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Amid the massive disruption that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused, a new global media landscape is emerging—and it’s digital. The pandemic is far from over, and we will feel its effects for years to come, but the resilient media industry is bouncing back, with certain constituents pulling out ahead of others. 

Marketing and ad spend are good barometers for measuring the overall health of the industry, and Nielsen Ad Intel data shows just what a turn-around the industry has made over the past 12 months. We know that long-term revenue can take a 2% hit for every quarter a brand stops advertising, but marketers worldwide dramatically pulled back on their spending as the pandemic set in last year. That pullback, however, was short-lived, as fourth-quarter 2020 and first-quarter 2021 spending levels were above their seasonal, pre-pandemic levels.

Given the effects of the pandemic on various market sectors, the return of ad spending has not been universal. Several industries that pulled back significantly last year, however, have returned to advertising with double-digit increases, including fast-moving consumer goods, durables, financial services and distribution companies.

As brands, advertisers and agencies think about the future, which should include ample brand building efforts for revitalized consumers, the rebounding landscape provides clear guidance on channels that are attracting the most engagement from consumers. With connectivity and online engagement well above norms during much of 2020, we expect that many newer behaviors will stay in place even as people begin to resume some (or all) of their pre-pandemic activities.

It comes without surprise that amid the high levels of online engagement throughout the pandemic, digital ad spend remained positive throughout 2020—even during the massive pullback in the second quarter. That level of digital advertising had a notable impact with consumers, as digital impressions across 27 countries outside the U.S. grew significantly, according to data from Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings. Across the largest digital players, Facebook, Google, YouTube and Amazon, digital impressions increased by 36% over a two-year period. Comparatively, digital impressions across the rest of the internet grew by 26% over the same period.

As has been the case in other markets, streaming has been a significant winner throughout the pandemic, as consumers gravitated to the growing wealth of content options that are available online. And even as parts of the world resume pre-pandemic activities away from home, engagement with streaming content remains elevated, and now accounts for 37% of digital impressions across 27 different markets in Latin America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia Pacific. Comparatively, digital impressions across streaming content (including YouTube and podcasts) in the U.S. account for a much larger portion of digital platforms than they do in other markets.

Importantly, as big of an impact as streaming is having on the media landscape, advertisers and agencies should be focused on an array of channels across the digital ecosphere. Streaming has gained share of impressions in Latin America, EEMA and Asia Pacific, but not to the degree that it has in the U.S.

For additional insights, watch the on-demand recording of our recent State of Global Media event.

2021 marks the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. That’s a major milestone, and many advances have been made for those living with disabilities. Globally, there are 1 billion people living with a disability while in the U.S. the number of adults living with a physical or psychological disability stands at about 26% of the U.S. adult population. But as prominent as this community is in the population, it remains largely unseen, or inaccurately depicted, in movies and content on screen. And with increasing concerns about mental health challenges, especially during the pandemic, disability is increasingly a part of everyone’s experience and an important influence for a growing share of audiences that want to be represented on screen. 

Media has a powerful role in educating audiences about disabilities, both visible and nonvisible. But the representation gap is glaring. Recent Nielsen survey findings reveal that when a story or character shows disabilities, audiences who live with disabilities say the portrayal of their identity group is inaccurate. 

The good news is that storytellers seem to be taking note by incorporating more of the diverse disability experience into content—and movies are leading the way. For example, our Gracenote Video Descriptors database reveals that the volume of content inclusive of disability has increased by over 175% in the last decade compared with the 10 years prior. 

Among the 3,000 titles evaluated in this analysis, nearly 70% of the content inclusive of disability were feature films. But on average, Americans are still spending a significant amount of time with traditional television and streaming through connected devices. With television series accounting for about 16% of the content inclusive of disability, the sentiment among respondents saying TV is missing the mark on representation becomes clearer. 

Television is where audiences spend the most time, but TV programs have lagged movies in representing people with disabilities.

The range of themes related to disabilities has also increased dramatically in recent years in content inclusive of disabilities.

There are more narratives that relate to the real-life experiences of someone who is disabled. With Family and Relationship being the top two themes, stories featuring disabilities are also showing how allies and loved ones relate and connect with those characters.  

Hollywood has made progress in depicting disabilities but much more needs to be done to provide more opportunities to disabled talent—one path to creating greater visibility and more accurate stories about disabilities. Earlier this year, more than 80 stars and entertainment industry professionals signed an open letter and launched the #DontDismissDis campaign, shedding light on the discrimination faced by disabled talent. RespectAbility, a leading nonprofit organization fighting stigmas by more diverse, authentic and accurate portrayals of people with disabilities, explains there are some recurring barriers to more authentic storytelling in Hollywood. “Even though the number of disabled characters on screen continues to increase in recent seasons, an estimated 95% of available roles are portrayed by talent without a disability,” said Lauren Appelbaum, Vice President, communications and entertainment & news media at RespectAbility and author of The Hollywood Disability Inclusion Toolkit. “When disability is a part of a character’s story, too often content can position disabled people as someone to pity or someone to cure. It is crucial we have disabled talent both in front of and behind the camera to develop genuine multi-dimensional characters.”

The media and entertainment industry has led the charge in advocating for diversity in all forms, and holds the power to raise awareness and drive disability inclusion. Greenlighting more projects, including more disabled talent on- and off-screen, encouraging self-ID so studios can find talent to ensure authentic depictions are a few steps studios and content creators can take. In a world where the struggle against inequities and stereotypes persist, media has a responsibility to make disability inclusion a reality.