March 25, 2013
64% of Americans rank watching TV (on any device) as one of their top-3 media activities, down from a high of 71% in 2009 and 2010 but enough to keep TV viewing as America's favorite media activity, according to Deloitte. TV is tops for all generations except trailing Millennials (14-23), who prefer personal and social use of the internet as well as listening to music. The survey also reveals that for many trailing and leading (24-29) Millennials, videogames are not only a top activity, but an important advertising influence. Read more »
March 22, 2013
Consumers are trying out new fashion retailers, and are lured into doing so by good deals rather than advertising, finds Market Force Information in a new study. 39% of respondents, surveyed last year, said they had tried out a new retailer in the previous 90 days, up 22% from 2011, and almost triple the 14% from 2010. Among those who tried a new retailer, the top triggers were a sale, promotion or discount (19%) and a recommendation from a friend (17%). Read more »
March 19, 2013
It's not really headline news that consumers are engaging in cross-channel behavior, but the extent to which they are doing so is noteworthy. According to a new report [download page] from Experian Marketing Services, 59% of consumers surveyed used more than one device to email in the 7 days prior to the survey, 60% used multiple devices to visit websites, 49% accessed more than a single device to social network, and 34% watched video on more device. Not surprisingly, youth are leading the charge. Read more »
March 18, 2013
Local TV saw a significant 6.5% drop in audience size between 2011 and 2012, finds Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism in its State of the News Media 2013 study. Network TV also saw a decline, of 1.9%, while other news sources such as newspapers (-0.2%), magazines (-0.1%) and audio (-0.1%) remained relatively flat. And despite 2012 being an election year, cable saw only a 0.8% gain. Read more »
March 12, 2013
US ad spending increased by 2% year-over-year in Q4 2012, and by 3% for the full year to reach $139.5 billion, per the latest figures from Kantar Media. The figures may actually underestimate growth, as Kantar's online spending estimates only include display advertising, which the report says declined by 3% for the year. (Given the recent growth trajectory of online ad spending - mainly fueled by search - it's more likely that online ad spending growth was somewhere in the double digits last year.) Read more »
March 11, 2013
64% of advertisers will increase their mobile ad spending over the next 12 months, according to results from an Advertiser Perceptions survey, as reported by Ad Age. The article notes that CPG advertisers (who accounted for 5% of all online advertising dollars in H1 2012) are the most bullish about their mobile ad investments, with two-thirds predicting an increase against just 2% expecting a cut. Meanwhile, agencies have a sunnier outlook on mobile advertising than marketers. Read more »
February 21, 2013
Senior marketers are lukewarm about mobile's importance to their local marketing agendas, according to [download page] results from a new study by the CMO Council. Asked how mobile will impact their local marketing mix in the year to come, a plurality 33% said they are still investigating the opportunity in mobile. Separately, just 6% rated mobile as important to the success of their local marketing strategies. Read more »
February 4, 2013
Circulars and flyers provide more inspiration for shopping trips than recipe books, websites, and even family members, according to study results from BrandSpark International and Better Homes and Gardens. The survey of Americans who participate in their household's shopping trips found that 66.9% say they get ideas for their shopping trips from circulars and flyers, with the next-most influential sources - recipe books (28.5%), newspapers (28.2%), and websites (25.1%) - providing inspiration for far fewer respondents. Read more »
January 31, 2013
Newspaper ad revenues are tumbling, and one-third of marketers recently said they're shifting focus away from this medium. At the same time, consumers are spending large chunks of time on social media, something not lost on marketers. But surprise, according to at least one survey [pdf], newspapers remain just as popular among Americans as social networks. That survey, from KPMG International, found that in the past month, 58% of US respondents read a newspaper, while 57% visited a social networking or blogging site. Read more »
January 14, 2013
SMBs will devote 26.6% of their local ad budgets to newspapers (18.6%) and other print media (8%) this year, finds Borrell Associates [download page], based on a survey of 1,756 SMBs in December 2012. That's a slightly bigger piece of the pie than the 25.4% allocated to online ad spend. But, the gap has narrowed significantly from last year, when SMBs estimated spending 28.9% of their budgets on print media, compared to 21% on online ads. Read more »
