Data-Labor-Technology

Many of those marketers are joining the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign from the Anti-Defamation League, Color of Change, Common Sense Media, Free Press, the NAACP and Sleeping Giants. The campaign is meant to push Facebook to do something about the hate speech on its platform by hitting the company where it makes its money, advertising, according to the campaign website. 

To get a sense of how much advertisers are pulling back from Facebook, Digiday reached out to ad-tracking firm Pathmatics for estimates on how much advertisers spent on the platform during July 2019. Given that many marketers are planning to sit out the month of July, a look at how much they spent on the platform last July is apt. That said, some are planning to stop advertising for the rest of the year. With that being the case, Pathmatics also provided data from July 2019 through December 2019 to get a sense of how much those companies spend on the platforms for half of a year.

Pathmatics started to track marketers ad spending on Instagram early this spring. Below is the most recent month of spending data available on Instagram.

Aside from Facebook and Instagram platform advertising, some companies are also stopping the use of Facebook’s Audience Network, which as Gizmodo reported, is one way advertisers that may have stopped advertising on Facebook and Instagram but can still use Facebook data to target audiences on third-party websites. Pathmatics doesn’t track marketers ad spending on Facebook’s Audience Network.  

Here is a running list of the advertisers that won’t be running ads on Facebook in July. It’s unclear how long the pause will extend beyond the end of the month. Some marketers have committed to sitting out the rest of the year, while others say they will reevaluate as need be. 

Adidas

The company plans to pull paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram for the month of July for its namesake brand as well as Reebok, which Adidas acquired in 2005. Per Pathmatics data, Adidas spent $724,935 on paid advertising on Facebook in July 2019. Without available data for Instagram spending from last year, Pathmatics pointed Digiday to its most recent figure from June 2020 when Adidas spent an estimated $868,344 on Instagram ads. 

American Honda

For the month of July, the automaker is planning to sit out paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram for Honda as well as Acura. Per Pathmatics estimates, American Honda spent $205,671 on Facebook advertising during July 2019. As for Instagram, the company spent roughly $135,030 during June 2020. 

Arc’teryx’s parent company American Sports

High-end clothing and sporting goods company Arc’teryx also said it would join the campaign by sitting out advertising on Facebook and Instagram as well as the company’s Audience Network. Arc’teryx parent company American Sports spent approximately $4,067 on Facebook ads in July of 2019. As for Instagram, the most recent available estimate is from May 2020 when the company spent roughly $1,718 on paid ads on the platform. 

Beam Suntory 

Throughout July, the spirits behemoth plans to reportedly press pause on Facebook and Instagram advertising. Per Pathmatics’ estimates, Beam Suntory spent $1,605 on Facebook advertising in July of 2019. As for Instagram ads, Pathmatics estimates that the company spent $25,575 in June 2020 on the platform.

Ben & Jerry’s

The ice cream maker said it would stop advertising on Facebook and Instagram throughout July. It’s unclear if the company will extend that or what the company was approximately spending on the platform as Pathmatics didn’t have available data for the marketer. 

Birchbox

The subscription makeup brand plans to halt advertising on Facebook and Instagram during July. According to Pathmatics’ estimates, the company spent $91,557 on Facebook advertising in July of 2019. Meanwhile, on Instagram, Pathmatics estimates that the company recently spent $21,794 in June 2020 on ads on the platform.

Chipotle

The Mexican eatery will pause spending on Facebook on July 1, according to Bloomberg. Per Pathmatics data, the company spent roughly $283,041 on Facebook advertising during July 2019. It’s unclear if Chipotle will also pause Instagram. Per Pathmatics, the company spent nearly $1,275,160 on Instagram advertising during June 2020. 

Chobani

In a tweet, the Greek yogurt brand committed to pausing all social advertising for July. Per Pathmatics estimates, the company spent roughly $53,915 on paid Facebook ads during July 2019. As for Instagram, during June 2020, the company spent approximately $5,695 on paid ads on the platform.

The Clorox Company 

CMO Stacey Grier told Adweek that the company would stop advertising on Facebook and Instagram as well as stop using the Facebook Audience Network for the rest of the year. Per Pathmatics data, The Clorox Company spent approximately $2,681,316 on Facebook advertising from July 2019 through December 2019. As for Instagram, in June 2020 estimates put the company’s ad spend at $5,008,500.

Coca-Cola

The soda giant is planning to pause all social media spending for 30 days, according to CNBC. Per Pathmatics, Coca-Cola’s Facebook advertising spend for July 2019 was approximately $2,308,745. As for Instagram, the most recent available estimate is June 2020’s $50,842 spend.

Conagra

The company will sit out advertising on Facebook and Instagram for the rest of 2020, per CNBC. According to Pathmatics estimates, Conagra spent $280,750 on Facebook advertising from July 2019 through December 2019. As for Instagram, in June 2020, the company spent approximately $179,458 on advertising on the platform. 

Denny’s 

The chain will not advertise on Facebook and Instagram for the month of July. Per Pathmatics, Denny’s spent roughly $60,630 on Facebook ads during July 2019. As for Instagram, Denny’s media spending estimate for June 2020 was $170,114. 

Diageo

The company will stop spending on social media advertising July 1. Per Pathmatics, the alcohol giant spent approximately $1,080,250 on Facebook advertising during July 2019. When it comes to Instagram, Diageo spent nearly $3,707,844 on ads on the platform in June 2020, per Pathmatics’ data. 

Eddie Bauer

In a tweet, the company said it would suspend paid advertising on Facebook for July. Pathmatics estimates that the company spent $146,660 on advertising on the platform during July 2019. The most recent media spending estimate for Instagram put the company’s spending on the platform for June 2020 at $5,693. 

Edgewell Personal Care 

The parent company behind Wet Ones and Playtex will halt spending on Facebook, Instagram and the Facebook Audience Network beginning this week, per CNBC. Pathmatics estimates that Edgewell spent $473,877 on Facebook advertising during July 2019 and a total of $5,706,133 on Facebook advertising from July through December 2019. On Instagram, Edgewell spending estimates for June 2020 were $1,063,765. 

Eileen Fisher

The women’s clothing brand also tweeted its support of the campaign and said it would pause all paid ads on Facebook and Instagram for July. Pathmatics data found that the company spent roughly $30,621 on paid ads on Facebook during July 2019. As for Instagram, Pathmatics estimates that during June 2020 the company spent $1,563 on ads on the platform.

Ford

According to The New York Times, Ford will stop all national social media advertising for 30-days. Per Pathmatics, Ford spent $1,477,452 on Facebook advertising during July 2019. On Instagram the most recent available estimate from Pathmatics is from May 2020 which shows that Ford spent $825 on the platform. However, during April 2020 Pathmatics estimates for Instagram spending during the month was significantly higher at $19,470.

The Hershey Company

Per Business Insider, the chocolate maker plans to reduce how much it spends on Facebook advertising by one third for the rest of the year. Pathmatics estimates that from July 2019 through December 2019, Hershey spent $14,168,197 on paid Facebook ads. Most recently on Instagram the company spent $5,467,547 on paid ads during June 2020.

Hewlett-Packard

Earlier this week, HP said it would stop advertising on Facebook and Instagram until the social media giant took action against its brand appearing alongside “objectionable content.” According to Pathmatics data, during July 2019 the technology company spent roughly $4,671,544 on Facebook ads. As for Instagram, during June 2020, the company spent approximately $55,506 on Instagram ads. 

Levi Strauss

The famous jean maker is also joining the movement and will pause advertising on Facebook and Instagram through at least July. Pathmatics estimates that Levi’s spent $88,614 on paid advertising on Facebook during July 2019 and $2,079,150 on paid advertising on the platform from July 2019 through December 2019. As for Instagram, the most recent estimate available from Pathmatics is for May 2020 when the company spent approximately $369,152 on paid ads on the platform. 

Lululemon

The activewear brand also tweeted that it would join the campaign by pausing advertising on Facebook and Instagram. Pathmatics data found that during July 2019, Lululemon spent roughly $97,127 on Facebook ads and from July 2019 through December 2019 the company spent nearly $472,630 on ads on the platform. On Instagram, Pathmatics most recent data found that during June 2020 Lululemon spent nearly $10,088 on paid ads on the platform. 

The North Face

The company was one of the first major marketers to pull its advertising dollars from Facebook and Instagram. It plans to do so throughout July. Per Pathmatics estimates, The North Face spent nearly $1,063,875 on paid ads on Facebook during July 2019. When it comes to Instagram, Pathmatics most recent estimate is for June 2020 during which time The North Face spent roughly $21,043 on paid ads on the platform. 

Patagonia

The company also joined the movement early on, committing to removing paid ads from Facebook and Instagram through July. Per Pathmatics estimates, Patagonia spent $170,067 on paid advertising on Facebook during July 2019 and $3,251,582 on paid advertising on the platform from July 2019 through December 2019. The company’s most recent Instagram estimate for Patagonia’s paid ad spending is for May 2020 during which time Patagonia spent roughly $23,250 on paid ads on the platform. 

Patron

The alcohol brand also tweeted support and said it would halt advertising on Facebook and Instagram until the social media giant took action to curb hate speech on its platform. Pathmatics estimates that during July 2019, Patron spent $21,347 on paid ads on Facebook and that from July 2019 through December 2019 the company spent a total of approximately $342,645. As for Instagram, the most recent estimate from Pathmatics is from May 2020 when the company spent roughly $229,626 on paid ads.

Pfizer

The pharmaceutical giant also joined in by pausing advertising on Facebook and Instagram for July, according to The New York Times. Pathmatics estimates that the company spent $1,479,164 on Facebook ads during July 2019. On Instagram, Pfizer most recently spent roughly $498,603 on paid ads during the month of June 2020. 

Puma

The sportswear brand posted on Twitter that it would join in and stop advertising on Facebook and Instagram for the month of July. Per Pathmatics estimates, Puma spent $185,432 on Facebook ads during July 2019. Most recently on Instagram during June 2020, Puma spent roughly $297,604. 

REI

The outdoor retailer also joined the movement early on and committed to pulling advertising on Facebook and Instagram throughout July. Pathmatics estimates that REI spent $1,676,181 on Facebook ads during July 2019 and most recently on Instagram spent $8,028 on paid ads during June 2020.

SAP

Earlier this week, the company said it would stop advertising on Facebook and Instagram until the platform took action. Per Pathmatics data, SAP spent $590 on paid ads on Facebook during July 2019 and a total of $23,396 from July 2019 through December 2019. On Instagram, SAP spent $2,477 on paid ads during June 2020. 

Starbucks

In a statement Starbucks said it would pause advertising on social media “while we continue discussions internally, with our media partners and with civil rights organizations in the effort to stop the spread of hate speech.” Pathmatics data estimates that during July 2019, Starbucks spent $9,234,423 on paid ads on the platform and over the course of July 2019 through December 2019, the company spent $60,902,704 on paid ads. Most recently during June 2020 on Instagram, Starbucks spent roughly $1,161,221 on paid ads, per Pathmatics. 

Target

The retailer will also pause ads on Facebook and Instagram for the month of July. Per Pathmatics estimates, Target spent $2,888,706 on paid Facebook ads during July 2019. On Instagram, Target spent roughly $1,058,767 on paid ads during June 2020, according to Pathmatics.

Unilever

The packaged goods behemoth plans to sit out advertising on Facebook and Instagram through the rest of 2020. Per Pathmatics data, from July 2019 through December 2019 the company spent approximately $19,028,937 on paid ads on Facebook. As for Instagram, during June 2020, Unilever spent roughly $1,464,138 on paid ads. 

Vans’ parent company VF Corporation

The shoemaker plans to halt its advertising on Facebook and Instagram for July. Pathmatics estimates that during July 2019 Vans’ parent company VF Corporation spent $1,063,875 on paid ads. Pathmatics did not have recent data for Instagram immediately available for Vans.

Verizon

The communications giant plans to sit out advertising on Facebook and Instagram throughout July, according to CNBC. Pathmatics estimates that during July 2019, Verizon spent $771,942 on paid ads on Facebook. Most recently, during June 2020 the company spent roughly $507,249 on paid ads on Instagram.

Streaming viewership shift

Stuck at home, people spent more time watching TV — linear and streaming — than they did before the shelter-at-home orders hit. However, linear TV viewership has since ebbed to pre-March levels, while streaming viewership has remained high. 

In the first week of June, people spent 126.1 billion minutes streaming shows and movies, up 49% compared to the first week of June in 2019, according to Nielsen. That suggests that audiences have established new streaming habits since March that are likely to outlast the quarantine. 

Then consider the accelerated rate of people canceling their traditional pay-TV subscriptions in the first quarter of 2020: the pay-TV subscriber bases for Altice, AT&T, Comcast and Verizon shrunk by 11%, according to Rich Greenfield, a partner at research firm LightShed Partners. Therefore, even if audiences return to linear TV as live sports return, they may be just as likely to sign up for a streaming pay-TV service as a cable or satellite subscription, reinforcing the shift to streaming.

Upfront undone

TV advertising’s annual upfront marketplace had already outlived the era when advertisers could pick out prime-time TV shows months in advance and be rest assured the shows would deliver a large audience of potential customers. The upfronts will outlive the current economic downturn — but it won’t be the same.

As advertisers tried to squirrel away whatever money they could, they asked TV networks to be let out of their upfront commitments. Now, as the next round of upfront negotiations kick off, they are asking for more flexibility to be written into their deal terms, such as the option to cancel a larger portion of their committed dollars closer to when a quarter begins. 

TV networks have their own businesses to consider, though. If they don’t know how much advertising revenue they will be sure to receive in a given quarter, they may be pressed to pay less for the programming that attracts the audiences that advertisers are after. If that were to happen, it may only push more people to tune out traditional TV and into the arms of the surging streaming services.

Streaming wars’ battlefield expands

The streaming wars have centered on companies like Disney and WarnerMedia duking it out with Netflix for people’s subscription budgets. That battle is still being fought, with 41% of streaming subscribers canceling at least one subscription during the first quarter of 2020, per research firm Parks Associates. However, there is another battle underway on the ad-supported front. 

While Hulu and YouTube have dominated the ad-supported streaming market for years, Amazon and Roku have been building up their connected TV ad businesses, including their own ad-supported streaming properties like Amazon’s IMDb TV and Roku’s The Roku Channel. And the TV companies are no longer treating streaming as a side business. Disney, Fox, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS each now own ad-supported streaming services that are not tethered to their pay-TV businesses.

This leveling of the playing field among pure-play streamers, CTV platforms and TV networks — combined with the streaming viewership surge — will likely lead to more money moving from linear TV to streaming, and staying there.

Short-form’s small market

Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg has blamed coronavirus for the mobile video app’s disappointing debut. But Quibi’s struggles likely have more to do with the market it’s in than people being out of the office.

Quibi is not the first company to try to get people to pay to watch short-form programming. Verizon’s now-defunct Vessel and YouTube, through YouTube Red, have tried and failed. Meanwhile, Verizon’s Go90 couldn’t get people to tune in despite giving its app away for free. 

That’s not to say there isn’t audience for high-quality short-form shows. Snapchat has more than 60 short-form shows that attracted at least 10 million viewers each month in the first quarter of 2020. Given Snapchat’s success and Quibi’s failure so far, the issue seems to be that viewers aren’t interested enough in short-form shows to install an app specifically for that purpose, not to mention to pay to watch them.

Production on pause

The shutdown of physical production may have as lasting an impact as any other effect of the coronavirus on the future of TV. TV networks’ and streaming services’ programming plans have been disrupted and producers have had to adapt to shooting shows remotely. Freelancers have been put out of work.

Even as companies prepare to return to production, they have to take precautions not only to protect talent and crews, but also have contingency plans in the event of another production shutdown. The stop and slow restart may seriously crimp networks’ and streamers’ programming pipelines. Considering that programming underpins the entire industry — content being king and all — that impact will have a wide-ranging ripple effect, the beginnings of which we will see in the back half of 2020.

Confessional

“We’ve probably seen two dozen flexibility framework options thrown at us. Half are unreasonable, and half are understandable.”

— TV network sales executive on advertisers’ flexibility demands

Stay tuned: Facebook ad boycott

Just as publishers’ social video ad revenue was rebounding, Facebook’s failure to police what people say on its platform may put the recovery in reverse.

Many major advertisers, including Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Unilever, have said they will stop advertising on Facebook, and in some cases other platforms, for at least the next month. The advertisers are halting their social ad buying in an attempt to pressure Facebook, and in some cases other platforms, to do a better job controlling hate speech (and definitely not because it gives them cover to save money during an economic downturn).

Hard to say at this point how exactly this will affect the money publishers make from the videos they distribute on Facebook and other platforms; most of the boycotts don’t seem to take effect until today (July 1). But it probably isn’t a positive development since these advertisers are more brand-oriented and therefore more likely to buy Facebook’s video inventory than the small- and medium-sized advertisers that make up the bulk of Facebook’s ad business and primarily purchase static in-feed ads to get people to visit their sites and buy their products.

There could be a silver lining though. Some of these advertisers may be less inclined to put their money where their mouth is and looking for ways to side-step their pledges to boycott Facebook. As a result, they may be surreptitiously seeking out sponsorship opportunities in publishers’ videos as a way to continue to reach people on Facebook without giving money to Facebook.

Numbers don’t lie

$65: New price of YouTube TV, a $15 hike after adding ViacomCBS channels.

59: Number of original programs that will premiere on Netflix in July, according to The Verge.

41%: Share of streaming subscribers that canceled a subscription during the first quarter of 2020, according to research firm Parks Associates.

What we’ve covered

Inside Bleacher Report’s staff revolt that toppled a CEO:

• The disparity between B/R’s mostly white leadership and its Black employees has reached a breaking point.
• Current and former B/R employees describe the systemic inequality that Black employees have had to deal with.

Read more about Bleacher Report here.

Ad buyers assess publishers’ video studios:

• Ad buyers remain divided on whether publishers with video studios should be top of mind when spending their clients’ video advertising budgets.
• The appeal of publishers’ video offerings is not audience, but the brand loyalty they command and the ability to be nimble and flexible.

Read more about publishers’ video studios here.

Inside TikTok’s revamped pitch to advertisers:

• TikTok is stressing its deviation from the way older rivals have gone to market with promises to be more transparent on the performance of its ads.
• TikTok has distilled its pitch into five key points.

Read more about TikTok here.

IGTV is becoming YouTube stars’ alternative platform of choice:

• IGTV has begun making inroads among YouTube talent, thanks to Instagram’s overall popularity and the relatively light lift required to produce an IGTV video.
• It helps that Instagram has funded some creators’ IGTV videos and is now testing a monetization program.

Read more about IGTV here.

What we’re reading

Disney cuts the cord:
After failing to reach carriage agreements with a couple U.K. pay-TV providers, Disney has opted to shut down its British kids TV channels, according to Deadline. This is an overseas example, but it could cross the pond and become more common. Major TV network groups, including Disney, NBCUniversal, WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS, now have their own standalone streaming services. As much as the networks don’t want to say their streamers offer ripcords to exit the pay-TV business whenever they may need to, that is exactly what these services are and exactly what Disney has done.

Amazon Prime Video adding more 24/7 streaming channels:
Amazon has posted a number of job listings for roles related to live streaming channels on Prime Video, according to Protocol. As Variety pointed out, Amazon’s subscription-based streamer already has 24/7 streaming channels, and The Wall Street Journal and Digiday reported last year that Amazon planned to add 24/7 streaming channels to ad-supported IMDb TV. But, while none of this is all that new, the job listing that describes this as “Day 1 for the linear TV experience on Prime Video” suggests that Amazon may have bigger ambitions for its TV business.

TikTok’s influencer management ecosystem:
A cottage industry is emerging around TikTok stars. Traditional talent agencies, talent managers and upstart influencer marketing firms are vying to sign the next Charli D’Amelio, so Business Insider created a database to map out which agents and managers represent which influencers.