Media buyers and planners hoping to take advantage of Campaign 2012, take note: cable news leads the pack among sources, with local TV in second place, but on the decline. A surprising second-to-last, the Internet. The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press’ 2012 campaign news survey discovered the trends in a January survey of 1,507 adults nationwide.
Pew reports that fewer Americans are closely following the campaign than four years ago, which has caused long-term and sharpening declines in the number of people tuning into local TV and network news.
Cable tops the sources in 2012, at 36%, but is only treading water. That despite the fact that cable nets have hosted most of the Republican debates, which are among a campaign year’s strongest draws. Almost half of Republicans (47%) watched a Republican debate during this campaign, up from 32% during the 2008 campaign.Still, cable news “reaches a substantial number across age and partisan lines,” reports Pew. Republicans tune into Fox News, Democrats into CNN and MSNBC.
Only 20% of Americans “regularly learn something” about the campaign or its candidates from local daily papers, a plummet from 31% in 2008. Local TV is down as well.
It is easy to blame it all on the Internet, but not so fast: the Internet as a source has gained only 1% since the 2008 campaign. The Internet had jumped from 13 to 24%, from campaign 2004 (Bush/Kerry) to campaign 2008 (McCain/Obama). Pew speculates that the Internet is the key source for a younger demographic, who are less likely to be Republican. Just 20% of those younger than 30 followed the campaign closely, down from 31% in 2008.
Facebook Ads: NYT Questions “Active Visitor” Figures
The New York Times read between the lines of Facebook’s IPO prospectus. As chief mergers and acquisitions reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin figures like 845 million monthly active users “should have an asterisk next to them.” Facebook counts among those 845 million monthly active users, and daily active users of 483 million, anyone who visits it’s Web or mobile site; but also, anyone who uses a Facebook “Like” or “Recommend” button in third-party sites, to share activity with Facebook friends.
How significant is that? Practically all significant online properties, including CNN.com, MSNBC.com, TheSmokingGun.com (pictured below) and ESPN.GO.com, include a “Like” or “Recommend” button alongside stories. So an “active user” may never leave the ESPN or CNN sites; theoretically, an active user may never visit Facebook, or see its featured ads.
Also counted among those active users: those click on the Facebook logo within a “Follow Us” bar, which typically includes an RSS feed logo, Twitter, Digg and email logos, among others.
The numbers climb. If the third-party site uses a Facebook ID for log-in (HuffingtonPost.com is one such site, and the feature is called “Facebook Connect”), and the user leaves a comment on a story in that site, he or she is counted as actively using Facebook. So, opined the CEO for equity research of Fusion IQ, those visitors “cannot be marketed to, they do not see advertising,” they simply used the extensive Facebook infrastructure.
However optimistic the unique-visitor figures, they are considerable anyway; and Facebook ads offer considerable cost-per-click savings of up to 45%, by some estimates. And a publicly-traded Facebook, with plans to become a news outlet as well, will necessarily become meticulously transparent in its traffic figures.
Millennials Trust Digital Word-of-Mouth Over Advertising
Perhaps Facebook’s estimation of its buying influence is not exaggerated after all. eMarketer reports that “Millennials,” who are now aged 18 to 34, widely use and create online content to recommend or dissuade each other in brand, product or service purchases. Fully 49% of millennials will rely upon anonymous, user-generated content from third-party websites (51%) to influence a buying decision, and presumably, will not question the source of that content. The remaining 49% relies upon friends and family, while 67% of baby boomers (aged 47 to 65) do the same.
What millenials rely upon far less is advertising, branding, or a company’s website. The upshot for brands is that they need to be transparent, says Lisa Pearson, VP of global marketing at Bazaarvoice, the company that provided the data. They need to understand that “There’s a huge group of consumers right now who just don’t trust them.”
As to where they relate their own positive experiences, 42% prefer to do so on social media, versus just 17% among baby boomers. Sixteen percent of boomers will call a company directly, versus just 4% of millennials.
Study: Facebook “Likes” Weak on Brand Engagement
Advertisers use Facebook Likes as a kind of social media “Nielsen rating,” but the ratings are disappointing. Only slightly more than 1% of Facebook users who “Like” brands like Procter & Gamble or Coca-Cola actually engage with the brands, finds marketing researchers Ehrenberg-Bass Institute. Engagement can include viral marketing, like posting a clever ad from YouTube.
As AdAge describes, the Institute used one of Facebook’s metrics, “People Talking About This,” to track likes, posts, comments and so forth about the brands. The Institute tracked the metric for 200 top brands over six weeks. What they found is that 1.3% of those who like a brand bother to discuss, share or otherwise engage with the brand. They click the Like button for the brand, then largely forget it.
The numbers get worse. Subtract new Likes from the figures, and only .45% of those who Like a brand actively engage with it.
The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute concluded that Facebook engagement preaches to the choir; those users who do engage were largely sold on a brand to begin with. Facebook branding is poor at converting light buyers into loyal fans. The Institute cautions against "putting a disproportionate amount of effort into engagement and strategies to get people to talk about a brand, when you should be spending more time getting more light buyers."
Perhaps a better use of Facebook is its "Featured" advertisements, that sit above the right-column ticker. The ads use polls, videos and so forth for immediate, opt-in engagement.
Interestingly, eMarketer reported today that 97% of marketers agree that social media provide value and benefits to their businesses. “We’re trying to get people out of the mindset that social media is just for pushing your messages out," said a spokesperson, "It is about communicating, but it’s also about listening.” With financial services, a Charles Schwab engagement is far more high-touch than is a retail engagement. In sharp contrast to the Ehrenberg-Bass findings, 44% of marketers in the eMarketer report find Facebook fans valuable in recruiting other customers, and 18% said Facebook fans have higher conversion rates and make more frequent purchases.
Time Warner Opens Medialab to Research Consumer Behavior
Time Warner Inc. cut the ribbon yesterday on its Medialab for research and development, housed at its New York City headquarters. Its purpose is to study consumer behavior, evolving media habits and industry trends across Time Warner businesses, brands and ad partners.
The lab incorporates testing for consumer emotion through biometric monitoring devices that measure a participant’s physiological responses to content. The center’s virtual testing room is configured for eye-tracking studies that test the effectiveness of content and ads on the Internet, television and mobile devices. The lab also houses several large focus group and observation rooms, all equipped with the latest technical and mobile viewing devices. This will give Time Warner and its ad partners “umatched ability to look inside the mind of the consumer as we develop even more engaging content,” said Time Warner Chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes.
The facility looks somewhat like a film set, as it recreates everyday settings for conducting studies including a 50-seat theater, an in-home style living room, a consumer retail area with a mock checkout, an eye-tracking station and gaming stations, all observable live by researchers. Time warner partnered with Ipsos MediaCT, a client-focused market research company. Innerscope Research and Schlesinger Associates also partnered with Time Warner and Ipsos MediaCT to create the Medialab; and with Innerscope Research, researchers into neuroscience-informed biometrics (e.g., eye tracking and brain activity).
Time Warner property HBO was the Medialab’s first client, using biometrics to gauge reaction its latest version of HBO Go, and Turner ran the same test on its Adult Swim. The first advertising study will be on consumer reaction to NCAA advertiser products.
ANA Survey: Mobile, Social Media Key to Growth in Integrated Marketing
Marketers can better justify their Google, Android and Facebook ad spends. The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has revealed its findings that integrated marketing communications (IMC) programs are on the rise; and that mobile marketing and social media are especially significant in those communications.
ANA surveyed a cross-panel of its membership on integrated marketing, a topic it studied in 2003, 2006 and 2008. Of those sruveyed, more than half are currently developing and executing IMC programs, aimed at creating a unified message to all stakeholders (including consumers, employees, retailers, stockholders, etc.) and across all media. Since 2006, the percent of marketers developing and executing integrated marketing programs for all brands/products/services has steadily grown:
- 2011: 51%
- 2008: 33%
- 2006: 19%
Also true, 42% rated the effectiveness of IMC as excellent or very good, up from 25% in 2008.ANA attributes that perceived effectievness to the greater availability and use of newer media platforms, such as mobile platforms, which enable better targeting and enhanced metrics.
The period 2008 to 2011 saw a significant leap in the percentage of marketers rating mobile marketing and social media as "important" or "very important" to their efforts. Because of their relative insignificance at the time, neither mobile marketing nor social media were measured in the 2003 or 2006 studies.
Finally, 74% measured IMC success by sales growth, and 61% by brand tracking (e.g., awareness, usage, purchase intent).
Sony Halts Production on Google TV Models: Low-Cost Ad Reach Still Elusive
Sony has halted production on its Internet TV with built-in Google TV platform. Frost & Sullivan Principal Analyst Dan Rayburn broke the story late yesterday on his streamingmedia.com blog. While Sony has made no such announcement, Rayburn reached out to Sony stores and Sony’s sales numbers. He did so after observing the Sony models disappearing from online sales channels like Amazon.com, where only 13 of the TVs were available and from third-party resellers—not from Sony.
Google introduced the platform in May of 2010, at its annual Google I/O developer conference, with the tagline “TV MEETS WEB. WEB MEETS TV.” As TechCrunch described, “The implications are pretty clear what Google is going for. That is, the 4 billion TV users worldwide. Or rather, advertising to the 4 billion TV users worldwide.” A commentator on the TechCrunch site grumbled “Hopefully ad agencies will start to realize that Google is just waiting to flip the switch and cut them out. But somehow I doubt it.” Google CEO Larry Page boldly predicted that before the summer of 2012, the majority of production televisions would have the Google TV platform embedded. But thusfar, and aside from Sony’s models, competitors LG, Samsung and Vizio have announced only five such models.
Sony has not abandoned the Google TV platform; it just released a Blu-ray Disc player with Google TV embedded, and at a modest $199. And the models that LG, Samsung and Vizio have announced are all 47-inch or more. Rayburn observes that competition from those makers is likely keeping Google TV down—they are competing with their own connected TV platforms, “And it’s clear they see the Google TV platform as a threat.”
At the time of Google TV’s release, Bloomberg BusinessWeek observed advertisers giving it a “warm reception.” As BusinessWeek did the math, an online video ad through the platform would cost $30 per $1,000 viewings and enjoy precise viewing analytics and have interactive capability; a TV viewer could “click to phone” or place an order then and there, without leaving the TV screen.
But, with competitive platforms from TV makers, Apple, and cable companies including Comcast, interactive TV is still feeling its way, and Google TV is showing no signs of becoming the standard the company predicted it would be.
Digital Advertising Alliance Framing Self-Reg Guidelines on Mobile Targeting
However effective behaviorally-targeted mobile advertising is, the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) believes the practice needs to be more principled. DAA’s Managing Director Peter Kosmala told ClickZ that “Efforts are underway to transition existing principles,” written for behavioral advertising, to the mobile space. DAA plans to issue a set of principles by the close of 2012, which include an “opt-out” icon to prevent behavioral targeting.
Both the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) are formulating their own guidelines about collecting behavioral data from mobile devices, but DAA is planning to create an enforceable code of conduct, like the one it created for desktop-based behavioral marketing. DAA’s technology working group will present a technical solution for a single-button opt-out, versus the more complex cookie-based method it developed for desktop machines.
In parallel to DAA efforts, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is debating an industry-enforceable do-not-track mechanism to inhibit any data collection. FTC is particularly distrustful of cookies, so any such ruling would invalidate DAA’s current desktop guidelines.
Online Ads: Poll Finds 15 Seconds the Limit for Consumers
Consumers understand that free content online is supported by advertising. But the majority at 54% considers 15 seconds the limit for in-stream and online ads, according to a survey by Poll Position. The company conducted a survey of 1,179 registered U.S. voters.
Of those polled, 54% felt that 15 seconds was acceptable, and 12% went as high as 30 seconds. But the numbers climb even higher, when you exclude the 27% who had no opinion. Of those who do have an opinion—
- 73% find 15 seconds acceptable;
- 5% find 30 seconds acceptable.
Demographic Divides
Interestingly, the figures were fairly close for male versus female voters and Republicans versus Democrats. But some significant demographic differences emerged.
Consumers in the 30-44 age group had the highest tolerance for 15-second ads, at 60.5%. Those in the 65+ demographic are far less patient, and only 40.1% of those consumers find 15 seconds acceptable, versus the 54.1% mean.
Among ethnic groups, 60.3% of white consumers find 15 seconds acceptable, but only 40.1% of Hispanics, and 33.3% of African-American respondents.
Google AdWords Enhances Lost Impression Metrics, Greater Detailing Causes
Google on its Inside AdWords blog has announced enhancements to AdWords metrics. The metrics surround impression share, a measure of the value of AdWords service.
Google has introduced the changes in response to advertiser requests. The aim is to give advertisers a better understanding of what return on investment (ROI) they are gaining, as well as what impressions they are losing, and why. For example, an advertiser may be at or near budget, and so loses impressions until the budget is restored. An ad may have a lesser ad rank and and position because of poorly chosen keywords, and loses more impressions.
Over the next few weeks, Google will add three new columns to its ad groups tab to quantify those lost impressions, which include:
1. Impr. Share, the percentage of impressions received/estimated number advertiser is eligible to receive
2. Lost IS (Rank), being the share of impressions lost due to the advertiser’s Ad Rank
3. Exact Match IS (Search Network only), the percentage of impressions an advertiser received based on exact keyword matches, versus those the advertiser was eligible to receive.
On top of those metrics, Google will update its algorithms to provide more detailed impression-share metrics, and before January 30th. It will provide refined campaign-level statistics retroactively, dating back to May 2011. And, it will provide once-a-day updates, at noon PST. Google is advising advertisers to download an impression share data report before January 30, for advertisers who wish to maintain a snapshot of existing reports to compare to the new more-detailed reports.