Nielsen uses a new definition of TV homes to generate the Universe Estimate

Prior to the television industry’s 2013/14 season upfronts, the Nielsen Company typically releases its new TV home estimate. This allows advertisers to better estimate audiences.

According to MediaPost, the overall American TV household Universe Estimate grew from 2012. Last year, it was estimated that there were 114.2 million TV homes. This year, the estimate has grown by 1.2% to 115.6 million. In fact, there are about 1.6% more TV viewers from last year, which calculates into 294 million viewers who are 2 years old+. 

One reason given for this growth could be the new Nielsen definition of a TV home. Now, each home must have at least one working TV or monitor that can deliver content by means of antennae, cable set-top-box or a satellite receiver. The satellite receiver could include a broadband connection.

With the new TV home definition in use, it will be interesting to see how the TV home population develops over the next few television seasons.

The most common demographic for tablet owners

Tablet computers haven’t been available to consumers for too long, but they have gained major ground to be in the hands of a third of American adults.

Pew Research Center released information this summer on the demographic breakdown of tablet owners. According to the Center for Media Research, data shows that by May 2013, 34% of adults owned a tablet computer. A tablet could be any one of the following devices: iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Google Nexus, or Kindle Fire. Compared to the previous year, ownership was at 18%, and going back to 2011 at 8%. Obviously, there is a history of steady growth for the device.

If advertisers were to make a broad generalization of the typical tablet owner, it would be an adult between the ages of 35-44 (49%), who graduated college (49%) and had a household income of $75,000 or more (56%). Reports show that these demographic categories have the highest index for being an owner of a tablet.

The demographic categories that have the lowest index for being an owner are people aged 65+ (18%), who did not graduate high school (17%), and who make less than $30,000 (20%).

Interesting to note is that about 50% of people who are parents to minor children have a tablet device. Compare that to 27% of people without children have one.

As ownership will most likely continue to grow, it will be interesting to see if the demographic breakdown will remain the same.

Research done to show if TV affects tweets or if the reverse is true

It’s not a new discovery in the media world that people can utilize multiple screens at the same time. What research hasn’t established is the concept of one media screen driving the other’s viewership up and vice versa. According to AdvertisingAge, the Nielsen Company and Twitter are working together to discover the correlation between live TV ratings and tweets.

Using SocialGuide, which derives from Nielsen and McKinsey & Co, over 221 primetime broadcast programs were monitored for the TV ratings and tweets. The study found that higher TV ratings often lead to more tweets of the particular show. Results showed a 48% increase in tweets when a live TV program grew in ratings. Likewise, as the number of tweets grew, it increased the live TV ratings in about 29% of the studied episodes.

Reports warn that this outcome may not occur with every program. A few examples of extremely hyped TV shows on Twitter that did not respond with high ratings were Oprah’s interview with Lance Armstrong and SyFy’s first viewing of “Sharknado.”

Overall, it makes sense. If you are browsing Twitter while watching something on TV and see a lot of chatter about a different program, it wouldn’t take much effort to change the channel. Similarly, if a particular show is so great for a variety of reasons, and you just need to share the wealth with everyone else, you may tweet about it.

Which device is used the most to access emails?

At some point, most advertisers have utilized email marketing in their arsenal of media platforms for a campaign. With smartphone and tablet capabilities and the growth of consumer adaptation to them, it can be beneficial to know which devices consumers are using to open emails. Knowing this can help a marketer tailor messaging to best fit the consumers’ needs.

According to eMarketer, the company Harland Clarke Digital did some research to see where emails are being opened. The standard desktop computer still holds the lion share of email opens with 55.2%. These opens include both the business to consumer and business to business messages. Following desktop, the smartphone boasts 25% of email opens with tablet earning 7.3%.

Interesting to note is the fact that smartphone and desktop behaviors tend to be more in line with one another than tablet. The study reports that most email opens occurred between 10 am and 4 pm for smartphones and desktops. In contrast, tablets see the most email usage between 4 pm and 10 pm. This can lead to a conclusion that desktop and smartphone usage peaks during the work day hours, and tablets are utilized more at home or at least, after work hours.

While smartphones and tablets are not the primary device in which a consumer accesses emails, both still have a foothold in the market. Therefore, it could behoove marketers to make sure an email blast translates well on desktop, smartphone and tablet formats.

Advertisers can now put an ad on toilet paper

I must admit, with writing a media blog for the last few years, I’ve gotten used to seeing new advertising opportunities in places where I didn’t expect to see them. It’s easy to get jaded. That being said, the company Star Toilet Paper surprised me. According to MediaPost, advertisements are now being sold on toilet paper.

College students created the business back in 2011. The premise is to provide free toilet paper to schools, businesses, and other venues that have public restrooms. Reportedly, there are currently eight venues that now supply patrons with Star Toilet Paper in the restroom facilities. In addition, about 70 advertisers have made the commitment to participate.

If you really think about it, it is a pretty smart way to get your message across to a consumer. Meaning, when a person is in a bathroom stall, you could theoretically have his or her complete attention for the duration of the stay. Also, with the introduction of smartphones, people have been known to bring it in the stall. Some of the ads have QR codes on them, which can encourage interactivity.

So, if you walk into a public bathroom, and you see ads on the toilet paper, you won’t be surprised.