Advertisers are back buying video ads—where are these ad dollars going and what does it tell us about the future of video advertising? MediaRadar is here with the answers. No surprise here, but people like watching videos. So much so that the average person spends more than 2 hours a day watching them. Some estimates predict that time spent watching videos will start to plateau or decline—not because video’s becoming less popular, but because there’s only so much time in the day. However, the popularity of OTT, mobile and YouTube will keep videos around forever.
The number of carloads moved on short line and regional railroads in April 2022 was up compared to April 2021. Carloads originated increased 1.7 percent, from 355,874 in April 2021 to 361,793 in April 2022. Metals and Products led gains with a 17.3 percent increase. Petroleum Products was up 16 percent, and Nonmetallic Minerals and Food and Kindred Products increased 12 and 11.5 percent respectively.
As inflation and gas prices remain high, foot traffic to dollar, discount, and thrift stores is booming. We dove into visits to Dollar General, Family Dollar, Five Below, and Goodwill to find out more about these high-performing retailers. Inflation hasn’t spared dollar stores, with a recent analysis of various discount brands finding that prices at leading chains increased for several basic products. But since prices have also increased across retail categories throughout the western world, discount retailers are still remaining comparatively cheaper and giving value-driven customers a reason to visit their stores.
Global downloads of the top 10 ultra fast delivery apps have grown 127%, year-over-year in Q1. With a more granular, monthly breakdown we can see a lot of this growth taking place in Q4 of 2021. As you can see in the chart below, this is a faster growth rate than that of the top 10 meal delivery apps (ex: Uber Eats) or top 10 grocery delivery apps (ex: Instacart). Meal delivery still takes the cake when it comes to absolute numbers.
College graduation season is here. But starting your career can be tricky. There are the coveted big corporate jobs, which can provide structure and stability, and then there are the new dynamic startups, which can provide fast growth. Does starting at a fast-growing startup put you at an advantage for your career? First, when we compare the salary growth of people who started their careers at fast-growing startups with that of slower-growing startups, we find that while they were initially paid less, their salaries overtook their peers after just three years, and continued to grow at a faster pace thereafter.
In the retail space, the divide between outdoor-focused brands and sporting goods retailers is becoming increasingly blurred. But no one has done more to integrate all manners of recreational gear under one company than Dick’s Sporting Goods. The retailer operates several specialized brands to cater to customers looking for equipment to support a diverse range of activities, from golf to fishing to team sports to yoga. To better understand this sector, we took a closer look at the wider ecosystem of Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Since TikTok introduced TikTok for Business, advertisers have been investing massively in the platform that has quickly become a household favorite among Gen Z users. Pathmatics now tracks and breaks out TikTok insights, which reveals that U.S. advertisers spent an average of $338 million per month on the platform—and more than $400 million in April alone. In our latest report, The State of TikTok Advertising in the U.S., we analyze how the top U.S.-based advertisers are spending and crafting their messaging on TikTok.
In 1946, studio executive Darryl F. Zanuck said, “Television won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months…People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.” Boy, was he wrong. If anything, the reason people get tired these days is because they’ve been starting at the “plywood box” too much. To say TV and related technology, like OTT (or “over-the-top”/streaming services) is popular would be an understatement. This year, 1.88b people will use OTT services like Netflix, Peacock, Discovery+ and Paramount+.
Used cars stand out among the many categories seeing unprecedented demand recently, with many cars being sold even before they hit dealer websites. In today’s Insight Flash, we focus in on trends for CVNA and KMX, two of our most strongly correlated auto names, looking at inventory growth, average value of inventory versus units sold, and trends in model year sales.
The r/wallstreetbets and "meme stock" news cycle in late January 2021 was a coming out party for retail investing and the apps that enable it. When Robinhood hit #1 Overall in the U.S. iOS App Store on January 27, 2021, it was the first time a retail trading app had done so. Apptopia's latest report, Trendlines in Retail Investing Apps, looks at the impact and how competitors have faired since then.
After surging through the pandemic, online traffic to many retailers’ websites has slowed, as consumers return to in-store shopping and shift more of their disposable income to experiences. This is true for even some of the largest U.S. retailers, Walmart and Target. In 1Q22, converted traffic (or traffic that leads to the sale confirmation page) to both target.com and walmart.com fell 5.5% and 4.3%, respectively, from the prior year, according to Similarweb estimates
In this Placer Spotlight, we dive into the visit data for Ulta Beauty to understand how the variety of its brick and mortar offerings is impacting retail foot traffic to the brand. Ulta is one of the non-essential retail brands that recovered the fastest from the COVID lockdowns and store closures, with retail foot traffic reaching 2019 levels in early 2021. As the country continued to open up and people began socializing again, Ulta’s visit surge continued, with foot traffic throughout most of 2021 higher than it was pre-pandemic.
If you're hiring for an open position, gear up for another wild year. Job openings are at their highest level in years, and there simply aren't enough workers to go around. This is making it harder to fill open positions and forcing employers to get creative in order to attract talent. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 11.5 million openings in the United States at the end of March. Voluntary separations are also up, with 4.5 million workers retiring or quitting their jobs in favor of a better opportunity. Many of these employees will turn to recruiting sites to find jobs that offer higher pay, better benefits, and more flexible work arrangements.
What are America’s favorite pastimes? Baseball. Apple pie. Rearranging furniture. That’s right—home furnishing and furniture rearranging is on the rise. Pinterest’s popularity continues to climb; in Q1 2022, Pinterest reported 433mm monthly active users (MAUs). The TV channel HGTV (which focuses solely on home design, redecorating, and remodeling) also was the 9th most-watched TV network in 2021.
Peloton has been on a wild ride the past three years. When in-person gyms closed due to COVID-19, Peloton capitalized on providing an in-home fitness solution. Peloton’s shares were up 220% in 2020 due to the pandemic causing profits to rise. But nearly all of those gains were wiped out last year as the brand had a bumpy ride in 2021 with bad press, class action lawsuits, supply problems among their issues.
Shortly before announcing its first quarter earnings results, DTC home furnishing company Wayfair Inc (NYSE: W) launched its fifth annual Way Day sales event. Bucking its trend of increasing sales every year, consumer transaction data shows that Wayfair sales during Way Day week in 2022 were lower compared to Way Day week sales during the previous two years. However, zooming out, average transaction values at Wayfair Inc have been on the rise in 2022.
We last looked at the impact of inflation and increased gas costs on retail foot traffic in late March 2022. With another month of data in, we dove into the numbers to find out if retail visits have recovered from the shock of rising prices and what categories are proving particularly resilient. Gas prices increased gradually in January and February 2022, but the beginning of March saw a dramatic spike relative to an end of 2020 baseline.
Online Food Delivery apps are changing the traditional fast food restaurant business. With their user-friendly experience, professional driver network, and rapid global expansion, many fast food chains have chosen to onboard the food delivery platforms to keep up with the on-demand economy. At Measurable AI, we build and own a unique consumer panel and are the largest transactional email receipt data provider for the emerging markets.
The number of apps describing themselves and/or marketing themselves as "web3" is growing. Apptopia data indicates this trend started in 2020 and ramped up in 2022. The number of Web3 apps available for download is growing almost 5x faster in 2022 than in 2021. Year-to-date, apps available for downloads are up 88%.
In our recent collaboration with Business Insider, we studied talent flows from quant hedge funds and prop trading firms to the tech industry. This week we focus on who exactly is hiring this technical talent during the hefty non-compete period. While rival funds and trading firms are frequent destinations, Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft are still the most common destinations for engineers, data scientists, and researchers.
