UK Media & Consumer Market Update

UK Media & Consumer Market Update — September 9, 2020

9 September 2020 Zac van Manen

Accurate as of 9 September 2020.

Current UK status:

Visit www.gov.uk/coronavirus for all official information.

As of 6pm on 8 September 2020, a total of 17,619,897 people have been tested for coronavirus (COVID-19), of which 352,560 were confirmed positive.
41,586 patients in the UK who tested positive for COVID-19 have died.
Local lockdowns continue in the North of England, Leicester, Blackburn, Oldham, Pendle and Bolton.
The Government has announced that stricter rules on gatherings will come into force on Monday, with groups of up to 6 permitted to meet indoors and outdoors. The current maximum group size is 30. These measures come into force following data that shows that young people are increasingly contracting and spreading the virus. Total daily cases dropped to 516 in early July, yet the UK saw 2,988 cases in one day last week.

UK travel restrictions:

Visit www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-office for all official information.

As countries respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, including travel and border restrictions, the FCO advises British nationals against all but essential international travel.
A 14-day mandatory quarantine for all UK arrivals except for those announced as exempt. See here for the full list of exempt countries. Countries can be added or removed from this list at any time.
FCO travel advice includes information on any health measures in place for visitors to a country or territory. These can include a requirement to self-isolate, quarantine or undergo testing for coronavirus, or even restrictions on entry.
All travellers entering the UK or returning to the UK must complete a comprehensive passenger locator form or risk a fine.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps has outlined how the UK could eventually move to testing passengers for coronavirus when they arrive at British airports, but stressed it would not eliminate the need for people to quarantine. This comes after increased scrutiny and mounting pressure from airlines and travel companies, which are warning of further rounds of job losses in their sectors unless the UK’s quarantine rules are ditched.

Latest updates:

England’s first regional quarantines have come into effect, with arrivals from seven Greek island now required to self-isolate for 14 days upon their return (TTG)
A petition to extend the furlough scheme beyond October for travel businesses has now been signed by nearly 30,000 people. Petitions lodged on parliament’s official petitions platform require government to issue a formal response within five days if they achieve more than 10,000 signatures (TTG)
The European Tourism Manifesto alliance is calling on countries to co-ordinate any related border restrictions as it backed renewed efforts by the European Commission to improve co-ordination on cross-border travel (Travel Weekly)
Despite rumours that Portugal would be taken off the UK’s quarantine exemption list after just a few weeks, the government did not make that change last week. However, Portugal has since seen a record increase in cases and remains at risk of being removed from the list, alongside Denmark (I News) / (Express)
Nearly two-thirds of people would prefer a COVID-19 test on arrival to the current 14-day quarantine, a new opinion poll has found. The survey of 2,139 UK adults found 62% said they would prefer testing on arrival compared to 38% who would opt for quarantine (TTG)
Two in five Britons are turning away from longer holidays in favour of shorter “minication” breaks of around three days, a survey has suggested. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact the tourism industry, a poll of 2,000 people by Travelodge found 42% had switched to taking several shorter breaks (I News)
The Thomas Cook travel brand is close to being re-launched following the company’s spectacular collapse last year that cost thousands of jobs. However, the new firm will be online-only without the aircraft, hotels and shops of the old business (BBC)
Boris Johnson has been urged by an alliance of more than 400 British and US businesses to introduce compulsory COVID-19 testing of travellers 48 hours before they fly so they can by-pass quarantine and restore international aviation (Telegraph)
Ryanair has threatened to leave Ireland if travel restrictions remain in place. The budget Irish carrier has warned it will move operations out of Ireland during the winter season unless the government does away with its “green list” (Independent)
Travellers planning to visit the Maldives will need to show negative COVID-19 test results from 10 September. All tourists and visitors heading to the tropical archipelago must present a negative PCR test on arrival. The move comes less than two months after the country reopened to tourists, initially with no requirements for quarantine or COVID-19 testing for visitors (The National)
A new proposal could lift the quarantine restrictions on those who want to travel between the US and UK. Government officials are reportedly in talks regarding a new “air bridge” between New York and London (Express)

Social media:

TikTok’s basically in the same place it was last week so no super fresh news here. Stay tuned though. Find a bit more info about the licensing regulation situation here.
On the platform itself, a Facebook Live broadcast of a suicide spent a few days circulating the algorithm. Kids are reportedly traumatised — quite fairly — and TikTok’s struggling, like all nascent social platforms, to work out how to handle that kind of decentralised, widely distributed content. For help reporting an issue on social media, check out the BBC’s guide.
Ever found yourself scrolling through Facebook Stories wishing they were Instagram Stories instead? You’re in luck. Facebook’s now testing sharing Instagram Stories straight to Facebook as the two services look to further intertwine. Only people who follow you on both platforms will see your crossover Stories.
While Reels is seeing a bit of uptake in the UK — and some brand managers are reporting lower organic reach as a result, but we’re not seeing it — Instagram is launching a dedicated Reels tab in India. German users are also reporting access to the tab.
IG’s also adding a ‘Suggested Reels’ display in the Feed and launching monthly Reels Trend Insights. The Suggest Reels display would replace a regular post in the Feed as you scroll with a series of Reels Instagram thinks you’ll like. The Reels Trends Insights are coming straight from the @creators account itself so check it out to see how Reels, and their creators, are going.
Twitch continues to expand beyond gaming, though they’re still shuttering certain departments, with the rollout of global watch parties. You can only watch selected titles from Prime Video — don’t forget Amazon owns Twitch too — but watch parties are now available to all creators worldwide. Netflix Party scratched this itch during early lockdown but now it seems Twitch is committing to the bit. Twitch also signed a deal to stream Premier League games back in June so Twitch may well become an interesting player in the broadcast space.
The UK doesn’t even have LinkedIn Stories yet but they’re looking to add the option for you to put a link in your Stories. Instagram lets you do it if you have over 10,000 followers and it’s a key part of an influencer’s repertoire for brand collaborations so look to see if LinkedIn influencers start embracing brand partnerships like they haven’t been able to before.
Pinterest remains in high-growth territory and, with much higher purchase intent than other platforms, is the perfect place to be right now for e-commerce, consumer, and lifestyle brands. They’ve recently published improvements to their Feed ranking, touching on the tech underneath, and are looking to focus on video — so get filming!