Traditional and Social Media Expected to See Greatest Tariff-Related Ad Spend Cuts

Advertising and consumer spending drive much of the US economy. But in the current century to date, two significant rounds of tariffs in 2002-2003 and 2018-2020 resulted in higher consumer prices and reduced ad spend.

A new report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) finds that 94% of advertisers expect new tariffs to lead to reduced ad spending in 2025, and projects that spend in traditional and social media will see the largest cuts.

Ad spends on CTV, audio, paid search, podcasts and online video are projected to be least affected.

57% of ad execs surveyed said they are "extremely concerned" (57%) or "somewhat concerned" (37%) about tariffs having an adverse impact on ad spend in 2025.

Expected magnitude of ad spend reduction which is expected to peak in mid-2025:

• 6% - 10% (cited by 60% of respondents)
• 11% - 20% (22%)

Adjustments advertisers said they plan to employ in 2025 to address financial constraints imposed by new tariffs include:

• Reducing overall ad spend (45%)
• Increased focus on performance-based campaigns (35%)
• Shift to more measurable digital channels (29%)
• Adjust campaign messaging (28%)
• Negotiate for more flexibility (21%)

Separately, AdAge reports that US ad employment fell by 900 jobs in April - the fifth consecutive month of ad job losses. But there's increasing demand in digital marketing roles.

Social media falling behind Google in sending traffic to publisher sites

A new report from social analytics platform Chartbeat shows that social media's share of traffic sent to news sites has dropped by a third - from 6% in January 2023 to 4% now. Traffic from Facebook is down by more than 40%.

In the same timeframe, traffic from Google Search has held steady at around a 17% share, the share of external traffic (from sites that are neither search nor social) has increased from 16% to 20%, and the traffic share of Google Discover - which offers personalized content recommendations in Google's mobile apps - has increased by 13%.

Panelists at the Online News Association's annual conference last week said that although a really strong SEO game generally translates into success with Google Search, they are still experimenting to see what works in Google Discover. Google recommends using "page titles that capture the essence of the content" but discourages "catering to morbid curiosity, titillation or outrage."

Who besides news publishers is benefiting from Google Discover? Watch for updates.

Google Aims to Increase Reach, Engagement and ROI for Advertisers

That's the message Google SVP & Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler (pictured, above) delivered at Google Marketing Live 2024 this week, while talking about a new AI video tool that facilitates creation of YouTube content.

In the video below, keynote speaker Google VP-GM/Advertising Vidhya Srinivasan went on to say:

"You may have noticed that we already show ads above and below AI overviews. These ads are matched to the user’s search query. We will now start testing, Search and Shopping ads in AI overviews for users in the US What is also new with this is we are going to match these ads not just to the query context, but also to the information within the AI Overviews."

The content of Marketing Live 2024 seemed to focus almost exclusively on B2C marketing and advertising, which as a business owner doing business entirely with other businesses I found disappointing.

What kind of "AI overview" material will Google be serving up for B2B? Stay tuned for updates.

And be sure to enjoy the video.

Visit Williamsburg issues $500K PR RFP

The Williamsburg Tourism Council (WTC) seeks a PR firm to promote its "Visit Williamsburg" destination marketing program for Williamsburg, York County and James City County in Virginia by developing a PR strategy for consumer, trade and business media.

One-year contract budgeted at $500K would begin 1 July 2024, with 4 1-year options.

Goals of this PR effort are to:

• Increase overnight visitation
• Increase destination awareness
• Improve impressions of the destination
• Establish Williamsburg as a premier travel destination
• Increase tax revenue
• Unify the region under the Visit Williamsburg brand
• Improve reporting, analytics and optimization of marketing
• Support international marketing initiatives

Scope of work:

• Execute PR campaigns for consumer, trade and business
• Maintain media lists
• Develop releases, pitches, press kits, media library
• Respond to media requests and inquiries
• Plan and execute media events including annual event in NYC
• Arrange and manage media appointments for WTC staff and industry partners
• Provide in-market PR support
• Work with WTC staff and partners on media plans and goals
• Develop monthly and annual reports
• Attend industry meetings and events

Other fine print of interest:

• In some cases the contractor may choose subcontractors and in other cases the WTC may request the hiring of certain subcontractors.
• Contract will be non-exclusive: WTC reserves the right to contract out to others any of the services included in this contract.

Questions deadline has passed.

Invitations to present will be issued 5 April 2024.

Presentations will be scheduled for 15-19 April 2024.

Proposals are due - mailed or delivered to front desk lobby - by 4 PM EDST 27 March 2024 to:

Lori Ottarson or Designee

Accountant and Procurement Specialist

Williamsburg Tourism Council

421 North Boundary Street

Williamsburg, VA 23185

who is at RFPQuestions@visitwilliamsburg.com and can presumably also provide a copy of the full RFP.

Proposal submissions must include:

• One original hard copy, so marked, signed by an authorized representative of the Offeror on a cover sheet to be provided by WTC per RFP
• One working copy, so marked
• One electronic copy on flash drive in PDF format, labeled on the outside with Offeror's company name
• Everything contained in an envelope or package sealed and identified as specified in the RFP

Question for potential offerors: Is all that doable for a year for $500K?

And go here for more on how Google Ads and SEO will up your tourism game.

Dentsu study finds audio ads get more audience attention than video ads

Tokyo-based ad/PR agency Dentsu this morning reported results of evaluations of the consumer attention-getting ability of audio ads, and comparison to video-ad benchmarks.

Audio channels tested included:

• Radio and podcast ads on Audacy, Cumulus Media and iHeartMedia
• Streaming audio ads on Amazon Music

Attention measurements were made using a proprietary tool from attention technology providers Lumen, which recorded measurements in "average attentive seconds per 1000 ad impressions."

Lumen's measurement technology found for the audio ads studied:

• Mean attentive seconds per thousand impressions of 10,126 seconds, compared with 6,501 seconds for historical Dentsu norms for video ads.
• 41% correct brand recall, vs. 38% Dentsu video norm
• 10% brand choice uplift, vs. 6% for Dentsu video norms
• Music Streaming on Amazon Music (using desktop, mobile and Alexa-enabled devices) drove the brand recall and choice uplift results.

Comment: Dentsu - Japan's largest agency - probably paid a lt of money for this study. But Lumen's website is heavy on material about eye-tracking - likely a meaningful way to measure attention to video - but how do they do ear-tracking? Did they just assume the user was "attentive" for as long as the ad played? Also, the size and composition of the panel of people who were exposed to various ads is an unknown, which always makes me skeptical.