Digital Lifescapes

  Why do so many of today's service providers still cling to legacy mass-media marketing practices, when they know that there's an alternative? It's puzzling, especially to those who track current marketing trends. eMarketer reports that service providers in several industries are not meeting customer needs for personalized offerings, or even fulfilling relevant communication needs, according to a recent U.S. market study. Customers are increasingly frustrated a lack of basic personalization or targeting and believe that many businesses simply don't care about their preferences. In fact, despite the wealth of options enabled by digital media channels, most internet users are dissatisfied. Research from customer engagement firm Thunderhead found that the banking industry was most likely to use a customer's preferred digital channels -- with 54 percent of respondents reporting positive experiences. But just 27 percent of internet users said gas companies com...

Legacy marketers in the U.S. rarely invest the time and effort to understand the interests and needs of their customers, which would enable them to segment the addressable marketplace -- and thereby personalize their offerings. Why is target marketing uncommon? It's hard for someone schooled in traditional mass-marketing methods to make the transition. eMarketer reports that it requires having the market data that can be applied in relevant ways to personalize the marketing creative for each of the target groups. But for those that do the market assessment work and make the transition -- the pay-back can be significant, with personalized offers consistently outperforming the mass-market ones. March 2011 research from web content management provider EPiServer found that a third of U.S. marketers considered personalized campaigns to be highly effective and measurable, with another 14 percent reporting a better response rate than traditional campaigns. But the vast majority ...

There are numerous proven alternatives for marketers to reach and engage their target stakeholders in the marketplace, yet many still choose to invest their marketing budget primarily in traditional media -- regardless of the underwhelming results. What's the forward-looking trend for U.S. advertising spending, and is that insight likely to influence the behavior of those schooled in legacy marketing methods? Will status-quo marketing practices prevail? eMarketer reports that after plunging by 18.5 percent in 2009, ad spending on traditional media is on a slow rebound. They estimate spending was up 2.1 percent in 2010, to $127.2 billion. But rather than making a true recovery, spending is forecast to fluctuate in coming years, hovering under $130 billion through 2015 -- far from the $165.94 billion recorded in 2007. "As advertiser spending continues to more closely reflect the amount of attention consumers give to individual media, each will fare differently," s...

The market opportunity for mobile marketing and advertising is growing steadily, and spending on the new content distribution channel is growing in parallel. One six-month period in 2010 saw spending expand in the U.S. by almost 2.5 percent. A new ABI Research market study forecasts that in 2016, revenue from mobile display ads will reach close to $1.5 billion. ABI Practice director Neil Strother says, "Although the market for mobile advertising and marketing is starting from a very small base, it is showing steady, solid growth. The recent survey conducted by ABI Research revealed that about one third of the smartphone owners polled had clicked on at least one mobile advertisement. Overall spending on mobile ad media has accelerated with the arrival of the autumn back-to-school and end-of-year holiday seasons, and is expected to approach $1 billion by year's end. Before 2010 this industry was seen as quite experimental, but, says Strother, "There was a shift s...

Once again, analysts are predicting that advertising targeted to U.S. mobile phone service subscribers will be embraced by the mainstream American marketer, according to the latest market study by eMarketer . U.S. mobile ad spending will be up 79 percent in the U.S. market to reach $743 million, based upon the current eMarketer forecast. However, growth will slow somewhat as advertising spending reaches $1.1 billion in 2011 -- and potentially more than $2.5 billion by 2014. "The expansion of the smartphone market and the attractive usage and demographic profile of smartphone owners have forced more marketers to pay closer attention to mobile," said Noah Elkin, eMarketer senior analyst. Video, display and search ad spending on mobile media is predicted to more than double this year, while growth in messaging advertising will lag behind the other mobile formats. That said, SMS text messaging is the largest ad format, with spending of $327 million estimated for 2010. An...

  eMarketer reports that Internet users have been sending mixed messages about targeted advertising. Sometimes say they appreciate the relevance; sometimes they would provide personal information to facilitate targeting; and yet they also report concerns about advertisers and publishers having too much data. While this suggests that consumers may be confused about online privacy and what behavioral targeting entails, research from online ad preference management provider PreferenceCentral calls into question whether consumer education is a solution for marketers. Asked if they would prefer to pay for content, view targeted advertisements in exchange for free content, or receive limited free content supported by untargeted ads, 58 percent of US internet users chose targeted ads. However, their willingness to receive those types of ads decreased after they became more educated about how behavioral targeting worked. Nearly half of internet users said awareness of behavioral ...

Will consumer advertising on mobile handsets, such as smartphones, finally gain momentum in the U.S. market as it has in others around the world? At this point in time, it's apparently a definite maybe. According to the latest market study by ABI Research , 27 percent of U.S. mobile phone users accessing the mobile Internet have clicked on a mobile banner advert or text link. That compares to 21 percent in their previous survey. Neil Strother, ABI Research's practice director for mobile marketing strategies, said "More people are accessing websites through their mobile phones today than 14 months ago, and clicking on ads is becoming more commonplace." This trend is a positive one for marketers and advertisers, and should give them greater confidence in their mobile efforts, knowing that well-targeted offerings can find traction among consumers. The key to success, Strother says, is to purchase inventory on mobile websites that have the desired audience profile...

Still think that advetising via mobile phones is a passing fad? Think again. While it's true that in 2009 well under half a billion dollars were spent on mobile marketing and advertising, it's just the beginning of what's to come. Over the next five years -- leading up to the end of 2015 -- that expenditure will grow at a compound annual rate of more than 40 percent, according to the latest market study by ABI Research . This robust growth will be fostered by several factors. According to ABI's mobile marketing strategies practice director, Neil Strother , "Compared to campaigns in more traditional media, mobile marketing can be relatively inexpensive. Moreover, ads can be highly targeted and naturally paired with rich mobile content that growing numbers of consumers are accessing through smart mobile devices." Mobile applications are typically very engaging and offer a fast-track to potential customers. More than three billion apps have been downloaded ...

eMarketer reports that in 2009 e-mail marketers started to get social, but 2010 will be the year social media makes e-mail marketing more powerful. Social media is a complement to e-mail marketing, because it provides new avenues for sharing and engaging customers and prospects. "Even though people are spending more time using social media, they are not abandoning e-mail," said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst. "The two channels can help each other, offering the opportunity for marketers to create deeper connections." More than four in 10 business executives surveyed by StrongMail said integrating e-mail and social was one of their most important initiatives for 2010 -- just after improving e-mail performance and targeting and growing opt-in lists. About one-quarter of respondents had already implemented an integrated strategy, and another 24 percent had formulated a strategy and were researching how to put it in practice. But 18 percent wanted...

The world of advertising is changing dramatically with shifts in consumer behavior and growing online and pay TV video-on-demand (VOD) services, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . These shifts among others are creating a growing market for advanced video advertising, which In-Stat forecasts will approach $5 billion by 2013. Online VoD services, such as Hulu, CBS Interactive and ABC.com, are already driving growing advanced advertising revenue across their platforms. During the next five years, Pay-TV approaches to advanced advertising tied to popular TV shows, videos, movies and music content will come into their own. "The online VoD industry has the early lead for delivering Advanced Video Advertising, but the Pay-TV industry is moving quickly and will surpass broadband VOD by 2012," says Gerry Kaufhold, In-Stat analyst. Because Pay-TV services deliver qualified, repeatable audiences, we can expect them to be able to negotiate higher Cost per Thousand (CPM) fe...

Social networking activity is growing among mobile Internet users around the world. As one of the primary ways mobile users communicate with one another, it is proving a significant driver of Internet usage on wireless communication devices. eMarketer predicts that the number of mobile users accessing social networks from their mobile devices will reach 607.5 million worldwide by 2013 -- representing 43 percent of global mobile Internet users. In the U.S. market, mobile social net users will total 56.2 million by 2013 -- accounting for 45 percent of the mobile Internet user population. "Combining two much-hyped, but still-emerging channels -- mobile Internet access services and social networks -- results in a developing opportunity for marketers," said Noah Elkin, eMarketer senior analyst. The big three social network destinations of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter dominate the U.S. mobile space, as they do the desktop PC world. Location-based networks have not yet reached cri...

According to eMarketer , the U.S. terrestrial radio industry is in deep financially trouble. Many of the country's largest national broadcasters are on the verge of bankruptcy, and the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) announced that Q1 2009 was the worst quarter in its history. eMarketer predicts the radio industry will see double-digit losses in advertising spending this year alone, with terrestrial radio bringing in $14.5 billion in ad revenues in 2009, a drop of 18 percent from 2008 levels. No surprise, when you consider that car dealers have been the primary commercial radio advertiser. In contrast, the Internet radio (audio streaming) industry are positioning themselves to take advantage of the shift in advertising spend. Even in this tough economy, Internet radio is growing ad revenues year over year and is one of the fastest-growing online media categories. Attractive demographics (affluent listeners) and a connected audience will prove increasingly appealing to advertisers a...

Laura Nurzynski, group vice president of IDC's Global Go-to-Market and Sales Enablement Services, will present insights and innovations in tactical marketing best practices at IDC Nordic Directions. IDC research shows that tactical marketing efforts will become one of the largest program allocations by technology companies by 2010, and for good reason. Nurzynski's presentation will explore ways to leverage that investment with marketing and sales best practices in the currently changing world of shifting budgets and reordered investment priorities. Additionally, IDC research demonstrates that there is a big gap between what you -- tech marketers -- are communicating to your audience, and what your audience needs from you to do their job. "Your prospects and customers have a message for you," said Nurzynski. "That message is 'When you ask for my time to hear about your solutions -- be credible and be relevant'." With constrained marketing budgets and ...

ComScore released results of a study into the online gaming category, indicating significant user growth among teenage girls between the ages of 12 and 17 and women between the ages of 55 and 64. While the total female online gaming audience in August 2008 grew 27 percent versus last year to nearly 43 million visitors, the number of female gamers in the 12-24 and 55-64 age segments grew at a substantially faster rate. Growth in these particular demographic groups is likely the result of the emergence of gaming content, portals and Web sites catering specifically to these segments. "Many advertisers and their ad agencies have long understood the appeal of online gaming among teenage boys, and they have now found creative ways to effectively reach these female audiences with targeted ad campaigns," said Edward Hunter, director of Gaming Solutions at comScore. "With the increased interest in online gaming among the highly lucrative teenage girl and older female demographic ...

Virtual Worlds Management released the latest findings of its analysis of youth-oriented virtual worlds. There are now over 150 virtual worlds operating or in development with a focus on the youth market (18-and-under). That number is up from just over 100 in April. The complete Virtual Worlds Management Youth Worlds List, including the operational status, demographic focus and detailed news coverage on each virtual world can be found online. The news comes in advance of the second annual Virtual Worlds Expo taking place September 3-4, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. In all there are 95 youth worlds currently live. Another 68 are in concepting, development, or testing phases. That is up from 53 in development in April. Many worlds target a wide range of demographics, sometime as broad as ages 5 to 18. The tween category (considered ages 8 to 12) leads with 88 worlds live or in development (up from 62 in the April study), followed closely by kids worlds (ages 7 and under) wit...

North American broadband service providers (SPs) witnessed a dramatic decline in the number of net new subscriptions in the second quarter of 2008, according to a market study by Strategy Analytics. While seasonality and market maturity explain some of the phenomenon, the broadband operator's recently reported second quarter results point to other factors. According to John Lee, Analyst in the Strategy Analytics, "There is a fair amount of seasonality in broadband, so a dip in the second quarter is not altogether unexpected. However, the magnitude of this decline suggests that the current economic environment is hampering the ability of service providers to garner new customers." Each of the top four U.S. service providers, Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and Time Warner Cable, saw its number of net new subscriptions fall precipitously in the second quarter, with the cable companies faring slightly better than the telcos. "This is not a situation where existing consumers...

Marketers need an intuitive framework that allows them to move away from treating customers as generic segments to focusing on an individual's buying process, according to the latest market study by Forrester Research. Forrester's assessment says that the framework must align with the multifaceted buying process of today, not the linear process of the past. How can marketers evolve? The answer is engagement -- the level of involvement, interaction, intimacy, and influence that a person has with a brand over time. It's the new approach necessary for mapping intricate customer behaviors into an actionable strategy while aligning them with the buying process. Engagement measurement encompasses the quantitative and qualitative metrics collected from both online and offline channels. It comprises the concrete individual metrics from store visits and online purchases, to the softer, aggregated insights from brand awareness studies, sentiment, loyalty, and advocacy. Four component...

Are mass-media adverts obsolete? TV advertising is being impacted by the Internet and by mobile services that provide highly personalized content delivery, according to a new market study by In-Stat. No longer does "one ad fit all" viewers -- and now the big trend is for all advertising to become more relevant to the people who see it, the high-tech market research firm says. New technology promises to do that via Set-Top Box (STB), PC and mobile device addressability. "Advertising buyers understand the current complex nature of the U.S. media delivery industry, and it will take them time, effort, and education to learn how to adapt what they already do to the new hardware-based opportunities that seem so promising," says Gerry Kaufhold, In-Stat analyst. "Customer-specific advertising that targets identifiable ethnic, cultural, language, or special interest audiences will see above-average growth rates through 2012. Geographic and hardware-based advertising fro...

Strategy Analytics released a forecast of virtual world adoption, which shows that over the next ten years 22 percent of global broadband users will have registered for one or more virtual worlds. This will result in a market approaching one billion registrants and an eight billion dollar services opportunity. Their study projects a diversified global market with services targeted at children, teens and adults across a wide range of applications. Currently, fewer than 10 percent of virtual world registrants actually become active users. However, this figure is projected to increase to 27 percent of users by 2017. Virtual worlds, such as Sulake's Habbo Hotel, have registered nearly 100 million registrants, and it has 10 million unique monthly visitors, while Linden Lab's Second Life has a similar pattern, with 12 million registrants and about one million active users. The research indicates that virtual worlds represent a massive activity that is growing in Asia, the Americas an...

Nielsen Online announced that based upon their latest market study, per person children consumed more streams than those over 18 and spent more time watching online video from home in April. Kids 2-11 viewed an average of 51 streams and 118 minutes of online video per person during the month, while teens 12-17 viewed an average of 74 streams and 132 minutes of online video. Those over 18 viewed an average of 44 streams and 99 minutes of online video. The top 10 online video destinations for kids 2-11 and teens 12-17 demonstrate that kids pursue similar interests both online and off. Younger children gravitate towards sites associated with well-known children's toys and TV programming, while teens go online to watch music videos, movie trailers and clips of other visitors. Disney Records led online video destinations among kids 2-11 when ranked by unique viewer composition percent, with 50 percent. EverythingGirl.com and MyePets followed with 48 percent each. Stickam was the top onl...