• by Masha Geller , August 16, 2001

The cross-platform media deals that advertisers and media companies have recently announced will require a better understanding of the people's cross-media usage if they are to maximize their investment. That's according to a new cross-media usage study of 100,000 people just released by BIGresearch.

The study was conducted in April and it shows that the cross- media usage of today's consumers may create a new logic for how to best reach them with advertising. It documents how cross-platform or integrated media buying needs to be more than mixing and matching media choices packaged by large media conglomerates.

One of the issues examined was the regular usage of all major media (TV, Cable, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, and Internet). A key finding from the study was that, as a result of social mobility, people tend to use more than one medium at a time.

As Joe Pilotta, Ph.D., V.P. of Research for BIGresearch, said, "People today are doing more than one thing at a time and for media that means they are no longer just watching TV but they may simultaneously be reading the newspaper or surfing the net."

BIGresearch says among those respondents who identified themselves as professional and who have one child under 18, Black professionals spend the most time per day with various media, (8.41 hours), followed by Hispanic professionals (7.69 hrs), and Asian Professionals (7.40 hours). White Professionals came in last with 7.29 hours per day.

Predictably, homemakers with at least one child under 18 at homespend more time with medi athan professionals. Again, balck homemakers take first place with 9.3 hours a day, followed by Hispanic (9.23 hrs), White (8.54) Asian (7.23).

More top line findings are available at http://www.formsite.com/prosper/info.