X reputation, SVOD, open web: 5 interesting stats to start your week

X reputation continues to decline

Since Elon Musk took over X (formerly Twitter) in 2022, the platform’s reputation has steadily declined, with 42% of daily users in the UK now holding a negative view of the social media site.

According to a new YouGov study conducted last week, the social media platform has hit its lowest reputation ratings in two years since Musk’s purchase, with 51% of non-users viewing it negatively.

The study finds 62% of daily users believe there’s “too much freedom” to post offensive or harmful content on X. Nearly half (48%) of the public and 58% of non-daily users agree.

In contrast, only 12% of the public think X balances freedom and moderation well, and just 5% find X’s moderation too strict.

Moreover, nearly four times as many Britons hold a negative view of Elon Musk (64%) as those with a positive view (17%).

The figures represent a significant decline since the study began in 2022 when Musk was first positioning himself to purchase the platform. While about the same number of Britons had a positive view of Musk then (23%) as do now, far fewer people actively disliked him (40%).

Even a year after Musk rebranded the platform to X, only 4-5% of the wider public refer to it by its rebranded name, while 70% of Britons say they still refer to the platform as Twitter.

Source: YouGov

Subscription video-on-demand numbers reach new high

More than 20 million UK homes (68.7%) had access to a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service in Q2 2024, according to data from Barb’s establishment survey.

This is a 6.6% increase from the 19.5 million UK homes that had access to an SVOD service in Q1 and the first time the number reached more than 20 million.

Netflix continues to maintain the highest share of subscribers, with 17.1 million UK homes (58.6%) accessing the platform in Q2, up from 16.7 million (58%) in Q1.

The number of UK homes on the Netflix ad tier continues to grow, reaching 2.78 million (9.5%) from 2.12 million (7.4%) in Q1. By the end of Q2, the Disney+ ad tier, in its eighth month, averaged 820,000 homes across the quarter.

Moreover, 13.7 million UK homes (46.7%) had access to Amazon Prime Video in Q2, up from 13 million (45.3%) in Q1. Some 7.6 million UK homes (26.1%) had access to Disney+ in Q2, flat compared to Q1, while 2.4 million UK homes (8.3%) had access to Apple TV+ in Q2 – flat compared to Q1.

Source: Barb

Open web investment declines as advertisers head to walled gardens

Three-quarters of advertisers (76%) are spending 40% or less of their budgets on open web advertising as walled garden spend grows, according to WARC’s Future of Programmatic report.

Walled garden platforms include Meta, Google, and Amazon, open web advertisers are those outside of these ecosystems.

Despite evidence suggesting the open web remains the area in which audiences spend most of their time, investment in walled gardens appears to be growing. According to WARC forecasts, just five platforms will take over half of global advertising spend this year.

The findings suggest advertisers and agencies are opting to spend more on programmatic direct deals (e.g. programmatic guaranteed, preferred deals) at the expense of traditional real-time bidding.

Meanwhile, more than half (56%) of respondents purchase display inventory using programmatic methods. Retail media inventory also features high on the list of channels transacted programmatically, while social and gaming are anticipated to receive the largest increases in programmatic investment.

Source: WARC/NewtonX

A third of consumers plan to ‘trade up’ at Christmas

As the Christmas period approaches, a third (33%) of consumers in the UK intend to ‘trade up’ their quality for food and drink purchases, while 28% intend to ‘trade up’ the retailer they spend with.

The results from Mail Metro Media and Trajectory’s Retail at Christmas research suggest 14% of Brits intend to make more of an effort this Christmas, with a net 3% estimated to increase spend on Christmas gifts this year compared to last.

The average estimated spend on food is up 4% to £127 and the average drink spend is down 3% to £78, while 44% plan to eat out more over the festive period.

The study found brand sites (40%) are the leading source of Christmas gifting inspiration, followed by social (30%) and news brands (28%).

At the same time, 38% are increasing their reliance on loyalty schemes for Christmas expenditure – rising to half (50%) in Difficult Dwellings, the demographic of people who are still facing financial pressures.

Source: Mail Metro Media

Brand safety a top concern for advertisers

More than half (60%) of advertisers and agencies see brand safety as a top concern when it comes to programmatic advertising.

The findings from WARC, conducted in partnership with B2B market research company NewtonX, list brand safety and suitability as the lead concern, as programmatic accounts for more than 70% of digital spend.

The next three top concerns were the deprecation of third-party cookies (52%), viewability and accurate measurement (51%), and ad fraud (46%).

The report reveals how the industry is failing to act on transparency issues in programmatic advertising. According to the research, just 36 cents from every $1 spent on programmatic advertising reaches the consumer and a quarter of the $88bn (£69bn) spent on open web programmatic is wasted on low-quality and fraudulent ad impressions.

Source: WARC/NewtonX