IAB and PwC 2017 Digital Adspend Study | 3 things you should know

Since its start in 1997 the IAB, in conjunction with PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) have measured the size the digital advertising industry with in the UK and this one marked the 21st edition.

The UK digital market continues to grow

2017 proved to be another hyper-growth year for the UK digital advertising industry, worth an estimated £11.55 billion. This is a 1.44 billion increase from 2016, equating to a 14.3% increase.

Smartphone is fuelling growth

It’s been well documented that smartphones are driving the growth of the digital economy of the last decade. 2017 proved to be no different with 45% of all digital advertising displayed on smartphone devices; an 8% increase from the previous year – this makes sense as comScore’s recent research found that the UK’s time spend online is 70% on mobile.

According the IAB & PwC the total smartphone market is believed to be £5.20 billion and that 45% of all digital advertising is on a smartphone.

Online video is the largest display format

The display advertising market is worth £4.18 billion and 61% of it is distributed on smartphone devices. Video advertising has the largest share of the display market totalling £1,609 million which is 39% of the share. This year saw 47% increase from last year for video advertising, which makes video the fastest growing display format for the last 5 years.

For the first time outstream / native video has overtaken pre-roll as the largest video format with 56% of the market share worth an estimated £900 million, showing that the market is coming to terms with more innovative formats. Clearly there’s an appetite for different video formats, which is why LoopMe offers all forms of mobile video, including native, pre-roll, vertical and 360.

Stephen Upstone, CEO & Co-founder of LoopMe commented:

“The growth in in the UK digital economy, especially the surge in display advertising, is an indicator that the market is continuing to think mobile first. We also encourage mobile marketers to think not just about the formats available but the metrics they’re using to measure success.”

Click here to download the full report from the IAB

AI: Advertising & Beyond | Wrap Up

This week LoopMe UK hosted AI: Advertising & Beyond at the British Museum in London. Over 150 attendees listened to thought-leaders and pioneers to explore AI’s impact on advertising, and also the wider world.

We heard from spokespeople including Leila Ratnani, Group Digital & Programmatic Director at Dentsu, Julia Lagan, Digital Strategy Director at creative agency FCB Inferno and Matthew Griffin, Futurist of the consultancy company 311 Institute. Attendees took part in VR experiences and had the opportunity to see how PurchaseLoop works in real-time.

For those unable to attend, or who’d like a quick recap – read on! To receive invites to our next event, sign up to our events mailing list.

AI is changing marketing

The morning was kicked-off by Lynette Saunders, Senior Analyst at Econsultancy in her keynote ‘The Quest for Real-Time Experiences’. Lynette discussed how AI should be at the forefront of marketer’s minds, giving successful examples of how the likes of Under Armour, Netflix and Amazon are using AI to increase their efficiency.

LoopMe’s GM International, Pete O’Mara-Kane presented ‘Closing the Loop’, an analysis of more than 150 campaigns run in 20 countries to explain best practice outcomes to help understand how to get the most from PurchaseLoop campaigns.

Following this, Pete interviewed Leonard Newnham, LoopMe’s Chief Data Scientist to debunk some of the myths and jargon around AI. A key takeaway from their conversation was a need to clarify the difference between machine learning and AI – which is also covered in our AI Guide.

Will AI take our jobs? What impact will it have on our industry? These were all addressed in the ‘AI: Risk & Reward’ panel led by Julie lagan. Julie was joined by Dane Hamer, Brand Creative & Media at 02, Alexandra Spiliotopoulou, Digital Strategy Lead at Merkle Periscopix, Michael Migliore, Senior Retention & Engagement Manager at News UK and Leila Ratnani. One point of difference in the panel was that Alexandra thinks AI will slowly take jobs, while Leila was adamant that won’t happen, rather they’ll do mundane tasks.

Part 1 of ‘AI: Advertising and Beyond’ concluded with a chat between LoopMe CEO and Co-Founder Stephen Upstone and John Taysom, NED and Co-Founder of Privitar. John, who has over 18 years of experience in investing in tech companies from discussed everything from the Cambridge Analytica debacle to the surge in the world’s largest economy – data.

After a short coffee break, we started part 2 with another panel discussion on the topic of Altruistic AI. Moderator Stephen Lepitak, Editor at The Drum was accompanied by Saqib Shaikh, Tech Lead of Microsoft ‘Seeing AI’ app, Roger Highfield, Director at the Science Museum and Chris Russell a Research Fellow in computer vision and Machine Learning at the Alan Turning Institute. The session was very insightful, especially in showing how AI is set to disrupt the healthcare industry, with companies such as Babylon Health and Benevolent AI lauded as ones to watch.

This year, The Times and creative agency Rothco teamed up and used AI to recreate JFK’s speech he was meant to deliver the day he was assasinated. Alan Kelly, Executive Creative Director of Rothco was interviewed by LoopMe’s Head of Marketing Lauren Bigland, to learn more about the campaign. In their conversation Alan explained how he was inspired to start the project through a family connection and how he saw the role of AI be used to enhance creativity.

We rounded things off by hearing from Matthew Griffin, founder of the 311 Institute discussing what the future holds in the next 50 years. Matthew emphasised the importance of AI and stated that we’re entering a dawn of a new era – ‘The Age of the Machine’.

Matthew stated that this new era will allow us to increase the rates of innovation in multiple industries (healthcare, advertising and finance) by up to 1000% as well as introducing us to the song ‘Break Free’, showing again how AI is set to disrupt many industries.

Thanks again to our brilliant speakers and attendees, we hope to see you all at another event soon!

LoopMe shortlist twice at Digiday Media Awards Europe

We’re proud to announce that LoopMe are finalists at Digiday’s Media Awards Europe for ‘Best Video Marketing & Advertising Platform’ and ‘Most Innovative Video Partner’ for our work will MullenLowe MediaHub and Western Union.

The Digiday Media Awards Europe is a new program that recognizes the companies working to modernize European media. The ‘Most Innovative Video Partner’ identifies those companies not only championing but disrupting video in the ad tech industry. PurchaseLoop, our multi-award-winning ad serving platform is the technology behind the our nomination for ‘Best Marketing & Advertising Platform’.

The Campaign

In the build up to Christmas 2017, Mullenlowe Media Hub’s client, Western Union wanted to increase brand consideration for their money transfer services in the UK, with their creatives emphasising the ‘right now’ ease of using their service.

To find Western Union’s target audience, LoopMe used PurchaseLoop, our multi-award winning the brand uplift optimiser, which aligned perfectly with Western Union and MullenLowe Media Hub’s strategic planning.

LoopMe was brief to convert high VCR to brand consideration. AI was used to drive VCR and ensure it delivered to those in market for Western Union. As well as a sustained and high VCR for two flights of the campaign, PurchaseLoop drove brand consideration by 11.14%, showing its effectiveness in driving brand metrics.

Winners will be announced at the ceremony on May 31st. Good luck all!

LoopMe’s Award-Winning PurchaseLoop – An Introduction from LoopMe on Vimeo.

LoopMe Shortlist at The Drum’s Digital Trading Awards

We’re proud to announce that LoopMe are finalists at The Drum’s Digital Trading awards for ‘Best Mobile Campaign’ for our work with Carat and Tassimo.

The Digtial Trading Awards, now in its 5th year are one of the most well respected awards in the media industry. The ‘Best Mobile Campaign’ rewards innovative strategy and campaign that has engaged the target audience.

The Campaign

Carat attainted the Jacob’s Douwe Egberts in September 2017 and Q4 marked the first campaign for Tassimo – a market leading coffee system selling in the Single Serve Market, with a range of machines and compatible coffee pods (T-Discs). Tassimo were looking to drive awareness and consideration of their Brewer range and promote their brand USPs in the run up to Christmas.

To find Tassimo’s target audience, LoopMe used PurchaseLoop, the brand uplift optimiser, which aligned perfectly with Tassimo and Carat’s strategic planning

Tassimo’s campaign drove over 3.9 million impressions and 2,980 hours of brand engagement, at a cost per minute of £0.24. Using PurchaseLoop Tassimo’s campaign tracked 13.71% purchase intent increase, from control to exposed and AI optimised, showing LoopMe’s effectiveness in driving campaign results beyond brand metrics on mobile.

Winners will be announced at the ceremony on May 31st. Good luck all!

‘Closing The Loop’ report released

Today marks the release of our report ‘Closing The Loop’ which analyses LoopMe’s PurchaseLoop campaigns over the last year.

Following on from last year’s report, Closing The Loop gives an in-depth analysis of brand KPI’s, investigates average uplift by vertical and detailed case studies. There are also tips on how to get the most from your PurchaseLoop campaign to ensure maximum uplift.

Our twice-awarded product PurchaseLoop, uses cutting-edge artificial intelligence to optimize video and rich media advertising to real-world brand outcomes. Since its launch in 2016, we have worked with the world’s biggest brands including Microsoft, Norwegian Air and Jockey achieve their KPI’s and close the loop on advertising.

Click here to download the full report and get in touch to learn more.