Facebook markets its first hardware product under brand name

Who’s on Top? – October 22-28, 2018

National TV ad spending increased 17% during the week of October 22 when compared to the previous week. New commercials accounted for 13% of this, with a total of $184 million. This figure also represented an increase, growing 3% week over week. NFL games were the main driver of ad revenue, bringing in $291 million overall, beating out the 2018 World Series whose total was $193 million for all games. For new ads however, baseball was the winner bringing in $51 million in ad revenue versus just $39 million for football.

Creative Spotlight

Earlier this month, Facebook announced its answer to Google Home and Amazon Echo – it’s new product called Portal. Portal is the first hardware product marketed under the Facebook brand, and can be used to make video calls as well as access apps like Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Newsy, Food Network, Amazon Alexa and Facebook Watch.

To promote Portal, Facebook released three new TV ads nationwide on October 22, spending nearly $14 million. Launching the device so close to the winter holidays may put Portal on the wish list of many tech lovers giving Facebook an edge. However, time will tell if the masses feel comfortable having a microphone and camera from Facebook in their homes, especially as the company is still working to win back consumer trust.

This data is part of ongoing reporting we release on a weekly basis. Make sure to check back every week for the most recent data, or contact us to learn how you can discover your competitors’ breaking ads on your own in real–time using our AdScope tool.  Already an AdScope customer? Log in now and see what your competitors are up to.