SINGAPORE—Magna Systems has designed, built and completed what is believed to be the first full UHD and IP-based OB truck in Southeast Asia for a Singapore media company.

Magna declined to name the client, which it described as Singapore’s “media network and largest content creator.”

As its existing OB truck neared the end of its life, the media organization wanted a new, technologically advanced truck that was at the cutting edge of outside broadcast and production by leapfrogging into IP workflows, Magna Systems said.

UHD support was a key requirement for the new truck so it could be at the forefront of high-quality production, the company said. The new OB unit would also be required to serve as a test bed for IP workflows to further deepen the organization’s knowledge of SMPTE ST 2110 design and implementation.

Additional requirements included full internal UHD processing; UHD and HD copper and fiber interconnections to reduce cabling and speed up OB deployment; support for remote workflows from afar; and the ability to interface with other OB companies.

The truck also needed to be compatible with campus systems, offer support for seamless integration into an on-site theater, be easy to use and be future-proofed to be expanded for larger events.

To meet these requirements, Magna specified and integrated 20 full UHD cameras (16 wired and four wireless), full internal UHD processing, hybrid HD compatibility for events, full UHD replay and UHD super slow motion.

“It was an honor to deliver this landmark project,” Magna Systems group CEO Matthew Clemesha said. “Our team collaborated closely with the coachbuilder and client to architect the truck from the ground up, including all electrical systems and interior finishes. We handled the technical design, importation, registration and installation and completed full configuration with support from manufacturers and Magna group personnel.”

Magna also helped with training, performed site tests, supported OB events and project-managed and coordinated all aspects of the build with all suppliers and vendors.

The new OB truck is typically used as an external production hub from the National Stadium and other arenas. It was also the main truck used for Singapore’s National Day production earlier this year.

It will also be used for international sporting events, such as the Toyota World Para Swimming Championships, and as a control room for the company’s theater.

More information is available on the company’s website.

Magna is reporting that non-cyclical advertising revenues grew by +9.1% in the fourth quarter of 2023, the strongest quarterly growth in almost two years, bringing full-year 2023 ad market growth to +5.7% and that the ad market will continue to grow in 2024, thanks to an improving macro-economic outlook, strength in the digital media and streaming sectors, and cyclical events like political advertising. 

In its newest estimates, Magna. which is the forecasting and intelligence unit of IPG Mediabrands, anticipates that media owners' U.S. ad revenues will increase by +9.2% to reach $369 billion. That’s nearly one percentage point above the previous forecast (+8.4% in Dec. 2023), Magna said. 

It is also predicting local TV/video ad sales to spike by 26% to $23 billion in 2024, long-form streaming advertising will expand by +13% to hit the $10 billion milestone and that social media advertising will grow by +14% to reach the $80 billion milestone. 

But non-cyclical national TV ad sales (including linear networks and AVOD on premium long-form streaming) will decline by nearly -5% to $44 billion this year, Magna predicted. 

“Several factors led MAGNA to increase its US ad market growth forecast,” explained Vincent Létang, executive vice president Global Market Intelligence and author of the report. “That includes an improved macro-economic outlook with GDP growth raised from 1.7% to 2.4% in the last few months, the momentum of digital media formats: social media, retail media, and streaming. The latter is driven by a strong expansion in the reach and marketing opportunities offered by ad-supported streaming. That leads Magna to raise the non-cyclical growth forecast to +6.7%. We are slightly reducing the forecast for cyclical spending (due to a slowdown in political fund-raising) but, overall, we now expect total media owner ad sales to grow by +9.2% this year (compared to +8.4% in our previous update) to reach $369 billion.”

The new forecast estimates that advertising spend around major cyclical events will drive approx. $10 billion of incremental ad sales as the 2024 election cycle will generate $9 billion of additional ad revenue for media owners (+13% vs the 2020 cycle). This will add 2.5 percentage points to the non-cyclical growth rate, bringing total revenue growth from +6.7% (non-cyclical ad sales) to +9.2% (total ad sales). The impact will be even greater for some media categories like Local TV (excluding political -4%, including political +26%), Magna reported. 

Digital pure players will capture most of the market growth in 2024, with non-cyclical advertising sales growing by +12% to $261 billion (a 72% market share) while the advertising revenues of traditional media owners will grow by just +3.5% (as the influx of cyclical dollars offsets a -3% decline in non-cyclical ad sales), Magna reported. 

Several media channels will outperform in 2024, Magna said. 

Premium long-form streaming (CTV, AVOD, FAST) will expand ad sales by +13% this year, driven by the introduction of advertising on Amazon Prime Video, to reach the $10 billion milestone (22% of total national TV). Social Media advertising will also grow by +13% while the ad sales of Search/Retail formats will grow by +12%, Magna predicted. 

Non-cyclical national TV ad sales (including linear networks and AVOD on premium long-form streaming) will decline by nearly -5% to $44 billion this year, as the growth in streaming ad sales (+13%) will not fully offset the continued decline of linear ad sales (-9%). Linear TV continues to struggle from eroding reach and poor ratings. 

Premium long form streaming ad sales will reach the $10 billion milestone, or nearly a quarter of total national TV ad sales (22% of $44 billion), further boosted by the launch of advertising on Amazon Prime Video in January, the forecast noted. 

Magna is forecasting that Amazon Prime will generate approx. 2.6 billion viewing hours per quarter in 2024, of which the bulk will be ad-supported from February onwards. That alone will expand the volume of streaming ad impressions by at least 8% in 2024. With the introduction of advertising on Amazon Prime Video, all the leading streaming platforms except AppleTV+ are now offering an ad-supported tier.

Elsewhere, local TV/video ad sales will increase by +26% to $23 billion this year thanks to the election cycle, more than offsetting a drop in -3.5% in non-political sales, hit by a slowdown in the Automotive vertical.

The report noted an improved economic outlook with macro-economists more optimistic about the economy in 2024 than they were a few months ago. In the Philadelphia Fed’s latest report, released in February, economists increased 2024 real GDP growth expectations from +1.7% (November update) to +2.4%. In fact, the economic consensus on 2024 GDP growth has now increased in the last three updates, from a mere +1% back in May 2023. Other macro indicators are generally encouraging too, the report argued. 

Economists expect consumer price inflation to slow down to 2.5% (incl. food & energy) from 9% mid-2022 and still 3% and 4% in January and February. Slower inflation contributed to a significant improvement in consumer sentiment in the last three months. The University of Michigan index stood at 77 in March 2024, compared to 50 in mid-2022 (when inflation peaked) and only 61 in November 2023.

A 11-minutes video presentation of this research is available here. The next Magna Ad Forecasts (US and Global) will be published in June 2024. 

NEW YORK—Magna has become the latest major media agency to reduce its 2023 ad estimates with a revised forecast that overall U.S. video advertising will decline in 2023 by 7.9% (compared to a previous estimate of a 5.2% drop). 

Magna also trimmed its 2023 forecast for national TV networks (down 7.7% compared to an earlier 6.8% decline) and local TV (down whopping 22.4%, slightly worse than the 21.4% previously predicted decline). 

AVOD and CTV advertising in the U.S. will grow by 7.2% in 2023 but that represents a significant cut from the previously predicted 21.2% increase. 

Overall the total ad spend for video is now expected to hit $84.0 billion in 2023 in the U.S. while long form video will hit $46.7 (down 5.3% from 2022), followed by national TV networks ($38.3 billion in 2023), local TV ($18.4 billion) and AVOD/CTV ($8.5 billion). 

Magna is still predicting growth for 2024, with total video advertising expected to be up by 7.2%, long form video up 0.2%, AVOD/CTV up 14.3% and local TV up 22.4%. National TV, however, is expected to decline by 2.9% in 2024. 

More data and the full global forecast is available here.  

RESTON, Va.—Comscore has announced an expanded relationship with Magna, the  investment and intelligence company of IPG Mediabrands, that will see Magna use Comscore’s local television ratings data to inform TV buys across the organization. 

This agreement comes in the wake of IPG’s previous announcement that it will assess alternative national television currencies. Comscore is the only alternative ratings service  that will be utilized for local television, the companies said. 

“At Magna, our continued ability to excel at data-driven planning and buying requires the adoption of  new datasets, including those that support key initiatives such as shifting towards high value audiences  that are proven to be effective in influencing consumer behaviors,” said Joe Cerone, executive vice president of local investment at Magna. “Comscore’s massive, stable dataset supports the innovation we hope to bring to  our local planning and buying efforts in the coming years, and we are excited to join them at the forefront  of this critical turning point in local television.”  

Beginning in Q2 of 2023, Magna’s local television planning and buying teams will be able to tap into  Comscore’s local TV impressions and ratings data, adding an additional layer of precision to planning and  buying efforts in all 210 local markets, the companies reported. 

Magna and Comscore also plan to incorporate advanced audiences into local media buys via the  Comscore television dataset, enabling local buying to be conducted on more efficient and effective audience types.  

“The evolution of the Comscore/Magna partnership is a testament to Comscore’s leadership position in  TV data and measurement, and Magna’s continued commitment to being at the forefront of media  investment,” said Jon Carpenter, CEO, Comscore. “To innovate for the future, media  buyers require stable, transaction ready datasets and are turning increasingly to Comscore for inclusive,  data-driven media buying and targeting efforts.” 

An established leader in local TV measurement, the expanded partnership comes as Comscore recently announced the expansion of its “Pulse” solution, which delivers greater speed, transparency and confidence to those planning, buying and evaluating media at the national and local levels across any or  all 210 local U.S. media markets. 

Available via Comscore's product offering, API feed and third-party  processors, Pulse offers the enhanced ability to optimize campaigns with data that provides more than  90% predictability. 

NEW YORK—New forecasts from media agency Magna are predicting that long form video advertising will be down by 9.1% in 2023 while OTT streaming (AVOD and FAST channel) spending will climb by 21.2%.  

In contrast, after record political spending in 2022, the local TV ad spend will plummet by 21.4% and national TV will slip by 6.7%. The declines for national TV ad spending were slightly higher than the earlier 6.3% forecasted drop while the forecast for local TV was slightly better than the 22.9% drop previously predicted.

Overall cross platform video would decline by 5.2%, a worse outlook than the previously forecast 4.4% decline. 

Magna reported that U.S. media owners advertising revenues grew by a decent 6% in 2022 (excluding cyclical ad spend) to reach $315 billion and that the ad spend slowed down significantly through the second half, with fourth quarter ad sales flat year-over-year.

Looking at 2023, there are mixed economic signals (slow but continued GDP growth, receding inflation, resilient job market) while financial turbulence is generating anxiety among consumers and businesses, Magna reported. 

“In a similar economic climate, ten or twenty years ago, the U.S. advertising market would almost certainly fall off a cliff,” explained Vincent Létang, executive vice president, global market research at MAGNA, and author of the report. “Things are different in 2023 because of media innovation fueling marketing demand. The organic drivers that boosted the ad market in 2021 and the first half of 2022 are still around and mitigating the impact of stressful economic signals. Such organic drivers include the rise of retail media networks which are redirecting billions of marketing budgets dollars into advertising formats. In addition, with long-form OTT streaming going mainstream and increasingly ad-supported, brands finally find cost-effective solutions to reconnect with audiences that had become hard and expensive to reach through linear television. These are some of the reasons why advertising spending continued to grow in the second half of 2022, despite economic uncertainty, war, inflation, and very high growth comps. For the same reasons, MAGNA expects advertising activity to continue to grow, albeit at a slower pace, in 2023. An additional growth factor for 2023 is the recovery of the automotive market, a top five vertical for most media types in America”.

NEW YORK—There are more effective ways to advertise on television than the traditional :30 spot when it comes to key performance indicators (KPIs) such as creating a desire to purchase or learn more about a product as well as actually watching an ad rather than turning away.

Those are among the key takeaways of a new study released today from Magna Media Trials and Roku. Study findings, presented in the “Beyond the :30 on Streaming TV” report, are based on a panel of more than 1,000 streaming television viewers.

Respondents were asked to react to three new video ad formats: a 30-second thematic animated tagged vignette in which a brand celebrates streaming; a 30-second ad in which a brand makes reference to a Roku Original show being streamed; and Watch Alongs, an ad break in which a brand sponsors discussion of the show or movie being streamed.

The three new ad formats outperformed traditional TV ads for top of mind brand recall, an increase of 57% vs 43%; brand favorability, 8% vs 3%; and intent to search, 16% vs. 9%. Intent to purchase also outperformed traditional TV ads. For instance as related to tagged vignettes sponsoring original content, intent to purchase saw a 233% lift compared to traditional ads, the report said.

Roku original tagged vignettes had the greatest impact on brand KPIs when sponsored content naturally aligned with the viewership of the target audience. Regular viewers of a sponsor show saw a 266% lift compared to non-regular show viewers with regard to connecting with the advertised brand; a 100% lift in terms of brand preference; and a 180% lift in intent to purchase, it said.

The study found Watch Alongs to be nearly twice as effective at breaking though with viewers, an increase of 66% in top-of-mind ad recall vs. 39%. They also registered a 40% lift over traditional TV ads when it came to purchase intent, it said.

“In the current advertising environment, it is important to recognize that viewers can easily skip over advertising, but our study found they are less likely to do so if the ads are as entertaining as the programming and present a more enjoyable experience,” said Kara Manatt, executive vice president and managing director of intelligence solutions at Magna. “One of the most memorable formats for viewers is Watch Alongs, likely because the advertiser is offering the viewer added value to the show they are watching.”

A total of 1,316 viewers were divided into randomized exposed and control groups. The research involved multiple brands, including T-Mobile and Subaru, representing different verticals. Respondents watched content of their choice interspersed with streaming-specific and traditional TV advertising. They were then asked to assess the impact of the ads on brand KPIs.

The report is available online. 

NEW YORK—The ongoing economic slowdown and the lack of major cyclical events like the midterm elections has prompted Magna to reduce its overall forecasts for U.S. advertising in 2023 and to predict a 7.5% drop in long-form video advertising.  

For 2023, Magna is predicting a heft 32.7% increase in AVOD, OTT and CTV advertising in the U.S. But that won’t overcome an eye watering 22.1% slump in local TV advertising, which has been buoyed in 2022 by record levels of political advertising, and a 5.8% drop in national linear TV. 

For all advertising, Magna has reduced its growth forecast to +4.8% for 2023 from +5.8% in the previous report.

“Following a strong first half, non-cyclical advertising spending is slowing down as several industries are facing an uncertain economic environment,” explained Vincent Létang, executive vice president of Global Market Intelligence at MAGNA and author of the report. “There are several growth factors that will help stabilize media owner ad revenues in coming months, however. In the short-term (2H22) cyclical factors: Billions of ad dollars will be spent by political campaigns in TV, direct mail, and digital media. In the mid-term (2023) there will be multiple organic growth factors, driven by marketing technology innovation: Retail media networks bringing below-the-line marketing budgets into digital media, programmatic spending in digital audio and digital OOH formats, and the expansion of AVOD and CTV advertising with new ad-supported tiers from Disney+ and Netflix.”

 Magna reported that long-form video advertising increased by 6.0% in the first half of 2022 compared to very strong results in the first half of 2022 and that the sector should be up by 6% for all of 2022. 

Local TV will be up 22% for the year while national linear TV advertising will be down 3.2% for all of 2022 compared to 2021. 

National AVOD, OTT and CTV advertising will be up by 22% for 2022 compared to 2020. 

Based on record fund-raising year-to-date, Magna is predicting that political advertising spending will grow by +63% over the previous mid-term cycle (2018) and generate $7.3 billion in incremental advertising revenue for media owners, with 70% of it concentrated in the second half. 

Local television will attract almost two-thirds of that total, as political ad sales will account for 25% of total local TV ad revenue this year (and more for stations in “battleground” markets), the researchers said. 

Digital media formats will receive $1.3 billion from political campaigns, with sales up between +150% and +200% for search, digital video, and social formats.

With a strong first half and political advertising mitigating the slowdown in the second half, Magna also expects full-year, all-media advertising revenues to surpass the $300 billion mark for the first time and reach $323 billion this year. That represents an increase of $29 billion over 2021 (+9.8%), with non-cyclical underlying growth at +8.1%.

Other key findings in the new Magna ad data and a forecast include: 

• In the wake of a historically strong 2021, U.S. media owner’s advertising revenues grew by +11% to $151 billion in the first half of 2022, based on financial reports.
• Media channel performance varied greatly in the first half with strong revenue growth in out-of-home (+30%), and robust growth in keyword formats (search, retail media) (+19%), contrasted against stagnation in social media (+3%).
• The weaker economic environment will cause several industry verticals to reduce ad spend in the second half, but stronger-than-expected political spending will mitigate the impact on revenues of media owners.
• Full-year media owner revenues will thus cross the $300bn market for the first time, to reach $323bn. That’s +9.8% above 2021 levels (+8.1% if we only consider non-cyclical ad spend and exclude political dollars).
• For 2023, the continued economic slowdown and the lack of major cyclical events led Magna to reduce its growth forecast to +4.8% from +5.8% in the previous report.
• Magna expects Entertainment (Movies, Streaming), Travel and Betting to grow advertising spending next year, possibly joined by Automotive as the car market finally stabilizes.
• Keyword search formats (+13%) and OOH (+8%) will continue to outperform, while long-form AVOD spending will be driven by the addition of ad-supported tiers from Disney+ and Netflix (+33%).

SYDNEY—Foxtel and Magna Systems and Engineering have deployed an IP monitoring solution from TAG Video Systems that the companies are calling the largest solution of its kind in the southern hemisphere and one of the top ten globally. 

In 2020 Foxtel started a project to exit an aging television center facility at Macquarie Park. The plan involved migrating their entire technology platform across two sites in Sydney to an all-IP platform encompassing video routing, satellite, OTT and more. 

After more than 12 months of market research, testing and trialing various vendor IP monitoring solutions, Foxtel chose a solution from TAG Video Systems for all their IP monitoring requirements. 

This TAG monitoring solution, supplied by Magna Systems & Engineering, is the largest solution of its kind in the southern hemisphere and in the top ten solutions of its kind globally, the companies said. 

Foxtel head of broadcast engineering and projects, Matthew Carter, explained that “We wanted to be able to not only view pictures on monitors but provide a real time probe of those signals across the full workflow to provide a full end-to-end view of the video workflow across all formats and encoding types. The TAG solution does all of this and more.”

Starting with an RFI in 2020, progressing to an extensive RFP in 2021 and followed by a POC, the TAG solution ticked all the boxes for Foxtel’s new multiviewing and monitoring for all of their IP sources across multiple sites, the companies said. 

The TAG solution is now monitoring over 2,000 sources across multiple sites with all types of IP signals including uncompressed HD and UHD, compressed HD and UHD, OTT - HLS, CMAF and DASH including DRM, NDI and any combination of these signals can be monitored on just one server. TAG is also a software solution running entirely on COTS hardware.

When the RFP was concluded Foxtel also opted for the latest DELL R650 server with dual ConnectX6 200GE cards. Each server is capable of monitoring up to 128 uncompressed SMPTE ST2110 HD inputs with -7 seamless switching protection.

“We specifically purchased the TAG IP monitoring solution for its ability to decode and monitor across multi-formatsa,” Carter said. “It is still the only tool out there that can do this within the same appliance at scale. We were also very impressed with Magna who supported us from start to finish. They understood our requirements and worked closely with my team to provide the solution that fitted our needs. Magna have been on hand all along the way to help with any issues and to work with TAG on any request we have had.”

The new TAG IP solution is used across the entire Foxtel platform, from the ingest of the signal from playout or third parties, pre-compression and post compression. It is also used across multiple departments including MCR, Presentation and Foxtel’s Service Assurance teams across two sites under one control environment.  

“With the introduction of the MCS controller management, control of the TAG platform has become much simpler,” Carter continued. “At the beginning of the journey this tool wasn’t even a reality to the customer but working closely alongside TAG and Magna we have helped shape the product and continue to do so.”

A great example is how Foxtel uses the TAG solution comes in the form of the monitoring of their event-based OTT streams. Using the fully open API Foxtel have integrated this into their resource scheduling platform to provide operators with verification of customer delivery. Foxtel’s automation system, in turn, then supplies TAG with the necessary CDN details associated with an event to start decoding and probing. This now means that the once cumbersome workflows of checking a physical device for the event start are no longer required as there is now a continued monitoring of the stream from start to finish, the companies said. 

"When Foxtel and Magna approached TAG with this ambitious and forward-looking project, they presented a very clear challenge,” vice president of sales at TAG Video Systems, Adi Itzhaki, said. “Beyond transitioning to all IP, Foxtel needed to monitor multiple workflows and formats across multiple sites at high scale. TAG's MCM is the perfect fit for these requirements with deep realtime monitoring across the entire chain along with the MCS control and analysis layer. With TAG and Magna, Foxtel managed to get a single point view of their workflow, while staying agile and aligning delivery to their evolving business requirements.”

“TAG are the market leaders in the IP monitoring space," Carter added. "There is very little out there that can do what the TAG does on the same hardware, such as decoding multiformat streams all on one appliance. Using the TAG IP solution gives Foxtel an edge as it is a software-based solution so we can move away from dedicated hardware that become a technical debt over time. As improvements are made in OTS hardware Foxtel, TAG and Magna will move with them. The other edge we have is down to our long working relationship with Magna and in turn, Magna’s excellent relationship with TAG. It is these key relationships that enable us to work so closely with them and makes this a true partnership.”

NEW YORK—Responding to the economic uncertainty caused by supply chain issues, inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Magna has reduced its forecasts for growth in U.S. advertising by one percentage point from 12.6% growth to 11.5%.

Even with the downward revision. media owners will see U.S. advertising revenues grow by +11.5% to reach $320 billion, passing the $300 billion milestone for the first time in 2022,  Magna predicts. 

The company also released its final 2021 ad estimates showing that U.S. advertising revenues grew by a record 25% to reach $287 billion. As expected, the pace of growth continued to slow in the fourth quarter, which was up 14% YoY compared to +26% in 3Q21 and +46% in 2Q. All media types benefited from the strong economic environment and spending recovery, notably Search (+42%), Social (+36%), Audio (+24%) and Video (+12%).

For 2022, the geopolitical crisis prompted Magna to anticipate lower-than-expected economic activity, continued supply issues and protracted inflation.

On the other hand, organic growth drivers remain strong and Mid-Term elections will bring $6.2 billion in incremental ad revenues (+41% vs 2018 cycle), Magna reported.

National TV ad revenues (cross-platform national long-form video) will stabilize around -1% (traditional ad sales -5%, AVOD/OTT/CTV +27%), Magna is predicting. 

Local TV ad revenues (cross-platform local long-form video) will grow by +16% in 2022, thanks to record political spending and despite the continued weakness of one key vertical, car dealers.

Magna is forecasting that Technology, Telecoms, Entertainment, Travel and Betting are among the industries expected to grow advertising spending the most, while Automotive continues to struggle with supply issues.

Most media types will grow advertising revenues including: Search (+17%), Social (+16%), OOH (+11%) and Cross-Platform Video (+8%).

“The Ukraine crisis has already hit consumer and business confidence,” explained Vincent Létang, executive vice president Global Market Intelligence at Magna and author of the report. “It will slow down economic growth in 2022 and fuel the inflationary trend. It is too early to assess the depth and length of economic repercussions, but Magna believes the U.S. economy is strong enough to weather this new challenge. Looking at marketing and advertising, the macro-economic headwind will be mitigated by continued organic drivers (innovation, emerging verticals, ecommerce) and stronger-than-expected political fundraising (leading to at least six billion dollars in incremental ad spend). Balancing all factors, Magna reduces its 2022 advertising revenue growth forecast by one percentage point, as media owners’ ad revenues will grow by +11% this year to pass the $300 billion milestone for the first time.”

Before the invasion of Ukraine and the geopolitical crisis it triggered, the 2022 forecast consensus was another year of robust economic growth in the U.S. with 3.7% growth for real GDP. Economists predicted a mild slowdown in economic activity, compared with the v-shaped recovery of 2021 (GDP +5.5%), with the main economic indicators remaining above the pre-COVID long-term averages, while inflation would gradually slowdown from the 2021 spike as supply chain issues would fade away, Magna said. 

However, since the war broke in Ukraine, uncertainty and volatility have come back. The stock market was hit; oil prices grew from $90 to $130 before stabilizing – for now – around $110; regular gas averaged $4.30 a gallon on 03/14 compared to $3.50 mid-February and $2.80 in March 2021. The economic sanctions against Russia will also hurt the global economy and rekindle the global supply crisis. Pre-Ukraine, U.S. consumer inflation was expected to slow from 7% in 2021 (headline CPI inflation) to +3.8% this year, but now prices, costs and wages are likely to stay inflationary (5% to 7%) for at least one more year, Magna is predicting.  

As for economic activity, Magna said that economists have already revised their 2022 GDP growth expectations downward between half a point and a full percentage point. Goldman Sachs, for instance, revised its forecast from +2.9% pre-Ukraine to +2.1% in early March. The combination of higher inflation, stock market volatility and economic uncertainty already hit consumer confidence, which fell to index 59.7 in early March, its lowest level in more than ten years (lower than any point into the COVID crisis).

Despite the geopolitical crisis and stress on energy markets, the U.S. economy’s fundamentals remain strong for now, with low unemployment, stronger savings than pre-COVID, and consumer mobility expected to resume its recovery as we emerge from the Omicron wave of January 2022, Magna said. 

The major cyclical driver in 2022 will be the November elections. With $5.7 billion already raised by February according to the Federal Election Commission (+72% vs 2018 at the same stage), Magna now expects incremental advertising revenues generated by political campaigns to reach $6.2 billion for media owners for the entire cycle. This would represent an increase of +41% vs the previous mid-term cycle in 2018 (the previous forecast was +31%). Local television may get $4.2bn (+26% vs 2018), Direct Mail $600 million, and Digital Media formats close to $1.5 billion.

In addition to political spending, ballot measures will bring millions of dollars into local and digital media. Already 77 statewide ballot measures are scheduled for the November election, on various topics including abortion, marijuana, sports betting, environment and voting rights, Magna reported. 

NEW YORK—In a major step towards bringing a new cross-platform measurement system to the market, Nielsen has announced that it will be showcasing the Nielsen One cross-platform measurement solution at CES 2022 in Las Vegas and that the first iteration of the system is being used by Disney, Magna and several other participants. 

The news comes after a year of challenges to Nielsen’s position as the dominant television measurement provider, with the Media Rating Council removing accreditation, broadcasters complaining about uncounted viewers during the pandemic, and programmers demanding better cross-platform measurement. 

"All our hard work this past year has positioned us to take this significant step in fundamentally changing the game and providing the industry with what it wants, needs and deserves," said Karthik Rao, chief operating officer, Nielsen. "We are on track to deliver our single cross-platform measurement solution in the fourth quarter of 2022, as planned and in a manner that will support the $100 billion video advertising ecosystem. The Alpha launch serves as a clear proof point in our ability to deliver and we are working closely with a diverse group of clients on this important step. In fact, Nielsen One will bring together all the intelligence we have to date in order to help clients capitalize on consumers' rapidly shifting media habits."

Disney and MAGNA  and several agencies, advertisers and publishers are Nielsen One Alpha, participants from both the buy and sell sides of the industry, the company said. 

Alpha is the first iteration of Nielsen One, which will continue to evolve with new feature additions, enhancements, and model improvements leading up to the launch of Nielsen One in the fourth quarter of 2022, Nielsen said. 

"There's a critical need for the evolution of measurement to truly reflect audiences and engagement, and Disney is uniquely positioned to help define and develop that roadmap," said Julie DeTraglia, head of research, insights and analytics, Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution. "We are pleased to join the Nielsen One Alpha program to ensure it accurately creates a holistic view of ad performance and content viewership for the industry."

Nielsen One Alpha will be specific to ad campaigns, unveiling the first cross-platform measurement system of its kind that offers both comparability and audience deduplication across all screens (linear TV, connected TV, computer and mobile), Nielsen said. 

This will give media buyers and sellers for the first time the most holistic view of their ads across consumer delivery systems and platforms in a harmonized and holistic manner, Nielsen reported. 

The deduplicated ad measurement metrics offer age and gender information.

"We are pleased to be working with Nielsen to provide insight and feedback regarding Nielsen One and ensure it delivers on its promise of being a truly holistic cross-screen measurement solution," said Brian Hughes, executive vice president and managing director, Audience Intelligence & Strategy, Magna.

Nielsen will continue to release major enhancements to Nielsen One, leading up to its December 2022 launch, aimed at expanding its coverage, delivering comparability across linear TV and digital and strengthening the quality and usability of its data solutions, Nielsen said. 

NEW YORK—Improved economic conditions, which boosted the total U.S. ad spend by 31.8% in the first half of 2021, have prompted Magna to revise upwards their U.S. ad forecasts, with a new prediction that total advertising will climb by 23.2% to $277.6 billion for 2021 and that video advertising on TV, OTT and digital will see a 11.4% increase to $75.7 billion for 2021. 

In the video sector, the fastest growing areas will be connected TVs and OTT (expected to grow 34% to $5.4 billion in 2021) and digital video (up 45.8% to $12.4 billion). 

But national broadcast and cable spending will see a healthy increase of 7.4% to $40.0 billion and local broadcast and cable will increase by 17.9% to $17.4 billion in 2021 if exceptional items like spending for elections and the Olympics are excluded. 

Otherwise local broadcast and cable would see a 4.7% decline. 

Social media was another bright spot in the advertising forecast, with a projected 36% increase to $58.8 billion in 2021. 

Vincent Letang, executive vice president of Global Market Intelligence at MAGNA noted that “the unprecedented growth in advertising spending in the first half (+32%) was more than low comps due to the COVID lockdown and recession last year. It was caused by a unique combination of national brands reconnecting with consumers and competing for a limited amount of traditional media inventory, while the lasting changes of COVID on lifestyles and marketing methods continue to fuel huge digital advertising spending from both big brands and small businesses. These ongoing organic growth engines, combined with Olympic budgets and the Mid-Term election spending, will continue to generate double-digit spending growth in the second half and into 2022.

NEW YORK—Though performing better than initially expected in 2020, the national TV advertising revenue for the U.S. is expected to see a jump of 4.6% in 2021, according to a new report by Magna Global. Helping to drive this growth is the rollout of vaccines and the return of delayed cyclical events, including the Tokyo Olympics.

The U.S. economy, while still worse than the 2009 recession (-2.5%), actually fared better in 2020—contracting by -3.5%—than had been initially expected (-5.5%) in May. Media revenues helped in this regard, as linear and digital total advertising revenues fell by just a combined 1% in 2020, representing a loss of $221 billion, a milder decrease than expected.

Digital was the primary factor, growing 10% from its 2019 numbers, thanks in large part to political spending. Linear advertising sales saw a decrease of 16%, equating to $81 billion. National TV linear ad sales decreased 11%, while local TV only by 3%, though Magna says it would have been significantly more without political ad spending.

If vaccinations occur as expected and major cyclical events like the Olympics return, Magna projects that the U.S. national TV ad revenue will increase by 4.6%—the Olympics will account for $800 million in ad sales, per Magna.

Local TV, however, is not expected to fare as well. With the absence of political spending, Magna estimates that local TV ad revenue will drop 20.4%; excluding political advertising, 2021 is still estimated to be 3.7% lower than in 2020.

Overall, traditional linear advertising revenues (including print, radio, out-of-home, cinema and direct mail) is expected to decrease -2.8% in 2021. Digital, meanwhile, is projected to keep growing by 8% overall, while online video is forecasted to increase 11.8%.

“Back in the spring, Magna predicted that digital media organic growth factors would drive digital to grow despite the COVID recession (+1% globally, +3% in the U.S.),” said Vincent Létang, executive vice president, Global Market Intelligence at Magna. “It turns out digital media resilience was even stronger than expected (+8% globally, +10% in the U.S.) and possibly because of the changes brought by COVID. The pandemic triggered a tremendous acceleration in both supply (digital media usage and audiences, ecommerce) and demand: small businesses embracing digital media to keep their business alive during lockdowns, big brands pivoting towards lower-funnel marketing channels as they typically do in recession times. Magna believes the return of consumer mobility, major events and economic recovery will prompt most industry verticals to grow their linear advertising budgets in 2021, but the long-term trajectory has shifted even further towards a digital-centric marketing environment for years to come. 

The full Magna report is available online.

NEW YORK—National TV advertising is expected to see a 13.2% decrease in the U.S. market for 2020, with the coronavirus shutdown outweighing the typical gains that political ads generate in an election year, according to a new report from investment and media intelligence resource MAGNA.

MAGNA projects that linear advertising sales—which encompasses linear TV, radio, print and OOH—will see a net loss of 13%, equating to about $83 billion. MAGNA says without political ad revenues ($4 billion), the decline would have come out to -17%.

While linear TV saw a surge in viewing for the first few months of the quarantine, the loss of sports and the greater economic impact on national and local businesses limited the amount of advertising revenue for that period. Now, TV viewership habits are reverting back to their pre-COVID numbers as social distancing restrictions are beginning to ease.

Local TV ad revenue is also slated to see a decline, though at -2.4%.

The recovery between national and local advertising is expected to differ vastly, per MAGNA. National TV is forecasted to see a 4.3% increase year-over-year in 2021, but local TV—with no election helping to boost sales—could see a decline 14.5% year-over-year.

“Many industries face significant economic headwinds and have been forced to cut considerable amounts of spend as a result,” the report reads. “The travel, entertainment, automotive and restaurant industries will be among the most affected, and MAGNA expects each of those industries to reduce linear advertising spend by -25% or more on a full year basis.”

Digital is among the advertising formats that has remained resilient during these times, directly benefiting from increased consumption habits. MAGNA expects for ad spend on digital formats—search, video, social, banners, digital audio—to stabilize in the summer and recover in the second half of 2020 to the point of stability or even some modest growth year-over-year (2%). Digital video is expected to see the most growth at 10%.

Overall, across all platforms, U.S. advertising revenue is projected to decline 4.3% in 2020 and then recover in 2021 with a 4% growth, according to MAGNA.

MAGNA also shared data for global advertising revenue, with linear TV ad revenues shrinking by 12%, and the entire range of global advertising revenues decreasing an estimated 7%.

For more information, the full report is available on MAGNA’s website. 

NEW YORK—Digital ad formats have matured to the point that they now represent 51% of all global ad sales, according to Magna’s Global Advertising Forecasts. This milestone will be passed in 2019, as the rate of traditional linear advertising sales (broadcast TV and radio, newspaper and magazine ad pages, out of home) declines by 3% to $290 billion worldwide.

The fastest growing regions are Asia Pacific and Latin America, and the bulk of digital advertising growth will come from ad impressions and links on mobile devices, mostly smartphones, Magna said. The growth of digital advertising is “slowing” to an annual 14% increase in 2019, reaching $304 billion globally due to the near saturation of digital media penetration, Magna added.

The slowdown in growth for 2019 also is due to the “odd-numbered-year” trend in media events (i.e. no U.S. elections or Olympics), according to Magna.

“Global ad spend continues to grow as the economy remains strong in key markets, but two factors are slowing down the growth rates in 2019: one is cyclical (the lack of major events in 2019, following a record year in 2018), while the other is structural: digital ad formats maturing (from 19% in 2018 to 14% this year) as they now account for more than half to total advertising sales. However, product innovation (smart homes, cloud services, OTT, 5G) and marketing innovation (direct-to-consumer brands) will continue to drive ad spend growth this year and next.

Traditional TV’s take will decrease this year by 2% to $175 billion worldwide, but the return of even year events in 2020 will help re-accelerate advertising growth in the U.S. by 5.8% to $233 billion, Magna said. In the U.S., national television’s linear advertising sales will decrease by 3% to $41 billion in 2019.

Television linear advertising is being helped along by the emergence of more “direct to consumer” brands (like Uber and AirBNB), which Magna predicts will grow 40% “from a relatively low base.”

“These brands are particularly attractive to television vendors as they come to the TV market with little leverage and are willing to much higher rates than CPG brands that have been on TV for 50 years and have the scale to negotiate sub-market cost inflation,” Magna said.

In the U.S., media owners’ net advertising sales (NAR) grew by 3% this year to reach $220 billion, an increase of $6 billion and a new all-time high, according to Magna.