Bob Rinderle / Business & Beyond

Social Media Engagement Opps

Nice snapshot of social media engagement opportunities.
 

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

Reports published recently reveal conflicting levels of online video use.

Nielsen's Council for Research Excellence released a study suggesting the average adult watches slightly more than five hours of live TV each day, 15 minutes of TV via DVR, and 2.4 minutes of video on a computer.  Researchers said "TV accounts for 99% of all video consumed in 2008." 

comScore reports that 145 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 90 videos per viewer in February, with the average viewer watching more than five hours of video per month (this translates to more than five times the volume reported by Nielsen).  Not a huge difference - two minutes of video per day versus 10 minutes - but it does make one wonder if other forms of video viewing such as mobile, delayed-playback, and video-on-demand are also under-reported. 

The most interesting stat isn't the conflicting value of TV versus online video consumption, but how the two can work together to greater effect.  For instance, in the wake of Hulu's Super Bowl commercial advertising, the site experienced a 33% increase in monthly video views.

TV Ads Effective As Ever?

A cover story in Ad Age reports that TV advertising is as effective as ever.  But if you don't read past the front page you may not realize they buried the lead.

"Despite (TV's) improved effectiveness since 1995, more than half the advertisers (16 of 29) in the study lost money by running their TV ads."  The article adds, "That's obviously a serious caveat to the value of spending on TV."

Two Amateurs Make An Ad For Doritos...

and walk off with the best-liked commercial of the Super Bowl, according to USA Today's Ad Meter. 

Dave and Joe Herbert, two unemployed brothers, won $1 million in Doritos "Crash The Super Bowl" contest.  Two of the Top 5 spots were created by amateurs, for Doritos.

"As if the $280 billion advertising industry doesn't have enough problems in the struggling economy, now it's got an even bigger problem: Amateurs are beating it at its own game," stated USA Today.

The real story isn't that a couple of film making hopefuls possessed enough talent to create an appealing ad.  It is the increasing irrelevance of the communications' industry model that has dominated over the past five decades. 

Ad agencies have allowed their raison d'être to be co-opted.  Consultants are often preferred for business strategy; stand-alone media companies dominate media planning and buying; digital firms and connection planning companies are preferred for interactive marketing (especially in specialties such as search, social media, mobile, and gaming).  And now amateurs are making the best-liked commercials for advertising's most watched, and most costly, showcase.

"Two nobodies from nowhere," just walked off with one of the ad world's top honors, said 32-year-old Dave Herbert.  We "beat the king of commercials."

Marketing Mix Reconsidered

In this opt-in world of consumer controlled content and fragmented media, the traditional model of interrupting consumers’ media consumption with branded advertising is increasingly less efficient, especially as media properties continue to lose impact, audience, and efficiency.

There is cause for concern when a hit show like “Heroes” debuts to 25% fewer viewers this year and then proceeds to lose an additional 500,000 viewers between the first and second episodes.  

But the Web is different; people choose to use.  The Internet provides the ability to communicate an expansive story and allows people to engage a brand more fully.  Since the consumer decides where to look for information and determines what information is most meaningful, the best brand marketing employs a multi-faceted approach to ensure it is present in environments frequented by customers. The context in which this information is delivered also becomes highly important.

Brand messaging in Facebook or YouTube will be different in look and feel versus content created for mobile, gaming, online ads, or even brand sites themselves.  Although the core positioning and core brand relevance will stay consistent, the manner in which that essence is communicated may vary wildly.  

Bottom line, the underpinnings of today’s marketing environment are radically different than those of just a few years ago.  With so much information available and so many options possible, today’s marketing executives need to be smarter and more strategic than ever.

Desperately Seeking Six Million Viewers

The broadcast networks have lost six million prime time viewers since last May.  It's not surprising, then, that the networks also report a 60% rise in recorded viewing this season.

Not only are people using technology to watch what they want when they want, they are using the Web to engage their interest in shows more fully.

"Gossip Girl" debuted to half the ratings of "The O.C." in its final season, but quickly became one of the top downloaded shows on the Internet.  If The CW relied soley on Nielsen ratings to evaluate the appeal of "Gossip Girl" they would have dismissed a program that New York calls the "Best. Show. Ever."

""The Hills" is the most popular program on MTV but its broadcast numbers are just a fraction of total viewer interaction.  When LC and company returned this past March, episodes averaged 3.7 million real-time Monday night viewers.  Nearly one million more watched each show via DVRs, while episodes and excerpts on the Internet were streamed an additional 32 million times.

Although much has been written about the demise of traditional media, it's not going away anytime soon.  But understanding the radically readjusted role of traditional media in relation to evolving consumer media consumption patterns is critical for marketers moving forward.  Just ask six million former prime time viewers.