Monthly trends & insights: December 2015

Being current with available media opportunities, market trends and consumer trends can play a major role in a marketing strategy. This month’s Trends & Insights will focus on a new media opportunity at the Fashion Show mall in Las Vegas, Pandora enhancing their application, green messaging in relation to a brand, markets with heaviest vehicle traffic, TUBI TV introduction and gambling habits of Millennials.

LAS VEGAS MEDIA PARTNER UPDATES

Fashion Show South Entry Plaza Digital

Fashion Show Mall

Fashion Show mall has unveiled a new media opportunity via the south entry above the main door and the south column. These will also be available at the north entrance as well. The plaza digital will have full-motion video and audio. There will also be additional formats available that are to be announced.

NATIONAL MEDIA PARTNER UPDATE

Pandora Will Be Acquiring Ticketfly and Big Sound

By acquiring Ticketfly, Pandora will be able to add event discovery to their arsenal. Nearly 80 million people nationwide use Pandora and it is the single most used app in the world. It anticipates this merger will enable promoters to sell out more shows.

“With its ability to identify and target specific fans, Pandora sold out 55,000 tickets for the recent Rolling Stones tour in 24 hours. The ability to sell tickets for lesser known acts is equally impressive. A Pandora pre-sale for ODESZA (an up-and-coming EDM act) blew through 25,000 tickets, including Ticketfly venues such as the 9:30 Club and Union Transfer, in minutes. Safe to say, Pandora is about to become a major player in ticketing.”

As both Pandora and Ticketfly are deeply data-driven, their recommendations will be improved for fans.

With the acquisition of Next Big Sound, Pandora’s data analytics will be enhanced. The music industry utilizes Next Big Sound to:

  • Quantify the relationship between social media and revenue.
  • Understand the impact of marketing and promotional events such as TV appearances, press interviews and new releases.
  • Drive marketing decisions for artists, managers, agents, publishers, promoters, labels and brands across the global music industry.
  • Deploy prediction algorithms to help identify high-potential artists at the earliest possible stage.

“Next Big Sound gathers social, sales and streaming data into one central platform. Sources include Facebook and Twitter, Wikipedia, artist websites, Spotify, YouTube and iTunes. To put this information into context, event data such as concerts, release dates, television appearances and press mentions are incorporated, as well as the rich demographic data that helps artists become better acquainted with their fan base.”

NATIONAL INDUSTRY UPDATES

H&M Promotes Sustainable Fashion Via Recycled Clothes

H&M is promoting “Together We Can Close The Loop,” a campaign message stating that any unwanted garments can be left in any of its 3,300 stores and be recycled into new clothes. This has opened the door for H&M to publically display its contribution to being socially responsible as well as being green. The company specifically details that recycling one T-shirt can save 2,100 liters of water. By providing one simple fact on its contribution to the enviornment, H&M has engaged messaging to the socially responsible consumer.

Worst Traffic in Cities = Best Out-of-Home Locations

The longer a message is displayed, the greater the chance a message can be received as one moves beyond it. Dwell time is the potential time a passerby may see a message. The average dwell time, according to multiple studies, is seven seconds, but that time will certainly be higher in markets with congested traffic.

The following are the largest markets with the highest annual delays per commuter:

  • Washington, D.C., comes in first with annual delay per auto commuter at 82 hours.
    • While there are no billboards along I-95, I-495 and I-66, there’s plenty of signage to be seen as traffic becomes congested.
  • Los Angeles is infamous for its traffic delays and comes in second at 80 hours yearly delay for commuters.
  • San Francisco/Oakland area comes in at 78 hours yearly delay for commuters.
  • New York is at 74 hours yearly delay for commuters.
    • The city is developing technology that will allow traffic signals to communicate with each other to make traffic more efficient.
  • Boston comes in fifth with 64 hours.
    • The roads are congested for nearly five hours per day.

Other large markets with long delays per commuter include:

  • San Jose at 67 hours annual delay per auto commuter
  • Riverside/San Bernadino at 59 hours annual delay per auto commuter
  • Austin at 52 hours annual delay per auto commuter
    • The city rolled out a $6.5 million project that will allow continuous flow intersections eliminating the light cycles that drivers sit through. Local officials anticipate 30 to 50 percent reduction in travel time.
  • Portland is at 52 hours annual delay per auto commuter
  • Denver annual delay per auto commuter
    • Its traffic is worst on the I-25 and I-70 in the morning and evening. Denver spent more than 91 million hours in rush hour traffic in 2014.

TUBI TV

TUBI TV is a free video application on connected TV devices, mobile and the Web (includes Samsung, Roku, Apple store, Google play, XBOX ONE, Amazon fireTV). TUBI TV will have an expansive TV show and movie selection. This app will be coming to Apple TV in the near future.

It currently has 5.1 million monthly unique users, 57 million monthly streams and 20 million total app installations.

TUBI TV will have standard advertising (pre-roll and mid-roll/skippable) online ads. It will also has “Limited Commercial Interruptions Sponsored by” (sponsored tag opening billboard) options and “First Look” (postion A pod position in each commercial break).

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Exclusive options will include long-form opt-in ads, survey ads and branded canvas ads.

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TUBI TV will also have expansive tracking capabilities.

TUBI TV live is an upcoming feature that will allow sponsorships to be available across the entire platform or within verticals.

Millennials Adopting New Gaming Habits in Casinos

Gambling habits are changing across generations. Millennials are looking to have more exotic electronic games like the ones available to them via mobile devices.

“State revenue from taxing gambling – from casinos, lotteries and racing – has been largely flat since the Great Recession, when adjusted for inflation, according to the Rockefeller Institute, which studies tax revenue.”

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The research shows that casino gamblers are mainly of the elderly population. Millennials are looking for more of a social experience shared with friends and gambling doesn’t resonate as a fun leisure activity. Younger generations are making investments more toward non-gaming amenities compared to their predecessors.

“Only 51 percent said slot machines and video poker were their preferred form of gambling compared to 61 percent of all casino-goers.” When compared to the total population, younger clientele tend to favor crowd-friendly table games, which contribute less revenue than slots. The younger generations are trending to prefer games that have more direction and more choices at decision points.

Fantasy Football entities such as Draft Kings and FanDuel are extremely popular with the younger male audience and allow the wagering of real money. These types of games require decision-making and you have a chance to gain or lose your wagers over the course of the day.

Casinos are beginning to make hybrid games of chance and skill. Gregg Giuffria, CEO of G2 Game Design and former co-owner of Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, reported that his firm had solved the problem of melding a game of chance and skill.

With new hybrid games on the rise, new regulations are passed for these newly developed technologies.

“As the gaming industry seeks to roll out the new hybrid games, states are faced with drafting new regulations to govern them. Nevada passed a law earlier this year calling on the state’s Gaming Commission to develop regulations for hybrid games in casinos. New Jersey approved fantasy sports betting in casinos in 2013.”

Allen Godfrey, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, stated that any trend away from slots would ultimately hurt the state’s revenue from casinos. He said the commission is waiting for the industry to bring examples of the types of hybrid games innovators are talking about before setting any new regulations.

Giuffria noted that casinos around the country will have to integrate the hybrid games, otherwise revenue will continue to decline along with the income states receive that depend on that revenue.

Whether it’s being aware of local media opportunities, understanding the enhancement of an application, boosting your brand’s image or knowing consumer behavior, vigilance is the key.

 

Monthly trends & insights: December 2015 was last modified: December 9th, 2015 by Marc Malloy, Media Planner/Buyer

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