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Understanding the interactive audience has become extremely complex. Who is paying
attention to what and where they’re doing it are questions that challenge
the ability of advertisers to reach potential customers.
People today tend to multitask. They have the technology to eliminate commercials from television viewing. And their lives are so busy they often access the media from someplace other than their homes.
So the advice of integrated marketing firms like MillerWhite, LLC is that advertisers need to re-evaluate media strategies and be willing to use multiple forms of media to reach their audiences.
One factor you might have heard discussed is SIMM, or simultaneous media usage, where the viewer uses two or three forms of media at the same time in an effort to take in all the media available in a limited amount of time. The BIGreseach SIMM Survey (reported in the April 14, 2004 MediaPost Daily Online Brief) shows that more than 70% of consumers use media simultaneously, which constitutes a real challenge for media companies and marketers. The survey reported:
When respondents listen to radio,
- 57.3% are also online,
- 46.9% are reading the newspaper, and
- 17.7% are watching TV.
When watching TV,
- 74.2% are reading the newspaper,
- 66.2% are online, and
- among 18-34 year olds, they also play video games.
While surfing the Internet,
- 52.1% are listening to the radio,
- 61.8% are watching TV,
- 20.2% are reading the newspaper.
And while reading the newspaper,
- 52.4% are watching TV and
- 49.6% are listening to the radio.
A second factor is the ability of your audience to block out commercials from the TV programs they watch. Knowledge Networks/SRI, quoted in the March 18, 2004 Research Brief from the Center for Media Research, pointed out that early adopters of home media technologies will pay extra for the ability to bypass commercials on television. Nearly three-fourths say the technology that allows them to skip commercials is more important to them than the on-demand technology that allows them to watch a program whenever it is convenient.
And a third factor is the tendency of Americans to access media from random locations. The Pew Internet & American Life Project (reported in the March 23 Research Brief from the Center for Media Research) has found that 23% of adult U.S. Internet users, or about 30 million people, have gone online from a place other than home or work.
“It’s important to understand these changes in media habits,” said Bill White, partner in MillerWhite. “When your audience is paying attention to another medium at the same time it sees or hears your ad, the effectiveness of the message is compromised, and so is your investment. Marketing models we have used for decades may now need to be more customized for the client’s products and services. Marketers need to have a solid read on where their target audience is placing its attention at any given time and be willing to adjust the media mix accordingly, including better utilization of the Internet.”
While it’s true that in some marketing segments, advertisers have increased the use of Internet advertising to a level above traditional media,* for most companies, online advertising is not the most cost-effective use of the Internet because they are paying to reach people beyond their reasonable target audience.
Because of this potential waste of marketing dollars, integrated marketing firms like MillerWhite, LLC would rather help their clients focus on Internet opportunities to market one-on-one and quantify the response. By making the message relevant and useful to a specific target audience, this focus can cut through the clutter of simultaneous media usage with e-strategies for opt-in lists, viral marketing, e-newsletters, e-grams and any number of opportunities to directly reach potential customers.
*According to a report from DoubleClick Inc. and Nielsen/NetRatings in a March 19, 2004 Research Brief from the Center for Media Research
