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Last spring, while we were all locked inside stroking bags of chips with Lysol wipes, marketers weren’t exactly rushing to get ads outside our homes. Case in point: In the second quarter of 2020, revenues from out of home (OOH) advertising fell 45% year over year, per the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA).

But for Five Tier—a company that brokers inventory for 25 digital billboards in Times Square, perhaps the world’s most famous advertising hub—it didn’t take long for the rainbow to arrive after the storm. 

• In Times Square, Five Tier CEO and founder Frank O’Brien told Marketing Brew he saw a significant downturn in advertiser interest across the board (no pun intended) in the three weeks following St. Patrick’s Day 2020, shortly after lockdowns took hold. 
• But he told us business began to steady shortly afterward. By mid-April, Five Tier was running “half as many” campaigns as usual, he said, but things “picked back up again” by May 2020.

Mystery solved: O’Brien pointed to a few reasons why Five Tier’s TS business rebounded in 2020 despite massive declines in foot traffic throughout the year. For one, digital OOH ads, which are on an upward growth trajectory, fared better than static ones. Plus, Times Square’s ads weren’t just seen by passersby. “The news shows were still running shots of Times Square,” he explained.

Zoom out: Since the start of the pandemic, Five Tier and other OOH firms noticed changes in the types of advertisers interested in Times Square inventory—as well as the kinds of messaging they wanted to put in lights.

The “types of advertisers” part

When the pandemic first hit, smaller companies saw an entry point into The Big Apple’s mainstay. 

• “We just saw a new type of advertiser come in,” O’Brien said, explaining that smaller brands like Stuyvesant Champagne “looked at it as an opportunity they might not ever have again.”
• AdQuick VP of Growth Chris Gadek told Marketing Brew that Radical Storage, a luggage storage company formerly known as Bagbnb, ran an ad saying, “We will travel again. Same bag, new soul,” in Times Square for a week in April 2020. He said it cost between $5,000 and $10,000. Today, that would cost about double, Gadek shared. 

The “kinds of messages” part

Advertisers leaned into cause marketing last year, a trend that O’Brien told us is persisting.

• According to O’Brien, cause messaging represented less than 20% of Five Tier’s Times Square business pre-pandemic, but now makes up about 70%.
• “I can't say enough about cause marketing during the pandemic,” O’Brien emphasized.

For instance: Cannabis brand Cannuka ran a Times Square billboard ad with Five Tier in April 2020 that didn’t have much to do with cannabis at all, rather opting for an image of a person in scrubs and a mask with the text “Thank you first responders, health workers, and all of the helpers.” Last month, Teach For America partnered with Five Tier on a campaign for Teacher Appreciation Week. 

Looking ahead: Times Square is probably having an easier time adjusting to post-lockdown life than you are. AdQuick told us it estimates that advertiser interest in Times Square inventory, which it measures via the value of proposals sent through its platform, will be up 2.6x between March and August 2021 compared to the same period last year.

But that’s not even the half of it—click here to read the full story.—PB 

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STREAMING

The Nielsen family of the future

Nielsen, the company that dictates whether your favorite sitcom will survive another season, has rolled out a *new* metric that’ll measure time spent streaming vs. watching traditional TV.

It’s called The Gauge and it’ll track a household’s internet traffic through their router, according to The New York Times—but it’ll only measure what’s viewed on a television, not a phone or laptop. Already about 14,000 households are signed up.

• According to Nielsen, last month, people spent 64% of TV time watching broadcast or cable channels. About a quarter of their time—26%, to be exact—was spent on streaming services.  
• And what are those audiences streaming? YouTube and Netflix each account for about 6%. Hulu (3%), Amazon (2%), and Disney+ (1%) all fall behind.
• Streaming is expected to account for ~33% of all TV viewing by the end of 2021, a Nielsen spokesperson told The NYT.
  

Side note: The pandemic wasn’t great for Nielsen. In April, networks including Disney and NBCUniversal demanded Nielsen undergo an audit of the data it collected during the pandemic. By May, Nielsen admitted to undercounting TV viewership. 

Zoom out: Of course, Netflix is ad-free, but more and more audiences are opting for cheaper, ad-supported streamers. Marketers want access to those viewers—Disney said 40+% of its upfront dollars went to streaming and digital platforms like Hulu—but murky data makes it difficult to measure ROI. If Nielsen can provide a bit more clarity, it might remain atop the ratings throne.—RB

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Facebook has rolled out audio features in the US, including a Clubhouse knockoff and the ability to listen to podcasts while browsing the site.
• Instacart hired former Uber marketing exec Laura Jones to serve as VP of brand and marketing.
• The Tokyo Olympics has capped capacity at about 50%, or 10,000 (Japanese-only) fans.
• The Cannes Lions kick off this week. Yes, the event is still virtual.

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FRENCH PRESS

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren't those.

Influencers: Let’s just cut to the chase: Here are the top 50 most popular influencers in the world.

Mobile First: Which has the better payoff? Text message marketing, or just having a functioning mobile site? Learn more about the wild world of mobile marketing with this webinar.

Privacy: If you missed Marketing Brew’s take on Apple’s iOS 15 privacy updates, here’s a refresher.  

Sports: Don’t be late to the party. How marketers can reach women’s sports’ incredibly loyal fanbase.

Data crash: Bad data practices have led to consumer data being harvested by third parties, eroding consumer trust and triggering chaos in digital advertising. Learn how to prepare for the great privacy reset at Permutive’s global summit on July 14. Register for free here.*

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FROM THE CREW

Anytime's a Good Time for Brunch

World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit founded by chef José Andrés, partnered with thousands of local restaurants across the US during the pandemic to distribute more than 36 million meals to 400+ cities in need. But there's so much more work to be done, at home and abroad. 

For the next two weeks, Morning Brew is hosting a fundraiser with World Central Kitchen. We'll be throwing $10,000 into the pot, and if you join us and donate any amount, you'll get access to our exclusive cookbook, Brunch with the Brew, featuring recipes from our favorite food and business leaders. We're talking whole wheat maple blueberry scones from Flour Bakery's Joanne Chang and tahini cinnamon rolls from Food Network star Molly Yeh. 

Get those recipes and so, so many more by making a donation today. 

ICYMI

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• How brands can celebrate Juneteenth responsibly
• Why marketers need to be smarter about brand safety
• And a tool that’ll do brand safety work for them