The Daily: August’s great big monthly advertising, media, and retail quiz—Digital ad earnings, Disney’s plan for sports betting, and time spent with social

On today's special podcast episode, we continue our monthly show where we discuss the biggest trends of the moment and the newest research, sprinkle in some analysis, and bundle it up into a quiz. Every month, three of our analysts representing their respective coverage area teams compete against each other. (We also encourage you to play along at home.) We keep a running score and will crown a winning team at the end of the year. Today, we cover the triopoly's Q2 advertising performance, The Walt Disney Co.’s foray into sports betting, and who exactly are Gen Alphas? Tune in to the discussion with this month's contestants: our analysts Ross Benes and Zak Stambor and vice president of Briefings Stephanie Taglianetti.

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Episode Transcript:

Marcus Johnson:

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Ross Benes:

I think they'll be able to get away with it because they've always done things that are polar opposite of what the Disney brand is. They own Miramax. They used to own Hollywood Records, and then they'd put out some profane stuff. I guess as long as they don't touch it with the Disney name, they might be okay. But you are right, it is kind of weird to think about.

Marcus Johnson:

Hello everyone and welcome to the great big advertising media and retail quiz of the month, August 2023. A special episode of the Behind the Numbers Daily, an eMarketer podcast made possible by Awin. This is our monthly show that discusses the biggest trends at the moment and newest research and bundles it up into a quiz, with some analysis sprinkled in. I'm your host, Marcus Johnson. How does this episode work?

Well, it's a big game show, and every month three of our analyst teams, media and advertising is one, retail is two, and social marketing and tech, we've packaged into number three, they go head-to-head-to-head and we're keeping a running score. At the end of the year we crown a winning team who win a gift card each and, of course, claim the Nobel Prize of the analyst world, the Victoria Cup, a trophy designed in pottery class by our very own Victoria who edits the show.

The quiz has three rounds, I never news that, spoiled for multiple choice, and closest wins. The person with the most points at the end of the game wins the gold medal and gets three super-duper points for their teams running total. Second place will get you silver and two super-duper points, and third place gets you a barely above zero, one super-duper point. Let's meet this month's contestants who are representing the different teams I mentioned earlier. Ladies and gentlemen, from the digital advertising and media team, senior analyst based above New York City is Ross Benes.

Ross Benes:

Hey, Marcus.

Marcus Johnson:

Hey, fella. Next up, representing the retail team, senior analyst based just above Chicago is Zak Stambor.

Zak Stambor:

Hey, Marcus. How's it going?

Marcus Johnson:

Hey, fella. Good, sir. And finally, holding it down for the social and tech team, VP of briefings, just above somewhere else in New Jersey, Stephanie Taglianetti.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Cheers, mate.

Marcus Johnson:

There she is. Listeners, you can also be your own team if you want. Don't have to. You can just listen. But if you keep track of your own points total, you can match your score against these three folks at the end to see if you beat them. Speaking of scores, let's check in on the overall team scores thus far. We started this quiz in April. After four months, four rounds, digital advertising and media, Ross' team, is sadly in last place or third, if you want to call it that, with six super-duper points.

The other two teams are tied for first, social marketing and tech and retail have nine super-duper points each leading the way. But that's the overall super-duper points total, running totals. We, of course, start the in-game scores with everyone at zero. James, who copy edits the show, is stepping in for Stuart who runs the team to help us keep the score. It's a low bar, James. You'll do fine. Okay, here we go. Let's play first round, I never news that. In this round, we discuss the biggest stories at the moment with a question tied to each.

Folks have five seconds to send me their answers via Slack. One point if you are correct. Four questions. Let's go with the first story first related question. We're talking about digital advertising earnings. The big three digital ad players recently told us how they did in Q2. Meta kept accelerating its revenue growth growing from 4% in Q1 to 12 in Q2. Amazon's ad business was up 22%. It's better than last Q2. Google bounced back growing ad revenue 3% after two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Everyone doing better. Owned platform YouTube had seen three straight quarters of negative year-on-year growth until it just posted a positive 4% in Q2. But the question is, if YouTube was a standalone company, if it was spun off, broken away from Google, if it was a standalone company, where would it rank in terms of share of the digital ad pie? I'll give you a hint. Google's first, Meta is second. But if YouTube was a standalone company, where would it rank in terms of share of the digital ad pie in the US? Send those answers in via Slack.

Zak Stambor:

Wait, where does it rank? Not the actual share. Did I do that...

Marcus Johnson:

Yeah, exactly, the ranking. Yep, yep. Is it 7th? 10th? 3rd? Ross says fifth, Zak says fourth, and Stephanie says fifth as well. The correct answer is fifth. Stephanie and Ross get a point each.

Zak Stambor:

I feel vindicated.

Marcus Johnson:

Stephanie and Ross are correct. It is indeed fifth. Close though, Zak said fourth. Amazon would be third, Microsoft would be fourth, and then YouTube with a 3% share is just behind them in fifth. TikTok are in sixth place. Yes, indeed. Ross, real quick, I mean, you covered digital advertising and media for us. What did you make of the Triopoly, Meta, Google, and Amazon's earnings in Q2 overall? What was that picture to you?

Ross Benes:

It seemed pretty well overall. There's been a lot of talk of advertisers fearing recession and that we're going to head into this big economic downturn. But then the largest companies, especially Meta, had very strong earnings, which kind of bucks that trend.

Marcus Johnson:

Yeah, all bouncing back to varying degrees, so much rosier outlook than the start of the year. We'll see what Q3 looks like. We're really well into that. Let's move to our second question and we're talking about Disney, how they're getting into sports betting. Our briefings analyst, Daniel Constantinovich, recently noted ESPN signed a 10 year $2 billion deal with Penn National that will see the casino operator's Barstool Sportsbook rebrand to what? The question is what will Disney's new ESPN sports betting arm be called?

What will Disney's new ESPN sports betting arm be called? What do we think folks? Who should we do first? We do Ross first. Ross says ESPN Sportsbook. Zak says ESPN Betting, and Stephanie is the only one who's correct with ESPN Bet. ESPN Bet is the name that they have chosen. They will be promoting on regular ESPN broadcasts and could possibly see integration with streaming service ESPN+ as well. Folks, any thoughts on this move or just the incredibly fast evolution of sports betting in the US?

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Just seeing Disney brand next to sports betting doesn't really sit well with me. It seems to contrast that very wholesome company image.

Marcus Johnson:

I was speaking to Daniel Constantinovich about this and yeah, the question for me, I wonder if there's a survey on this, but how many folks know, we know and maybe a fair few folks do know, but how many folks know that Disney owns ESPN? Because if they do, it could affect their perception of the brand definitely. But if they don't, maybe they'll be able to get away with it.

Zak Stambor:

ESPN is a very strong brand though. That is a brand unto itself. I think people do segment it from the broader Disney brand and the way in which you think of it.

Ross Benes:

I think they'll be able to get away with it because they've always done things that are like polar opposite of what the Disney brand is. They own Miramax. They used to own Hollywood Records, and then they'd put out some profane stuff. I guess as long as they don't touch it with the Disney name, they might be okay. But you are right, it is kind of weird to think about, Mickey Mouse and gambling addiction.

One thing that was kind of wild with that story though is Barstool Sports, Penn, the company that was selling the Sportsbook, paid a bunch of money for them and then they didn't want to be associated with Barstool when they did this ESPN deal. They sold it back to them for $1. Barstool rebought itself for $1.

Marcus Johnson:

Huh, I didn't realize that.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

I didn't know that either.

Marcus Johnson:

Wrinkle of the deal. The opportunity here is pretty huge and getting bigger. The US sports betting market didn't exist pretty much before the pandemic. Total revenues were less than a billion dollars. Today, there are over 10. In two years, they'll be approaching 20. This market's going to come out of nowhere. And then how many bets are there? 30 million. 3-0 million Americans will be online sports bettors this year. Put another way, 12% of people who use the internet will place an online bet in 2023.

All right, let's move to question three. Stephanie's got two points. Ross has got one at the moment. Zak yet to get off the ball. He's like, I bloody know, Marcus. Get on with it. Question three, how much attention should Gen Alpha get? This is the first generation that will be born entirely in the 21st century. There will be more of them than boomers by 2025. In just two years time, more Gen Alpha than boomers, and they will start reaching adulthood in just seven years.

It will be the largest generation ever with the biggest spending power. A generation where AI, AR and streaming will be the norm. These Gen Alphas will be born between which years? I'll give you one, it's something and 2025. What year is missing? Gen Alphas will be born between two years, something and 2025.

Ross Benes:

It seems like we're coming up with generations quicker now. It wasn't really a whole generation ago that we coined the Gen Z thing. If generations are going to be every seven years now, then there's three generations just between me and my siblings, which defeats what a generation is.

Marcus Johnson:

It does seem soon that we're talking about Gen Alpha, but at the same time I also feel very different as a millennial, very different from younger millennials and their behaviors I feel like are so different, even if you just go five years down. I might have brought this up on the podcast before, but there's a way to tell the difference between an older and a younger millennial. You ask them this question, what was your first Game Boy?

Ross Benes:

If it's a Game Boy Color versus an Advance? Is that the...

Marcus Johnson:

Or original. If they've got the original gray with the magnifying glass that you had to attach to zoom in with the light, then you're an older millennial. If you had the Color, then you're probably mid-millennial. If you were a Game Boy Advance, you're a baby millennial.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Mine was green and kind of see-through I think.

Marcus Johnson:

A Color?

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Yeah.

Zak Stambor:

I had original.

Marcus Johnson:

Original, yes. My guy.

Zak Stambor:

I'm an elder millennial. What can I say?

Marcus Johnson:

Ross?

Ross Benes:

I had a Game Boy Color. We did have a Game Boy original, but that was my older brother's. I had a kind of see-through mainly blue or purple, something like purple.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Green see-through.

Marcus Johnson:

The answer to the question, what have we got? Ross thinks it's 2015. Zak says 2010, and Stephanie says 2006. Zak gets the point.

Ross Benes:

Made it on the board. There we go.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

There we go.

Marcus Johnson:

Well played. Zak gets the point in that round. Some interesting stats about Gen Alpha. I saw these recently because we were talking about this in a previous episode. 56% of Gen Alpha's parents said their kids watch shopping content. These are like halls or unboxing videos, according to Morning Consult. Nearly six in 10 Gen Alpha is are doing this. 65% of those entering primary school today are expected to work in entirely new jobs that don't exist yet, according to McCrindle Research, so two-thirds of folks.

And then final one, according to generations expert Dr. Eliza Gilby, the average Gen Alpha has over 100 photos of themselves posted on social media before their first birthday. I don't know how I'd feel about that. Stuart, who runs the team, tried to take a picture of me the other day in the office. I took off running. 100 photos before you're one?

Ross Benes:

My mother-in-law has already exceeded that within six months of my daughter's birth, so I believe it.

Marcus Johnson:

All right, let's move to the final question in this round. TikTok, it's what we're talking about. We covered TikTok a fair amount this month in our August 2nd re-imagining retail episode. We discussed the TikTok flywheel. We talked about its text only posts on the daily on the 7th. We covered TikTok live on the weekly listen on the 18th and what's going on with the TikTok ban on the 25th. But what we haven't yet discussed is when TikTok will pass Facebook in total daily minutes. It passed Instagram in 2022.

But the question is, when will TikTok pass Facebook in total daily minutes according to our forecasts? Zak says 2027, Ross says 2025, and Stephanie says 2025. The answer is 2025. Well played. Ross and Stephanie, you get a point each. Well played. We already estimate that by individual, not total TikTok users spend nearly twice as long on TikTok than Facebook users spend on Facebook. But in terms of total minutes, yeah, 2025 is when they will pass Facebook.

Ross Benes:

The passing Facebook, is that the whole population or just among users of each service?

Marcus Johnson:

Good question. One second. Debbie's Report. Adult population. Yes, among the adult population. I can't believe they already passed Instagram in 2022 and shot past them and they'll pass Facebook and will... I mean, it's not like they're flattening out anytime soon. They're going to just continue to skyrocket past Facebook and Facebook is actually on the downswing. The gap's going to get even wider faster because of that going to very different directions. All right, folks, let's count the points after the first round.

What do we have? Well, scores show me that Stephanie is in the lead with three, Ross has two, and Zak has one point. We're heading into round two. Still a lot to play for, lots of points to get, and we're moving to spoiled for multiple choice. This is the multiple choice round where we dig a little deeper into one of the topics from round one. This month we'll be focusing this round on the time Americans spend with social media, so not just TikTok. We're going to expand it to social media.

One point for a correct answer, three questions in this round, and we are using our very own Debra Aho Williamson report. She's one of our principal analysts covering social media. The report is US time spent with social media 2023. Link in the show notes or on insiderintelligence.com. Question one, folks. From before the pandemic to today, Americans added an extra 25 minutes to their daily social network diets. They added 25 minutes. But how much total time do they spend on social networks daily in 2023?

How much total time do Americans spend daily on social networks this year? Is it one hour and 35 minutes, one hour and 47 minutes, or one hour and 58 minutes? Is it 135, 147, or one hour and 58 minutes? Zak says one hour 47. Ross says 135, and Stephanie says 137.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Which was not even an option.

Zak Stambor:

Spot the difference.

Marcus Johnson:

Wasn't an option. No. What are you doing? Stephanie's gone rogue and will choose her own answers. Zak got it right, it's 147. Congratulations.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

That's what I meant obviously.

Marcus Johnson:

A likely story. James, she will not get the points at all. One hour and 47, that's 11% of total media time spent with social networks. But 147 is their daily diet. All right, question two. Back in 2019, Americans spent 33% of their social network time watching video. All the time on social networks, they spent 33% of it watching video in 2019. But what is that share today? In 2023, what share of the time Americans spend on social networks is spent watching video?

Is it 48%, 56%, or 62%? Is it 48, 56 or 62% Americans time spent on social networks watching video? Oh wow. Quick coming in here. Okay, so Ross says 48, Zak says 48, and Stephanie correctly says 56.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

I meant 46, but I'll take it. I'm just kidding.

Marcus Johnson:

Did you get it wrong? Ugh, unbelievable.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

I'm just kidding.

Marcus Johnson:

56% of their time spent watching video on social networks, but it's not expected to take up much more time in the future though. 60% by 2025. 56 today growing to 60% by 2025. Yeah, flattening out, but still a lot of time.

Ross Benes:

You still have to scroll to find the video that you want.

Marcus Johnson:

Oh, is that what it is?

Ross Benes:

Yeah. There's still going to be a little time there.

Marcus Johnson:

It's not engagement with text. All right, folks, we move to question three. Social network ad spending is a $68 billion business, but what share of all digital ad dollars in the US are going to social network ad spending? What share of the total digital ad pie in the US is going to social network ad spending? Is it 26%, 32%, or 37%? 26, 32 or 37? The share of social network ad dollars of the whole digital pie.

Zak Stambor:

Can you read the options again?

Marcus Johnson:

Yeah, 26, 32, or 37. You good, Stephanie?

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Yeah, okay.

Ross Benes:

Or just start giving A, B, C answers, so we don't...

Stephanie Taglianetti:

I know. What the heck?

Zak Stambor:

That's probably a better strategy.

Marcus Johnson:

I was going to do that and I was like, they don't need ABCs. These guys can keep three numbers in their head for seconds.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

No, we can't.

Marcus Johnson:

Unbelievable. James, you're welcome to the show.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

You're assuming too much of us.

Marcus Johnson:

You have to spoonfeed these guys. You'll learn soon enough, James. These analysts, you guys are worse than Susie. I'm kidding. No one is worse than Susie.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

No one's worse than Susie.

Marcus Johnson:

No. Answers are in. Zak says B, 32, Ross says B, 32 and Stephanie says A, 26. The answer is 26%.

Zak Stambor:

Oh my goodness. 26%.

Marcus Johnson:

Lower share than I would've expected.

Ross Benes:

She's got to have a comfortable lead now at this point.

Marcus Johnson:

Yeah, it's pretty comfortable. Yes, Stephanie's got five, Ross and Zak tied for two, but it's all to play for in round three because there's lots of points to go around. You can get three points per question. Comebacks are possible. If she wins the first question, then...

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Nobody stands a chance.

Zak Stambor:

We can just go home.

Marcus Johnson:

Yeah, pretty much.

Ross Benes:

Well, I'm already home, but.

Zak Stambor:

Yeah, I am.

Marcus Johnson:

You can just hit leave.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Close my laptop.

Marcus Johnson:

On Zoom. All right, folks, any thoughts on some of these numbers? Social network time, total time, time spent watching video, total ad dollars?

Ross Benes:

I thought the total ad dollars would've been a little higher, but I guess it makes sense that its shares probably declining a little bit because so much is going to retail media and streaming.

Marcus Johnson:

Yeah, I believe the share is down a tiny bit or flat, but I was surprised that that wasn't going up.

Ross Benes:

Because it used to just be like Facebook and Google, just those two companies were over half. Facebook was smaller than Google, but its share alone used to be probably 26%, and then you add in TikTok and Snap, but there's other things emerging in digital.

Marcus Johnson:

Yeah, well, Facebook share staggeringly by 2025, Facebook will have 18% share of the digital pie. Amazon will have 15%.

Ross Benes:

And that's Facebook, that's the whole company, right? Not just Facebook.

Marcus Johnson:

Oh sorry, Meta, I should have said. Exactly right. Meta will have 18%.

Ross Benes:

Because probably half of that will be Instagram by that point.

Marcus Johnson:

Yes, exactly right. Yeah, it's pretty much split down the middle. Meta will be in second place behind Google. I think Google's got 24, somewhere in that region, 23. Meta will have 18% share of digital ad spending in the US, and then Amazon with 15% already.

Ross Benes:

There might be some adjustments to that too if the Department of Justice thing with Google reshapes their ad tech business.

Marcus Johnson:

Yeah, good point. All right, folks, as I mentioned, the scores going into round three, Stephanie with five, Zak and Ross with two a piece. This is like the division that the Chiefs are in. What division is that? They just beat the hell out of everybody and everyone else is just playing for a second. No offense, Ross and Zak, but it's pretty bad. Not much of a pep talk, was it?

Ross Benes:

I was going to it's like...

Stephanie Taglianetti:

You guys are just going to sit there and take that from Marcus?

Marcus Johnson:

From me? It's from you. You're crushing them.

Ross Benes:

That's applicable enough today.

Zak Stambor:

It's just not looking so hot. Well, it's very hot here in Chicago, but it's not looking hot in terms of my score.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

I'm not talking smack like Marcus over here.

Marcus Johnson:

I know. It's the AFC West, that's what it is, of games. It's okay. Let's see how you guys do in our third and final round, closest wins. This is the round where the closest guest wins the most points. Three questions, closest guess for each gets three point, second closest gets two, and furthest gets one. Just the one. Question one, we are referring back to some of the stories from the first round. They are somewhat linked. For the first question, we go back to digital ad spend. We're talking about the Triopoly.

What share of US digital ad spending do the big three, Google, Meta, and Amazon, account for this year, according to our forecast? What share of US digital ad spending do the big three, Google, Meta, and Amazon, account for this year according to our forecasts? Answers, folks. Zak says 76, Ross says 51, and Stephanie says 65. The closest is Stephanie.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

No. Stop.

Marcus Johnson:

60% percent.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Zak Stambor:

Darts in the dark. I have no idea.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

As was I. As was I.

Marcus Johnson:

But should you have been... I literally just gave you the numbers to add up.

Ross Benes:

You gave all three even?

Marcus Johnson:

Yes. I said Google is going to have this much, Meta is going to have this much, no one ever listens to it me, and Amazon's going to have this much.

Ross Benes:

I only remembered what you said about Meta. I forgot the other two already.

Marcus Johnson:

Unbelievable.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

When did you say that?

Marcus Johnson:

Literally just seconds ago.

Ross Benes:

You didn't attach a letter to it, so I wasn't able to remember because it wasn't ABC.

Marcus Johnson:

You guys are the worst. Stephanie gets three points. Zak said 76, Ross, 51. Ross is second, so Ross gets two. Zak gets the one, just the one point. Okay, we move to... Let's have a quick look at the scores. Yeah, okay, Stephanie's won. Kind of. Ross, you could still tie Stephanie if you've got these right and the next two and Stephanie got just one point in the next.

Ross Benes:

All right, I'll try to remember what you said in the rest of this episode.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Ah, good luck. I don't remember anything Marcus said, except for when he was making fun of you guys earlier.

Marcus Johnson:

Thanks, guys. Jesus.

Zak Stambor:

And hope is just lost for me.

Marcus Johnson:

Question two, US sports betting, we're back, by state as of June 22, June 22nd, 2023, how many US states allowed some form of sports gambling, whether through retail channels, online sports books, or both, according to our very own principal analyst, Paul Verna, in his latest sports betting report? How many US states allowed... Yep, total number of US states that allowed some form of gambling, whether through retail channels, online sports books, or both? Stephanie says 56. There are only 50. What are you doing? I'm kidding, she shouldn't put that. Zak, pull yourself together.

Zak Stambor:

Oh man. Again, just another dart in the pitch dark.

Marcus Johnson:

Okay, here we go. Zak says 24, Ross says 32, and Stephanie says 40. The answer is 34.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Wow, Ross.

Marcus Johnson:

Ross gets three points. Stephanie gets two, and Zak gets one point.

Ross Benes:

I edited Paul's report that that data came from.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Oh, no wonder it was so specific.

Ross Benes:

But I am honestly surprised I was that close because that was like three weeks ago, so it was hard to recall.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

I know. We can't even remember what Marcus said 20 seconds ago. Nevertheless, three weeks.

Ross Benes:

I was closer on what Paul wrote three weeks ago than I was at what Marcus said five minutes ago.

Marcus Johnson:

Appreciate that.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Yes, yes, yes. Correct.

Marcus Johnson:

I feel so seen. Four additional states have legalized betting, but have yet to launch commercial operations, Paul's report notes. I won't even say the scores because we're pretty set at this point, but we'll do the final question for the hell of it. Why not? Gen Alpha and we're talking about them in the workforce. McCrindle Research estimates that by 2030, by 2030, Gen Alpha will account for what share of the total workforce? By 2030, Gen Alpha will account for what share of the total workforce? Come on, Zak. I've never rooted for someone on the quiz before.

Zak Stambor:

I know. This is just not very good. I was trying to do the math here and I'm sure I'll just embarrass myself again.

Marcus Johnson:

It's not your best work.

Zak Stambor:

I don't want to know. It's like a part of that sentence.

Marcus Johnson:

It's not too bad. Zak says 18, Ross says 15, and Stephanie says 15, and the answer is 11%. 11%. Stephanie and Ross, they tie. I believe it's three points each for them, James, and then that means that Zak technically is second, so he gets two.

Zak Stambor:

Okay, there we go. I'll take that.

Marcus Johnson:

You get two.

Zak Stambor:

Take the win.

Marcus Johnson:

Yep. Yeah, so 11%. What's shocking though is Gen Z will account for 34% of the workforce. Add those together, Gen Z and Gen Alpha will account for close to half of the global workforce in seven years, which is shocking.

Ross Benes:

That's when I'll be phased out, put into a box somewhere.

Marcus Johnson:

You've three years left max. You're like the Aaron Rodgers, three years tops. We'll see how you do in your first year with the Jets. Okay, that's what we got time for for this quiz. We don't need the entirely too random tie break question because it's pretty clear. Because James is way better than Stuart at keeping score, I can immediately tell you that in third place, there's no surprises, Zak. He had six points and gets the bronze. Then that means that Ross came in second place with 10 points, and Stephanie with 13 points. She picks up the gold.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Smashed it.

Marcus Johnson:

Ross, you came back, mate. I will say I wasn't expecting you to be as close-

Stephanie Taglianetti:

You closed that gap.

Marcus Johnson:

-given how we started. But that means that Zak gives his team one super-duper point. Ross gives his team two super-duper points, and Stephanie brings home three super-duper points.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Does that mean my team is no longer tied for first?

Marcus Johnson:

Let's have a look. Advertising and media is Ross. Ross, you got silver.

Ross Benes:

Yep.

Marcus Johnson:

That means you get two points. And then social marketing and tech gets... That's you, Stephanie, right? You got three points, so that's nine.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

That is apparently me. I've been assigned.

Marcus Johnson:

And then retail got one point.

Zak Stambor:

Sorry, team.

Marcus Johnson:

After five rounds, after the fifth month, I can tell you, take a look at the leaderboard and in last place, but closing the gap is advertising and media. Ross pulling a little bit closer. You have eight points. Retail, you are no longer tied for first. You're in second place with 10 points. And that means social marketing and tech are ahead with 12 points out.

Ross Benes:

How many months does this run?

Marcus Johnson:

Until Christmas.

Zak Stambor:

We've got plenty of time.

Marcus Johnson:

Until end of the year. We've got four more months left to play. It's all to play for, folks. Congratulations to Stephanie. This week's winner. Pulls her team even further into the lead, but well played to retail, Zak, and to our advertising and media, Ross. Thank you guys so much for being here. Thank you to you all. Thank you to Stephanie.

Stephanie Taglianetti:

Thank you, Marcus.

Marcus Johnson:

Thank you to Zak.

Zak Stambor:

Thank you.

Marcus Johnson:

And thank you to Ross.

Ross Benes:

Thanks, Marcus.

Marcus Johnson:

And thank you to Victoria, who edits the show, James, who copy edits it and keeps score for us hopefully from now on because Stuart is terrible, and thank you to Stuart who runs the team. Thanks to everyone for listening. We'll be back in September with the September quiz. We hope to see you tomorrow though for the Behind the Numbers Weekly Listen, eMarketer podcast made possible by Awin.