June 17, 2013
Media and entertainment executives from around the world feel that digital is about to become their primary source of revenue, details Ernst & Young in a new report. Digital's share of top-line revenue is expected to grow from 47% on average this year to 57% by 2015, a more bullish forecast than given recently by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which also noted a shift to digital spending and revenues. In order to digitally transform their organizations, most respondents cite the creation of a culture of innovation as one of their top strategic priorities. Read more »
June 14, 2013
Measuring and evaluating campaign effectiveness is the top challenge when running multi-screen video advertising campaigns, according to [download page] recently-released results from a Mixpo survey. The survey - of more than 300 industry professionals across agencies, media companies, and ad tech entities - indicated that perceptions regarding which metric is most important vary. While completion rate (with a rating average of 2.56, where 1 is most important) shows up as the most important metric, brand uplift (2.69) is close behind in value. View rate (3.14), click-through rate (3.18) and time spent viewing (3.43) also received some first place votes. Read more »
June 13, 2013
Whereas 5 years ago, marketers needed media planning and buying skills and the ability to implement overall campaign strategy (including timing and targeting) to be successful, the most important skills today are very different, according to [pdf] a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by Lyris. Attributing the largest drivers of change to a digital environment that requires much more agility and speed (58% selecting as one of top 2) and a much more knowledgeable customer (40%), respondents indicated that the most necessary skill today is the ability to use data analysis to extract predictive findings from big data (40% selecting as one of top 3). Read more »
June 12, 2013
Omnichannel marketing efforts can drive significant value in enhancing brand identity and recognition, according to [pdf] a group of 120 executive-level though leaders across advertising, marketing, media and technology industries surveyed by the Winterberry Group in partnership with the IAB. Referring to omnichannel strategies as those "which seek to promote a long-term, channel-agnostic approach to managing and optimizing" the consumer-marketer relationship, the study finds that respondents were most likely to recognize stronger brand identity/recognition as a benefit of the successful application of an omnichannel approach, giving it a score of 3.37 on a 4-point scale (where 4 refers to a frequent benefit, and 0 to a lack of benefit). Read more »
June 10, 2013
TV may hold the largest share of ad spending worldwide, but many marketers are eyeing the potential of online video as not only a viable alternative, but perhaps even a better one, according to a recent study from AOL's Be On. Among the 772 respondents from leading brands, media and creative agencies in the UK, Europe and North America, 58% believe that for the same investment they can achieve better share of engagement with online video than with TV. Another 15% said online video would drive the same amount of engagement. Read more »
May 29, 2013
Understanding the customer and improving the customer experience are high on the marketing agenda this year, according to IBM's recently-released "State of Marketing" [download page] report. According to the study, acquiring new customers (42%), retaining existing customers and improving loyalty and satisfaction (36%), and creating consistent, relevant and positive customer experiences across channels (34%) are among the top challenges being faced by marketers today. Certain high-performers, dubbed "leading marketers" by IBM, are going about their business differently from their peers, taking a tech-infused approach and demonstrating a confidence in their organizational excellence. 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 21, 2013
Data-driven marketing spending is on the rise, according to respondents to the Direct Marketing Association's Quarterly Business Review covering Q1 2013. 38.7% of respondents indicated that their spending increased quarter-over-quarter, with another 41.9% reporting a steady level of spending. On a 5-point scale, where 5 indicates a significant increase in spend from the prior quarter, data-driven marketers averaged out at a score of 3.19, up from 3.1 in Q4 2012 and 3.16 in Q3. In turn, 45.9% enjoyed revenue increases from their activities for the quarter, with another 39.4% indicating that revenues stayed flat. Read more »
May 20, 2013
Executives at large companies (more than $500 million in revenues) who rate themselves highly in terms of their capability to use data analytics, deploy applications, and operate APIs are more likely than those who rate themselves poorly in those capabilities to have confidence in their future competitive position, according to [pdf] results from an Apigee Institute survey. These top digital performers also are more likely to report having outperformed their competitors in the past year across a range of factors, such as bringing new products to market and customer satisfaction. Read more »
May 8, 2013
In Q1, social vastly outperformed portals, networks, and exchanges in user quality index – a measure that refers to a channel's ability to reach a user that can be marketed to consistently – according to the latest "Global Media Intelligence Report" [download page] from Aggregate Knowledge. The study, which analyzed more than 27 billion impressions across Q1, found that social performed 65% better than the industry overall in delivering such quality users, and 33% better than the next-best channel, portals. In a turnaround from Q4, though, portals emerged as the best option for reach efficiency, which tracks the ability to reach exclusive users at the lowest cost. Read more »