Let’s see what this week’s numbers say about online advertising, shall we?

• A recent study  commissioned by Iterable, conducted by Wakefield Research and published by Ad Age, finds that marketers’ approach to determining ROI from investment into artificial intelligence (AI) doesn’t necessarily depend on financial gain. Amongst other finding, data shows that overall, 91% of marketers surveyed for the report are already using AI in their jobs. Interestingly, although two-thirds (67%) see AI as a transformative tech revolution, not just a tool, only 37% see it as becoming an integral part of their overall skill set as a marketer. That’s despite 7 in 10 indicating that they’re either extremely (28%) or very (42%) concerned that they will have to learn how to use AI to maintain their value as a marketer.
• Social media marketers handle a range of tasks, and roughly half (48%) feel that they sometimes or rarely have enough time to get their work done, according to a report from Sprout Social.  Reports shows, the most time-consuming activity is content creation and approvals, with respondents estimating that they spend 5 hours a week on this. Beyond content creation and approvals, the next-most time consuming task is data analysis and reporting (3.8 hours per week), althoguh they are also spending at least 3-and-a-half hours a week engaging in strategic planning (3.6 hours) and responding to customers (3.5 hours).
• The types of ads that consumers in the US and UK want to see have shifted to some extent in recent years, GWI details in a recently-released study. The report shows a growing desire for ads to provide product information and discounts, while there’s less interest in CSR topics. Among the US and UK consumers ages 16-64 surveyed in October 2023, a leading 55% said that they want ads to give them product information. The report indicates that this represents a 13% hike from February 2021. Next up, close to half (46%) want ads to provide discounts/special offers, with this up by 20% from the earlier period. Close behind, some 45% want ads to be entertaining, with this also up considerably (+18%) from the February 2021 survey.