Ryvalmedia Pulse (Vol.39)

Physical stores continue to face pressure, as online retail continues to strengthen

The current retail landscape is a tale of two cities. While Australian retail spend across a financially tough 2023 sat at $361b (only 2% more than 2022), 8 in 10 households shopped online across 2023 which is a +1.4% YoY growth. While still feeling the hip-pocket pinch, only those who shop online 11 times a year or less have slightly decreased their purchase frequency. Online retailers have stayed on top of these purchase habits, with most consumers opting for smaller purchases but more frequently, making it easier than ever before to return items or offer discounts on shipping and other elements that have detracted consumers in the past to shop frequently online. The online retail market continues to mature and with it, consumer expectations across core demographics are shifting, signifying the importance for emerging retailers to be proactive in their physical and online strategies. With consumers increasingly price and convenience focused, retailers need to satisfy the needs of their target consumers to remain competitive in the retail environment. Learn more

Facebook challenges news ban, with pressure put back on news publishers

As we come closer to the end of the three-year deal signed by Meta to compensate Australian media outlets as part of the news media bargaining code, Facebook (Meta’s primary subsidiary) has announced it will stop paying for news content in Australia when the current deal expires and will also cease news aggregation on the site. While similar news deprecation has already taken place in the UK, France, and Germany as of December 2023, and with the US deprecation to take place simultaneously with Australia, it will come at the cost of $70 million yearly revenue to local news publishers. With the growing uncertainty around the future of the news media bargaining code, exploring alternative buying and investment strategies will continue to grow in importance. While affected publishers navigate the loss of revenue from the code, there is an opportunity to explore alternative audience and data led strategies to offset the risk of over relying on direct publisher buying strategies. Tapping into available data signals to understand how news readers and publisher site visitors interact and engage with other content online will be crucial for businesses to understand as this story develops. Learn more

The Trade Desk report shows growth across the open internet

The Trade Desk’s recent “future of advertising” report highlights some significant statistics that shed light on how consumers interact with both walled gardens and open internet sites. While 64% of Australian consumers spend their time on the open internet, only 36% spend their time on walled garden sites such as social media platforms. This sits in contrast with current advertiser spending, where 62% of advertising spend goes towards walled garden sites and 38% towards the open internet. Other key metrics such as engagement, brand trust and time spent with media all favour the open internet, with consumer habits continuing to shift towards more engaging content that sits on the open internet. Despite online consumers increasingly preferencing time and engagement across the ‘open internet’, marketing expenditure has continued to prioritise ‘walled gardens’. The marketing industry will need to become increasingly proactive in their approach to targeting consumers beyond social networks, especially as targeting is increasingly restricted as they strive to satisfy consumer privacy concerns. Learn more

The Ryvalmedia Pulse is prepared fortnightly by Alex Pupko (Strategy Executive), with this issue in collaboration with Jacob Deluca (Business Coordinator).