Subtracting the Olympics’ contribution, the growth rate for remaining expenditures was just under four percent."