Pearman Pulse - April 2020
WE MAY BE APART BUT YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE!
When You Walk Through A Storm
Hold your Head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of a storm
There's a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone
Walk on walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone!!
WHAT’S NEW IN MEDIA – CONSUMPTION UP, PRICES DOWN!
Ironically, Covid-19 has inadvertently increased media consumption while at the same time substantially reducing the costs of entry.
Working from home has caused a massive increase in internet usage, Television viewing and news consumption from all sources. From Feb’20 – Mar’20, Social media is estimated to have increased by 211%, News sites by 78% and TV viewing has increased X%.
The media have been hit very hard as around 50% of advertisers have slashed and in many cases stopped advertising. All media have an oversupply of advertising availability and exceptional deals are being done across April – June’20.
Naturally there are clients that have to cancel advertising as their business sector has been stopped or others that have simply sold out of stock. If you have the means, the stock and the financial ability to move your product and protect your brand, it’s a great time to be buying media.
If you invest in the media, they will absolutely support you, especially now. If you thought it may be out of reach, think again. There will be light at the end of the tunnel and it’s a great time to prepare your business for post Covid-19
DIGITAL RADIO BOOMING
Although Breakfast & Drive sessions may be affected by such a large proportion not travelling to and from work, it is clear the digital side of Radio is booming. Spotify is also naturally up and unsurprisingly The Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” saw more than a 135% spike in streams in recent weeks.
Radio tends to do well in times of crisis as people search for the latest up to date news. On the flip side of that there is also a thought that people are tired of hearing about Covid-19 and want a break from it with some music. The feedback from both FM & AM stations is that social engagement is at a record high as well as calls to the stations. This crisis has driven substantially more people to stream Radio across devices such as computer desktops, TVs, smart speakers, mobiles and gaming consoles. As a result, Podcasting is up 30% over the past month, TuneIn Radio is up 22% and google searches for Smooth or Nova are up 250%.
Radio is usually done through printed diary system left at people’s houses. Covid-19 may change this forever (more online measurement) as well as changing listening habits to be more digital based. Interesting times ahead – stay tuned!
SMI UPDATE – FEBRUARY 2020
February has just been released and no surprises it was down around 5% compared to Feb’19. The last time the Australian ad market had any meaningful growth was August 2018 (+3.4%).
All media types were down with Digital & Television performing the “best” with under 2% reduction compared to February last year. Outdoor had it’s worth month since November 2016 and was down 17%. In terms of individual media, the Nine Network was a standout winner as it increased ad revenue by 30% in February.
The Banking and Food sectors increased spend while Auto, Retail and Travel were all down more than 15%. This is certain to get a lot worse in those categories as Covid-19 causes mayhem with advertising spend. From what we can see we estimate advertising spend will be down around 40-50% from April to June.
FAST FACTS
- When at home, 40.2% of Australians like to shut themselves off from the rest of the world (Morgan). This will be helpful in the age of isolation.
- The 1918 Spanish flu was one of the deadliest pandemics infecting a third of the world’s population and killing 50 to 100 million people. Thankfully we now have antibiotics, modern hospitals, intensive care units and a track record of defeating Yellow Fever, Polio, Measles, Mumps & Rubella.
- Remember Ridesharing – Uber naturally dominates but other options & approx. shares include Ola (20%), DiDi (14%), Bolt (4%), Shebah (2%), GoCatch (2%), Rydo (1%) & Shofer (1%) – Morgan report
- TV streaming – AMPD Research estimates Disney+ has gained about 1.2 million Australian subscribers since its local launch in mid-November. Netflix in turn has 5.6 million paying subscribers ahead of Stan with 1.6 million subscribers.
- As at Dec19, Morgan says the most trusted brands in Australia are 1.Bunnings, 2.Aldi, 3.Woolworths, 4.Coles, 5.NRMA. Perhaps after Covid-19 the Banks will have increased consumer trust.
- We analyse what we see and we feel what we hear
