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2007-10-15T11:05:00.001-07:00

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The Internet: Not just for Porno anymore

2007-08-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

Users’ Online Time Spent Mostly on Content - not Communications, Commerce

Internet users are spending nearly half their online time visiting content - a 37% increase in share of time from four years ago and nearly as much time as spent on communications and commerce combined - according to a four-year analysis of the Internet Activity Index (IAI) issued by the Online Publishers Association (OPA).
The IAI is a monthly gauge of the time that users spend with e-commerce, communications, content and search; it is conducted by Nielsen/NetRatings.
According to OPA’s IAI:
Communications accounted for 46% of consumers’ time online in 2003, but a dramatic shift has taken place since then, with consumers now spending 47% of their time with content, compared with 34% four years ago.
The 37% gain in share for content is followed closely by a 35% gain in share for search.
However, the total time being spent with search remains relatively low, accounting for just 5% of Internet users’ online time in 2007.
“The IAI has identified a very significant and sustained trend in where consumers are spending their online time “The index indicates that, over the last four years, the primary role of the Internet has shifted from communications to content,” OPA President Pam Horan said.

The increase in content’s share of time has been fairly steady in the last several years, growing 10% from 2003 to 2004, remaining even between 2004 and 2005, growing 13% from 2005 to 2006, and growing 13% from 2006 to 2007.
“The dominant role of content is driven by several important factors. The first is the online transition of traditionally offline activities, such as getting news, finding entertainment information or checking the weather. Quality content sites see a consistent pattern - major news drives traffic spikes, but traffic remains consistently higher even after the event,” Horan said.
“New online features and communities are also leading consumers to spend a larger share of their online time with content. Consumers spend considerable time with social-networking sites, which serve not only as places of content but are also increasingly important communications vehicles.”

The OPA found several other important factors behind the changes:
A more accessible, and much faster, internet is driving increased overall time spent online.
The increased popularity of video is leading to more time being spent with online content.
The improvement in search allows consumers to more easily and quickly find the exact content they are looking for, increasing the likelihood they will engage more deeply with that content.
The web simply offers far more content than it did even four years ago, increasing content’s share of time.
The rise of instant messaging (IM) as a key communications tool has been a factor in communication’s reduction in share of time. IM is a more efficient communications vehicle than email.
About the IAI: OPA’s Internet Activity Index is derived from a categorization of Web properties accounting for more than 90%, on average, of active web users and approximately 55% of total usage time (excludes .gov and .edu Web sites, as well as pornographic domains). The IAI is conducted by Nielsen/NetRatings and is posted online each month.
Aug 13-07

Innovation is not a clean sport- from ClickZ

2007-06-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

Innovation Isn't a Clean Sport
BY Jeremy LockhornJune 18, 2007
"Innovation is not a clean sport."
Or so I read recently in a "Wired" article about an entrepreneur trying to find a way to recycle plastic grocery bags by turning them into hip messenger bags. It involved feeding bags into a crazy homegrown machine designed to melt the bags and form a piece of fabric.
As I read, I was envisioning a couple of guys in some back alley huddled around a boiling cauldron of sorts, slowly feeding bags into a gurgling mixture, all the while stirring it with a giant stick. I began to see similarities to my current role.
We deal with interactive video, mobile, gaming, virtual worlds, digital signage, and the like. This stuff is messy. It's frustrating. It's ugly, devoid of standards, and rife with pitfalls. In many cases, the audiences you wind up reaching just aren't all that big yet. But it's also incredibly rewarding. We must all be willing to jump in and get dirty. This requires a shift in the way we (and our clients) evaluate media and, more broadly, risk.
The platforms we're testing today already provide mechanisms to develop deeper conversations and relationships with consumers. That, in and of itself, makes this stuff worth the effort. But there's a bigger issue. Real changes in consumer behavior, enabled by technology, are creating mass chaos in the media universe. As the new world continues to evolve, it's critical to begin experimenting now. So much of this stuff requires entirely new machinery and strategic approaches; those who sit back and wait will find it difficult in a few years to simultaneously test and learn how to leverage it all, then build the machinery. They'll fall behind. You can't get the best product out of your machine while you're still learning how to build said machine.
It's like buying a home theater storage unit from Ikea the day of the big game and putting all your expensive gear in there before it's fully assembled. Those pictograms don't provide a lot of guidance, but the gang is coming over to watch the game so you've got to run with it. Danger, Will Robinson! Suddenly, you're putting a lot more money at risk than simply the cost of the storage unit. Those thousands of dollars you've invested in the gear are also hanging in the balance.
Similarly, those who push off testing and experimenting around emerging media platforms risk much more than the relatively small dollars required to test today. But how do you get started in a smart way?
Here are a few basic best practices for navigating these emerging platforms:
Manage expectations for all parties. This is a really broad one, touching on everything from the investment required to the size of the audience to the expected results. It obviously includes the client directly, but it's also important to provide the tools and support they need to manage the expectations of their internal organizations. Emerging media can go sideways quickly. Things change at a moment's notice, upsetting the best of plans. It's the nature of the beast. Just be ready to adapt and move as fluidly as the channel itself, and make sure everyone's aware of this possibility.
Redefine ROI (define). Some tests fit nicely into a marketer's existing metrics and expectations for return. Others don't. But if the test is structured properly, the lesson will be the true return.
Review detailed terms and conditions early. The lack of standardization goes beyond ad formats and metrics. It also applies to legal terms, privacy policies, counting methodologies, and so on. We're still working a lot of this stuff out in the "established" online media world, so we can't expect it to be perfect in emerging media. We've had a few campaigns nearly get cancelled recently due to unexpected fine print that appeared at the last moment. Get all this stuff out of the way upfront for your best chance of smooth sailing.
Leverage partners for best practices and audience insights. In most cases, partners or publishers know the audience their channel or technology will reach. They've done their own testing around what that audience wants and how they want to receive it. Leverage those insights to inform how your campaigns get integrated.
Don't just repurpose assets. It's tempting to try to make ad assets from one channel fit into a new one. That can be effective in some rare cases, but many emerging media platforms reinvent both the content and the advertising. Trying to repurpose for those new formats will render any lessons almost useless. You won't know how the thing works unless you test it the right way. That means developing new assets that truly leverage the new platform. To do that, you'll likely need to get a cross-discipline team engaged in the project. It sounds like a lot of extra effort, but it's worth it in the long run.
Join us for ClickZ Specifics: Online Video Advertising on July 19 in New York City.
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Jeremy Lockhorn is director of emerging media and video innovation at Avenue A Razorfish. He is a member of the agency’s advanced marketing solutions (AMS) team and is focused on interaction with video across all platforms. He supports cross-discipline client teams with research, education, and ideation. During his 10-year tenure at the agency, his various roles have centered on the intersection of media, creative, and technology. He is a frequent speaker on emerging media.

Proof that our attention span is longer than 30 seconds?

2007-06-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

OPA: Pre-Roll Ads Work, Longer Is Better

Related topics:Interactive Branding E-Commerce Entertainment Online
So much for marketers’ presuppositions: The much pooh-poohed 30-second pre-roll online video ad - when coupled with a display ad - is the best way to drive awareness in an online campaign, according to a study by the Online Publisher’s Association (OPA) and Online Testing eXchange (OTX).
Moreover, 30-second spots are most effective way to get across brand “likeability,” writes MediaWeek, citing the OPA study, “Frames of Reference: Online Video Advertising, Content and Consumer Behavior.”
The OPA study exposed 1,422 online video users to video content and advertising, then captured the attributes that most impact awareness, ad likeability, ad relevance, and brand consideration.
Among other key findings, according to OPA:
In two of the four advertising and brand metrics measured, ad length was the leading factor driving lift: 30-second ads outpaced 15-second ads for ad relevance (30% lift using 30s) and brand consideration (23% lift using 30s).
The study reinforced the notion of a “halo” effect from website video content affinity: If the consumer had a prior brand affinity toward an advertised brand and liked the adjacent video content, brand consideration jumped 61%; but even if the consumer’s initial attitude toward the brand was neutral or negative, brand consideration still rose 21% if the consumer liked the video content.
Static companion ads can play a valuable complimentary role: To lift brand awareness the combination of a pre-roll and a companion proved to be most effective.
The leading video content category is news/current events (14% watch daily). Weather ranks second (11% watch daily), followed by jokes /funny clips (9% watch daily).
Of the 80% of viewers who have watched a video ad online, 52% have taken some sort of action: checking out a website (31%), searching for more info (22%), going into a store (15%), or actually making a purchase (12%).
Visitors to media sites (magazine, newspaper, cable, broadcast and pure-play) were more inclined to take action after viewing a video ad than visitors to portals and user-generated content sites.
Of consumers who had made a purchase in the previous month, 48% said the internet drove initial awareness, 57% said they learned more using the internet, 55% used the internet to decide where to buy, and 56% made the final purchase decision using the internet.
MediaWeek adds that OPA’s study found that more than 40% of those surveyed said they watch online videos every week, and 70% said they do so at least once a month. It adds that consumers tend not to care whether the 30-second spots they watch were created specifically for the web or were simply repurposed TV spots.
About the study: The OPA/OTX research used a variety of ads - which featured everything from consumer packaged goods and financial services to airlines and pharmaceuticals - and four ad attributes, testing 96 combinations for how they impact key advertising and brand metrics. The four ad attributes were duration (15 v. 30 sec.); placement (pre-roll and post-roll); companion ad (with/without); and, advertising type (original online v. repurposed TV).

2007-06-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

Overcome the Risks of Digital Display

By Jim Irving
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Jumpstart Automotive Media's Jim Irving outlines a powerful tactic that should be at the forefront of every dealership's arsenal as it determines where to allocate marketing dollars.
Imagine 50 years ago telling local dealers that one day there would be a marketing tactic where they could target their message to car shoppers who are only in their market and know for a fact that these audiences saw their ad. They would have laughed you right off their dealer lot.
However, this capability has become a reality with digital display advertising, and this powerful tactic should be in the forefront of every dealership's arsenal as it determines where to allocate marketing dollars.
Display is in no way a new term to the world of advertising. However, it has taken on an entirely new meaning as a result of the internet revolution. For dealers who need an introduction to display as a digital tactic, let's start by addressing the two concerns that will arise most often:
People do not pay attention to digital display advertising.
There is risk associated with investing in digital display advertising .
Let's begin with the first issue: people don't pay attention to digital display advertising. If you took a survey of people asking them if they pay attention to advertising (regardless of media type), the responses would likely be dismal, leaving marketers to wonder why more than $200 billion are being spent globally every year. That is, until they see the post-summary results that would show that a high percentage of consumers do in fact react to ad messages despite how they would have responded in a survey. A simple example is the lift that retailers get in online and instore traffic on Monday when they push out a big sale announcement on Sunday.
But let's put that aside. What I want to focus on here is relevance. Regardless of the medium you use to deliver your message, the more relevant the message is to the audience, the more impact it will have. Think back to marketing fundamentals for a moment. Good marketing is really about putting the right message in front of the right person at the right time. The better a marketer does this, the greater the return on the advertising investment.
I will add some color to the idea of relevance. Let's say a car shopper enters the market for a vehicle. As most do, "Car Shopper A" goes to an automotive research site as part of the process. In the beginning, Shopper A is likely to have only a general idea as to which vehicles will be included in the consideration set. Thus, if a marketer capitalizes on this assumption, it can take advantage of knowing the car shopper's current motivation and take the next step to craft a message that speaks to it. This precisely is relevance. In contrast, if Snickers ran advertising on an automotive research site, the impact is likely to be significantly less since Shopper A's current motivation for being online is to gather relevant automotive information to make the most informed purchasing decision possible.
The second concern for dealers is the perceived risk of investing in digital display advertising. The risk being that it is a less efficient place to advertise than traditional media, which largely stems from unfamiliarity with this tactic (remember, locally targeted digital display advertising has not been around that long).
For direct response-oriented tactics, such as lead generation or search engine marketing, ROI is easy to measure, and is imperative to success. Again, the real value associated with any display advertising is the exposure of the right message to the right person at the right time, and digital has a greater ability to do this than other media. When looked at appropriately, there really is no risk involved, as long as the messaging appears on sites that are clearly used by car shoppers as part of their research process.
So all this being said, dealers need to evaluate where the greatest impact of the next dollar spent can be achieved when evaluating digital display advertising vs. non-digital display advertising. A way to do this is test one variable at a time. For instance, reduce the investment in print for 3 months while increasing the investment in a digital strategy for the same period of time and then compare sales as well as overall quality of phone calls and self generated leads.
One of biggest mistakes that many dealers tend make is they determine how much of their internet budget to spend on digital display when the real question rather should be how much their overall marketing budget should be spent on it.
Digital display advertising truly enables dealers to stop guessing where the car shoppers are. This, along with crafting thoughtful messages that tap into car shoppers' current and immediate motivations, is highly impactful and carries little risk.
Jim Irving is VP of strategic media development at Jumpstart Automotive Media. Read full bio.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

2007-06-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

Democratizing BT
by Steve Smith, Friday, June 8, 2007

FOUNDER AND executive director of the Center For Digital Democracy, Jeff Chester keeps a picture of muckraking journalist I.F. Stone above his desk for inspiration. Like Stone, Chester is a persistent critic of undisclosed government and business practices. With support from MacArthur, Ford and Rockefeller funds, the CDD monitors the evolution of digital commerce and marketing -- especially their impact on privacy and concentrated power. Most recently, the CDD filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission over the practices of the behavioral targeting industry. We asked Chester to discuss the roots of his criticism of BT and digital marketing generally.

Behavioral Insider: What is the mission of the CDD?

Jeff Chester: We are in a critical transition period of media. How do you ensure that the emerging media systems evolve in a way that supports robust debate, diversity of expression, in-depth news and public affairs, institutions that provide the public with an array of consumer and cultural information as well as the healthy advertising and entertainment?

Behavioral Insider: Since you put it in those terms, aren't you heartened by the emergence of user-generated media? Isn't this a sign of a healthy shift in power?

Chester: I think it is directly connected to my concern with behavioral targeting and the rest of online ad technology and the market structure. There is still a question about which voices will really resonate the most and what forces will shape online. The structure of this new world is being defined now, and whether or not we have a system which indeed reflects the interests of the many -- or still principally serves the vested interests of a few -- I think is still to be determined.

How does the advertising market evolve? Does it promote real competition and diversity of content, so that these new voices can actually reach and influence and inform the public in meaningful ways -- and not just speak to themselves in small networks? [That] is the crucial question. It raises questions about whether or not this so-called user-generated era is one where individual and collective expression will ultimately have the kind of resonance tomorrow that it does today. I am not against advertising, as long as [people] are given all the information, have the right to say yay or nay, and [to say] that the information about them is used for the purposes intended.

Behavioral Insider: What exactly have you filed with the FTC concerning BT?

Chester: I grew increasingly alarmed about the rapid growth of interactive advertising's capabilities, in particular BT where increasing numbers of data sets about users were being incorporated. And then in the last year and a half [there's] the emergence of retargeting, which now permits marketers to literally shadow individual users from site to site. The industry itself claims that the use of BT and retargeting allows for positive 'conversions.' I also feel you cannot isolate BT from the other set of powerful interactive collection and marketing techniques which have emerged .You have to look at the interactive advertising ecology to make the proper critique. We filed a complaint saying in essence that the entire field of online advertising as it related to data collection, principally BT, was unfair and deceptive. The good news is that as a result of our complaint, the FTC opened up the investigation so they looked at online profiling.

[Still] it's not [entirely] what we wanted. We wanted the FTC to rule that in the absence of full disclosure and user consent, BT is unfair and deceptive and should be prohibited.

Behavioral Insider: What sort of full disclosure and open consent would satisfy you?

Chester: This opt-out from the National Advertising Initiative is not enough. They need to say on a first-time basis (and revisit it regularly), that we engage in the following practices. We are putting the cookie on your computer. We're assigning you a unique number. We are tracking your behaviors and we are noting the following, and this is all intended not just to better serve you but to help our advertising and marketing appear.

I think retargeting is complicated to explain. Is this data going to be shared? Will they direct ads to you on a variety of sites, including sites unrelated to your initial visit? I think the ad networks can do this; they can be a one-stop shop. They can't just track people and get [them] to engage in a variety of behaviors without fully informing them that this is going on -- and getting complete permission in advance to do so.

Behavioral Insider: What do you fear about this data collection?

Chester: Nobody wants a system where there is a strong force supporting subliminal marketing or advertising. You don't want politicians or cultural icons being able to craft online campaigns to get you to engage in behaviors which may be out of your consciousness. That is my perspective. People ask me, what is the harm if today it's just about [advertising] a trip or a car? But we know that these tools are going to be used -- if not already -- by politicians and others. I am worried that there will be technology designed to drive behaviors.

Behavioral Insider: As I read your site and commentary, it seems to me that at heart your perspective is a general critique of consumerism.

Chester: I am not saying there shouldn't be consumerism. All I want it to be is conscious. Yes, I have a critique of consumerism and online advertising -- but it's principally rooted in, let's make this all aboveboard, then the people themselves can make the decision. Give users as much control and power over the data as possible. We don't want to let the government to have access to such data or let companies have such data where possible.

Behavioral Insider: Many companies contend that even when they make opt-out obvious and accessible, users generally are not as concerned about invasiveness as journalists and critics would like to think.

Chester: I do think the companies are being disingenuous here, because they aren't being candid [with users] about what they are really doing. The public is not aware -- and once informed, I think sufficient numbers are suitably horrified. What the companies need to do is to be aboveboard and tell everyone what is being collected and there needs to be a formal federal policy requiring opt-ins or disclosures.

People do care about it. They are unaware. Look at the members of the IAB: The New York Times, Washington Post, etc. The fact is that the business model of all these publishers is in fact the collection of user data. And in the system there has been a lack of criticality on the part of news organizations to look at this in a way that would spur a serious reporting. It is about what happens to civic content. There are all kinds of questions that need to be asked during this transitional phase, which is why we are focused on BT and its effects.

Courtesy of ComScore...

2007-06-08T08:14:00.000-07:00

Advertising Trust Varies by Medium and Viewer Age

Because of Yahoo's interest in Bebo (a next generation social networking site where members can stay in touch or connect), comScore reissued a review of an end-of-year study of consumers' receptivity to advertising in different media formats.
The report, edited by Gian Fulgoni, finds that an ad's effectiveness is based, in part, on the medium that carries it, and how much trust consumers have in that medium. The survey quantified consumers' attitudes and receptivity to advertising across various media, and was first presented at the American Marketing Association's Mplanet conference in Orlando.

The survey found that 85 percent of consumers are most likely to notice advertising for a product or service if they see it on television. User-generated content sites (UGC) achieved a much lower (28 percent) attention level. Television ads also generate a higher level of trust than ads carried on UGC sites.

But, 18-34 year-olds are much more comfortable with UGC sites, with 41 percent responding that they are receptive to advertising on those sites. Only 30 percent of 35-54 year-olds and 23 percent of 55+ year-olds identify themselves as being receptive to advertising at UGC sites.

Source: comScore, Inc. December 2006

The writer summarizes the 18-34 yearold respondents, noting that they are most receptive to advertising on UGC sites for "high-fun" product categories, such as Apparel, Music/ Movies/ Entertainment, Food & Beverage, and Consumer Electronics. And, they are less receptive to advertising for these product categories on traditional media sites. In addition, they look to traditional sites for advertising for "high-trust" product categories, such as Financial Services, Prescription Medication, and OTC Medication.

Source: comScore, Inc. December 2006

Fulgoni concludes that "...online advertisers have some opportunities right now to connect with consumers on UGC sites... (but) ...need to be selective about which brands and products are most appropriate... (and) more importantly, ...receptivity among younger age groups... suggests that the future is bright for advertising in this (UGC) medium."

For a copy of the complete study, please visit comScore here for instructions.

Following the New Trends in Automotive Media...

2007-06-07T11:11:00.000-07:00

According to the National Auto Dealers Association, US automobile advertising topped out around 23 billion dollars in 2006. While many will correctly joke that a lot of this money is wasted on inflatable monkeys at car dealerships, riduculous local cable commercials, and buying up music rights to classic rock hits, there are people and products in the automotive industry that are testing out and succeeding in emerging media such as mobile marketing, UGC, iTV, and social networking. In this blog, I hope to provide updates, exposure, and opinions on the newest trends in emerging media, and try and give view on how these new markets will affect the automotive industry. If anyone reading this has other blogs, articles, pictures, or press releases that will fit well into this focus, please send them to me.