• by Joe Mandese , May 12, 2004

Are media planners and buyers the biggest media junkies? That's the question that was posed to us recently by Jeff Einstein, a pioneer of the digital marketing industry who is now trying to help people kick the habit (see his debut column, "Einstein's Corner," in today's MediaDailyNews. To find out, we asked media agency executives, as well as a group of consumers, if they felt they were growing dependent on media and whether it was beginning to crowd out other things in their lives. The conclusion, which is the subject of a feature story in this month's edition of MEDIA magazine, is that media agency executives, especially media planners, apparently do feel like they have a media monkey on their backs.

About two-thirds of media agency executives say they feel they are growing dependent on media as a source of information and/or entertainment in their lives, a considerably higher percentage than the 47 percent of consumers who felt that way, according to results of a series of online surveys conducted in April by InsightExpress.

I feel I'm growing more dependent on media...*

                             % Who Agree 
All Media Agency Executives          61% 
C-Level Executives                   64% 
Senior
Management                    53% 
Middle Management                    57% 
Media Planners                       67% 
Media Buyers                         63% 
Online Media
Planners/Buyers         61% 

Consumers                            47% 

Source: MediaPost Advisory Panel, InsightExpress consumer panel. Based on a self-administered survey conducted online in April by InsightExpress. *Entire question read: "I feel I'm growing more dependent on media as a source of information and/or entertainment in my life."

Most alarming of all, a sizeable share of media planners and buyers feel media is beginning to crowd out other important things in their lives, such as family, friends, "quiet time," exercise, sleep and even work. MDN over the next several days will be reporting details of these findings, which come from what we believe may be the first media consumption study of its kind conducted among the media buying trade itself.

Meanwhile, one of the top lines may help explain why media agency execs are feeling a little like casualties of a self-created occupational hazard. On average, they estimate they are spending 7.37 hours each weekday consuming media (at home and at work). While that's actually marginally below the 7.47 hours estimated by consumers, C-level executives, buyers and planners - particularly planners - said they were way over that average. When you consider that most self-administered surveys on media time usage tend to significantly underestimate actual media consumption, it's easy to understand why the media planning/buying trade is feeling overwhelmed. Planners, for example believe they are spending 9.73 hours each weekday with media, nearly 2.5 hours more than their colleagues and consumers.

Estimated Time Spent With Media* During A Typical Weekday

                                Average Number Of Hours Daily

All Media Agency Executives                              7.37 
C-Level Executives                                       7.86 
Senior Management                                        6.36

Middle Management                                        7.06 
Media Planners                                           9.73 
Media Buyers                                             8.13

Online Media Planners/Buyers                             7.71 

Consumers                                                7.47 

Source: MediaPost Advisory Panel, InsightExpress consumer panel. Based on a self-administered survey conducted online in April by InsightExpress. *Newspapers, magazines, radio, television and online, both at work and at home.