Viewers are utilizing TV and mobile devices simultaneously

Have you walked into a friend’s living room recently to find eyes glued to something other than the television? Well, there is a good chance they are partitioning some of their attention to a smaller screen. According to new research conducted by GfK Knowledge Networks, 52% of all minutes on smartphones or tablets in the U.S. are spent while watching TV. 


 MediaPost reports that the findings on each type of medium, smartphone or tablet, vary for different age groups. For example, adults 35 to 49 spend 67% of their total minutes on tablets while they are watching TV; however, adults 18 to 34 only spend 39% of their minutes doing the same thing. In regards to smartphones, the younger age group spends a slightly higher percent of their time surfing, texting etc. on his/her phone while watching television programming than the older group. 


 Advertisers can simultaneously integrate both television and mobile advertising. The benefits of these extensions in TV consumption is that mobile devices offer the ability for consumers to instantaneously research advertised products, share content, or link to websites which could potentially improve brand engagement. 

 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...

Large FB fan base doesn't coincide with high engagement

Some brands have thousands of Facebook “likes,” but how many of those fans are actually engaged? The answer may surprise you. According to Advertising Age, researchers from Ehrenberg-Bass Institute found the average of engaged fans among the 200 biggest brands on Facebook to fall below one percent.

It would be easy to assume that passion brands have a higher engagement. Nike, Old Spice, Harley Davidson and Ford would be considered passion brands because consumers tend to have more of an emotional connection with these rather than brands of hand soap, milk, etc. This assumption proves to be accurate; however, the average of passion brand engagement is still relatively small in conjunction with its fan base. In fact, passion brands had about a .66% average engagement while the top brands with the largest fan base had a .36%.

Holding the top position, only one brand in the study was found to have an engagement of two percent. The highest engagement levels were found with alcohol, auto, cosmetic, and electronic brands. Software, social platforms and fast-moving consumer goods were among the lowest.

What does this mean for advertisers? First of all, Facebook fan bases and actual consumer engagement are not the same thing. Secondly, advertisers must consider if a huge push towards engagement is worth the resources when the most a brand can really expect is around one percent.

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...

How much live TV does a DVR owner watch?

In the United States, it seems as though everyone has a digital video recorder (DVR) in their home, but is that really the case? No, but research shows that there are units in about 45% - 50% of US TV households. TiVo pulled information from 2 million of its devices to see how people are using them.

According to MediaPost, people who have DVRs tend to watch more recorded and on-demand TV than live television. TiVo confirms that users watch live TV about 38% of the time. The viewership lowers to 27% if a TiVo user also utilizes video options like Netflix, Hulu Plus and YouTube.

Not surprisingly, people who have DVR units in their home use them. This means that advertisers need to compensate for this. One way is to make sure the ads prevalently display the brand. That way, when a commercial is being fast forwarded, the viewer will still see the brand name.


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...

A positive turn-around for the magazine industry.

When the economy took a hit, so did the media. Slowly, media, including print magazines, has come back. According to MediaPost, more magazines launched during the first quarter 2012 than magazines that closed.

The online database MediaFinder.com reported that 52 titles debuted during the first quarter while only 12 titles discontinued publishing. At the same time last year, the numbers were 54 and 24 respectively. By comparison, the magazine industry suffered 596 closures during the entire 2009 year while only 275 were launched.

Restaurants/Dining was the top category of this year’s launches. Hunting and fishing were the next big categories. Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade and Spa were among the magazines that closed.

Acknowledging the positive aspects of the magazine industry, advertisers should be aware that with more selection comes clutter. This is why it is important to be careful when choosing the publication to carry your ad. By doing your research, it can help assure that your message is reaching your brand’s specific target audience effectively.

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...