Holiday 2018 Data Hub (Updated): Results RecapLooking at the 2018 holiday season, in numbers, including a recap of Cyber Week.February 22, 2019

By some accounts it was a strong holiday season. But after a delay in reporting its holiday season growth estimates as a result of the government shutdown (which curtailed Commerce Department reporting), the NRF’s figures aren’t quite so... READ MORE

These Were the Top 10 CPG E-Commerce Categories in 2018While still a small part of overall sales, the market is in the billions and growing by double digits.

E-commerce CPG sales hit $58.9 billion in 2018, a 35.4% increase from the year before. While these sales only account for 11% of all CPG sales, they represent 64% of total omnichannel growth, according to a new report [pdf] from IRI. Vitamins are the biggest... READ MORE

US Retail Sales Forecast to Grow by 3.8-4.4% Again This YearRetail sales for 2019 are forecast to reach $3.84 trillion.February 21, 2019

Although Sears filed for bankruptcy in 2018, this month saw the retail giant being bought out and the liquidation prevented. So could this be a positive bellwether for the state of retail? Perhaps so, as the National Retail Federation’s 2019 forecast... READ MORE

US Internet Advertising Revenues Post 22% Y-O-Y Gain in Q3 2018The latest figures from the IAB and PwC show that digital ad revenue growth was among the fastest recorded for a third quarter in the past decade.

The rise of digital ads continues unabated. Internet advertising revenue in the US had the highest Q3 growth rate in a decade with the exception of Q3 2016, according to the latest revenue figures [press release] from the IAB and PwC. Total spending on... READ MORE

Super Bowl 2019 Data [Updated]A wrap up of Super Bowl LIII ad stats, including costs, effectiveness and brand winners.February 20, 2019

Super Bowl 2019 saw the lowest ratings in 10 years. While the game may not have been as exciting as years past, what about the ads? Which brands fared best in the post-game analyses that continue to roll in? Here’s a look at some of the winners and losers,... READ MORE

Retailers See Voice Ordering As More Opportunity Than ThreatThe rise of smart speakers - in particular, Amazon Alexa - brings both benefits and risks to online retailers.

Currently more than half (54%) of brands are selling their wares on Amazon, a figure predicted to reach almost three-quarters (72%) within the next 5 years, according to survey results [download page] from Feedvisor. Smart speakers like the Amazon Echo are... READ MORE

Instagram Stories Accounting for Growing Share of Facebook Ad SpendThe short-lived ad format has seen its share of Instagram ad spend increase more than 10x in just one year.February 19, 2019

Instagram now accounts for almost 1 in 5 (18% of) marketing dollars spent on Facebook’s properties, according to Marin Software’s latest quarterly benchmark report covering client activity in Q4 2018. The image-centered social network has seen... READ MORE

Benefits of 5G Technology Appeal to Consumers And Advertisers AlikeFaster data transfer speeds will improve the smartphone experience even further.

Over the years, mobile technology and data speed have grown faster and more advanced. First, there was 3G followed by 4G, and now the next big thing is on its way — 5G. As 5G makes its way into the market, Verizon has shared insights from both advertisers... READ MORE

In-Person Events Ranked #1 Among B2B Demand Generation TacticsMore than three-quarters list the face-to-face approach as one of their most successful tactics for the top of the funnel.February 15, 2019

Events are proving to be effective in both the early and late stages of B2B demand generation. In fact, according to a Demand Gen Report study, in-person events lead the pack among demand gen tactics for B2B marketers. More than three-quarters (76%) of... READ MORE

What Are The Top Perceived Benefits of Programmatic In-App Ads?Media buyers are enthusiastic about in-app advertising's targeting capabilities, but fraud and viewability concerns persist.

Even though there is evidence that smartphone sales are slowing, that doesn’t appear to be the case for the app economy. In 2017, consumers downloaded 197 billion apps – a figure which is projected to grow to more than 350 billion by 2021,... READ MORE

Retail Marketers Look Favorably on Amazon AdsIt appears that the e-commerce giant is satisfying retailers in their advertising needs more than Google or Facebook are.February 14, 2019

Amazon is giving the duopoly that is Google and Facebook a run for its money when it comes to digital ad spend, though it has plenty of catching up to do. Yet retail advertisers are starting to allocate more of their ad budgets to Amazon, according to a... READ MORE

How Are Adults Using TV Screens?In much the same way as they used to - but YouTube and other entertainment options are also popping up on the box.

While TV devices have often been seen as a form of ‘traditional’ media by marketers, the reality is that some three-quarters of US households have an internet-connected TV. So what are viewers actually using their TV screens for? Analysis by TiVo [download... READ MORE

New Stats: How People Want to Engage with Brands on Social MediaEven with issues of trust hitting the headlines, social media users still value its ability to connect people - and to engage with brands.February 13, 2019

Social media often gets a bad rap, most notably for its contribution to the spread of false information and the misuse of user data. But despite this, even with all the negativity surrounding it, Sprout Social reports [download page] that the majority (91%)... READ MORE

Agencies’ New Business Worries SpikeMore than half of agencies feel that new business will be harder to come by in 2019.

More than half (52%) of both marketers and marketing agencies are expecting to see marketing spend increase somewhat or significantly in 2019. But for marketers, this percentage is lower than last year’s 60%, according to recent survey data [download page]... READ MORE

[Data Report] Research Uncovers 8 Strategies to Drive Consumer Engagement and PurchasesYes Marketing report offers tips to gain a competitive edge amid a changing industry landscape.February 12, 2019

[Sponsored] Yes Marketing surveyed 1,000 consumers to uncover what motivates them to engage with retailers, make purchases, and become loyal. Read this report to understand changing consumer behaviors and learn eight cross-channel strategies retailers can... READ MORE

For Bing and Yahoo, Desktops Produce the Most Paid Search ClicksAround two-thirds of all paid search clicks come through desktop for these search engines - which is a very different picture than for Google.

Total paid search spend grew by 16% year-on-year during the 4th quarter of 2018, according to the latest quarterly report [download page] from Merkle, covering client activity. Even more impressively, the analysis revealed a 42% year-on-year growth in... READ MORE

Valentine’s Day Consumer Spending Forecast to Reach New HighAround half of all US adults are planning to part with their cash in the name of love.

Total consumer spending on Valentine’s Day is expected to reach a new high this year despite fewer people planning to celebrate the holiday, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). Based on its annual survey, the NRF expects consumers to spend a... READ MORE

Who’s Spending Their Money? Some Surprising Answers.They may be young, Gen Z consumers aren't shy about splashing out.February 11, 2019

Marketers put a lot of time, attention, and valuable marketing dollars on targeting Millennials and Gen Z. There are some arguments to be made about how warranted that effort is, given that there’s a generation that has much more money to spend: Baby... READ MORE

How Do High-Growth Professional Services Firms Market Themselves?The secret? In a crowded marketplace, effective differentiation becomes a top priority.

Professional services firms face numerous challenges and threats to their growth, including increased competition, commoditization and a shortage of talent. That being said, Hinge Research Institute found that out of all the professional service firms that... READ MORE

Improving Page Speed Said Urgent, But Not A Top Priority For MarketersA/B testing comes top of the list, followed by refining ad targeting and personalizing web content.February 8, 2019

Page speed matters, particularly in an age where consumers spend two-thirds of their time on mobile devices, and smartphones become the most important shopping tool. But almost half of marketers (46%) aren’t satisfied with how fast their website loads... READ MORE

Inc. 500 Executives Brim With Enthusiasm for Social MediaBut while views are positive, concerns exist beneath the glowing exterior.

When it comes to social media and brand awareness, the Inc. 500 are glowing in their approval: almost all (96%) agree that social media is effective in building brand awareness, with 92% also agreeing that it’s effective in creating relationships with... READ MORE

CEOs: AI Will Have Larger Impact Than the InternetBut in North America, business leaders don't have quite the same strength of opinion.February 7, 2019

The speed of technological change is seen by CEOs as one of the top ten threats to the growth prospects of their organizations, according to PwC in its latest study [download page] of more than 1,300 CEOs. The report also uncovered that, due to skills gaps,... READ MORE

US Video Game Industry Revenues Continue Double-Digit Growth in 2018Total revenues are up by 18% year-over-year - a consistent rate of growth that seems far from slowing down.

The video game industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the United States. It supplies more than 220,000 jobs across all 50 states and video games – whether they be on consoles, computers or mobiles. These impressive stats are among the new... READ MORE

Brand Marketers Look to Excellent Customer Service to Cut Through the NoiseThe fact that social media is the top tactic for influencing buyer behavior may explain this finding.February 6, 2019

For marketers that gain much of their impact through social media, the impacts of algorithm changes can have a significant effect. So much so that close to two-thirds (65.7%) of the respondents to a survey from Bynder and OnBrand Magazine listed this as the... READ MORE

Employers More Trusted Than Business As A WholeWhile some three-quarters of people globally trust their employer, only a little more than half trust business as a whole.

Around the world, people’s trust in key institutions – such as the media and NGOs – is modestly growing, but remains fairly low, according to the latest annual Edelman Trust Barometer [pdf]. The study indicates that actually, people... READ MORE

The State of Email EngagementReturn Path and Demand Metric partnered to study the state of email marketing. Here are some highlights.February 5, 2019

[Sponsored] In December 2018, Return Path and Demand Metric partnered to study the state of email marketing to equip marketers with data and best practices to improve subscriber engagement. Some of the key findings from this study include: Overall email... READ MORE

Email Marketing Priorities Prove Difficult to ExecutePersonalized messaging is considered effective, but it's also among the most difficult techniques to get right.

Given the fact we’ve all seen emails containing our first name, it’s not news that email marketing is the most common channel for personalization. But that doesn’t mean it’s without its challenges. Ascend2’s new survey [download page]... READ MORE

Emerging Market Research Techniques Seeing Higher Levels of AdoptionWhile online communities come out on top, VR has seen a significant rise.

When marketers think of market research, surveys are likely to be the approach that comes first to mind. But the latest Greenbook Industry Trends (GRIT) report illustrates there is a wide and growing toolbox available for researchers with many new emerging... READ MORE

What Are Demand Gen Marketers’ Top Priorities This Year?Improving campaign results ranks as the top demand generation priority for B2B marketers. They're also looking to better measure those results.February 4, 2019

A majority of B2B marketers expect to see their demand generation budget increase in 2019, with some 3 in 10 expecting that their demand gen budget will increase by more than 20%, according to the latest benchmark survey from Demand Gen Report. So, with... READ MORE

Stories Increasingly Becoming A Social Media Marketing Format of ChoiceBut despite widespread consumer adoption, messaging apps have not caught on as strongly for marketers.

Social media marketing continues to prove effective for businesses, as shown in the latest survey of more than 1,800 marketing professionals from Buffer. At least that’s the view of the respondent sample, almost three-quarters (73%) of whom believe... READ MORE

These Are The Most Difficult B2B Marketing Skill Sets to Hire ForData-related skills come top of the list, but aren't necessarily the ones that marketing leaders outsource most often.February 1, 2019

An overwhelming majority (92%) of B2B companies are finding it difficult to hire good marketers. But which skills are hardest to find? As it turns out, marketing analytics is the skill set most difficult to fill, according to the results of a new survey... READ MORE

Amazon Prime Estimated to Hit Subscriber Milestone in the US; Netflix Surges Forward, TooAmazon Prime and Netflix boast large audiences - what are some reasons why?

E-commerce behemoth Amazon is continuing its growth in the subscriptions space, with its streaming service and free shipping netting an even larger recurring revenue base. The number of Amazon Prime subscriptions has recently been estimated [press release]... READ MORE

Consumers’ Expectations of Trust in Brands Grow Rapidly Across IndustriesWith 2018's scandals, it appears consumers have much higher expectations for social networking.January 31, 2019

With continued retail data breaches, the influx of so-called “fake news” and the stunning revelation about Cambridge Analytica, trust is on everybody’s minds. But has this increased consumer expectations? Significantly so, according to a new... READ MORE

Benefits of Marketing Automation Extend Beyond Lead GenerationIt can also improve collaboration between marketing and sales.

Marketing automation is best known for its ability to generate leads for sales, but recent research from CleverTouch [download page] has shown that there are other benefits too – in particular, with helping marketing and sales to work more effectively... READ MORE

New Deck: Top 20 B2B Marketing Charts of 2018Our most popular and insightful B2B charts of 2018, assembled into a deck with commentary.January 30, 2019

From buyer-vendor relationships to demand generation and events, our collection of 2018’s top B2B marketing charts reveals some of the most important trends in buyers’ path to engagement, while also finding that vendors are making advances but... READ MORE

What Factors Drive Attention to Smartphone Ads?It's not only the factors - but the places and times that influence attention...January 29, 2019

Factors such as brand familiarity and interesting creative are equally motivating for individuals to pay attention to advertisements on their smartphones, according to a recent Aki Technologies survey of 1000 US adult consumers. Not too surprisingly, though,... READ MORE

Facebook Users Uncomfortable With Interest CategorizationBut some 3 in 5 also say the interests Facebook comes up with about them are accurate.

Facebook has assigned interest categories to the majority (88%) of users’ ad preference pages, according to a Pew Research survey of more than 950 US adult users of Facebook. However, almost three-quarters (74%) of Facebook users were not aware of this... READ MORE

These Brands Enjoyed the Best Word-of-Mouth in 2018After 5 years of Amazon at the top 5, 2018 brought a new leader.January 28, 2019

Step aside, Amazon. YouGov BrandIndex has released its brand buzz report covering 2018 in the US, and streaming service Netflix has stolen the top spot from Amazon, which previously had a five-year streak at the top of the charts. The study measures the... READ MORE

So What’s the Typical B2B Sales Cycle Length?Hint: it's considerably longer when selling to new customers compared to existing ones.

It’s commonly assumed that generating B2B leads is primarily a marketing responsibility. However, data stretching back to 2014 and published in a new report [download page] from CSO Insights, a division of Miller Heiman Group, illustrates that salespeople... READ MORE

Music Consumption Registers Strong Uptick in 2018, Driven Again by StreamingBoth overall music consumption and on-demand streaming registered double-digit percentage growth in 2018.January 25, 2019

The term “streaming” often evokes video players such as Netflix or Hulu. But streaming has also upended the music industry, with continued growth in on-demand audio and video streams powering a healthy increase in music consumption, according to... READ MORE

Millennials Are Using Smartphones More Than PCs for ShoppingWhile Boomers shop most via PCs, younger consumers prefer smartphones and are also more likely to use tablets.

The younger generation in the US is well above the average when it comes to mobile shopping. While a little more than half (53%) of all shoppers ages 20-72 years have used a smartphone to shop in the past six months, nearly three-quarters (73%) of Generation... READ MORE

TV Viewing Remains a Social ActivityEven with streaming services, almost half of total TV viewing time is done in groups.January 24, 2019

As internet-connected devices proliferate and streaming services grow in popularity, it’s easy to assume that TV viewing has become an individual pastime. But the reality is that just about half (48%) of TV or video total viewing time in the US is... READ MORE

In What Categories Are Online Shoppers Most Apprehensive About Returns?Angst centered on sending items back is prevalent across multiple categories.

Consumers are more comfortable purchasing online if they know there are free returns,according to research [download page] by Radial of more than 2,000 consumers in North America. In fact, half of the shoppers surveyed in the US and Canada would avoid... READ MORE

B2B Tech Marketers Putting Their Budgets, Efforts Behind Demand GenAs B2B tech marketers focus on demand generation, which content types are they prioritizing?January 23, 2019

B2B tech marketers are laser-focused on winning new business, putting this significantly ahead of other priorities and making sure it gets the largest slice of their marketing budgets, per results of the most recent study from Spiceworks. When asked to list... READ MORE

Marketing Automation Use Linked to Better Ability to Prove ROIMarketing automation users are pointing to ROI proof as a key benefit.

Marketing automation has seen heavy adoption by companies worldwide. In a global CleverTouch survey [download page] of some 200 respondents, 8 in 10 report already having marketing automation in place, while the remaining respondents say they are interested... READ MORE

Growth Opportunities Are Driving Digital Transformation InitiativesEvolving customer behaviors are also a key factor, and are making customer journey mapping more important. January 22, 2019

Traditionally, IT has been the main focus of digital transformation efforts. While this still holds true with nearly two-thirds (62%) of companies having IT as the primary sponsor of digital transformation efforts, a new report [download page] from... READ MORE

Men Prove to Be Keen Amazon ShoppersMen also make up a higher proportion of high-frequency offline shoppers.

Men are making more purchases online, reaching parity with women, according to the results of a First Insight report [download page] encompassing two consumer surveys from December 2017 and September 2018. Between 2017 and 2018 the percentage of purchases... READ MORE

Which Factors Are Most Important For Content-Led Campaigns? European Marketers Weigh InAuthenticity and creative execution rank highly for marketers across the pond.January 18, 2019

More than three-quarters (78%) of international advertisers, agency strategists, consultants and media owners (the vast majority of whom are based in Europe) believe that content-led campaigns will continue to grow in the next two years, according to the... READ MORE

Most Executives Report Access to Useful Analytics DataBusiness leaders say their data is often accurate, relevant and up to date - but it's less likely to be complete.

CMOs are still struggling to get the most out of data analytics, but do executives even have access to the right data for their efforts? As it appears, they mostly do across the organization. Three-quarters (76%) of respondents to a recent global survey... READ MORE

Retailers See Many Benefits From Recurring Revenue ProgramsGreater revenue, profitability and customer loyalty are just some of the reasons why subscriptions are so appealing to retailers.January 17, 2019

Marketing leaders typically spend more on acquisition rather than retention, but the results of a recent Ordergroove survey [download page] of more than 150 retail industry professionals may indicate a growing emphasis on winning repeat business: some 83% of... READ MORE