ExchangeWire Research’s weekly roundup brings you up-to-date research findings from around the world, with additional insight provided by Rebecca Muir, ExchangeWire, head of research and analysis. In this week’s edition: 86% of UK media agencies evolving business to incorporate ad tech; 41% of financial institutions spend less than 20% on programmatic; Quarter of brits plan to purchase on Black Friday; Three quarters of brits use smartphones to access social media; and Two-thirds of tweets related to live broadcasts.

Agencies responding to growing influence of ad tech

Nearly nine-in-ten (86%) UK media agencies have evolved their business model  to reflect the influence of ad tech, with 34% of agencies buying their own ad tech, findings released yesterday [25 Nov] from AdRoll reveal. Nearly half (48%) of agencies feel ad tech is not as monetisable as traditional media, with four-in-ten agencies feeling challenged to develop a profitable partnership.

Eight-in-ten agencies state that buyers are evolving into tech strategists and traders, with 88% stating that planners are evolving into data analysts. Nine-in-ten agency respondents stated that they had a close relationship with their ad tech partners, with 56% stating that they had benefited from productive collaborations. Just under half of agency respondents believe that ad tech allows them to provide clients with effective technology-based solutions at competitive prices.

Marius Smyth, managing director AdRoll EMEA, commented: "To move further forward we should unite as a triumvirate formed of the agency, the ad tech platform, and the client – it comes down to establishing an even greater means of communication between all parties. Ad tech companies themselves have a responsibility to help agencies best use emerging technologies to deliver optimal results and best practice."

Financial institutions tentatively entering programmatic

In the UK, over four-in-ten (41%) large financial organisations spend 20% or less of their digital display budget programmatically, according to Quantcast’s ‘Real-Time Advertising: Financial Sector Report’. Over half of large financial organisations receive between 21-60% of their overall web traffic on mobile. Nearly half (47%) of financial SMEs avoid programmatic altogether, with a further 33% spending up to 20% of their budget on programmatic.

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of large financial organisations gain up to 40% of their overall traffic on mobile; almost half (49%) of SMEs get up to 40% of their overall traffic on mobile. Business need to develop a mobile strategy, as a recent Ofcom report found that 44% of smartphone users carry out online banking on their devices.

Quarter of Brits to buy on black Friday

In the UK, almost a quarter of Brits (23%) plan to purchase on Black Friday, according to recent research by ICMUnlimited. Those aged 18-35 (42%) are most likely to purchase on Black Friday, followed by those aged 35-54 (21%). Over 70% (71%) of consumers who purchased on Black Friday last year are planning to shop again this year.

Black Friday is leading consumers to change their purchasing habits with one-fifth (22%) of consumers planning to do their shopping earlier this year to take advantage of Black Friday deals. Clothing (39%), Entertainment (35%), and Technology (30%) are the most popular categories for purchase.

The majority of consumers (64%), plan to shop online with just 11% planning to shop in store exclusively. Average consumer spend on Black Friday is predicted to be £266, with men planning to spend more than women. Three quarters of consumers plan to buy from Amazon, with 35% planning to buy from Argos.

Despite the high predicted spend, the majority of consumers believe that Black Friday is a way for retailers to get rid of old stock.

Kate Bewick, Associate Director, ICM Unlimited commented: "It is interesting to note that consumers don’t actually anticipate a good experience on Black Friday and this is different from their high expectations of retailers for the other 364 shopping days of the year. Many people (57%) told us they will avoid the shops because they think it will be too crowded, and more than one half (54%) expect retailer websites to be slow or not working at all."

Social media dominates smartphone use

Smartphone users in the UK predominantly use their device to access social media (74.5%), according to new research by Interrogare. Consumers in the UK are most likely to use their phone to shop (58%), followed by those in France (33.5%).  

Over 80% of consumers in the UK (83.9%), France (85.3 %), and Sweden (85.1) were most likely to use a premium site based on its ease of use, followed by the quality of the sites content (UK, 80.8%; France 8.48%; and Sweden 79%).

In the UK, over two-thirds (68%) of participants stated that poor website/app content has a negative impact on the perception of an advertised brand, with sexual content (58%) or extremely religious content (46.5%) having the most negative effect on consumer brand perception.  

Number of tweets indicative of audience engagement

During live TV airings, share of comments sent in response to programming rises to nearly two-thirds (65%), according to figures released by Nielsen. Twitter activity during live broadcasts is so closely related to on-screen moments that it is indicative of the engagement of the audience.

For TV series, the majority (57%) of tweets are sent during live airings, with reality- (68%), and drama-based (58%) shows seeing the largest volume of live tweets. The majority of consumers (65%) tweet to respond to on-screen activity, with just over a third (35%) using tweets to mentioning upcoming episodes of the show.