Arketi's Survey City

Leads for Less with Social Media

2010-02-26T13:27:00.002-05:00

Social media, blogs and search engine optimization more cost-effective for lead gen

Pull marketing tactics such as search, blog and social media generate cheaper leads than more traditional outbound efforts, according to data from inbound online marketing platform HubSpot.
The “2010 State of Inbound Marketing” report indicates that spending on lead generation is 60% less among companies that devote at least one-half of their budget to inbound marketing, compared with companies spending at least one-half of lead generation dollars on outbound tactics.
The average cost per lead from inbound marketing was also significantly less.

Unsurprisingly, for business-to-business firms, LinkedIn was most effective for customer acquisition. Business-to-consumer companies did better on each of the other sites, with the best results coming from Facebook, where nearly seven in 10 had found a new customer.

Check it out at: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007534
Source: emarketer.com

Email, PR, Social Media Key Trends in 2010

2009-11-30T15:41:00.002-05:00

According to a study by email marketing provider Vertical Response, U.S. small businesses say they plan to bolster their use of social media and email marketing in 2010.

"The survey of 831 respondents at businesses with fewer than 500 employees found that 74% plan increase in email marketing and 68% will increase their use of social media marketing."

Savvy companies have recognized the potential these cost-effective channels have in delivering value to their customers and prospects. Even more, they are great jumping-off points for companies looking to implement engagement strategies and establish ongoing dialogue with their constituents.

Additionally, public relations was identified as a top tool for businesses to use in 2010. Not very surprising as PR offers companies relatively cost-friendly avenues to build their brand, establish relationships with the media and engage in relevant industry conversations.

To read the full article and see the results, visit http://www.marketingvox.com/small-biz-to-bump-up-email-socnet-spend-045557/.

Small Business Not Into Social Networks For Leads

2009-11-02T13:00:00.001-05:00

According to a new Citibank / GfK Roper survey of 500 small business executives across the United States, 76% have not found social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to be helpful in generating business leads or for expanding their business during the last year, while 86% say they have not used social networking sites to get business advice or information.

The survey found that general search engine sites such as Google and Yahoo! trump small business-focused sites and the WSJ.com as destinations for small business owners to seek business advice or information. 61% of respondents say they rely on these search engine sites.

Maria Veltre, Executive Vice President of Citi's Small Business Segment, concludes "... small business owners are still feeling their way into social media... many... may not have the manpower or the time required take advantage of them."

Additional responses found that 42% of small business owners and managers reported that in the past year they have made greater use of their company's website to generate business leads and sales. Among companies with 20 to 99 employees the percentage rises, with 57% saying they have made greater use of their website. 28% of survey respondents are also using email marketing and 25% are using online advertising to generate business leads and sales.

More information from Citibank may be found here.

Source: Center for Media Research Monday, November 02, 2009 Research Brief

Small Biz Chooses Search over SocNets

2009-10-13T13:16:00.000-04:00

Small Biz Chooses Search over SocNets

More than three-fourths (76%) of small-business owners have not found social networking sites to be helpful in generating business leads or for expanding their business during the last year, and 86% say they have not used social networking sites to get business advice or information, according to a new Citibank/GfK Roper survey. The survey of 500 small business executives across the US, found that despite widespread consumer use and increasing marketing efforts on social-media sites - such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn - among larger organizations, managers in smaller businesses apparently are not jumping on the bandwagon.

Google Trumps WSJ.com
The survey found that general search engine sites such as Google and Yahoo trump social networks, small-business-focused sites and general business destinations such as WSJ.com as places where business owners to seek business advice or information. Some 61% of respondents say they rely on search-engine sites.

Additional survey findings:

42% of small business owners and managers reported that in the past year they have made greater use of their company’s website to generate business leads and sales.
Among companies with 20-99 employees, this percentage rises to 57% reporting they have made greater use of their website.
Survey respondents are using email marketing (28%) and online advertising (25%) to generate business leads and sales.

A report from Borrell Associates found that small businesses are poised to triple the amount of money they spend on their websites.

“Our survey suggests that small business owners are still feeling their way into social media, particularly when it comes to using these tools to grow their businesses,” said Maria Veltre, EVP of Citi’s Small Business Segment. “While social media can provide additional channels to network and help grow a business, many small businesses may not have the manpower or the time required take advantage of them.”

Things may be poised to change in the future, however. Despite SMB’s continued reliance on and preference for traditional media, a study by Bredin Business Information found that major marketers to SMBs are cutting back on traditional tactics and switching to lower-cost, online marketing to save money. About the survey: The omnibus poll was conducted for Citibank Small Business via telephone by GFK Roper from August 20-27, 2009 among a sample of 500 small business executives across the US.

Source: marketingcharts.com

Tweeting More Ubiquitous Than Other Electronic Socializing

2009-10-07T08:23:00.001-04:00

According to a survey conducted by Crowd Science, with Twitter being accessed from mobile devices to a greater extent than other social media, Twitter users also use social media more in such locations as cars, restaurants and restrooms. 11% of Twitter users admitted to accessing social media while driving during the preceding 30 days, compared with just 5% of other social media users. And 29% of Twitter users said they had accessed social media from cars at some point in the past, compared with 13% of non-users.

John Martin, CEO of Crowd Science, notes that "Twitter is more of a mobile media phenomenon than other social networks, so these results, while a little disturbing, are... not so surprising... the bottom line is that either type of activity takes a driver's attention away from the road."

The survey found that only 27% of Twitter users tweet daily, while 46% check updates daily. In addition, 24% of Twitters users have never tweeted, or have ceased doing so.

According to the survey, 40% of Twitter users access the service via mobile at least sometimes, compared with 32% for Facebook users, and 8% use mobile all the time vs. 3% for Facebook.

In addition to the greater usage while driving, the survey also found that over the past 30 days,

Twice as many Twitter users as non-Twitter social media users (8% to 4%) had accessed any social media from a theater during a movie or live performance.
17% of Twitter users vs. 12% of non-Twitter social media users had accessed social media from a washroom or toilet
Nearly three times as many Twitter users as other social media users have accessed social media from restaurants (31% vs. 12%).

Considering the attitudes of Twitter users, says the report, a significant number of social media users use the applications because friends and contacts do (17%), or because stopping or reducing its use would be damaging to their social status (15%.).

32% of Twitter users feel they spend too much time using social media, 22% say they've written things on social media that they've later regretted, and 16% report that they often neglect important activities to spend time on social media. Yet 25% of Twitter users say social media is their favorite leisure activity, compared with 14% of non-Twitter social media users.

Additional survey results include:

41% of Twitter users prefer to contact friends via social media rather than telephone, compared with 25% of non-Twitter social media users,
11%, vs. only 6% of those not using Twitter, actually prefer social media over face-to-face contacts
14% of Twitter users said they have revealed things about themselves in social media that they wouldn't under any other circumstances
8% admitted to "frequently stretching" the truth about themselves online

Twitter users tend to be older than non-Twitter social media users (54% over 30 years old, vs. 42%),

They are twice as likely to be self-employed or entrepreneurs (18% vs. 9%)
24% vs. 15% "buy gadgets/devices when they first come out,"
48% vs. 30% have created a website
37% currently maintain a blog, twice as many as non-Twitter social media users

The Crowd Science study was conducted across more than 600,000 visitors to multiple websites between August 5-13, 2009, targeting social media users age 12 and up.

For more information from Crowd Science, please visit here.

Source: Center for Media Research Oct. 7, 2009 Research Brief.

Social Media Tools Gaining For Driving Sales

2009-09-24T09:04:00.002-04:00

Source: Center for Media Research -- Research Brief 9/24/09

According to the first annual Community and Social Media Study, from the The e-tailing group five out of ten social media tools have been adopted by more than 50% percent of brands and retailers, with the Facebook Fan Page leading the way at 86%. In addition, the study found three-fourths of the survey respondents feel brands have accelerated their use of, and commitment to, community and social media in the past six months.

The study found that the penetration of social media tools within brand and retailer organizations is extremely high, given the length of time these tools have been around.

The top three concerns of marketers and merchandisers related to social media:

Brand degradation fear - "people can trash my products in front of large audiences"?
Competence fear - "I am using outdated marketing/merchandising techniques"?
Competitive fear - "customer's inclination to leave their site to find a more socially-engaging site"

These motivators, which drove the last wave of social media adoption, will also be driving the next wave in the coming year, says the study. Over the next 12 months, study respondents say they plan to adopt:

Facebook Connect (31%)
Social Listening Tools (31%)
Customer Reviews (26%)
Product Suggestions (26%)

The study also found the primary goal for adopting social media was:

Customer engagement (39%)
Mobilizing advocates to drive "word of mouth" (30%)
Increasing brand loyalty (21%)

Lauren Freedman, President of the e-Tailing group, says ?"The integration of community and social networking within e-commerce has reached critical mass... failing to engage consumers via community and social media will have brand and bottom-line implications... "

Regarding advocacy and word of mouth (the #2 goal of using social media tools), the study found that Facebook is considered by brands and merchants to be the "single most effective tactic in mobilizing brand advocates and influencers to spread the word about products/services."

However, when it comes to driving sales and customer engagement, customer reviews came out on top by a wide margin, with 78% of those polled listing customer reviews as the #1 social media tool for generating sales and 61% listing customer reviews #1 in driving customer engagement.

Darby Williams, VP of Marketing at PowerReviews, says "... we believe a new marketing baseline has been set with customer engagement and interaction taking center stage."

Please visit the e-Tailing group website here for more information about the study. In addition, A free PowerPoint presentation of survey findings is available to download directly from PowerReviews.

Corporate Use of Social Networking Still an Executive Concern

2009-08-25T09:32:00.000-04:00

According to a study by Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law, senior US marketing, management and HR executives are concerned about the risks of increased use of social networks within their companies. 51% percent of these executives fear social media could be detrimental to employee productivity, while 49% assert that using social media could damage company reputation.

Despite these apprehensions, says the study, social networking is being accepted as a key communications strategy. According to survey results:
81% believe social media can enhance relationships with customers/clients
81% agree it can build brand reputation
69% feel such networking can be valuable in recruitment
64% see it as a customer service tool
46% think it can be used to enhance employee morale

The most popular vehicles being used include:
Facebook (80%)
Twitter (66%)
YouTube (55%)
LinkedIn (49%)
Blogs (43%)

Much of senior management's direct experience with social media appears to be reactive versus proactive, concludes the report. 72% of executives say that they, personally, visit social media sites at least weekly:
52% to read what customers may be saying about their company
47% to routinely monitor a competitors' use of social networking
36% to see what their employees are sharing
25% check the background of a prospective employee

The national survey, which assessed social media workplace trends and adoption of policies governing social media, found that fewer than one in three respondents say their organization has a policy in place to govern social media use and only 10% of companies have conducted employee training on it.

Executives believe social media can potentially be detrimental to employee effectiveness and company reputation, sys the report. Those surveyed who are not using social media on a corporate basis say non-implementation is primarily due to concern about confidentiality or security issues (40%), employee productivity (37%) or simply not knowing enough about it (51%).

This may be why many organizations continue to prohibit workplace access to social networking sites. The study found that 40 percent of companies technically block their employees from accessing social media while at work. At the same time, 26% of companies use social media to further corporate objectives and 70% said they plan to increase the use of these new opportunities.

Even though social media communication is growing, only one in 10 executives say they have staff who spend more than 50% of their time on such efforts, and only 13% have included social media in their organizations' crisis communications plans.

Carol Russell, CEO of Russell Herder, says "Ignoring the need for responsible guidelines can leave an organization open to unnecessary risk and can impede efforts to use social media proactively and competitively in the marketplace... "

And, according to Ethos President David Baer, good social media policies are organization-specific, taking into consideration the philosophy and culture of the organization. Good policies should include, he says, "the need to respect confidential and proprietary information, as well as the sensitivity of potential conflicts of interest."

To view the balance of the Whitepaper in a PDF file, please access it at (rhp_089_whitepaper.pdf) with this link.

Source: Center for Media Research Research Brief 9/25/09

Facebook Use at Work...Does It Help or Hurt?

2009-08-07T08:46:00.003-04:00

An independent study by Nucleus Research finds that companies that allow access to Facebook lose an average of 1.5% in total employee productivity. Nearly half of employees in the study, and 77% of those with an account, use Facebook during work hours, with some employees using Facebook as much as 2 hours per day while at work. One in 33 employees use Facebook exclusively while at work.

To explore the business productivity impact of Facebook, Nucleus interviewed 237 randomly selected office workers about their use of Facebook and found:

77% of workers have a Facebook account.
Of those workers with Facebook accounts, nearly two-thirds access Facebook during working hours
Those who access Facebook at work do so for an average of 15 minutes each day
87% of those who access Facebook at work couldn't define a clear business reason for using it
Of those who do access Facebook at work, 6% never access Facebook anywhere else, meaning one in every 33 workers built their entire Facebook profile during work hours

It is interesting to note that, says the report, of the 13% of users that had a business reason for accessing Facebook, most were not using it for personal networking but to promote a business, product, event, or fan site to Facebook users, and Facebook was just one component of an overall marketing strategy. None of the users had measured the comparative effectiveness of Facebook over other marketing strategies.

The average employee who accesses Facebook at work uses it for 15 minutes each day, with a low of one minute and a high of 120 minutes per day.

Beyond its impact on productivity, the Nucleus study also uncovered the growing use of Facebook as an alternative e-mail platform. Traditional e-mail and even personal accounts like gmail can be monitored by corporate IT, while Facebook messages are not. For organizations that have invested in security software to secure sensitive information and limit their transmission via e-mail, the use of Facebook can help users circumvent those controls, opening up the potential to violate corporate communication policies, concludes the report.

The report concludes that "companies need to understand the cost in productivity from accessing these sites." Of those using Facebook at work, 87% could not define a clear business reason for accessing the site. Further, the analysis reveals potential security concerns through email, as most organizations do not monitor and manage Facebook as closely as email, creating an opportunity for Facebook users to circumvent controls and violate corporate communications policies.

For additional detail, please access the PDF file here, or the release here.

Source: Center for Media Research

BtoB Technology Marketers Missing Social Media Opportunities

2009-02-26T09:02:00.002-05:00

February 25th, 2009

77 percent of business technology decision-makers engage with social media on the job, yet most B2B marketers are not effectively using social technologies to influence the purchasing decisions of their customers, says Forrester Research.

In 2007 Forreter released their comsumer Social Technographics Scale . (See more explanation about the scale in the Forrester PowerPoint )

Now they’ve done the same for BtoB buyers. Forrester polled more than 1,200 business technology decision-makers in North America and Europe about their social media participation throughout the buying cycle. The numbers are quite different - and I’d guess that the rapid adoption of social media over the past two years is one factor.

The Social Technographics Profile segments business buyers into six categories based on their social activities:

Creators — 27 percent publish a blog, publish Web pages, create/upload video or music, or write articles and post them online.
Critics — 37 percent post reviews of products or services, comment on someone else’s blog, or contribute to online forums.
Collectors — 29 percent use RSS feeds, vote for Web sites online, or add tags to Web pages or photos.
Joiners — 29 percent maintain a profile on a social networking site or visit social networking sites.
Spectators — 69 percent read blogs, listen to podcasts, watch video from other users, or read online forums and reviews.
Inactives — 23 percent do not participate in any social media activities for work purposes.

91% of these decision-makers consume social media including blogs, video, and customer reviews.

What’s the biggest influencer? 75 percent said peers influence their purchase decisions more than any other media or information source.

“Emerging social behaviors will fundamentally change the nature of the marketing relationship between B2B buyers and sellers — especially in a down economy,” said Oliver Young, senior analyst at Forrester. “B2B marketers must use social profiling data to determine how social tactics complement the rest of the marketing mix. Integrating traditional and online tactics is essential as the groundswell of social activity grows.”

The new report, “The Social Technographics® Of Business Buyers,” directed at Technology Product Management & Marketing professionals, is available to Forrester RoleView™ clients and can also be purchased directly from the Forrester website

Pew Internet Releases 2009 Generations Online Report

2009-01-28T17:18:00.001-05:00

Contrary to the image of Generation Y as the "Net Generation," internet users in their 20s do not dominate every aspect of online life. Generation X 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 (although teens might point out that this is proof that email is for old people).

The web continues to be populated largely by younger generations, as over half of the adult internet population is between 18 and 44 years old. But larger percentages of older generations are online now than in the past, and they are doing more activities online, according to the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project surveys taken from 2006-2008.

Teens and Generation Y (internet users age 18-32) are the most likely groups to use the internet for entertainment and for communicating with friends and family. These younger generations are significantly more likely than their older counterparts to seek entertainment through online videos, online games, and virtual worlds, and they are also more likely to download music to listen to later. Internet users ages 12-32 are more likely than older users to read other people's blogs and to write their own; they are also considerably more likely than older generations to use social networking sites and to create profiles on those sites.

Compared with teens and Generation Y, older generations use the internet less for socializing and entertainment and more as a tool for information searches, emailing, and buying products.

In particular, older internet users are significantly more likely than younger generations to look online for health information. Health questions drive internet users age 73 and older to the internet just as frequently as they drive Generation Y users, outpacing teens by a significant margin. Researching health information is the third most popular online activity with the most senior age group, after email and online search.

For the full report please visit:
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/275/report_display.asp

About the Pew Internet & American Life Project: The Pew Internet Project is an initiative of the Pew Research Center, a nonprofit "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.

Pew Internet explores the impact of the internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political life.

Support for the project is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The project's Web site: http://www.pewinternet.org <https://webmail.pewresearch.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.pewinte
rnet.org>

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project

Keep Up if You Can: Teens Are Taking Cellular Use to New Levels

2009-01-28T16:32:00.002-05:00

Today's teens live in a world saturated by technology - and they embrace it with open arms. This is just one of the many findings from A Generation Unplugged - presented by Harris Interactive at the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment Conference in September 2008.

Amazingly, teens know more about cell phone models and wireless plans than their favorite band or sports team.

In this issue of Trends & Tudes, we examine findings from this study, which reveals the role cell phones play in teens' social lives, transforming communication for this age segment.

Source: HarrisInteractive

Internet Overtakes Newspapers As News Outlet

2009-01-16T10:37:00.006-05:00

Internet Overtakes Newspapers As News Outlet
The internet, which emerged this year as a leading source for campaign news, has now surpassed all other media except television as an outlet for national and international news.

Currently, 40% say they get most of their news about national and international issues from the internet, up from just 24% in September 2007. For the first time in a Pew survey, more people say they rely mostly on the internet for news than cite newspapers (35%). Television continues to be cited most frequently as a main source for national and international news, at 70%.

For young people, however, the internet now rivals television as a main source of national and international news. Nearly six-in-ten Americans younger than 30 (59%) say they get most of their national and international news online; an identical percentage cites television. In September 2007, twice as many young people said they relied mostly on television for news than mentioned the internet (68% vs. 34%).

Top News Stories of 2008
While the 2008 presidential campaign attracted high levels of public attention, the economy was the top story of the year in terms of news interest, according to Pew's Weekly News Interest Index. In late September, as the nation's financial crisis deepened, 70% said they were following news about the economy very closely. That ranks among the highest levels of news interest for any story in the past two decades.

News about gas prices, both rising and falling, also attracted considerable public attention. In early June, two-thirds of Americans (66%) said they were tracking news about the rising price of gasoline very closely.

The rising price of gasoline was the top news story in 2007, but far fewer followed news about rising gas prices very closely (52% in May). This year, the falling price of gas also drew broad interest (53% very closely in October).

To read the rest of this artilce, click here: http://people-press.org/report/479/internet-overtakes-newspapers-as-news-source

Pew Internet Releases Adults and Social Networks report

2009-01-15T08:34:00.000-05:00

Today, the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project releases a new data memo titled Adults and Social Network Websites that looks at how adults use sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. Among the main findings of the report:

The share of adult internet users who have a profile on an online social network site has more than quadrupled in the past four years -- from 8% in 2005 to 35% now, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project's December 2008 tracking survey.

While media coverage and policy attention focus heavily on how children and young adults use social network sites, adults still make up the bulk of the users of these websites. Adults make up a larger portion of the US population than teens, which is why the 35% number represents a larger number of users than the 65% of online teens who also use online social networks.

Still, younger online adults are much more likely than their older counterparts to use social networks, with 75% of adults 18-24 using these networks, compared to just 7% of adults 65 and older. At its core, use of online social networks is still a phenomenon of the young.

Overall, personal use of social networks seems to be more prevalent than professional use of networks, both in the orientation of the networks that adults choose to use as well as the reasons they give for using the applications. Most adults, like teens, are using online social networks to connect with people they already know.

When users do use social networks for professional and personal reasons, they will often maintain multiple profiles, generally on different sites.

Most, but not all adult social network users are privacy conscious; 60% of adult social network users restrict access to their profiles so that only their friends can see it, and 58% of adult social network users restrict access to certain content within their profile.

For the full report please visit:
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/272/report_display.asp

About the Pew Internet & American Life Project: The Pew Internet Project is an initiative of the Pew Research Center, a nonprofit "fact tank"
that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. Pew Internet explores the impact of the internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political life. Support for the project is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The project's Web site:
http://www.pewinternet.org

New Pew Internet Report: The Future of the Internet III

2008-12-15T14:19:00.000-05:00

A survey of internet leaders, activists and analysts shows they expect major tech advances as the phone becomes a primary device for online access, voice-recognition improves, artificial and virtual reality become more embedded in everyday life, and the architecture of the internet itself improves.

They disagree about whether this will lead to more social tolerance, more forgiving human relations, or better home lives.

Here are the key findings in a new report based on the survey of experts by the Pew Internet & American Life Project that asked respondents to assess predictions about technology and its roles in the year 2020:

* The mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the internet for most people in the world in 2020.
* The transparency of people and organizations will increase, but that will not necessarily yield more personal integrity, social tolerance, or forgiveness.
* Voice recognition and touch user-interfaces with the internet will be more prevalent and accepted by 2020.
* Those working to enforce intellectual property law and copyright protection will remain in a continuing "arms race," with the "crackers" who will find ways to copy and share content without payment.
* The divisions between personal time and work time and between physical and virtual reality will be further erased for everyone who is connected, and the results will be mixed in their impact on basic social relations.
* "Next-generation" engineering of the network to improve the current internet architecture is more likely than an effort to rebuild the architecture from scratch.

For the full report please visit:
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/270/report_display.asp

The Changing Face of the Press Release

2008-11-01T14:59:00.002-04:00

According to the Executive Summary of a study conducted by Fellows of the Society for New Communications Research and made possible by Vocus, the advent of new online communication channels, the goals, target audiences, and overall scope of press releases have transformed press releases themselves into a new communication tool used by public relations and marketing professionals alike.

The respondents' top goals for online press releases indicated that the traditional goals of increasing an organization's visibility and credibility and announcing news are now almost equally as important as new goals that include reaching customers directly, creating online content, and search engine optimization (SEO).

While PR professionals placed more importance on traditional goals such as announcing news and enhancing thought leadership, marketing professionals reported SEO and reaching consumers as important goals for their online press releases. Small business owners were concerned with using the release as a sales tool and reaching customers directly.

Both traditional media and new media emerged as the top two most important audiences respondents hoped to reach with their online press releases. Bloggers and new media followed traditional media in importance, but were a very close second, separated by only 0.28 points on a 1-5 scale.

In terms of target audiences for online press releases, significant differences emerged between marketing and public relations professionals. Although both marketing and public relations professionals reported more than average importance for reaching traditional media, consumers, and webmasters that will repurpose the release, PR professionals were consistently more interested than marketing professionals in reaching traditional media.

Marketing professionals were consistently more interested than PR practitioners in reaching new media or consumers directly. For example:

PR professionals rated the importance of reaching traditional media an average 4.53 on a 1-5 scale, which is significantly higher than marketing professionals' rating of 3.82
Similarly, marketing professionals rated the importance of reaching webmasters with an average 3.49 on a 1-5 scale, which is significantly higher than PR practitioners' rating of only 2.83
These results indicate that online press releases have been adopted as a communications tool by the marketing profession, says the report, but are being used very differently than they have traditionally been used by public relations professionals.

The most frequently mentioned criterion for evaluating the success of online press releases was:

The number of times the release has been republished on websites (79.6 percent)
The number of times the release has been viewed online (76.8 percent)
An article based on the release (75.4 percent)
Media interview requests as a result of the release (74.2 percent)

Interestingly, although marketing and public relations professionals seem to use online press releases differently, there were no statistically significant differences between the two in terms of the criteria they use for evaluating success. In fact, the evaluation criteria were homogenous across different size organizations and industry sectors as well. The only statistically significant difference identified young communication practitioners (under 30 years of age) as more interested than the other age groups in obtaining coverage on blogs and social media sites.

Open-ended responses to a different survey question indicate that higher level indicators such as "eyeballs" and "dollar value" are desired evaluation criteria of online press releases, but communication professionals do not know how to measure them, concludes the study.

Very few respondents indicated using social media release formats (26.3 percent) and even fewer reported adding video (12.8 percent) or audio (9 percent) enhancements. Of all multimedia elements, photos were the most popular, used in online press releases by 49.5 percent of respondents. Even more puzzling is that less than half of respondents (48.8 percent) link to their own press releases after they have been posted online.

The most frequently mentioned challenges of online press releases, grouped into categories according to the main themes, were:

Cutting through the clutter. This challenge speaks to the difficulty of getting a press release noticed in an information-rich environment.
Targeting and distribution. Respondents often find it difficult to identify and target the specific audience for their press releases.
Measurement. Accurate evaluation of online press release results to include not only message distribution and exposure, but also evidence of audience receipt and behavior change was another perceived challenge.

Please visit here to retrieve the complete PDF Whitepaper release.

Survey Reveals Surging U.S. Mobile Adoption and How Mobile Users are Spending Their Time

2008-11-01T14:48:00.002-04:00

Prosumers and Young Professionals Lead the Way as Power Mobile Users and Early Adopters of Advanced Content and Social Networking Services

ACTON, Mass. – Azuki Systems, Inc., an innovator in the interactive mobile media technology market, today announced the results of its first annual U.S. mobile phone user survey (download report) to profile trends and emerging behavior. Over 54% of those surveyed said their mobile phone usage had increased by more than 25% over the last two years, and one in five respondents said it had increased by more than 50%. A significant catalyst behind this growth is smart phone adoption, with 62% of respondents indicating they either own or will own such a device in the next 12 months.

Despite increased adoption, almost 80% of those surveyed said they wished it were easier to access information from the Internet on their mobile phones, and an equal percentage stated they wished it were easier to access rich media on their mobile phones. The majority of those surveyed pointed to a number of current obstacles to enjoying rich media on mobile. For example, 69% felt that the long time to download and/or play media ranked among their top three barriers, and 66% felt that difficulties finding and navigating to relevant content was a top three inhibitor. A number of shortcomings were also identified for iPhone and BlackBerry users.
“Mobile device technology, as well as mobile content and application development, is on the rise.

As a result, the mobile experience is getting better with access to more content, and mobile adoption is growing at a rapid speed,” said Jim Ricotta, CEO of Azuki Systems. “However, as the survey results indicated, there is still work to be done in order to deliver truly usable mobile content to today’s mobile devices. Mobile requires a different consumption and interaction model where, unlike the desktop, it is less about browsing and more about glancing to ‘snack’ on media.”

Mobile Users – Where Does the Time Go? Regardless of which mobile device they are using, U.S. mobile phone users are spending a significant amount of time on their phones. This highlights the fact that core consumer services have expanded beyond voice to include messaging and data services, which also serve as a launch pad for broader Web and more advanced content services. Survey findings showed:

Gabfest: 33% talk on their mobile phones more than 10 hours per week. The youngest generation is spending even more time, with 34% of those 17 and younger talking for more than 15 hours/week.
OMG: Of the 79% who send text messages from their phones, 29% do so for more than two hours/week. Again, the younger generations prove to be power users, with 37% of those less than the age of 22 texting for more than two hours/week. With only a gradual drop-off in text messaging for 23 to 44 year-olds, a generational gap is evident with a sharp decline to almost no usage for those approaching age 60 and older.
Hooked on e-mail: 50% access their e-mails from their mobile phones, with nearly 30% of those between the ages of 35 and 44 doing so for more than two hours per week.
Going surfing: 52% access the Web via their mobile phones, and 35 to 44 year-olds are leveraging this technology the most, with 60% spending time each week surfing the Web. Perhaps fueling a significant portion of this growth was iPhone adoption, which according to the survey results appeared strongest among 23 to 44 year-olds. In addition, there was clear evidence of 23 to 34 year-olds trading up their feature phones for smart phones as they move into the corporate world.
TV time:25% access video on their mobile phones, with 88% of this group spending less than two hours/week, which may indicate a growing appetite for rich media with shorter duration viewing patterns.

Socialization & Monetization Survey results show that the social networking craze is starting to heat up on the third screen as well. Twenty-five percent of mobile users are accessing social networking sites from their mobile devices with one in seven respondents between the ages of 23 to 34 doing so for more than two hours/week. Sixty-four percent of those surveyed reported that they would share content via their mobile phone with their contacts from social networking sites if it were easier to do so.

The survey results also proved good news for mobile advertisers. Almost 70% of mobile users surveyed would prefer mobile ads in exchange for free access to mobile content. Additionally, if their mobile phones had location tracking capabilities that would present them with promotions for local businesses, more than 65% would take advantage of this opportunity.

The survey was conducted with over 275 U.S. mobile consumers of varying demographic backgrounds.

About Azuki Systems Azuki Systems provides the industry’s first comprehensive interactive mobile media services platform. Azuki enables content publishers and mobile operators to create, differentiate and monetize rich media services for mobile audiences. The Azuki platform provides everything needed to establish new revenue streams through the delivery of highly interactive and personalized mobile-content and social-networking services. Based in Acton, Mass., Azuki is led by an executive team that has built some of the communications industry’s most successful companies, including ArrowPoint, SightPath, Arris Networks, Acopia Networks and DataPower. For additional information, please visit http://www.azukisystems.com or call +1-978-844-5100.

New Pew Internet survey on technology and families

2008-10-20T09:58:00.001-04:00

The internet and cell phones have become central components of modern family life. Among all household types, the traditional nuclear family has the highest rate of technology usage and ownership.

A national survey has found that households with a married couple and minor children are more likely than other household types -- such as single adults, homes with unrelated adults, or couples without children -- to have cell phones and use the internet.

The survey shows that these high rates of technology ownership affect family life. In particular, cell phones allow family members to stay more regularly in touch even when they are not physically together.

Moreover, many members of married-with-children households view material online together.

For the full report please visit:
http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/266/report_display.asp

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project

Consumers Want to Interact With Companies on Social Media

2008-10-09T09:02:00.002-04:00

According to the findings of the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study, almost 60% of Americans interact with companies on a social media Web site, and one in four interact more than once per week. The survey finds that 93% of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media, while 85% believe a company should not only be present, but should also interact with its consumers via social media.

56% of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with, and better served by, companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.

Mike Hollywood, director of new media for Cone, observes that "... social media... it isn't an intrusion into their lives, but rather a welcome channel for discussion."

When Americans were asked about specific types of interactions:
43% say that companies should use social networks to solve my problems
41% want companies to solicit feedback on their products and services
37% feel that companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand
33% of men and 17% of women interact frequently (one or more times per week) with companies via social media

"The ease and efficiency of online conversation is likely a draw for men who historically do not seek out the same level of interaction with companies as women," says Hollywood.

33% of younger, hard-to-reach consumers (ages 18-34), believe companies should actively market to them via social networks, and the same is true of the wealthiest households (household income of $75,000+). Two-thirds of the wealthiest households and the largest households (3 or more members) feel stronger connections to brands they interact with online.

And eMarketer reports that Generation Y (those born after 1979) online buyers are more immersed in online and mobile activities than any other generation, according to 2008 research from shopping comparison site PriceGrabber. Some 85% of Gen Y respondents said they participated in social networking, and 57% reported involvement with blogs.

from an August 2008 survey of Web merchants, sponsored by Internet Retailer, found that, of the 39.3% of retail respondents that use social networks, 32% have a page on Facebook, 27% on MySpace and 26% on YouTube.

Social Networking Sites on Which US Online Retailers Currently Maintain a Page
Site % of Respondents
Facebook 32%
MySpace 27
YouTube 26
Flickr 5
Other 10

Source: Internet Retailer, September 2008

Hollywood concludes that "All of this is great news for marketers... men and younger consumers are traditionally the most challenging to reach... (and) they are saying... market to us and interact with us online... "

For more information about this study, please visit Cone Research here.

Source: Research Brief: Consumers Want to Interact With Companies on Social Media

News Junkies Tune In All Media

2008-09-16T15:19:00.002-04:00

According to the 2008 biennial news consumption survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, audiences for most traditional news sources have steadily declined, as the number of people getting news online has surged. However, today it is not a choice between traditional sources and the Internet for the core elements of today's news audiences, notes the report, since a sizable minority of Americans find themselves at the intersection of these two long-standing trends in news consumption.

The study finds four distinct segments in today's news audience:

Integrators, who comprise 23% of the public
Net-Newsers (13%)
Traditionalists, the oldest (median age: 52) and largest news segment (46% of the public)
Disengaged (14%) who stand out for their low levels of interest in the news and news consumption

Integrators represent 23% of the public, and like web-oriented news consumers, Integrators are affluent and highly educated. However, they are older, on average, than those who consider the internet their main source of news. Overall, Integrators spend more time with the news on a typical day than do those who rely more on either traditional or internet sources.

Integrators also are heavier consumers of national news -- especially news about politics and Washington -- and are avid sports news consumers. Television is their main news source, but more than a third cite the internet as their primary source of news during the day. This reflects the fact that 45% of Integrators log on to the internet from work.

Nearly half of Integrators (46%) listen to news on the radio during a typical day. While the internet is the main news source for Integrators during the course of the day, about as many in this segment rely on radio news as TV news during the day (32% radio vs. 36% TV news).

Net-Newsers are the youngest of the news user segments (median age: 35). They are affluent and even better educated than the News Integrators:

More than eight-in-ten have at least attended college
They rely primarily on the internet for news,
They are leading the way in using new web features and other technologies
Nearly twice as many regularly watch news clips on the internet as regularly watch nightly network news broadcasts (30% vs. 18%)
Fewer than half (47%) watch television news on a typical day.
Twice as many read an online newspaper than a printed newspaper on a typical day (17% vs. 8%), while 10% read both.
They are at least as likely as Integrators and Traditionalists to read magazines such as The New Yorker and The Atlantic, and somewhat more likely to get news from the BBC.
More than four-in-ten Net-Newsers (43%) regularly watch cable news, far more than the proportion that regularly watches network or local news.

Traditionalists remain the largest segment of the overall news audience. Compared with the Integrators and Net-Newsers, Traditionalists are downscale economically:

43% are not employed
60% have no more than a high school education

Television dominates as the favored news source among Traditionalists. And at each time of the day -- whether morning, daytime, dinner hour, or late at night -- overwhelming majorities who get news at these times cite television as their main source. Most Traditionalists say that seeing pictures and video, rather than reading or hearing the facts, gives them the best understanding of events.

The Disengaged are very much bystanders when it comes to news consumption. They are less educated on average than even the Traditionalists and exhibit extremely low interest in, and knowledge of, current events:

Only 55% of the Disengaged get any news on a typical day
20% know that the Democrats have a majority in the House of Representatives

Other Key Findings in the Trends in News Consumption

About a third of those younger than 25 (34%) say they get no news on a typical day, up from 25% in 1998
A slim majority of Americans (51%) now say they check in on the news from time to time during the day. This marks the first time that most Americans consider themselves "news grazers"
Just 10% of those with social networking profiles say they regularly get news from these sites
Currently 51% of regular CNN viewers are Democrats, up from 45% two years ago
Nearly four-in-ten regular Fox News viewers are Republicans (39%), about the same as in 2006
15% of Americans say they have a smart phone, such as an iPhone or a Blackberry. More than a third of smart phone owners (37%) say they get news from these devices
Believability ratings for major online news outlets, including news aggregators such as Google News and AOL News, are lower than for major print, cable and broadcast outlets

Since the1990s, the proportion of Americans saying they read a newspaper on a typical day has declined by about 40%; the proportion that regularly watches nightly network news has fallen by half. Most of the loss in readership since 2006 has come among those who read the print newspaper. These trends have been more stable in recent years, but the percentage saying they read a newspaper yesterday has fallen from 40% to 34% in the last two years alone.

For more complete information, including charts and tables, please visit PewResearch here, or the Pew website here.

Source: Research Brief for Thursday, September 11, 2008: http://blogs.mediapost.com/research_brief/?p=1791

Practical Content Necessary For Mobile Phone User Satisfaction

2008-09-16T15:17:00.001-04:00

A recent study by the AKQA's Research & Insights department in conjunction with dotMobi, finds that there is a strong consumer desire for practical mobile content on phones. Nearly 90 percent of consumer respondents stated that they would be more likely to choose an airline with mobile check-in facilities over one that did not offer them. And, rather than basic entertainment and ringtones, consumers stated that their most-wanted mobile activities included phone-optimized banking and travel planning.

In demanding access to mobile banking and mobile commerce abilities for basic utilities such as groceries, plane tickets and books, consumers said they trust the mobile Web to keep their personal information secure, as opposed to the PC-based Internet, where security remains of utmost importance.

Other results from the mobile Internet usage and attitudes study include:

90 percent of the 2,000 respondents in the online panel are interested in learning more about the mobile Web
Fifty percent of respondents were unaware that there are mobile sites optimized for use on mobile phone
86 percent of participants said they were interested in knowing which sites are easily accessible on a mobile phone
Nearly 50 percent of respondents said that a poor experience on their initial use of the mobile Web made them "reluctant to access" the site on their mobile phones again
Poor site display and layout remain top reasons for mobile Web dissatisfaction among consumers
Almost two-thirds of participants stated that they would consider purchasing theater tickets, take-out food and travel tickets via a mobile phone
63 percent of survey respondents said they would be more likely to give up their money than their mobile "smart phone" if they were mugged

Daniel Rosen, managing director of AKQA Mobile, concluded "The enormous popularity of mobile devices has had a profound effect on the lifestyle of the consumer... (but) consumers were (easily) turned off by earlier, ill-conceived mobile campaigns... with mobile devices more ubiquitous... there is a real opportunity for brands to deliver ground-breaking... campaigns... developed specifically for mobile applications."

The survey was conducted May 19-28, 2008 with a Research Now online panel of 2,019 consumers, half from the US and half from the UK. Participants were representative of online populations in both countries.

For more information about the study and dotMobi, please visit here.

Source: Research Brief for Monday, July 7, 2008: http://blogs.mediapost.com/research_brief/?p=1745

Coffee and the Web for C-Level Execs in the Morning

2008-09-16T15:12:00.002-04:00

According to an online study from Forbes.com and Gartner, the Internet continues to be the most influential and important source of business information for C-Level executives around the world, at 67%. This number has increased 37% since 2004. At the same time, C-Level executives, citing newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal as their main source of business information, has decreased 36% since 2004

Before starting the work day, says the report, C-Level executives prefer to access the Web rather than read the newspaper. The number of C-Level executives who prefer the Internet first thing in the morning has increased 22% since 2004, while those who prefer to read the newspaper first thing in the morning has declined 11% over the same time period.

Additionally, the study finds:

C-Level executives consume media on the Web more than any other medium (TV, Radio, Magazines, Newspapers), at 41%
More than two in five C-Level executives believe the Web contains the most informative advertising
Senior executives are increasingly utilizing the Web to find information and shop
Senior executives are researching their competitors and industry trends online on a daily basis

Jim Spanfeller, CEO and President of Forbes.com. "This study further underscores our belief that the highly desirable C-Level executive audience will continue to increase its use of the Internet as a primary source of business information... "

Source: Research Brief for Monday, June 30, 008: http://blogs.mediapost.com/research_brief/?p=1741

Warrillow finds 39% of small-business owners use text messaging

2008-08-01T14:48:00.000-04:00

Toronto—A new report from Warrillow & Co. found that 39% of small-business owners use text messaging for business.

The behavior is not limited to younger business owners. While 90% of small-business owners age 27 or younger report using text messaging, 59% of small-business owners between the ages of 28 and 44 also text, and 34% of owners between the ages of 44 and 62 use text messaging. Only 10% of small-business owners 62 and older text.

The report was based on an online survey of more than 2,000 small-business owners, conducted in March.

Warrillow offers the following advice for businesses using text messaging for marketing: Keep the message to 20 words or fewer; provide opt-in; and integrate texting with other marketing channels.

—Kate Maddox, BtoB Magazine

Alcohol Purchases in Bars, Restaurants Hurt by Economic Downturn

2008-07-15T13:50:00.000-04:00

Nearly 44% of bar managers, bar owners and bartenders report a decrease in consumer traffic at their establishments, according to a May 2008 study from The Nielsen Company and Bevinco.
Among the 500 bar operators surveyed, 25% note a decrease in the number of on-premise drinks ordered, and 22% say customers are ordering less-expensive drinks.

The bars were located in US nightclubs, hotels, casual restaurants and fine-dining restaurants. Among these types of establishments, the casual dining sector appears hardest hit, with 46% of respondents reporting a decline.

Consumers Going out Less
Consumers also report that they are cutting back. According to a May 2008 Nielsen consumer survey of 3,500 consumers, two-thirds (66%) of fine-dining patrons say they are going out less often than a year ago.

Their sentiments are echoed by 65% of those who visit nightclubs, 55% of bar patrons, 59% of casino and resort patrons and 52% of casual diners.

Regional Impact
Establishments on the East Coast and West Coast report the largest declines in on-premise alcohol consumption, with bar owners and operators in California (55%) and Florida (52%) citing significant decreases in traffic.

In addition, 43% of Florida operators say they’ve experienced a decrease in the number of drinks ordered. Only one-third of establishments in Florida and California claim there has been no overall impact.

In Texas, slightly more than half of operators report a decrease in consumer traffic, while nearly one-third say patrons are ordering less expensive drinks.

Beer Fares Best, Wine Sales Lag
Beer sales are affected the least by the economic downturn, with wine sales showing the most impact, according to Nielsen and Bevinco. Nearly half of total respondents rate beer as having the “best” sales trend of the three categories, followed by spirits at 40%. Only 11% cited wine as having the best sales trend of the three.

Operators also report the following minor price-related changes in consumer behavior:
14% report that customers are ordering more well or house drinks.
13% report greater sales of beer on draft rather than in bottles.
9% say wine drinkers are increasingly opting for house varieties.

“Wine is more likely to be consumed in dining establishments, which have been more heavily impacted by the economy than bars or nightclubs,” said Danny Brager, vice-president, Client Service, Beverage Alcohol, The Nielsen Company. “At the same time, beer and spirit companies vigorously market their product to bartenders, likely resulting in greater ’share of mind’ compared to wine among servers and bartenders.”

Source: The Nielsen Company and Bevinco

More People Using Internet in New Ways and Embracing Web 2.0

2008-07-15T13:44:00.002-04:00

More People Using Internet in New Ways and Embracing Web 2.0

Nearly a quarter of the world’s population (some 1.4 billion people) - will use the internet on a regular basis in 2008 - and that number is expected to surpass 1.9 billion, or 30% of the world’s population, in 2012, according to IDC’s Digital Marketplace Model and Forecast.
“The internet will have added its second billion users over a span of about eight years, a testament to both its universal appeal and its availability,” said John Gantz, chief research officer at IDC.

While the PC is the dominant means of gaining access to the internet, IDC expects the number of mobile devices accessing the internet will surpass the number of online PCs by 2012:
Users will access the internet through more than 1.5 billion devices worldwide in 2008, including PCs, mobile phones, and online videogame consoles.

By 2012, the number of devices accessing the internet will double to more than 3 billion, half of which will be mobile devices.

Though Web 1.0 activities like searching, shopping, and sending email will remain popular, Web 2.0 activities, such as watching user-generated videos, posting blogs, and participating in social networks, are quickly capturing the attention and time online of more and more internet users, IDC said.

Among other highlights of IDC’s Digital Marketplace Model and Forecast:
China passed the United States in 2007 to become the country with the largest number of internet users. China’s online population is forecast to grow from 275 million users in 2008 to 375 million users in 2012.

Nearly half of all internet users will make online purchases in 2008. By 2012, there will be more than 1 billion online buyers worldwide making business to consumer (B2C) transactions worth $1.2 trillion. Business to business (B2B) eCommerce will be ten times larger, totaling $12.4 trillion worldwide in 2012.

Worldwide spending on internet advertising will total $65.2 billion in 2008, which is nearly 10% of all ad spending across all media. This share is expected to reach 13.6% by 2011 as internet ad spending grows to $106.6 billion worldwide.

Roughly 40% of all internet users worldwide currently have mobile internet access. The number of mobile internet users will reach 546 million in 2008, nearly twice as many as in 2006, and is forecast to surpass 1.5 billion worldwide in 2012.

The most popular online activities today are searching the web, finding information for personal use, using internet email, accessing news and sports information, and accessing financial or credit information.

In addition to these activities, more than 50% of online users worldwide are using instant messaging and playing online games.

The fastest-growing online activities include accessing business applications, creating blogs, online gambling, accessing work-related email, and participating in online communities.

Among mobile internet users, the most popular online activities are searching the web, accessing news and sports information, downloading music, videos, and ringtones, using instant messaging, and using internet email. By 2012, downloading music, videos, and ringtones will become the number one activity among mobile internet users worldwide.

About the study: IDC’s Digital Marketplace Model and Forecast provides worldwide and regional data for a wide range of internet categories and activities. Traditional Web 1.0 categories include internet users, devices using the internet, internet buyers, and B2C and B2B eCommerce. Web 2.0 categories look more closely at what internet users are doing online, with breakouts by activity and gender. The database also includes a detailed look at online advertising spending worldwide. Forecast data for the 2008-2012 period is supplemented by historical data from 2006 and 2007. The Web 1.0 categories include information on more than 40 countries.

Source: IDC

Practical Content Necessary For Mobile Phone User Satisfaction

2008-07-07T21:10:00.001-04:00

Practical Content Necessary For Mobile Phone User Satisfaction

A recent study by the AKQA's Research & Insights department in conjunction with dotMobi, finds that there is a strong consumer desire for practical mobile content on phones. Nearly 90 percent of consumer respondents stated that they would be more likely to choose an airline with mobile check-in facilities over one that did not offer them. And, rather than basic entertainment and ringtones, consumers stated that their most-wanted mobile activities included phone-optimized banking and travel planning.

In demanding access to mobile banking and mobile commerce abilities for basic utilities such as groceries, plane tickets and books, consumers said they trust the mobile Web to keep their personal information secure, as opposed to the PC-based Internet, where security remains of utmost importance.

Other results from the mobile Internet usage and attitudes study include:

90 percent of the 2,000 respondents in the online panel are interested in learning more about the mobile Web
Fifty percent of respondents were unaware that there are mobile sites optimized for use on mobile phone
86 percent of participants said they were interested in knowing which sites are easily accessible on a mobile phone
Nearly 50 percent of respondents said that a poor experience on their initial use of the mobile Web made them "reluctant to access" the site on their mobile phones again
Poor site display and layout remain top reasons for mobile Web dissatisfaction among consumers Almost two-thirds of participants stated that they would consider purchasing theater tickets, take-out food and travel tickets via a mobile phone
63 percent of survey respondents said they would be more likely to give up their money than their mobile "smart phone" if they were mugged

For more information about the study and dotMobi, please visit here.

Source: Research Brief for Monday, July 7, 2008:http://blogs.mediapost.com/research_brief/?p=1745

Mobile Phone, Meet Credit Card

2008-03-27T17:50:00.002-04:00

The Center for Media Research reported on a study from Harris Interactive today. The study found that 25% of mobile phone users with mobile Internet use their devices to buy goods and services online with a credit card. What more, the study finds nearly 20% report they would like to someday use mobile phones as a "mobile wallet," where charges would be billed directly to their mobile accounts."

Check out the full reported findings below:

Buying and Banking On-The-Go
A new Harris Interactive study shows that one in four cellular phone users with mobile internet access now use their devices to buy goods and services online with a credit card, and nearly one in five saying they would like to someday use cell phones as a "mobile wallet," where charges would be billed directly to their mobile accounts. In addition, ten percent of the survey participants said they would consider wire transfers and stock trading via their mobile phones.

The study finds that mobile phone users are increasingly comfortable making banking and purchase transactions while on-the-go, a virtual taboo until now. 16 percent of mobile phone subscribers already use mobile banking services, with 60 percent of these people using the services at least once a week. Many others presently not banking and buying on-the-go expressed interest in mobile banking, with 35 percent open to checking bank account balances and transferring funds via their mobile devices. A third of those surveyed also said they would like to receive text message alerts from their financial institutions.

25% of Smartphone or iPhone users are more likely to "occasionally" use their device to make purchases, compared with 17% of mobile or cellular phone users. 77% of mobile users have "never" made a purchase with their device, compared with 65% of those with smartphones or iPhones.

Some 16% of mobile phone subscribers already use mobile banking services, and 60% of them use the services at least once a week, the study found. Consumers not currently banking or buying on-the-go expressed interest in having such applications on their mobile phones.

Joseph Porus, vice-president, Harris Interactive, said "Today's mobile devices are the springboard for... services, with huge pent-up demand for mobile commerce capabilities... If security concerns can be quelled, the sky's the limit with consumer acceptance of mobile banking and purchase transactions..."

Anxiety about sharing personal data is the biggest barrier to consumer acceptance of mobile banking and commerce, with two-thirds (66%) of respondents saying so.

17% are "extremely concerned" about the current cost of non-commercial transactions (e.g., sending an SMS, MMS, viewing a web page).

Porus concludes that "... concerns associated with using mobile devices for financial transactions... (is) similar to the evolution of the internet as a viable tool for banking and buying... We expect mobile technology to... become even more secure... (which) should ease people's fears and make mobile commerce appealing in the future."

For more information, please visit MarketingCharts here, or HarrisInteractive here.

Who's Watching User-Generated Video?

2008-02-08T18:45:00.000-05:00

More than 22 billion user-generated videos were viewed in 2007. Who is watching this stuff? Accustream's latest report tells all...

ACCUSTREAM RESEARCH: UGV AT 22 BILLION VIEWS IN '07; SEMI-PRO, BRAND PARTNER CONTENT KEY GROWTH DRIVERS

Salinas, CA, User Generated Video (UGV) scored 22 billion views in 2007, up 70% over 2006, according to a published market report from AccuStream iMedia Research.

The report, UGV 2005 - 2008: Mania Meets Mainstream, contains extensive UGV library usage trends by month, year, content category, site and brand.

The report's detailed analytics features AOLUncut, Broadcaster.com, Crackle.com, Ebaumsworld, LiveDigital, Metacafe, MySpace TV, Revver.com, Vsocial.com, VEOH.com, Yahoo Video and YouTube, among others.

The report scrutinizes UGV library management, and how it is crucial to maintaining brand entertainment value. Almost 20% of total views generated in 2007 were delivered by videos published in 2006 or before.

"With few exceptions, UGV sites large and small deftly rotated previously released videos into featured areas, introducing them to new audiences, re-introducing them to buffs, helping sustain forward view momentum while curating the latest library videos," explained Paul A. Palumbo, research director at AccuStream.

Yahoo Video was one of the exceptions, opting to focus almost exclusively on videos published in 2007.

Analysis of UGV sites highlights similarities and differences in expanding or evolving content category strategies, and pinpoints numerous publishing modifications taking place throughout the year. Comedy, funny, music, entertainment and weird are popular categories on UGV sites.
There is a growing presence, however, of both semi-professional and professional content inside UGV environments. The report concludes YouTube partner channels accounted for 10.6% of cumulative site views generated over the past year.

Semi professional content grabbed a 47.5% total share on MySpace TV, and the Screen Bites category on Crackle.com generated a 17.5% cumulative share of total views.

More refined analysis reveals average views per video of 10,695 in 2007. Crackle.com led the UGV group, averaging 216,596 per video, accelerated by its re-organization in 2007, emphasizing category expansion and more professional content.

Casting out to the entire market segment, there were a total of 1.68 million non exclusive videos added to UGV libraries in 2007 (net of removed, retired videos) that generated views, became part of library rotation and were accessible to users, averaging 9,538 views each.

AccuStream iMedia Research publishes extensive research on Internet streaming media, audio and video advertising, subscription media, CDN, UGV and download media.

Social Networkers Are Also Heavy Technology Users

2007-11-14T10:05:00.000-05:00

Web 2.0 and Social Media is all the rage but what does the Social Networker really look like? And how does visiting a social network really impact technology ownership, mobile phone features, digital media consumption, and online/mobile behavior both here in the US and around the globe?

Ipsos Insight’s newest report, PROFILE: Social Networker, gets to the heart of the matter and identifies key differences in behavior and digital media consumption between those who visit social networks and those who don’t. In addition, there are also notable differences between the US Social Networker and the International Social Networker.

“This is very important information for media, entertainment, and technology companies to understand” says Brian Cruikshank, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Ipsos Insight’s Technology and Communications practice. “Social Networkers are significantly more likely to own technology, consume more digital entertainment, and own more mobile devices.”

Technology Ownership
The US Social Networker owns significantly more technology than their International counterparts with the exception of MP3 players and Mobile GPS. However both of them own more technology than those who have never visited a social networking site.

Digital Entertainment
By a significant margin, Social Networkers both here in the US and internationally are more likely to engage in online music, video, and gaming activities. Over half of all US Social Networkers have watched TV shows or video streams online. In addition, US Social Networkers are significantly more likely to download TV programs, burn/copy a movie or TV show, and download a feature length film.

Social Networking Goes Mobile
In terms of mobile behavior, over half of all US Social Networkers have used their mobile device to send/receive SMS text and e-mails, browse the internet for news and info, and receive digital images. While the International Social Networker exhibits the same behavior, their mobile devices are more feature rich. For example, the International Social Networker is significantly more likely to have an MP3 on their mobile device vs. those in the US.

It is clear that Web 2.0 is here to stay. Social networking sites are beginning to deliver more and more content, broadband continues to grow, and more feature-rich mobile devices continue to be introduced into the US market. “We can look to the International Social Networker for a preview of where the US market will go and it’s going to be all about mobile social networking” concludes Cruikshank.

Methodology:
The Social Networking Profile was created from The Face of the Web report. Respondents were asked if they ever visited a social networking website (MySpace, Friendster, Cyworld, Mixi). Those who answered “yes” are classified as social networkers and are compared against those who answered “no.”

The US Social Networker is based on a weighted sample of 237 and those who answered “no” is based on a weighted sample of 559.

The International Social Networker is based on a weighted sample of 761 and those who answered “no” is based on a weighted sample of 2,084. This sample is an aggregate of 11 countries: Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea and the UK.
Data for The Face of the Web: 2006 were collected in November and December 2006.

The sample includes:
2006 Prevalence (general population) Information:
Consisted of 6,553 interviews of the general adult population in 12 markets around the world.
2006 Internet User Information:
Consisted of 3,798 interviews (unweighted) with recent Internet Users who have used the Internet in the past 30 days in 12 markets around the world.
Internet Users fell out of the general population sample.

Survey Reveals Disconnect in Social Media Marketing Programs

2007-11-02T10:22:00.000-04:00

Survey Reveals Disconnect in Social Media Marketing Programs

Research highlights trend toward social marketing tools,though budget allocation does not correlate with objectives

SAN MATEO, Calif., – October 30, 2007 – Coremetrics, the leading provider of digital marketing optimization solutions, today announced the results of its Second Annual ‘Face of the New Marketer’ survey. This poll of marketing professionals, drawn from the country’s top eCommerce and online media/content companies, found that social media marketing is quickly gaining popularity as a way to gain competitive edge. However, the survey also revealed that time and budget allocations are not yet reflective of this trend.

The study found that the use of Web 2.0 or social media marketing tools, defined as user generated content (including reviews), RSS feeds, podcasts and wikis are becoming more important parts of a complete online marketing program. While most marketers recognize this trend, and are eager to participate, very few have budgets that are in line with that objective.
The findings included the following:

A clear disconnect between the desirability of social marketing and the budget allocated to it:

78% of respondents see social media marketing as a way to gain competitive edge, but only 7.75% of total online marketing spend is devoted to it
This compares with an average of 33% of spend going to online advertising and 28% to online promotion design and implementation

However, progress is being made in the field:
58% of respondents have implemented user-generated content or reviews in the past year
31% of respondents have implemented a blog in the past year
25% of respondents have implemented an RSS feed in the past year

The findings showed that most marketers have concrete plans to implement a social media marketing program at some point, even if not within the next twelve months. Of those marketers, the majority recognize the need to implement or improve their social marketing programs, but cite a lack of tools and expertise as their biggest challenges.

50% of respondents plan to implement user-generated content or reviews
22% of respondents plan to implement a blog
20% intend to implement social networks, and another 20% plan to implement an RSS feed

It is not just social marketing activity objectives that are misaligned with time and budget allocation:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was ranked as the #1 priority over nine other choices, including email campaigns and online analytics, but ranked only fourth in terms of both time and budget allocation
Email campaigns continue to demand most of a marketer’s time (22% on average), while the biggest portion of budgets (33% on average) go to online advertising. This is despite the fact that SEO was consistently ranked as the #1 priority
Online promotion design and implementation was ranked as relatively unimportant, (#5 of 9) but comes in third in terms of both time and budget allocation, ahead of SEO, online campaign analytics and email marketing programs, among others

“This study echoes many of the qualitative findings that we hear from our customers on a day to day basis—marketers are aware of the impact that social media marketing can have on their overall program, but view it as uncharted territory, not worthy of their budget,” said John Squire, SVP product strategy, GM marketing services at Coremetrics. “As more and more marketing tools become available, we’ll continue to see a greater divide between perceived importance and resource allocation. The ability to accurately monitor the ROI achieved by new marketing tools will help marketers take that first step toward incorporating new digital marketing programs, as well as rethink the effectiveness of current campaigns.”

The survey of 116 senior marketing professionals was conducted during the third quarter of 2007. Coremetrics asked marketers which social marketing tools and activities they were using or intended to use, and how much of their time and budget is spent on social media as opposed to traditional marketing activities.

For a copy of the Second Annual ‘Face of the New Marketer Survey’ research results, please email: coremetrics@lewispr.com.

About CoremetricsCoremetrics is the leading provider of digital marketing optimization solutions. Its solutions generate high return on online marketing investment and continue to pay daily dividends in improved marketing performance. Over 1,000 online business sites, transacting over $15 billion this year, are now using Coremetrics’ Software as a Service (SaaS) solution to optimize online marketing efforts. Coremetrics’ solutions encompass advanced online analytics and precision marketing applications, including search engine bid management, email marketing and cross sell applications to acquire customers more cost effectively, increase conversion rates, and increase lifetime customer value. Clients have recognized over $300M in documented ROI and 87% of clients recognize ROI in 12 weeks or less. The company is privately held with funding from Accel Partners, FTVentures, and Highland Capital Partners and is headquartered in San Mateo, California. To learn more about Coremetrics, visit http://www.coremetrics.com or call 877-721-CORE (2673).

Coremetrics has strongly supported online privacy since its inception. To learn more, visit www.coremetrics.com/privacy.

Media Consumption Amongst America's Business Elite

2007-10-08T16:41:00.000-04:00

Great survey from Ipsos Media

America’s business elite – senior executives, CEOs and other C-suite officers from mid- to large-size companies, including many from the Fortune 500 – have a ferocious appetite for quality business information. This is one of the latest findings from Ipsos Media’s BE: USA 2007 - the media survey of the United State’s business elite, acknowledged as the most accurate and well regarded survey conducted amongst the business elite. The survey’s results offer a unique opportunity to peek into the minds of corner office America and understand the way they consume and use media.

America’s business elite is a group of high powered, highly influential decision makers that are very media savvy, acquiring their information from a variety of media sources, including magazines and journals, the internet, and digital and satellite television. Despite the rise of internet use, top business leaders still rely on newspapers and magazines for news and information, using a mix of traditional and new media to get the information they need.

Ipsos Media’s BE: USA 2007 survey shows that America’s 630,000 senior business executives represent over 72,000 companies. This group is responsible for over $1.7 trillion in annual expenditures – a figure greater than the gross domestic product of Italy, or that of Russia and Australia combined – and look after the interests of 144 million employees, approximately two thirds of the US workforce, or half the nation’s adult population.

America’s business elite form a formidable economic force. On average, the individual annual is approximately $408,000. As a group, they garner a total combined annual income of $246 billion with combined personal net worth valued at over $1 trillion. A significantly powerful and affluent group, these individuals are highly educated, motivated, and are eager to acquire new knowledge and quality information. Interestingly, more than half said money was not their key motivation, showing quality of life is a high priority amongst the business elite.

The survey also examines the typical business leader's way of life - showing they travel frequently, spend more nights in hotels, and are heavy users of technology as part of their work life. They also enjoy the perks of their positions in their personal lives, valuing personal luxuries the latest technical gadgets, and a high quality of life with their family and friends. When compared to their European and Asian counterparts, American executives have a greater taste for personal material luxuries and claim a significantly higher net worth.

Media Consumption Patterns
America's business elite have a healthy appetite for information and media consumption, in particular, when the information helps them make better and more informed business decisions.
The internet is becoming a major source of information, with over two thirds spending more time reading business information on the web than in the past. Although executives view the internet as being a particularly good source for business news updates, only 7% are willing to pay for online business news.

Websites also prove to be important for improving a business publication’s overall offering, even more so than websites for TV channels. Over three quarters claim a website is an important part of a business publication’s overall offering, while only a third claim that a website is an important part of a TV channel’s overall offering.

Other top level findings from the survey uncovered that:

Nine in ten have read the last issue of any print media
Seven in ten have watched any Network TV channel in the previous day
Six in ten have watched any Cable TV channel in the previous day
Just over half went online in the previous day
Seven in ten have received a daily email alert or newsletter in the last month
Nearly half have streamed or watched a broadband video from computer in the last month
A third have read a blog in the last month, but only 5% have actually contributed.
Nearly a quarter have downloaded a podcast in the last month.

About the Survey
This is the second year for the Business Elite survey in the United States, a syndicated annual survey conducted by Ipsos Media with the top business leaders in the country. The survey has been conducted in Europe since 1973, and is will be conducted on an annual basis in Europe, the USA, Asia, Japan, Australia, South America, and the Middle East. Future US studies will be released in the fall of each year.

BE:USA 2007 is the only syndicated research product in the United States measuring the media habits, attitudes, and behaviors of the nation’s business elite. As part of the global survey, Ipsos measures business leaders from all around the world, offering the only syndicated media global database of any kind.

Methodology
Data for this study were collected by survey questionnaires dispatched by mail and available online beginning February 8, 2007, with returns accepted until July 27, 2007. A total of 2,390 responses were collected. This sample size can be used project the attitudes, behaviors, and consumption patterns of the survey universe.

Broadly defined, the survey universe comprises heads of function at medium and large sized business and commercial establishments, defined as having 250 or more employees throughout the US. Some smaller companies, with 150-249 employees, were also included, providing that they met minimum turnover criteria, provisionally in excess of $40 million. The survey also includes national and regional head offices of banks with assets of $500 million or more and insurance companies with 150 or more employees.

For more information, please contact:
Hugh WhiteDirectorIpsos MediaNew York, NY
hugh.white@ipsos-na.com

Full article from http://www.ipsos-ideas.com/article.cfm?id=3183

The American business elite are voracious consumers of all media, including business and niche publications, television programming, and Internet content, yet they are highly selective of how they are engaged with different media and the realm of influence per medium.

While some advertisers are interested in helping them with their personal assets—investing or spending on luxury goods—many others revere this group’s influence on business spending. In the IT, financial services, and business world, they are most coveted of all audiences: the illustrious C-suite executives (the chief officers of an organization), senior decision-makers, and the heads of key functional areas that authorize and influence corporate purchasing choices and contracts.

Ipsos Media’s subscription-based U.S. Business Readership Survey (USBRS) of top-tier executives from business, industry, and commercial organizations identifies the clout of this discerning market: the survey’s projected universe of nearly 630,000 C-suite executives are making $1.29 trillion U.S. in business purchase decisions for business services, IT, telecommunications, financial services, insurance services, automotive, and office and industrial equipment, plus 6.3 million business air trips and 11.4 million hotel nights for themselves and their companies.

There are hundreds of media outlets and thousands of advertisers competing for the attention of these power players: few can afford any sort of blanket coverage, and no one can afford to be wasteful. Helping narrow the scope for media buyers, the USBRS database reveals which executives have the greatest sphere of influence, which media the business elite chose first, and which channels are their main information sources.

Tuning in
With the appeal of frequency and timeliness, execs choose network TV as their main source for U.S. news (29% of the projected C-suite universe) and political news (21%), and cable TV for international news (28%) and sports (28%). They turn on the TV first for breaking news (22% watch network news, 35% prefer cable for breaking news), entertainment news (28% tune in to network TV), and sports news (cable TV is the main sports information source for 29%). The Internet dominates for up-to-the minute news from the financial markets, as the web was execs first choice for keeping informed at work (55%).

Media that’s on Target
Customizable, targeted, and niche media found on the Internet are the primary venues for this high-income market to get personal financial information (30% of the projected C-suite universe) and for after-work help (34%). The tailor-made advertising on the Internet is effective too: respondents were most likely to have visited a website after seeing an advertisement on the Internet (46%) and to have purchased a product after seeing an advertisement on the Internet (51%). It’s not all business either: the number one monthly measured publication among business elite surveyed was Golf Digest.

In-Depth Insights
The business elite turn to national newspapers first for deeper understanding of the issues that matter to them, particularly financial and business news (18% of the projected C-suite universe), as they trust newspapers to have the best journalists (28%) and reliable reporting (23%). The Wall Street Journal is their top pick of the dailies (46%).

For keeping abreast of technology, this group of decision-makers prefers business magazines (22%), such as weeklies BusinessWeek (20%), bi-monthly publications such as Fortune (18%) and Forbes (17%), and monthly publications like CFO (15%). Business magazines are also this group’s primary resource for informative advertising (15%), general business help (32%), and information to manage their career development (29%).

The aforementioned results are only a fragment of the findings from the USBRS’s robust database of annual syndicated media research—which includes readership reach, frequency, and value measurements for 52 titles, 10 channels, 85 programs, and 25 sites, questions on business travel and business activities, attitudes and ownership survey information—but they’re a sample of what is provided to media planners to narrow the scope, enabling them to better target the desirable C-suite execs for their business-to-business clients.

CEO SURVEY SAYS: CUSTOMERS COUNT

2007-10-01T15:59:00.000-04:00

CEO SURVEY SAYS: CUSTOMERS COUNT
By Martha Rogers, Ph.D. (Source: 1to1Weekly)

After years spent dealing with issues revolving around governance and regulatory changes, CEOs at public companies are focusing more on a long-overlooked aspect of their business: customers.

That's one of the main conclusions drawn from the third annual "NYSE CEO Report," compiled for NYSE Magazine by Opinion Research Corp. The survey collects data from CEOs of 240 of the New York Stock Exchange's listing companies.

"CEOs now have more of a chance to focus on what we all feel CEOs would, and should, want to focus on," says Jeffrey Resnick, president of Opinion Research Corp., "and that's their relationship with their customers."

For example, CEOs are planning greater investment (both budget- and time-wise) on managing customer relationships than in the past. The importance of sales growth -- driven by customers -- as a performance measure has increased by 11 percent since the prior study. And on the strategic side, brand, reputation, and investments in corporate social responsibility -- all focused on winning customers -- are increasingly important. CEOs continue to recognize the costliness of losing customers.

What's more, they're putting money where their mouths are. Almost one third of CEOs plan to spend more time on customer relations in the coming year, while more than half expect to spend more money on customer contact.

Noting that 20 percent of respondents identified "customer satisfaction" as the most crucial element in their long-term success as a CEO, Resnick says, "20 percent is terrific. Would we all like to see it at 40 percent? Well, yes, but if we think about what goes on in managing a large corporation, the fact that 20 percent say they are focusing on the customer in such a way with everything else they have to do, the proportion is pretty great."

The report also found a 10 percent increase in the amount of time a CEO feels he should spend on customer relationships. "That's very forward-looking, instead of being mired down in the regulatory issues," Resnick says. "If you read between the lines, the customer can expect stronger partnerships with the firms they're developing relationships with. On average, CEOs are now spending more than half their time preparing their organizations to deal with a world that is ever more customer-centric."

The reality isn't idealMost CEOs (81 percent) believe they take sufficient action to manage their companies' reputation, but Resnick says that many customers would disagree.

"For quite a number of years, what has continually been reinforced in the minds of the general public by the media has been the fact that they generally don't hear about a CEO doing great things," he says. "It's been more about CEOs getting arrested, corporate scandals, things like that. It takes time for that perception to go away."

Going hand-in-hand with the issue is an increased focus on social responsibility, which Resnick says is an important factor not just in customer relations and retention, but in employee retention as well. Social-responsibility initiatives are seen as having a greater impact on employee retention in companies with greater than $3 billion in market capitalization (where 46 percent of respondents tagged it as an important factor in employee retention), compared with companies with $1 billion to 3 billion in market cap (16 percent) and below $1 billion (29 percent). Such initiatives range from encouraging employees to volunteer at homeless shelters to instituting and enforcing environmentally friendly ideas like recycling and tree planting.

Simply making a show of cutting a big check to charity no longer works, he says. "CEOs need to ask, Why are we doing this? Is it because there's a perceived good PR benefit, or does it reflect a core value of the organization to be a part of the culture?"

Noting that the 2007 survey is subtitled "Putting Customers First," Resnick says that customers should be able to count on being an increased focus down the line. "It's all reflective of a common theme," he says. "Without the customer there is no business."

Internet Cut in Myanmar

2007-09-28T17:16:00.000-04:00

It’s a frightening concept to Americans and all too familiar to North Koreans. Amid the violence and bloodshed in Myanmar this week as the military clashes with peaceful protests by Buddhist monks, the country’s Internet connection has been severed. The violence that has erupted is tragic and in its third day has not seemed to slow.

Clearly the killings are terrible, but today attention has been paid to Myanmar’s lost connection. The concept of shutting off the Internet, and in many ways cutting off access to the outside world, is troubling. It highlights the reach of the Internet and how important it has become. Email has usurped postage as the primary mode of written conversation, “Googling” information has taken the place of visiting libraries and VoIP has moved phone conversations from telephone lines to Internet connections.

In this case, bloggers posting stories, pictures and video are telling the story of the horrific events in Myanmar. The removal of Internet connectivity has effectively silenced these voices and shut out the rest of the world.

This blog entry could now take any number of paths to explain the severity of this situation:

A reminder of the importance of Americans’ freedom of speech and freedom of the press
With a global economy and the increase outsourcing, an Internet shut down in another country could hamper American business
Yet another example of the “Over There” complex, international stories already lose interest, and if a story cannot be translated into pictures and sound bites it has no chance of being recognized by the American news consumer
Blogs, YouTube and all other forms of user-generated content continue to prove vital to the reporting of news
Imagine if our government, in the name of national security, halted access to the Internet

All of these topics are important and they’re important for different reasons. Rather than spending time building each argument, I will instead say that on the surface the events in Myanmar tell a story of pain, suffering and tyrannical abuse. But the story goes deeper than that. And by shutting out the rest of the world it is uncertain how deeply the abuse goes and for how much longer it will continue.

JupiterResearch report highlights best practices for viral marketing

2007-09-20T13:21:00.000-04:00

A mere 15% of viral campaigns prompted people to pass them on, according to an Aug. 21 JupiterResearch report, “Viral Marketing: Bringing the Message to the Masses.” As a result, viral marketers plan on decreasing their targeting of “influentials” by 55% over the coming year, the report said. Yet abandoning viral marketing efforts may not be a marketer’s best bet because the tactic—when done right—can still be an effective way to reach new prospects.

Emily Riley, a JupiterResearch analyst and co-author of the report, provides some best practices to help build a successful viral e-mail marketing campaign.

Give people something worth forwarding. Readers aren’t going to forward your newsletter or marketing message unless there’s something in it for them. That’s why it’s important to include something tangible—such as a survey, informative tip or report—or something fun—like a game, video or quiz. “Are you giving people a reason to be viral? The biggest reason [readers pass your e-mail along] is giving readers something that their friends will get something out of,” Riley said. “Is there value? Is there a discount? These are things that matter.”

Make it easy. The simple act of including a Forward to a Friend button can help push people to do just that. “People forget that it’s important to make it as easy as possible to forward a message,” Riley said.

Use the right list—and demographic. Surprisingly, the younger the person, the less likely they are to forward something. Overall, only 7% of adults have forwarded a marketing message to another adult. A mere 3% of 18-to-24-year-olds have forwarded a message, while 10% of adults ages 45 to 54 have passed a message along. Consider this when planning your campaign.

Think about partnering. There’s a reason that companies are decreasing the number of viral campaigns: They aren’t seeing a return on investment. You may be able to change that by hiring an outside agency that specializes in viral marketing, such as PopularMedia or BoldMouth, or you can send news about something you’re working on with your partner directly to its newsletter readership.

Attach your message to a blog or microsite. You want your message to be picked up by the masses—not just the friends and colleagues of those people on your e-mail marketing list. Your best bet may be to seed blogs yourself, but be very careful, Riley said. “We see a lot of advertisers going on to blogs and discussing products and advertising efforts,” she said. “It’s best to go out and be yourself—10% of companies actually go out and pretend to be a random reader, while 22% contribute under a company name. It’s much better to go out and be yourself. And if you get negative feedback, listen to it and respond to it.” And make sure you give blog readers a way to sign up for your newsletter or marketing. You can provide a direct link in your signature line.

Source: BtoBonline.com

How companies are marketing online: A McKinsey Global Survey

2007-09-20T13:08:00.000-04:00

This survey from McKinsey is really an great read...it offers some solid insight into marketers uses of Web 2.0 tools.

A McKinsey global survey of marketers shows that companies are using digital tools—from Web sites to wikis—most extensively for customer service, least in pricing. Two-thirds are using digital tools for product development, almost as many as are advertising online.

Respondents consider online ads to be as useful for brand building as for direct response. Spending is expected to increase on all types of online advertising vehicles over the next three years.

In 2010 just over half of all respondents expect their companies to be getting 10 percent or more of their sales from online channels—twice as many companies as have hit that mark today. And 11 percent expect to be spending a majority of their advertising budgets online by then.

Most companies today don’t integrate their online and offline marketing efforts; companies that use online tools across the full spectrum of marketing activities are much more likely to do so.

Source: McKinsey

Millennials Nod to Traditional - Not Just New - Media

2007-07-31T13:48:00.000-04:00

Millennials (ages 18-24) have a charmed affinity for traditional media, such as print publications and television.

Almost 6 in 10 (58 percent) say they use magazines to find out what's cool in terms of clothes, cars and music, according to a study released earlier this year, writes MarketingCharts. Moreover, almost three-quarters (71 percent) of Millennials say they enjoy reading print magazines even though they know they could find most of the same information online.

Deloitte's "2007 State of the Media Democracy" survey, conducted by Harrison Group, also found that when Millennials find something they like, they broadcast it, and do so effectively:

The Millennials surveyed maintain large IM and texting lists that average 37 people, compared with the average of 17 for all those surveyed.
And when they find a particular television show or website that they enjoy, they tell an average of 18 people, compared with only 10 people for all age groups.

According to the survey, word of mouth is the most common reason for Millennials to visit a website, followed by an ad on TV; almost half (48 percent) visit TV websites in a typical week.

The survey confirmed the growing popularity of user-generated content; Millennials in the survey spend about equal amounts of time consuming user-generated content and commercially produced content online:

A large proportion of Millennials (58 percent) create personal content in a typical week, and an even greater proportion (71 percent) regularly consume it.

But user-generated content is not just for kids - there is a "trickle up" effect, and the older generations are creating and consuming personal content as well: over a third of Matures (current age 61-75) - 36 percent - report that they regularly consume user-generated content.

MarketingCharts provides other highlights of the survey's findings.

Source: MarktingVOX

Test

2007-07-06T16:23:00.001-04:00

Mike Neumeier, APR

Principal

Arketi Group
where marketing generates revenue

1961 North Druid Hills Rd.

Building B, Suite 101

Atlanta, GA 30329

www.arketi.com

404.929.0091 x210 office

404.321.3397 fax

404.451-7832 cell

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has released their Broadband Adoption 2007 report.

2007-07-06T16:20:00.000-04:00

The report finds that nearly half (47%) of all adult Americans now have a high-speed internet connection at home, according to a February 2007 survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

The percentage of Americans with broadband at home has grown from 42% in early 2006 and 30% in early 2005. Among individuals who use the internet at home, 70% have a high-speed connection while 23% use dialup.

The 12% growth rate from 2006 to 2007 represents trails the 40% increase in the 2005 to 2006 timeframe, when many people in the middle-income and older age groups acquired home broadband connections. Those groups continued to show increases in home broadband adoption into early 2007, but at lower rates than in the past.

For the full report, please visit:
http://www.pewinternet.org/report_display.asp?r=217

IT Execs Extend Trust to Social Media in Making Purchase Decisions

2007-07-03T08:54:00.000-04:00

The info below comes from the July 3 MediaPost enewsletter.

A new study by ITtoolbox confirms that today's Information Technology decision-makers and influencers not only turn to traditional vendor Web sites and editorial media Web sites for research, but also join peer-driven communities and participate in user-generated content to help in the decision process. And, the advertisers as well are seeking out these user-generated content sites to more strategically target the customer.

George Krautzel, ITtoolbox president and co-founder, says "This convergence of the purchaser and advertiser within the social media space... reveals the role social media can play in today's business world, and sheds light on new opportunities for advertisers."

And Mike O'Toole, Executive Vice President of PJA, partner in the study, notes that . "... the IT community now spends as much or more time consuming social media as they do consuming editorial media or vendor content... this is the first study to link IT executives' (use of) social media and user-generated content to make better purchasing decisions."

IT professionals who responded to the survey cited social media as the most trustworthy online source of information when making purchasing decisions. In addition:

Executive decision-makers spend nearly 3 ½ hours per week consuming or participating in social media
Nearly two-thirds of IT professionals who were surveyed believe that social media content and user-generated tools have made for a more informed purchasing decision
IT decision-makers and influencers trust user-generated content more than traditional content sources
IT audiences now spend as much or more time consuming or participating in social media as they do consuming editorial media or vendor content.

Specifically, the response to which sites are referenced most often:

Vendor Web sites are referenced information sources for IT purchasing information often or very often by 61.5% of respondents.
User-generated content is referenced often or very often by 42.6% of respondents.
Editorial Web sites and trade magazines are referenced often or very often by 40.7% of respondents.
Paid analyst research, catalogs and buyer's guides are referenced often or very often by only 24.75% of respondents, on average.

Other key findings of the survey include:

Asian IT management and staff spend the most time consuming or participating in social media - 4.45 hours per week.
More than half of survey respondents noted a modest to substantial increase in IT purchasing budgets for 2007.

To read the complete executive summary, gain access to the report and view graphics, please visit here.

Banking on Self-Service

2007-07-02T18:54:00.000-04:00

From eMarketer.com

Banking on Self-Service

JUNE 29, 2007

What's really driving online banking?

More than three-quarters of US and Canadian consumers polled said they were more likely to trade with organizations that offer self-service, according to a study conducted by BuzzBack Market Research for NCR Corporation. Over nine in 10 also said it would be valuable to combine mobile devices with the Internet and self-service kiosks or ATMs.

ATMs and kiosks now come in a variety of flavors, including Internet-enabled models and ticket-printing multifunctional banking machines. In other settings, these devices can help people check themselves in at the airport or renew their driver's licenses without waiting in line.

ATM makers have good reason to promote self-service technology, but the study recognized that consumers felt some transactions were better made in person, especially for banking.
For example, nearly three-quarters of respondents said they would prefer to speak with someone for investment advice or when purchasing insurance. Nearly 70% said they preferred getting their mortgage advice in person.

Bill Nuti of NCR said, "Proper deployment of self-service will allow business to focus personal assistance where consumers find it most valuable."

The flip side of that statement is that banks find it more valuable to deliver some transactions at their branches. Investment advice and sales, for instance, have more profit potential than printing out balance statements.

Transactions made at bank branches cost more to deliver than those made by remote delivery systems like ATMs, phone banking and online banking. As such, the push has been on for years by some banks to push less profitable accounts to use remote channels more often.

eMarketer Senior Analyst Lisa Phillips said, "Bricks-and-clicks are still the right mix, although more and more banking will be done online as the boomer population ages into its 70s in the next decade."

So how many people actually use self-service banking?

An Ipsos-Reid survey of US consumers commissioned by the American Bankers Association (ABA) found that 35% of respondents ages 18 to 34 banked online more often than they visited a bank branch. Another 33% said they mostly used ATMs.

By contrast, people ages 35 to 54 preferred bank branches to online banking, as did 47% of people older than 55. Just 13% of that age group preferred online banking. Retired people overwhelmingly preferred to visit a bank branch.

Put another way, 67% of people ages 18 to 34 do not bank online, according to Mintel International Group. The Ipsos-Reid/ABA data showed 65% of this age group chose other venues for banking most often.

Learn more about who banks online and why. Read the eMarketer Banking and Bill Paying Online: Chasing Those Digital Dollars report.

Get More from eMarketereMarketer subscribers have access to thousands of reports, articles and charts related to topics like this one. To learn more, visit: www.emarketer.com

©2007 eMarketer Inc. All rights reserved

Mobile VoIP, The Next BIG Thing?

2006-09-22T15:12:00.000-04:00

Convergence Frenzy: Mobile VoIP

SEPTEMBER 22, 2006

VoIP is already transforming consumer home phone service, now it may be set to shake up the world of mobile phones.

By Ben Macklin - Senior Analyst

The emergence of voice over IP (VoIP) technology has already had a significant impact on the traditional circuit-switched landline sector worldwide, but a new report from Analysys suggests that VoIP will have an even bigger impact on the mobile phone sector. The telecoms consultancy firm suggests that once 3G technologies are enhanced to allow for greater bandwidth transfer, there will be a compelling case for mobile operators to switch from circuit-switched voice to mass-market cellular VoIP.

Analysys estimates that by 2012, mobile VoIP revenues will total $18.6 billion in the US, a considerably larger sum than revenues generated from fixed VoIP services.

While mobile VoIP is just around the corner, fixed VoIP is growing steadily in the US, with a recent estimate from Telegeography pegging total US VoIP subscribers at 6.9 million in Q2 2006. Vonage reported 1.8 million subscribers as of the middle of 2006 with cable company Time Warner Cable following closely behind.

VoIP is a relatively recent phenomenon, so it is perhaps unsurprising to see subscriber forecasts differ significantly among research firms. According to comparative estimates presented below, there could be anywhere between 12 million and 44 million VoIP subscribers in the US by 2010. eMarketer estimates 32.6 million VoIP subscribers by 2010, up from 9.6 million at the end of 2006.

For more information on VoIP, see eMarketer's Consumer VoIP report.

Source: emarketer.com

U.S. Latino Internet Usage Tops 55%

2006-09-21T17:50:00.000-04:00

The AOL Latino 2006 Hispanic Cyberstudy Breaks New Ground by Analyzing Internet Usage across Acculturation Segments

New Study Demonstrates That the Hispanic Internet Landscape Is BiculturalInternet Continues to Be the Best Source to Make Final Brand Decisions for Most Online Hispanics

September 18, 2006--Currently there are more than 16 million Hispanics online or 55% of the total U.S. Hispanic population(*).

Of those 16 million, 77% have access to broadband. While online penetration among Hispanics has grown rapidly over the last several years, a new survey, "The AOL Latino 2006 Hispanic Cyberstudy" conducted by Synovate's Diversity Group, finds that habit and cultural relevancy define Internet usage for Hispanics. The study defines online Hispanics by their level of acculturation - mostly acculturated, partially acculturated and relatively unacculturated - and proves that they consume the Internet in different ways offering new options to marketers wanting to reach the Hispanic market.

According to the study, 81% of Hispanics online are mostly acculturated or partially acculturated, while only 19% is relatively unacculturated. While acculturated online Hispanics tend to prefer online content in English, nearly 40% of them still find Spanish content appealing; of the unacculturated segment 37% prefer both languages. Of the total Hispanic online population, only 15% prefer Spanish only.

Additionally, the study shows that more than two-thirds (68%) of online Hispanics consider the Internet to be the best source in making final brand decisions making it the most relevant medium for marketers.

"The AOL Latino 2006 Hispanic Cyberstudy reveals new data on online Hispanics, analyzing how this market prefers to consume the Internet across acculturation segments," said Mark Lopez, Publisher, AOL Latino. "With this new data, marketers will be able to better understand how to reach the rapidly growing online Hispanic market. This study also helps to understand the complexities of U.S. Hispanics, and that marketers seeking to connect with the online Hispanic population must address cultural needs, which differ depending on levels of acculturation."

As an example, AOL Latino often features special bilingual programming including Festival de Cine Corto (the first online short film festival for Hispanics), Hispanic Heritage Month, Latinos in Hollywood, Latin Emmys, ALMA awards, Countdown to Miss Universe and more allowing marketers ways to reach Hispanics across all segments in both languages.

The study also finds that online Hispanics enjoy social networking online: 68% use instant messaging; 63% share photos online; 52% read or post blogs; 43% visit social networking sites; and 40% talk on a phone using the Internet. Additionally, the study proves that online Hispanics prefer websites that focus on news (48%) as well as websites that provide mapping capabilities (43%). Music, weather, health and travel websites also rank among the more popular sites for online Hispanics.

Online Hispanics and Internet Purchasing Decisions
-- The Internet continues to be the best source to make a final brand decision for most online Hispanics (68% in 2006 vs. 51% in 2004).
-- More than three quarters of the online Hispanic population (77%) use the Internet to learn about brands of products (vs. 59% in 2004).
-- Seventy-five percent (75%) of online Hispanics use the Internet to learn about brand features or benefits (vs. 61% in 2004).
-- Seventy-two percent (72%) of online Hispanics use the Internet to compare prices of products (vs. 59% in 2004).

The Hispanic Online Market & Acculturation There is a clear distinction in the Internet behavior between mostly acculturated and less acculturated Hispanics.
-- Mostly acculturated Hispanics are more likely to visit websites that focus on topics such as Finance, Entertainment and Nutrition.
-- Unacculturated Hispanics are more likely to visit websites that provide news from Latin America, as well as Sports websites that focus on Soccer.

Hispanics: Going Online vs. Watching Television
-- Nearly half (47% of mostly acculturated online Hispanics and 45% of partially acculturated online Hispanics) are getting online and watching TV at the same time. A third of unacculturated Hispanics are also online and watching TV simultaneously.
-- The bicultural nature of the Hispanic market is also evident across other mediums. In an average week, online Hispanics spend 12.4 hours watching English-language TV and 7.7 hours watching Spanish-language TV.

Methodology The AOL Latino 2006 Hispanic Cyberstudy was conducted by Synovate's Diversity Group and reflects changes in methodology from earlier Hispanic studies commissioned by AOL. In 2006, a single study of Hispanics online was conducted whereas in 2005 a two-sample approach was used, which included a study of Hispanics online and a study of the general population online. Both the 2006 and 2005 studies were completed using phone interviews.

The 2006 study was completed by interviewing 502 participants in English or Spanish by Synovate bi-lingual interviewers. Respondents were 18+ year old Hispanics who accessed the Internet from any location in the past month. Interviews ere conducted between July 6, 2006 and July 19, 2006 using a surname listed sample. Respondents were further qualified as Hispanic during the telephone interview.

As defined by the study and by Synovate Diversity Group's market research: Mostly acculturated Hispanics are those that have been online for an average of 3 or more years. They tend to be U.S. born and to have lived in the U.S. for more than twenty years. However, they still speak Spanish and consume Spanish media.

Partially acculturated Hispanics are those that have been online for an average of 2.8 years. Tend to have lived in the U.S. for several years. Fifty percent (50%) are Spanish-dominant and nearly one-third of this group is bilingual or speaks more English than Spanish. This continues to be the largest Hispanic segment. Unacculturated Hispanics are those that have been online an average of 2.3 years. They are born outside of the U.S. Hispanics in this segment tend to have lived in the U.S. the shortest amount of time. They are 90% Spanish dominant.

About Synovate's Diversity Group Synovate's Diversity Group, a trusted source of diversity market intelligence for over 35 years, is especially well-known for its Hispanic acculturation model and the group's U.S. Diversity Markets Report ("Blue Book") released every two years. The Diversity group offers research expertise in a wide array of markets including the Hispanic, African-American, Asian-American, Seniors, and Gay and Lesbian markets. For more information on Synovate visit http://www.synovate.com/. About AOL(R) Latino AOL(R) Latino, a leading bilingual service for U.S. Hispanics, provides comprehensive Spanish language content including U.S. and Latin American news, financial tools, the latest in music, entertainment, personal finance, sports, fashion and beauty, as well as access to all the existing content available on the AOL.com. (*) Synovate's 2006 U.S. Diversity Markets Report

Source: Hispanic PR Wire (HISPANIC PR WIRE – BUSINESS WIRE)

UK User Generated Content Sites Growing Fast, Engaging More

2006-09-21T13:21:00.000-04:00

UK User Generated Content Sites Growing Fast, Engaging More

A recent analysis, by comScore World Metrix, of UK Internet users' activity at user-generated content sites (UGC) showed significant traffic growth. Wikipedia was up 253 percent versus year ago, MySpace.com, up 467 percent, and Piczo.com, up 393 percent.

Bob Ivins, managing director of comScore Europe, said "Many of the sites experiencing the fastest growth today are the ones that understand their audience's need for expression and have made it easy for them to share pictures, upload music and video, and provide their own commentary, thus stimulating others to do the same. It is the classic network effect at work."

Collectively, the leading UGC sites draw more frequent visits than non-UGC sites (4.2 vs. 3.5 average usage days per month), longer periods of engagement (79.9 vs. 33.2 average minutes per visitor), and more pages viewed (217 vs. 52 average pages per visitor).

Users of the top social networking sites demonstrate particularly high levels of engagement, with visitors to MySpace.com and Bebo.com averaging at least 5 usage days, 2 hours of use, and 300 pages viewed per visitor during July.

Source: Center for Media Research and comScore Media Metrix. For additional information, please go here.

Blogs are a Powerful Presence in the B2B Marketplace

2006-09-12T10:50:00.000-04:00

KnowledgeStorm Research Finds: Blogs are a Powerful Presence in the B2B Marketplace

KnowledgeStorm Inc. (www.knowledgestorm.com), the Internet’s top-ranked search resource for technology solutions and information, and Universal McCann (www.universalmccann.com), one of the world’s largest media services firms providing strategic services and consultancies, today announced the results of a joint research study on the emerging role of new media, particularly blogs and Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, on B2B technology purchase decisions.

The survey was completed by more than 4,500 business and IT professionals globally, representing a variety of job titles, vertical industries and company sizes.

“With this particular study, our goal was to determine marketing opportunities with blogs and RSS,” said Stacy Malone, vice president, interactive media director, Universal McCann. “Blogs and RSS have quickly progressed into a mainstream medium. Blogs, in particular, give marketers the perfect opportunity to generate demand, nurture leads and stay connected with customers.”

According to survey respondents, 80% claim to be blog readers, with 51% reading blogs at least once a week. And the respondents say they are getting both business and technology information from blogs: 53% read blogs weekly for business information, while 57% read blogs on technology topics each week.

“Blogs are the perfect forum for business and IT professionals — readers want to hear about a company or a product from ‘someone like them,’” said Matt Lohman, director of market research, KnowledgeStorm. “And technology buyers seem to be more than happy to pass along relevant information from blogs — 70% of survey respondents recommend or pass along content from blogs at least once a month.”

IT purchase decisions are heavily influenced by content found in blogs. More than 53% of survey respondents felt that content they read in blogs already impacts their work-related purchasing decisions. And respondents are not only reading blogs, at least once a month nearly half of the respondents said they comment on or contribute to blogs they read. Thirty-two percent of respondents are even considering starting their own blogs.

“New online media formats, such as blogs, will help companies better address shifting preferences and opinions in the B2B marketplace,” said Malone. “Marketing campaigns will achieve even greater results because companies are now able to truly listen to and come to understand their audiences’ needs and wants through these mediums.”

RSS is one of the main delivery vehicles that has helped catapult the usage of blogs by delivering only the content users want. The rise in RSS is further evidence that technology marketers must come to grips with the fact that communication between buyers and sellers has changed.
Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they are “somewhat” to “very” familiar with RSS, and 31% subscribe to RSS feeds or readers. Seventy-nine percent of respondents said they are accessing RSS feeds on specialized news topics, covering specific industry or company information, while only 36% of respondents are accessing blogs via RSS feeds. This suggests that buyers are still going to blogs, rather than having the blogs’ RSS feeds published to them.

“The results tell us that most technology buyers reading blog content are still compelled to visit the blogger’s site, rather than get the text version via an RSS feed,” said Lohman. “These findings suggest that a user’s experience with the blog may be just as important as the content they access from it.”

This is the second in a series of joint research studies focused on the effects of new media within the B2B marketplace. The first study focused on podcasts, and the final study will focus on Wikis, Webcasts and mobile technology.

“The objective of these studies is to explore the impact new forms of media are having on content consumption and purchasing influence within the B2B marketplace,” said Lohman. “The results clearly show that podcasts, blogs and other emerging media types are viable mediums for reaching B2B technology buyers.”

To learn more about the Blog and RSS study findings, please click on the following link: Blog and RSS Study Report

To learn more about the podcast study findings, click here: Podcast Study Report

KnowledgeStorm is the Internet’s top-ranked search resource for technology solutions and information. Leveraging the KnowledgeStorm Network of premier partners and its extensive search expertise, KnowledgeStorm is able to reach technology buyers and deliver the information they need no matter where their search begins. KnowledgeStorm, with its network, search expertise and performance tools and services, is a powerful resource for technology vendors, providing them the most opportunities to reach buyers on the Internet and convert them into Web leads.

For more information,;visit www.knowledgestorm.com

Universal McCann is one of the world’s largest media service firms providing strategic services and consultancies in the areas of traditional and non-traditional media planning and buying, communications architecture, digital technologies, and research/modeling. Launched in 1999 as the branded media services arm of McCann Worldgroup, Universal McCann is a primary element of Interpublic Media, a part of the Interpublic Group of Companies. Its multiple US locations have the privilege of serving some of the country’s most recognizable brands, such as Intel, Johnson & Johnson, L'Oreal, US Army, Wendy’s, Microsoft, Sony, Major League Baseball, Verizon Wireless and Bacardi.

Experian study quantifies 'small businesses'

2006-09-11T17:56:00.000-04:00

Source: BtoB Magazine

Experian study quantifies 'small businesses'
By Carol Krol

Sep 11, 2006

Small-business owners continue to be attractive business prospects for b-to-b marketers. A study released last month by database provider Experian may shed some light on that lucrative segment and give marketers intelligence on how to target it.

Specifically, the study's findings suggest that marketers need to dig deeper to understand their customers and not make outdated assumptions about what "incorporated" and "unincorporated" companies look like.

Experian's study is the second part of its ongoing small-business owner study, "The Face of Today's Small-business Owner." In it, the database company looked at small businesses, which it defined as "microbusinesses": 25 employees or fewer and $10 million or less in annual sales.

For starters, small businesses that incorporate tend to be more affluent and better educated than their unincorporated counterparts, according to the survey results.

Incorporated business owners have incomes 35% higher than the overall population, while unincorporated owners' incomes are 24% higher, according to the research. In addition, incorporated company owners are 56% more likely to have completed college, while unincorporated owners are 29% more likely.

"Incorporateds" larger
Incorporateds also tend to be larger companies than their unincorporated brethren, based on annual sales. According to the study, incorporateds are 97% more likely to have sales of $1 million to $4.99 million and 2.62 times more likely to have sales of $5 million or more compared with unincorporateds.

In addition, contrary to conventional wisdom, incorporated business owners are more likely to be start-ups, defined as being in business two years or less, while unincorporateds are more likely to have been in business for three or more years.

These revelations should matter to b-to-b marketers targeting small businesses because it is a common practice to leave out incorporated businesses when targeting prospects, due to the perception that incorporated businesses are large organizations.

"In the b-to-b marketing space, what we saw was some clients would exclude incorporated businesses because they really wanted to market to the small-business segment," said Denise Hopkins, senior director of Business Marketing Solutions at Experian. That would be a mistake, she said.

"We also see some marketers exclude the very new businesses--the under a year and under two years in business--to avoid the risky nature of the start-up," Hopkins said. However, if marketers leave new businesses out, they might be excluding the young incorporateds with rapid revenue growth.

Companies can grow quickly
"What we've seen in the technology age and the Internet age is that companies can grow very quickly," Hopkins said. "Many of these business owners are learning early on to set up [an incorporated structure] for the company."

Marketers could benefit from taking a second look at the incorporateds and realigning their assumptions. "Looking at incorporated businesses may be a way to get to those companies that are more likely to grow fast," Hopkins said.

Christine Pratt, research director-consumer banking and credit advisory service at Financial Insights, an IDC company, said the new study provided a glimpse into the demographics of small-business owners. "From a marketing perspective, there's not a lot of information available about the owners of these small businesses," she said. For financial services companies, the study will be useful, she added, because one of the largest segments for lenders is small-business owners.

Maintenance & Services Ratios/2006 for Software Companies

2006-09-08T08:53:00.000-04:00

ASSOCIATION OF SUPPORT PROFESSIONALS PUBLISHES NEW BENCHMARK DATA
FOR MAINTENANCE & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Watertown, Mass.-- For high-end software companies, revenue from support- related services continues to pull ahead of product and license revenues,
according to a new research report from the Association of Support
Professionals (ASP). The report, based on data from a hundred major public
software companies, shows that maintenance and professional services now
generate 50.8% (median) of total revenues for a typical software company.

"Though there are still major companies that remain almost exclusively
product-centric, most successful software vendors these days have adopted a
business model that depends heavily on services," says ASP executive
director Jeffrey Tarter. "That shift in emphasis from products to services
has happened quietly, but it's definitely the new economic reality of the
software business."

Services also make a substantial contribution to overall profitability, the
report points out. Maintenance is the top cash cow, with a gross profit
margin rate of 82.8% (median). Professional services, a category that
includes custom development, consulting, and training, is a more people- intensive business, but still delivers a median 19.7% margin.

"Services revenues, especially from maintenance, also tend to be highly
predictable and usually involve at least some advance payment," says
Tarter. "Moreover, services build customer loyalty, so additional license
sales are often the direct result of a positive services relationship with
a customer."

The ASP's "Maintenance & Services Ratios/2006" report notes that software
companies vary considerably in their emphasis on services, but suggests
that the ASP's data provides basic peer-to-peer benchmarks for services
contributions to revenues and profits. The report includes tables that
identify all one hundred individual companies and provides their most
recent fiscal year top-line revenues, services revenues, and services
costs. The report also comes with an Excel spreadsheet that provides this
data in electronic form.

In addition to the benchmarking data, "Maintenance & Services Ratios/2006"
includes expert commentary on revenue recognition rules, internal P&L
reporting, and the impact of attach and renewal rates.

Copies of the "Maintenance & Services Ratios/2006" report are free to ASP
members (membership fee is $80/year). For more information, visit
http://www.asponline.com/maintsvc06.html

The Association of Support Professionals is a membership organization that
publishes research reports for software tech support managers and
professionals, operates a network of regional chapters, and conducts an
annual competition for the "Ten Best Web Support Sites."

Blogs and podcasts cited as effective lead generation tactics for b-to-b marketers

2006-07-31T16:14:00.000-04:00

Source: Btobonline.com

By Carol Krol

Blogs and podcasts are among the top five most effective lead generation tactics for business technology companies, according to an annual survey by MarketingSherpa.

The research company last month polled 1,900 business technology marketing executives by telephone and online.

The top five tactics cited were free trials, Webinars, white papers, blogs and podcasts.
This year's survey results marked the first time blogs made the top five.

Business Blogging Still Bogged Down

2006-07-20T09:04:00.000-04:00

Is Big Biz Ready To Blog?

By James Belcher - Senior Analyst

A new report by JupiterResearch says that 34% of large US companies now have a corporate blog, and that another 35% will have one by year-end.

These robust numbers contrast sharply with existing data about corporate blogging. The word "blog" seems inescapable these days, and there is plenty of buzz following the term. Personal blogs now number in the millions, and some public-facing bloggers now wield considerable influence—and some even make money. However, when it comes to businesses blogging, the reality is far behind the hype. Socialtext features a wiki detailing the number of Fortune 500 firms that blog, on an ongoing basis. The current tally: 5.8%.

A 2005 study by eMarketer put the percentage of all large North American businesses that blogged at 4%. The percentage of large firms blogging has not changed much in a year.

Why is this? Why, when blogging is so hyped, and millions of individuals now have their own blogs, is corporate blogging so rare? PR firm Makovsky & Company recently commissioned Harris Interactive to find out. Harris Interactive asked 150 Fortune 1000 senior executives for their opinions on blogs. Only 30% of the respondents even had a thorough understanding of the term "Internet blog." This may shed some light on Jupiter's numbers; many businesses may think that their discussion forum, e-mail newsletter, intranet bulletin board, or other communication constitutes a blog.

More tellingly, almost 8 in 10 respondents believed that their company should have policies about company-sanctioned blogs—and 40% believed they should have policies about blogs that didn't even have anything to do with the company (presumably being written by the firm's own employees). These numbers suggest the top barrier to blogging for businesses: loss of control.

After years of meticulous branding, carefully arranged PR messages, and committee-developed corporate-speak that offends no one—especially lawyers—successful blogging requires ceding message control internally to a single, real voice, and externally to commenters whose feedback may not always be positive.

It is not unthinkable that 70% of large US businesses will blog eventually. However, there's a great distance between 5.8% and 70%; not just in percentage points, but also in business philosophy.

For more information about business blogging sign up to be notified when eMarketer's report The Business of Blogging is published in July.

Time To Take Another Look At Business Blogs

2006-07-20T09:01:00.000-04:00

To blog or not to blog?

That was the question. And when it came to business blogs, most marketers felt they had the answer: "No."

"A year ago eMarketer looked at the business of blogging and said that blogs were a one-to-few medium, and they were not practical for most businesses," says James Belcher, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the new report, The Business of Blogging: A Review. "But over the past year many things have changed, including our opinion."

In fact, it is time for business to reconsider the question of blogging.

"Currently, despite the fact that a new blog is launched every second, very few businesses blog," says Mr. Belcher. "They have hesitated entering a medium where ceding control is one of the ground rules, and as a result, well over 90% of them, both large and small, simply don't blog."

The hurdles that corporations must overcome to blog are formidable.

"After years of meticulous branding, carefully arranged PR messages, and committee-developed corporate-speak that offends no one — especially lawyers — successful blogging requires ceding message control internally to a single, real voice, and externally to commenters whose feedback may not always be positive," says Mr. Belcher.

A growing number of businesses, however, are moving beyond the blogging-as-sales-tool mindset that hindered adoption.

"GM and Sun, notably, are blogging with a one-to-many voice that gives them one of the most low-cost PR options available," says Mr. Belcher.

At the same time, companies are learning, often the hard way, that monitoring blogs is becoming an essential part of brand management.

"A generation for whom sharing information via social networks and personal blogs is second nature will demand being addressed as human beings, without the filters applied by traditional corporate communications," says Mr. Belcher. "Marketers and PR professionals who want to remain relevant in this environment will add blogging and blogosphere literacy to their skill sets, or risk falling behind their customers."

Make certain your business is positioned to take advantage of the changes ahead, read the new eMarketer report, The Business of Blogging: A Review today.

Source: eMarketer.com

Podcast Audience Gets Older and Wider

2006-07-20T08:58:00.000-04:00

Some shifts are detected in the podcast audience.

The findings of the latest Nielsen//NetRatings release on podcasting will come as little surprise to those familiar with the area.

Nielsen//NetRatings reports that 6.6% of the US adult online population — 9.2 million users — have recently downloaded an audio podcast; and 4% — 5.6 million users — recently downloaded a video podcast.

For perspective, the figures put the podcasting audience on a par with US Internet users who publish blogs (4.8%), and online daters, (3.9% of the adult online population).

"The portability of podcasts makes them especially appealing to young, on-the-go audiences," said Michael Lanz, analyst ay Nielsen//NetRatings. "We expect to see podcasting become increasingly popular as portable content media players proliferate."

Not surprisingly, downloading podcasts is an activity more popular with young people than old.
Internet users between the ages of 18 and 24 are almost twice as likely as the average user to download audio podcasts, followed by users in the 25-34 and 35-44 age groups. Video podcast downloading, however, trended slightly older, with 25-34 year olds indexing the highest.

Web users above the age of 45 were less likely than average to downlaod podcasts of either sort.
Another report on podcasting, from KnowledgeStorm and Universal McCann, which focused on business and IT professionals, reported 72% of respondents saying they had downloaded or listened to podcasts on technology topics on more than one occasion, and 23% saying they do so frequently.

In addition, 32% of the respondents said their podcast usage had "Increased" or "Significantly Increased" in the last six months, and 65% reported that they listen to podcasts for both personal and business reasons.

"This is one of the first surveys focused specifically on the B2B audience and it clearly shows that podcasts, blogs and other new media types are viable mediums for reaching B2B technology buyers," Matt Lohman of KnowledgeStorm.

The respondents were actually enthusiastic about podcasting — and wanted more. Nearly 60% said business and tech information in white papers or analyst reports would be more interesting as podcasts, and 55% said they would be more likely to use the information if it were delivered in podcasts, rather than as reading material.

"Podcasts are no longer being used only for pure entertainment value," said Stacy Malone of Universal McCann. "They are turning into an indispensable, business-critical information tool."

Apparently podcasting is no longer just for kids.

Source: eMarketer.com

Blogging is bringing new voices to the online world

2006-07-20T08:54:00.000-04:00

Most bloggers focus on personal experiences, not politics

Washington, DC (July 19, 2006) - The ease and appeal of blogging is inspiring a new group of writers and creators to share their voices with the world.

A new, national phone survey of bloggers finds that most are focused on describing their personal experiences to a relatively small audience of readers and that only a small proportion focus their coverage on politics, media, government, or technology.

Related surveys by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that the blog population has grown to about 12 million American adults, or about 8% of adult internet users and that the number of blog readers has jumped to 57 million American adults, or 39% of the online population.

These are some of the key findings in a new report issued by the Pew Internet Project titled "Bloggers":

* 54% of bloggers say that they have never published their writing or media creations anywhere else; 44% say they have published elsewhere.

* 54% of bloggers are under the age of 30.

* Women and men have statistical parity in the blogosphere, with women representing 46% of bloggers and men 54%.

* 76% of bloggers say a reason they blog is to document their personal experiences and share them with others.

* 64% of bloggers say a reason they blog is to share practical knowledge or skills with others.

* When asked to choose one main subject, 37% of bloggers say that the primary topic of their blog is "my life and experiences."

* Other topics ran distantly behind: 11% of bloggers focus on politics and government; 7% focus on entertainment; 6% focus on sports; 5% focus on general news and current events; 5% focus on business; 4% on technology; 2% on religion, spirituality or faith; and additional smaller groups who focus on a specific hobby, a health problem or illness, or other topics.

The report, written by Senior Research Specialist Amanda Lenhart and Associate Director Susannah Fox, says that bloggers are avid consumers and creators of online content. They are also heavy users of the internet in general. Forty-four percent of bloggers have taken material they find online - like songs, text, or images - and remixed it into their own artistic creation. By comparison, just 18% of all internet users have done this. A whopping 77% of bloggers have shared something online that they created themselves, like their own artwork, photos, stories, or videos. By comparison, 26% of internet users have done this.

"Blogs are as individual as the people who keep them, but this survey shows that most bloggers are primarily interested in creative, personal expression," said Lenhart. "Blogs make it easy to document individual experiences, share practical knowledge, or just keep in touch with friends and family."

The Pew Internet & American Life Project deployed two strategies to interview bloggers. First, bloggers were identified in random-digit dial surveys about internet use. These respondents were called back for an in-depth survey between July 2005 and February 2006, for a final yield of 233 bloggers. Second, additional random-digit surveys were fielded between November 2005 and April 2006 to capture an up-to-date estimate of the percentage of internet users who are currently blogging. These large-scale telephone surveys yielded a sample of 7,012 adults, which included 4,753 internet users, 8% of whom are bloggers.

"Much of the public and press attention to bloggers has focused on the small number of high-traffic, A-list bloggers," said Fox. "By asking a wide range of bloggers what they do and why they do it, we have found a different kind of story about the power of the internet to encourage creativity and community among all kinds of internet users."

Some additional data points from the Bloggers report:

* 87% of bloggers allow comments on their blog.

* 72% of bloggers post photos to their blog.

* 55% of bloggers blog under a pseudonym.

* 41% of bloggers say they have a blogroll or friends list on their blog.

* 8% of bloggers earn money on their blog.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has created an online version of the Blogger Callback telephone survey and invites participation from the general public. The resulting answers will not be a representative sample, but the online survey will give observers a chance to see the questions in context and to comment on some specific aspects of blogging. The survey is online at the following address: http://www.psra.com/PewBloggerSurvey.html

About the Pew Internet & American Life Project: The Pew Internet Project produces reports that explore the social impact of the internet. Support for the non-profit Pew Internet Project is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The Project is an initiative of the Pew Research Center. The Project's Web site: http://www.pewinternet.org

Souce: http://www.pewinternet.org

New Study Indicates Needlestick Injuries Continue to Cause Significant Concern for Healthcare Workers

2006-07-06T08:51:00.000-04:00

Note to readers: This survey was conducted by Arketi Group for Inviro Medical

New Study Indicates Needlestick Injuries Continue to Cause Significant Concern for Healthcare Workers; Current Safety Syringe Designs Leave Room for Improvement

ATLANTA -- Inviro Medical announces the findings of the 2006 Study of Needlestick Injuries and Safety Devices, an independent nationwide study of directors of infection control (DICs) and nurses. The findings reveal needlestick injuries (NSIs) affect the vast majority of nurses, and nearly half (47 percent) said they had been stuck by a contaminated needle. In addition, an overwhelming majority of DICs and nurses believe current safety syringe designs need improving.

The national study was comprised of two survey instruments. The first included responses from 147 DICs, and the second survey consisted of responses from 188 nurses. Results of the study can be downloaded at: www.inviromedical.com.

Nearly half of all nurses stuck by contaminated needle
The study showed the majority of U.S. nurses (64 percent) had been accidentally stuck by a needle while working; nearly half (47 percent) of all nurses surveyed reported being accidentally stuck by a contaminated needle.

Room for improvement in existing safety syringe design
When asked if there was room for improvement in the design of current safety syringes, an overwhelming majority of DICs and nurses said "yes" (97 percent and 96 percent respectively). Illustrating this belief, 70 percent of DICs and 65 percent of nurses felt that safety syringes with retrofitted designs, which today account for 95 percent of the market, were not the most effective design to protect clinicians. (Retrofitted safety syringes refer to non-safety syringe designs that have been modified with an added shield, sheath or cap to meet industry safety regulations).

"This research underscores the problems that exist with retro-fitted safety syringes, which in the absence of an acceptable custom designed safety syringe, have dominated the market until now," said Gareth Clarke, CEO of Inviro Medical, sponsor of the study and manufacturer of the InviroSNAP! Safety Syringe. "Clinicians are clearly seeking an alternative safety syringe that provides better protection and is easy to use."

Widespread concern about needlestick injuries
The study found the overwhelming majority of DICs and nurses worry about accidental NSIs. In fact, 82 percent of DICs believe NSIs remain a significant hazard, and even more nurses (88 percent) cite NSIs as a serious hazard.

"The findings of this study are a 'must-read' for those in the healthcare industry," said Mike Neumeier, principal of Arketi Group, the consulting firm that completed the study. "We believe this to be the first comprehensive survey of healthcare workers on this topic, since the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act became law in 2000."

Needlestick injuries believed to be underreported
The majority of DICs and nurses believe NSIs are underreported (63 percent and 86 percent respectively). However, the two groups differ on the reasons why. Forty-five percent of DICs said the main reason is because clinicians are too busy to report them; 27 percent said the follow-up time takes too long; 11 percent believe clinicians may be afraid of workplace consequences associated with reporting NSIs. Nurses, on the other hand, are more likely than DICs to cite a concern for workplace consequences (23 percent) as the reason they believe NSIs are underreported.

Annual evaluations of safety devices
The majority of DICs (74 percent) and nurses (57 percent) report their facility conducts yearly evaluations of safety syringes, as required by the Needlestick Act. Ninety-three percent of DICs surveyed said they were able to influence the selection of sharp safety devices used in their facility, and 95 percent think their frontline nurses are able to influence selection. In stark contrast, only 43 percent of the nurses report they are able to influence selection in their facility.
Infection control spending set to increase
When asked about spending, nearly two out of three DICs (63 percent) said they plan to increase spending on infection control in 2006. Of those who project an increase:

-- 25 percent plan to increase spending by 1 to 5 percent
-- 32 percent plan to increase spending by 6 to 10 percent
-- 25 percent plan to increase spending by 11 to 24 percent
-- 18 percent plan to increase spending by 25 percent or more

Avian flu, ebola, anthrax concern healthcare workers
Illustrating the concern over U.S. preparedness for bioterrorism and pandemic-related diseases, 83 percent of DICs said the United States is either unprepared or very unprepared for avian flu. Ebola was second with 72 percent; 61 percent felt the country is unprepared or very unprepared for the plague; 58 percent said smallpox; and 48 percent think the country is unprepared for anthrax. However, the majority of those surveyed (52 percent) said methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) caused them the most worry.

About the survey
Conducted in May, the 2006 U.S. Study of Needlestick Injuries and Safety Devices is based on an online, nationwide survey of U.S. directors of infection control and nurses.

Of the 147 DIC participants:

-- 35 percent have been a director of infection control for fewer than 5 years
-- 34 percent for 5 to 10 years
-- 11 percent for 11 to 15 years
-- 22 percent for more than 15 years

Of the 188 nurses surveyed:

-- 14 percent have been a nurse for fewer than 5 years
-- 23 percent have been nurses for 5 to 10 years
-- 12 percent have been nurses for 11 to 15 years
-- 51 percent have been nurses for more than 15 years

The research was conducted by Atlanta-based Arketi Group.

Study Shows How buyers Use Business Media

2006-06-27T18:02:00.000-04:00

Source: BtoBonline.com

New York—Nearly six in 10 executives surveyed say an advertisement in a b-to-b magazine prompted them to purchase or recommend the purchase of a product or service, according to new research released Wednesday by American Business Media.

ABM commissioned Harris Interactive to research how media “end-users” (readers, event attendees and online participants) use business media in their decision-making. Harris conducted phone surveys from February to April. The study garnered 588 responses from executives in the 21 advertising categories tracked by the Business Information Network, including banking, financial and insurance, computing, software and telecommunications, business advertising and marketing, and health care.

According to the study, b-to-b trade shows play a prominent role in driving executives to seek additional information either on a company’s Web site (77%), by talking to a sales rep (73%) or calling a toll-free number (40%).

Perhaps more important, 70% of respondents said they purchased or recommended the purchase of a product or service directly as a result of advertising/promotion at a trade show. Fifty-two percent of respondents said b-to-b media should be an important part of an integrated sales initiative, while 36% said it should be somewhat important.

ABM President-CEO Gordon Hughes II said in a news release that the study “speaks to the fact that print, digital platforms and face-to-face events complement each other when it comes to brand image and lead generation.”

The findings were released at a news conference at Bloomberg headquarters in New York.

Oversight Systems’ Financial Executive Survey Shows Enterprise Risk Plagues Corporate America, Despite Confidence in Risk Preparation

2006-06-27T17:52:00.000-04:00

(Author's note: Arketi Group worked with Oversight Systems on this research)

Oversight Systems’ Financial Executive Survey Shows Enterprise Risk Plagues Corporate America, Despite Confidence in Risk PreparationStudy also finds financial executives support regulations for executive compensation, hedge funds

ATLANTA (June 26, 2006) – Companies are embracing the concept of enterprise risk management but continue to struggle with implementation according to the findings in the 2006 Oversight Systems Report on Risk Management. The national survey of financial executives released today also found room for improvement in the way companies assess, manage and prevent risk.

The report (available free at www.oversightsystems.com/survey) indicates that nearly half of companies surveyed (43 percent) report having faced "significant operational surprises" during the last year.

Executives recognize the value of enterprise risk management with 58 percent of financial executives reporting that their company has an enterprise risk management approach and philosophy that considers various interactions among different types of risk. Identical to the 2005 findings, this year 68 percent of financial executives say their CEO is placing greater emphasis on holistic management of all types of risk. However, it appears many critical elements of enterprise risk management are still not in place in corporate America.

"Clearly, executives see a need for better risk management because companies are getting burned on a regular basis," said Dana Hermanson, Dinos Eminent Scholar Chair of Private Enterprise at Kennesaw State University. Hermanson is also an advisor to Oversight Systems. "We still see a gap between top management believing that their company employs enterprise risk management and the reality that they are not pushing ERM down through the organization with awareness and training."

Only 33 percent of financial executives say their company has formally trained executives and business line managers to assess the probability of various types of risk, down from 35 percent last year. In addition, 41 percent of financial executives say their company has a widely communicated definition of risk, down from 45 percent in 2005.

"Financial executives and businesses are beginning to embrace the concepts of enterprise risk management, but implementation and effectiveness are still in their infancy," said Mark S. Beasley, professor of accounting and director of the Enterprise Risk Management Initiative at North Carolina State University. Beasley is also an advisor to Oversight Systems. "While a majority say they take a top-down approach to risk management, many are not very sophisticated in their risk management abilities."

Perhaps a cause for this drop in they way organizations view risk management is an apparent decreased pressure from key stakeholders to manage risk. In 2005, 58 percent of respondents reported they faced such pressures, while in 2006 only 52 percent felt this way.

Enterprise Risk by Business FunctionA bright spot in the research study is that financial executives polled reported across the board increases in enterprise risk preparedness during 2006 over 2005. In fact,

85 percent feel prepared for financial-reporting risk, up from 78 percent in 2005
84 percent feel prepared for credit/market risk, up from 68 percent in 2005
80 percent feel prepared for compliance risk, up from 59 percent in 2005
77 percent feel prepared for strategic risk, up from 54 percent in 2005
58 percent feel prepared for human capital/labor risk, up from 56 percent in 2005

"After completing their exhaustive work to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley, individuals should feel confident in their controls that address enterprise risk," Oversight Systems CEO Patrick Taylor said. "However, risk management must be implemented across organizations, and forward-thinking executives are examining the role of technology to facilitate enterprise risk management in their day-to-day operations."

Although more than a quarter of executives (29 percent) say technology has no role in their company’s overall risk management, the majority see technology as helpful to their risk management objectives. Nearly a third (31 percent) say technology is used in their organizations to identify existing risk; 24 percent say technology is used to identify existing risk and project future risk; and 16 percent say they use technology to identify existing risk, project future risk and reduce risk.

Ownership of Enterprise RiskOwnership of risk is still clearly a C-Suite job according to those surveyed. Eighty-six percent identified a senior executive with explicit responsibility for overseeing the management of all risk across the enterprise. The CFO was named by 44 percent, the CEO by 20 percent and 8 percent said the Chief Risk Officer.

"With Sarbanes-Oxley, we’ve seen a big shift away from the finance-oriented CFO and back toward the accountant CFO, but this survey shows that your CFO can’t just be a bean counter. Your CFO must also understand risk management," Hermanson said.

Risk Management & Sarbanes-OxleyThe idea of risk management is also working its way into Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Almost a third (30 percent) of financial executives surveyed said their internal controls audits – as required by Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) – employed more of a risk-based approach to evaluating control effectiveness. However, 33 percent said their company saw no significant change during its second year of compliance with the regulation. Eighteen percent said they had a greater reliance on technology to monitor the effectiveness of internal controls.

View on Executive Compensation Control When asked about the role of regulating executive compensation, a clear majority of financial executives (82 percent) were in support of some kind of Securities and Exchange Commission guidance. According to financial executives surveyed:

64 percent say companies should explicitly report post-employment agreement on compensation (i.e., golden parachutes)
58 percent say companies should explicitly report the dollar value of all non-cash and non-stock compensation and benefits greater than $10,000 (i.e., private use of corporate jet, use of residential real estate, etc.)
56 percent say companies should explicitly report the dollar value of stock grants and potential future stock grants
13 percent say no executive should receive total compensation greater the a set multiple of the company’s median compensation

Hedging Personal Investment RiskTurning from corporate risk to personal investment risk, the survey also asked financial executives about their feelings on hedge funds. Extremely popular today, hedge funds now number more than 8,000. The growth of these largely unregulated investment vehicles has been considerable, more than quadrupling their assets since 1999, today hedge funds manage close to $1 trillion.

Nearly all respondents (92 percent) feel leery about hedge funds, reporting they do not have any of their personal funds invested in hedge funds. Accordingly, 94 percent of respondents feel hedge funds should be required to have a higher-level of transparency. Respondents report that hedge funds should annually be required to report:

Portfolio breakdown – by asset type, market cap and industry allocations (65 percent)
Number of positions – the percentage of the portfolio in each of the top 10 positions and identification of these holdings (53 percent)
Leverage – both at the time of the audit and the maximum amount used at any point during the year (52 percent)

About the 2006 Oversight Systems Financial Executive Report on RiskA total of 230 financial executives participated in this study, which was conducted at a number of executive-level conferences during March and April of 2006. Titles of those surveyed included chief financial officer, chief audit executive, controller, internal audit director and treasurer.

This study follows the January release of the 2006 Oversight Systems Financial Executive Report on Sarbanes-Oxley, which identified growing benefits of SOX compliance and specific compliance goals for 2006. Also recently released was the 2005 Oversight Systems Report on Corporate Fraud, a survey of certified fraud examiners which found most fraud examiners view SOX as an effective tool in fraud identification, though few think it will change the culture of business leaders. All these research studies can be downloaded for free by visiting www.oversightsystems.com/survey.

About Oversight SystemsOversight takes continuous controls monitoring to the next level by combining controls testing with a real-time transaction inspection to identify the problems in a business process. Oversight’s platform automates the entire life cycle of finding problems in business processes, fixing those problems and proving the problems were resolved. By inspecting each step of individual transactions across systems, Oversight identifies all errors and control violations, drives defect-free processes and sustains Sarbanes-Oxley compliance at reduced costs. For more information, visit www.oversightsystems.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Camera-ready charts and graphs of the findings from the 2006 Oversight Systems Report on Risk Management are available by contacting Brian Moran by phone at 404-920-2039 or by email at brian.moran@oversightsystems.com.

Mobile TV Subscribers Grow to More Than Two Million in the U.S.

2006-06-20T12:04:00.000-04:00

Source: http://www.mediapost.com/research/index.cfm

Mobile TV Creating New Demographic Appeal

Telephia, a measurement information provider to the mobile industry, announced research that shows that more than two million, or 1.4 percent, of the U.S. wireless user base subscribed to a mobile video plan during the first quarter of 2006. The average U.S. mobile TV subscriber spends $40 a month more on wireless services than non-TV subscribers.

Sid Gorham, President and CEO, Telephia, notes that "Mobile TV represents a huge revenue opportunity for companies in all parts of the communications and entertainment value chain."
Telephia research shows that the Hispanic and Black/African-American demographic groups made up 23 and 19 percent of the mobile TV subscriber base in the U.S. during Q1 2006, respectively. This is approximately double the share these groups represent of the broader mobile user population.

"The early popularity of mobile TV with these groups continues the demographic trend we see in the adoption of all advanced mobile data services" said Gorham. "Mobile TV will allow marketers to reach this audience with a wide range of innovative advertising and commerce approaches."

Demographics of Mobile TV Subscribers, Wireless and Non-Subscribers (U.S.)

White
47% Mobile TV Subscribers
72% Wireless Subscribers
76% Non-Subscribers

Hispanic
23% Mobile TV Subscribers
10% Wireless Subscribers
8% Non-Subscribers

Black/African-American
19%Mobile TV Subscribers
11% Wireless Subscribers
8% Non-Subscribers

Asian or Pacific Islander
7%Mobile TV Subscribers
2% Wireless Subscribers
2% Non-Subscribers

Do Mobile Phones Challenge the Pollster's Art?

2006-06-01T18:10:00.000-04:00

An interesting study...

From: Emarketer.com

Do Mobile Phones Challenge the Pollster's Art?

It was a famous moment in political history, and an infamous moment in polling history.

On the night of November 2nd, 1948, Harry Truman went to bed convinced he would lose the election for President of the United States to Thomas Dewey. Virtually every opinion poll in the country had predicted Dewey would win in a landslide and newspaper headlines from coast to coast proclaimed a Republican victory.

But they were wrong. "Give-'em-hell" Harry had won.

For the both journalists and pollsters, it was a shock and an embarrassment. As the Alsop brothers wrote in their newspaper column shortly afterwards:

"There is only one question on which professional politicians, poll takers, political reporters and other wiseacres and prognosticators can any longer speak with much authority. That is how they want their crow cooked. These particular reporters prefer their crow fricasseed."

In the ensuing half century, polling has gone through many changes and modifications to become a far better predictor of events. But much of that learning and expertise may now be in danger of becoming outmoded all because of mobile phones.

A new survey from the Pew Research Center, shows that not only are many Americans now relying solely on their mobile phones for telephone service, many more are considering giving up their landline phones. As the report says, "This trend presents a challenge to public opinion polling, which typically relies on a random sample of the population of landline subscribers."

Uh, oh!

According to the US Consumer Expenditure Survey from the Department of Labor (DoL), the percentage of households paying a mobile phone bill but not a landline bill rose from 0.4% in 2000 to 7.8% in the first quarter of 2005, and later in 2005 the National Health Interview (NCHS) survey also estimated that 7.8% of adults lived in households with only a mobile phone.

Pew estimates that Americans who rely solely on their mobile phones now make up between 7% and 9% of the population and they are significantly different from landline users in many ways. They are younger, less affluent, less likely to be married or to own their home and they are more liberal on many political questions.

To access whether these differences affect polling outcomes, Pew, in conjunction with the Associated Press and AOL compared cell phone only and landline random digit dial surveys. The project entailed a survey of over 1,500 US adults, half interviewed in a conventional landline sample and half interviewed on their cell phones. The interviews were conducted in March of 2006.

Somewhat surprisingly, despite these differences in the two populations, the study found that the absence of mobile-only users from traditional telephone surveys had only a minimal impact on the results.

The Pew researchers concluded that "including cell-only respondents with those interviewed from a standard landline sample, and weighting the resulting combined sample to the full US public demographically, changes the overall results of the poll by no more than one percentage point on any of nine key political questions included in the study."

For more detailed findings from the Pew Research Center study, click here.

Pew: 35 Percent of Web Users Generate Online Content

2006-05-31T09:05:00.000-04:00

Source: http://www.marketingvox.com

There is a significant statistical association between creating online content and having a broadband connection at home, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project's "Home Broadband Adoption 2006" report, according to ClickZ. Some 48 million American adults - 35 percent of U.S. internet users - have posted some sort of user-generated content online. Some 73 percent of them, or 31 million, have a broadband connection at home.

John Horrigan, associate director of research at Pew Internet & American Life Project, is quoted as saying the study "shows that people are pretty interested in using the technology to put something of themselves on the internet, not just pull down information from the internet."

"Online content comes more often from younger people, but we do find that older people are sharing photos and videos," said Horrigan. "It's disseminated fairly evenly throughout the broadband population at this point."

According to the report: "Today, with 42 percent of Americans with having home high-speed, user-generated content is much less the realm of only a certain class of home broadband users. Online men are still more likely to post content online than women - by a 37 percent to 32 percent margin for all internet users and a narrower 43 percent to 39 percent gap for broadband users. When focusing on sharing a personal creation online (e.g., artwork, photos, stories, or videos), 34 percent of men have done this versus 29 percent of women."

Survey: Online Marketers Not Yet into Emerging Media

2006-05-31T08:48:00.000-04:00

From: www.marketingvox.com

Although some marketers have expressed interest in new web channels such as social networks and videogames, most don't plan to use them in the next year, according to a Forrester Research survey of 253 interactive marketers, reports AdWeek (via MediaBuyerPlanner). Marketers are apparently reluctant to shift from more familiar online channels such as search and email.

Some 72 percent of marketers said they don't have plans to advertise in videogames in the next year, and 57 percent said they wouldn't use mobile advertising in the next year. Only 13 percent reported using blogs or social networks in their marketing efforts, and 49 percent said they don't plan to do so during the next year.

"There's curiosity but not a lot of activity," said Shar VanBoskirk, a Forrester analyst. For the moment, marketers are "not ready or don't have the resources or haven't thought through how it works for their business," she said.

Nearly three of four marketers said they either use or plan to try behavioral targeting in the next year, and 69 percent said the same for contextual targeting.

Mobile Search Is Moving On Up

2006-05-27T10:15:00.000-04:00

Find it on your phone...

Everyone knows how search advertising is driving the growth of online advertising. Now mobile search may be positioned to do the same for wireless ad revenues.

According to new figures from JumpTap, a provider of mobile search technology, mobile carriers saw revenue increases of 8% last month on mobile search. Click-through rates on mobile searches of 36% and a 4% increase in unique users are fueling revenue growth, with the average revenue per search increasing to $2.73.

Tracking the recent trends in mobile search metrics, following searches for individual music artists, with searches for Eminen leading the list, JumpTap found that the most queries were concentrated in the ringtone and adult content categories.

Top 100 Mobile Search Terms in the U.S. (April 2006)

58% Artists

12% Adult

8% Games

5% Sports

5% Television

7% Misc.

The query categories that showed the fastest growth were TV programs, theme songs, weather and temperature and sports.

Source: eMarketer.com

Executives Not Quite Hot to Blog

2006-05-27T10:13:00.000-04:00

From eMarketer.com

MAY 23, 2006Blogosphere, smogosphere.

A recent poll conducted by Harris Interactive, and sponsored by Makovsky + Company, the "2006 State of Corporate Blogging" survey, found that Fortune 1000 business executives are reacting slowly to the idea of corporate blogs as a communications medium.

The study found that only a small minority of top executives are convinced that corporate blogging is growing in credibility either as a communications medium, brand-building technique or a sales or lead generation tool.

"Executives at top companies are slow to come to grips with recognizing [blogs'] importance in building a dialogue with customers and other stakeholders — including critics," said Robbin Goodman of Makovsky + Company.

Blogs have a long way to go before becoming widely accepted corporate marketing tools. According to the survey even though 12% of senior executives say their companies have taken legal or other action in response to a blog, only 20% report having a formal process in place for monitoring blogs written about their own company.

In fact, only 30% of senior executives report that they have a thorough understanding of the term "Internet blog."

Ms. Goodman believes this lag in corporate attitudes toward blogs should be addressed.

"Whether they are used to demonstrate expertise, share knowledge, improve customer satisfaction levels, support a product brand or burnish a company's reputation, blogs should be an essential element of every corporation's communications strategy," she said.

Hot Off The Press...eMarketer Podcast!

2006-05-17T09:24:00.000-04:00

Tired of reading your eMarketer Daily email? Well now you don't have to you.

The new podcast, launched today, features Mary Ellen O'Brian who reads you the daily update. She has a nice voice and the production quality is solid.

However, I could do without the commercials and it would be nice if the podcast gave this listeners MORE information than just reading the eMarketer Daily articles. In that regard the podcast is lacking some punch, but I bet it will evolve to do just that in the coming segments. KUDOS for eMarketer for “just doing it!”

Copy the following link to the podcast section of your podcatcher to subscribe: http://www.emarketer.com/podcast/emarketerdaily.xml?aff=podcast&WT.mc_n=podcast&WT.mc_t=feed&WT.mc_r=365

Give it a listen and let us know what you think.

On a related note we at Arketi Group are proud to say our podcast, Arketi B2B Marketing Minute, is current ranked Number 1 on iTunes, in terms of both popularity and relevance, among the B2B Marketing podcasts. You can learn more about the B2B Marketing Minute at www.arketi.com/minute and can subscribe to the podcast by pasting the following link in your podcatcher: http://www.arketi.com/b2bminute.rss

Doctors, Dentists and Nurses Most Trusted Professionals to Give Advice

2006-05-16T18:42:00.000-04:00

Doctors, Dentists and Nurses Most Trusted Professionals to Give Advice, According to Harris Poll of U.S. Adults

Different professions vary greatly in how much they are trusted to give their clients or patients good advice. According to a recent Harris Poll measuring U.S. adults' trust in 11 different professions to give advice that is best for them, the professionals trusted completely by the greatest number of adults are doctors (50%), dentists (47%), and nurses (46%). At the other end of the list, those with the fewest adults saying they trust them completely are stockbrokers (6%), real estate agents (7%) and insurance agents (9%). Read the entire poll results.

Media or Government, Who Do You Trust?

2006-05-11T11:56:00.000-04:00

For some RICH and DEEP data click on the GlobeScan release to see the full findings...

Source: emarketer.com

TV and online news tell it like it is.

A new poll of over 10,000 people by GlobeScan, designed to determine how much, or how little, people trust the media, was conducted in ten nations: Brazil, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, India, Nigeria, Russia, South Korea, the UK and the US.

Sponsored by the BBC, the Media Center and Reuters (and therefore unlikely to cast the media in a bad light), the poll found that 82% of the respondents felt national television was their most trusted news source.

Overall, though there were differences country to country, TV was the most trusted news source, followed by national/regional newspapers at a 75% trust level, local newspapers at 69%, public radio at 67% and international satellite TV at 56%. Internet blogs were the least trusted source at only 25%.

No matter what the source, in general two out of three people (65%) believe that the news is reported accurately, but 57% believe governments interfere too much with the media and only 42% think journalists can report freely.

Nigerians believed most strongly that government interferes too much in the media (75%) followed by South Korea (71%), Brazil (64%), Indonesia (59%), Britain (58%) and India (56%). Sadly, in the US, where "freedom of the press" has long been a long-held tenet, 52% of the respondents now say the government interferes too much in the news.

More people trust the media than their governments. Media is trusted by an average of 61% compared to 52% for governments across the countries polled. But the US bucked the trend — with government ahead of media on trust (67% vs 59%) along with the UK (51% vs 47%).

Overall, trust in the media varies across the 10 countries, with the greatest trust expressed in developing countries — where trust in national governments tends to be low — such as Nigeria (88% have a lot or some trust), Indonesia, India, and Egypt.

Interestingly, American, at 59%, and Russians, at 58%, express nearly equal levels of trust in their media "to operate in the best interests of society."

Over three out of four respondents (77%) prefer to check several news sources instead of relying on just one, and that was especially true for Internet users.

The poll found that more younger people use online sources, as it was rated the first choice among 19% of people ages 18-24 compared to just 3% in the 55-64 age range. But overall 56% valued the opportunity to obtain news online, with South Koreans being the most enthusiastic at 85%. Britain was at 57% and the US at 60%.

Gender, Generation and Jobs Influence WOM Marketing Strategies

2006-05-10T08:01:00.000-04:00

A new study by Lucid Marketing marketing, titled, "U.S. Adults: Word of Mouth Communications," found that women were more likely than men to share a positive experience with a business (91% to 83%) or recommend an enjoyable product (95% to 89%). And, full time employees made substantially more daily contacts than those not in the workforce, while those with household earnings of more than $100,000 were more likely to make recommendations than those earning less. The study showed that women tend to prefer verbal communications to other forms of contact, whereas men tend to prefer email.

Kevin Burke, President of Lucid Marketing, said "The study supported many of our notions about reaching consumers through WOM and surprised us in others." He added that there are a number of interrelated consumer trends that are fueling the growth of WOM as a marketing tool. The Internet empowers consumers and accelerates the flow of information and communications like never before. Other factors include the diminishing effectiveness of mass marketing, rising consumer distrust of advertising, and greater emphasis by marketers in targeting their best customers.

The report contained highlights, conclusions and marketing recommendations:

Full time employees make as many daily contacts as part time employees and stay-at-homers combined.
Stay-at-homers tend to make more daily visits to chat rooms and message boards
There seems to be no apparent increase in WOM activity for people with incomes from $75,000 to $90,000. The results showed an acceleration in WOM likelihood for households earning $100,000 and above
49% of Gen Y have built a website and one quarter have their own blog
Gen X and Boomers tend to use email more often and are more likely to spread positive WOM
SilverBirds have more activity in message boards and chat rooms than Boomers and nearly equal activity to Gen X. This is likely due to their desire to reconnect with family and friends, and to discuss health, medical and other issues of aging with peers and professionals

The study may be accessed for free here.

Source: Center for Media Research

Majority of U.S. Adults Say Wall Street Benefits the Country

2006-05-09T18:09:00.000-04:00

Almost three-quarters (73%) of U.S. adults say that Wall Street and what it does benefits the country (22 percent say it benefits the country "a lot", half (51%) say "somewhat"). This compares to less than one-quarter (23%) who say it harms the country (17% say "somewhat", 6% say "a lot").

This overall perception of Wall Street is slightly better than it was three years ago, when 68 percent said it benefited the country and only 16 percent said Wall Street harmed the country.

Yet, it is still down from the all-time high in 1997 when 80 percent of adults said Wall Street benefited the country.

Source: Harris Poll Weekly

Americans Look into the Crystal Ball: What is Likely to Happen in the Next 10 Years?

2006-05-09T18:03:00.000-04:00

May 9, 2006:
A new Harris Poll finds that about half of all U.S. adults think it is likely or very likely that there will be a major new war involving many American soldiers (52%) or a major terrorist attack like 9/11 in the United States (49%) in the next 10 years.

Slightly fewer adults (45%) think that it is likely or very likely that Social Security benefits will be eliminated or sharply reduced, while slightly more than one-third (35%) think it likely or very likely that we will see a woman become president.

Approximately one in six (16%) thinks it is likely or very likely that there will be a stock market crash like the one that happened in 1929.

Source: Harris Poll Weekly

Trust catching up with media technology: poll

2006-05-04T19:28:00.000-04:00

Wed May 3, 2006 5:08 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - National television is the most trusted news source, ahead of newspapers and public radio, but the Internet is gaining ground, especially among the young, according to a major worldwide survey of trust in the media.

The poll, conducted in 10 countries by GlobeScan on behalf of Reuters, the BBC and the Media Center, found that 82 percent of 10,230 adults questioned rated national television as their most trusted news source overall.

That compared with 75 percent who trusted national or regional newspapers, 67 percent who said they trusted public radio and 56 percent who opted for international satellite television.
Despite the popularity of the Internet in more developed countries and the emergence of "web-logging" or blogging, neither fared well in the survey, according to Globescan President Doug Miller.

"The Internet is gaining ground among the young," he said. "The jury is still out on 'blogs' -- just as many people distrust them as trust them," he told Reuters.

The research found that just 25 percent of respondents said they trusted blogs, while 23 percent said they did not trust them.

Dean Wright, Managing Editor of consumer media at Reuters, said he believed blogs would eventually come of age, as newspapers themselves once did.

Wright added: "It's a relatively recent phenomenon that people believe what's written in a newspaper. One hundred years ago, newspapers were incredibly partisan: they were the blogosphere of their day.

"There are already blogs that people trust and quality will win out once people realize which ones they can trust."

MARCH OF DEMOGRAPHICS
According to the research, television is still seen as the most "important" news source (56 percent), followed by newspapers (21 percent), Internet (9 percent) and radio (9 percent).
Miller said that although the Internet attracted a lesser score than television or newspapers, it was possible to see a clear change afoot in public attitudes.

He added: "The poll clearly shows that the march of demographics will occur vis-à-vis online sources of news."

Online sources were, for example, the first choice among 19 percent aged between 18 and 24, compared to just 3 percent in the 55-64 age range.

"But although it is changing, our research perhaps suggests that this change in Internet usage may not be as fast as some who have been investing in it believe," Miller said.

Rolling news television stations have also come of age, he believes.

Americans who were asked to name their most trusted specific news sources plumped for Fox News (mentioned by 11 percent) and CNN (also 11 percent), with others some way behind. ABC, for example, was chosen by 4 percent, as was NBC.

Miller said the brands chosen did not simply reflect trust.

"Trust has a number of elements," he added. "It is not just about objectivity but about a sense of what people most use, what they like.

"Clearly there is a loyal audience for Fox and CNN but the figures themselves are modest."

New US Business Elite Survey Shows Senior Business Executives Responsible For Over $1 Trillion Annual Expenditure

2006-05-04T08:07:00.000-04:00

Style Conscious Businessmen With Passion For The High-Tech Possessions Also Give Work-Life Balance Top Priority

USBRS 2006, Ipsos Media’s new survey looking at the media consumption and buying power of key decision-makers at the highest end of the business spectrum in the US, estimates senior business executives are involved in decision making worth over $1.2 trillion dollars a year. Key areas of responsibility measured amongst this select group of individuals includes; IT, telecommunications, office and industrial equipment, financial and insurance services, automobiles and business services.

In addition USBRS 2006 also demonstrates that US Senior Business Executives thirst for knowledge can only be satisfied when using all of the available media providers. Senior Executives turn to network TV for entertainment; cable TV first for breaking news and sport; believe national newspapers have the best journalists and reliable reporting; and turn to business magazines first for business news.

Internet use is still growing. Not only do one fifth of these top business executives use the internet as their first port of call for business news; it is also the most popular first step to gleaning financial news, used by 24 per cent of this group, information on financial markets, 26 per cent, personal finance, 30 per cent, and technology, 23 per cent.

However, while nearly two thirds, 65 per cent, of the mostly C-level audience questioned, spend more time reading business information online than in the past, this doesn’t seem to be having a negative impact on print readership, with over two thirds, 68 per cent, believing the internet is an important part of a business publication’s overall offering. While using a publication’s website is yet to become part of the daily routine of two thirds of this audience, clearly there is a real opportunity for publishing houses to build on this consumption.

Surveying the media habits of the US’s most influential decision-makers across TV, print and websites, the survey paints a picture of news hungry, internet-savvy executives - 92 per cent like to keep up with the latest news - for whom a real cross section of media has a role to play.
Network TV is the most popular source for US and political news; cable TV is sought after for foreign / international and entertainment news; the local paper is the best source for sports; and business magazines provide the most management / career development information.

Simon Staplehurst, associate director at Ipsos MORI Media, commented:
“With top business executives hungry for information to fuel their business lives and personal desire to stay ‘on the pulse’, there’s room out there for a whole range of media channels. The challenge for publishers and broadcasters is to recognize the individual role each medium plays and tailor the news and information offered accordingly to ensure it adds value and is compelling, be it on an instant by instant, day by day, weekly or monthly basis”.

Local papers hold sway in US
The survey also highlights the importance of local newspapers to the businessman’s media mix. Nearly a fifth, 19 per cent, cited this channel as having the most actionable and the most credible advertising, (compared to the internet at just three per cent), and the most informative advertising, 16 per cent.

The Wall Street Journal rules the roost amongst national dailies – read by over two fifths, 46 per cent, of the audience; followed by USA Today, thirty per cent, and the New York Times, 14 per cent. Businessweek and Newsweek are jointly most popular weeklies, both read by one fifth of the group.

On the internet, CNN is the most popular website at 11 per cent, followed by MSNBC, eight per cent.

The power of advertising
With sizeable incomes and lists of possessions that read like an upmarket shopping catalogue this audience is an obvious target for advertisers. Possessions range from the high tech, with 57 per cent of businessmen owning portable laptops or notebook computers, 37 per cent hand held or palm top computers, 35 per cent plasma screen or LCD TVs, 29 per cent a blackberry, and 32 per cent an iPod or MP3 player; to the luxury, with 31 per cent owning fine wine or champagne and 23 per cent premium liquor.

The good news, according to the survey, is that this group is open to advertising aimed at them in both their business and their social capacities. Nearly three quarters, 74 per cent, openly admit to being influenced by advertising in their personal lives, while 68 per cent claim the same in regards to their professional purchasing. 72 per cent also admit to getting ideas of what to buy from newspapers, magazines and TV and over half, 51 per cent, of this group claim to have purchased a product after seeing it advertised on the internet.

With over half the audience describing themselves as style conscious, an affinity with well-known brands is perhaps not unexpected. When asked about lifestyle purchases, 92 per cent say they are prepared to pay more for quality, 75 per cent prefer to buy well-known brands, and 80 per cent prefer to use well established products.

Attitudes differ slightly when it comes to this audience’s working life however: 44 per cent are not concerned whether major suppliers are well known names or brands, and just over half, 51 per cent, don’t need their CEO to have heard of the supplier.

Work isn’t everything
Despite painting a picture of hardworking business enthusiasts – 83 per cent are not afraid of taking business risks - work-life balance is also a priority for these executives, with the majority, 74 per cent, making sure work doesn’t stop them spending time with their friends and family; and over half, 56 per cent, claiming their career is not their top priority.

This penchant for enjoying their leisure time is also evidenced in the way American business leaders spend their money. Over a quarter, 29 per cent, enjoy sports club memberships and a similar number, 26 per cent, are members of a golf club. A fifth own their own vacation home; 14 per cent their own yacht or boat; and 19 per cent have taken a holiday in the last 12 months costing $3,000 or more per person.

Simon Staplehurst, associate director at Ipsos MORI Media, commented:
“This is the first time a survey has taken such a comprehensive snapshot of the business elite in the US. The survey helps to highlight subtle nuances between businessmen in the US and elsewhere in the world and promises to be an invaluable tool to advertisers, planners and buyers and to the publishers and broadcasters themselves as they steer content over the months ahead.”

The PC To Be Challenged By Competing Digital Platforms For Supremacy In Tomorrow’s “Digital Den”

2006-05-04T08:04:00.000-04:00

As More Americans Experiment With Digital Media, Television Peripherals Such As The Digital Video Recorder And Dedicated Game Console Are Emerging As Legitimate Competitors To The PC As The Preferred Digital Entertainment Platform In The Home

New York, NY – Today, the personal computer remains the dominant hardware platform consumers rely on to access the Internet in the U.S., and has been instrumental in launching the age of digital media into mainstream America. However, as the entertainment industry prepares for the growing interest in digital video and gaming services to complement digital music, recent research conducted by Ipsos Insight shows that some more avid media consumers prefer other hardware platforms to explore this next stage of the digital entertainment evolution. In related research, the company also found that Americans don’t have a huge appetite for replacing old entertainment options with new ones. Watching movies and TV content on the PC or portable devices is not exciting to mainstream America yet.

As part of a wider survey of online U.S. adults about digital entertainment, most Americans today (88%) use some form of device that can display and/or deliver digital entertainment content (i.e., beyond basics such as a TV, or dial-up Internet connection from home). Among this majority of ‘digital platform’ users, three in five (61%) prefer their broadband-equipped PC for digital entertainment purposes, dominating user preference for other devices such as cell phones (13%), video game consoles (10%), and Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) like TiVo (8%).

However, among those who regularly use a DVR, preference for the DVR (37%) is on par with the broadband-enabled PC (39%). Console gamers also reported some degree of preference for their gaming consoles (31%) for personal entertainment usage in comparison to the PC (43%).
PC vs. DVR vs. Game Console: Which will win the home?

All of this seems to suggest that as digital video and gaming content enter more American living rooms, the PC may not be the silver bullet to drive trial and adoption of these emerging digital forms, particularly among early adopters. Todd Board, Senior Vice President of the Ipsos Insight Technology & Communications practice, says that device and content players need to carefully evaluate how they approach going to market with emerging digital content plays. “While music lovers have adopted the PC as a primary device to tap into the digital medium, to assume the PC will play a similar role for avid fans of video and games may be premature, or at least simplistic. Those who have already adopted the DVR and game console clearly have forged a strong bond with these devices, and have ‘marked’ themselves as avid consumers of higher-engagement multimedia experiences.”

One potential scenario is that the markets for both games and video could eventually become segmented based upon the preferred method of consumption, with many consumers tapping into different modes for different content experiences. For example, content that is most preferably consumed in the living room – referred to as the ’10-foot’ experience – may be driven more by the set-top box, DVR or game console given their current legacy with consumers. An example of this type of richer, more immersive content would be full-featured games, full-length motion pictures, or sporting events. Conversely, topical content with a short shelf-life, or a less immersive nature, such as digital video clips and podcasts (already dominant in today’s video offerings online via sites like YouTube and Grouper) could continue to prosper along a more PC-centric stream. Today, the market for digital video is best positioned to deliver this ‘2-foot’ experience, as users can view this content on their PC or a portable media device. Says Board, “Based on our data, consumers who today prefer their gaming console or DVR over the PC are basically telegraphing something about their preferred digital content experiences. As yet more options emerge – think of cable provider DVRs, Google Video, or the Yahoo Go TV now in beta – it will remain important to think in terms of consumer preferences for different digital content experiences, in understanding their apparent preferences for different digital platforms. Likewise, we also need to distinguish between the preferred modes of access, consumption, and storage of digital content, in understanding the evolution of this broader space.”

Traditional Video Consumption Modes Will Remain (For Now)
In addition to probing consumers on their device preferences, the recent Ipsos study also asked Americans whether they anticipate a year from now spending more, less or about the same amount of time conducting a number of different entertainment activities. Surprisingly, despite the rapid growth in awareness of and interest in the digital medium, most consumers believe they will spend even more time a year from now using established channels to consume music, movies, television and games. For example, roughly one in four adults today (24%) anticipates spending more time a year from now then they do today watching movies on DVD they own, while just 6-7% of Americans feel they will increase the amount to time they spend watching movies on the Internet, or on portable devices, a year from now. So while traditional methods may be appear to be losing their luster to the buzz around newer digital distribution methods, many Americans still love watching live TV programming, going out to the movie theater and playing video games from the rental store.

Board concludes, “The data reflect the reality that most consumers don’t have some huge appetite for replacing old entertainment options with new ones – rather, at this point a minority of consumers are intrigued by additional options. Watching movies and TV on the PC or portable devices is not exciting to mainstream America yet, as most consumers overwhelmingly prefer the ’10-foot’ experience for video content. The key to driving the digital medium into the living room hinges on simplicity, and enabling this 10-foot experience for enjoying web-driven video content. To some extent this hinges on greater consumer awareness and comfort with the full power of the extendable media center PC, the Xbox 360, and set-top and web-driven DVR plays. A huge question, though, is how many consumers are willing to bother modifying their desktop PC space to make that more conducive to the 10-foot experience – or to bother configuring device connections to pipe digital content to their TV. And as more American households adopt powerful notebooks and WiFi for traditionally PC-centric activity, this will remain a fluid question.”

Methodology
This study was conducted with a representative sample of 1,063 online adults from the entire U.S. online adult population (18+). This yields results which are accurate to within +/-3.01% at the 95% confidence level. Data were gathered using the Ipsos U.S. Online Express from April 6-10, 2006.

To learn more about U.S. Online Express, please visit: http://www.ipsos-pa.com/pa/us/usexpress-online.cfm

Blog, Podcast and RSS Advertising Surge AheadAPRIL

2006-05-04T07:58:00.000-04:00

Not long ago online advertising was the "alternative" choice but now there are alternatives to it.

According to the "Blog, Podcast and RSS Advertising Outlook," from PQ Media, combined spending on the three new advertising channels rose by 198% in 2005 to a total of $20.4 million. Spending is expected to grow by another 145% in 2006 to reach nearly $50 million.

"Blog, podcast and RSS advertising are being driven by some of the same factors boosting the growth of the overall alternative media sector: continued audience fragmentation, the perceived ineffectiveness of traditional advertising, and the elusive but coveted 18-to-34-year-old demographic," said Patrick Quinn, president of PQ Media. "[They] have demonstrated an ability to reach younger demographics as well as influentials."

Looking at the component parts, PQ Media reports that blog advertising totaled $16.6 million in 2005, 81% of the total spent on the three alternatives. Podcast advertising reached a total of $3.1 million in 2005, according to the report, with RSS advertising, non-existent until mid-2005, generating $650,000 during the year.

Looking ahead, PQ Media estimates that podcast advertising will be a larger market than blog advertising by 2010, when the blog segment will comprise only 39.7%, or $300.4 million, of overall expenditures. Podcasting, projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 154.4%, is predicted to reach a total of $327.0 million in 2010. These numbers are closely in line with eMarketer's own projections, which recently put total spending on podcast advertising at a total of $300 million by 2010.

The pro-podcast viewpoint is backed up by an American Association of Advertising Agency poll conducted late last year that found that marketing executives anticipate spending more on podcast than blog advertising in the future.

PQ Media expects total spending on blog, podcast and RSS advertising to grow at a compound annual rate of 106.1% from 2005 to 2010, reaching $757.0 million in 2010. By comparison, the firm projects that other overall alternative media, including branded entertainment, digital out-of-home advertising, mobile marketing and video-on-demand marketing, will grow at a compound annual rate of 14.8% and reach $253.7 billion in 2010.

If they are right, many advertisers will be taking alternative routes to reach their customers in the next five years.

For more on the future of podcasting, read the just-published eMarketer report, Podcasting: Who's Tuning In?

The Internet's Growing Role in Life's Major Moments; Internet penetration has now reached 73% for all American adults

2006-04-27T12:53:00.000-04:00

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has recently released two new
reports:

The Internet's Growing Role in Life's Major Moments - April 19, 2006 The internet has become increasingly important to users in their everyday lives. It is also the case that for many of online Americans, the internet has become a crucial source of information at major moments and milestones in their lives. Our surveys show that 45% of internet users, or about 60 million Americans, say that the internet helped them make big decisions or negotiate their way through major episodes in their lives in the previous two years. Read the full report: http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Major%20Moments_2006.pdf

Data Memo: Internet Penetration and Impact - April 26, 2006

Over time, internet users have become more likely to note big improvements in their ability to shop and the way they pursue their hobbies and interests. A majority of internet users also consistently report that the internet helps them to do their job and improves the way the get information about health care.

While the share of internet users who report positive impacts has grown, the sheer size of the internet population also continues to increase. Surveys fielded in 2006 show that internet penetration among adults in the U.S. has hit an all-time high. While the percentage of Americans who say they use the internet has continued to fluctuate slightly, our latest survey, fielded February 15 - April 6, 2006 shows that fully 73% of respondents (about 147 million adults) are internet users, up from 66% (about 133 million adults) in our January 2005 survey. And the share of Americans who have broadband connections at home has now reached 42% (about 84 million), up from 29% (about 59 million) in January 2005.

Read the full memo: http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Internet_Impact.pdf

The Pew Internet & American Life Project is a non-profit initiative of the Pew Research Center, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts to explore the impact of the internet on children, families, communities, health care, schools, the work place, and civic/political life. The Project is non-partisan and does not advocate for any policy outcomes. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.pewinternet.org/

Use of B2B Extranets Is Up

2006-04-27T12:43:00.000-04:00

April 27, 2006 (source: eMarketer and CompTIA)

B2B extranets are supposed to be more efficient and cost less. Do they?

According to new findings from Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), business partners are relying more heavily on extranet websites to conduct e-commerce in order to cut costs. In fact they may be adding costs to the supply chain.
A CompTIA survey of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce buyers and suppliers found that 74% of them are actively using websites for at least a portion of their B2B trading. 31% said their website trading has increased over the past year.

The move to B2B extranet trading is clear. Unfortunately, the result is not what companies hoped for. More than three-quarters of them (77%) said the shift is less beneficial than other B2B trading mechanisms. Many respondents reported it has had a negative impact on efficiency, accuracy, costs and partner relationships.

The obvious implication is that migrating from electronic data integration (EDI) to managing transactions on extranet websites is having a detrimental impact on both supplier and customer operations.

Looking deeper into the problem, however, the loss of efficiency may be only short term and due to the fact that — for many companies — the shift to e-commerce is not yet complete.
Because extranet applications are not fully integrated into other company systems, they often require companies to add staff to handle manual data entry. This reliance on manual dfata transfer from one system to another increases costs as well as the risk of error. Transactions, rather than being speeded up, are slowed down as the amount of time it takes for a supplier to manually enter information into their own systems and then manually enter the response on the buyer's website is likely also greater than the time it takes to complete the same transaction with an automated system.

"Extranets are a viable trading mechanism, especially when communicating with small and medium-sized trading partners that may not have the resources to support sophisticated e-commerce systems," said David Sommer of CompTIA. "But when transaction volume is substantial the use of manual extranets can become cumbersome and costly. In high-volume scenarios some electronic data interchange is necessary for the supply chain to be efficient."
The majority of companies (92%) said their preferred mechanism for B2B trading was system-to-system electronic trading. Their reasons included improved business processes and better integration with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

"Buying companies who venture down the extranet path should establish a strategic, collaborative plan with their suppliers and discuss in detail the costs of data exchange," said Mr. Sommer. "Without such pro-active steps, the strategic sourcing initiatives instituted by buyers may eventually increase costs and errors, and reduce the amount of information shared between trading partners."

CMO Council study finds marketers out of touch with customers

2006-04-27T08:12:00.000-04:00

CMO Council study finds marketers out of touch with customers

Apr 26, 2006

Palo Alto, Calif.—Marketers still have a long way to go when it comes to understanding and interacting with customers, according to a new study by the CMO Council.The study, “Select & Connect: Strategies for Targeted Acquisition and Retention,” was based on a survey of more than 550 marketers in the first quarter.

It found that nearly 75% of marketers did not have a customer advisory board or council. Of those that do, only 6% said the board was “very critical” in product innovation.

Also, nearly 75% of marketers said they did not manage a formal online community of users or buyers, and more than 66% said they did not have a formal customer word-of-mouth program in place.

The top three factors that prevent optimal customer insight and intimacy are complexity of data and system integration, competing departmental goals and personalities, and an under-appreciation of such efforts within the company, the survey found.

By Kate Maddox, BtoB magazine

Americans view their cell phones

2006-04-25T15:45:00.000-04:00

Americans say their cell phones aid them during emergencies and fill in their free time.

But many also report driving unsafely while on their cells and they say they don’t like the new intrusions and public annoyances cell phones bring to their lives – not to mention their monthly bills.

The cell phone has become an integral and, for some, essential communications tool that has helped owners gain help in emergencies. Fully 74% of the Americans who own mobile phones say they have used their hand-held device in an emergency and gained valuable help.

Another striking impact of mobile technology is that Americans are using their cell phones to shift they way they spend their time. Some 41% of cell phone owners say they fill in free time when they are traveling or waiting for someone by making phone calls. And 44% say they wait to make most of their cell calls for the hours when they do not count against their “anytime” minutes in their basic calling plan.

At the same time, there are new challenges associated with cell phone use. More than a quarter of cell phone owners (28%) admit they sometimes do not drive as safely as they should while they use their mobile devices. Among cell phone users, men (32%) are more likely than women (25%) to admit they sometimes don’t drive as safely as they should.

Furthermore, 82% of all Americans and 86% of cell users report being irritated at least occasionally by loud and annoying cell users who conduct their calls in public places. Indeed, nearly one in ten cell phone owners (8%) admit they themselves have drawn criticism or irritated stares from others when they are using their cell phones in public.

For some, the cell phone has become so central to their communications needs that they lose track of the expenses associated with their phones. Some 36% of cell owners say they have been shocked from time to time at the size of their monthly bills.

When it comes to the features Americans would like to add to their cell phones, the desire for maps tops the charts by a clear margin. Fully 47% of cell owners say they would like this feature and 38% say they would like to have instant messages from select friends sent to their cells.

Some 24% of cell owners say they would like to use their phones to conduct searches for services such as movie listings, weather reports, and stock quotes. And a similar 24% of cell owners would like to add email to their mobile-phone functionality.

A third of cell owners (35%) already use text messaging features on their phones and another 13% would like to add that capacity to their phone.

Some 19% of cell owners say they would like to add the capacity to take still pictures to their cells.

These findings emerge in a national survey of cell phone owners by the Pew Research Center’s Pew Internet & American Life Project, the Associated Press and AOL. The findings provide a detailed picture of the role of the cell phone in modern life, including how the use of cell phones has helped people become more spontaneous and prolific in their communication patterns. Half the survey was conducted among cell phone owners on their cell phones – one of the largest such samples ever conducted.

In all, 1,503 people were surveyed between March 8 and March 28 – 752 of them on their landline phones and 751 on their cell phones. Some 1,286 cell phone users were interviewed in the sample. The overall sample and the cell-phone user sample have a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

It is likely that many of the behaviors reported here will intensify in coming years as more people become attached to and reliant on their mobile phones. Indeed, 23% of those who currently have landline phones say they are very likely or somewhat likely to convert to being only cell phone users.

Other overall findings – interruptions, deception, texting spam and “American Idol” In this survey of adult cell users, more than a third say their cell phones have enabled some type of unwelcome intrusion in their lives.

24% of cell-using adults report they often feel like they have to answer their cell phones even when it interrupts a meeting or a meal.

22% believe that “too many” people try to get in touch with them because others know they have a cell phone.

The reasons for this become clear when cell owners describe how they use their phones: Fully 52% of all cell owners say they keep their phone on all the time and 81% of cell-only users say the device is always on. At times, mobile phones are used abet some white lies: 22% of cell owners say they are not always truthful about exactly where they are when they are on the phone. Younger users are much more likely to say they are not always honest about where they are: 39% of cell users ages 18-29 say that.

Spam has invaded cell phones, too. About one in six cell owners (18%) report receiving unsolicited text messages on their phones from advertisers.

Asked if they had used their cells to vote in contests that had appeared on television, such as “American Idol,” 8% of cell owners said they had done that.

Cell phone users are split in how attuned they are to making calls at times when it is less expensive to do so. Some 41% say they try to place most of their phone calls when they know the minutes they use won’t cost them extra money, while 58% report they don’t concentrate the use of their phones to those off peak hours.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project have posted the results of a new study detailing how Americans view their cell phones. News release: http://www.pewinternet.org/press_release.asp?r=128Questionnaire: http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/Cell_questions_release.pdfReport: http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Cell_phone_study.pdf

Will the Mobile Phone become the Dominant Internet Platform?

2006-04-21T09:31:00.000-04:00

APRIL 21, 2006

It could happen…

The personal computer remains the dominant platform for accessing the Internet around the world. However, in many countries Internet access via the mobile phone is actually outpacing wireless access from a notebook PC. After all, there is a massive installed base of mobile phones globally, and wireless networks are expanding every day.

According to A.T.Kearney, while in 2004 only 36% of mobile phone users browsed the Internet or downloaded e-mail, that figure rose to 56%. In Japan 92% of users went online via their mobiles.

In a study just released, "The Face of the Web," Ipsos Insight found that 28% of mobile phone owners worldwide had browsed the Internet on a wireless handset, up slightly from 25% at the end 2004.

Brian Cruikshank of Ipsos noted, "Accessing the Internet on a wireless handheld device is no longer a novelty for consumers in the major global economies. It's becoming a common, everyday occurrence for many people."

In fact, it was the Ipsos study that posited that mobile phones are poised to become the dominant Internet platform outside the home. "In the long term, many of today's PC-centric online activities could be complemented through the mobile phone or migrate to the mobile phone altogether, due to greater convenience and faster connection speeds," said Mr. Cruikshank. p>Mobile phone ownership is certainly on the rise around the world. The Ipsos survey showed ownership in major countries ranging from 61% of consumers in Canada to 95% in Japan.

Internet browsing via a wireless device is also growing in many global markets. France and the UK are exhibiting the strongest growth, while Internet usage via mobile phone in Japan also continues to grow rapidly. Today, four in 10 adults browse the Internet on their wireless handset in Japan, double the rate in 2003.

Over half (52%) of all mobile phone households today have sent or received a text message, and over a third (37%) have sent or received e-mail on a mobile phone. In general, almost all wireless device activities experienced growth in 2005 — including m-commerce, financial transactions, sending or receiving digital pictures and downloading entertainment.

Japan — followed by the UK, US and South Korea — leads the world in browsing the Internet via mobile phone for news and information.

All this activity aside, however, it should be noted that Ipsos found that the growth in Internet browsing on a mobile phone was flattening in some markets, specifically the US and Canada, where wireless Internet access via notebook PC appears to be emerging as the stronger out-of-home Internet platform.

If you need more information on this topic, eMarketer has recently published a number of reports on wireless trends and markets around the world, and you can browse them all by clicking here.

Source: eMarketer.com

Blogs Continue to Multiply

2006-04-20T09:17:00.000-04:00

The bloated blogosphere?

It may seem hard to believe, but according to the "State of the Blogosphere" report issued in January by Technorati, there were 26.6 million blogs online.

Now the latest "State of the Blogosphere" report has upped the number to 35.3 million blogs, and Technorati's David Sifry claims that is a mind-blogging 60 times more blogs than existed three short years ago.

Well, almost.

Looking back at Technorati's own numbers, the blogosphere is only about 16 times as large as it was three years ago. But, to be fair, if you go back a few months earlier and compare with August 2003, the blogosphere is now more than seventy times larger than it was then.

Blogs tracked by Technorati Aug. 2003 - Aug. 2006

Aug. 2003 = 500,000
April 2004 = 2,300,000
April 2005 = 9,400,000
April 2006 = 35,300,000

Technorati claims over 75,000 new weblogs are created every day, which means that on average, a new weblog is created every second of every day.

According to the latest report, 19.4 million bloggers (55%) are still updating their sites three months after their blogs were created. That's an increase in both absolute and relative terms over January, when only 50.5% or 13.7 million blogs were 'active'. In addition, about 3.9 million bloggers currently update their blogs at least weekly.

As Mr. Sifry writes in his own blog, "In other words, even though there's a reasonable amount of tire-kicking going on, blogging continues to grow as a habitual activity."

That statement is hard to argue with. Whether growth was actually 60 times or 16 times over the last three years, one thing is certain. There are a lot of blogs out there, and tomorrow there will be more.

For more information on blogs, read the eMarketer report, The Business of Blogging.

Mobile Phones Could Soon Rival the PC As World’s Dominant Internet Platform

2006-04-18T08:19:00.000-04:00

Mobile Phones Poised To Overtake The PC As The Dominate Internet Platform In Some Markets, According To Ipsos Insight’s Latest The Face of the Web Study

New York, NY – Today, the personal computer remains the dominant platform to access the Internet globally. However, Internet access via the mobile phone actually outpaces wireless access from a notebook PC in many of areas of the world – a statistic driven largely by the massive install base of mobile phones throughout the world as well as more developed wireless networks, according to The Face of the Web, the annual study of Internet trends by global market research firm Ipsos Insight.

Indeed, Internet browsing via a wireless device is showing robust growth in many global markets. France and the U.K are exhibiting the strongest growth in this trend, while Internet usage via mobile phone in Japan also continues to grow rapidly. Today, four in 10 adults browse the Internet on their wireless handset in Japan, double the rate from 2003. However, growth in Internet browsing on a mobile phone is flattening in other leading markets, such as the U.S. and Canada, where wireless Internet access via notebook PC appears to be emerging as the stronger out-of-home Internet platform.

Mobile Surfing Becoming Mainstream

Globally, just over one-fourth (28%) of mobile phone owners worldwide have browsed the Internet on a wireless handset, up slightly from 25% at the end 2004. Interestingly, growth in this behavior for 2005 was driven by the older users (age 35+), indicating that surfing the Internet on a mobile phone is emerging as a mainstream activity, no longer dominated by the traditional early adopter segment – young males – typical of many new consumer technologies.
Noted Brian Cruikshank, Senior Vice President & Managing Director of Ipsos Insight’s Technology & Communications practice: “Accessing the Internet on a wireless handheld device is no longer a novelty for consumers in the major global economies. It’s becoming a common, everyday occurrence for many people.”

As consumer dependence on mobile phones grows, so to will new applications. Mobile phones are poised to become a dominant Internet platform outside the home. “In the long term, many of today’s PC-centric online activities could be complemented through the mobile phone or migrate to the mobile phone altogether, due to greater convenience and faster connection speeds,” Cruikshank added.

More 35+ Adults Utilizing Wireless Services & Activities

In addition to web-browsing, a number of other mobile phone activities witnessed significant growth this year, according to The Face of the Web study SMS text messaging remains the most popular activity among consumers, while other communication-based wireless activities are also growing. Over half (52%) of all mobile phone households today have sent or received a text message, and over a third (37%) have sent or received e-mail on a mobile phone. In general, almost all wireless device activities experienced growth in 2005 – including m-commerce (i.e., purchasing a product or service via mobile phone), conducting financial transactions, sending or receiving digital pictures, and downloading entertainment content.

Perhaps more important for the health of the industry, an increasing number of older adults (age 35+) are engaging in wireless activities. Increased usage among this group of consumers – presumably with higher net incomes and better credit – suggests the promise of higher Average Revenue Per Unit (ARPU) for the Wireless Industry in the future.

Mobile Phone Growth Driven Within the Household

Among other findings, mobile phone ownership at the end of 2005 was at near saturation levels in many areas of the world – most notably in East Asia, as over 90% of all households in South Korea, Japan and urban China own at least one mobile phone, according to the Ipsos study. Western European markets rank second collectively in mobile phone prevalence, with roughly 80% of all households owning a wireless handset. In North America, prevalence of mobile ownership is slightly less robust: in the U.S., three in four households own a mobile phone, while just over 60% of Canadian households own a mobile phone today.

While overall household ownership appears to be hitting a ceiling in many developed markets, proliferation of ownership within households continues to climb. In 2005, more than two-thirds of all households that owned a mobile phone owned multiple handsets, while the average number of handsets in these households stands at 2.2 globally – slightly higher than 2004’s average of 2.1 per household.

The Face of the Web also reveals the strong association between Internet usage and mobile phone ownership. Among those who had gone online in the past 30 days, household ownership spiked to over 90% in 10 of the 12 global markets studied. Cruikshank says the connection between PCs and mobile phones will have significant implications for Internet-based services and applications.

“We think the high correlation between Internet users and mobile phone ownership suggests an opportunity for wireless services or applications that can link aspects of personalization across multiple Internet platforms,” said Cruikshank. “Still, it will be crucial for companies to let consumers know just how they can leverage personalization opportunities across multiple access devices to their benefit.”

Wireless Device Activities – 2005: % Browsed the Internet for News & Information

Q7. Which, if any, of the following activities have you ever done on a Wireless Mobile Device?
Note: Wording for ‘Browsed the Internet for news & Information’ was updated in 2005

Japan 40%
U.K. 29%
USA 26%
South Korea 26%
Canada 19%
Germany 18%
France 18%
Mexico* 16%
China* 10%
Brazil* 8%
Russia* 7%
India 5%
Base: All respondents (General Adult Population)* Urban sample only

Source: Ipsos 2006

Prevalence of Mobile/Cellular Phones: 2005 Household Ownership
Q1a. Do you or anyone in your household currently own a wireless cellular/mobile phone?
Japan 95%
South Korea 94%
China 93%
France 85%
Germany 83%
U.K. 79%
Mexico* 78%
U.S. 75%
Brazil* 73%
India* 67%
Russia* 63%
Canada 61%

Base: All Respondents (General Adult Population)* Urban sample only
Source: Ipsos 2006

Methodology
The Face of the Web 2005 study was conducted in November and December 2005 among a random sample of 6,544 adults in urban Brazil, Canada, urban China, France, Germany, urban India, Japan, urban Mexico, urban Russia, South Korea, the U.K., and the U.S.

The Face of the Web 2005 study examined:

Global Internet Usage – Internet usage and trial through wired and wireless access, frequency of usage, and a 'Diffusion Spectrum' to help project future trends.
Internet Access & Connectivity – Household PC ownership (laptop and desktop), primary and secondary usage from various locations, primary and secondary access technology (dial-up versus DSL versus cable versus Wi-Fi).
Wired Internet Activities – A range of conventional and emerging online activities, such as streaming videos, downloading movies, sharing music files, making online phone calls, banking online, etc.
Wireless Internet Activities – Prevalence of household cell phone ownership and primary usage, wireless Internet usage and activities, (e.g., email, SMS, digital images, video games, ring tones, etc.).
Household Technology Inventory – Consumer technology and service penetration at the household level (e.g., MP3 players, digital cameras, PDAs, game consoles, GPS navigation, etc.).
Internet Growth – Growth projections using trend data, usage intent, and Ipsos' proprietary algorithm to derive estimates for future projections in wireless and wired Internet growth.

To learn more about The Face of the Web 2005, please visit: www.ipsosinsight.com/industryfocus/techandcomm/FOW.aspx

Mobile Phones Could Soon Rival the PC As World’s Dominant Internet Platform

2006-04-18T08:10:00.000-04:00

The Face of the Web 2005 study examined:

Global Internet Usage – Internet usage and trial through wired and wireless access, frequency of usage, and a 'Diffusion Spectrum' to help project future trends.
Internet Access & Connectivity – Household PC ownership (laptop and desktop), primary and secondary usage from various locations, primary and secondary access technology (dial-up versus DSL versus cable versus Wi-Fi).
Wired Internet Activities – A range of conventional and emerging online activities, such as streaming videos, downloading movies, sharing music files, making online phone calls, banking online, etc.
Wireless Internet Activities – Prevalence of household cell phone ownership and primary usage, wireless Internet usage and activities, (e.g., email, SMS, digital images, video games, ring tones, etc.).
Household Technology Inventory – Consumer technology and service penetration at the household level (e.g., MP3 players, digital cameras, PDAs, game consoles, GPS navigation, etc.).
Internet Growth – Growth projections using trend data, usage intent, and Ipsos' proprietary algorithm to derive estimates for future projections in wireless and wired Internet growth.

To learn more about The Face of the Web 2005, please visit: www.ipsosinsight.com/industryfocus/techandcomm/FOW.aspx

One-Fourth of Mobile Customers Jump Ship Annually

2006-04-13T10:05:00.000-04:00

One-Fourth of Mobile Customers Jump Ship Annually

According to a recent Forrester report release, nearly 98 million US households will have a mobile phone by 2010. As market saturation approaches, subscriber churn has become a critical issue for mobile carriers. 24% of US mobile subs switched providers between 2004 and 2005, and another 16% plan to switch in the next two years or more. Number portability, commoditized mobile offerings, and lifestyle-based service providers will continue to create churn, going forward.

The 24% of US mobile subs who switched carriers between 2004 and 2005 are younger, more likely to be female, less likely to be white, and are more optimistic about technology than the average mobile subscriber.

43% of AT&T Wireless' displaced subs were acquired in Cingular's buy-out
Many of Cingular's lost subscribers went to Verizon
Verizon's turncoats signed up with Cingular and T-Mobile
Sprint lost subs to Verizon
T-Mobile former subscribers went to Cingular

In this game of musical mobile providers, the biggest, Verizon and Cingularr, win, while the littler guys like Alltel, Cellular One, and U.S. Cellular are just treading water, says the report.

Consumers who are planning to switch mobile carriers in the future are spending more than $4 more per month on mobile service than those who are likely to stay put, and are primarily looking to improve the price and service aspects of their mobile experience. Handset selection, customer service, data services, and unique content are all secondary considerations, even for those consumers who currently use advanced mobile features like data or messaging.

The study suggests several ways providers can differentiate themselves to maintain their base and attract switchers:

Allow customers to store photos, text messages, emails, and IM on the network.
Entice the big spenders with the hottest upcoming handsets
Be an objective advisor to confused consumers
A multiservice bundle, including mobile, from one company will make it less likely that the current subscriber will defect
The delivery of audio and video via handsets provides unique leverage

More current and continuing consumer information from Forrester can be found here.

Mobile TV and Video Attracting a High Percentage of the Coveted Young Adult and Male Audience

2006-04-07T09:10:00.000-04:00

Mobile TV and Video Attracting a High Percentage of the Coveted Young Adult and Male Audience, According to TelephiaWednesday

V CAST and MobiTV Consumers Spend $40 More per Month than non-TV Subscribers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2006--Mobile TV and video usage is growing slowly, but is attracting a higher proportion of the young adult and male demographic, reports Telephia, the leading provider of performance measurement information to the mobile industry. According to Telephia, 1.5 percent or roughly three million wireless subscribers in the U.S. streamed TV or played video content on their mobile devices in Q4 2005 (see Table 1). Historical data from early 2005 show penetration of 1.4 percent.

Younger mobile subscribers, age 18-24 have the highest penetration for mobile TV and video usage, securing a 3.3 percent rate, doubling since the beginning of 2005. Overall, men are more likely to stream TV and play video content on their wireless devices than women, showing a penetration rate of 1.8 percent or more than 3.5 million wireless subscribers during Q4 2005. Female mobile subscribers who accessed mobile TV and video content over their handsets had a rate of 1.2 percent in Q4 2005, equaling 2.5 million consumers, according to Telephia.

"During this early adopter stage, audience demographics play a significant role in directing mobile companies how to best develop mobile TV and video content offerings," said Kanishka Agarwal, Vice President of New Products, Telephia. "The key for providers is to be able to understand the needs of these individual groups and supply targeted content that they will pay for."

Table 1: Penetration Rates of Mobile TV/Video Activity (U.S.)

Penetration Rate (%)
Demographic Segment Q1 2005 Q2 2005 Q3 2005 Q4 2005
------------------------------------------------------------------
All Subscribers 1.4% 1.4% 1.4% 1.5%
Youth Subscribers 1.8% 2.9% 2.9% 3.3%
Male Subscribers 2.2% 1.9% 1.7% 1.8%
Female Subscribers 1.1% 1.0% 1.2% 1.2%
------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Telephia, Q1 2005-Q4 2005

V CAST and MobiTV Users Show Higher Total Monthly Spend than non-TV Subscribers
According to Telephia, V CAST and MobiTV subscribers spend roughly $40 more per month as compared to non-TV subscribers. During Q4 2005, V CAST and MobiTV subscribers spent an average of $94 in total monthly charges in comparison to non-TV subscribers who had an average total monthly spend of $54.

"The revenue stream for mobile TV and video content is very strong and shows upward promise. The combination of price, quality, diversity of content, and handsets capable of viewing content will be instrumental in the long-term growth," added Agarwal.

Launching in Spring 2006, the Telephia Mobile Applications Report will measure revenue performance of a wide range of mobile applications, including mobile TV, news, weather, sports, and travel. The report is part of Telephia's Audience Metrics product suite that is the industry's only source for actual measurement of mobile content revenues directly from the bills of an opt-in panel of 33,000 mobile consumers.

About Telephia
Founded in 1998, Telephia provides syndicated performance measurement information to the leaders of the converging communications and mobile industries, including carriers, device manufacturers, content and application providers, retailers, infrastructure vendors and investment analysts. Telephia is the industry standard measure of subscriber share, customer satisfaction, device share, network quality, revenue share, advertising effectiveness, content audience and many other key performance indicators. For further information, please visit our website at www.telephia.com or call 415-395-0500.

Just An Online Minute... Wireless Offer Clutter

2006-04-03T15:04:00.000-04:00

By Tobi Elkin is Executive Editor, MediaPost.

All those offers from wireless companies appear to have little impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty, according to a survey by Harris Interactive. The survey finds that 66 percent of U.S. adult mobile phone users comparison shop for wireless service providers, with more than two in five (43 percent) initiating the process two months before their contract expires or less.

Harris finds that while wireless providers enjoy limited success with promotional offers (29 percent of mobile phone users who receive promotional offers have responded to at least one offer over the past two years), such offers don't stop most subscribers from comparison shopping, and they seem to have little impact on customer satisfaction. The survey also finds that consumers would like to receive fewer offers than they currently do.

The Harris survey finds that two in five (40 percent) of mobile phone users say they receive promotional correspondence from their wireless service provider at least once a month or more often. Another third say they receive them once every three months (21 percent) or six months (10 percent). But if consumers had it their way, only 12 percent would choose to receive them at least once a month or more often, while 30 percent would want them about once every three months, and 20 percent would want them about once every six months. One in five indicate they never want to receive any offers.

While frequency affects promotional offer success, so does the mode in which the offers are delivered. Among mobile phone users who receive promotional offers, if they could choose, many would like to learn about offers via printed materials, either by mail at home (22 percent) or as an insert with their bill (23 percent). Nearly one-third (31 percent) would like to learn about them through an opt-in e-mail, such as an e-newsletter.

Harris finds that most mobile phone users (98 percent) who receive promotional offers and comparison shop say these offers don't stop them from comparison shopping. Further, 85 percent of those who receive promotional offers say such communications don't leave them feeling any less, nor any more, satisfied with their wireless service provider; 84 percent say the offers don't leave them feeling any less nor any more valued. In fact, the promotions have the opposite effect on some, as 9 percent of those who receive them say they feel less satisfied when they receive such offers, and 8 percent say they feel less valued.

"Wireless service providers are eager to hang on to current customers and to lure new ones into their grasp," said Joe Porus, vice president and chief architect for the technology research practice at Harris Interactive in a statement. "However, the survey shows that many providers are reaching out to consumers too often and may not be sending these offers out at the best time." Porus continued: "Promotional offers may be more persuasive if they were received within the 60-day 'shopping clock' before a contract expires, which appears to be the time [when] the largest proportion of subscribers are out seeking a better deal."

Harris Interactive conducted the online study from January 19-25, 2006 among a nationwide sample of 1,067 U.S. adults (ages 18 years and over) of whom 865 are current mobile phone users, 722 receive promotional offers, and 501 receive promotional offers and comparison shop.

2006 IBT/MCA Market Pulse Survey Finds U.S. Consumers Still Seek A Face-to-Face Experience From Financial Service Providers

2006-04-03T13:30:00.000-04:00

The toaster is officially “toast” – the majority of U.S. adults say a free toaster, cash or even an iPod will not get them to change financial institutions

-Full Disclosure: IBT is an Arketi Group client and we conducted this survey-

ATLANTA – March 21, 2006 – IBT Enterprises and MCA Works announced the findings of the 2006 IBT/MCA Market Pulse Survey, which seeks to understand how U.S. adults feel about and use financial services. The study, released at the 16th Annual IBT Trends Conference, reveals that when it comes to financial services the “human touch” still matters to a great number of consumers.

The survey of almost 700 U.S. adults using financial services found that despite decades of predictions that technology-driven channels like ATMs and online banking would replace traditional banks, 50 percent prefer to bank face-to-face (bank branch, in-store branch and drive through). Thirty percent of those surveyed prefer to bank online, 18 percent opt for ATMs and 2 percent say mail or telephone. For more information or to download a complete copy of the 2006 IBT/MCA Market Pulse Survey report, please visit www.ibtsource.com/viewpoint.htm.

While it is true the vast majority of U.S. adults use multiple channels to conduct their financial transactions, which include the stand-alone bank branch, drive-through windows, in-store banking, online banking and ATMs, 76 percent of Americans “love” or “don’t mind” going inside the branch to conduct business.

The study showed that consumers preferred face-to-face interaction with their financial institution representatives for more complex transactions such as making a deposit (69 percent), applying for a loan (65 percent) and opening a new account (64 percent). Automated banking (ATM, online and telephone banking) was most popular with respondents when it came to paying bills (64 percent), cash withdrawal (56 percent) and transferring funds (54 percent).

“Savvy banks and credit unions know that having convenient touch points opens greater opportunities for them to delight consumers and increase their share of that consumer’s business,” said Mylle Mangum, CEO of IBT, a leader in design and construction services for the financial services and specialty retail industries. “By offering a robust and integrated channel of banking methods, financial institutions are in a better position to solidify their relationships with consumers. Moreover, the delivery channels should match the consumer’s life stage/life cycle needs. For instance, drive-through windows are extremely important to families with children.”

Eighty-four percent of U.S. adults say they use retail or commercial banks, 40 percent say they use credit unions and nearly a third (28 percent) say they use securities and investment institutions. Sixty-nine percent of U.S. consumers have designated a retail or commercial bank as their primary financial institution and 19 percent have designated a credit union as their primary financial institution.

Highlighting the old marketing tenet -- “get them early and keep them” -- when asked about promotions to switch to another financial institution, 41 percent of U.S. adults said that “no amount of money or promotion could ever get me to switch.” However, one-third (33 percent) said they would switch if offered a $250 gift card and 20 percent said they would switch for 1 percent difference in their interest rate for deposits. Interestingly, 5 percent said they would switch financial institutions for an iPod. And of course, the toaster is now officially dead with only one percent reporting they would switch to a new financial institution in order to receive a new toaster.

Other findings on the uses of financial institutions include:

Nearly all respondents (97 percent) use a checking account. Seventy-eight percent use a savings account and nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults have a credit card issued to them from a financial institution.
Almost half of all consumers surveyed (47 percent) have loan debt, either auto, home or school loan.
The majority of U.S. adults would look to their primary financial institution if they needed a business loan (72 percent), home loan (69 percent), home refinancing (69 percent), car loan (49 percent) or other loan (67 percent).
Forty-seven percent of U.S. adults reported using investment products such as stocks, bonds, CDs, mutual funds and retirement accounts and 18 percent have a safety deposit box.
When asked about the fairness of service charges, 75 percent of U.S. adults felt that their service charges were fair.

Several attributes are important in evaluating a financial institution, such as having convenient locations, fast and efficient service and resolving problems quickly. The strong desire to conduct deposits at branches exemplifies the need for well-designed, location-conscious facilities that offer fast and efficient service. More than one-third (38 percent) of U.S. adults most often deposit money while inside the branch and a near equal number (34 percent) most often conduct deposit transactions through the branch drive-through window.

Illustrating that personal relationships are less common in the world of financial services today, 54 percent said that they do not have a good relationship with a specific individual at their primary financial institution. However, 60 percent of those surveyed say they have been banking with the same primary institution for five or more years.

When customers do switch financial institutions they do so largely because of life events (50 percent), product and service offering shortcomings (48 percent) or poor customer service or a bad experience (38 percent).

“Despite banking consolidation and automation, institutional relationships still matter because the majority of those surveyed have been with the same bank for the last five years or more,” said John Rosen, executive director of MCA Works. “And those who left did so because of dissatisfaction with customer service issues ranging from product offering shortcomings to poor customer experience, so the survey indicates the relationship matters and can be improved.”

While several attributes were important in evaluating a financial institution, some of those areas fell short on consumer satisfaction. For example, nearly all consumers (96 percent) felt that charging reasonable fees is important; however, only 81 percent were satisfied with their financial institution in this regard. Likewise, 94 percent felt it is important for their primary financial institution to offer competitive interest rates, and only 82 percent felt satisfied in this regard. Eighty-seven percent of those surveyed felt it was important that their primary financial institution “really wants my business,” and only 81 percent felt satisfied with their financial institution in that regard.

Seventy-five percent of those surveyed said that their financial institution has designed its branch for people like them. There are several factors that consumers feel are most ideal when it comes to branches:

Getting in and out of the branch in less than five minutes (83 percent)
Accessible parking (68 percent)
Fast line for deposits only (40 percent)

Underscoring the opportunity for branches to support small businesses with valuable add-ons, the majority of U.S. adults (59 percent) said that offering services such as postage and shipping would enhance their visit to their financial institution’s branch. Approximately one third (30 percent) said offering wireless Internet access and an almost equal number (27 percent) said that offering a coffee bar inside the branch would make them more excited about visiting their financial institution’s branch. This also illustrates a possible trend that time-pressed consumers may prefer financial institutions that offer expanded services in an effort to help consumers reduce time spent out of the office or home. The data show that all age categories were interested in the availability of postage and shipping services within a branch. The youngest age group (18 to 24 year-olds) was most interested in this service.

If a consumer wins the lottery, one might be surprised about who that lucky person might call first for financial advice. When asked about unexpectedly coming into a large sum of money ($250,000), 25 percent of U.S. adults said the first person they would call would be an accountant, 19 percent said a family member, 12 percent a banker, 10 percent stock broker, six percent friend and 1 percent a real estate broker. Interestingly, 27 percent of those surveyed said they would not call any of these individuals for financial advice.

Investing that money is a little more clear-cut. Thirty percent of Americans said they would likely spend the majority of a $250,000 windfall to pay off debt and an equal number said they would invest the money in a savings account. Eighteen percent said they would spend the majority of the money on a house. The majority (60 percent) said if they choose to invest any part of the newfound $250,000 they would do so through an alternative financial institution such as a stock broker or mutual fund company rather than their current primary financial institution (40 percent).

When asked to personify their financial institution (for example who it would resemble the most), 47 percent of U.S. adults selected Donald Trump, suggesting consumers revere their financial institution as smart, savvy and successful. Second on the list was Mary Poppins with 39 percent support followed by Ebenezer Scrooge (8 percent) and Tony Soprano (6 percent).

Overall the study found that 87 percent of U.S. adults use financial services providers such as retail banks, credit unions, savings and loan and financial securities firms. The survey results are based on Americans that use the above financial services providers.

About The 2006 IBT/MCA Market Pulse Survey
Conducted in February and March, the 2006 IBT/MCA Market Pulse Survey is based on an online survey among a nationwide sample of U.S. adults that have an account at a financial institution. Of the 696 participants, 33 percent are from the South, 28 percent from the Midwest, 24 percent from the Northeast and 15 percent from the West. Of the respondents, 51 percent are male and 49 percent are female. The margin of error for the survey is plus or minus 4 percent. The research was conduced by Atlanta-based Arketi Group.

Editor’s note: Camera-ready charts and graphs on the findings from The 2006 IBT/MCA Market Pulse Survey are available at www.ibtsource.com/viewpoint.htm or by calling Brian Boudreaux at 404-929-0091 ext. 211.

About IBT
IBT is a leading source of forward-thinking designs and ideas in the arena of branch banking. Over its 21-year history, the company has consulted to more than 175 retail and 500 financial services clients on the development of more than 3,000 workspaces. IBT offers a comprehensive range of integrated services, including retail distribution strategy, market research, space planning, design, architecture and construction. For more information about IBT visit http://www.ibtsource.com/.

About MCAMCAworks (aka Marketing Consulting Associates, LLC) is a strategic marketing consulting firm passionately dedicated to helping clients accelerate and sustain business growth. Our leadership team has more than 100 collective years of business experience working globally with market leaders in most industries, including Financial Services and Banking. MCAworks offers a comprehensive set of strategic growth services, ranging from business strategy and marketing strategy to brand building and organization. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.mcaworks.com/

Cell phone users find the devices annoying but invaluable

2006-04-03T12:43:00.000-04:00

Cell phone users find the devices annoying but invaluable

04/03/2006

Author: Will Lester

Copyright 2006. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Even cell phone users get irritated at others who yak on their portables about their personal business in public.

An AP-AOL-Pew poll found the offended don't think they are among the callers who get on other people's nerves.

Most cell users find their phones very useful, with half keeping them on all the time. But almost nine in 10 say they encounter others using those phones in an annoying way. Only 8 percent of cell users acknowledge their own use of cell phones is sometimes rude.

"People tend to talk louder on the phone. That's quite irritating," said Pamela Sorenson, a 57-year-old resident of Bellingham, Wash. "I often hear young people, mostly college age, talking about dating and personal things I don't want to know about.

"More than two-thirds of cell phone users say it would be hard to give up their portable, according to the poll, one of the most extensive news surveys of cell phone users yet.About a fourth of the cell phone users polled, 26 percent, said they can't imagine life without their cell phone. Three-fourths of cell users say they have used it in an emergency.

"My cell phone is pretty much a necessity -- sometimes a pain but a necessity," said Sandra Moore of Colorado Springs, Colo. "I have children and the cell phone gives me the freedom to be places I need to be. It's easier to communicate with people, you can reach them almost any time."

But that means people can reach me anytime," she grumbled. "Sometimes, I just turn the ringer off."

Almost one-fourth of those polled say too many people try to get in touch with them on their cell phones -- just one of many headaches balanced against the devices' advantages.
The poll also found:

--More than a fourth, 28 percent, said they sometimes don't drive as safely as they should because they are using a cell phone.

--More than a third, 36 percent, said they are sometimes shocked at the size of their service bill.

The bulk of cell users use it traditionally-- as a portable phone. But cell phones increasingly include built-in cameras, MP3 players, games and computers with the Internet and e-mail.

Young adults and minorities are drawn to the multiple uses of a cell phone. They are more likely than older adults and whites to send text messages, take pictures, use the Internet and play music with their cell phones.

If those trends continue, the cell phones' role will change dramatically."We've got everything on my phone," said Mark Madsen, a 24-year-old college student from Chattanooga, Tenn. "I use it mostly for the phone, but I also play video games and use the MP3 player. I pretty much use it all the time."

Only one-third of U.S. cell phone owners use text messages -- a practice immensely popular in Europe and Asia. Two-thirds of cell phone owners between ages 18 and 29 send text messages -- one of many areas where young adults have a more versatile approach to the devices.More than half, 55 percent, of young adults take still pictures with their phones; 47 percent play games and 28 percent use the Internet, according to the poll of more than 1,200 cell phone users.

"We think of them as mobile phones, but the personal computer, mobile phone and the Internet are merging into some new medium like the personal computer in the 1980s or the Internet in the 1990s," said Howard Rheingold, an author who has taught at Stanford University and written extensively about the effects of technology.

Cell phones have changed the way people organize their time. Nearly half freed said they make most of their cell calls in off-hours when the minutes are free. Almost as many say they make cell phone calls to occupy time when traveling or waiting for someone.

"When I'm driving to my appointments, everybody calls me on my cell phone, said 26-year-old Abel Yanez of San Jose, Calif, who works in a landscaping business. "When I'm in my office, I use my cell phone because if I need to leave, I just leave. I have the office phone so I can dial up on the Internet."

The AP-AOL-Pew poll of 1,503 adults included 1,286 cell phone users and was conducted March 8-26. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. About half of the interviews, 752, were conducted by dialing landlines and 751 were conducted by dialing cell phones.

Source: Associated Press Newswires

Mobile Content's Worldwide Audience

2006-03-31T12:15:00.000-05:00

From eMarketer.com

MARCH 31, 2006

Rumors of the collapse of the music and television industries are greatly exaggerated.

There will undoubtedly be change in these industries as well as some disruption. However, more distribution channels will ultimately mean more listeners, viewers, buyers and subscribers. This adds up to more opportunities for advertisers and marketers.

New support for a robust outlook came in recent study by ABI Research, called "Mobile Music Services." ABI looked at sales around the world, of full-track music downloads to mobile devices. The results revealed a market that was twenty times larger at the end of 2005 than at the end of 2004.

ABI found that global revenue from over-the-air (OTA), downloaded full-track songs last year were $251 million, up from $12.4 million in 2004. The firm forecasts that by 2011 the figure will be a staggering $9.3 billion.

The global market is not, however, homogenous. There are different adoption patterns in different parts of the world and marketers should be aware of them.

"Over-the-air downloads will be relatively less successful in North America because of the high penetration of PCs. Overseas (particularly in Asia), PCs are less prevalent and the mobile phone is more so," said Ken Hyers, principal analyst at ABI. "There wasn't even a Japanese iTunes store until Q4 of 2005."

Looking at the video side of the mobile content business in the US, JupiterResearch recently found evidence that 29% of US mobile phone users are interested in some form of video service on their mobile phone.

While adoption of mobile video on phones in the US has been slow compared with some other markets, JupiterResearch found that, among their respondents, 17% of mobile subscribers were interested in watching "live" TV on their cell phones while 11% indicated interest in short video clips.

"This consumer interest bodes well for the mobile industry as vendors use different business models to try and tap into this consumer demand," said Julie Ask, research director at Jupiter. "The challenge is not interest but rather finding the correct mix of premium content and price points that is lacking in today's offerings."

Anticipating a better mix, a new report from JupiterResearch, entitled "U.S. Wireless Forecast, 2005 to 2010," predicts that growing demand for mobile video content will generate $501 million in revenue by 2010, up from $62 million in 2005.

For more on this rapidly emerging subject, grab a copy of the recently released eMarketer report, Mobile TV for Marketers: Monetizing the Small Screen.

AUDIENCE FOR ONLINE VIDEO GROWING RAPIDLY

2006-03-31T11:56:00.000-05:00

AUDIENCE FOR ONLINE VIDEO GROWING RAPIDLY
66% of Those Web Viewers Also Watch the Ads

March 30, 2006

By Kris Oser

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Although the number of consumers watching video online routinely is low, that number is growing, and those consumers are engaged with video advertising, according to a new study by the Online Publishers Association and Frank N. Magid Associates.

According to the study, 5% are viewing video daily, 24% view it once a week and 46% are watching once a month. Video news clips are the biggest draw. Some 27% of viewers watch news clips at least once a week, followed closely by 26% who watch funny videos at least once a week.
“You will see the volume of use rise as more content is made available,” said Pam Horan, VP-marketing and membership at OPA.

High advertiser demand Even though advertiser demand is high for a medium that reflects the emotional appeal of TV ads, many consumers are still not aware of video online.

Media buyers note that until consumers are viewing video as often as they do other content, planners cannot be certain how much of their marketing budgets to set aside for video. The video arena is so volatile that estimates of video ad spending ranges dramatically from study to study, with one projecting spending of $657 million in 2009, and another study projecting $2.5 billion in 2010.

It's a rich environment for advertisers, the study found, with online video advertising being viewed regularly and leading to specific actions. Of the U.S. online population, 66% percent have seen an online video ad, and 29% have acted on what they’ve seen. Visiting a Web site is the action that ranks highest at 31%, while 8% are actually driven to make a purchase. Video ad watchers generally prefer short ads, but 39% said they watch ads lasting longer than 30 seconds.

Home viewing vs. work At home, 39% watch online video at least once a week, compared with 19% who watch at least once a week at work.

Because there is yet no reliable or well-known video search engine, half of consumers go to a specific Web site to find clips, with a majority (58%) relying on two to five sites. Another popular way to find video is the way everyone found anything online in the Internet’s early days -- surfing the Web -- according to almost 48% of video viewers.

The research was conducted in February. Researchers interviewed 1,241 Internet users representative of the U.S. population, aged 12 to 64.

Source: www.AdAge.com

Internet Adoption Slowing – But Dependence On It Continues To Grow

2006-03-29T08:02:00.000-05:00

Though Global Online Population Growth Slowed In 2005, Access To And Application Of The Internet Continues To Evolve Rapidly According To Ipsos Insight’s Latest The Face of the Web Study

New York, NY – Global Internet adoption is showing signs of slowing, with many of the world’s leading Internet economies displaying modest year-over-year growth, according to Ipsos Insight’s annual The Face of the Web study. During 2005, the global online population grew a modest 5% year-over-year, well short of the 20% growth rate observed in 2004. In addition, the number of individuals expecting to access the Internet in the next 12 months was about the same in 2005 as 2004, indicating prospects for growth in 2006 may be just as temperate.

The latest findings from The Face of the Web—based on interviews in 12 key global markets with more than 6,500 adults, including 3,462 active Internet users—reflect adoption possibilities of the Internet that few other technologies have shown in the past. Ipsos Insight, the global survey-based marketing research firm, has been tracking global Internet developments since 1999.

Driving overall global Internet user growth in 2005 was Japan, which now accounts for roughly 75 million users. Japan also remains the world’s No.1 Internet-based economy, as nearly nine in 10 (89%) claim to have used the Internet in the past 30 days, while users averaged nearly 14 hours per week online. France witnessed the most significant year-over-year gains in Internet adoption among the 12 global markets tracked in the study: today, just over 60% of adults age 18 or older in France use the Internet regularly, representing more than a 12-point increase from 2004 (48%).

However growth in adoption may be plateauing in North America, specifically in the U.S. and Canada, where prevalence of regular Internet usage in 2005 (71% and 72% respectively) was essentially flat compared to 2004. Still, both of these markets remain important players in the evolving global Internet economy, says Brian Cruikshank, Senior Vice President & Managing Director of the company's Technology & Communications practice: “Despite marginal increases in Internet user growth within North America, this region is leading the charge in Wireless Internet use on a PC as well as awareness and usage of Wi-Fi Internet connectivity. These are key indicators that North Americans are turning the corner in mass and becoming more technically sophisticated Internet users. We think the results in 2005 really prove that measuring growth of the Internet in the coming years will be less about user volume, and more about consumers’ reliance on this medium as a way of life—whether it is checking RSS feeds, blogging or picking up a podcast or yesterday’s sitcom, consumers continue to expand and apply new depth of Internet use that we haven’t seen before.”

A number of key trends emerged in 2005 in a variety of global marketplaces, Cruikshank noted:

In North America, the rising level of notebook PC ownership is fueling significant growth in wireless Internet access. The U.S. and Canada lead the world in Wireless Internet Access via PC: At least one-third of North Americans (U.S. & Canada) have accessed the Internet wirelessly in the past 30 days – significantly higher than rates seen in 2004. The U.S. and Canada also have some of the highest rates of Wi-Fi awareness and usage, as roughly two in five that have that have heard of Wi-Fi technology have actually used it to access the Internet.
In Europe, France and Germany appear poised to drive global Internet growth in 2006, as does urban Russia, where Internet usage remains a nascent activity, but is on the rise. In addition, future growth in wireless Internet access via handset/cell phone looks promising in Europe as well, particularly in France and the U.K., while usage and/or access to VoIP telephony (Voice over Internet Protocol) is also rising steadily in France, Germany and the U.K., indicating these nations may be emerging as the early adopter markets for this Internet technology.
In East Asia, the urban China market is quickly evolving into one of the most dynamic Internet-based economies in the world, as it boasts not only the heaviest Internet usage of any of the countries measured (17.9 hrs/week online), but also may have room to grow; only 50% of individuals have accessed the Internet in the past 30 days here, far behind usage in other major East Asian markets such as Japan (89%) and South Korea (68%), providing a glimpse of urban China’s potential. Another important factor to watch: whether the PC will continue to be the dominant platform for accessing the Internet, as over 90% of all households in the major East Asian markets own at least one cell phone.

As for the remainder of 2006, Cruikshank sees many of these peripheral behaviors beginning to form a common theme. “The trends we’re seeing in Wireless PC usage, ownership of peripheral devices such as MP3 players and mobile phones, and the presumed rising levels of awareness of and comfort using the Internet globally, really set the stage for a tipping point in the near future for this medium. We anticipate continued growth in consumer adoption of the ‘digital lifestyle’ globally – particularly as consumers become to expect access to the Internet in an anytime/anywhere paradigm for communication, gathering and sharing information, and accessing digital content and entertainment.”

Methodology
The Face of the Web 2005 study was conducted in November and December 2005 among a random sample of 6,544 adults in urban Brazil, Canada, urban China, France, Germany, urban India, Japan, urban Mexico, urban Russia, South Korea, the U.K., and the U.S.

The Face of the Web 2005 study examined:

Global Internet Usage – Internet usage and trial through wired and wireless access, frequency of usage, and a 'Diffusion Spectrum' to help project future trends.
Internet Access & Connectivity – Household PC ownership (laptop and desktop), primary and secondary usage from various locations, primary and secondary access technology (dial-up versus DSL versus cable versus Wi-Fi).
Wired Internet Activities – A range of conventional and emerging online activities, such as streaming videos, downloading movies, sharing music files, making online phone calls, banking online, etc.
Wireless Internet Activities – Prevalence of household cell phone ownership and primary usage, wireless Internet usage and activities, (e.g., email, SMS, digital images, video games, ring tones, etc.).
Household Technology Inventory – Consumer technology and service penetration at the household level (e.g., MP3 players, digital cameras, PDAs, game consoles, GPS navigation, etc.).
Internet Growth – Growth projections using trend data, usage intent, and Ipsos' proprietary algorithm to derive estimates for future projections in wireless and wired Internet growth.

To learn more about The Face of the Web 2005, please visit: www.ipsosinsight.com/industryfocus/techandcomm/FOW.aspx

For more information, please contact:Adam WrightSenior Research ManagerIpsos Insight adam.wright@ipsos-na.com612.573.8536

About Ipsos Insight
Ipsos Insight is a marketing research consultancy that provides solutions to Fortune 500 companies in the areas of market assessment, brand management, innovation, and new product development. Our industry experts combine the discipline of marketing with the science of marketing research to offer expert consultation and strategic advice that builds powerful brands.

Our client service teams specialize in consumer products, technology, communications, health, pharmaceuticals, financial services, entertainment, retail, foodservice, agrifood, energy, utilities, and lottery and gaming. To learn more, please visit www.ipsosinsight.com.

About Ipsos
Ipsos is a leading global survey-based market research company, owned and managed by research professionals. Ipsos helps interpret, simulate, and anticipate the needs and responses of consumers, customers, and citizens around the world.

Member companies assess market potential and interpret market trends. They develop and build brands. They help clients build long-term relationships with their customers. They test advertising and study audience responses to various media. They measure public opinion around the globe. Ipsos member companies offer expertise in advertising, customer loyalty, marketing, media, and public affairs research, as well as forecasting, modeling, and consulting. Ipsos has a full line of custom, syndicated, omnibus, panel, and online research products and services, guided by industry experts and bolstered by advanced analytics and methodologies. The company was founded in 1975 and has been publicly traded since 1999. In 2005, Ipsos generated global revenues of €717.8 million ($853.8 million U.S.).

Visit www.ipsos.com to learn more about Ipsos’ offerings and capabilities.

The New MTV

2006-03-23T09:42:00.000-05:00

The New MTV
MARCH 23, 2006

Some call it the third screen. Some call it the small screen. Others simply call it mobile television (MTV). But everyone agrees, it represents a huge opportunity.

2006 is the year that carriers, content providers and marketers are sitting up, taking notice and starting to experiment and invest in mobile television initiatives.

"eMarketer looked at the various global trials, carrier and content provider announcements and concluded that there will be well over 100 million active users of paid or sponsored mobile broadcast video services globally by the end of 2009," says John du Pre Gauntt, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the new report, Mobile Television for Marketers: Monetizing the Smallest Screen. "Of course, that number is easily swallowed by forecasts of well over 2.5 billion mobile users in the same time period."

The demographics, income and spending patterns of early and near-term adopters will be crucial for marketers trying to determine whether mobile TV represents a sub-market or the next huge mass market for mobile services.

"Everybody's basically putting their toe in the water," Leslie Moonves, chief executive of CBS told The New York Times. "We're all aware how hugely significant this is going to become both culturally and financially in the next couple of years."

From a technical point-of-view, the two pivot points for mobile TV are growth in smartphones and growth of advanced 3G networks. These are table stakes to move mobile TV past the pilot stage toward critical mass and finally mass-market penetration.

Estimates of global subscriber numbers on 3G networks showed wide disparity. ABI Research reported 2005 global figures to be 42 million.

Informa Telecoms & Media put the 2005 figure over 70 million.

"Hand-in-hand with technical obstacles, mobile TV players must work the commercial side of the equation," says Mr. Gauntt. "Marketers shouldn't believe for a minute that either the mobile carriers or the content providers have cracked the business model, let alone the digital rights issues that will be crucial to migrate mobile TV from one market stage to the next."
Carriers are hard at work on the problem, however.

The most extensive consumer trials of mobile TV have been in Europe, with one pilot in France, another in Finland, two in the UK and another in Spain. The general results show willingness on the part of participants to purchase mobile TV services, typically with a low flat-rate fee. Users also demonstrated viewing habits roughly in line with expectations (eg preference for familiar and/or short program offers centered around sports, news and entertainment; viewing during non-peak hours; viewing during both the commute and at home).

"Perhaps most importantly, customer surveys consistently show reticence on the part of consumers to pay more than $5 - 10 extra per month for mobile data services in general," says Mr. Gauntt. "With all the hype about $0.99 news pieces, $1.99 episodes of broadcast television or all-you-can-eat monthly subscriptions, the danger of users receiving phone bills as thick as phone books is very real."

Learn about opportunities, and where the problem lie, read the new eMarketer report, Mobile Television for Marketers: Monetizing the Smallest Screen.

UNDERSTANDING THE 'GENERATION WIRELESS' DEMOGRAPHIC

2006-03-23T08:50:00.000-05:00

UNDERSTANDING THE 'GENERATION WIRELESS' DEMOGRAPHIC

The Nearly Bionic Relationship of Teenagers and Their Cellphones
March 21, 2006

By Bradley Johnson
LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- A majority -- 57% -- of teens aged 13-17 now have a cellphone, but that’s far below the 80% of adults 18-plus who own a phone. Still, for a glimpse of the future, look no further than Generation Wireless.

Cellphone users aged 13-17 are connected to their phones by ear, eye and touch like no other age group. They are far more likely than other demographic groups to use a broad range of cellphone data services, and they will be first in line to try emerging offerings like cellphone TV.
'Crazy for mobile'“They’re crazy for mobile,” said Mark Donovan, VP-senior analyst with M:Metrics, a research firm that tracks wireless content and applications. “They see [a phone] as this little digital communicator that they can take with them wherever they go.”

Their young-adult peers -- aged 18-24 -- are more likely than younger teens to snap cellphone pictures and buy ringtones, according to M:Metrics data. But for most wireless content and features, young users are the biggest enthusiasts.

Generation Wireless has been a digital demo from birth, growing up after the dawn of cellular (the first U.S. service went live in 1983) and with the Internet (the first major Web browser debuted in 1993).

Rite of passageGetting a cellphone is a rite of passage for teens. Just 12% of children aged 8-12 have a wireless phone, but that jumps to nearly half -- 49% -- for ages 13-15, according to a Harris Interactive youth survey last year. By ages 18-21, cellphone penetration (81%) is in line with the average for all adults (80%).

The top reason teens cite for getting a cellphone is safety, according to Telephia, a market research firm. That’s not surprising: Parents decide when their children go wireless. “Parents love kids to have mobile phones,” said Glen LeBlanc, research director for wireless services at NPD Group. “It’s an electronic leash.”

Parents pick their children’s wireless service in about two-thirds (68%) of cases, Telephia said. Family plans are the standard; 62% of teens aged 13-17 are on a family plan for wireless, according to NPD’s Mobile Consumer Track. NPD said another 15% of teens use a prepaid phone -- such as TracFone, Virgin, Boost or T-Mobile To Go -- that effectively caps their use.
Parents foot the billMost of the time, mom and dad foot the bill for wireless. That gives parents more reason to set limits on data features, such as text messaging, which carry tolls. “I have to believe that in households across the nation, there are ongoing negotiations about what’s appropriate to do with your cellphone,” said M:Metrics’ Mr. Donovan.

But there’s no denying that the biggest users of premium wireless features -- messaging, game downloads, photo services, sports information, entertainment news -- are young consumers having fun at someone else’s expense. Among children aged 13-17 -- the heaviest overall users of such services -- just 18% pay for their cell service, said Mr. LeBlanc. Among the second heaviest users -- 18-24 -- 38% pay the bills.

Teens aged 13-17 are three times as likely as the average cellphone owner to use their phones to access shopping guides and content from men’s and women’s magazines, according to M:Metrics. They use phone features to get restaurant and movie info at more than twice the national average.

Interest in live TVHigher bills could be ahead as young cellphone users show the most interest in emerging services. For those aged 13-17, about 17% say they are somewhat or very likely to subscribe to a live TV service, according to M:Metrics; 13.4% of cell users aged 18-24 expect to do so. Interest falls sharply for older age groups.

Will young consumers pull back from wireless when they have to pay? Not likely. Cellphones are central to a generation that stays connected at all times to friends, family and the world. “It’s going to be amazing to watch these people grow up,” said Mr. Donovan. “It’s going to be a mix of ruling the world and playing videogames.” Not necessarily in that order.

http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=48342

College Grads March To A New Beat

2006-03-23T08:48:00.000-05:00

College Grads March To A New Beat

The recently issued Y2M: eGrad 2005 College Graduate Survey concludes that new technologies and explosive growth in Internet usage are rapidly changing the buying habits and needs of college graduates. The study found that the top planned purchases upon graduation are professional clothing, travel/airline ticket, health insurance and furniture.

Additional areas of interest to this community, as determined by the study, include:
Though 74 percent of grads already own cars, more than a third plan to purchase a new vehicle within 12 months of graduation.

Nearly 30 percent plan to find a new credit card within a year of graduating, and will look to cards with no annual fees, low interest rates and rewards programs.

Online purchasers rose from 21 percent of respondents to nearly 80 percent. Seventy-one percent are active online banking users, while nearly half regularly download music from the Internet.

Sixty nine percent have posted a resume online. The bulk of these posting were on Monster.com, though postings on CareerBuilder.com showed the greatest year-over-year growth, with an increase of more than 400 percent.

Social networking is replacing many traditional avenues for entertainment and the sharing of information. There is a big shift away from alumni networks, supplanted by social networking sites and the use of instant messaging. Only 32 percent of respondents indicated they would seek out alumni for social purposes.

News consumption online has grown from 20 percent to 78 percent of respondents. Graduate publications, such as alumni magazines, are of little interest to graduates, but 73 percent would like to receive their college newspaper via e-mail.

Dina Pradel, general manager of Y2M, says "Generational changes and the evolution of the Internet from a business and information network to source of media and entertainment are the driving forces behind the buying habits of the new college grad."

http://www.y2m.com/news/060203.html

UNDERSTANDING THE 'GENERATION WIRELESS' DEMOGRAPHIC

2006-03-21T15:57:00.000-05:00

The Nearly Bionic Relationship of Teenagers and Their Cellphones
March 21, 2006

By Bradley Johnson LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com)

A majority -- 57% -- of teens aged 13-17 now have a cellphone, but that’s far below the 80% of adults 18-plus who own a phone. Still, for a glimpse of the future, look no further than Generation Wireless.

Generation Wireless has been a digital demographic from birth, growing up after the dawn of cellular and with the Internet.

Cellphone users aged 13-17 are connected to their phones by ear, eye and touch like no other age group. They are far more likely than other demographic groups to use a broad range of cellphone data services, and they will be first in line to try emerging offerings like cellphone TV.
'Crazy for mobile'“They’re crazy for mobile,” said Mark Donovan, VP-senior analyst with M:Metrics, a research firm that tracks wireless content and applications. “They see [a phone] as this little digital communicator that they can take with them wherever they go.”

Their young-adult peers -- aged 18-24 -- are more likely than younger teens to snap cellphone pictures and buy ringtones, according to M:Metrics data. But for most wireless content and features, young users are the biggest enthusiasts.

Generation Wireless has been a digital demo from birth, growing up after the dawn of cellular (the first U.S. service went live in 1983) and with the Internet (the first major Web browser debuted in 1993).

Rite of passageGetting a cellphone is a rite of passage for teens. Just 12% of children aged 8-12 have a wireless phone, but that jumps to nearly half -- 49% -- for ages 13-15, according to a Harris Interactive youth survey last year. By ages 18-21, cellphone penetration (81%) is in line with the average for all adults (80%).

The top reason teens cite for getting a cellphone is safety, according to Telephia, a market research firm. That’s not surprising: Parents decide when their children go wireless. “Parents love kids to have mobile phones,” said Glen LeBlanc, research director for wireless services at NPD Group. “It’s an electronic leash.”

Parents pick their children’s wireless service in about two-thirds (68%) of cases, Telephia said. Family plans are the standard; 62% of teens aged 13-17 are on a family plan for wireless, according to NPD’s Mobile Consumer Track. NPD said another 15% of teens use a prepaid phone -- such as TracFone, Virgin, Boost or T-Mobile To Go -- that effectively caps their use.
Parents foot the billMost of the time, mom and dad foot the bill for wireless. That gives parents more reason to set limits on data features, such as text messaging, which carry tolls. “I have to believe that in households across the nation, there are ongoing negotiations about what’s appropriate to do with your cellphone,” said M:Metrics’ Mr. Donovan.

But there’s no denying that the biggest users of premium wireless features -- messaging, game downloads, photo services, sports information, entertainment news -- are young consumers having fun at someone else’s expense. Among children aged 13-17 -- the heaviest overall users of such services -- just 18% pay for their cell service, said Mr. LeBlanc. Among the second heaviest users -- 18-24 -- 38% pay the bills.

Teens aged 13-17 are three times as likely as the average cellphone owner to use their phones to access shopping guides and content from men’s and women’s magazines, according to M:Metrics. They use phone features to get restaurant and movie info at more than twice the national average.

Interest in live TVHigher bills could be ahead as young cellphone users show the most interest in emerging services. For those aged 13-17, about 17% say they are somewhat or very likely to subscribe to a live TV service, according to M:Metrics; 13.4% of cell users aged 18-24 expect to do so. Interest falls sharply for older age groups.

Will young consumers pull back from wireless when they have to pay? Not likely. Cellphones are central to a generation that stays connected at all times to friends, family and the world. “It’s going to be amazing to watch these people grow up,” said Mr. Donovan. “It’s going to be a mix of ruling the world and playing videogames.” Not necessarily in that order.

Source: Ad Age

Consumer Confidence Down But Future Brighter

2006-03-09T08:31:00.000-05:00

The February BIGresearch Consumer Intentions & Actions Survey finds that consumer confidence declines three points from last month yet the 90 day outlook brightens as all categories improve from January and fewer consumers contend they've become more practical in the last 6 months.

Some of the leading projection categories provide clues about the consumer marketplace immediate future:

Confidence in chances for a strong economy declines 44.3%...also down from '05 (47.7%) and '04 (49.4%)
Those concerned about political and national security issues rise in February to 18.2%, compared to 16.4% last month, though relatively even with '05 (18.0%)
Fewer consumers have become more practical in the last 6 months, now at 42.2% (down from 44.6% last month), thought an increase from last year (39.2%)
The majority of consumers say they focus more on needs over wants in purchases (51.5%), relatively flat from January (51.8%) and an increase from '05 (47.4%)

Considering the personal and financial attitudes of the consumer:

42.8% expect "more" layoffs over the next 6 months (up from 34.4% last month), while those concerned with becoming laid off themselves rises slightly from 4.7% in January to 4.9%
More plan to "pay down debt" (43.5%) over the next three months, compared to last month (42.3%), though fewer contend they'll pay with cash more often (24.4%) and decrease overall spending (31.5%)
Last month, 31.4% said gas prices were having "no major impact" on spending, compared to 29.9% this month. In February '05, 48.4% cited "no major impact."

And with regards to retail plans for consumers:

38.6% say familiar fashion labels are important, up from 35.9% in '05
72.1% say price is the driving force behind their preference to shop a particular store for Electronics, followed by selection (57.2%), location (46.2%), quality (38.6%), and service (27.6%)
Those in the 25-44 year old age range spent about 5% more than the average for major electronics in the last 12 months, but about twice the monthly average on smaller items like CDs, DVDs, and flash memory

Find more information about the BIG Executive Briefing here. Text taken from Center for Media Research daily Research Brief.

Most Consumers Would Watch Ad For Free TV Download

2006-03-08T19:23:00.000-05:00

MOST CONSUMERS WOULD WATCH AD FOR FREE TV DOWNLOAD

Study Finds 72% Willing to Watch Ad on iPod Shows if Sponsor Picks Up Cost

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Broadcast networks like ABC are selling some of their most popular shows on Apple’s iTunes for $1.99, but a new study finds that most consumers would be willing to watch an ad if the sponsor picked up the cost of the show.

And if that model becomes the standard, more would be interested in buying a video iPod.
Incentive to buyThe survey, which explored attitudes toward video iPods, found that 54% of respondents would be more likely to purchase an iPod if TV programs could be downloaded free of charge in exchange for watching a 30-second advertisement.

Among those actually planning to purchase a video iPod, 72% said they would be more likely to download a TV program in exchange for watching an ad. The Magid study surveyed 798 iPod owners between the ages of 12 and 55. Market research firm Frank N. Magid Associates conducted the study.

“It appears that the option to download content of choice for free will dramatically increase interest in purchasing a video iPod, thus potentially increasing video iPod sales and penetration,” the study concluded.

Some free content availableSome free TV content exists on iTunes. The pilot episode of NBC’s “Conviction,” for example, was available for free a week before its first airing.

“We believe that if there’s free content out there, it will get people to buy the machines and sample the content,” said Mike Vorhaus, managing director, Magid Associates. But he added that only select, appropriate content should be offered free of charge and the content should not include music videos.

Web Publishers Predict Increased Spending From Traditional, Brand-Focused Advertisers

2006-03-08T19:00:00.000-05:00

Web Publishers Predict Increased Spending From Traditional, Brand-Focused

AdvertisersAdvertising.com's Third Annual Publisher Survey Shows That Branding Is In, Pop-Ups Are Out

Advertising.com, Inc. today released the findings from its third annual survey of online publishers. The study surveyed publishers about their advertising business expectations for 2006. Key results forecast increased spending for online branding by traditional advertisers; increased support for video, rich media and behavioral targeting capabilities; and continued revenue growth from large creative formats.

Findings:
Brand advertising on the rise; direct response still a mainstayAlthough web-based direct-response advertisers are still expected to account for the largest share of online revenue (58.5%), publishers anticipate increased spending from more traditional, brand-focused advertisers. Publishers are expecting over 32% of revenue to come from these traditional advertisers, up from 26.5% in 2005. And more than 40% of publishers are citing branding as their advertisers' main objective, more than a 100% increase over 2005 predictions.

In addition, for the third consecutive year, publishers are predicting CPM pricing to represent the largest share of revenue - up to 45% from 41% in 2005.
Support grows for sophisticated formats

With direct-response dollars generating the largest share of publisher revenue, the number of publishers supporting contextual advertising is increasing - with approximately 67% of publishers supporting this format, up from 50% in 2005. In addition, as increased spending is anticipated from traditional advertisers, publishers are now supporting more advanced, brand-focused creative capabilities:

Over 76% of publishers support rich media, up from 69% in 2005
35% of publishers support video as opposed to 25% in 2005
Roughly 30% employ behavioral targeting versus 25% in 2005

In addition, more than 43% of publishers now support streaming content. And of those who do not currently support streaming content, 30% plan to add it in 2006.

"Formats like streaming video give advertisers the ability to connect with consumers on an emotional, TV-like level, while behavioral targeting enables them to easily and selectively reach an in-market audience," says Scott Ferber, CEO of Advertising.com. "That unique combination of impact and efficiency is driving more dollars online and publishers are realizing the advantages of these powerful formats."

Text links dominate, pop-ups dwindle

In terms of creative trends, text links are again predicted to dominate, ranking as the most profitable ad unit for publishers. Standard banner ads and large rectangles are predicted to be key revenue drivers in 2006, with 15.9% and 14.6% of publishers (respectively) predicting the most revenue from these sizes. Not surprisingly, pop-ups are on the decline for the first time in three years and are not expected to be profitable.

Methodology: In January 2006, web publishers who were actively working with Advertising.com were asked to complete an online survey about their advertising business outlook for the coming year. Advertising.com's web network includes over 1,000 publishers and reaches more than 138 million unique visitors. Data was gathered from January 9 through January 16, 2006. Of the respondents, 47% were C-level executives, 17% were VPs or heads of sales, and 10% were media planners or buyers.

Consumers hesitate at the mobile technology check-out counter

2006-03-07T08:46:00.000-05:00

Purchases deterred by product proliferation and changing technologies

NEW YORK and TORONTO, March 2, 2006 — A proliferation of product choices and rapidly changing technology are the key deterrents for consumers when it comes to purchasing their mobile technologies, according to a survey of 1,001 Americans released today by RBC Capital Markets.

The survey polled consumers who use a cell phone and other mobility devices and found that 45 per cent say too many product choices prevent them from making a purchase decision. The survey found rapidly changing technology deters more than half of potential purchasers (56 per cent) from buying new handheld technologies. Price was the top-purchasing driver for consumers, followed by compatibility with other devices. More consumers ranked compatibility as one of their top three priorities than any other priority. In turn, companies are responding by beginning to produce easier to use devices with integrated functionality.

"With so many single purpose devices in the market, combined with evolving technology, consumers are resisting making a choice," said Scott Collins, RBC Capital Markets' director of U.S. Equity Research. "Our research shows that over time, mobility will be adopted more widely. The mobile evolution has only just begun. Compatibility and convergence will be the key influences on consumer purchases and enterprise product development as we move forward."

The RBC Capital Markets survey was released today at the RBC Capital Markets 'M-Evolution' conference in New York. The conference focused on the global mobility evolution in wireless communications and was attended by Google, Intel, Palm and Nokia, among others.

PRICE AND COMPATIBILITY DRIVE PURCHASE DECISIONS
The survey found concern for price doesn't mean Americans would accept advertising or text messaging to lower their service or subscription costs. Fifty-two per cent said of those surveyed rejected the idea, while 56 per cent were unwilling to trade personal information for discounted products and/or services. Mobile marketers and advertisers should take note 58 per cent of survey respondents said mobile marketing is a nuisance and should be prohibited. In fact, the only exception to consumer's price sensitivity was the willingness by 43 per cent to pay more for a cell phone or PDA that prohibits marketing or advertising messages.

Twenty-nine per cent of respondents who own a PDA, notebook or laptop expressed frustration that their various handheld devices don't work together.

SECURITY AND PRIVACY REMAIN A KEY ISSUE
Americans with post-secondary education place security and privacy as their third priority in making a purchase - ironically, since more than two-thirds of them haven't taken steps (70 per cent) or don't know how to protect information stored on their handheld device (72 per cent).

When asked "what is the issue that most troubles you about mobile technology?" 46 per cent of respondents said "the security of my information and my privacy" was of greatest concern. More than a third (36 per cent) expressed concern about organizations spying on them when using a mobile device.

However, 61 per cent believe that solutions will be found to address identity theft and invasion of privacy, which may explain the relaxed approach to protecting their information on their mobile devices and their prioritization of price in their purchasing decision.

THE "I'LL THINK ABOUT IT LATER" PURCHASE DECISION
In addition to the more than half of Americans that said rapidly changing technology makes them reluctant to buy new handheld technologies, 48 per cent worried products they've recently purchased and depend on will rapidly become obsolete. Forty-five per cent said too many product choices prevented them from actually making a purchase decision and Americans with a high school education or less were significantly more hesitant to buy new technologies because of their complexity than those with post-secondary education (42 per cent vs. 33 per cent).

The RBC Capital Markets survey also suggests the benefits of converging mobile technologies are not yet well understood enough to drive a purchase decision. Three-quarters of those surveyed said, "I am not interested in watching TV programs or movies on my handheld device," and 69 per cent said they do not see themselves using cell phones for musical entertainment purposes.

"Consumers are generally deterred when it comes to adopting the latest integrated mobile devices due to concerns of obsolescence," said Mark Sue, RBC Capital Markets' communications equipment analyst. "As integrated mobile devices become more complex, a significant time lag can persist before the trajectory of growth accelerates. But digital music, video, and web browsing wrapped in an iconic device, may help mobile device makers grab a greater share of an individual's disposable income previously allocated to other consumer electronics."

When asked if they would be willing to pay to have in-car mobile Internet access and computing, eight out of ten Americans stated they had no interest and three-quarters said, "having wireless Internet in my car would be a dangerous distraction." Interestingly, one quarter of Americans said they would check email in their car if they had a device to do so.

Other findings from the survey confirm developments in mobile technology are also testing social and personal norms include:

Almost 20 per cent of Americans have text-messaged opinions to a person in their immediate vicinity to prevent others near them from knowing.
Fifty-seven per cent are opposed to adult content being disseminated over mobile technologies.
Fifty-three per cent believe that the U.S. economy benefits from consumer demand for new technologies.
One in eight Americans have taken a photo or video of a stranger without their knowledge.
Democratization of Internet access may be the nascent philosophy behind the finding that roughly 43 per cent of Americans surveyed said wireless service providers should provide free access to Google.
Having instant access to the Internet anytime, anywhere was cited as priority in life for 48 per cent of those who owned a PDA, notebook or laptop.
Twenty-three per cent admitted that "Google is part of my every day life and I want access to it anytime, anywhere."

The survey was conducted online by InsightExpress, on behalf of RBC Capital Markets, and details consumers' mobile technology purchasing criteria, needs and concerns, and highlights several opportunities to close the lag time between the introduction of new technologies and customer purchases. The margin of error was ±3.09 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

About RBC Capital MarketsRBC Capital Markets is the corporate and investment banking arm of RBC Financial Group, the global brand name of Royal Bank of Canada (RY: TSX, NYSE), one of the largest banks in North America by assets and market capitalization. RBC Capital Markets is ranked by Bloomberg as one of the top 15 investment banks globally, and has significant debt origination, sales and trading and foreign exchange businesses that operate around the world. Our North American equity underwriting; sales, trading and research business dominates the Canadian market and has established a significant franchise in the US middle market. Both institutional and retail investors recognize RBC Capital Markets for our expertise across the complete range of structured products.

Romance blossoms on the internet, but there is still public concern about the safety of online dating

2006-03-06T14:28:00.000-05:00

Romance blossoms on the internet, but there is still public concern about the safety of online dating

WASHINGTON, March 5, 2006 -There is now broad public awareness of the online dating world, and the internet users who are actively seeking dates have found a variety of ways to pursue their romantic interests online.

Some 31% of American adults say they know someone who has used a dating website and 15% of American adults - about 30 million people - say they know someone who has been in a long-term relationship or married someone he or she met online.

While online dating is becoming more commonplace, there are strong concerns in the wider public about the dangers of posting personal information on dating sites and about the honesty of those who pursue online dating. Some 66% of internet users agree with the statement that online dating is dangerous because it puts personal information online. And 57% of internet users agree with the statement that a lot of people who use online dating sites lie about their marital status.

These are some of the main findings in a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project entitled, "Online Dating."

The survey found that those who describe themselves as single and looking for a partner comprise about 7% of the online adult population. Among this cohort of about 10 million internet-using adults, 74% have done at least one dating-related activity online-ranging from using dating websites, to searching for information about prospective dates, to flirting via email and instant messaging, to browsing for information about the local singles scene.

"Those who are looking for dates have learned to use the internet both as a roadmap for the offline world and as a destination to meet people," said Mary Madden, Research Specialist at the Pew Internet Project and co-author of the report.

Some 11% of internet users, about 16 million people, say they have gone to dating websites and a majority of them say they have had positive experiences and believe their use of such sites helps them to find a better match. A notable number of these online daters have found firsthand that lasting romance can be forged online; 17% of them, or roughly 3 million people, say they have entered long-term relationships or married someone they met through the services.

Another distinguishing feature of the dating scene in the digital age is the newfound ability for singles to "Google" each other or search online for information relating to a potential date before they meet or even agree to meet. Of those internet users who are single and looking for romantic partners, 17% have searched for information about someone they were currently dating or were about to meet for a first date.

"Whether you meet someone offline or online, email and other forms of online communication now play host to some of the most crucial interactions in the early stages of a relationship," said Amanda Lenhart, Senior Research Specialist and co-author of the report. Indeed, a substantial segment of single and looking internet users, 40%, say they flirt online, and 28% have used the internet or email to ask someone out on a date.

However, many who use the websites don't take that extra step to follow through with an in-person meeting. Just 43% of the online daters in our sample, about 7 million, said they had gone on a date with someone they met through the sites.

These findings are based on a national survey of 3,215 adults conducted last fall by the Pew Internet & American Life Project looking at the place of online dating in the larger picture of romance on the internet and relationships in America. The margin of error for responses based on all adults is ± 2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.