Local/Regional/Hyperlocal

Millennials (18-34) are getting somewhat comfortable with the idea of personal data sharing, at least when it comes with tangible benefits, according to survey results from the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future and Bovitz Inc. 51% of Millennials responding to the survey agreed that they're ok with sharing information with companies as long as they get something in return, compared to 40% of those aged 35 and older. That value-exchange is key: separately, 70% of Millennials (and 77% of the 35+ group) said that no-one should ever be allowed to have access to their personal data or web behavior. Read more »

An online survey of 5,000 US adults, conducted by Nielsen on behalf of the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), reveals that respondents rate newspapers (in print and on the internet) as the most effective advertising source among various media. The study measured advertising effectiveness across various metrics, with print newspapers coming out on top overall, ahead of radio, internet, and TV. Breaking the media types down into different segments, the local paper topped the ratings for likelihood to purchase and propensity to notice ads. Read more »

Millennial Media and comScore have released a new report [download page] examining CPG mobile ad campaigns and characteristics of the mobile consumer goods audience. The study reveals that compared to the average advertiser on the Millennial Media network, CPG brands were more focused on encouraging consumers to watch video, with 44% of the campaigns incorporating a video aspect (compared to 16% on average). CPG advertisers also aimed to engage consumers through social media calls to action, with 34% of campaigns incorporating social as a post-click action, versus 18% of advertisers on average. Read more »

Scarborough Research has publicly released data [pdf] showing the top local markets for digital media usage last year. The research shows that use of the internet for social networking was highest in Austin and Seattle (62% of each market's population in the 30 days prior to the survey), while New Orleans topped the charts for newspaper website access (40%), and Austin led the pack for smartphone internet use (57%) and online radio listening (32%). Interestingly, some markets showed up across most of the top 10 listings. Read more »

While display will remain the dominant social media advertising unit, native ad formats (such as Facebook Sponsored Stories and Twitter's Promoted Tweets) should grow rapidly over the coming years, according to the latest social media ad forecast from BIA/Kelsey. At a 22.9% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2012 and 2017, native ad formats will outpace display's growth (16.1% CAGR) to represent almost 42% share of social media ad revenues in 2017, up from roughly 35% last year. Read more »

Search dominates mobile local ad spend to the tune of 58% share of revenues ($704 million of $1.22 billion in 2012), per the latest mobile local ad spend forecast from BIA/Kelsey. That compares with 31% share for display, 8% share for SMS, and just 3% for video. But that picture should change quite dramatically by 2017, particularly when looking at the share of revenues accounted for by video. Read more »

Increasing smartphone penetration, growing consumption of the mobile internet, and concurrent increases in ad inventory should spur 49.3% annual growth in local mobile ad spending through 2017, according to a new forecast from BIA/Kelsey. That would bring local mobile ad spend from $1.2 billion last year all the way to $9.1 billion in 2017. While remaining a fraction of the total local media equation, mobile's share of the pie would grow from 0.9% last year to 6.1% at the end of the forecast period. Read more »

Almost 86 million people use their mobile phones to seek local business information in the US, according to results from the Neustar Localeze and 15miles Sixth Annual comScore Local Search Usage Study [pdf]. The study highlights the growing importance of mobile devices to search, with the total number of visitors to search navigation sites conducted via mobile phones and tablets growing by 26% and 19%, respectively, between March and December 2012. Even more encouragingly, mobile searchers are more likely than PC and laptop searchers to make a purchase. Read more »

Local businesses spent $169 billion on local promotions last year, roughly 82% more than the $93 billion they spent on local advertising, finds Borrell Associates in a new study. Spending on promotions will continue to climb this year, per the study's forecast, reaching $176 billion, compared to $101 billion for local advertising. The researchers note that the increased spending on promotions may not be cannibilizing traditional ad dollars, which have been growing in their own right, albeit slowly, since 2010. Read more »

DG MediaMind has released its latest report benchmarking performance metrics for several online ad types and formats across dozens of countries and verticals. The study finds that in the US, the average click-through rate (CTR) for in-stream video ads was 1.11% in 2012, up from 1.03% in the previous study (covering Q2 2011 - Q1 2012). That topped the benchmark rates for mobile banners (0.88%, inching up from 0.87%), rich media (down slightly from 0.15% to 0.14%), and standard banners (unchanged at 0.1%). Read more »