May 23, 2013
Viacom and its Vicaom International Media Networks (VIMN) division have released a study examining the relationship between TV and social media usage. The study, which involved online surveys conducted in the US, UK, Germany, Brazil, and Russia with more than 5,000 Viacom viewers aged 13-49 who use 2 or more social media platforms on at least a weekly basis, reveals that viewers average 10 TV-related activities on social media on a weekly basis. The most popular of those are: interacting with friends and fans (72%); searching for info and show schedules (66%); sharing or recommending (61%); watching full clips and trailers (61%); and following/liking a TV show (57%). Read more »
May 23, 2013
Compared to email (2.82%) and social media (1.55%), search (31.43%) is easily the primary driver of direct e-commerce traffic, according to [download page] the latest quarterly report from Monetate covering Q1 activity. That's the way it has been for some time now, and probably will be for the foreseeable future, at least when considering that the share of e-commerce traffic coming from both social and email decreased in Q1 compared to a year earlier. But the researchers make a valid point that is bolstered by other recent studies: these findings are based on a last-touch attribution model, which typically undervalues social's role significantly. Read more »
May 23, 2013
Among Millennials (ages 18-35), men and women display different priorities when it comes to their preferred pastimes, according to [pdf] survey results from the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Lachman Associates. Presented with a list of uses of free time and asked to select up to 5 favorite activities, a leading 58% of men said they watch TV, with about 4 in 10 saying they listen to or play music (43%), play computer games (42%), spend time with friends (41%) and spend time with family (38%). Among women, spending time with family (57%) is most popular, closely followed by watching TV (54%), with reading (47%), spending time with friends (43%), and listening to or playing music (39%) rounding out the top 5 most frequent activities. Read more »
May 22, 2013
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 »
May 22, 2013
Online teens' use of social networking sites appears to have leveled out, but more are turning to Twitter, according to [pdf] results from a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. In 2012, 81% of online teens (aged 12-17) surveyed reported using a social networking sites, relatively flat from 80% a year earlier. But, the proportion of teens who reported using Twitter jumped from 16% to 24% in that time span, growing to outpace adoption by adults (16% in 2012). The researchers note that not all teens think of Twitter as a social networking site, though: there is a small subset of respondents who say they do not use social networking sites, but do use Twitter. Read more »
May 22, 2013
The top benefits of social media marketing are increased exposure (89%) and increased traffic (75%), finds Social Media Examiner in its annual "Social Media Marketing Industry Report" [download page], which surveyed more than 3,000 marketers on their social media activities. A majority also report benefits such as developing loyal fans (65%), lead generation (61%), and improved search rankings (58%), but only 43% say their efforts have boosted sales. Nevertheless, study results indicate that for those willing to take the time, sales will follow. Read more »
May 22, 2013
For all the research and attention paid to showrooming, webrooming (doing research online and then buying in-store) is actually a far more popular activity among Millennials (aged 18-35) across several product categories, according to [pdf] survey results from the Urban Land Institute. For electronics items (computers, tablets, cellphones, TV/audio equipment, etc.), 50% of respondents prefer to research online but buy in-store, compared to 11% who prefer to do their research in stores but then buy online. Similar gaps exist when looking at Millennials' shopping preferences for shoes (25% vs. 10%), sports equipment and accessories (21% vs. 13%), and cosmetics and personal care items (20% vs. 8%). Read more »
May 22, 2013
Never mind paying for it. Mobile device owners would prefer to spend time engaging with advertising in order to receive free content, whether that be a tablet (77%) or smartphone (70%) application, or even a newspaper (66%). The findings, from a study [pdf] commissioned by Tapjoy and conducted by the Yankee Group, indicate that a majority 53% of tablet owners have viewed commercials in order to access a free download of a paid app, and about 2 in 5 smartphone owners have done the same. The study refers to ad engagement as a form of virtual currency which mobile device owners are willing to exchange for free content. Read more »
May 21, 2013
For the third consecutive year, YouTube is the channel where most marketers plan on increasing their social media efforts, according to survey results from Social Media Examiner's latest annual "Social Media Marketing Report" [download page].This year, 69% plan to increase their YouTube marketing efforts in the near future, while another 17% plan to maintain current levels, and just 13% don't have any plans to utilize the platform. Last year, 76% planned to increase their YouTube efforts, against 33% who didn't plan any such marketing activities, while the year before, 77% planned to increase their efforts versus 10% who had no YouTube marketing plans. But YouTube adoption has remained flat: it stood at 56% in 2011, 57% in 2012, and is once again at 56% this year. Read more »
May 21, 2013
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 »
