Americans More Connected Online and Quite Ad-Tolerant

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

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

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

The report of the online survey of 2,081 U.S. 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 of the results:

Among the study’s findings related to advertising…

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

MarketingCharts also provides additional findings - related to cell phones and user-generated content. (Also see coverage of findings from the first edition of the Deloitte “State of Media Democracy” study).