By The See

Cannes You Hear Me Now?

Happy Monday War & Peaceniks. Let’s attack this week like Cannes Lions…

I’m in France, for Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, moderating three panels over three days. Today’s conversation at 3p is about performance marketing with Morgan Correa from Horizon Media, Julian Mintz from Roku Inc., Cole Strain from Samba TV, and Sunil Rayan from machine learning advertising company Moloco. Tomorrow, I talk about the paradigm shift of streaming sports with Jennifer Prince, CCO at the LA Rams and James Grant from Equativ; and Wednesday I’m moderating an intimidating panel on artificial intelligence in advertising with Sheryl Goldstein from IAB, Benjamin Arnold of Adludio, and Ramin Beheshti of The News Movement.

To not look like a moron next to all those big brains, I’ve been prepping like mad, as always focused on the data, and paying closest attention to how the sea breeze is blowing the ad trends into the Cannes this week, and how those trends will drive conversations along the Croisette, at a pivotal moment in marketing.

After a strange and rocky Upfront season for both the buy and sell sides, there’s far more at stake here than who’s cabana burns brightest, and whose cocktails bring all the buyers to the beach.

Here are the 5 things I’m 👀 au festival Cannes Lions:

1. The Advertising business is in the midst of major change, this year, right now, this week. We’ve now had 10 consecutive months of ad spend decline in the US.

   Shrinking ad budgets and an abundance of options will spark a buyer’s market. This decline is being driven by economic instability, declining viewership ratings, the trend of cord-cutting, price-reduction pressures, a shift in audience from traditional TV to CTV, and a transition from conventional to digital media.” Insider Intelligence/eMarketer

   As I predicted the ad recession might be easing and may end this summer. Yet, demonstrating the precarious point we’re at, TV Upfront commitments fell YoY.

   Ad money isn’t just being held back right now, it’s being moved. Follow it.

   

   

   

2. Speaking of declining ratings, cord cutting and price reduction pressures… Subscription fatigue is real, yo. Hub Entertainment Research, Publishers Clearing House, Antenna and Samba TV all find that subs are cutting back on subscriptions. For the marketers out here, now that all the SVODs are adding ads, that means rising churn costs more than just subscription fees.