Data for Breakfast

• New media more essential than ever to politics. Forty-two percent of voters look to the Internet for information about issues and candidates in the upcoming presidential election, with the Internet a considerably more popular information source than newspapers among respondents between the ages of 18 and 34.

• Almost half of online voters use search engines for political information. Forty-seven percent of those who go online for information about candidates and issues use search engines to conduct their research, equal to the 46 percent who do not; usage is roughly equal among Democratic, Republican and independent voters.

• Traditional news organization and social media sites top candidate sites. Eighty-eight% of those who use the Internet for information about candidates and issues in the 2008 presidential election visit sites of news organizations such as CNN and The New York Times and 42% go to a range of social media sites; only 30% go to candidate Web sites.

• More than half of younger online voters are turning to social media for election information. Of potential voters who are looking for election information online, 61% of 18 to 24 year olds and 55% of 25 to 34 year olds seek answers on user-driven content sites such as blogs, YouTube and Wikipedia.

• Issues matter to voters, but candidates are not responding. Issue-oriented searches dominate over explorations of candidates’ voting and personal histories by a margin of nearly two to one; yet nearly all candidates rank poorly for issue-based search visibility. eBay trumps McCain in paid search. John McCain currently dominates the overall paid search candidate landscape, but online auction house eBay still ranks first in paid search visibili ty for the tested issue-based keyword set..

• Barack Obama and war in Iraq are tops in current candidate and issue searches. Obama attracts the largest share of searches among candidates in the survey of voter interest as of May 2008, topping Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani. The war in Iraq is the most searched for issue.

how_america_searches_election_2008.pdf

Category : politics, media consumption

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While the Web exhibits clear benefits as a reach medium on its own, it also offers excellent benefits as a potent partner for other major media. This study found that during every daypart, the Web extends the reach of TV, magazines and print.

The chart above shows the incremental reach the Web offers to television throughout the day, demonstrating that it adds to TV’s reach in all major dayparts. For example in the morning, television reaches 41% of observed consumers; by adding the Web (purple area with arrows inside) reach increases by 21 points to 62%. Similar reach lifts are offered throughout the day. Even in primetime, the Web reaches most of those relatively few consumers who are not reached by television. Where a television-only plan would achieve weaker reach levels during the day, a television plus Web plan can reach the majority of adults throughout the day.

As seen in the chart above, the Web boosts magazine reach by a factor of at least 2 and often by a factor of 4. Though it is a challenge for Magazines alone to provide mass reach, used in combination with the Web, they can.

media-consumption-report.pdf

Category : media consumption

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US men age 18 to 34 have always been an elusive target for marketers, and one they pay dearly to hit — think of the ever-rising cost of Super Bowl spots.

Whether at home, work or school, 23.1 million

US men age 18 to 34 use the Internet.

A Wired article dubbed “The Lost Boys” said that when it comes to media, men 18 to 34 like things “fresh, unpredictable, and uncensored. They’re more than twice as likely as other adults to have TiVo or some other DVR…On the Web, they tend to cluster at porn, gaming, and sports sites.”

Category : media consumption, Uncategorized

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The 18 million US college students that head back to campus this fall will be the most wired yet. Some 17.1 million of them, or 95%, will use the Internet at least once a month, and their time spent online was measured in hours per day–not per week.

I’m confused… who are these 5% of college students who AREN’T online? I’ve been out of college for a few years now and I was FULLY wired throughout my entire collegiate career. How can a college student get away with  not getting online at least once in a month? With Facebook’s penetration into the collegians around 90%, it’s seems like crazy talk to me that there would be such a high percent of college students who use the web so infrequently.

Social networking is an essential part of campus life. So much so that even parents, professors and future employers are signing up. On many campuses, upward of 80% of students use social networking sites on a regular basis.

In light of their strong use of social networks, college students are a key audience for online word-of-mouth marketing efforts. In addition, they are more likely than the rest of the population to use online video and user-generated content such as blogs.

Category : media consumption, social

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Deloitte’s Media & Entertainment practice has just released the results of its first comprehensive media consumption survey, providing a generational “reality check” on how American consumers between 13 and 75 years of age are using media and technology today — and what they want in the future.

The Demand for User-GeneratedContent

Content may be king, but industry-created content has got stiff competition. User-generated content is in tremdendous demand across the generations, with half of all consumers (51%) watching and/or reading content created by others. And, while Millennials are at the forefront of this trend, Xers, Boomers and Matures are also participating.

• 51% of all consumers are watching/reading personal content created by others; the number jumps to 71% for Millennials.

• 55% of Millennials and 42% of Xers read blogs, while 62% of Millennials and 41% of Xers watch YouTube or other video streaming sites.

• 40% of all consumers are creating their own entertainment, such as editing movies, music and photos. Millennials may be the majority of the creators at 56%, but Matures are also participating – 25% of them report creating their own entertainment.

Long Live Traditional Media

While the Internet is surging in popularity, traditional media—TV, magazines and books—remain deeply engaging to all generations. Each is passionate about their favorite TV shows and they utilize DVRs to view what they want, when they want. Almost three-quarters (72%) of all consumers read magazines, even when the same content is available online. And, a healthy percentage of all Americans say they want to pick up a book in the coming year.

• 79% of all consumers discuss their favorite TV shows with friends, family and colleagues, compared with 38% that discuss favorite websites.

• Time-shifting is the most cited reason for using a DVR. Almost two-thirds (66%) state the best use of their DVR is the freedom to watch shows on their own schedule, with Xers leading the way at 73%.

• 72% of all consumers enjoy reading print magazines, a proportion that’s consistent across the generations.

• 23% of all consumers expect to spend more time reading books this year. A slightly larger percentage expects to spend more time hanging out with family and friends.

Cell Phones as Entertainment

Only a few years ago, skeptics were convinced Americans wouldn’t be interested in all-in-one handhelds, or in paying for media services. They were wrong. Cell phones are surging as entertainment devices and as… well… everything devices. Here too, Millennials lead the way.

• 46% of Millennials embrace their cell phones as an entertainment device.

• 57% of all consumers text message on their cell phones compared with 84% of Millennials.

• 56% of all consumers take photos with their phones, including 37% of Matures.

• 60% of Trailing Millennials (those ages 13-18) have someone else footing the cell phone bill. Surprisingly, a quarter of older, Leading Millennials (19-24) are still getting financial support to pay for their fun.

Advertising Insights

When it comes to advertising, print prevails over the Internet. In fact, more than one in four consumers (28%) would pay for online content to avoid ad exposure. And, if you want to drive traffic to your site, search engines and word of mouth are most effective. Of the four generational groups, Xers are most responsive to online advertising.

• 76% of all consumers find Internet ads more intrusive than print ads, and 64% pay more attention to print ads than those online.

• 28% of all consumers would pay for online content to avoid seeing ads.

• While offline advertising is effective in driving web traffic, 84% of all consumers visit a website after finding it through a search engine and 82% do so because of a personal recommendation.

• 87% of all consumers continually frequent the same websites, but 56% are constantly in search of something new.

The Future of the Media Democracy

What does the future hold? For clues, look to the Millennials. They are boldly embracing new technologies, entertainment platforms and communication tools. And, that includes integrated platforms, portable media and “all-in-one” devices.

• 64% of Millennials, 20% of Matures and 48% of all consumers want to easily connect their home TV to the Internet.

• 57% of Millennials and 37% of Xers want an all-in-one device.

• 60% of Millennials and 45% of Xers want to be able to easily move their TV shows, podcasts, movies and other media to any devices/platforms they own.

deloittemediademocracysurvey.pdf

Category : media consumption

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Word-of-mouth marketing often targets influencers — people who are passionate about a product category, and who are perceived as credible sources. The theory is that reaching more influencers increases the odds that they will spread the message.

The theory’s appeal is clear to some. Advertisers are far down on the list of trusted information sources, according to a Bridge Ratings/University of Massachusetts study published in August 2007. Getting just about anybody else besides advertisers to convey the message would seem to be more effective.

The study also revealed that 93% of respondents said they were moved to take some sort of action by WOM influence.

eMarketer estimates that 20% of US adults will be WOM influencers in 2011, up from 17.5% in 2007. Web sites, blogs and other technology are making it easier to spread the word on a favorite topic.

One important attribute of people with influence, in addition to their use of word-of-mouth is their reliance on many kinds of media for information.

Influencers are more likely than the general population to use their local newspaper and cable TV news. Online, they use broadcast news sites and blogs more often, according to Ketchum and the Annenberg Center.

Influencer affinity for online media makes them an especially attractive target for interactive marketers.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1005225&src=article2_newsltr

Category : consumer trust, media consumption

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A new joint study released by Nielsen//NetRatings and Mediamark Research Inc. found that most visitors to magazine Web sites are only accessing the brand’s content online. An average 83% of all visitors to 23 large-circulation monthly magazines were consuming the magazine content just online, according to Nielsen and MRI–with figures ranging from 65% to 96% for specific titles.

The survey also found that male visitors were more likely than female visitors to consume content just online (90% versus 83%).

Somewhat surprisingly, however, there wasn’t much difference between age cohorts in terms of online-only readership: Younger and older readers were as likely to also read the print edition of a magazine.

http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=65136&art_type=13

http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/pr/pr_070731.pdf

Category : media consumption

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DVRs are installed in an estimated 17.2% of TV HH

By year end 2008, DVR penetration will increase to 38%

By year end 2011, DVR penetration will increase to 55% (65 MM homes)

Sources:  The Carmel Group 2006 Study, Nielsen, Forrester Research

Category : dvr, media consumption, video

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The internet has passed radio to become Americans’ second “most essential” medium and swapped places with TV as the “most cool and exciting medium” since the subjects were last studied five years ago, reported Edison Media Research.

And it looks like the Internet will soon take overtake TV for 1st place, as the ‘most essential’ medium.

The Internet already leads television among 12-17 year olds, 18-24s, 25-34s, and 35-44s. One has to get above age 45 to find age groups that still put television in first place.

Here’s the best part… The internet is COOLER and MORE EXCITING than TV. Take that traditional media peeps!

Only P55+ think TV is cooler than the Internet.

In all fairness… is “most cool and exciting” a good judge of a medium? I don’t think so. BUT it is a tasty factiod to taunt traditional media planners with.

Let me practice… My medium is cooler than your medium! Muahahhaha.

Category : media consumption

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US consumers ages 13 to 17 spend more time with media overall than other age groups do, and their total media time has grown by more than two and a half hours per day since May 2004.

Bridge attributes this change to Generation Y’s skill at consuming two or more of types of media simultaneously.

Among teen Internet users, 7.3 million of the total 9.4 million online in 2006 watched TV while online, and 6.9 million listened to the radio, according to eMarketer calculations based on data from a BIGresearch survey.

Although multitasking extends across all age groups, teens are generally more likely to multitask media than adults.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1005050&src=article1_newsltr

Category : media consumption, teens

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