A small but growing percentage of teenage American cell phone users have received ads on their cell phones, according to findings of a teen technology study scheduled to be released Wednesday by Ball State University. The study, based on a survey of 821 junior high and high school students, found that 17 percent have received an ad on their cell phones--a percentage that Ball State's faculty expects to rise as marketers obtain more cell phone numbers. Study author Michael Hanley, an assistant professor in the journalism department at Ball State, was surprised that the number was so high, "given that the only way legally that that could happen is if they signed up on a site." Hanley said that before this survey, it was difficult to find subjects who had been the targets of mobile advertising. "This should be relatively good news for the advertising industry, as they are obviously sending messages and reaching that market." The "Teen Technology Survey" was conducted in two phases. The first was a written survey handed out to 180 Chicago-area high school juniors and seniors in October 2004. The second phase was an online survey, which was completed by 641 teens in 20 states during November and December 2004. Preliminary results are expected to be released Wednesday, to be followed in several weeks by a more detailed analysis. The online participants were recruited by the Ball State American Advertising Federation student chapter members, and their friends and families. Hanley stressed that this survey was composed of a convenience sample, and not a scientifically constructed random sample--and therefore could not be generalized to the general teen population of the United States. The survey also complemented the trend indicated by a September study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which found that instant messaging is gaining popularity among American adults, with similar data regarding American teens. According to Hanley's survey, 84 percent of teens surveyed use instant messaging when online, and 48 percent of teens use their cell phones to send text messages. According to the Pew survey, which sampled 2,204 adults over 18, 42 percent of Internet users--roughly 53 million American adults--reported using instant messaging. The Ball State survey also found that the teens surveyed used instant messaging more often than any other method to communicate with their friends, coming in at 40 percent--with cell phones and land lines coming in at 24 and 29 percent, respectively. Over a quarter of teens said they had used instant messaging to perform traditionally more personal communications, like asking someone out or breaking off a relationship. The teens surveyed in the Ball State sampling resided in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. The study has a plus or minus 7.3 percent margin of error.
It won't break the ad sales record set by the final episode of NBC's "Friends," but at $1.3 million per 30-second spot, the May 16 series finale of "Everybody Loves Raymond" will still be one of the most expensive media buys ever for a regularly scheduled prime-time series episode, according to estimates from media buyers contacted by MediaDailyNews. At $2 million per :30, NBC's May 7, 2004 telecast of the "Friends" finale still holds the record for the unit rate of a regularly scheduled prime-time series, followed by the $1.6 million per :30 NBC averaged for the final "Seinfeld" telecast in 1998. Meanwhile, to ensure that both advertisers and TV viewers get the most out of "Everybody Loves Raymond's" final episode--the series' 210th--the network Monday unveiled plans for a multi-platform marketing and publicity campaign, which kicks off this week. The effort--designed to prove that everyone does indeed love comedian Ray Romano's autobiographical character--includes a vote on CBS.com for viewers' all-time favorite episodes; on-air tributes by celebrities such as "King Of Queens" star Kevin James to basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; heavy promotion on Viacom radio and cable properties. The "Raymond" finale will also receive co-marketing support from CBS's 200-plus affiliated stations, as well as special "Raymond"-themed content on CBS' "Eye on America." CBS is also pulling out all the promotional stops with the network's Viacom cable network siblings, including VH1, Comedy Central, and Nick at Nite.
At a time when advertisers and agencies are trying to understand the connection influential consumers have with the media they advertise in, new research suggests that print media, especially newspapers, are far more effective outlets than electronic media like TV and radio. The research, which comes from NOP World, the parent of Mediamark Research Inc. (MRI), integrated an NOP study on "influential" Americans with MRI's Survey of the American Consumer, finds that 41 percent of "influential Americans" are among the most avid newspaper readers. Influentials are defined by NOP as "the critical 10 percent of the population who drive what the other 90 percent think, do and buy." The finding should come as some comfort for newspaper publishers, which have been struggling to prove their relevancy to Madison Avenue amid declining newspaper circulation, especially among younger readers. Magazines also perform well among the influential set, accounting for 33 percent of the heaviest readers of consumer magazines. By comparison, influential Americans account for only 14 percent of heavy users of TV, and 20 percent of heavy users of radio. NOP has been studying the Influentials market for 30 years, but this is the first time it has released data integrating the consumer break with MRI's media usage database. Last year, MRI rival Simmons Market Research Bureau integrated a similar clustering system into its database utilizing the so-called "Tipping Point" segments developed by author Malcolm Gladwell. Marketers and agencies have grown especially interested in reaching these clusters, because they are considered primary drivers of word-of-mouth marketing that can impact how larger segments of the population think. 'Influentials' Who Are Heavy Users* Of Each Medium Newspapers 41% Magazines 33% Radio 20% Television 14% Source: NOP World. *Heavy users = the top quintile of users according to MRI Survey of the American Consumer, Wave 51.
The world of sight, sound, and motion is relentlessly converging between programming served by the television networks (cable and broadcast), original shows produced by cable and satellite providers, and streaming video served up over the Internet. You can now get video streamed to your cell phone or mobile MP3 or video player and Microsoft has announced a software platform for interactive TV that runs on a set top box. I suspect it will be months rather than years when satellite radio starts beaming music video along with the tunes. Where does this leave the traditional over-the-air radio broadcaster? With more options than you might think. Although we are raising children who are fixated (seemingly from the cradle) on any form of video from TV to DVDs, there will always be a place for talk, sports, and music to be heard in the background as you work on other things or simply close your eyes to the world. But radio cannot be complacent about convergence. Mostly because there is a great opportunity awaiting those who take advantage of digital delivery of sounds with video. The number of video streams served over the Internet in 2004 rose to 14.2 billion, a 79 percent increase compared with 2003, according to AccuStream iMedia. The average streamed video lasts 2.5 minutes. Clearly broadband-delivered video has arrived and will continue to grow, and along with it streaming video advertising. Not only can the Internet deliver the "emotive" sight, sound, and motion that advertisers say they needed from TV, but also interactivity. So how can terrestrial radio get in the game? The first step is to have a presence on the players that deliver online music. Unless you are using a paid service like Real's Rhapsody, you have to get to a radio station's Web site to receive their signal (say thank you to all those radio station guides that compile listings of free online radio.) Instead of static photos or station logos why not take a page out of the WorldNow playbook and put video content on your site? Logic points to music videos, but people also sit and watch classical concerts and operas on TV, why not on your radio site? Rights should not be an issue since video producers seem more than happy to provide their product in exchange for assuring that it contains a link to purchase the video. Moreover, since most new music is introduced to consumers via radio, I expect this is also a revenue share opportunity for stations. This gives you the opportunity to sell video advertising with the huge advantage over TV of being able to report nearly real-time viewing and interaction with the ads. Using the basic premise of behavioral targeting, you can watch the click rate on videos and pretty much deduce a good deal of information about the users. This in turn can lead to a more targeted pitch to advertisers who want to reach specific demographics. The pitch is now based on actual audience numbers rather than projected, an improvement over traditional radio selling. This should be a no-brainer for managers and owners to include videos while streaming music over the Internet. Lately, we have had several inquiries for video avails, but when we mention radio station Web sites or Internet radio sites - buyers pass immediately. But they will take a second look at sites that stream videos. I hope the radio industry will see this as a better mouse trap - it's theirs to lose. Adam Guild is the president of Interep Interactive.