In this week’s Week in Charts: Reach’s Piers North on AI’s impact on search, ProSieben overtakes MFE in market cap, and buyers report mixed experiences with RMNs.
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AI Summaries Cut Google Click-Through Rates by Half
Users are twice as likely to click on links in Google search results where the search engine does not generate an AI summary, compared to when an AI summary is present, according to a study from Pew Research Center. The results, based on search activity from 900 US adults in March, backs up publishers’ concerns that AI summaries are hitting their traffic referrals from Google. Although the AI summaries also provide links to websites that informed the overview, the research found that users click on these links in just one percent of cases.
Buyers Report Broadly Positive Experience with Retail Media Networks but Frustrations Persist
Just over half of buyers are satisfied with their experience in working with retail media networks (RMN), according to IAB Europe’s latest ‘Attitudes to Retail Media’ report, with 54 percent of respondents reporting a good or very good experience. While this is a marginal improvement on 2024, the proportion reporting a poor experience also increased slightly this year. The buyers cited inadequate tech and integration, limited access to granular data, inconsistent measurement standards, and opaque cost structures as major pain points in working with RMNs.
Streaming Service Latency Risks Minute-Long Delay on Live Sport
As streaming services take on more live sport, the issue of latency is a growing concern. Phenix, a streaming tech firm, measured the latency for this year’s Super Bowl across different services, and found the streams lagged from 26 (Tubi) to 78 (Fubo) seconds behind the on-field action. The study noted the increasing risk of consumers seeing spoilers on their phones while using a second screen at the same time as watching live sport.
Half of Marketers Use AI for Image and Video Creation Every Day
Almost half of marketers in the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain and Australia use AI every day for video creation and image generation, according to a new study from Canva and Morning Consult. The suvey, which consulted 2,400 marketers across the six markets, also found that over half use AI tools daily for text generation and text refinement purposes. “While the AI conversation may be dominated by talk about text-based applications, marketing teams are also getting real value from using it for visual communication,” the report stated.
The Week in Stocks
Agencies
Stagwell’s share price rose 12 percent ahead of the US agency network’s Q2 earnings on Thursday.
TV
Netflix’s market cap dipped below $500 billion for the first time in two months on Monday, as investors cool on the streaming giant’s future prospects.
Publishers
Reach’s stock price declined 5 percent after the UK publisher posted a 3.4 percent YoY fall in revenues in its half-year results.
Ad Tech
Shares in The Trade Desk are up 10 percent in anticipation of the ad tech firm’s Q2 results next week.
Tech
US tech stocks saw marginal gains on Monday following the announcement of a new trade deal between the US and EU.
