Top ten TV shows across social media

Since word-of-mouth is one of the most effective tools in promoting or dissuading really anything, an advertiser’s biggest challenge is to encourage and direct it. With the introduction of social media, word-of-mouth is more readily available and mainstream than simple water cooler talk. That’s why it’s helpful for advertisers to know what dominates the social media arena.

According to Nielsen SocialGuide, cable TV shows, between September and November 2013, accounted for five of the top ten shows on social media. The focus was on the average unique audience.

MediaPost listed out the top ten shows as follows:

·        “Breaking Bad” from AMC with 6.03 million average unique audience (Cable)

·        “The Walking Dead” from AMC with 4.89 million(Cable)

·        “American Horror Story: Coven” from FX with 2.93 million (Cable)

·        “Scandal” from ABC with 2.31 million (Broadcast)

·        “Dancing with the Stars” from ABC with 2.22 million (Broadcast)

·        “The Voice” from NBC with 2.13 million (Broadcast)

·        “Glee” from FOX with 2.05 million (Broadcast)

·        “The X Factor” from FOX with 1.8 million (Broadcast)

·        “Catfish: The TV Show” from MTV with 1.77 million (Cable)

·        “Awkward” from MTV with 1.47 million (Cable)

The takeaway is the ability to know your audience. If your target audience are adults 18-49, and research shows that they like “Breaking Bad,” have your team track how that show trends on all types of social media. The good, bad, and ugly comments, posts, tweets, etc. can help an advertiser get a better picture of what the consumer wants and doesn’t want. 

Teenagers digital activities shift from 2012 to 2013

With the integration of mobile and tablet devices, US teenage usage has increased over the recent years. According to eMarketer, a new study was released by Family Online Safety Institute and Hart Research Associates.

From 2012 to 2013, Americans between the ages of 13 and 17 went from 43% of mobile users having smartphones to 64%. Tablet use also showed a steep increase from 45% in 2012 to 67% in 2013.

Of those teenagers polled, digital activities slightly changed from the previous year to today.

·        In 2012, 86% of teens sent or received text messages. In 2013, it increased to 87%.

·        About 90% of teens sent emails in 2012, and that number decreased in 2013 to 81%.

·        Online social networking saw a small dip from 88% to 81% of respondents in 2013.

·        Again online instant messaging saw a decrease like social networking. Approximately 78% of respondents utilized instant messaging in 2012; this decreased to 71% in 2013.

·        In 2012, 0% of teens polled posted video or posted/received comments on Vine. Activity increased to 23% in 2013.

Overall, teenage mobile and tablet use has increased. The digital activities may have changed since last year, so it’s very helpful for advertisers to stay current on media usage.

A few tips for writing a good subject line for eblasts

Be honest, are you guilty of scanning the subject line of an email and don’t bother opening it? You are not alone, and researchers are working to decipher what words work best in increasing marketing email open rates. A new study conducted by MailChimp has given advertisers a few tips on creating eblast subject lines. The Center for Media Research summarizes:

Tip #1: Personalize the subject lines.

The study results showed a higher open rate with emails that have a personalized subject line. The highest open rates were emails with a first and last name listed in the following industries: government, creative/agency, and politics. Personalization hurt open rates with the legal industry emails.

Tip #2: Label emails as urgent when applicable.

Words that elicit a time-sensitive urgency tend to be attention-grabbing. This can lead to a higher open rate. Results show that words like urgent, breaking, important, alert, etc. can be beneficial to subject lines as long as they are appropriate to the subject matter.

Tip #3: Acknowledge your recipient with thanks.

Results show that thanking your readers can positively impact the open rates. Specifically, the wording “Thank you” has had a strong response.

Creating a marketing email can be tricky. The main goal is to stay true to your brand and true to your audience. After that, it’s up to the consumer to navigate the next steps.

Post-millennial media consumption on the rise

How much media are post-millennial viewers actually consuming? MediaPost reports from a new study conducted by Nickelodeon that kids born since 2005 are viewing more media than historically measured.

Here are some of the research highlights:

·        Media consumption is now at 35 hours a week, which calculates a growth of 7% within the last four years.

·        About 27% of the daily media consumption is from gaming consoles and computers.

·        Gaming is the number one activity for all devices. Approximately 96% of kids use computers for playing games with tablet following at 88% and smartphones at 86%.

·        TV usage is up by 12% compared to Nielsen data from nine years ago.

·        Tablet usage is about 8% of kids’ daily consumption.