57% of Americans who watch TV say they always notice advertising on the medium, while a further 40% say they sometimes notice ads, according to survey results released in February 2012 by BrandSpark International in partnership with Better Homes and Gardens. Magazines are next, with 30% of readers always noticing ads in this medium, and an additional 56% noticing them sometimes.
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Cable news networks rank as the top source of political campaign information among Americans, with 36% saying they regularly get their political campaign news from this source, ahead of local TV news (32%), network news (26%), the internet (25%), and the local paper (20%), according to [pdf] a survey released in February 2012 by the Pew Research Center. Read More »

Although men and women report equal awareness of QR codes (77%), men who are aware of them are 75% more likely than women to have used one (28% vs. 16%) to access product information, according to survey results released in February 2012 by BrandSpark International, in association with Better Homes and Gardens. Looking at age groups, 18-34-year-olds (85%) display the highest awareness of QR codes, with 30% of those having used one. 35-49-year-olds are next, with 80% having heard of QR codes, and 23% of those respondents having used one.
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2 in 3 consumers say that their basic mobile or cell service is an untouchable item of their budgets, representing a 4.7% increase from 64% who responded that way in 2008, according to a survey conducted in 2011 for STORES Magazine by BIGinsight, released in February 2012. By comparison, 60% of respondents in 2011 said that their basic cable/satellite TV was untouchable, down slightly from 61% in 2008.
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The average US consumer celebrating Valentine’s Day this year will shell out $126.03 on traditional merchandise, up 8.5% from last year’s $116.21, and marking the highest average in the NRF Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey’s 10-year history, according to the February 2012 survey, conducted by BIGinsight.

Total spending for the day is expected to reach $17.6 billion, up 12% from $15.7 billion last year.
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Facebook advertising revenue reached $3.15 billion in 2011, representing an increase of almost 69% from $1.87 billion in 2010, and more than tripling from $764 million in 2009, according to the February 2012 prospectus it filed in conjunction with its initial public offering (IPO).

The $3.15 billion in advertising revenue equaled 85% of the social network’s $3.71 billion in 2011 revenues, with the remaining $557 million derived from payments and other fees revenue, more than quadruple the $106 million derived from those sources in 2010. The proportion of 2011 revenue accounted for by advertising was down from 95% (of $1.97 billion) in 2010 and 98% (of $777 million) in 2009. Read More »

25% of adult cell phone owners used their devices to look up the price of a product online while they were in a store during this past holiday season, according to [pdf] a report released in January 2012 by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. 38% of cell phone owners used their phone to call a friend while they were in a store for advice about a purchase they were considering making, and 24% used their phone to look up reviews of a product online while they were in a store. Read More »

73% of Super Bowl viewers say they look at Super Bowl TV commercials as entertainment, by far the leading opinion cited by respondents to an NRF survey conducted by BIGinsight, released in January 2012. The proportion of viewers who say that advertisers should save their money and pass the savings on to them (18.5%) is roughly matched by those who say the ads make them aware of advertiser brands (16.9%). Similarly, although 8.9% complain that the commercials make the game last too long, a similar proportion report that they influence them to buy products from the advertisers (8.4%). Read More »

51% of Millennials (born between roughly 1977 and 1995) say that recommendations from strangers through user-generated content (UGC) on a company website is most likely to influence their opinion when making a purchase, compared to 49% who say that recommendations from friends and family is most influential, according to [pdf] survey results released in January 2012 by Bazaarvoice. Read More »

National TV sports generated $10.9 billion in advertising expenditure last year, representing 6% growth from $10.3 billion the year prior, according to a Nielsen report released in January 2012. Measuring ad spend during sporting events on network and cable TV from Q4 2010 through Q3 2011, Nielsen found that cable has an increasing share of those ad dollars, growing 37.3% year-over-year. Read More »