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1 Minute Advice: Streaming Video Booms, but TV Hangs On

Streaming video is widely and wildly popular with Millennials as well as other demographics, but a recent survey suggests that traditional television is managing to hold its own.

eMarketer reports that a late 2017 survey conducted by Raymond James points to the coexistence of streaming and TV. Over half of the respondents (55 percent) said they plan to retain their current television package unchanged for the next twelve months. According to Raymond James, sports and news are key motivations for depending on television, while cost and convenience are linked with streaming video. Avoiding commercials is another perceived benefit of streaming video.

Just as significant, however, is the fact that across all demographics, on-demand television and digital video is the primary means of consumption, as opposed to live television. Increasingly, consumers want to view programs and video on their own time schedule. eMarketer estimates that, despite the booming market for streaming video, over 70 percent of U.S. households will have a subscription to traditional pay TV services through at least 2020.

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1 Minute Advice: Brands, Take a Stand

Whether it is social media, the current activist climate, or some other phenomenon, there is a new emphasis these days on taking a stand. Consumers, it seems, want brands to take a stand as well.

eMarketer reports on a recent survey of U.S. Internet users by Sprout Social in which two-thirds of respondents say they want brands to "take a stand on social and political issues." Issues that led the way in terms of all brands taking a stand were: Human rights (indicated by 58 percent of respondents), labor laws (55 percent),  poverty (48 percent), and gender equality (48 percent).

According to Andrew Caravella, VP of strategy and brand engagement for Sprout Social, as quoted in eMarketer: "Respondents said that brands are more credible when taking this kind of public stand when they have a history of speaking out on that topic. We can apply the same bar to assessing CEO credibility. While executives have a unique opportunity to generate goodwill by tackling social issues, they’re also subject to the same level of scrutiny as their company. That is why it's imperative that the brand and its executives align on their values, organizational commitment and public stances."

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1 Minute Advice: Best Global Brands of 2017

There are many brand rankings, but one of the most significant is the annual ranking of global brands by the international branding agency, Interbrand. Why? Because this particular study ranks brands by their financial value. Interbrand views the best brands as having some commonalities, namely: 

1. The age of a company and the industry it is in is less important than the brand's ability to grow and change.
2. Great brands are obsessed by customers and people.
3. "Clarity and purposeful focus" are the hallmarks of the best brands.

With the above principles in mind, here are the top ten global brands for 2017, in descending order, according to Interbrand:

1. Apple
2. Google
3. Microsoft
4. Coca-Cola
5. Amazon
6. Samsung
7. Toyota
8. Facebook
9. Mercedes Benz
10. IBM

To see the top 100 global brands, and for more about Interbrand's annual ranking, visit: http://interbrand.com/best-brands/best-global-brands/2017/

This post is brought to you by 123eGuides.com. 123 eGuides are a series of authoritative guides about branding, marketing and small business published exclusively in electronic format to provide maximum value at minimum cost.

1 Minute Advice: Online Advertising Trends

Here's a handy interactive infographic about online advertising trends for 2018, courtesy of Adzooma.