WARC Global Ad Trends: Sports media rights to reach $61bn this year but a fragmented media landscape poses dilemmas for advertisers

At a time when marketers are increasingly reliant on sport for mass reach, the sector faces fragmentation. Live sports rights are splintering between broadcast, over-the-top (OTT or streaming) and mobile apps, while social platforms are rising in importance for fans. Sports media in the era of fragmentation, WARC Media’s latest Global Advertising Trends report, examines sport’s new media landscape, the challenges and opportunities for brand advertisers and how rights holders plan to sustain the economics of sport in the years ahead.  Alex Brownsell, Head of Content, WARC Media, says: “Sport is…

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Latest research by WARC shows highly awarded creative campaigns are significantly more effective

Each year, WARC tracks the results of the top regional and global award shows for creativity and effectiveness for the WARC Rankings, the ultimate benchmark for marketing. Using the results data from between 2015 and 2022, WARC has assessed the health of creativity to establish how often creative work is also effective.  The study reveals that of the 5,000+ creatively awarded campaigns analysed, 42% of highly creative ideas (those ranked in the WARC Creative 100) are subsequently awarded for effectiveness, compared to 20% for all creatively awarded ideas.  Amy Rodgers,…

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Brands face challenges in planning for quality marketing in an AI-driven world

After a challenging 2023, WARC Media predicts global advertising spend will double its growth in 2024 with spend expected to top $1 trillion for the first time. Just five companies – Alibaba, Alphabet, Amazon, Bytedance and Meta – are forecast to attract over half (51.9%) of global advertising spend this year as their ad revenues rise by 10.7%.  Key to this growth is the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). However, the growth of AI raises challenging questions about media quality and the future of advertising on the open internet.  With…

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Jury chairs named for The WARC Awards 2024

The WARC Awards for Effectiveness 2024 have named the 15 jury chairs that will guide the juries to award the best marketing campaigns from around the world that deliver strategic brilliance and effective impact to drive commercial success. The jury chairs will lead the judging process for their respective regions – Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Latin America, and North America – to select the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners across 12 categories. Working together as a super jury, they will go on to award the highly sought…

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Record £9.5bn to be Spent During Christmas Advertising Season

Advertisers are set to spend a record £9.5bn during the Christmas season, according to new data released by the Advertising Association (AA) and WARC. This is a 4.8% increase from last year’s record spend of £9bn and demonstrates the continued importance of advertising to the economy during the festive period. Further research conducted by the Advertising Association for this year’s Christmas advertising season revealed nearly half (48%) of all adults credit Christmas ads with helping to spark gift ideas, while 70% of young adults (25-34) find Christmas ads to be…

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