The digital duopoly, mergers and acquisitions, GDPR: 5 killer stats to start your week

We arm marketers with all the numbers and data they need to tackle the week ahead.

1. Close to half of marketing roles at risk from automation

Close to half (43%) of marketing roles are at a risk from automation, although that figure declines to 28% of senior marketing directors.

Marketers say skills in AI and machine learning are available in 45% of organisations, yet another 64% believe these skills would be important to the future success of their respective organisations, revealing a skills gap (19%).

Some 87% of marketers say developing skills in AI and machine learning is vital to their organisation’s current success. Yet, AI and machine learning has the biggest skills gap, with a 25% difference between perceived importance between marketers’ current roles and for future career progression.

The number of roles in AI has climbed 485% in the UK since 2014.

Source: ONS

2. The digital ad market is in decline beyond the Google and Facebook duopoly

Of the $590.4bn spent on advertising globally last year, $144.6bn (24.5%) went to Google and Facebook – the equivalent of almost one in four dollars.

The duopoly’s share is up from 20.3% in 2017, more than double its 10.8% share in 2014. Analysts predict spend on Facebook and Google will increase to $176.4bn this year, taking their share to 28.6%.

In terms of the internet advertising market alone, the duopoly took 56.4% of ad money in 2018, with this figure predicted to climb to 61.4% this year, meaning the pool of ad money available to other online media owners will decline for the first time.

The value of the online video market across 12 key markets is $30.2bn in 2018, equivalent to 21.5% of linear TV across these markets.

Much of this money is paid to social media sites, including Facebook and YouTube. For instance, in the UK an estimated 86% of online video ad spend (£1.9bn) went to social platforms last year.

Source: Warc

3. Marketers positive about GDPR’s impact on email

Email remains an important channel for 91% of marketers. Despite the challenges of GDPR more than half (56%) feel positive about the impact the new laws have had on their email campaigns.

Only 20% don’t feel the laws have had a positive impact.

Some 74% of marketers report an increase in email open rates during the last 12 months, while 75% say they’ve experienced a climb in click-through rates. Another 41% of organisations saw a reduction in opt-out rates and spam complaints (55%).

On top of this, two thirds (62%) of marketers are now confident in their organisation’s ability to measure ROI, the highest figure since 2012.

According to these marketers, the estimate of ROI for every £1 spent on email has increased by almost £10 since the previous study (pre-GDPR), this is now set at £42.24, up from £32.28 in 2017.

Source: DMA

4. Mergers and acquisitions slip by 17%

Global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have dropped 17% during the first quarter of 2019, likely due to companies’ concerns about Brexit.

Cross-border M&A fell 45%in the first quarter of the year. In Europe M&A fell 67% while the UK lost its place as the world’s third largest M&A market, after activity was down 62%, being replaced by Saudi Arabia.

German M&A also had a significant 76% plunge.

Additionally, in the US the number of deals was down by 40% year on year indicating that big-ticket transactions were the main driver.

Source: Refinitiv data

5. Marketers believe they need to work with policy makers to meet changing expectations of brands

Nine out of 10 marketers believe it is becoming more important to work closely with the policy team in order to meet society’s changing brand expectations and demands.

Both sides demand greater interaction, with 87% of policy experts and 68% of marketers wanting to see better collaboration.

Currently, 65% of policy executives feel there is too little interaction between the two teams, compared to 43% of marketers.

Most marketers see the value that policy teams bring in avoiding regulatory challenges, with 65% able to think of a time when the policy team helped avoid regulatory scrutiny.

But marketers say even more dialogue and collaboration between policy and marketing will be required in the future when it comes to data collection and privacy (74%) and corporate reputation and responsible marketing (both 80%).

Half of marketers (54%) also feel policy professionals don’t understand the challenges they face, while policy professionals feel misunderstood to an even greater extent, compared to 76% of policy respondents who say the same about marketers.

Source: WFA

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