WSJ: “Global advertising spending will grow 22.5% to $763.2 billion this year, excluding U.S. political ad spending, according to the latest forecast from GroupM, Digital advertising will account for 64.4% of total advertising in 2021, GroupM said, up from 60.5% of the total in 2020 and 52.1% in 2019. Somewhere between 80% and 90% of digital advertising outside of China will go to Google parent Alphabet Inc., Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., GroupM estimated.”
Anticipating the Unintended Newsletter: “A large shift to the formal economy has happened across sectors among the consuming class. This has hit the informal economy hard. No wonder the labour participation rates at this moment are the lowest in over a decade. We had seen a similar trend in GDP right after the initial shock of demonetisation where the formal economy which gets measured easily and more frequently showed robust growth while the drag of the informal economy showed up later. This time around the pain in the informal economy could be worse. The GDP growth and record GST collections and corporate profits must be seen in this light. The overall pie might have shrunk while the formal economy part has grown.”
From Farnam Street newsletter: “Don’t face complex issues head-on; first understand simple ideas deeply. Clear the clutter and expose what is really important. Be brutally honest about what you know and don’t know. Then see what’s missing, identify the gaps, and fill them in. Let go of bias, prejudice, and preconceived notions. There are degrees to understanding (it’s not just a yes-or-no proposition) and you can always heighten yours. Rock-solid understanding is the foundation for success.”
