June 17, 2013
In light of recent data from comScore suggesting that a majority of display ads go unseen (at least per the 3MS standard for 50% of pixels in-view for at least a second), it's worth taking a look at viewability benchmarks according to PointRoll's latest benchmark report [pdf]. Covering 2012 activity, the data shows that viewability rates were lowest on shopping and auction (34.3%) and ad network (36.7%) sites, and highest on employment (68.5%), news (67%) and music and streaming media (66.1%) sites. Read more »
June 17, 2013
After a big jump last year, discretionary spending by college students is expected to remain largely flat this year at $117 billion, per the latest College Explorer report from re:fuel. That remains significantly above discretionary spending power from 2009-2011, though, which stood at roughly $90 billion. Factoring in $287 billion in non-discretionary spending (on items such as room and board, tuition), the total college market's spending power is estimated to be $404 billion this year, down only slightly from last year's $409 billion. Read more »
June 12, 2013
It appears that marketers must walk a tightrope when it comes to email: they need to use it as consumers' preferred communications channel, but they also need to be careful not to abuse it by sending too many messages. According to results from a Lyris-sponsored Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) [pdf] study of consumers in the US and UK, an overwhelming 80% said that one of their top 2 frustrations about companies' use of online communications was too many unwanted email messages. But, when asked how they prefer to be introduced to a new consumer product (other than through mass-market advertising), respondents pointed to email first. Read more »
June 11, 2013
Based on data collected from Social.com across upwards of 1 million ad units and 114 billion impressions during the first quarter, Salesforce has released a benchmark report [download page] examining the performance (and cost) of Facebook ads across unit types, industries, and geographic regions. The study shows that telecom (0.919%) and publishing (0.79%) brands are leading the charge in click-through rates (CTR), although telecom brands are paying significantly more on average per click than publishers ($0.34 vs. $0.22). On the other end of the spectrum, dating ads suffer from the lowest average click rate, of just 0.027%. Read more »
June 5, 2013
This year will be a "watershed" year for smartphones, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC), which forecasts global smartphone shipments to exceed those of feature phones for the first time. The latest data from comScore, though, shows what is likely a temporary blip in smartphones' strong growth pattern, at least in the US: during the 3-month period ending in April 2013, comScore says that the share of mobile subscribers with a smartphone was essentially flat from March, at 58%. That figure still represents a substantial increase from 45.7% share during the same period a year ago. Read more »
June 3, 2013
E-commerce sites exceeded the threshold of excellence in customer satisfaction last year, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, and new data from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) confirms that online merchants are providing worthy experiences to visitors. Across 16 industry segments examined in the BCG study, online merchants came in second with a "digital satisfaction score" of 11.8, putting them squarely in the bucket of leaders who are best able to satisfy their consumers' expectations. Close behind, media retailers, with a score of 11.1. Read more »
May 31, 2013
Samsung mobile devices on the whole sported higher click-through rates than the iPhone in the US and UK during Q1, reversing a long-standing trend and marking a "highly significant" moment, per new data [pdf] from Adfonic. With a CTR index of 1.06 and an effective earnings for thousand impressions (eCPM) index of 1.08, Samsung passed Apple (1.01 and 0.98, respectively) in performance for the quarter. Apple retained its lead as the top manufacturer by share of ad impressions, though, with Samsung trailing. Read more »
May 24, 2013
Business-to-business (B2B) media and information industry revenues reached $25.5 billion in 2012, representing 3.4% growth from $24.7 billion in 2011, details the Association of Business Media (ABM) in its latest Business Information Network Report. The industry posted slightly higher revenues in the second half of the year ($13.1 billion) than the first ($12.4 billion), as growth stood at 1.3% overall when adjusted for inflation. While inflation-adjusted revenues have grown for at least a couple of years now, they still haven't recovered to 2008's high of $28.7 billion. Read more »
May 21, 2013
Customer satisfaction with pay TV providers remains relatively low, although it has increased slightly after remaining flat for 3 consecutive years, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The index for subscription TV services rose a couple of points from last year's 66 to 68 on ASCI's 100-point scale. By comparison, satisfaction with cell phone manufacturers stands at 76, fixed line phone service providers are at 74, and wireless phone service providers are at 72. Among the information sector categories, only Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have a lower score than pay TV services this year, debuting on the index at a score of just 65. Read more »
May 20, 2013
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 »
