KantarGreatAdvertisingKantar just launched the second edition of its global Ad Equity ranking of media channels and media brands, Media Reactions 2021, which identifies the places where users of media channels and media brands most appreciate advertising and are least likely to view ads negatively.

More than 14,500 consumer interviews, covering over 290 brands in 23 countries have been conducted, and perspectives from interviews with over 900 senior marketers from advertisers, agencies and media companies worldwide have been considered, too. Media Reactions complements Kantar’s comprehensive portfolio of media measurement and effectiveness solutions, including approaches that test ads in different media contexts and channels.

TikTok tops the Ad Equity charts for a second year

Kantar’s report reveals that TikTok remains top of the global Ad Equity rankings across branded digital platforms. Although only ranked as the #1 digital platform in one country – Taiwan – TikTok is the leading global digital platform in the important US market and is first or second ranked of the global digital platforms in 9 of the 22 countries where it was measured.

Additionally, the inclusion of ecommerce platforms in this year’s ranking illustrates their increasing importance across the digital advertising landscape. Amazon ranks second globally among consumers, topping the list in four markets. Together with regional ecommerce giant Mercado Libre, which leads in Argentina, Amazon’s success showcases why ecommerce has entered the online media channel ad equity rankings in third place.

Top 5 global digital platforms ad equity ranking (consumers vs marketers)

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Marketers favor channels and platforms they believe provide both trustworthy and innovative advertising environments. Among the global brands, Instagram best manages this balancing act.

YouTube, Google and Facebook are trusted platforms, while TikTok is not yet trusted by marketers as much as the more established platforms. However, it has made enormous improvements in the past year and remains comfortably the most innovative place for ads. Besides, trust has doubled, so many more marketers are now positive about placing ads on the platform.

“The results highlight the challenge for brands in keeping their media mix reflective of the latest consumer media preferences as well as reflective of their own values and brand positioning. For marketers, it is important that they understand that today, platform is also an integral part of the message. They need to go beyond reach and frequency planning and have a more strategic choice of where they want their communication to appear. Advertisers can boost the power of their communications, by choosing the right environments”, Pablo Gomez, Head of Creative and Media, Kantar Singapore comments.

Outlook on advertising spending in the coming year

The vast majority of global marketers plan to increase spend on their favored ad formats: online video, influencer content, and social media ads. Many will reduce spend on print ads with YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok being the platforms set to benefit most.

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Despite the prominence of digital platforms in daily life, consumers continue to be more positive about offline ad platforms such as cinema, sponsored events, magazine ads and point of sale (POS), as well as newspaper ads.

Kantar’s report highlights the importance and challenge of country-specific media strategies. In 16 of the 23 markets surveyed the #1 ranked media brand was a local media brand or a localized version of global media brands. Ten of these 16 are news and magazine brands. This local success, together with differing attitudes to the ads on global digital media brands, makes balancing the benefits of scale of global media platforms with the promise of greater relevance from local media gems ever more important.

Discussing the findings, Duncan Southgate, Director, Media Domain – Insights Division at Kantar, commented: “The ad industry has been encouraged by the rapid recovery in 2021, as advertising has been used as one of the levers to fuel recovery in the wider economy. As we emerge into a new media landscape, brands need to understand which consumer and marketer attitudes have changed, and which have stayed the same. Which media brands have retained their appeal, and which have grown stronger? While the pandemic accelerated the growth of digital in every aspect of life, we have seen a robustness in consumers’ preference for offline advertising, and particularly some strong local news brands. Marketers need to ensure their strategies respect those preferences alongside the benefits of scale delivered by global digital platforms. TikTok has done an impressive job retaining its differentiated advertising proposition with consumers – even as its user base has almost doubled over the past year. We have also seen the re-emergence of retail as a critical ad platform, both online and physically. Advertising strategies that seamlessly align with omnichannel retail strategies provide a great opportunity for marketers to deliver more popular campaigns.”  

Find out how consumers and marketers perceive media channels and brands, how perceptions have changed over the past 12 months and how to stay relevant in the evolving media landscape by joining Kantar’s free webinar on 9 September.

By MediaBUZZ