Creative effectiveness, media consumption, B2B buying preferences: 5 interesting stats to start your week

Only one in three marketers agree business has capabilities to deliver quality creative

Brands are ambitious about creative excellence, but many do not have the capabilities needed to deliver it, finds new research from WARC and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).

Almost three-quarters (71%) of marketers agree that their business is ambitious about delivering creative excellence. However, just over one third (37%) of marketers believe that their business has the right capabilities to deliver groundbreaking creative ideas.

Just 30% of marketers say their business has dedicated creative effectiveness resources in place. Less than two in five (38%) trust their frontline teams to understand their creative effectiveness agenda.

The research also finds stumbling blocks in communicating marketing effectiveness . Just 44% of marketers say their C-suite understands and supports marketing KPIs. Potentially connected is the fact that just half (50%) of marketers say they have metrics linking campaign performance to business outcomes, meaning it may be difficult for marketing to demonstrate its commercial impact.

Source: WARC and the ANA

Commercial media consumption falls as public returns to pre-pandemic habits

UK adults are spending less time consuming commercial media compared to nine years ago, despite media consumption habits reverting back to pre-pandemic patterns.

According to IPA’s 2024 Making Sense report, which tracks how commercial media consumption has shifted since 2015, the share of time spent on commercial curated media has dropped by two percentage points, from 66% to 64% in 2024.

Commercial curated media share, which refers to content-driven channels like TV and online (excluding mail and OOH), had the highest decline among the 16–34 demographic, where it shifted from 76% in 2015 to 67% in 2024.

However, this marks a four percentage point rise since 2020 (when it stood at 63%), highlighting the growing influence of ad-supported tiers on streaming services like Netflix and Disney+ on media consumption.

The report draws on IPA TouchPoints 2024 data to show how commercial media consumption has shifted over time by analysing time spent, share of time, and weekly reach of each commercial channel across four key audiences: all adults, 16–34s, 35-54s, and 55s+.

Since 2015, time spent with curated commercial media has dropped by 17 minutes for adults and by 24 minutes for the 16-34 demographic.

Source: IPA

More than half of B2B buyers willing to walk away if they don’t get ‘consumer-like’ experience

B2B buyers are increasingly expecting “consumer-like” shopping experiences, finds research from McKinsey & Company.

In line with this expectation, the majority of B2B buyers (54%) now say they’d be willing to walk away from a purchase or transaction if they experience a poor quality omnichannel experience.

While B2B buyers are looking for excellence in their purchase journey, that doesn’t necessarily have to entail personal interaction. The comfort to spend big without ever meeting the supplier in person has jumped from 15% in 2022 to 20% in 2024, globally. The UK has seen a jump from 11% in 2021 to 21% in 2024.

B2B decision makers now use an average of 10.2 channels in their buying journey, which has risen from five channels in 2016. Globally, there is a “rule of thirds” in terms of how B2B buyers prefer their interactions, with around one-third of customers hoping for in-person interactions, one-third wanting remote communications, and one-third preferring digital self-serve options.

The research shows this “rule of thirds” is fairly consistent across industries and geographies. Buyers in the UK show a slight preference for digital self-serve, at 36%.

Source: McKinsey & Company

WhatsApp is Gen Z’s preferred channel for brand communication

WhatsApp is the preferred channel for brands communication for 16- to 24-year-olds, with Instagram a close second.

The research suggests that younger consumers want brands to meet them on channels they are used to. Only around one third (34%) of those aged 16-24 prefer a brand to call. By comparison, this is something preferred by 61% of over-55s.

Across the age groups, just 43% of UK consumers say they have been satisfied with the service received online from brands over the past year.

The research suggests that young people may be particularly prone to taking action on this. Around nine out of 10 young people (aged 16-24) say they will take action after a bad customer experience. That action may entail avoiding spending with that brand again (44%), shopping with a competitor (33%), leaving a negative review (18%), or sharing the bad experience on social media (24%).

Source: CommBox

TV loses spot as top news source for UK adults

Online news sites and apps have overtaken television as the UK’s preferred source of news for the first time, with 71% of UK adults using online as a main source of news compared to 70% for TV.

Ofcom’s annual report notes that television had been the dominant source of news for the UK since the 1960s when it overtook newspapers and radio.

Ofcom points to the increasing use of social media as a news source as being a key driver of this change. More than half of UK adults (52%) use platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok as news sources, compared to 47% in 2023.

There is a generational divide at play here, with online sites and apps being the preferred source for 88% of 16- to 24-year-olds (82% of which is on social media), but even the 55-plus demographic is finding its way online with over half (54%) now finding news from online sources.

BBC One remains the top-performing news source at 43% of the public (but has seen a sharp fall from the 49% it commanded in 2023) while ITV (30%), Facebook (30%), BBC iPlayer (23%) and YouTube (19%) round off the top five.

Source: Ofcom