Captivating Connections.

the latest stats on consumer's time spent w/media.

According to eMarketer...

"The average time spent with all major media combined increased from about 10.6 hours in 2008 to 11 hours in 2010...TV and video (not including online video) captured the lion’s share of all media time, about 40% each year. The internet’s share of media time increased over the same period, from 21.5% to 23.5%, as did mobile’s share, from 5% to 7.5%. The share of time spent with magazines and newspapers fluctuated between 8.5% and 11.5%, while radio and all other media—video games, moves in theaters, outdoor media—declined."

the connection between radio & shopping.

It's stronger than you think!

"Radio reaches the majority of shoppers before they begin their shopping expeditions, exceeding most other media, including TV and the Internet, according to a study performed by Ball State University with Nielsen and the Council for Research Excellence in 2008.

One caveat: though the study was just released, the increasing rates of smartphone adoption may have altered these behaviors somewhat, the study results suggest that radio still dominates advertising messaging around certain important activities.

Overall, Ball State found that 62% of consumers who are going shopping listened to the radio just 14 minutes prior to commencing shopping, versus 42% of shoppers who saw TV in the 42-minutes preceding shopping.

This big margin is due mostly to radio's prime position in drive-time media consumption. Interestingly, shoppers displayed relatively light media consumption during their actual shopping expeditions, with a mere 17% talking on their mobile phones, while 16% viewed out-of-home TV, and 7% viewed other kinds of out-of-home video. Less than 3% accessed mobile Internet.

The data suggests that radio was effectively the last medium to reach the majority of shoppers before entering the shopping environment, at which point they become harder to reach."

could things be looking up for radio?

"The radio industry, one of the hardest-hit sectors of the media business in 2009, got another piece of good news today when a new forecast predicted not just a slight increase for 2010 but several years of compounding growth -- fueled partly by growing operations on the web.

The predicted turnaround will be slight, leaving radio revenue in 2014 still shy of its 2008 level, but will be welcome nonetheless. The new forecast follows recent indications from other sources that radio's several years of revenue declines could finally end in 2010. It also joins broader forecasts suggesting that the worst is behind other media sectors as well.

After radio ad revenue fell 18.4% last year to $13.7 billion, it is poised this year to eke out a 1.5% gain, to $13.9 billion, according to the forecast from BIA/Kelsey, the consulting firm specializing in local media. But this year will also mark the beginning of several years' worth of annual growth at 2% to 4%, including increases in radio station revenue from untraditional sources such as the web."

r.i.p. air america.

"Air America, the long-suffering progressive talk radio network, abruptly shut down on Thursday, bowing to what it called a 'very difficult economic environment.'”

welcome back live radio ads!

We're kicking off this morning a little bit old school...

"Live reads, or radio ads delivered by on-air talent, are perhaps the oldest form of sponsored entertainment. A century later, they're making a comeback, but with a different playbook.

In the early days of radio, ads were often introduced by DJs who were paid to talk up the benefits of Colgate toothpaste or Marlboro cigarettes, long before there were 30-second TV commercials. But today, when a popular personality such as Ryan Seacrest or Steve Harvey talks up a product or service on his daily radio program, there's a lot more than just a paycheck involved.

Mr. Seacrest, the host of Fox's 'American Idol' and E!'s 'E! News Daily,' made industry headlines last year when he signed a five-year contract with Premiere Radio and Clear Channel to help sell ads for his show 'On-Air With Ryan Seacrest.' As part of the deal, Mr. Seacrest leveraged his existing relationships with sponsors such as Procter & Gamble's Scope and Crest brands to bring them to radio, banking a commission for each deal along the way. In turn, Mr. Seacrest appears in several of those sponsors' TV commercials.

Mr. Harvey, a stand-up comedian and best-selling author who hosts Premiere's 'Steve Harvey Morning Show,' applies a more grassroots approach to his live reads. When he talks about advertisers like Ford and State Farm, it's because the brands have been a part of his life for years, he told Ad Age.

'I will not do any live reads unless I absolutely believe in the product,' he said. 'I always try and protect my integrity to the listening audience. I'm too straight of a shooter, and also a stand-up [comedian] -- so eventually if I'm doing something I don't believe in, I'll make fun of it.'"

do people trust media?

TNS asked that very question. Check out what they found:

"According to TNS, the good news, for Internet content producers, is that people now trust the information they get from online news—roughly to the same degree as news from television and information from friends.

Globally, the most trusted information source was friends, with 42% of those surveyed saying that they trusted word-of-mouth recommendations. About an equal number trusted TV news (41%), online news (40%) and newspapers (39%).

Naturally, there were variations in media trust from country to country, but several patterns emerged.

Internet users in the US and Canada held similar attitudes toward the media, with the largest differences in the US’s comparative lack of trust in newspapers and TV news."

npr has people tuning in.

While other media outlets are losing their fans,NPR is gaining (a lot) of them:

"The audience for NPR's daily news programs, including "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered," reached a record last year, driven by widespread interest in the presidential election, and the general decline of radio news elsewhere. Washington-based NPR will release new figures to its stations today showing that the cumulative audience for its daily news programs hit 20.9 million a week, a 9 percent increase over the previous year.

The weekly audience for all the programming fed by Washington-based NPR -- including talk shows and music -- also reached a record last year, with 23.6 million people tuning in each week, an 8.7 percent increase over 2007."

Are any of your listeners? What's your favorite program?

traditional media usage levels off.

Well this is interesting:

"Traditional media usage by Internet users in the US remained largely steady in 2008 after falling in 2007, judging by respondents to a Ketchum and USC Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center survey conducted in late 2008. For instance, less than two-thirds of respondents said they watched major network TV news, about the same as in 2007 but down from the 71% who said so in 2006.

Traditional media use leveled off while use of shopping and social networking Websites rose sharply, increasing their attraction for marketers. Shopping sites, for example, more than doubled in popularity to be visited by 35% of Internet users in 2008. Ketchum and USC Annenberg also noted 44% of shopping site visitors read consumer reviews and comments, expanding the sites’ influence. 

all across the airwaves.

Remember that medium 'radio'?

It's not only NOT gone, it's alive and well among the LAST demographic you'd think it would be: Gen Y!

"A recent online study from Paragon Research polling more than 400 14- to 24-year-olds about their music-consumption habits found that the youth demo has increased its time spent listening to radio 11% this year, while its time spent listening to iPods has actually decreased 13%. The study coincides with the Radio Advertising Bureau's annual RADAR report, which shows that AM/FM radio listeners increased by 3 million in 2008, bringing the number of weekly radio listeners to 235 million."

How can radio be up and iPods down, you ask?

According to Jeff Haley, president-CEO of the RAB, it's due to:

"[The] lack of inertia in the MP3 experience. You don't have the ability to refresh or any kind of automated way to come across great new music. As a result, that isolated programming effect does not allow you the serendipitous experience the way radio does."

Interesting.

what are you willing to give up?

Is this really such a shock?

"Nearly 70% of men ages 18 to 34 would rather rather give up TV than the Internet, according to new research commissioned by Web content provider Break Media. And 26% would rather surf the Web than have sex."

OK, maybe that part is suprising.

"Of course, they could be watching 'videos featuring hot girls,' the third-most-popular category for online entertainment behind funny videos and full-length movies.

Among other findings from the study conducted by brand and communications research firm Hall & Partners: Nearly half of men in that age group spend 22 hours a week online, and nearly half said they bought something at retail after viewing an online ad."

We know the Internet has become the ultimate entertainment and brand platform, providing the best of everything: TV, video, radio, etc., but it's always interesting to see what people are willing to give up or substitute. It really shows where loyalties are.