Millennials Like Traditional - Not Just New - Media

Millennials (those now age 18-24) have an affinity for traditional media, such as print publications and television - and almost 6 in 10 (58%) say they use magazines to find out about what’s cool and hip, such as clothes, cars and music, according to a study released earlier this year.

Moreover, almost three-quarters (71%) of Millennials say they enjoy reading print magazines even though they know they could find most of the same information online.

Deloitte’s “2007 State of the Media Democracy” survey, conducted by Harrison Group, also found that when Millennials find something they like, they broadcast it, and do so effectively:

• The Millennials surveyed maintain large IM and texting lists that average 37 people, compared with the average of 17 for all those surveyed.
• And when they find a particular television show or website that they enjoy, they tell an average of 18 people, compared with only 10 people for all age groups.

According to the survey, word of mouth is the most common reason for Millennials to visit a website, followed by an ad on TV; almost half (48%) visit TV websites in a typical week.

The survey confirmed the growing popularity of user-generated content; Millennials in the survey spend about equal amounts of time consuming user-generated content and commercially produced content online:

• A large proportion of Millennials (58%) create personal content in a typical week, and an even greater proportion (71%) regularly consume it.
• But user-generated content is not just for kids - there is a “trickle up” effect, and the older generations are creating and consuming personal content as well: over a third of Matures (current age 61-75) - 36% - report that they regularly consume user-generated content.

Among the highlights of the survey’s findings:

User-Generated Content

• 40% of all survey respondents are making their own entertainment (editing movies, music and photos):
  • 25% of Matures
  • 56% of all Millennials
• More than one in 10 Millennials are actively uploading their own videos on the Internet.
• 51% of all survey respondents are watching/reading content created by others.
• 71% of Millennials, 56% of Xers; Boomers/Mature participation is less, but noteworthy.
• 53% of Millennials would download more videos if connection speeds were faster.
• One-third of online content viewing is done on user-generated sites: Almost ¼ for Matures, ½ for Millennials.

Traditional Media

• Favorite and promising new television shows beat the web as the most frequent media conversation topics for all generations: 52% of Xers are visiting television show Internet sites
• Printed magazines are an integral part of every generation’s life:
  • 72% enjoy reading magazines over finding the same information online
  • 58% of Millennials agree magazines help them learn about what’s “in.”

Advertising Insights

• 64% tend to pay greater attention to print ads in magazines or newspapers than advertising on the Internet.
• More than one-in-four would pay for online content vs. being exposed to ads.
• Search engines and word of mouth are the most effective means for driving Web site traffic - 85% of Xers are influenced by someone’s recommendation.
• 87% of respondents continually visit the same websites.
• Generation Xers are a little more responsive than others to advertising

Future Products

• 64% want to easily connect their television to the Internet for viewing videos and downloading content to their television.
• 60% want the ability to move their content to any device they own without any problems.
• 57% want an entertainment and communication device that lets them do everything.
• 49% want a computer or similar device that will be the center of their household media experience.

About the Survey: The online survey was commissioned by Deloitte & Touche USA LLP and conducted by Harrison Group, an independent research company, between February 23 and March 6, 2007. The survey polled 2,211 online consumers between the ages of 13 and 75.

http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/millennials-like-traditional-not-just-new-media-1117/

Americans More Connected and Quite Ad-Tolerant

Within the span of eight months, the use of online and mobile devices for entertainment has rocketed among online US consumers, according to the second edition of the “State of Media Democracy” new-media survey from Deloitte & Touche, reports Reuters.

About 38% of consumers are now watching TV shows online, compared with 23% eight months ago, according to the study.

And some 54% said they use social-networking sites, chat rooms or message board; in addition, 45% said they have a profile on a social-networking site.

The report of the online survey of 2,081 US consumers, conducted Oct. 25-31, is slated for release in Jan. 2008. Deloitte apparently provided the findings early to The Hollywood Reporter, which reported some results today:

Among the study’s findings related to advertising…

• 85% cited TV advertising as among the types having the most impact on purchase behavior; 65% cited online ads; and 63% pointed to magazine ads.
• However, 59% said they pay greater attention to magazine ads - and 55% cited newspaper ads - than any type of internet advertising.
• Online, search ads were cited as the most effective (78%), followed by interactive ads (62%), banner ads (60%), pre-rolls (31%) and post-rolls (19%).
• 67% said they would be willing to be exposed to more online ads in return for free content that’s valuable.
• However, 37% said they would rather pay for online content than be exposed to advertisements.
• 65% said they consider any type of internet ad more intrusive than newspaper and magazine ads.

Among the findings related to cell phones…

• Some 36% now use their mobile phones as entertainment devices, compared with 24% eight months ago (study conducted Feb. 23 to March 6)  - an increase of 50%.
• Among millenials (consumers 13-24-years-old), the proportion is 62%, up from 46% in the previous study.
• Among Gen Xers (25-41-year-olds), the proportion increased to 47% from 29%.
• About 20% of US consumers said they view video content on cell phones daily or almost daily.

Among the findings related to user-generated content…

• 45% of US consumers said they are creating online content (websites, music, videos and blogs) for others.
• Some 54% said they are making their own entertainment content through editing photos, videos or music.
• 69% said they are watching or listening to consumer-generated content.

http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/americans-more-connected-and-quite-ad-tolerant-2887/?camp=newsletter&src=mc&type=textlink

FTC to Behavioral Targeters: 'Police Yourselves (with Our Help)!'

The FTC has issued "self-regulating" guidelines for use by practitioners of behavioral advertising.

As behavioral advertising becomes more common (and more of a concern), the loose guidelines are intended to encourage responsibility among marketers and to ward off federal regulation.

Major components of the proposal include:

• Making visitors aware that their information is being collected
• Assuring them their information will be kept safe, and defining the ways in which it will be used
• Providing them with the ability to opt out

The terms of info-gleaning should be explained to visitors in clear, simple language.

These guidelines were designed to be broad enough to be adopted by a wide range of practitioners.

As is generally the case with young technology, marketers are admonished to tread carefully in the realm of behavioral targeting; abuse of these guidelines may yield tougher constraints from on high.

Six in Ten Broadband Users Watch Online Video Weekly, Up 36% YOY

Online video consumption is growing rapidly among adult broadband internet users - most now watch video weekly - according to a  recently released report, “Broadband Content and Services 2007,” from Horowitz Associates (via Micro Persuasion).

Six out of ten (61%) high-speed internet users watch or download online video content at least once a week, and 86% do so monthly, compared with the respectively 45% and 71% who reported doing so in 2006.

News and user-generated/non-professional content are the genres reported viewed most often, followed by movie previews/trailers, music videos, and previews/segments of TV shows:

• Weekly viewing of full episodes of television shows doubled from last year, with 16% of high-speed internet users now watching TV online on a weekly basis.
• Some 36% watch news video at least weekly, up from 22% in 2006.
• Non-professional videos are watched by 30% in 2007 - double the 15% in 2006.

Television Online

NBC and ABC are the networks that internet users mention most frequently for watching online TV content, with Grey’s Anatomy the most-mentioned TV program viewed online.

While consumption of broadband video has grown, the study shows that television is still the preferred platform for traditional TV content:

• Some 13% of internet users who watch TV shows online say they watch them directly online, and not on regular TV.
• The vast majority (70%) of internet users who watch TV online say do so because they missed the episode on TV.
• About two out of ten (18%) of these respondents say they watch TV shows online to watch them a second time (after having watched them on TV).
• 20% say they watch TV shows online just when they happen to find them or when someone else tells them about the shows.

Video on Portable Devices

Penetration of video-enabled handheld devices is also on the rise - and along with it the viewing of video content on those devices:

• Over one quarter (27%) of internet users have a cell phone, iPod/MP3 player, or PDA with video capability, and an additional 23% do not have this capability but are interested in getting it.
• Among those with video-enabled handheld devices, one-third (35%) watch video on their devices at least weekly and 62% do so at least monthly.
• That translates to 18% of internet users overall who watch video content on a handheld device at least monthly - up from 8% just one year ago.

“More and better broadband content - particularly entertainment content in video form - is bringing more consumers to the platform, either on their computers or on their handheld devices,” said Howard Horowitz, president of Horowitz Associates, Inc. “This, in turn, creates an even greater demand for - and expectations regarding - broadband video.”

“Importantly, the data suggest that broadband video is not cannibalistic to linear video, but rather an enhancement to the consumers’ ‘traditional’ TV experience,” he added.

About the study: “Broadband Content and Services” (see prospectus [pdf]) examines current levels of subscription, attitudes toward, and satisfaction with dial-up and high speed internet services, including cable modem, DSL, Verizon FiOS Internet, and wireless unternet services, as well as internet usage for information, communications and entertainment. Also covered is penetration of video-capable and internet-capable handheld devices, and viewing of video content and internet usage on handheld devices.

http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/six-in-ten-broadband-users-watch-online-video-weekly-up-36-yoy-2760/?camp=newsletter&src=mc&type=textlink

‘Customer Affinity’ New Measure of B2B Marketing Effectiveness

Despite an increased focus on customer engagement, most B2B technology companies continue to fall far short of meeting customer expectations and commitments, according to the results of a new research initiative by the Chief Marketing Officers Council.

Most technology vendors badly overestimate their effectiveness in addressing customer needs, while a majority of customers feel ignored and trapped in vendor relationships that are marred by broken promises, according to the research.

The “Profitability from Customer Affinity” study, which uncovers major disconnects between vendors and customers, argues for a new measure of marketing performance, called customer affinity, which incorporates critical elements of the customer lifecycle experience.

Some 99% of customers surveyed said they would either scale back or terminate relationships with vendors who fail to build customer trust. Moreover, less than 7% of customers said their vendors are extremely well-aligned with their needs.

Among key findings of the new study:

• 56% of vendors perceive themselves as being extremely customer-centric, but only 12% of customers agree.

• An overwhelming majority of vendors - 85% - are convinced that they are getting better at responding to customer needs, but 45% of customers disagree.
• More than half of customers surveyed described their relationships with vendors as “dependent and captive,” “struggling for common ground,” or “combative and adversarial.” When asked to describe their relationships with the channel, 45% of customers surveyed evaluated their channel relationships similarly.

• More than 30% of customer respondents said they would terminate relationships with companies that fail to gain their trust; 62% would scale back existing engagements; and 7% would no longer consider the vendor for future business.
• Co-innovation with customers is vital to building customer affinity: Nearly six out of 10 customers say co-innovation is extremely or very important, with another 30% agreeing that it is at least somewhat important. Customer responses indicated that collaborative, two-way conversations - followed by continuous improvement - build customer affinity.

• Vendors seem to understand that channel partners truly are partners in their success, and that going to market effectively with the channel is critical to maximizing their value to customers. Yet, only 8% of vendor marketing respondents said they do an extremely good job of teaming with the channel to build stronger customer affinity.

The survey’s findings indicate that customer affinity - not brand awareness - is the most accurate predictor of customers’ purchasing intentions and decisions, the CMO Council found:

• Customers say brand awareness and existing relationships - often thought to be leading factors in purchasing decisions - have little bearing on their decision to do business with a vendor or channel partner.

• Instead, customer decisions are influenced by competence, quality service and support, and a sense of true commitment from vendors -yet vendors continue to direct budget toward initiatives that are ineffective at building customer affinity, the study argues.

“Marketing has a critical responsibility to define and build customer-centric businesses,” said Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council. “Based on the findings of this study, we have a long way to go. To be more successful, marketers should adopt new performance measurements, like Customer Affinity, that are actually tied to the customer experience. We believe traditional brand metrics, taken by themselves, may actually reinforce ineffective behavior and practices.”

The report coincides with the CMO Council’s release of the first annual Customer Affinity Index of IT brands, led this year by Network Appliance, followed by Juniper Networks, InterSystems and Polycom:

About the study: The study was conducted by the CMO Council and is based on surveys and interviews with more than 1,000 leading B2B technology buyers, IT marketing and customer relationship executives, and their channel partners. The Customer Affinity Index as developed in conjunction with Dr. V. Kumar, professor and executive director of the ING Center for Financial Services at the University of Connecticut, and Dr. Girish Ramani, assistant professor of Marketing at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business.

http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/cmo-council-customer-affinity-new-measure-of-b2b-marketing-effectiveness-2765/?camp=newsletter&src=mc&type=textlink

Top 10 US Social-Network and Blog Site Rankings Issued for Nov.

MySpace.com yet again tops the rankings of top US social-networking sites, with nearly 57.4 million unique visitors in Nov., down from October’s 58.8 million, according to custom lists of top US social-networking sites and blogs compiled by Nielsen Online.

Google’s Blogger remains atop blog site rankings with 33.6 million visitors, down from October’s 34.1 million.

Ranked second among social-networking sites, Facebook increased the number of visitors to nearly 22.0 million, up from October’s 19.5 million - and up 89% vs. Nov. 2006, whereas MySpace visitors increased just 7% year over year.

(Compare with Oct. social-network data.)

Among blog sites, top-ranked Blogger increased its visitors a significant 49% from the year-earlier period, accounting for 33.6 million visitors in Nov., albeit that was down from this October’s 34.1 million.

More impressively, however, WordPress, which maintained the No. 2 rank it first achieved in Oct., grew 310% from the year-earlier period. In Nov. it accounted for 12.0 million visitors, up from 11.4 million in Oct. - and up from 2.9 million last year.

Six Apart Type Pad, now No. 3, also grew - 22% from last year - to more than 11.0 million in Nov., up from nearly 10.6 million visitors in Oct.

(See this table from Oct. to make month-to-month comparisons for blog sites.)

http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/top-10-us-social-network-and-blog-site-rankings-issued-for-nov-2750/?camp=newsletter&src=mc&type=textlink

Nielsen Issues US Top-10 Lists for 2007

The Nielsen Company released a yearend look at US trends in 2007, issuing top 10 media and consumer spending lists, including the following topics: television, the internet, advertisers, mobile, consumer purchasing trends, videogames, movies, DVDs, music and books.

Among the top 10 lists issued:

Top 10 Advertisers - by US Spending on Traditional Media - 2007:

Top 10 TV Programs - Regularly Scheduled - 2007:

Top 10 “Timeshifted” Primetime TV Programs - 2007:

Top 10 Programs: Product Placement, Broadcast Network TV - 2007:

Top 10 Websites in the US:

Top 10 TV Programs “Buzzed” About Online:

Top 10 Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Purchased by US Homes:

Top 10 Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Categories Sold in US Retail Stores:

Top 10 Internet Brands Accessed via a Mobile Device:

Top 10 PC Game Titles in the US - April-Nov 2007:

Top 10 Box Office - All Theatrical - through Dec 9, 2007:

Top US Markets for Avid Moviegoers:

For other lists issued, see the Nielsen release.

http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/nielsen-issues-us-top-10-lists-for-2007-2700/?camp=newsletter&src=mc&type=textlink

Nielsen: Young Viewers More Likely to Watch Shows Using Non-traditional Media

John Consoli
DECEMBER 04, 2007 -

Younger viewers are two-and-a-half times more likely than older viewers to be use DVRs, the Internet, or MP3 players to watch missed espisodes of TV shows, according to a study by the Nielsen Company.
The study, conducted by Nielsen in October with more than 1,500 adults at the CBS Television City research facility in Las Vegas, found 56 percent of 18-34-year-olds use new non-traditional technologies to catch up on missed shows, compared to 21 percent of viewers over 55.
The study also found that 55 percent of viewers over 55 would either watch a rerun and wait for a rerun to air, compared to 24 percent of 18-34-year-olds.
Only 1 percent of both demos would watch a rerun via video-on-demand.
The study also showed that nearly 80 percent of DVR owners use it to stay current with the shows they watch. And among those who went to the Internet to watch streaming episodes,
most tended to watch them on the networks’ own Web sites.
The most popular network website among those polled was ABC.com, where 50 percent of all viewers said they watch episodes on, compared to 41 percent for NBC.com, 37 percent for CBS.com and 24 percent for Fox.com. Only 8 percent said they watch episodes on CWTV.com.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003680941