December 2008 Archives

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Regarding the advertising environment, the Fitch media team is more cautious than most major advertising forecasts, none of which currently predict advertising to be nearly as weak as 2001.

Fitch's cautious view about advertising is, in part, supported by these underlying conditions:

• The 2001 ad downturn was concentrated in national advertising, while the 2008-2010 downturn will include both local and national components. Political and Olympic spending masked the local market weakness in 2008, but the report says the absence of these revenue sources in 2009 will expose the depth of this weakness.
• This weakness in local markets will be compounded by national advertising pressures due to the impact of the credit market events that hit while many large national advertisers were planning their 2009 ad spending budgets, forcing many companies to emphasize capital preservation and liquidity, not just earnings growth.
• With advertising being one of the most easily scalable fixed costs, some major advertisers could plan to pull back on national campaigns considerably until there is more visibility in the market.

Five of the top 10 advertising categories, or over 40% of the ad mix (according to Advertising Age), will be under meaningful pressure next year, says the report:

• No.1 Retail (12% of total)
• No.2 Automotive (12%)
• No.5 Financial Services (6%)
• No.6 General Services (6%)
• No.9 Airlines, Hotels and Car Rentals (4%)

And, notes the report, advertising inventory has proliferated (from online and emerging mediums as well as traditional ones) since previous downturns. Media companies are likely to compete more heavily on price in this downturn to fill the vast supply of ad space available.

Advertisers have many more options in the current environment than at any other time for maintaining a presence with consumers while trimming their budgets and scaling back high Cost Per Thousand (CPM) advertising campaigns, says the report. Even healthy advertisers are likely to use this increased bargaining power to command better price terms and concessions from media companies.

The study offers trends and outlooks for several advertising subsectors in the report, as estimated by Fitch:

Newspapers

Newspaper industry revenue growth will be negative for the foreseeable future as both ad pricing and linage will be under pressure within each of the four main components of newspaper companies' revenue streams. Fitch believes more newspapers and newspaper groups will default, be shut down and be liquidated in 2009 and several cities could go without a daily print newspaper by 2010.

Yellowpages

Few markets will be able to support more than two directories and most markets will eventually only be able to support one book. Another year of accelerated declines in yellowpages advertising could significantly pressure the intermediate-term solvency of the two pure-play incumbent directories companies.

Terrestrial Radio

Radio has no unionized workforces, and convert a higher percentage of EBITDA to free cash flow giving them more cushion to endure the secular challenges. Listenership is likely to continue to fall, though available inventory should remain relatively stable, and pricing could be up on some advertisers. Internet streaming provides additional day parts to sell. The continued roll-out of factory-installed high definition (HD) radio into automobiles could provide upside to listenership.

Magazines

Fitch expects the larger players to rationalize available print advertising inventory through consolidation and closing down titles. Several categories that used to have multiple titles will likely have advertising bases that can support only one major title. With limited catalysts for growth in the core print product, magazine publishers have become more proactive online.

Outdoor

Fitch believes the potential negative effects of increased inventory from digital roll-outs should be tempered by increasing appeal to national advertisers, as well as decreases in price per unit. Cost structures should benefit from digital billboards, as displays can be centrally managed without physical deployment of work crews. Low CPMs and better networked national sales pitches, position outdoor advertising companies to endure the downturn and rebound with the economy.

Cable Networks

Cable industry ad inventory has grown significantly over the past several years, causing a deceleration of the decades-long increase in ad dollars, but cable continues to be a targeted medium, at a lower price relative to broadcast and with significant reach. Fitch expects it to continue to gain share from broadcast. Fitch expects the cable networks to continue to embrace VOD and digital strategies, which could provide some modest upside to revenue growth.

Online

Online could be negatively affected by advertisers scaling back experimental expenditures in favor of more proven, performance-based mediums. Search is likely to be more healthy than display. Remnant advertising is likely to be hit by a shakeout in the ad network space. While CPM growth is likely to moderate and could be under pressure, online video and social networking are likely to support growth. Regulatory issues associated with privacy could be a factor as firms attempt to implement more behavioral targeting. Over the longer term, online advertising is expected to rebound from economic weakness and continue to capture share from traditional outlets.

For more detailed information within the original report, please visit here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Friday, December 26, 2008

According to a new survey from Mediamark Research & Intelligence, 11.5% of the U.S. adult population are the key influencers of other people when it comes to word-of-mouth communications regarding personal finance.

This segment of approximately 25.4 million adults, dubbed "Big Circle Influentials," are at par with the national average age for adults, and have only 4% higher household income than the national average of $65,500, but they score well above the national average for key financial and wealth indicators.

According to the MRI study, Big Circle Influentials are:

• 33% more likely to own a home valued at $500,000 or more
• 157% more likely to have made 10 or more investment transactions in the last 12 months
• 109% more likely to own securities with a value of $150,000 or more
• 44% more likely to have sought financial planning and/or money management advice

Anne Marie Kelly, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Planning at MRI, says "It's vital for financial advertisers to be able to identify Big Circle Influentials because these thought leaders advise family, friends, neighbors and colleagues, as well as people they don't necessarily know, through viral and social networks... targeting on demographics alone would not allow marketers to reach this key segment."

Kelly concludes that "Word-of-mouth influencers vary from category to category, but among them one thing remains constant: their ability to impact the attitudes and behaviors of the people within their sphere of influence."

For more information, please visit http://www.mediamark.com/

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Monday, December 22, 2008

Nielsen Online reported that Microsoft's Xbox 360 garnered the largest share of online buzz among the top game consoles, with 41.6 percent of messages between November 1^st and December 9^th. Wii and PlayStation ranked about evenly at No. 2 and 3.  

*Based on messages posted to all blogs between November 1 and December 9, 2008. Percentages are based on total number of messages mentioning at least one of the three consoles. 

Among selected gift ideas, TV-related terms dominated the buzz, with 52.5 percent of gift-related messages, followed by DVDs and toys.  

Based on messages posted to all blogs between November 1 and December 9, 2008. Percentages are based on total number of messages mentioning at least one of the above gifts.

Top message boards citing messages with the word "coupon" or "coupons," are ranked here, showing "forums.slickdeals" as number one.

For more information from NielsenOnline, please visit here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Friday, December 19, 2008

For the holiday season through December 7, $15.63 billion has been spent online, essentially the same level compared to the corresponding days last year, says comScore. During the first week since Cyber Monday (December 1 - December 7), sales totaled $4.45 billion, up 7 percent versus year ago.

 comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni, said  "... The compressed shopping period between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year means that there is now a greater sense of urgency in order to get all of one's shopping completed in time... "

 An analysis of referral activity reveals that 33.4 percent of all online sales in 2008 were driven by referral activity, up slightly from 32.8 percent in 2007.

While search remains the dominant referral activity, accounting for 55 percent of referred dollar sales during the season-to-date, it is down slightly from 57 percent last year. Meanwhile, e-mail has accounted for 16 percent of referred dollars, up 5 percentage points from last year, reflecting retailers' heavier use of e-mail marketing programs this season.

The fastest growing product categories during the period from December 1 through December 5 were Sport & Fitness and Consumer Electronics (which saw sales surge as a result of significant price reductions on many items, including flat panel TVs.)

Apparel & Accessories, the second largest retail category in terms of dollar sales (after Computer Hardware) during this period, also experienced strong gains. The softest retail categories include Music, Movies & Videos, and Jewelry & Watches.

During the five-day period since Cyber Monday, traffic to the retail site category is up 2 percent versus year ago, with many sites drawing a substantial number of visitors. eBay topped the list, while three of the top ten retailer sites saw gains versus year ago.

And, retail visitors as seen from a different perspective from Compete Data, Holiday Retail Shopping. Online traffic surveyed during Thanksgiving

Weekend through Cyber Monday.

The Compete study notes that  despite the slowdown in offline traffic, consumers continue to flock to the Web for their holiday shopping with department stores as the greatest beneficiaries of this trend. ,Traffic to department store Web sites rose an impressive 14% on Cyber Monday this year compared to last.

Additionally, says the report, once consumers went online, they tended to look for major deals and were shopping with the purpose of finding the best online discounts.  

Of the top 100 retailer sites, 47% of Cyber Monday traffic came from a coupon Web site in 2007, and in 2008, 62% came from a coupon site,  a 23.1% increase Y/Y.

 In general for Cyber Monday, the number of purchases was up 26% Y/Y, with coupon sites providing 62% of the traffic to the top 100 Retailers and 53% to the major department stores - an increase of 23 and 14%, respectively. 

To view the complete comScore release, please visit here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Thursday, December 18, 2008

According to a recent Bloomberg report by Tim Mullaney, the deepening U.S. recession will cause worldwide advertising spending to shrink next year for the first time since 2001, collected from findings at ZenithOptimedia and Interpublic Group of Companies.

Zenith said that ad spending will slip 0.2 percent to $490.5 billion in 2009, led by a 6.2 percent drop in the U.S.. In October, Zenith predicted the market would expand 4 percent next year, down from the 6 percent growth it forecast in June.

The U.S. ad market is expected to shrink 3.8 percent this year, after it predicted 0.7 percent growth two months ago, according to the report. Worldwide spending will rise 1.3 percent to $491.6 billion this year.

Bruce Goerlich, head of U.S. research for Zenith, observes that "This is about consumer confidence and consumer spending... More than any recession in the recent past, this will be driven by consumers...  when consumer spending takes a hit, advertising takes a hit."

U.S. spending on TV ads, the largest part of the industry, will fall 6.7 percent, and magazine ads will drop 5 percent, Goerlich reported. Internet spending will rise 18 percent, both in the U.S. and worldwide, Zenith finds, as emerging ad formats such as Web video make up for slower growth in banner ads.

"The biggest hit in TV is the spot market," Goerlich said, referring to ads sold shortly before airing, and not during the annual up-front market. "What saved spot this year was the election... "

Robert Coen of Interpublic's Magna unit said he expected a 0.3 percent drop in global ad spending next year, including a 4.5 percent decline in the U.S.

The WPP Group M unit forecast a 0.2 percent global decline, including a 3.2 percent drop in the U.S.. Adam Smith, for Group M, said "Advertising will fall less than the broader economy because marketers will need to maintain spending to protect market share."

And  according to a recent forecast from Borrell Associates, overall 2009 spending on traditional, offline media will decline 1.4%, and spending on interactive will increase 7.2% but says that these figures do not tell the whole story.

A slow-to-no growth forecast in the US for "standard" components of the interactive advertising market - such as banner, display and pop-up ads - is not cyclical and shows no signs of improving quickly, even if the nation's economy starts to move upward, says Borrell.

The spending levels by local advertisers, which grew at a 47% rate this year, are expected to slow to 8% in 2009

Future dollars are likely to be spent on other forms of interactive advertising, such as email, paid search and streaming video - which is expected to see the biggest spending growth, according to Borrell.

Finally, eMarketer has revised its projections for US social network ad spending, anticipating that advertisers will spend $1.2 billion on social networks this year, down from the previous projection of $1.4 billion made in May. Spending will reach an estimated $1.3 billion in 2009, down from the previous projection of $1.8 billion.

eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson, said "Marketers should not write off social networks completely... with a relatively small investment, companies can use social networks to cultivate relationships with customers who have... already expressed interest in their brand or product."

In addition, slower-than-expected revenue growth at MySpace is one of the  reasons for the lowered forecast.

Although the outlook for ad spending is challenging, there are still many benefits to using social networks and they remain a viable marketing venue. Monitoring social network discussions about a brand or product and interacting with consumers in a community are still valuable-and probably essential-activities.

For the Borrell report executive summary, please visit here. To read the Bloomberg report, please visit here.

To review the eMarketer article, please visit here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

A Research"Brief" cannot do justice to the output of a sophisticated, extensive conference on Generalizations in Advertising. And, the Center For Media Research makes it a point to not editorialize on research, white papers and newsletters, but rather let the reader pursue the excerpted data presented in greater depth for analysis and independent conclusions. However, the potpourri of fascinating, interesting and likely important conclusions drawn from the Conference and summary report is perceived by us to justify the suggestion that using the link included at the end of this Research Brief will open up new avenues for continued understanding of the value of research in the use of media.

The Empirical Generalizations in Advertising Conference brought together an outstanding group of researchers and practitioners in diverse areas of advertising who presented 44 different papers that summarize research-based knowledge in the field. Presented here are random excerpts of various papers.

Does it Make Sense to Count Clicks Anyway

Gian Fulgoni

"Consumers who delete cookies from their computers can skew advertising data," said Gian Fulgoni, Chairman, comScore, Inc. "If a cookie has been deleted you think you are reaching a new machine when you are really just delivering additional exposure. This results in an overstatement of up to 2.5 times in unique visitors and an understatement of frequency."

Robert Gunther spoke on the subject:

Fulgoni's research found that online ads have a positive impact even without clickthroughs. There is a lift in site visitation of 4 to 6 percent from display ads, even without a click. The increase in lift over a control is 65 percent in the first week and 45.7% in weeks 1 to 4.

"Even with no clicks or minimal clicks, online display ads can generate substantial lift in site visitation, trademark search queries and lift in both online and offline sales. The only reason we have the focus on clicks is that they can be measured. The Internet measures came out of the minds of technical people, not advertising people," Gunther says."

How Important are ads for brands

Robert Gunther

This paper looks at "quantity premium" - how much more a brand sells compared to similar brands, and  "margin premium" - Brand marketers want to see a high quantity premium and a high margin premium

• Advertising and distribution increases quantity premium; discounting hurts
• Strategy and price premiums: distribution and discounting reduce price premium; advertising increases it.

Simulating Advertising's Impact

Bruce Tedesco

Advertising analysis requires modeling methods based on dynamic principles. Dynamic models which have been around for some time but only recently applied to marketing, simulate what happens among consumers in a virtual marketplace. Running not a single simulation, but many, we are able to gain empirical direction from studying the effects and interactions that arise when inputs, like advertising, are varied.

Simulations are really about "emergent behavior... rather than calculat(ions)," says Tedesco

Search and Display Advertising Synergy

Gian Fulgoni

Display ad click rates are under 1%, on search they run about 5%. Sales impact of a search ad is greater than that of a display ad. Fulgoni summarized a number of comScore studies exploring the effects of search and display ads on site visitation and sales.

• Display ads impact site visitation. Impact is greatest during the first week, an effect which lasts over the four weeks following the first exposure. This is true across categories.
• Combination of search and display leads to greatest sales lift. Search and display synergy: 119% sales increase vs 82% for search and 16% for display only.

Advertising and Word of Mouth

Robert Gunther

Ed Keller, CEO of the The Keller Fay Group, said approximately 20 percent of word of mouth is stimulated by advertising. Influencers are three times as likely to talk about ads. Their studies, based on interviews since 2006 where individuals where asked what they talked about the day before, found 21. 6 percent of conversations included some reference to advertising. Ad-influenced WOM is about 20 percent more likely to include an active recommendation to buy or try the product.

"While people talk about online impressions, there are 3.5 billion brand impressions created every day through word of mouth," said Keller.

Implications:

• The rise of WOM does not portend "the end of advertising."
• 20% of WOM is stimulated by Advertising. Influencers are 3x as likely to talk about ads
• Ad-influenced WOM is about 20% more likely to include active recommendations to try/buy product.
• About 1/2 of Online WOM i is teenagers. From a marketing standpoint, need to keep that in mind.
• 75% of WOM is face to face; 15% is phone; 3% texting; 3% email; 1% chat rooms. About 3.5 billion brand conversations per day.

Digital Signage

A discussion summary of Digital Signage included these observations:

• Shoppers are most responsive to "news" and least responsive to traditional brand messages.
• Digital signs, whose messages could change by time of day, lifted store sales.
• In an experiment with Eddie Bauer, store traffic increased 23 percent and sales increased over 10 percent when paper signage was replaced with digital signs that change during the day.

Focus on Multicultural Consumer

David Burgos

Principles:

• Basic advertising principles are generally valid across cultures
• Culturally targeting advertising tends to work better than non-targeted communications
• Accept multicultural when relevant, and distinguish those areas where multicultural is the same as the wider society

When Advertising Works

J. Walker Smith and Bill Moult

Generalizations:

• Recently recalled ads were more likely to have left a positive impression than if they were on digital media
• Prior awareness of the brand is related to positive impression of the ads. Key implication - you can improve the effectiveness of ads by doing things to help make people aware of the brands

Clutter May Have Less Impact Than We Think

Erica Riebe of Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science

1. When more advertising is aired, audiences recall more ads in both "low clutter" and "high clutter" conditions.

2. Audiences remember a larger percent of ads they are exposed to when they see/hear less ads in total. There were advantages to the low clutter situation.

3. Audiences are not better able to identify the brand when the ads are in a less cluttered position.

4. Ads recalled in high clutter are of better quality/more likable on average... "Creative is very important."

Six Degrees of Engagement

Mike Bloxham, Mike Holmes

More than half of all media exposure occurs concurrently with a non-media life activity, such as eating, change a diaper, etc.

When TV is the primary medium, it dominates consumption. But when another medium is added, TV takes on a secondary role, becoming a background medium. The switch from foreground to background has implications for advertising.

TiVo, Friend or Foe

Joel Rubinson, CRO of The Advertising Research Foundation

Penetration of TiVo and other DVR players has reached 25 to 30 percent. Half of all DVR owners fast forward through ads and 50 percent of television viewers multitask, Consumers who fast forward through ads on TiVo may actually pay more attention to them.

"To fast forward ads you must give attention,"  Erik du Pleissis said. "Users have to pay attention to when they start and stop the process, and they see compressed versions of the ads. This quick glimpse can be as effective as a full ad, he found in studies with subjects in theaters and other research... If an ad has been seen before, a fast forward ad is as effective as a full ad."

On the other hand, Duane Varan, Director, Interactive Television Research Institute, Murdoch University, said that studies of multitasking also show that the distraction of other activities can be  "devastating" to advertising impact.

Importance of Creative

Robert Gunther

A study of television advertising effectiveness by Len Lodish and colleagues concluded that If television advertising doesn't work in the short term, it doesn't work in the long-term either. If it works in the first year, its impact is doubled over the next two years. The implication is that companies should generate more than one campaign (3-6 campaigns in 3-5 test markets were indicated by studies at Campbell's ) and screen with pretests to choose the best one to run.

More information about the Empiracle Ad Generalizations EG Conference can be found at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute here, or the Wharton SEI Center here  

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

A recent Student Survey by eROI to determine how high school and college students, as well as recent college graduates communicate digitally, reports that the mean number of email addresses per student surveyed is 2.4. Most college students have had an email address for about 8 years, with the average student getting an initial email address at the age of 13. 

When students choose a primary email service, Gmail is the clear favorite.

• 32% of college students use Gmail as their primary email address
• 19% select yahoo
• 18% pick MSN/Hotmail
• 17% use their school email address as their primary address
• 14% use another address as their primary

In addition, the study developed valuable insight into the effectiveness of marketing messages received through email, finding areas of opportunity for marketers to connect with this in-demand group.

Students, on average, read marketing emails on a "rarely to never" basis, with 61% falling into this category, says the report. Only 16% are reading marketing emails on a frequent basis, while 66% of students rarely or never take action on marketing emails.

Most college students do not feel that companies' advertising is not effectively speaking to them personally:

• 60% of students take action upon receiving an email only if they are interested in the product
• 47% take action if they are attracted to a special offer
• 11% of students take action because of the design of an email

Though DMNews, Bokardo, and Skype & Harris Interactive have reported that email is a dying channel, says the report, speculating that students are now using email primarily to sign up for social networking sites and receive email alerts, the eROI study finds that:

• ... only about 36% of students use email alerts to keep up to date on what's happening on their social networks
• ... about one-quarter of students originally got an email address for social networking purposes
• ... one-quarter got an email address for the ability to buy online
• ... 81% got an email address for communicating with family
• ... 52% for communicating with friends

Overall there is a very minor increase in email usage since getting an initial email address. It appears, says the report, that students had a real and determined need for email when they first set up an email address, not just for the purpose of setting up a social network.

Students are actively on social networks, and the study finds that they are spending their time as follows:

• 83% of college students use Facebook,
• 65% use MySpace and
• 21% use LinkedIn

With over two-thirds of students checking email at least once per day, and 55% of those checking more than 3 times per day, there's no doubt that students are aware of the emails that hit their inbox and are looking for those compelling emails that go above and beyond to resonate with them.

The study identifies the channels are students using most. The preferred means of communication for college students are:

• Text messaging (37%)
• Email (26%)
• Social networking IM (15%)
• Instant messaging (11%)
• Social networking email (11%) 
• And 12% of students check email on a mobile device

Overall, concludes the study report, "... email plays an important role in college students' life as a personal communication device, but not as a major marketing channel."

For more information, please visit eROI here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

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RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Thursday, December 11, 2008

The  latest Simmons Multimedia Engagement  Study finds that consumers are less likely to purchase products and services they see advertised on news media, and are less apt to say  products and services advertised on news media are high quality.

The MME defines and examines five key dimensions of engagement and examines how each plays an important role not only in how media connects with its audience. The five dimensions of engagement as reported by Experian are:

• Inspirational: Consumers are inspired by message and have an emotional connection to it
• Trustworthy: Consumers trust a particular program, magazine or website and believe it is telling the truth without sensationalizing
• Life Enhancing: Consumers feel they are learning about new things and places from a particular program, magazine or website, helping to make better life decisions
• Social Interaction: Fodder for conversations with friends and family.
• Personal Timeout: Provide an escape for consumers, who like to relax and unwind while reading or watching them

Americans gave news media highest marks for Social Interaction, indicating that they regularly talk with friends and family about things they see on news programs or read about in news magazines or on online news sites.

In addition, news media get high scores for Trust, meaning that while other research has shown Americans don't necessarily trust "the media" at-large, consumers believe that the news they personally consume provides them with accurate and trustworthy information, Experian Simmons said.

News magazines rate higher for Trust than online and TV news, but news websites are considered more Life Enhancing.

And, among the TV and magazine news properties evaluated, Experian Simmons found that the most talked about news property is The Drudge Report, followed by:

• The New York Times
• Countdown with Keith Olbermann
• The O'Reilly Factor
• The Wall Street Journal

Of the same 48 news properties, Google News was the least likely to generate any type of social interaction. Next to last was MSNBC's Morning Joe, followed by:

• Yahoo News
• CBS Evening News with Katie Couric

According to the study, Trust and Social Interaction don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. The most-talked-about Drudge Report scored 12% above average for Social Interaction and ranked #1 in that dimension, while scoring 10% below average for Trust, for which it ranked #46.

News media gets the lowest overall scores in the Personal Timeout dimension. When Americans want to escape, the last place they'll turn it to the news, says the report. But, TV programs that regularly feature news satire are less engaging than real news except when it comes to the Personal Timeout dimension.

For more information and charts, please visit here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Sigal Kremer, co-founder of KW Strategems, said "... the study showed most respondents didn't experience as much stress as expected, and... many are already thinking ahead at ways they'll conquer stress over the next few weeks."

Respondents were asked to rate their stress levels during the holiday season (from the end of November through the first part of January) across five categories: health, fitness, weight, personal relationships and finances. In summary, the study indicated:

• On a 10-point scale, Americans rated their stress level at 3.44 points.
• Two-thirds of Americans claim financing the holidays is a significant stress factor.
• Slightly more than one-half of Americans will try to spend less this holiday season.
• Seven-in-ten women are moderately or significantly worried about finances during the holidays.
• Nearly one-half of women are moderately or significantly worried about their weight during the holidays.

35% of respondents said store-bought gifts ranked highest as gifts buyers preferred to give family, friends or co-workers. Gift cards came in second at a close 31%.

Though 53% of Americans are more likely to give a tangible gift, 47% said they would prefer to receive cash in order to have a choice for what they will receive this season. What's more, women are more likely to want to give a tangible gift, but one in four would like to receive a gift experience, such as a spa gift certificate, dinner, movie passes.

Please visit here for more information and to access the PDF file of the complete study.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

MEDIAPOST NEWS

ONLINE MEDIA DAILY

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RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Friday, November 28, 2008

A new analysis by Hitwise, reviewing the 30 leading e-commerce brands in the Airlines, Appliances and Electronics, and Insurance categories revealed that in the four weeks ending September 27th, 2008 an average of 87% of searches for the top branded search terms sent visits to the brand owner's website.

USAA was one of the most successful at protecting its brand, receiving 96% of visits from searches for "usaa". Similarly, United Healthcare received 94% of visits from searches for its brand and Northwest Airlines 92%.

At the other end of the spectrum, a top 10 Appliances and Electronics retailer received 66% of visits from searches for its brand, a top 10 Insurance provider 78% and a top 10 Airline 75%.

Hitwise research shows, though, that more than 1 in 10 US Internet searches for leading brands is led away from the brand owner's website. When searching for a brand in the phone book, that brand's competitors are not included in the listing. But online searching frequently includes that brand's competitors in the sponsored listings.

Online brand protection is not an exclusive concern of major retail categories, says the report. The second downstream website for searches for "drudge report" was Google News, receiving 3.79% of visits from drudge report searches. The website, BestWebGifts.com received 1.93% of visits from searches for "American red cross".

Misspelling the brand name or combining it with a product term in the search string also reduces the direct brand hits. Though 96% of searches for "usaa" went to the USAA website, that figure dropped to 78% for searches for "usaa insurance" while 12% of the visits went to USInsuranceOnline.

And, while 90% of visits from searches for "southwest airlines" went to the Southwest Airlines website, that dropped to 66% for searches for "southwest airlines reservations," notes the report.

For more information, please visit here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

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ONLINE MEDIADAILY

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

According to Scarborough Research, in addition to being young and diverse, Texters are among the country's highest spenders on cellular services. On average, they spend $87 on their monthly cellular bill. By contrast, all cellular subscribers spend an average of $75 monthly. They are 46% more likely than all cellular subscribers to typically spend $150 or more on cellular service monthly. Texters are 12% more likely to plan to switch services. They utilize a wide variety of phone features - such as picture messaging, streaming video and email - at a rate higher than that of the average cell user.

These consumers are 49% more likely than all cellular subscribers to be ages 18-24, 14% more likely to be Hispanic, and 24% more likely to be African-American. Scarborough points to these similarities as likely reasons why El Paso, Salt Lake City, Dallas and Memphis are the top text messaging markets. 57% of cell phone subscribers age 18+ in El Paso text message, versus 48% of adult cellular subscribers nationally. 55% of cell subscribers in these cities utilize the text messaging feature on their phone.

Fort Myers, FL, Charleston, WV, and Grand Rapids, MI are the local markets least likely to text message. 36% of Fort Meyers and Charleston cellular subscribers utilize the text messaging feature on their phones, as do 35% of those in Grand Rapids, MI.

20% of Texters spend more than $1,000 online annually, versus 17% of all cellular users. When not online or shopping they are 37% more likely than all cellular subscribers to have played basketball as a leisure activity, 29% more likely to have gone jogging/running, 29% more likely to have played tennis, and 23% more likely to have practiced yoga during the past year.

And, their interests reflect their youthful demographic and active nature. Texters are 12% more likely to have attended a professional sports event, and 57% more likely to have gone to an R&B/Rap/Hip-Hop concert during the past year.

Texter households are avid technology shoppers, says the report. Texters are more likely than the average cell phone subscriber to live in a household that owns, or plans to buy, a wide variety of hi-tech items, from HDTVs to MP3 players to video game systems.

39% of Texters live in a household that shopped Best Buy during the past year, versus 27% of all consumers nationally.

• 35% of Texters live in a household that shopped Wal-Mart for tech items during the past year
• 20% of Texters shopped Target

Gary Meo, senior vice president, digital media services, Scarborough Research, concludes "Text messaging could be... disproportionately appealing to marketers because it delivers a young, multicultural audience... (but) texts can provide a very locally targeted vehicle for marketers wanting to reach people in the right place at the right time... "

For more information and a PDF file of this report, please visit Scarborough here.

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RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The study shows that nearly 31% of in-home Internet activity takes place while the user is watching television, demonstrating that there is a significant amount of simultaneous Internet and television usage. Conversely, about 4% of television viewing occurs when the consumer is also using the Internet.

Other findings from Nielsen's TV/Internet Convergence Panel include:

50% of the Convergence Panel panelists had viewed some streaming content online. The demographics of those streaming the most were:

• 82% of female teen panelists viewed streaming content
• 64% of male teens
• 57% or men 18-34
• 55% of men 35-54

Nearly 60% of panelists and more than 80% of people who watched TV and used the Internet that month had simultaneous sessions - watching TV and being online at the same minute. This group tends to be very heavy users of both TV and Internet.

Teens are the most likely demographic to have simultaneous TV/Internet usage, but Adults 35-54 have the most simultaneous usage minutes.

Howard Shimmel, Senior Vice President Client Insights, The Nielsen Company, says "It is too early to draw... firm conclusions about behavior... but... early trends... indicate that online usage is complementing, not substituting for, traditional television viewing... "

For additional information, please visit here.

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REASEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Monday, December 1, 2008

comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni, said "Early reports suggest that Black Friday sales in retail stores were slightly better than anticipated... and that performance apparently extended to the online channel, which saw sales on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday combined increase 2 percent versus year ago... Black Friday consumers responded positively to the very aggressive promotions and discounts being offered in retail stores... "

The Black Friday early morning rush online, between the hours of 4:00-8:00 AM, accounted for just 11 percent of the day's total online retail sales, while the period after 8:00 AM saw 84 percent of online sales take place. The 12:00- 4:00 PM segment represented the highest share of Black Friday online sales, with the hour of 12:00-1:00 PM being the heaviest individual hour of spending.

The Monday after Thanksgiving, popularly known as "Cyber Monday," represents the first significant spike in online spending activity for the holiday season. The phenomenon results from Cyber Monday being the first working day following the Thanksgiving holiday and the fact that purchases from work still account for approximately half of all e-commerce spending.

 Cyber Monday has historically proved to be an accurate bellwether for the overall performance of the online holiday shopping season, says the comScore report. While the year-over-year growth rates for individual online spending days vary quite significantly throughout the season, during the past few years Cyber Monday has been within a few percentage points of the final holiday season growth rate.

Fulgoni concluded, "Cyber Monday may well prove to be an important indicator of whether the decline in spending that we've seen during the first few weeks of the online holiday season will continue for the balance of the year."

 In a comScore survey, conducted between Friday, November 21 and Monday, November 24, 33% of consumers said they had not even begun their holiday shopping yet. They also indicated they intended to cut back on holiday spending in several ways, most notably by buying fewer gifts (47% of respondents) and buying less expensive gifts (46% of respondents). Respondents also said they planned to employ the Internet to help cut costs, by taking advantage of free shipping and/or no sales tax (3%).

And this year the economic slowdown will have toy manufacturers and retailers in a bit of a panic according to the results from The Harris Poll survey of 2,303 adults, surveyed online between October 20 and 27, 2008.

• 47% of Americans say they will purchase toys as gifts this holiday season while 41% say they will not
• Among households with children, 71% will purchase toys this holiday season, but 21% say they will not
• Among those who will purchase toys this holiday season, 44% say the amount they will spend for these purchases will be less than last year
• 36% of toy purchasers say they will spend about the same as last year for toys
• Looking at toy purchases by income level, 52% of those who will purchase toys and have a household income of less than $35,000, 50% between $35,000 and $49,999, and 51% between $50,000 and $74,999 say the amount they will spend this year will be less than last year.
• When it comes to what people will be buying, 47% will be purchasing children's books, while 38% will purchase games for consoles, and about 1/3 will purchase board games, arts and crafts, and dolls.
• Women are more likely to purchase children's books (52% vs. 40%) and arts and crafts (37% vs. 28%). Men, on the other hand, are more likely to purchase sports equipment (31% vs. 15%) and handheld electronic games (30% vs. 21%)

According to Peter Shafer, Vice President of Harris Interactive's Youth Center of Excellence, "Toy manufacturers can't catch a break. Holiday toy spending last year was impacted by the toy recall in China, and this year it is the global economic downturn. But kids being kids are still lobbying their parents for their favorite toys. Kids tell Harris they want toys that are fun to play with and encourage creativity. Parents, even though spending for toys may be less, have heard the message and are shifting their purchases towards those favored toys."

For more about the comScore report, please go here.

For more about the Harris Poll, please go here.

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