Radio

Online ad spending around the world is projected to grow by 13.4% to reach $113.6 billion this year, according to a revised forecast issued by MAGNA GLOBAL that takes a more bullish view of online spending this year than its previous forecast. Another new forecast, from ZenithOptimedia, projects a 15% annual increase in online spending between this year and 2015. Both groups see strong growth for social and mobile advertising around the world. Read more »

PwC has issued its annual "Entertainment & Media Outlook" report, which contains projections for online and offline media markets through 2017 across various components including advertising revenues and consumer spending. The outlook for traditional media markets is similar to previous forecasts in that TV and out-of-home advertising have the healthiest future, while radio continues to grow at a modest pace and the outlook for print continues to be dim, although losses may slow. Read more »

3 in 4 American adults report having noticed billboard (static or digital), transit or street-level advertising in the past month, finds Arbitron in its 2013 "Out-of-Home Advertising Report," and that rises to 84% among those who have driven or ridden in a vehicle. Among adults who have viewed a billboard or other out-of-home media in the past month ("OOH media viewers"), many have taken a range of online and offline responses, ranging from watching an advertised TV show to visiting an advertised website. Read more »

Some consumers are noticing brands' attempts to promote their social presences in advertising, with some media channels more likely to elicit a response than others, according to [pdf] results from a Burst Media survey of more than 2,500 US online adults. Respondents reported being most likely to notice brand-related social accounts in online banner ads (27.2%), but a relatively high number also notice them in TV (24.1%) and print (21.1%) ads. Among those who recall brands promoting their social assets in digital ads, about 6 in 10 say the efforts are very (29.4%) or somewhat (31.6%) effective in prompting social interaction with those brands. A similar percentage (58.7%) feel the same way about social cues in TV ads. Read more »

What kind of social behaviors do local media fans exhibit on Facebook and Twitter? It depends on the medium, says TVB [pdf] in a study conducted in conjunction with Colligent, that combines Nielsen Media Research and Kantar Media data with social media behaviors. The "Cultural Currency" study analyzes the social media behaviors of 167 million Facebook and Twitter users across a range of legacy media, finding that overall, local broadcast TV viewers tend to be most heavily engaged socially with their stations. For advertisers, understanding how social behaviors vary among fans of various local media is an important consideration when crafting social calls to action to accompany their local media buys. Read more »

Americans might be listening to more radio, but radio's advertising revenues aren't going anywhere, at least for the time being. In Q1, total expenditures were flat, at $3.5 billion, according to [pdf] the latest revenue report from the Radio Advertising Bureau, which excludes network radio data due to incomplete information. Healthy growth in digital (9%) and off-air (5%) helped offset a sluggish quarter for spot, which was down 2% from Q1 2012. While remaining the smallest segment, at $179 million in revenues, digital's growth means that it now exceeds 5% share of total radio revenues. Read more »

While a recent survey found a majority believing that in 5 years, Americans will primarily listen to streaming radio versus traditional AM/FM radio, another study, this time from Clear Channel Media and Entertainment (CCM+E), begs to differ. According to the "State of Listening in America" study, 69% of respondents agree that "streaming services do not replace radio." Other results from the survey suggest that radio is alive and well: 92% of respondents said they listen to radio at least once a week, while 71% say it's part of their daily routine. Read more »

Americans aged 18-34 are more likely than their older counterparts to prefer a range of entertainment types on-demand, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Stitcher. For example, among music listeners, 18-34-year-olds are twice as likely as 35-54-year-olds to prefer to listen always or mostly on demand (46% vs. 23%). And among TV viewers, 41% of those aged 18-34 prefer to watch always or mostly on demand, versus 21% of those aged 55 and older. Indeed, the desire to watch on one's own schedule has become a key driver of online video consumption. Read more »

Companies can stand to reap rewards from creating emotional connections with consumers, and it seems that radio benefits in its own way from emotional triggers. According to a Jacobs Media survey of more than 78,000 radio listeners in the US and Canada, 40% said a main reason for listening to AM/FM radio is to get in a better mood, with another 40% citing this as an important reason. Additionally, about 7 in 10 say that wanting to escape from the pressures of an everyday life is an important or main reason to listen, and about 8 in 10 listen because radio keeps them company. Read more »

The newly-released Techsurvey9 from Jacobs Media contains some very interesting data about the social networking preferences of Gen Z (born in 1993 or later) radio listeners. The study, which finds that radio listeners in the US and Canada are highly social overall, shows that compared to older generations, Gen Z listeners have a strong affinity for emerging social networks such as Tumblr and Snapchat, and are less drawn to Facebook. In fact, the survey finds that Baby Boomers (born between 1946-64; 73.3%) are as likely as Gen Zers (72.9%) to have a Facebook account. The results come on the heels of research from Piper Jaffray which found Twitter challenging Facebook as American teens' most important social network. Read more »