May 7, 2013
North Americans are becoming more confident in spending, according to [download page] results from a Nielsen survey of consumer confidence and spending intentions. In Q1, 42% of respondents (all surveyed online) said they plan to spend on discretionary items this year, up from 36% the previous quarter. Within the US, 23% said they will spend on home improvement and decorating projects, a significant jump from 17% who responded that way in Q4 2012. Additionally, 22% are planning to take a vacation, up 2% quarter-over-quarter, with the same figures applying to out-of-home entertainment spending. Read more »
May 6, 2013
83% of radio listeners in the US have a profile on a social networking site, according to results from Jacob Media's Techsurvey 9, which surveyed more than 78,000 listeners across the US and Canada. While social networking use is (unsurprisingly) highest among radio listeners aged 18-34 (91.1% in the US and Canada combined), it's also quite high among the 55+ crowd (73.5%). By comparison, a recent Pew survey found that 67% of US internet users have a social networking profile, a figure that drops to 52% among 50-64-year-olds, and just 32% among the 65 and older set. What's more, American radio listeners seem keen to look beyond just Facebook: 29% use Twitter; 21% use Pinterest; and 20% use Google+. Read more »
April 22, 2013
The median email click-through rate (CTR) in the US stood at 2.2% last year, and the mean rate at 3.3%, but the top quartile of performers achieved an average rate of 8.3%, according to [pdf] a new email marketing benchmarks study from Silverpop. The study also reveals that when it came to unique open rates, the top quartile of performers in the US saw an average rate of 34.7%, more than double the median rate of 16.5%. The strongest performers bested the median click-to-open rate by 83% (24% vs. 13.1%). Read more »
March 15, 2013
Almost three-quarters of multi-screen consumers across 5 major markets agree that advertising can be helpful in telling them about new products or brands that might interest them, according to [download page] results from a Microsoft Advertising survey conducted with Flamingo Research and Ipsos OTX. But while these consumers are open to advertising, they're more welcoming of ad content on some screens than others. The study finds that the 76% are open to advertising on TV, compared to 57% on computers and 51% on tablets. Read more »
March 8, 2013
An analysis of more than 100 billion visits to more than 1,000 websites across 8 major markets worldwide by Adobe Digital Index reveals that for the first time, tablet traffic exceeded smartphone traffic in February 2013 (8% and 7% of page views, respectively). Adobe attributes the result to higher engagement from tablet users, who view 70% more pages per visit than smartphone users, and notes that each country analyzed saw its share of tablet traffic double during 2012. Read more »
February 15, 2013
56% of directly placed ads stayed in-view for at least 1 second in H2 2012, up from 49.9% in H1, according to [pdf] a February 2013 study from Integral Ad Science (formerly AdSafe Media). Viewability for directly placed ads was better than for networks (42.2%), exchanges (37.6%), and hybrids (41.1%). Longer engagement with viewers was much harder to come by: just 22.7% of directly placed ads remained in-view for 15 seconds, dropping to 17.2% for hybrids, 16.5% for networks, and 15.7% for exchanges. Read more »
February 11, 2013
After falling by 40% between Q2 and Q3, the cost of advertising on Facebook in the US dropped by another 37% in Q4, details TBG Digital in its latest quarterly report. Attributing the drop to higher adoption of "Desktop + Mobile Newsfeed" ads - which tend to be cheaper than other ad types - TBG notes that average cost per click (CPC) is now lower in the US than in the 4 other major markets analyzed, each of which also saw a drop in CPCs. Read more »
February 6, 2013
Global B2C e-commerce sales cracked the $1 trillion mark last year, and should reach almost $1.3 trillion this year, per new estimates from eMarketer. And while the US is forecast to remain the dominant market this year ($384.8 billion in sales), the Asia-Pacific region will grow to command one-third share of global sales, surpassing North America's share (31.5%) for the first time. The largest contributor to APAC's total will be China, with online sales predicted to jump by 65% this year to $181.6 billion. Read more »
January 17, 2013
Global ad spending grew by 4.3% year-over-year in Q3 2012, picking up steam after a 2.7% gain in the first half of the year, according to the latest figures from Nielsen. For the year-to-date (Q1-Q3), ad spend was up by 3.3%, with solid growth seen in the Middle East and Africa (18.9%), Latin America (5%), and North America (5%). While the Asia-Pacific region also saw ad spending growth, of 3.5% in Q3 and 2.7% for the year-to-date through September, Western Europe continued to see cuts. Read more »
January 9, 2013
Total global corporate spending on sponsorships is slated to increase by 4.2% this year to $53.3 billion, forecasts IEG in a new report. That represents a slowdown from 5.1% year-over-year growth in 2012 and 2011. Still, in North America, the outlook for 2013 is optimistic, with spending predicted to grow by 5.5% to $19.9 billion, after more muted growth (4.4%) last year. In North America, sports will continue to capture the lion's share of spending, at 69% share of all sponsorship dollars. Read more »
