Agencies

70% of brands and 77% of agencies have employed branded content marketing for advertising purposes in the past year, and about two-thirds of each group say that branded content marketing has become very or most important to their marketing mix, according to a MailOnline survey of more than 600 online marketing and advertising executives. With branded content now perceived by brands as being among their most effective branding tactics, 72% report having increased their spending on it in the past year, and 69% plan to pour more money into branded content in the coming year. Read more »

Few companies believe that their content management system (CMS) facilitates a brand-enhancing digital presence, finds Econsultancy [download page] in a new report sponsored by Adobe. Instead, while a majority believe that content management should help them meet a variety of business goals, such as improving user and customer engagement and brand-building through positive experiences, less than one-third rate their CMS as good for helping them deliver against those objectives. Additionally, 6 in 10 respondents don't believe their CMS allows them to have a complete view of engagement across all channels. Read more »

75% of ad agencies responding to a BrightRoll survey believe that video is equally or more effective than TV, and that's up from 64% who believed that to be the case in last year's survey, according to a new BrightRoll report [download page]. Even more respondents (91%) believe that digital video measures up well with display, although they're less convinced about its effectiveness compared to social media (68%), search (52%) and direct response (45%). The most important aspect of video advertising to clients is its targeting capabilities, according to 45% of respondents, with reach (27%) also valuable. Read more »

41% of marketers say that inbound marketing demonstrates ROI for their company, compared to 9% who believe it doesn't, according to HubSpot's newly-released "State of Inbound Marketing 2013" report. But another one-third cannot (or do not) calculate ROI. A difficulty in tracking reliable metrics may be why despite healthy inbound implementation rates and projected spending increases, a leading 25% of inbound marketers say that proving ROI is their top challenge. Read more »

More than 80% of advertisers find audience targeting to be very (29%) or somewhat (55%) effective, and the vast majority of agencies agree, per results from an eXelate survey. Both groups point to 3rd party online data as their preferred data source for audience targeting, also ranking this source as their most effective for both direct response and branding campaigns, ahead of 1st-party CRM data. Read more »

A recent study by Nielsen and the IAB recommended moving 15% of TV budgets to online video in order to increase reach at a lower cost. It seems that some online video buyers are taking heed. In their Q1 2013 "State of the Industry in Online Video" study, Adap.tv and Digiday find that 72% of video buyers' budgets for the medium increased in the last year, by an average of 53% (compared to a 20% hike in Q1 2012). Among those who increased their spending, 39% re-allocated funds from TV budgets (up 12% points), with the amount of TV spending cannibalized averaging out at 11%. But the study finds that display budgets may be more in peril than TV dollars. Read more »

Approximately one-third of company marketers say they have no strategy for optimizing their email marketing for mobile devices, and one-fifth of agencies say their clients have no such strategy, per results from a new report [download page] by Econsultancy and Adestra. Another 39% and 45%, respectively, report just a basic strategy for mobile optimization. But, there are signs that these global marketers (primarily based in the UK) are recognizing the value of mobile optimization. Read more »

75% of global marketers (primarily from the UK) rate SEO as "excellent" (32%) or "good" (43%) in terms of return on investment, according to [download page] a new study by Econsultancy in partnership with Adestra. Not far behind is email marketing, rated "excellent" by 22% and "good" by another 44%, making these the top 2 digital channels for ROI. Read more »

82% of marketers agree that with the current economic conditions, they're challenged with identifying cost savings and reductions in their marketing and advertising efforts, per results from an Association of National Advertisers (ANA) survey. That's down slightly from 84% last year and a high of 93% at the beginning of 2009, but remains above 2011's 77%. The ANA conclues that "there will always be pressures on budgets, even in the best of times." Read more »

Agencies may be seeing a changing media mix, but a new report confirms that TV still commands the lion's share of advertising dollars. According to the data, provided to MediadailyNews by Standard Media Index (SMI), the major agency holding companies spent 62.4% of their advertising dollars on TV in 2012. The data comes from the processing systems of 4 of the 6 major holding companies, lending it an authority not seen in other survey-based research. Read more »