Specialist
CEO, President & Chief Marketing Officer at Fuel Online Inc
Agenda
- Social media advertising overview, highlighting developments and trends
- Potential Q4 2021 demand and pricing dynamics, and impact of return of in-person holiday shopping on related advertising spending and allocations
- Positioning and performance across Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and its subsidiary YouTube, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and its subsidiary Instagram, Twitter (NYSE: TWTR), Snapchat (NYSE: SNAP), TikTok, Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) and Nextdoor
- Outlook for Q4 2021 and into 2022
Questions
1.
Could you discuss Q3 2021 spending growth in digital and social media advertising? What are your thoughts on the growth in Q3 2021 vs Q3 2020? Obviously there have been coronavirus impacts. What about vs Q2 2021, acknowledging that Q2 and Q3 are typically impacted by seasonal influences?
2.
What are your thoughts on metrics such as absolute spending growth, pricing related to CPMs [cost per milles], ad volumes, ad loads and ROI over Q2 and Q3 2021?
3.
Coronavirus hit around 19 months ago in the US in mid-March 2021. Do you think advertising and marketing has recovered or is there a hangover? You mentioned the notion of people in the industry trying to catch up.
4.
Could you outline some of the core industry KPIs? How would you compare Q3 to Q2 2021 growth? What about your expectations for Q4 vs Q3 2021? Could growth be consistent? Has it decelerated, in part because there have been some difficult comparisons? How would you characterise the tenor of overall spending from Q2 to Q4 2021?
5.
People are wondering how economies reopening and customers returning to stores has impacted e- commerce, which may not experience the same growth in Q4 2021 as it did over the previous few quarters. Q4 2020 provides a difficult YoY comparison for Q4 2021. Have you noticed indications that not as much spending is being allocated in and around e-commerce?
6.
How might marketers and advertisers adjust for a potential a spike in people going shopping in person, especially ahead of and during the holiday shopping season? Do you think e-commerce will return to its previous peaks intra-quarter or could there be a gap before it resurges as your clients and others focus spend on the return of in-person shopping?
7.
It seems there’s been a big bounce-back in pricing, by which I mean the cost of advertising. I think pricing fell off a cliff in March and April 2020 but has increased steadily. Has CPM pricing been trending higher, or has it been stable? Do you expect ad load oversupply?
8.
Companies may not have spent as much as anticipated across Q1-Q3 2021 – perhaps due to coronavirus uncertainty – meaning there would be more spend available in Q4 2021. How might such a spending environment and the additional demand that comes with increased budgets impact pricing? Could it be incremental 10% or 20% CPM gains? Would they be largely consistent? Does it depend on the properties?
9.
Many expected the IDFA [Identifier for Advertisers] to have an impact as Apple announced and introduced it and as users started to adopt it. There hasn’t been much impact, though companies have signalled – perhaps conservatively – that they expect it in Q3 and Q4 2021. Have you noticed whether it has impacted key metrics such as adoption or how clients think about the platforms that they’re advertising with or the kinds of advertising that they’re engaging with?
10.
How would you characterise the Q4 2021 performance and positioning of platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and Pinterest? You mentioned early adopters typically come from the younger demographic and there seems to have been some crossover, particularly around TikTok. Instagram and YouTube remain strong. What specific properties might inform outlooks for Q4 2021 and into 2022?
11.
What are your thoughts on the younger demographic and advertising around apps? There’s been interest and opportunity in using platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat to advertise app purchases or purchases within apps. Do you and your clients spend any time thinking about this? To what extent is this driving growth for platforms that cater to the younger demographic?
12.
Some platforms – particularly TikTok – have used in-app advertising very successfully to come to prominence. How big do you think the market is for advertising for and around apps? I read an estimate that it could represent one-fifth of the global digital ad market, though that seems high. Do you think there is a sustainable level of growth there, given some of the changes put in place by Apple through the IDFA and ATT [App Tracking Transparency]?
13.
I think Pinterest benefited significantly from the nesting phenomenon that occurred as coronavirus hit, wherein people were baking banana bread and re-outfitting their homes through home décor and DIY projects. It seems the advent of summer 2021 and the economy’s reopening brought with it a behavioural change that impacted Pinterest. How do you think it is positioned now, considering user growth and engagement? Could it regain momentum? Can it pivot to catering more to people wanting to travel, stay at hotels and go to restaurants?
14.
It seems Snapchat has continued to grow, innovate and succeed beyond what many anticipated. What are your thoughts on what it has accomplished, particularly given it seems increasingly to be the destination for a variety of different types of advertising and marketing solutions?
15.
You stated that Instagram is the platform that many of your clients use and succeed with. I think a key to the platform’s success is Stories, which embraces short-form video in multiple different ways. To what extent does that approach have staying power? You mentioned that Snapchat has innovated and then Instagram has taken that innovation and monetised it. Could that theme continue?
16.
I think Instagram Reels is becoming much more prominent and gaining many more users. Much of the content seems to be TikTok videos. People have said that 2021 is the year where TikTok needs to formulate a plan and start providing options for monetisation. Do you think it has made sufficient progress? I’ve heard mixed things about how it has invested and how it has executed. What are your thoughts about TikTok and the potential to turn it into an advertising business?
17.
What are your thoughts on Nextdoor? I think it’s in line to come public. Many people over the last 1.5-2 years seem to have had a renewed focus on and appreciation for their local environments and neighbourhoods, which might have put a spotlight more on Nextdoor. Could the platform be an opportunity for a global company to provide local advertising opportunities? This could be predominantly for medium and small businesses, but also increasingly enterprises wanting to reach out and connect with users interested in those things.
18.
Your comments on Nextdoor reminded me of what we discussed about how people are experimenting and trying many new platforms. It seems at the start of the pandemic, when everything was locked down, there was a renewed focus on back to basics, Google, Facebook and not really trying to experiment as much. Do you think people have shifted back to understanding that there are many different options to try? Do you expect that to continue for the foreseeable future?
19.
What’s your 1-3-year outlook for digital and social media advertising, highlighting themes, trends and specific companies that could merit attention?
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