Ad spend, viewability, data sharing: 5 killer stats to start your week

Sky overtakes P&G as UK’s biggest traditional advertiser

Sky overtook Procter & Gamble as the UK’s biggest spender on traditional advertising last year. Sky increased spend by 2.7% year on year to £197.1m, while P&G’s spend dropped by 1.4% to £196.8m.

Tesco had the largest annual increase, with spend increasing by 71.6% to £89.5m, ahead of Samsung, up 43.5% to £66.6m. They both joined the top 10 biggest spenders.

Aldi saw the biggest decline in ad spend, down 32%, while Virgin Media’s spend fell by 30.1%.

Overall, the top 100 spent 3.5% less on traditional advertising last year, while the overall market saw spend fall by £258.1m.

Source: Nielsen

UK ad viewability hits record high

UK ad viewability levels have hit a record high. The proportion of banner ads served that meet minimum viewability guidelines climbed from 56% to 59%. This is the first time levels have increased for four consecutive quarters.

Despite the rise, the UK ranks just fifth among the seven European countries where viewability is measured. Austria (71%) leads the way while Switzerland comes in last (50%).

Ads are deemed viewable if they meet the IAB and Media Ratings Council’s recommendation that 50% of the ad is in view for at least one second.

Source: Meetrics

Consumers become more positive about data privacy and sharing

With GDPR just around the corner, consumers are becoming less concerned about their data and what they share with companies.

61% of consumers are already happy with the amount of personal information they share and 51% of the respondents view data as essential to the smooth running of the modern economy, up from 38% in 2012.

There is also a rise in consumers who appear relatively unconcerned about matters of data privacy and the exchange of data, which has increased from 16% to 25%.

A change in attitudes has been greatest among 55- to 64-year-olds who have historically been more cautious. Of those, 63% said they are happy with the amount of data they share today, compared to 47% in 2012.

Source: DMA

UK companies’ reputation declines for the first time since financial crash

The reputation of companies operating in the UK has declined for the first time since 2008.

Brands’ reputation fell across all measures, in particular people’s willingness to give companies the benefit of the doubt (down 13%). There was also an 11% decrease in consumers saying something positive about an organisation and a 10% decrease in their views around companies’ investments and trust to do the right thing.

Rolex took the number one spot, beating Lego by 0.7 points. Bosch (85.1), Nintendo (84.9), Amazon (83.1) and The Walt Disney Company (82.4) also made the top 10 for the first time, knocking the likes of Michelin, Intel and PayPal from the list.

Uber, LinkedIn, Ryanair and 888 amongst those with greatest reputational decline, whereas L’Oréal, Merlin Entertainments Group, Amazon and Sports Direct have biggest reputation improvements.

Source: Reputation Institute

Brands aimed at women have the worst gender pay gaps

There’s a huge gender pay gap in companies who sell products primarily aimed at women, according to figures released by the UK government’s gender pay gap report.

Results show female employees working for fashion, lingeries and jewellery brands are paid significantly less than their male counterparts despite their target audience being women.

Lingerie brand Boux Avenue topped the list for the worst gender salary gap with men earning 75.4% more than women per hour on average, despite the fact that males only make up 9% of the company’s workforce.

Jewellery retailer Pandora and women’s fashion house Coast followed suit, with 72% and 71% gaps respectively. These retailers also had very few male employees with men only making up 10% of each pay quartile in Pandora and only 5% of the entire workforce at Coast.

This is likely because men feature solely in the top pay quartile and C-Level executive positions.

Source: Adzuna