A new study shows what smartphone users are really thinking

Smartphones have become more than a means to communicate with another person beyond calling, texting, and emailing.

Unless you’ve taken it upon yourself to be completely oblivious to the digital revolution, you know that smartphones are quickly becoming a standard mobile device vs. a luxury item. As its accessibility grows, more mobile phone users are converting to smartphones.

In a brief, the Center for Media Research summarized the Prosper Mobile Insights survey on smartphone users and his/her habits.

With the many capabilities that a smartphone offers, 16.7% of respondents admitted to only using the device for calling, texting and emailing. However, the majority of those surveyed, 52.9%, utilize all of the functions.

An interesting note was that the top three ranked functions of the smartphone that users could not live without were texting with 21.6%, email with 15.7%, and the Internet with 16.7%. Where did calling rank? It ranked fourth with 7.8% with Facebook and GPS following closely behind.

What can be taken from this? Smartphones have become more than a means to communicate with another person beyond calling, texting, and emailing. It has become a portable computer that most users can’t go without. Therefore, if a pocket communicator never leaves your audience’s hand, wouldn’t it be a good idea to be there?

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Is there a difference in TV consumption among ethnicities?

To stay ahead of the media mix trends, it is pertinent to stay current with media research. The Nielsen Company conducted a survey in November 2010 to breakdown television consumption among American ethnicities.

According to MediaPost, African-American homes are the leaders in TV consumption with an average of 7 hours and 12 minutes per day. The average US household is 5 hours and 11 minutes. Following behind are Caucasian homes at 5 hours and 2 minutes, Hispanic homes at 4 hours and 35 minutes, and Asian homes at 3 hours and 12 minutes.

An interesting note is the effect of DVRs on US households. In fact, Caucasian homes added 5.0 DVR ratings points to TV shows, which is a 15.4% boost over live airings. Asian households, Hispanic households, and African-American households followed in the DVR usage.

How can this information help an advertiser with a campaign? When looking at a target demographic, does the ethnic makeup play a factor? If so, an advertiser needs to know how that group consumes media. A heavy TV campaign may not make sense for an Asian or Hispanic demographic target, but it would for African-American or Caucasian one.

Be sure to visit Ruth Burke & Associates’ blog to find the latest in media news and receive helpful tips to make your advertising campaign successful...

Why are consumers unhappy with pay walls?

Pay walls are causing the online entertainment industry to struggle with consumer satisfaction.

Ten years ago, consumers were able to access entertainment online content at their convenience for free. A recent article from MediaPost says that consumers are responding negatively to the recent charge for online access to content.

A public relations company, Edelman, conducted a study that showed the true worth of entertainment sources has decreased in the past year by 68%. The speculation is that this change may be caused by the lack of value a consumer receives from the entertainment sources. In the U.S., 88% of the study’s respondents feel that the pay sites have not improved their quality, value or service. With that said, why has the social networking perspective continued to maintain value to consumers?

As consumers become more reluctant to pay for entertainment, advertisers struggle to find the best approach for online advertising. Many advertisers have begun to focus their online advertising through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. With this ability, advertisers are able to maneuver around pay walls and advertise in a different online format.

Pay walls have dampened consumer satisfaction, but also advertiser’s approach to online advertising. Advertisers who want to target an online audience need to remain aware of the sites they are using and resulting cost efficiencies and effectiveness in reach the target audience.

Be sure to visit Ruth Burke & Associates’ blog to find the latest in media news and receive helpful tips to make your advertising campaign successful...

Why do political campaigns go negative?

Negative political ads have been compared to all other forms of advertising.

It’s commonly known that as political campaigns become more competitive and closer to the Election Day, politicians generally air negative ads against competitors. A recent study, “The Seeds of Negativity: Knowledge and Money” followed the U.S. House of Representative races in 2000, 2002 and 2004. It concluded that two key factors of negative political campaign advertising are big budgets and media saturation.

According to AdvertisingAge, positive campaigns are typically used when a voter does not know too much about a politician. As voters become more educated in the candidates and issues, the advertising focus switches towards a more negative approach in which competitors’ flaws become the forefront messages. This is done to stand out from the pack. In addition, there was a common link between higher advertising budgets and more negative ads.

An interesting note is that studies prove that positive advertising does not encourage voters to participate but negative messaging does. The theory is that negative ads make topics appear more significant which leads to more voter participation.

Negative political ads have been compared to all other forms of advertising. Comparative advertising is said to be the same as negative political ads in that it points out the flaws of competitive brands. In closing, running a negative campaign whether it be political or commercial does lend itself for the product/service to stand out. However, the manner in which the product/service stands out remains to be determined good or bad.

Be sure to visit Ruth Burke & Associates’ blog to find the latest in media news and receive helpful tips to make your advertising campaign successful...

Is the nuclear family still around?

Some critics complain that media is too fragmented to reach a traditional mass audience.

If an advertiser in the 1950s wanted to target the majority of consumers in the United States that audience would likely consist of the nuclear family which included father, mother, son, daughter, and dog. Today, that’s a different story. AdvertisingAge recently came out with an article that touches on how the traditional American household is no longer dominant.

In the 1960s, married couples with children households used to make up 44.3% of all households. Today, that number has declined to 20.2%. An interesting note is that the actual number, 23.6 million, has stayed pretty stable throughout the last 50 years. Two household categories that have seen growth are married couples with no kids and single homes. Both have surpassed the married couples with children household.

Reasons for this shift in household formations can be attributed to both economics and society. One example is that women have been able to work in career fields in which they can support themselves and their families. Therefore, marriage has become less of a financial necessity for women.

Some critics complain that media is too fragmented to reach a traditional mass audience. While that is true, there really isn’t a traditional mass audience anymore. The American household has become as fragmented as the media trying to engage it. Therefore, it is more important than ever for advertisers to really pay attention to its key audience and their motives.

Be sure to visit Ruth Burke & Associates’ blog to find the latest in media news and receive helpful tips to make your advertising campaign successful...