RTTR Q1 2015

Q1 Real-Time Trend Report to Marketers: Music Will Always Be There For You
 
Surrounding the right entertainment trends at the right time is one of the cornerstones of real-time advertising. However, the opportunities across this broad category aren’t always consistent. We already know that movie-related trends spike heading into the summer blockbuster and winter holiday seasons and that television-related trends flourish during premiere and sweeps weeks. According to our latest Real-Time Trend Report, music is the sector of entertainment that delivers the most consistency in both scale and performance for real-time advertising over time.
 
For three consecutive quarters, music-related trends have accounted for between 12%-14% of total Taykey impressions and repeatedly beat industry benchmarks. In Q1 2015, music trends drove high volumes of clicks and video views while exceeding industry performance benchmarks by 182% and 80% respectively! Performance crossed several business verticals with entertainment, retail and health & wellness brands all seeing ad engagement of more than 5x industry average.
 
Did anything crazy happen in Q1 to account for this engagement? The answer is, ‘partially, but not really’. Sure, the Super Bowl halftime show spurred several big micro-trends including a surprise re-appearance of Missy Elliott, ‘Left Shark’ and Katy Perry’s subtle dig at Taylor Swift. But for the most part, music-related trends see consistency over time due to the fact that music in general lacks the same type of seasonality that movies and TV have. Like the two previous quarters, Q1 saw music trends naturally cluster into four major subcategories:
 

  1. Televised Events: (e.g. Lady Gaga performing the South of Music tribute at the 2015 Oscars)
  2. New Music Releases: (e.g. Drake releasing a new, unannounced mixtape)
  3. Unexpected Events: (e.g.Will Ferrell appearing on The Tonight Show and lip syncing Beyonce’s ‘Drunk in Love’)
  4. Industry News: (e.g. Zayn Malik quitting One Direction)

 
Each of these music subcategories has a relatively equal opportunity to have trends emerge throughout the course of the year. Marketers just need to be sure to have a real-time advertising solution in place to fully take advantage of them.
 
 
Be sure to read the full findings of this quarter’s Real-Time Trend Report here, and check back in a couple months for the Q2 edition.