The vast majority (96%) of Americans watch TV in their homes, roughly double the number (48%) who now watch video online, according to [download page] a February 2012 report from Nielsen. Yet the proportion watching TV in their homes fell 0.2% year-over-year, while those watching video on the internet grew 4.9%. Mobile subscribers watching video online in Q3 2011 showed the fastest growth, jumping 37% year-over-year and 5% quarter-over-quarter to reach more than 10% of the population. Read More »

Prices for primetime commercials on the Big 4 broadcast networks rose year-over-year during the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2011, according to February 2012 data from TargetCast. Using data from SQAD, the agency determined that the price of an average 30-second spot rose 2% in Q2 to $127,291, while in Q3, prices rose 4% year-over-year to $82,951. Pricing growth slowed in Q4 to 2%, with spots averaging $116,122. 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 »

The top medium of choice for clients in Q4 2011 was spot TV (broadcast and cable), reported by 51% of agencies, according to a survey released in January 2012 by STRATA. Digital was second, cited by 31% of agencies, down 9% from Q3, followed by spot radio (8%). Spot TV (broadcast) continues to be an area of interest, with 28% of those surveyed saying they are more focused on it than a year ago, up 12% from Q4 2010. Read More »

The quadrennial boost provided this year by political advertising, and to a lesser extent, the Summer Olympic broadcasts, will help generate year-over-year US ad revenue growth of 3.7%, according to an updated forecast released in January 2012 by MagnaGlobal. Without the influence of political advertising and the Olympics (”P&O”), core media advertising revenues would grow by 2% in 2012 to $149.8 billion, a slowdown compared to 2011’s like-for-like growth of 4.5%. However, the company forecasts P&O to add an extra 1.7% points, meaning that those two influences alone will drive more than 45% of this year’s ad revenue growth.
Read More »

US online ad spending will exceed the total spent on print magazines and newspapers this year for the first time, according to a January 2012 eMarketer estimate that projects $39.5 billion in online ad spending, $19.4 billion in newspaper ad spending, and $15.4 billion in magazine ad spending. eMarketer estimates that online ad spending will continue its dramatic growth to reach $62 billion by 2016, while the print total will continue to decline to $32.3 billion that year. Read More »

Sports telecasts made up 9 of the top 10 single telecasts of the year, according to December 2011 data from Nielsen. Super Bowl XLV between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers was the top individual telecast of 2011 with 111 million viewers, making it the most-watched telecast of all time. Other Super Bowl telecasts, the Kickoff and Post Game shows, each drew over 65 million viewers, taking the second and third rankings, respectively.

The Academy Awards (38 million) was the only non-football telecast to break the top 10, at number 9. Read More »

The best-liked new TV ads of 2011 reflected the value of traditional ad elements such as strong creative, simple and engaging messaging, and a solid emotional connection, according to December 2011 analysis from Nielsen. The most-liked ad, with a “likeability” index of 231, was a Super Bowl spot for Volkswagen’s Passat, in which a boy dressed as Darth Vader believes he used “the force” to turn on a car. The index score of 231 means that among viewers, Volkswagen’s ad proved to be 131% better-liked than the average new commercial during the January 1 - November 30 period. Read More »

Just 5% of social media users aged 13-54 say that social media is very important to them in deciding whether to watch a new TV program, although an additional 24% say that is it somewhat important, according to a report released in December 2011 by Knowledge Networks. Data from “Social Media and Program Choice” indicates that Gen Y adults are the most likely to be influenced by social media, as more than one-third report the channel to be either somewhat (30%) or very (5%) important in their TV viewing decisions. Read More »

TV’s share of the global ad market has risen steadily from 37% in 2005 to 39.9% in 2010, yet muted growth is expected for 2011 and 2012, according to [pdf] a December 2011 forecast from Zenith Optimedia. TV ad spend is expected to total about $184.3 billion USD this year, or 40.2% of the total ad market, and rise to $193.7 billion in 2012 to represent 40.4% of the market. However, beyond that, a slight decline is forecast to 40.3% in 2013 and 40.2% in 2014. Even so, Zenith predicts TV ad spend to contribute 41.1% of new ad dollars between 2011 and 2014. Read More »