47% of adults who get news and information about local businesses other than restaurants and bars say they rely on the internet to do so, ahead of print newspapers (29%), word of mouth (22%), local TV (8%), local radio (5%), printed newsletters (4%), and mobile phones (1%), according to [download page] a December 2011 report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Read More »

During this year’s November holiday season, an unprecedented 15% of people in the US logging onto a retailer’s website are expected to do through a mobile device, according to November 2011 analysis from IBM. Data from the IBM Coremetrics Benchmark indicates that nearly 11% of people used a mobile device to visit a retailer’s site in October, representing an increase of more than 250% from 4.2% in October 2010. Read More »

Of the 10 most-viewed US online video brands in September 2011, MSN/WindowsLive/Bing reported the greatest increase in quarter-over-quarter unique viewership, according to Nielsen data. After reporting a 15.3% decrease in month-over-month viewership in June, MSN/WindowsLive/Bing rebounded to grow its unique audience 63%, from 15.1 million to 24.8 million, while remaining in the fifth spot. Read More »

55% of “digital goods shoppers” plan to purchase digital gifts at a physical store such as Walmart or Gamestop this holiday season, according to [download page] an October 2011 study from Elastic Path Software. Data from “Virtual Goods Mean Real Money This Holiday” indicates that 52% of these shoppers will buy from 1 or 2 websites, while 34% will do their digital goods holiday shopping from more than 2 websites or online marketplaces. According to Elastic Path insight, digital content can be purchased in a physical store due to retailers like Wal-Mart now offering a wide array of physical gift cards redeemable for virtual goods - from Facebook and iTunes to Farmville, Zynga, and Club Penguin. Read More »

34% of consumers pay for online and streamed video content, according to a survey from TVGuide.com and paidContent released in November 2011. Data from “Inside the War for Viewer’s Attention” indicates that while 81% watch streaming and online services for free (not counting broadband bills), 69% also use paid content or subscription services. 19% of consumers are also paying more for their TV content than before, and 41% pay for time-shifted viewing. Read More »

About two in 5 US consumers would switch from brand name to generic grocery items as a result of a 10-20% price increase, according to an October 2011 survey by Accenture. Data from the “Pricing Shopping Survey” indicates that roughly one in 5 consumers would also make the switch given a price increase of less than 10%. Among US consumers, New Yorkers appear to be the least price-sensitive: 55% would switch to a store label version of a grocery item with a price change of up to 20%, compared to 64% of consumers from the rest of the US (excluding Los Angeles). Read More »

Cyber Monday drove higher online sales volume than Black Friday during the 2010 holiday season, according to [download page] an October 2011 white paper from Marin Software. Results from “The Online Marketer’s Guide for the Holidays” suggest that search marketers rang up more conversions on Cyber Monday than any other day last year. Read More »

TV shows that viewers tend to watch live, rather than play back days later, command a premium for marketers, according to survey results released in October 2011 by Advertising Age. Results from the survey, which measures the costs of running a 30-second commercial in prime time, indicate that NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” now challenges Fox’s “American Idol” as the most expensive program for advertisers. Read More »

Continuing a trend first reported in Q1 2011, the heaviest at-home streamers consume slightly less TV, while the lightest TV users are the heaviest streamers, according to [download page] an October 2011 report from Nielsen. Results from “The Cross-Platform Report” indicate that streaming is still a highly concentrated behavior, with 83% of all streaming taking place among the top quintile of consumers who stream. This segment watched an average of 226 daily minutes of TV in Q2, compared to almost 279 daily minutes for the quintile that did not stream at all. Read More »

Close to all (97%) of Americans watch TV in their homes, double the number (48%) who now watch video online, according to [download page] an October 2011 report from Nielsen. Results from “The Cross-Platform Report” indicate that mobile subscribers watching video online in Q2 2011 grew 36% year-over-year, and now constitute 10% of the American population. The number of Americans watching time-shifted TV also grew 13% from Q2 2010, to more than one-third of the population. Read More »