MaxxoMedia Digital Media and Entertainment Trends

The percentage of Americans age 12 and older who have a profile on one or more social networking Web sites has reached almost half (48%) of the population in 2010 – double the level from two years ago (24% in 2008). Consumer use of social networking sites is not just a youth phenomenon. While nearly eight in ten teens (78%) and 18 to 24s (77%) have personal profile pages, almost two-thirds of 25 to 34s (65%) and half of 35 to 44s (51%) also now have personal profile pages. 30% of Americans age 12 and older, who have a profile on at least one social networking Web site, use those sites “several times a day” compared with only 18% one year ago, according to a new survey from Arbitron.  Download a free copy

The use of social networking sites has expanded beyond younger consumers, with substantial numbers of Americans over the age of 35 now using social media. Social networking has become a part of mainstream media behavior.

Americans continue to hold radio in high regard, with nearly eight in ten saying they plan to listen to as much AM/FM radio in the future as they do now – despite advances of technology. Younger consumers show interest in radio on mobile phones. More than four in ten mobile phone owners age 12 to 24 say they would listen more to FM radio if a tuner were built into those phones.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

70% of publishers are paying more attention to the mobile market this year than last. And 20% are giving it their same attention. Print publishers are focusing on the market as a prime opportunity to expand their brands, reach new audiences and generate additional revenue while offering advertisers the chance to reach locally targeted, engaged audiences. Publishers recognize the growing importance of mobile devices in consumers' daily lives and are actively embracing mobile, according to a study by Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Image by William Hook via Flickr

Live television is still tops with kids. But when it comes to activities after that, younger kids generally go to DVDs and DVRs, while older kids head to the Internet.

Almost half of kids 6-11 use the Internet, versus one-fifth of those ages 2-5. Not surprisingly, the biggest time slots are weekends, after school and after dinner, according to the Nielsen Company.

Viralheat, the affordable social media measurement product that scours social video sites including YouTube, Hulu and Vimeo; blogs; websites; and Twitter to deliver real-time results of consumer generated content on these sites, is adding additional functionality to its platform, including the ability to filter content by location. We previously wrote about Viralheat here and here.

Viralheat allows you to create profiles to track an individual’s name or a company’s name across nearly 30 video sites, the web and Twitter. The platform will give you real-time streams of Tweets and mentions and even provides powerful analytics for content. Now, users can limit their results by geographical location, which can be specified by city, zip code (for US) or IP address. It can be particularly helpful for marketers who are trying to determine what areas are creating the most content and buzz about a brand or event.

The platform also includes advanced analytics for Twitter. For each Tweet about a keyword or brand, Viralheat will rank the Twitter user in terms of influence, which is determined by the number of followers the user has. The idea behind the feature is to let brand managers and PR professionals figure out the total reach of their audience. Along with this metric, Viralheat will also determine the “top influencer” based on the number of mentions and retweets, which can let brands engage with their influencers and advocates.

via Viralheat – Real-time social media monitoring and measurement service – Metrowest, Boston, MA.

The rise of blogs, social networks and other social media tools have created a personal opinion bull market with reviews, ratings, recommendations, comments and other forms of online expression. As a result of the increasing impact that online opinion can have on brands, products or services in the marketplace, a range of startups have emerged that help marketers and businesses monitor the buzz and conversations that are taking place online on Twitter, YouTube, Facebo

ok and other social media sites. As social media marketing becomes more and more an integral part of online marketing campaigns, conversations need to be monitored at all times.

From the Center for Media Research

According to surveys through 2008 by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, larger percentages of older generations are online now than in the past, and they are doing more activities online. Generation X (not Y) is the most likely group to bank, shop, and look for health information online. Boomers are just as likely as Generation Y to make travel reservations online. And even Silent Generation internet users are competitive when it comes to email.
The biggest increase in internet use since 2005 is the 70-75 year-old age group. While just over one-fourth (26%) of 70-75 year olds were online in 2005, 45% of that age group is currently online, and doing more activities online.

Instant messaging, social networking, and blogging have gained ground as communications tools, but email remains the most popular online activity, particularly among older internet users, writes Sydney Jones and Susannah Fox in the report. 74% of internet users age 64 and older send and receive email, making email the most popular online activity for this age group. 89% of teens claimed to use email in 2004. Now, just 73% currently say they use email.

Today’s high school and college students are hardly newcomers when it comes to email. The mean number of email addresses per student surveyed is 2.4. Most college students have had an email address for about 8 years, with the average student getting an initial email address at the age of 13. When students choose a primary email service, Gmail is the clear favorite. 32% of college students use Gmail as their primary email address, 19% yahoo, 18% MSN/Hotmail and only about 17% use their school email address as their primary address. If you’re looking at marketing to this group through online channels, Google’s advertising network is one to seriously consider, according to a recent Student Survey by eROI.

Effectiveness of Email Marketing
Students can be an elusive demographic for marketers. Staying on top of constantly evolving trends is the key to gaining trust and staying relevant to the student market, but another challenge in reaching them is knowing which channel will carry and present your message most effectively. Students, on average, read marketing emails on a “rarely to never” basis, with 61% falling into this category. Only 16% are reading marketing emails on a frequent basis, while 66% of students rarely or never take action on marketing emails. Most college students do not feel that companies are effectively speaking to them personally.

Kenradio – IQ Reports

8% of those who are over the age of 65 use SMS, and 4% subscribe to social networks. Another surprising data point is that 42% of teens prefer to communicate via SMS, yet 62% prefer to receive promotions via email vs. only 1% via SMS. The new study by ExactTarget confirms that there are marked differences between age groups not only in the usage of media, but also their acceptance of and attitudes towards each type and using multiple forms of media concurrently. And, consumer profiles and habits are changing… sometimes dramatically. A majority of people prefer to communicate with friends and family via the phone rather than email. This preference is positively correlated with age.

Highlights of six personas and how they interact with different media include:

Wired Consumers tend to be young males, between the ages of 18 and 34 years old, without kids. They are employed full-time or self employed, have a good income-an annual household income of at least $35K-and have at least a college education. 20% of Wired Users subscribed for marketing communications via SMS (more so than any other group) but want to receive texts only for urgent customer service issues, like financial alerts or travel updates. Consumers in this group are exposed to more media throughout the day than any other group, primarily though computers. These consumers spend an average of 8 hours a day on their computers accessing the internet, email, and using some sort of computer software, including games. By comparison, exposure to television and radio is relatively low, but not nominal, at nearly 3 hours of television a day. In addition to computer and television time, these consumers are on the phone an average of one hour per day. More than two-thirds of phone time is on a landline phone.

The popularity of online video services has grown significantly with women and adults over age 35 in the past six months, and is helping close the age and gender gap in the online video audience in the US. Since late 2007, the percentage of female internet users ages 12+ who have streamed a video online in the past 30 days has grown from 45% to 54% – an all-time high for this demographic that is nearly equal to the percentage of men (58%) who have recently streamed video content. The percentage of adults age 35-54 who have recently streamed video online has also risen from 49% to 60% since December 2007, according to recent research from Ipsos.

Cell Phones Still Hot; More Mobile Advertising Proposed

Although a new Harris Interactive study reveals that over one-third of consumers say the dire economy will not affect their spending habits,  the 60 percent of consumers who will limit their discretionary spending will curtail going out to restaurants (74 percent) and limit their purchase of electronics (71 percent). 41 percent of consumers, however, have no plans to stop or cut-back on the purchase of cell phones, making it an increasingly viable advertising channel.

To many, it seems the use of mobile phones has become an indispensable part of their lives. People are actually severing ties to land lines with increasing frequency. According to a new study from the National Center for Health Statistics, notes the report, 16 percent of U.S. homes are using wireless phones exclusively

According to a new analysis from Scarborough Research, six percent of all consumers are classified as Digital Savvy nationally, but Austin (TX) adults are almost twice as likely as the national average to be in this leading edge consumer segment. Las Vegas, NV, Sacramento and San Diego are also leading Digital Savvy cities, with 10 percent of their residents having this higher level of technological orientation and adoption.

Eighteen hi-tech consumer behaviors and purchasing patterns were identified and isolated within the national study. These behaviors included household ownership of certain hi-tech items, consumer likelihood to engage in certain Web 2.0 behaviors, and usage of leading-edge cellular device features. Those who satisfied eight or more of them were classified as “Digital Savvy.”

What’s A Blogger?

Bloggers are younger and higher percentages are Hispanic & African American than the general population. A higher percentage of Democrats than of Republicans are blogging.

Now that Blogging might better be called a market segment rather than a market niche, it’s useful with regard to positioning the marketing message to understand what a Blogger looks like, as distinguished from the rest of the population. According to the BIGresearch Simultaneous Media Survey, 26% of all adults say they regularly or occasionally blog. Of those:

• 53.7% are male
• 44.7% are married
• 28.4% hold a professional or managerial position
• 10.4% are students.

Bloggers tend to be younger, averaging 37.6 years old, compared to 44.8 for adults 18+ (the “general population”). Ethnically:

• 69.7% of Bloggers are White/Caucasian (vs. 76.1%)
• 12.2% are African American/Black (vs. 11.4%)
• 3.7% are Asian (vs. 2.0%)
• 20% of Bloggers are Hispanic, compared to 14.8% of adults 18+