Let’s see what this week’s numbers say about online advertising, shall we?
- According to a study from Integral Ad Science, a hefty majority of US consumers have encountered questionable content or posts in their social media feed that they’d like to avoid, and 1 in 4 have noticed an increasing volume of unsafe content on social media in the past year. The most common type of questionable content that consumers have noticed and want to avoid on social media is misinformation, as cited by 44% of respondents. Another form of questionable content that consumers are looking to avoid is content generated using artificial intelligence (AI) / deepfakes. In fact, this latest survey finds 42% of respondents saying that the emergence of AI-generated content makes them suspicious of the content that appears on their feed. This has implications for brands, as almost half (46%) of the survey’s respondents say that the growth of fake news has made them less trusting of ads on social feeds.
- Companies around the world will use generative artificial intelligence (AI) to produce almost half (48%) of their social media marketing content on average by 2026, up from their current average of 39%, according to a survey report from Capterra. Within the US, the social media marketers surveyed foresee generative AI producing more than half (52%) of their social media content, up from the current 43% estimated average. Respondents across the globe cite increased efficiency as their top benefit of using generative AI for social media marketing. Beyond efficiency gains, the social media marketers identify easier idea generation, increased content production, enhanced creativity, and reduced costs as other key benefits of using generative AI for content marketing. While there are many benefits to generative AI’s use, marketers will need to also confront various challenges. The leading one acknowledged by respondents is maintaining authenticity, as cited by 43% of the participating sample as a top-3 obstacle.
- Humor isn’t used that often in advertising, particularly in digital advertising, where it’s been on the decline, yet it’s largely what consumers want, according to survey results from NCSolutions. Humor ranked ahead of “how to” information (40%), music (37%), authenticity (34%) and the story (33%) in consumers’ eyes. The results recall previous research that found Gen Zers preferring humor and entertainment in ads to explicitly informative ads. Returning to ads, consumers report liking those that are short (52%) and funny (48%) the most, while the top elements that they dislike are those that are too long (55%), that make no sense (49%) and that they see over and over again (46%).
- Some 94% of US agencies recommend that their clients try new media channels, according to past research, and it seems that they’ve taken heed. According to a report from Integral Ad Science, some 85% of marketers have advertised on at least one emerging media channel such as retail media, gaming, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), or digital audio. Retail media (78%) is the leading emerging media channel on which marketers have advertised, followed by VR/AR (71%), digital audio (68%), and gaming (47%). With regards to gaming, recent data shows that its ad revenue growth has slowed, though as an entertainment phenomenon this activity remains hugely popular among youth. Looking ahead, VR is the channel for which the largest proportion (69%) of respondents plan to increase their advertising investments over the next year, followed by retail media (65%) and augmented reality (60%).
