DIGITAL VIDEO INSIGHTS:  Several of you forwarded me this fascinating AdAge article about a digital video efficacy study conducted by Google.  The cool part about this piece is that you can read the results and then actually watch the ad they tested.   It’s interesting that pacing of the creative had the biggest lift at +6% for the fast read, helping prove the importance of shorter video units.  And the fact that vertical video ads actually performed worse than standard horizontal video is good to know as marketers kill themselves to produce vertical creative.  Granted this is just one study from one (big) publisher.  But the results lead to the conclusion that not all digital video ads are created equal, and the shiny new creative variants aren’t always better than the tried and true versions.  (link)

SHARE OF EAR UPDATE:  Edison is out with their latest Share of Ear study – RAIN link below.  What’s cool about this research is that Edison has done it for long enough that we can now glean some long term trends.  For instance, when the first SOE study came out in 2013 AM/FM Radio commanded a 52% share of audio listening in the US – in three years that’s dropped 8 points to 44%.  Conversely Streaming used to get 11% of the total listening time – now it’s up 6 points to 17%.  Think there’s a migration pattern here?  Within the streaming slice of the pie you can see some parity amongst the 13-34 YOs, while Pandora is dominant within the adult demos.  For all you Pandas reading this, Ron Rodrigues has already posted the updated numbers in SF Libraries.  Always great ammo for your next call!  (link)

SOMEDAY IS TODAY:  Not sure if you’re aware of this, but last night there was the an important baseball game.  In an epic Game 7 the Cubs exorcised over a century of demons to beat a never-say-die Indians team.  I’m not a sports writer, so anything I say here won’t do the moment justice.  Instead I thought I’d pass along this video, which Hunter Bradford was circulating around the Chicago office yesterday.  If you’re a Cubs fan this one will speak to your passion and pain for the Cubs and Wrigley Field, which is part of who you are.  If you’re not from Chicago this might help explain the importance of the moment to an entire city.  The W is flying proudly today!  (link)

Have a great Thursday guys!