Online Radio Streaming Hits Critical Mass
Labels: Internet, Market Research, Parks Associates, Radio, RAMP, streaming, TargetSpot, web trend
The old adage says, "Fish where the fish are." Pretty self-explanatory -- if the people you want to reach are somewhere, be where they are and don't wander off in another direction. With that in mind, it's mind-boggling that radio people still aren't acknowledging the draw of Internet radio streaming and not seeing the potential to reach listeners there. In a study that Parks Associates did recently for TargetSpot called Digital Audio Usage Trends: A Highly Engaged Listenership, the research company concluded that digital audio listening has indeed reached critical mass, with 39% of all broadband-equipped American households using Internet radio... though it's important to note that Parks included online simulcasts of terrestrial stations as part of their "Internet radio" figures. Online streaming mirrors broadcast radio usage, with around 80% of respondents consuming 1-7 hours of radio -- both Internet-based and online streams of broadcast stations -- daily on their laptops, desktops and tablets; the only device where online beat transmitter was via smartphones, which topped out at 84%. One bright spot in these figures was that 66% of Internet radio users actually listened to the same amount of -- or more broadcast radio as a result of streaming.
Here's where the money kicks in, so get your salespeople to read this next part: Listeners' ad-response rate was great for Internet radio, with 52% recalling seeing or hearing an ad online, and 40% actually responded to the commercial. Plus, Parks reports that "combining Internet radio with broadcast radio advertising boosts broadcast ad recall and increases response by 3.5 times over broadcast-only rates." Translation: If you're wasting your online stopsets, you're losing valuable revenue that can be used to reinforce your over-the-air spots. It's worth your while to check out the full report and to rally your troops to fish where the fish are -- because smartphones and Internet streaming aren't disappearing.
posted by Unknown @ Thursday, June 16, 2011,
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24 - The Unaired 1994 Pilot
Labels: 24, CollegeHumor.com, Internet, Jack Bauer, Usage
My, how times have changed.
15 years ago, there were an estimated 38 million Internet users worldwide, mostly in the U.S. (IDC).
As of June 2009, approximately 1.67 billion people worldwide use the Internet, according to studies by Miniwatts Marketing Group.
Humor often can be insightful. "Insightful" isn't a typical description for the humor found on CollegeHumor.com; however, the site's content is often damn funny.
My media friend Dan Forth of ClassicRockForever.com discovered something both "funny" and "insightful" from CollegeHumor: the "unaired pilot" of '24'.
Ever wonder how Jack Bauer could save the world and stop the bomb from exploding back in the day when we relied on payphones, slow modem dial-up, and AOL/Prodigy chatroom for online conversations?
Well, now you can see...and marvel at how fast our world operates online now. Times have changed.
posted by Unknown @ Wednesday, October 07, 2009,
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Web Analytics: The Actives and Less Actives
Labels: Being digital, Digital life, Internet, Jointblog, PEW, trends
Sure, for many...but not all. First of all, the technology needs to work. When it works, being digital can mean greater productivity...or it can be overwhelming just trying to keep up with the upgrades. Or frustrating to fix when there's a glitch or interface problem, even among those who know what they are doing. And shopping!
Just consider all the different number of gadgets and digital options. To many, it remains very intimidating.
If you consider yourself a "wired" person, it is easy to forget the rest of the population. Not everyone is as happy with this digital life as you might be.
According to the latest update in the PEW Internet & American Life Project, 59% of us are less than thrilled with new digital connections and options, as illustrated in the graphic table above ("The Digital Less-Actives").
Based on their on-going national panel study:
- 10% of us are "connected but hassled"
- 8% are "inexperienced experimenters"
- 15% are "light but satisfed" digital users
- 11% are digital "indifferents"
Meanwhile, 15% are completely "off the network". They have neither a cell phone nor internet connectivity.
Add all those user segment groups together, that's 59% of the total population describing themselves as either non- or light-users. 59% that currently are not active digital users.
Does that surprise you in 2007? Being a digital person (after all, you are reading this Jointblog post), wouldn't you expect to see more people being digital?
What it means is we still haven't reached the peak for a full digital life in society. There continues to be opportunity to reach new consumers.
The key?
Make it simple.
Make it easy.
Take away fear and frustration.
How well are you connecting with your potential digital audience? Are you making it too hard for them to use your site? Too difficult to be interactive with your digital audience? Are you giving your audience too much choice, too many options?
What can you do to make their digital life more simple?
posted by Unknown @ Sunday, August 05, 2007,
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Radio Finally Realizes It Can Do Social Networking, Too
Labels: Clear Channel, community, Internet, Jointblog, MySpace, Online Marketing, Radio, social networking, website
The success of MySpace has spun off an emerging trend of new social networking startup site based on specific themes and custom labels. And now radio is joining the online marketing action.
Billboard.biz reports today that America's largest radio company Clear Channel is starting up its own radio-branded social networking websites, with plans to get them up and running throughout this summer.
The concept? "Mini-MySpace" sites associated with a major market's radio brand logo targeting that stations' local community audience, allowing users to create and customize their profiles, upload their user-generated content and viral video, form friendship links, post comments and generally connect with other like-minded people.
At the same time, the radio stations with have a new opportunity to promote its activities and contests as well as community events, gossip, new music releases and even on-air podcasts.
Finally.
It's only a decade late.
But at least it finally getting done.
How about the other radio groups?
Some Clear Channel example sites launched today: The Wild Space for Rhythmic CHR Wild FM in San Francisco; The Mob for Top 40 Kiss FM in Chicago; The Z-Zone for New York's Top 40 Z100; Kiss Nation for Top 40 Kiss FM in Dallas; and many more to come from stations across the country based on new music formats.
Will they just be LateSpace?
What took radio so long to wake up to the social networking phenomenon of the last decade? The Internet started as a community connector to share information (digitally) back when it was bulletin board Dos-based postings accessed via slow-baud dial-ups -- long before AOL IMs, or even chat rooms in CompuServe or Prodigy.
Radio could have -- and should have -- established online social networkings long before MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Bebo, Zanga, Eons, UrbanBaby or any of the others popular places online today. Radio already had (and still has) established built-in interactive communities, including local fans as well as listeners who've relocated to other cities who remain fans.
Clear Channel's plans will "monetize the sites with targeted online spots from local advertisers" while helping people connect with others locally. Meanwhile, users will be able to click on the user profiles in the chat area to enter and explore the social network.
According to the news release:Each social network will have a user experience similar to that offered by MySpace, Facebook, Bebo and others. Users can create and customize profiles; upload photos, music and video; blog; and add friends. Users will also be able to enhance their profile pages with videos from Clear Channel's catalog of over 6,000 music videos licensed from major and independent labels.
Yes, social websites are one of Top 10 things teens love to do. The timing is good for radio to step in and offer something fresh, especially since MySpace is turning more and more into a junkyard mess.
But it's not just teens that want to socially network online.
It's grownups, too -- GenXers and Boomers alike. Adult Contemporary, Classic Rock, Oldies and other adult music formats should also be included.
There's lots of competition among the most active social networking websites. Breaking through will be tough. Corporate Radio is slow joining the bandwagon when it comes to online social networking...perhaps its expertise in formating and its built-in on-air audience can help radio stations get the word out while creating a unique online community destination.
Just help users cut through the clutter!
It does lead to an interesting modern-day question: How many online profiles can a person possibly have and keep up-to-date while still keeping up real-life responsibilities? Three? Five? A dozen? More? How many multiple personalities are we all living every day?
And another question: what will radio do about mobile social networking (like Twitter, etc.)?
posted by Unknown @ Monday, April 30, 2007,
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Media Trend Watching: Radio Right Now
Labels: cellphone, FMQB, Google, HD Radio, Internet, John Parikhal, Joint Communications, Jointblog, Karmazin, Media, Media Trend Watching, MySpace, PPM, Radio, Sirius, XM
Joint Communications marks 30 years this month advising the radio industry through format programming, consulting, market research, marketing development and media strategy services.
The month of April also means it's time for John Parikhal's annual spring check-up as this week's featured FMQB cover story to discuss radio and the evolving mediaspace challenges radio faces in the immediate future.
Among the discussed topics:
> The proposed XM/Sirius merger -- including the financial and competitive implications as well as Mel Karmazin's catalyst role (puzzling; Stern probably helped save Sirius; Mel sees opportunities)
> The trend led by Clear Channel and other big groups toward privatization (more squeeze and bleed? And Clear Channel gets rewarded?)
> HD Radio (just another local spectrum)
> PPM ratings measurements (consistency of measurement will help)
> The cellphone (risky for electronic ratings measurement)
> Blink spots and other "Less is More" initiatives (applaud the experimentation; spare listener energy; don't invade the consumer)
> Radio's needed presence on the Internet and its mishandling of opportunities that went to MySpace instead (getting better...but still behind due to insufficient support staffing and streaming fee penalties)
> Google's new deal selling radio ads ("It's nonsense")
> The lucrative potential of selling and targeting the 30-59 year old demographic (so much money radio could grab)
> An updated look at radio's emerging trends (demographics!)
FMQB's chief editor Fred Deane gets it all started by saying:As the radio industry evolves at a rapid pace, critical decisions about the medium’s future become increasingly more urgent. Technology issues have enveloped the industry to such a challenging extent, that the call for radio leaders to be actionable has never resonated so loudly. John Parikhal has never met a challenge he didn’t like, he relishes the very concept. While Parikhal’s client list continues to remain firmly entrenched in radio, the macro version finds him involved with a variety of media and marketing companies. His latest foray with strategic Internet initiatives with some large clients has him thinking about the future 24/7. It’s spring and time for our annual check-up with one of our industry’s deep thinkers.
Thanks, Fred. All that and more...just click here for some great reading. Then come back and add your thoughts here on the Jointblog.
Additional reading: Thinking Through The Decision Making Process
posted by Unknown @ Friday, April 27, 2007,
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Connecting Radio To Digital Music Fans
Labels: buzz, community, Connect, Digital, Internet, Music fans, music sales, Radio, social networking, User-Generated, Web 2.0, webart
Music fans are passionate. They talk music. Download, upload, swap, and playlist music. Participate on and start their own fan sites, go to shows, create/buy custom cellphone ringtones and fan wallpaper, serve as street marketers building up the buzz, blog it, and more.
These are great days for interactive music fans ...radio, are you listening?
They live the music of their favorite bands everyday.
Remember those days, Gen Xer? Sound familiar, Boomers?
Despite all the doom and gloom of industry indicators (album sales, retail sales, ticket sales...all down 15-20% from a year ago; weak debuts on the charts that don't stick; weaker TV ratings for music programming; etc.), there never has been a better time to be a Music Fan.
Radio is still figuring out how to connect with them. Some in radio are getting it, many others aren't.
What do teens want?
Radio has to program better to young music fans.
Radio has to understand their language, their various cultures. Value them. Be a place to connect with other like-minded people.
Radio can still do it.
Radio has always been an important social gathering filter. The "secret language" of rock n' roll delivered through transistor radios creating generation gaps between teens and parents back in the '50s and '60s is exactly the same kind of social networking we see today. Only now, it's through digital communication using multiple gadgets and devices in more interactive ways.
How will radio deliver more interactive opportunities for its listeners to form fresh social networking communities?
I stumbled upon this digital artwork (above) from a music fan in Germany. It's a great way to express creativity and be a fan, sharing it with the world.
Music Radio Website Idea: Create a custom digital webart community for Music Fans to express their creativity...it's a great way to participate in youth culture, acknowledge their contributions and connect with their music passion...the very essence of your music format. Then, convert the listener graphic art into a station/artist music gateway, where users/listeners simply click on the artist name -- leading music fans deeper into the site, allowing the radio station to showcase the music.
And be a music fan, too.
posted by Unknown @ Wednesday, April 18, 2007,
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Media Trend Watching: Annoying Banner Ads
Labels: 2006, Ad dollars, Advertising, Annoying, banner ads, IAB, Internet, Media Trend Watching, New Media, PwC, Revenue, Snark
More ad dollars keep going to the Internet.
Last month, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) announced that Internet advertising revenues for 2006 were estimated to be $16.8 billion, a 34% increase over the previous revenue record of $12.5 billion in 2005.
Globally, 2006's Q4 totaled just under $4.8 billion -- the highest quarter ever reported.
Nine short years ago, total spent Internet advertising in the 4th quarter (1997) was just $424 million...more than an eleven-fold increase.
These ad dollars are being spent on search marketing, paid search links, streaming video ads, contextual GoogleAds, email campaigns and many other forms. Among all choices, the most popular -- and often most annoying -- are banner ads. Sure, they deliver "eyeballs"...but many of them are just plain bad. That can't be great for ROI and certainly not for brand building strategies.
American may love streaming video...but the only people who like the banners ads next to the video probably are advertisers.
I found an article for "The Top 5 Most Annoying Banner Ads on the Internet". No doubt you've seen these banner ads while visiting your favorite sites. They're everywhere. While it may be difficult to ever narrow it down to only a Top 5 Most Annoying (given there are so many available), the logic is sound (although there's no scientific basis for their list).
Here's the selections from Cracked.com (thanks, Cracked!):
The Jointblog avoids banner ads (except to get snarky with them). Which banner ads annoy you? And which ones do you think work?
5) TBS Very Funny Ads. This is everything that's wrong with the modern media in one convenient image, for the busy modern person who needs to lose faith in humanity 'on the go'. A website dedicated to the commercials which prevent you from watching the programs on television....Worse, they're targeting the most annoying demographic on the planet: the "I only watch it for the ads" vacuum-headed smirkers.
4) Win a Free Thing. Banner ads used to promise instant free prizes, but even the dumbest internet surfer eventually realized that just maybe there weren't magical love-powered companies dedicated to giving free electronics to everyone on the planet...One thing all these ads have in common is legalese fine print which, like mobile-phone cancer and minesweepers wrist, is a disease of modern society.
3) Surveys. It's looking for people to complete marketing surveys, but only gets the kind who click on banner ads. The sort who can be distracted from what they're doing by the chance to fill out a form! People who need time and a roughwork sheet to answer the question "Is this object shiny?"
2) Emoticons. In the beginning, there were text smileys. And it was good. People who could spell transmitted thoughts around the globe, finding uses for neglected keys to generally acting like smart people. But with the advance of technology the ability to "use a computer" or "think with mouth closed" are no longer required to get online and banner ads are ever ready to harvest the new subliterate hordes.
And topping the list (drum roll, please...)
1) Juggling Animation (scaled down in size to minimize the annoyance). The makers of these eye-wrenching monstrosities have fixated on "Get their attention," forgetting that it's part of the larger sentence, "Get their attention so they want to buy our product/service, and ideally aren't motivated to track us down, cement our legs into the pavement, and slowly tear our heads off with a length of chain and a monster truck."
Update at 6pm: The Fark forum board is posting many comments about more bad banner ads, such as this comment:There are worse banner adds (sic) than those. The mortgage dancing people, animals, anything with that freaking mortgage company. Anything that flashes so that I have a seizure while I am trying to do something. Then there is this annoying windows one I ran into yesterday. I thought it was because of windows but it only happened on this one website..and it was about weight loss...IT DROVE ME NUTS. So yeah anything that resembles any kind of error window.
Tell us more...what other bad banners do you despise?
posted by Unknown @ Friday, April 06, 2007,
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New Study: Americans Love Streaming Video
Labels: Broadband, Cable TV, Internet, Ipsos Insight, Long-form, Market Research, Media Trend Watching, Short-form, Streaming Video, Time Shifting, Viral Video
Thanks to the surge of broadband internet access and other new wireless high-speed options, Americans love their streaming video, making the web their own personal time-shifted TiVo.
YouTube was last year's major success story, leading to mainstream media content owners, Network TV broadcasters and even video rental agents like Blockbluster and Netflix to make more of their content available online.
The public is quickly embracing streaming video...and wants more of it. Online video now blurs the mainstream/new media divide. Americans love their TV and online video is quickly becoming a mainstream way to consume it, even if Google says the Internet isn't TV.
According to the latest reported update in a biannual digital video study from Ipsos Insight:"At the end of 2006, nearly six of ten Americans (58 percent) age 12 or older with internet access had streamed some form of video content online, according to findings released by Ipsos Insight from MOTION - its biannual digital video study.
What kind of online video is most-preferred? No surprise here. Among the various types of video streams offered online, shorter video clips, such as those on video-sharing sites like YouTube, are by far the most preferred.
In other words, 44 percent of the U.S. population age 12 or older - some 100 million people - have streamed digital video online.
Moreover, over one in four Americans (28 percent) age 12+ have downloaded a digital video file, with a significant amount of overlap between the two types of digital video.
Among those that stream video online, teens and young adults are the most likely to do so: three in four of all teens age 12-17 and young adults age 18-24 in the U.S. have streamed digital video content online. Moreover, they are more likely to have higher incomes and be highly educated, even more so than others with internet access.
This highly coveted demographic appears to be watching digital video more and more on PCs or portable devices. Teens and young adults, on average, have stored 20 percent of their entire video library either digitally (on a hard drive) and/or have burned it onto DVDs."
Three-quarters of all digital video streamers have streamed short news or sports clips; two-thirds have streamed amateur or homemade video clips. Roughly 40 percent of those who have streamed or downloaded video content have accessed YouTube.
What does this mean? As written on the Jointblog last month, content may be king...but it's distribution that really matters.
Make it easy, make it simple, make it fast. Video usage may soon be broken into two categories: short-form video for online streaming (music videos, perhaps commercials?); and long-form video for broadcast and/or DVD viewing (movies, TV shows, etc.).
This Ipsos Insight study pairs up nicely with a new video brand building study from Millward Brown which says video ads are great for brand recall.
The evolution of video continues to be a major media trend to watch, which puts the whole Google/YouTube/Viacom distribution battle center-stage.
To read more, click here
posted by Unknown @ Wednesday, April 04, 2007,
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How Radio Stations Can Be More Interactive: Permission Marketing Newsletters
Labels: 18-34, Get Digital, Interactivity, Internet, newsletters, opt-in, Permission-based Marketing, Q101, Radio, Radio Stations
Getting 18-34 year olds to listen to radio is tough. Getting digital = Getting traffic = Getting ratings.
Last Fall, the NY Times referenced an Arbitron study which asked different age groups how their radio consumption differs nowadays from 1999. In every single age group people were listening less to the radio, with 18-34 year olds devoting about 14% less of their daily time to the radio.
18-34 year olds are heavy digital consumers (especially men) every day...especially simultaneous media users.
That means they are on the Internet, probably looking for viral videos and social network interactivity. According to recent research, men aged 18-34 account for 41% of those who view video online on a daily basis and for over two-thirds of adults who view YouTube and other user-generated content daily.
Yes, the 18-34 year old is still habitually online but guess what...the radio can be used when other media is used.
In order for radio to adapt, getting digital is essential, especially for 18-34 year old target audiences.
This will be even more true when Arbitron fully-implements their PPM electronic ratings system.
What does "getting digital" mean for radio stations?
It means communicating and interacting digitally. As mentioned above, Getting digital = Getting traffic = Getting ratings.
Radio station fan newsletters are one way to build interaction opportunities with radio listeners. These are opt-in permission marketing emails allowing stations to communicate and interact with a listener's interests (click here for 10 good rules).
Most radio station newsletters disappoint and miss their chance to connect with their listeners.
Here's a great example of a radio station newsletter.
It's from Q101 in Chicago, a pioneer Alternative radio station making strong moves to digitally connect with their listeners while facing Arbitron ratings challenges.
Signing up for the newsletter is appealing and easy-to-do...and the information provided in the newsletter is useful (pre-sale concert tickets, inside scoop, behind-the-scene station news, encouraging web streaming, their HD channels, etc.) which should help build strong word-of-mouth potential. Q101 has built up quite a fan network since they first launched their email newsletters back in 2001.
Take a look at Q101's latest newsletter design...what do you think of it?
posted by Unknown @ Saturday, March 31, 2007,
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Broadcasters and Webcasters Challenge New Streaming Copyright Rules
Labels: copyrights, digital rights, DRM, Internet, Media Trend Watching, net radio, Radio, regulations, royalties, streaming
The Associated Press filed a report tonight saying a wide array of broadcasters and online companies announced they were formally challenging this month's new ruling on copyright royalties which, if allowed, would cripple the emerging business of music broadcasts over the Internet.
"Suit up!"
It's a good sign broadcasters -- big and small -- are jointly stepping up with webcasters to defend their positions on streaming and not simply rolling over.
According to AP:Clear Channel Communications Inc., National Public Radio, and groups representing both large and small companies providing music broadcasts online were among those asking the Copyright Royalty Board to reconsider key parts of its March 2 ruling.
That ruling, the challenging parties say, would greatly increase the amount of royalties that online music broadcasters would have to pay to record labels and performers as well as put unreasonable demands on them to track how many songs were listened to by exactly how many individuals online.
The royalties in question only apply to digital transmissions of music, such as through Web sites, and are paid to the performers of songs and record labels. Webcasters also pay additional royalties to the composers and publishers of music, similar to those also paid by over-the-air broadcasters.
Digital performance rights were originally granted to record companies in 1995, in part with the intention of protecting them against the possibility that digital transmissions could erode the sales of CDs.
That agreement (the Digital Millenium Copyright Act) set today's Digital Rights Management guidelines.
The new rules, if implemented, threaten the viability of legally-streamed music radio stations over the web -- both repeaters from traditional broadcasters as well as pure new media netcasters. Click here to see how you can help "save music streaming".
Meanwhile, web streamer Kurt Hanson of AccuRadio weighs in on the issue here.
Let's see what happens...
posted by Unknown @ Monday, March 19, 2007,
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Most Popular Canadian Radio Stations Online
Labels: Airport Info, Alexa, Canada, CMW, Internet, Radio, Radio Stations, streaming, web traffic
Now that the Canadian Music Week Conference is wrapped up and the awards for "Best Stations" handed out, which stations get the most online traffic?
Interestingly, as of today March 12th, the #1 site is not a music format or your typical News/Talk format. It's Airport Talk All The Time on CFYZ 1280 AM and available through www.gtaa.com -- the voice of Canada's busiest international airport, Toronto's Pearson International. They broadcast arrivals, departures, traffic, weather, travel stories and aviation announcements.
In Canada, Alexa says it is ranked 1,138th in total traffic.
3/27 Update: RadioandRecords.com reports that "CFYZ-AM/Toronto -- the Greater Toronto Airports Authority's information station -- is flipping to business talk on April 9 as CFBN. The station will continue running airport traffic reports and travel programming."
#2 CKWX is ranked 3,469th -- with a substantial drop over the past 6 months.
According to Alexa.com's traffic ratings, here are the most visited Canadian radio station sites:1. CFYZ 1280 AM (Pearson International Airport/Toronto)
2. CKWX - News 1130 (Rogers/Vancouver)
3. CKOI FM 96.9 (Corus/Montreal)
4. VOCM Radio (VOCM/Newfoundland)
5. CHUM 104.5 FM (CHUM/Toronto)
6. Radio Énergie (Astral/Montreal)
7. CKNW 980 AM (Corus/Vancouver)
8. 102.1FM The Edge (Corus/Toronto)
9. Mix 96 (Standard/Montreal)
10. CFOX 93.3 - The Fox (Cous/Vancouver)
posted by Unknown @ Monday, March 12, 2007,
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Big Audience: Internet reaches 747 million people worldwide, Up 10 Percent
Labels: comScore, growth, Internet, Jointblog, Media Trend Watching, New Media, population, users
How many people use the Internet? According to new data from comScore Network's World Metrix service, the Internet reaches 747 million people worldwide. How big is that? Slightly more than Europe's total population of 710 million people. The total world population right now? Nearly 6.7 billion. That means the Internet reaches 11% of the world.
That's a big audience...but there's still lots of room to grow.
And grow it has. Overall, the amount of global web users increased 10 percent over the past year, with about 74 million new users.
According to the report:The greatest growth over the past year comes from India (33 percent); the Russian Federation (21 percent); and China (20 percent).
The U.S. still dominates Internet usage, with more than 153 million total users online -- a 2% gain since last year. US users average 32 hours a month online...but broadband users take advantage of their high speed, averaging 37 hours per month.
Online engagement topped an average 27 hours spent each month in the top 10 user countries. Hours spent online was strongest in Canada (39.6 hours); Israel (37.4 hours); and South Korea (34 hours).
Canada tops broadband hours used at 41 hours a month.
The top sites total worldwide? Microsoft, Google and Yahoo lead the Top 3.
posted by Unknown @ Tuesday, March 06, 2007,
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Findability: $10 Billion Spent on Search Marketing in 2006
Labels: Advertising, brand building, Findability, Getting Found, Google, Internet, Media Trend Watching, ROI, search, Search Marketing, Yahoo
Natural organic search is the most essential way to get found on the Internet. Websites not listed on the first page of Google keyword search results always generate sub-optimal traffic. Get found on that first page...and your desired brand advocates will respond.
Of course, getting to #1 is most desirable.
More and more, the corporate world seems to be understanding the importance of search marketing. That's a good media trend to watch, as these investments are already beginning to deliver strong ROI results.
According to an annual survey conducted by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) relased last month, advertisers in North America laid out close to 10 billion dollars on search engine marketing in 2006 -- a 62 percent spending increase versus 2005. SEMPO found that based on its survey of 587 search agencies and advertisers, the amount of $$$ spent on search marketing will double by 2011, reaching $18.6 billion.
These figures include both paid search advertising and spending on internal search engine optimization.
The report says Google dominates the search advertising business. Among the marketers and agencies surveyed, 96 percent of them report using Google AdWords to promote their brands.
Yahoo! also does well, with 86 percent usage among search marketing budgets...
Meanwhile, less-used (and therefore less-cluttered) MSN, which has long struggled in a distant third-place position in the search race, has made great strides among advertisers, with 68% of advertisers saying they used MSN for their search campaigns in 2006, up from just 29 percent in 2005.
Key area for growth in search marketing: Brand Building
Search advertising for brand advertisers is still a less-than-mature growth category. Despite claims that more and more brands are using the Internet for branding, just 21% of search advertisers actually track or measure the branding impact of search for their campaigns.
Long Tail thoughts here
Brand Building: The Seven Doors of Connection here (pdf)
posted by Unknown @ Monday, March 05, 2007,
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Wayback Machine: The Internet circa 1993, courtesy of the CBC
There's an old CBC Newsworld report from 1993 re-circulating via YouTube and the branding / media tech blogs. If you missed its first viral viewing last summer, its catching on once again, touting something new (at the time) called "Internet", which cost about $200 a year to use. All you needed back then (in addition to the $200)? A personal computer (note the pre-Windows PC OS used in the background) and a phone hookup to be up and running "data exchanges" around the world with the other 15 million users.
Pretty amazing trip back in time...
When can we get "Internet" costs back down to only $200 a year?
posted by Unknown @ Wednesday, February 28, 2007,
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Radio Radio -- Sell Those Ads!
Found this crazy (clever?) webpage that gave me a quick "state of the radio union" laugh, enough to "make me wanna weep, make me wanna holler" (double click to view full size): Labels: Internet, Media, RadioRadio, Spoof
When Elvis Costello sang about "Radio radio", did he imagine this future as today's reality?
posted by Unknown @ Wednesday, February 28, 2007,
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Favorite TV show viewing: Using Internet as TiVo
Labels: ABC, brand building, Information Superhighway, Internet, Jointblog, Media Trend Watching, NBC Rewind, streaming, TiVo, TV, VCR, Video player, Viewing
The Information Superhighway keep winding and twisting. Lately, I wonder if it's becoming the new TiVo.
My TV viewing schedule has been messed up -- again. Like most people, I no longer am held captive by just a few channels. I bounce all over the place: different favorite show on a different channel on different hours. I rarely keep the TV on the same channel for back-to-back shows (same thing for my teenage daughter).
Some things are an absolute must. 24 Monday night at 9pm on Fox -- a must watch. My friends know not to call until after it's done. Heroes is another must watch -- but it's broadcast on-air at the same time as 24 on NBC.
So what do I do?
What about Wednesday nights at 10pm now, when Medium and Lost air at the same time? Or Thursday night's 9pm block, when Grey's Anatomy squares off against NBC comedies? Or when I simply don't have the time to watch at all? I never use my VCR -- gave up using that wasted old tech device a long time ago. I don't watch or care enough about TV to have a TiVo either, even for my high-def big screen.
My solution?
Same as it's been for millions of people. The Network's online streaming sites, especially for ABC as well as NBC's Rewind. The Internet is quickly becoming the new personal video player. And it's helping the TV networks build their brands online.
ABC got off the block first streaming full episodes almost a year ago a little roughly...but it has gotten much better since then. Fewer streaming dropoffs and more shows to watch. And far fewer commercials than what you'd see during a TV broadcast.
CBS launched their Innertube last summer while NBC waited to launch their full episode site in October -- last among the Big Three networks.
In my humble opinion, despite being last in, NBC's Rewind service is far better than either ABC's or CBS's service. Already, NBC's Rewind has delivered 42 million full show viewings.
My personal rankings:
#1 -- NBC
#2 -- ABC
#3 -- CBS
A new Mediaweek article reports that many are using the Network streaming sites just like I'm doing: as their personal TiVo. Just look at these just-released results for NBC:> 78% of users who streamed full-length episodes watched shows from the series they usually watch but missed on broadcast television.
This is a huge result. As a viewer, I say thank you broadband! The Internet is quickly becoming my personal video player. This model makes sense and is one to watch as a media trend.
>81% of those surveyed said they recalled specific pre-roll ads -- using single sponsors for entire shows playing only one commercial per break certainly helps make for powerful recall.
>26% said they viewed shows they had already watched on TV for a second time.
>34% said they used the site to preview shows they had never seen before.
I know I am.
posted by Unknown @ Thursday, February 15, 2007,
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Google says Internet isn't TV
Labels: Cable, CES, Digital, Google, Internet, Jointblog, MacWorld, Media, New Media, TV, Yahoo
TV is TV and the Internet is the Internet...but the differences between TV and Internet are getting more and more blurry.
You'd certainly see no difference if you went to last month's Consumer Electronics Show or MacWorld conferences, where the New York Times thinks the Internet is coming to TV.
High-speed broadband internet access is often bought from high-speed digital cable providers (who also sell VoIP)...so when we pay our monthly bill to just one provider, it gives the appearance TV and Internet might be the same thing.
View any late-night TV talk show and you'll see Leno, Letterman, Conan, Olbermann, Jimmy and Craig (and so many others) all making their own viral video picks found on YouTube.
If you read any interviews from AOL or Yahoo! execs over the past several years, you'll see a common theme describing the Internet as a new version of "interactive TV" and specific services they offer as "channels".
Internet access of audio/video programming through WiFi, WiMax, cellphones, iPhones and more.
So, aren't the Internet and TV becoming one-and-the-same? Certainly, they're sleeping in the same bed.
If 'a' equals 'b' and 'b' equals 'c', then 'a' equals 'c', right?
Interestingly, Google, which acquired online video sharing site YouTube last year, says the Internet is not designed for TV, according to Reuters News.
It even issued a warning to companies that think they can start distributing mainstream TV shows and movies on a global scale at broadcast quality over the public Internet.
So why does Google say the Internet is not TV?"The Web infrastructure, and even Google's (infrastructure) doesn't scale. It's not going to offer the quality of service that consumers expect," Vincent Dureau, Google's head of TV technology, said at the Cable Europe Congress.
Hear that sigh?
Google instead offered to work together with cable operators to combine its technology for searching for video and TV footage and its tailored advertising with the cable networks' high-quality delivery of shows.
It's a collective sigh of relief from global TV broadcast executives finally hearing -- directly from Google -- that even Google sees limitations in their expanding empire. That TV will still keep its own platform. And that the Internet industry and the TV industry are capable of co-existing.
Does that mean they sleep in separate beds or in separate bedrooms?
posted by Unknown @ Thursday, February 08, 2007,
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Mobile WiFi Radio: What Radio could look like soon in a city near you
Labels: Clear Channel, Digital, eChannel, Internet, Jointblog, Mobile, New Media, Radio, Teens, WiFi, WiMax, Wireless
Broadcast radio began ignoring teens right after Baby Boomers finally moved out of the demo 20 years ago. The only rare exception was the short-lived Alt Rock boom during the Grunge 90s. Yes, Top 40 radio still attracted teen listeners (what choice did they really have?). But, for the most part, radio strategically decided it needed grownup listeners in order to maximize revenues.
Teen radio listeners were accepted by default. Secondary. Most often, teen ratings have been viewed as a negative for a long time.
The rise of the Internet, file sharing, iPods, and Internet radio easily and quickly filled the void created by radio station ignoring teens. Now that the World Wide Web is 15 years old, an entire generation has grown up relying on the Internet, not radio.
What can radio do to begin connecting with current and future teens? And what do teens want?
Well, to start, radio can start appreciating, targeting and programming to teens. But, to do so, it needs to deliver ("broadcast") in a manner teens listen to their modern definition of "radio".
For teens, radio is a digital experience -- fluid, listened to in multiple formats, on multiple devices, time-shifted whenever they want to hear it.
Radio was the original "wireless". Today's teens think of "wireless" in a completely different way. Wireless means something to communicate with -- cellphones, texting, emailing, WiFi, WiMax, Internet-based, fully digital and fully listenable on any and every digital device they own.
Last September, Toronto became one of the first major cities where a major radio broadcaster launched a new radio format available not over the old airwaves...but through the Internet to be heard on the new free city WiFi services.
Here's another new example of what radio could (and should) look like in cities everywhere, as reported in InsideBayArea.com:If a radio lover were featured on MTV's "Pimp My Ride", his or her car would look very much like the two Scion xBs that Clear Channel's new eChannelMusic was showcasing around San Jose earlier this week.
Attitude. Mobile. Edgy. Street.
These were rolling radio stations, although they never use the word "radio".
They were WiFi Internet stations, programmed partly by listeners at www.echannelmusic.com with video screens, blaring waterproof speakers running 24/7, and a computer keyboard and screen and a large microphone in the back seat, from which street DJs could do commentary.
The $40,000 rolling studios are the first stations that the large Clear Channel radio company was programming without actual radio signals.
Remember when radio knew how to do that?
posted by Unknown @ Sunday, January 21, 2007,
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