79% of U.S. households now own a smart TV
There’s likely no greater indicator of streaming’s dominance than the rise of the smart TV. New data on the device’s presence in U.S. households puts a finer point on the matter. According to Hub Entertainment Research, 79% of U.S. homes now own a smart TV. That’s a sharp increase from just four years ago, in 2020, when 66% of American households surveyed checked that box. With more Americans increasingly ditching cable for streaming, the friction-free perk of having a TV with built-in streaming services has grown ever more appealing, Hub’s numbers suggest. The upward trend spiked 10 percentage points from 2020 to 2022, when ownership rose to 70% in 2021 then 76% in 2022, which coincides with the launch of streaming services such as Apple TV+, Disney+ and Peacock. Read more from The Current.
U.S. ad market expands for 13th month in April
The U.S. ad market expanded for its 13th consecutive month in April, rising 9.1% over the same month in 2023, according to the latest installment of data from Guideline’s U.S. Ad Market Tracker. April also in the first month in quite some time to post an increase on top of a prior year increase, albeit a modest one: April 2023 was up 0.7% over April 2022. That said, the data indicates the U.S. ad market is well past its recessionary period and fully into an expansionary mode, with recent months rising at high single-digit increases or approach of surpassing double-digit ones. Smaller ad categories continued to lead the market expansion. While the top 10 categories rose 4.6% over April 2023, all other categories expanded at three times that rate: 15.5% over April 2023. Read more from MediaDailyNews.
PayPal readies advertising platform rooted in reams of transaction data
PayPal is getting into the ad business with plans for a new ad platform that will rely on the transaction data generated by its nearly 400 million active users. The payments company is pitching the offering as a way to help merchants sell more products and services while acting as a discovery engine for consumers. Central to the new offering is the company’s advanced offers platform which was announced in January. The platform analyzes nearly half a trillion dollars of transaction data with artificial intelligence to generate consumer insights and offer more personalized deals. With advanced offers, merchants pay for performance — not impressions or clicks — potentially making PayPal an attractive ad partner in the crowded media network space. Read more from Marketing Dive.
TikTok will now let companies create social media campaigns using generative AI
TikTok has announced updates to its marketing tools to enhance ad efficiency on the platform, and unsurprisingly, AI took center stage. The new AI-powered ad suite, TikTok Symphony, offers up all the usual benefits of generative AI, including tools for script writing and video production. With the launch of Symphony, TikTok adds fuel to its social media battle as it plays catchup with the likes of Meta and Google, which are also going all-in on AI-enhanced ads. Read more from TechRadar.
On the brink of losing NBA rights, TNT grabs college football playoff games
On Wednesday, ESPN announced that it will sublicense a portion of the College Football Playoff to TNT. The channel will receive two first-round games during the playoffs coming after the 2024 and ’25 seasons. Starting with the ’26 season, it will add two quarterfinal games to its roster. The agreement is a major win for TNT Sports and its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. The 12-team CFP, which Disney will fork over a billion dollars a year to broadcast, is the most valuable property in college sports. TNT was previously not airing any regular-season college football games. But Disney’s ESPN ultimately owns the college football postseason. The network has maintained the rights to the four-team playoff for its entire decade-long lifespan—and, in April, inked an eight-year, $7.8 billion exclusive deal for the expanded 12-team playoff that runs until 2032. Read more from Front Office Sports.
