Google Ads Makes More Than All US Print Pubs Combined
This is just staggering at levels I can’t really wrap my mind around it:
During the first six months of 2012, Google generated more money in advertising revenue than all U.S. print publications combined, as illustrated in the chart above from Statistica. Google brought in $10.9 billion in ad revenue in this time period, while U.S. newspapers and magazines brought in $10.5 billion.
Now as the article notes, there are more than a few caveats here. The Google total is global revenue, not just the US. The print total only includes advertising in the actual print editions, not ads on their web sites. But still, that Google (as powerful as they are) in about a decade could eclipse all the US print publications combined is such a titanic shift in the advertising marketplace I can’t really process it in any meaningful manner.
Abbreviated Marketing News Round-up
Viewers Prefer Olympic-themed Ads
Viewers of NBC’s Olympics coverage through February 20, 2010 preferred ads with an Olympics theme, according to data from The Nielsen Company.
Six of the 10 most-liked ads contained an Olympics theme. The ads, aired by Visa, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble, included either a direct mention to the Olympics or imagery alluding to the games. As it turns out, American TV viewers like their Olympics—even in the commercials they watch.
A Nielsen survey asking Olympics viewers about commercials aired during NBC’s primetime Olympic coverage through February 20 shows that six of the 10 most liked ads contained an Olympics theme. The ads, aired by Visa, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble, included either a direct mention to the Olympics or imagery alluding to the games.
Digital Coupon Redemption Value Beats Newspapers
According to statistics from Coupons.com, the Grocery iQ smartphone app grew 170% in value during 2009 to more than $858 million. By comparison, growth measures for newspaper coupon value last year ranged from 8% to 16%. As a result, says the report, redemption values on its digital offering outstripped the increase in newspaper-based coupons by more than 10 to 1.
Steven Boal, Coupons.com CEO, said “[....] for the first time in almost two decades the use of coupons increased in 2009 [....] due (in part) to the growth of digital coupons [....] more consumers made them part of their shopping routine.”
Video Email On Rise In 2010, Study Reveals
Marketers will pay more attention to video email, social media integration and the war to unclutter the inbox this year. About 64% of the 200 email marketers who participated in the study plan to use video email marketing in 2010—up from nearly 12% last year, according to a study Implix will release Monday.
More than 65% of marketers participating in the study believe video emails can have a moderate or significant influence on conversion rates. And more than half of responders claim that video emails can increase click-through rates and drive customers onto landing pages. Only 4.7% of email marketers do not see any benefits from using video emails.
When it comes to different uses of video email by small businesses, nearly 29% consider training courses the most effective use of video email, followed by product demonstrations, 22%; product offers, 19%; and customer testimonials, nearly 18%, respectively.
What Consumers Will Pay for Online
Movies, music, and games top a new list from Nielsen of the different types of content that consumers are most willing to pay for online. The data, taken from a survey of 27,000 consumers across 52 countries, also indicates that content created online—like blogs, social networks, and podcasts—are the least likely to attract consumer’s dollars.
Initially the findings might seem like good news (finally) for “traditional” media organizations that are eying paywalls as a source of additional revenue, as consumers did indicate more of a willingness to pay for online newspapers, magazines, and radio than their user-generated counterparts.
However, Nielsen also found that, “Nearly eight out of every ten (79%) would no longer use a web site that charges them, presuming they can find the same information at no cost.” Or put another way, unless you are a top-tier media outlets with tons of exclusive content, nobody is going to pay for your content.
Abbreviated Marketing News Round-up
Per-Person Online Video Viewing Jumps 13%
Total video streams, streams per viewer and time per viewer were all up in December 2009, led by 13% growth in time per viewer, according to US online video viewing data from The Nielsen Company. The December 2009 Nielsen VideoCensus reveals that unique viewers of online video topped 137 million for the month, representing a 10.3% year-over-year increase. Total streams viewed totaled more than 10.7 billion, a nearly 12% increase over 2008. Approximately 78 streams per viewer were watched, a 1.4% increase over 2008. Time per viewer increased 13.2% to 193.2 minutes, Nielsen said.
Just Two in Five Americans Read Newspaper Daily
Just two in five US adults (43%) say they read a daily newspaper—either online or in print—almost every day, while 72% read one at least once a week and 81% read one at least once a month, according to a December 2009 Adweek Media/Harris Poll.
The study found that one in ten adults (10%) say they never read a daily newspaper.
A similar study by Scarborough Research found that 74% of Americans say they still read a newspaper with at least some frequency. Readership levels in that study were higher among the affluent, educated and white-collar workers.
Gartner: Mobile To Outpace Desktop Web By 2013
Mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access devices worldwide by 2013, according to a new forecast by research firm Gartner. That’s an even more aggressive outlook than Morgan Stanley’s projection that the mobile Web will outstrip the desktop Web in five years.
Gartner estimates the combined installed base of smartphones and browser-equipped enhanced phones will surpass 1.82 billion units by 2013, eclipsing the total of 1.78 billion PCs by then.
But the firm warns that many sites still are not optimized for the mobile Web, even though cell users expect to make fewer clicks on their phones than on a PC. To successfully expand into mobile, publishers will have to reformat sites from the small form-factor of handheld devices.
VW Is Back In Super Bowl After Nine Years
For the first time in nine years, Volkswagen of America will advertise during the Super Bowl. The company will premiere a 30-second spot—the first from new agency Deutsch L.A.—during the third quarter of Super Bowl XLIV. The ad uses the “Das Auto” tagline introduced in 2008.
It will be followed by a new retail-centric campaign that the company says is meant to “increase model awareness and familiarity by reminding consumers of all the new Volkswagen products on the road,” per a company release.
International Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study
How do your email programs measure up against peers worldwide? Silverpop analyzed 7,000 emails sent to 188 countries to find the answers. Our latest study goes beyond traditional metrics to provide a baseline scorecard that enables you to gain a better understanding of where you stand.
Abbreviated Marketing News Round-up
Local Online Advertising To Rise Only 5% In 2010
Online advertising will increase just 5% to $14.9 billion next year as a lagging economic recovery and a maturing Web ad market combine to further slow growth, according to a new report from Borrell Associates.
That rate would be less than half the 12% gain (to $14.2 billion) that the local media research firm projects this year, and well below the torrid 45% annual growth of the last five years. In addition to the impact of economic downturn, Borrell said the diminishing returns reflect a local online ad category rapidly approaching “saturation.”
Borrell expects that the 13.8% share that online makes up of all local advertising will peak at 16% by 2013. As a result, Borrell predicts that local Web advertising will post an anemic 2.9% growth rate over the next five years.
The Nielsen Company reports that time spent on social network and blogging sites accounted for 17% of all time spent on the Internet in August 2009, nearly triple the percentage of time spent on the sector a year ago.
Year-over-year, estimated online advertising spend on the top social network and blogging sites increased 119% to approximately $108 million in August 2009. The share of estimated spend on these sites has also grown, increasing from a 7% share of total online ad spend in August 2008 to a 15% share in August 2009.
Men More Likely To Ditch Traditional Media for Digital
Men are more likely than women to say that the internet has replaced their need to read printed newspapers and magazines, and also are more likely to be willing to pay for a subscription to an online newspaper or for a service to watch online TV with limited ads, according to a US consumer trend study by TargetCast.
But while the study (PDF) found the future of traditional media—particularly newspapers, magazines and radio – to be increasingly challenged by a rapid migration of hard-to-reach consumer groups to digital alternatives, it also revealed that internet ads are have lower overall purchase influence.
September Search Share: Google Grows, Yahoo & Bing Decline
Google accounted for 71.08% of all US searches conducted in the four weeks ending Oct. 3, 2009, while Yahoo Search, Bing and Ask.com received 16.38%, 8.96% and 2.56%, respectively, according to an analysis by Experian Hitwise.
Despite a significant challenge from Bing since the alternative search engine’s introduction in June, Google’s share of search increased 1% over August 2009, when it stood at 70.24%. And while both Yahoo and Bing together account for 25% of US search share, Yahoo saw a decline of 3% vs. September, while Bing’s share slid 5%. The remaining 52 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.04% of all US searches.
