Eyeblaster – Global Benchmark Report

Eyeblaster just released the 2009 Global Benchmarks Insights and Analysis report. Some of the findings are:

• Results were surprising—while the CTR performance of Standard Banners tends to improve as unit size increases, in Rich Media, size is a poor predictor of performance. In Rich Media, size is only one component of banner visibility on the site.
  
• The analysis indicates that better predictors of performance in Rich Media are creative features such as video, ad format, flash features and expansions. Therefore, to improve performance, advertisers should focus on enhancing ads with video and other features, rather than increasing unit size.
  
  
  
• A study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) found that larger ad units are 25% more effective in lifting key brand metrics such as brand awareness and message association, even after one exposure. The research also shows that additional exposures significantly increased persuasion metrics such as purchase intent.

 View the electronic version of 'Global Benchmark Report 2009'.

Pew Research Center

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%.

Jeffbullas’s Blog

The study on online activity titled the “Internet Activity Index” released by  the Online Publishers Association shows the  trends of the types of activity that have ocurred on the Internet over the past 6 years. The study’s findings has important implications for online marketers and how they should be focusing their time, resources and strategies in 2009 and beyond.

5 Key findings of the study

1. Internet users continue to spend a majority of their “time” with Content sites, up from 34 percent of total time spent in 2003 to 42 percent in 2009, a 24 percent increase
2. Emergence of Community (it wasn’t measured in 2003 as it wasn’t statistically significant enough and not on the radar)
3. Content is still king; the content rich sites continue to be a place where consumers spend the majority of their online time and provide an environment for brand marketers to reach and engage with consumers despite the emergence of community sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace
4. Community sites are reducing the share of online time by communications sites due to community sites ability to offer the same activities such as email and instant messaging more efficiently
5. Time spent with Search doubled

While some of these categories share common elements – for instance, there are strong community aspects to many News, Sports and other content sites -- it has become clear that each of these areas has very distinct characteristics, leading to a natural and healthy segmentation of the marketplace. By tracking share of time spent on each activity, the Index provides a benchmark for charting the relative impact of changing market dynamics on these segments as the medium matures.

  View the electronic version of 'Historical Internet Activity Index'.

Research - Eyeblaster

Eyeblaster used isolated data from a sample size of 42 billion rich media impressions spanning across all formats and global regions, analyzing Dwell Time, a metric that measures engagement as the average time consumers intentionally spend with online ads.

Recent years saw click thru rates (CTR) dropping from 5% to way below 0.4% (or 0.1% for standard banners). This has led some to conclude that ‘display advertising is dying’. On the other hand, data such as Comscore and OPA’s recent research showed that consumers exposed to display ads spend over 50% more time on an advertiser’s site the following month, viewing over 50% more pages than average visitors. This may lead to the conclusion that display advertising is more critical than ever. Human attention has become a scarce commodity.

The main findings in this research include the following:

• Consumers are 25 times more likely to spend meaningful time on the ad than click it
• When they do spend time, consumers spend close to a full minute of active engagement
• Video increases Dwell Rate by 30% and Dwell Time by 200% (in the US) or 100% (globally)
• Consumers react to ads differently depending on the time of day, week, or year
• Home-page media offers one of the highest Dwell Rates, but lowest Dwell Time

 View the electronic version of 'Trends of Time and Attention in Online Advertising'.

The colour of money - Change Agent (by Synovate)

Research conducted by CCICOLOR $the Institute for Color Research$ has revealed that people make a subconscious judgement about a person, environment, or product within 90 seconds of introduction, and that up to 90% of that assessment is based on colour alone.

The retinas in our eyes have three types of cone-shaped colour receptors, which can only detect red, blue, and green, the additive primaries. But our incredibly clever brains can mix and match these three colours, creating 7,000,000 visible shades and tints.

Some of which appeal to us more than others. The theory is that each colour evokes an emotional response in humans, and the level of emotion detected in that response describes the respondent’s personality.

• “Even if a person tries to be angry or aggressive in the presence of pink, he can’t,”
• Consider appealing to a colour specialist before painting your office wall yellow – it’s the most visually fatiguing colour, and can decrease the productivity
• Cars are now a technological purchase as much as an automotive one. As such, we’re unconsciously drawn to the greyer end of the spectrum (i.e. silver)
• Colour increases brand recognition by up to 80%
• Blue is an appetite suppressant & traditionally a signal that a food is poisonous
• Lemon yellow is also said to make people look much younger
• Red, a colour that stimulates and provokes rushes of adrenalin

Colours are used in supermarkets, to invoke our emotions into spending more money red is used because it stands out above all other colours, also it causes our adrenaline to start and makes heart beat faster. Blue is used as a trust symbol blue invokes trust, green makes us think of fresh.

The Planner’s Digital Dilemma – Online Research from Microsoft Atlas Institute

Existing media planning tools may help identify sites that have the highest concentration of a target audience, but digital publishers write contracts in terms of ad impressions. So brand marketers are left to guess if the plan that nets out to an $18 CPM is better or worse than the $9 CPM plan. This Digital Marketing Insight will bring traditional media planning to digital media.
Although targeting and frequency capping promise a bright future of less media waste, the vast majority of impressions delivered online are neither capped nor targeted.

The shape of the curve explains why doubling the impression size of a buy will not result in doubling the audience for that buy.
While the audience segment reach curves are not widely available today, planning tools that incorporate the reach curves will emerge within the coming year.

Example of a shorthand technique for calculating digital media plan audience metrics.

 Download the electronic version of 'Planner’s Digital Dilemma' report.

SilverMatters™ Reports - Marketing Report for Asia Mature Market

In Asia (and elsewhere) there are huge opportunities presented by the ageing populations and the online usage among the 50 plus market in the region - the Silver Surfers.

 Download the electronic version of 'Rise of the Silver Surfer' Presentation.

Insights Library | Yahoo! Advertising Funnel

Yahoo!’s most recent research states that consumers no longer follow the traditional “purchase funnel.” Instead, they chart personalized purchase trajectories that work for them. This study takes a deeper look at the emergence of this new, non-liner buying process that has evolved as consumers have become more engaged in consumer electronics.

• Consumers see technology products in a new way
• The new buying process is consumer-drivenand non-linear
• From a seemingly erratic process, a pattern emerges that indicates unique patterns and a compressed shopping cycle

“Tech socialites” and “Sophisticated want-it-alls”are the most likely to be brand advocates and to try new products. Using the right messagingand tone is imperative to reaching them.

Marketers need more individualized touchpoints that provide the information and connection consumers are seeking.

 Download the electronic version of 'Tech Enthusiasts' Study.

Nielsen | Reports (many!)

Two-thirds of the Global Internet audience visits member communities and adoption of social networking shows no signs of slowing.

In this new report, Nielsen examines the global footprint of the category and the implications on both consumers and the media economy.

 Download the electronic version of 'Global Faces' Study.

Absolit’s study on "Online Marketing Trends 2009" identified five duties

75 percent of the 474 surveyed companies rely on five instruments, while weblogs are losing their shine. In addition to usability, SEO, e-mail, and Web-Controlling, SEM is now also a must in online marketing. Furthermore, mobile marketing is up and coming, while more companies are engaging the strongest on social Web portals.

 
[GERMAN: Pflicht=Must Do; Kuer=Can Do]

A comparison of the values reveals major shifts in certain trends, for e.g., the fact that blogs have been overrated in the past. In 2007 almost sixty percent of the businesses intended to increase their blogging activities, while in 2009 only 48 percent claim to do so. "Corporate blogs are a flop", comments consultant Torsten Schwarz on the results. Only a few companies really manage to operate interesting blogs. The Social Web is also on the rise. Eleven percent more companies than in 2007 plan to look increasingly for opportunities to show presence in the communities.

 
[GERMAN: Changes from 2007]

 Download the electronic version of 'Online Marketing Trends 2009' Study (in german).

Natural Search Trends of Fortune 500 Research Q4-2008 | Conductor

“SEO is still in its infancy for the Fortune 500."

Key Takeaways of the Study

• The Fortune 500 as a group spent approximately $51 million / day on 88,792 keywords – yet only 20.82% of these keywords rank in the top 100 natural search results.
• Large brand visibility is improving throughout natural search results, but even high performers struggle with inconsistent execution across brands.
• Only 1.41% of the domains (not companies) surveyed showed a significant number of their terms in the top results. In all cases these companies had domains with significant visibility issues that offset their overall score.
• 46.76% of Fortune 500 companies have very low or non-existent visibility for their most advertised keywords.
• Fortune 500 natural search visibility dropped 5.8% when search queries increased to 5 or more words.

 Download the electronic version of 'Natural Search Trends of Fortune 500' Research.

Web Portals, Social Networks Lose Share in Ad-Spending Study - Advertising Age

Razorfish's annual digital-outlook report is always an interesting glimpse into one agency's decisions. And as Razorfish is the second-largest agency by digital revenue, according to Ad Age DataCenter data, it's worth paying attention.

In 2008 the portal category, which includes sites such as Yahoo and MSN, nabbed a smaller share of Razorfish's dollars, 16% vs. 19% in 2007. The reason, Razorfish said, was that while the scale portals deliver still matters, the choices for obtaining targeted scale outside of portals have grown.

Spending on entertainment sites was way up in 2008, to 23% of share from 18%, for two reasons: First, Razorfish finds that people in leisure environments are more open to advertising and the ads appear to convert better, and second, there were many new premium video sites where advertisers could spend their dollars.

 Download the electronic version of 'Razorfish Digital Outlook 2009' Report.

 University of Southern California

As Americans buy products, seek information, plan their social lives, and make personal and business decisions, the lines between media channels in the 21st century have become increasingly blurred, according to the third annual U.S. Media Myths & Realities survey.

This melding of media means the content deliverables that were once owned by a specific medium are now found on nearly all platforms - a shift that has helped create an increasingly participatory and fragmented media landscape.

The survey, conducted in late 2008 and released by Ketchum and the University of Southern California Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center, revealed, for instance, a steep rise in the use of shopping Web sites among consumers, doubling from 2006 to 2008 (17 percent to 35 percent). More revealing still, about half of those (44 percent) who visit shopping Web sites read consumer reviews and comments found on the site, demonstrating that these sites have transformed into virtual social gathering places and information destinations, rather than merely being a place to purchase goods. Consumers are placing more trust in the experiences of their online peers than they are on the retailer's product descriptions, which is one example of the broadening definition of a social networking site.

This burgeoning participatory media landscape means media audiences are having just as much influence, if not more, than the content providers themselves.

6. Personal Experience + Knowledge + Technology = Influence
7. PR Must Evolve…FAST!
8. Communicators Must Move Away from a Mass Media-Centric View!
9. Emerging Markets May Be Setting the Pace
          • Tech Savvy, Mobile Lives, Socially Enabled
10.Emerging Markets Poised to Be Centers of Innovation

 Download the electronic version of 'APAC Rich Media' Survey.

Datran Media | Annual Marketing Survey 2009

The annual marketing and media survey by reaching out to over 3,000 industry executives from Fortune 1000 brands and leading interactive agencies concluded, that email, search and display continue to pace far ahead of offline media, direct mail and mobile as the strongest performing advertising channels.

Most marketers plan to employ display advertising (59.2%), behavioral targeting (65.1%), audience analytics (76.1%), targeted email campaigns (80.8%) and ad networks (63.2%). Other multi-channel trends that seem to be emerging include marketer interest in mobile advertising (34%) and social media advertising (72.8%).

Digital Parents Using Facebook, Social Media for Themselves - Advertising Age

Razorfish surveyed 1,500 online moms to find out what the 27 million digital moms are doing, and CafeMom surveyed 1,700 members to understand the different types of moms and what marketers can do to engage them.

 CafeMom identified five segments of digital moms:
- Utility Mom (26%)
- Groupster (12%)
- Infoseeker (12%)
- Hyperconnector
- Responsible Recyclers
- Socially Liberal Organic Eaters
- Pugnacious Truckers

Take a Quiz to find out what what segment you belong to!

More charts here.

Microsoft, Mindshare and Ogilvy Chicago Uncover “Digital Divas” in Study of Women’s Online Behavior:

The study from Microsoft Advertising, Ogilvy Chicago and Mindshare surveys more than 800 women on their digital domains — revealing insight on topics from everyday technology gadgets to overarching online philosophies and how and when they shop and “unplug.”

Coined “Digital Divas,” 16 percent of the women surveyed were found to have a higher propensity to shop, communicate and employ digital devices. The study revealed the following about the “Digital Diva” group:
•  22 percent shop once per day.
•  The majority views devices such as cell phones and computers as “extensions of themselves.”
•  86 percent pass along interesting “finds” to others.
•  On average, they have 171 contacts in e-mail, social networking and cell phone address books.
 
As a whole, the study revealed:
• More than half “never” unplug from their digital devices, even when sleeping.
• They view tools such as rewards, loyalty cards, cell phones, coupons via the computer, TIVO and DVR, video on demand, opt-in daily e-mails, and handheld wireless devices to be “blessings” in their lives.
• Technology “curses” were few and centered on activities and types of communication that were “out of their control.”
• If forced to, they would “throw out” their television or cell phone first; only 11 percent would throw out their personal laptop.
• E-mail is overwhelmingly, 85 percent, the most important tool.
• On average, they have 5.8 “screens” and 12 digital devices.

MarketingSherpa: Search Marketing Benchmark Guide 2009

A little-known fact among marketers is that spending on search accounts for half of all dollars spent on online marketing. With the search marketing industry expanding nearly 30% globally (even with the slowing economy) - fact, tactics and trends change rapidly.

Search budgets continue to rise. It is estimated that in 2008, US search spend will increase 27% to $16.5 billion. International search continues to grow as well, pushing to $11.9 billion. While the US is in an economy downturn, a staggering 80% of advertisers say that they are either making no change or increasing their budgets. This speaks to the fact that search continues to be the most efficient marketing tactic, and companies are focusing on their best tactics.

Companies spending more than 60% of their marketing budget online are also spending 60% of their online on Paid Search. On the low end, companies spending less than 30% of their marketing budget online are also spending less than 30% of their online on Paid Search. Generally, if you are spending online, you are spending a large portion of it on Paid Search.

In terms of industries, Web Media, Retail, and Software lead the way on search spend.

The companies that bring search in-house do so based on the perception that they can manage it just as well. Of the companies surveyed, the majority of them underestimated the time that it would take to get it running but found that they were executing search just as effectively.

 Download the electronic version of 'Executive Summary' Report.

AdAge Survey

When we asked consumers if they would pay $39.99 a year, which comes out to less than $4 a month, for an ad-free version of one of their favorite sites, only 2.4% said definitely yes, they would be likely to do so. And only 3.5% said they'd be very likely. In fact, 84% of the people said they'd be unlikely or not at all likely.