New Years Resolutions... is there an app?

Well into the third week of the New Year, firm resolutions set on the 1^st may not be as solid now. According to a new study by Prosper Mobile Insights, people are looking to outside help from his/her smartphone to keep resolutions intact.

For example, the survey noted that 24% of men and 30% of women intended to use his/her smartphone or tablet to help keep New Years resolutions. The top three categories/resolutions that people were attempting with their phones were being on time, keeping in touch with people, and budgeting.

eMarketer reports that 2013 may mark the first year in which smartphones make up 50% of the mobile phone market. That being said, experts believe it is likely that more people will become dependent on the devices’ capabilities.

Advertisers can take this information to better reach their audience. For example, if a person is interested in budgeting his/her money better, it may make sense for a bank to sponsor an app that helps track a budget. It’s up to the advertiser to really know the target audience and their behaviors. 

What do you know about Generation X?

What do you know about the spending trends of the typical American Generation Xer? Since it is sometimes called the “ignored generation,” you may not know too much about it. The Center for Media Research recently summarized a new study by SymphonyIRI called Q3 2012 MarketPulse. In it, it highlights the buying characteristics of American’s between the ages of 35 and 44.

Unlike its predecessors Baby Boomers and seniors, Generation X tends be more price conscious.  This is more in line to the Millennials. The study proves this with the following results:

§       37% of GenX and 45% of Millennials are willing to buy brands that are on sale over the preferred brands. Boomers and seniors were less likely at 27% and 22% respectively.

§       32% of GenX and 39% of Millennials will select products that will create the most meals for the lowest cost. Boomers and seniors were charted at 27% and 19%.

§       33% of GenX and 35% of Millennials purchased products because of the discounts given from the loyalty card. The study showed only 25% of Boomers and 16% of seniors did the same.

How is this information helpful to an advertiser? If your target demographic happens to fall within the Generation X age group, it may be a good idea to highlight the price of your product or service. Also, coupons or discounts may be a way to get the frugal generation to sample what you are selling.

Times Square billboards have a hefty price tag

2012 is a thing of the past, and 2013 is here. While billions rang in the New Year at parties, at home with loved ones, or simply doing laundry, one thing is for certain, millions were tuning in to “New Year’s Rockin Eve” at Times Square in New York City. Besides watching the ball drop, did you notice anything else in the square? The billboards perhaps? Ever give a thought to how much those billboards cost on a yearly basis?

According to AdvertisingAge, the billboards on top of One Times Square in NYC are some of the most expensive outdoor advertising in the world. In the Wall Street Journal, it’s reported that Dunkin’ Donuts spends approximately $3.6 million a year for the digital sign. Brewer Anheuser-Busch spends $3.4 million a year on its board. There are some reports that annual contracts could be as lucrative as $4 million. This shows the incremental rate increase since in 2005, the average yearly investment for a billboard on One Times Square was $2.4 million.

How can an advertiser justify that kind of investment for just the space and not even the production charges? Consider this, if just looking at “New Year’s Rockin Eve” at Times Square, there were 22.6 million viewers tuned in to watch 2011 turn into 2012. Dunkin’ Donuts would have paid about $0.16 for each person/impression. That doesn’t include the millions that visit Times Square throughout the year or the thousands that were in attendance that night. Even if a tenth of those 22.6 million viewers (2.26 million) bought a 1lb bag of coffee for $8.99, that’s $20.3 million in revenue, and $16.7 million in profits. Makes it easier to understand the gamble, doesn’t it?

Research company and social media giant join together to create a new ratings service

Communicating is an innate characteristic of being human. With the introduction of social media networking, we have been able to reach out to more people instantly than ever before. Conversations that would have taken place in the office or over the phone to discuss last night’s TV show are now on statuses, posts, tweets, etc. In order for advertisers to stay current, The Nielsen Company and Twitter have joined forces to create a rating system to measure social TV activity.

According to MediaPost and AdvertisingAge, the new social media TV rating service will be called The Nielsen Twitter TV Rating. It will measure the total audience for social TV activity on Twitter exclusively. With the rating service, it will include both the people who comment on TV programming and others who have been exposed to the comments.

It’s reported that Twitter currently has 140 million active users which equates to about one billion tweets every two-and-a-half days.

Industry professionals are hoping that this could establish a stable metric that can help define how social activity and television work together. As a result, better marketing efforts can be placed to create stronger programming. 

2012 Cyber Monday reaches record high and what advertisers can learn from it

We are in the midst of the expensive holiday season. Between setting up budgets for the next fiscal year, finalizing the accounting books for this year, shopping for presents for family, friends, clients, co-workers and trying to make it home on time, it can get hectic for consumers and advertisers alike. A part of our job that never rests is research. In that, it enables us to know what is going on in the media landscape and gives us the foresight to create the best possible media plan. That being said, reports have been released in regards to this year’s Cyber Monday.

According to eMarketer, comScore reports that ecommerce sales on Cyber Monday have consistently grown over the past seven years.

§       2006: $608 million

§       2007: $733 million (a 21% increase)

§       2008: $846 million (a 15% increase)

§       2009: $887 million (a 5% increase)

§       2010: $1.03 billion (a 16% increase)

§       2011: $1.25 billion (a 22% increase)

§       2012: $1.47 billion (a 17% increase)

eMarketer has predicted that the 2012 holiday season online spending is going to reach approximately $54.47 billion, which is about a quarter of the year’s forecasted US retail ecommerce sales.

What does this mean for advertisers? If you are in the retail category, it means that a good behavioral targeting online campaign during November and December could be very lucrative for your return on investment. If you are in a different business category, like healthcare, you may experience smaller inventory selections and slower traffic. If that does happen to you, take heart and remember that inventory will likely be more readily available in January. The bottom line is know your audience and the trends in order to make the most of your advertising investment.  

Research helps B2B advertisers with email blast subject lines

As an advertiser, have you debated how to start out a subject line in an email blast? Is it too long, too short, just right? How is one to know? Luckily, if you are in the business to business (B2B) industry, some new research by Adestra can shed a little light on your dilemma.

Reported by the Center for Media Research, Adestra found that subject lines that are either less than 30 characters or more than 90 characters produced the best results. Email blast subject lines that fell between that area were classified as the “dead zone.” Apparently, the shorter subject lines produce premium results for transactional or direct-response type emails. These lines also proved to have higher engagement with readers. The longer lines worked best for emails that were more information-based in that it could better communicate benefits of the advertiser.

Also researched was personalized subject lines and how users relate to them. While they do have an immediate engagement, it can be just as quickly lost if the email content is not personalized.

Overall, advertisers can not expect a cookie cutter email blast to work. Experimenting with subject lines and personalization of content will enable advertisers to know what works best for the target audience.

Cable news networks see audience increase in November

With this being an election year, it comes as no surprise that cable networks were affected by the coverage. According to MediaPost, some cable news networks saw a boost in viewership during the month of November. Regardless of the spike, ESPN still maintained overall dominance.

ESPN averaged 3 million viewers during prime time in the month of November; however, this is down approximately 16% from November 2011. Coming in second for viewership was the USA Network at 2.6 million, which is down 16% from last year as well. Fox News came in at third for 2.5 million.

The cable news networks had the following gains throughout the political season:

§       Fox News: 2.5 million viewers: 46% gain

§       MSNBC: 1.3 million viewers: 75% gain

§       CNN: 1.1 million viewers: 63% gain

It will be interesting to see in the upcoming months if the news networks can hold onto the increased viewership or if it will go away now that the election is completed.