Video Advertisers Looking for Alternatives

Forrester Research and the Association of National Advertisers surveyed 104 US advertisers representing nearly $14 billion in measured media budgets, and 62 percent said that TV advertising is less effective than it used to be. Were the emergence of online, social and mobile alternatives not available, the declining effectiveness of traditional ads would lead to a search for more-effective alternatives.

Advertisers want more accurate measurement and the option for more targeted and clutter-free ad inventory. Meanwhile, U.S. marketers are willing to explore alternatives to the 30-second TV commercial as they shift budget from TV to social media, banners, and search.

More forward-looking marketers are ready to experiment with online video ads, branded entertainment, and interactive TV.

What a Twitter News Service Might Look Like

What a Twitter news service might look like.

Gartner Says Cloud Computing As Important as E-Business

“Cloud computing heralds an evolution of business no less influential than the era of e-business,” says Stephen Prentice, Gartner VP and fellow. Individuals and businesses will be able to choose how they’ll acquire or deliver IT services, with reduced emphasis on the constraints of traditional software and hardware licensing models, says Prentice.

“The potential benefits of cloud are a shift from ’capacity’ on demand to ‘capability’ on demand, a reduced cost of computing resources and a shift from technology use to ‘value’ consumption,” says Rakesh Kumar, Gartner VP.

Gartner Says Cloud Computing Heralds An Evolution of Business, No Less Influential than the Era of E-Business

Smartphones and iPads Top "Wish Lists"

Smartphones and iPads are among the top-four items consumers 13 or older indicate they want to buy in the next six months, according to The Nielsen Company.

Among the top-10 items are e-readers, the Nintendo Wii, the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

iPad on Wish Lists for Kids 6 to 12, Says Nielsen

The Apple iPad leads all devices (31 percent interest in future purchase) among American kids ages 6 to 12, according to The Nielsen Company.

Apple’s iPod Touch is also popular choice among kids, generating similar levels of interest as computers. Of note, the iPod Touch outpaces the perennial handheld gaming favorites Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable, Nielsen says.

Kids in the U.S. Eyeing Big-Ticket Tech This Holiday Season | Nielsen Wire

Federal Debt Will Reach 100% to 200% of GDP Unless Checked

The federal government's debt levels could exceed 100 percent of gross domestic product as early as 2020, the Government Accounting Office now estimates.

"It is clear that over the long term historical levels of spending and revenue cannot be maintained going forward," the GAO warns.

The debt problem predates the economic downturn and is driven on the spending side largely by rising health care costs and an aging population, says the Government Accounting Office.

read the full analysis here

Congress Needs to Update Telecom Act of 1996

Verizon Communications EVP Tom Tauke says the time has come to revamp the Telecommunications Act of 1996, in light of new developments related to the Internet.

In addition to creating a uniform national policy, the framework should not involve anticipatory rulemaking, but rather principles that allow for case-by-case adjudication.

The test for government intervention in the marketplace should be to prevent either harm to consumers or anti-competitive activity. And a single federal agency should be given clear jurisdiction.

Though he didn't specifically say those, those principles will rule out preemptive common carrier regulation of broadband.

Congress Needs to Update the Nation's Antiquated and Anti-Competitive Telecom Rules

Will Stores Become Obsolete?

Harris Interactive asks the question: as Americans increase their online shopping and their reading of product reviews and discussions online, will the in-store shopping experience ultimately become obsolete?

The Harris Poll surveyed 2,258 adults surveyed online between September 1 and 3, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

When asked if, over the past year, the amount of time spent doing various activities online has changed, one quarter of online adults say that they have increased their time spent shopping (24 percent) online, as well as their time spent reading product reviews (25 percent).

The age differences here may indicate this trend will continue, as approximately three in ten younger online adults, aged 18 to 34, say they have increased time spent doing both of these activities (30 percent and 28 percent, respectively), compared to fewer than a quarter older online adults, 55 and up, who say the same (22 percent and 23 percent, respectively).

Harris Interactive: Harris Polls > Will Stores Become Obsolete?

Home Phone Connect for CT and Upstate NY Customers

Verizon Wireless is testing customer demand for a wireless access service that replicates fixed-line service by allowing users to connect landline phone gear to an adapter.

"Home Phone Connect" can be used with either an existing wired service phone number or users can get a new number. The service can be added for $9.99 on any Verizon Wireless "Family SharePlan" with at least two lines, on a monthly plan costing $69.99 or higher, Verizon says.

Users have unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling from the "home number" with all other Verizon Wireless customers. Unlimited calling costs $19.99.

Home Phone Connect for CT and Upstate NY Customers

Google generates 43% of the world’s online ad revenue in Q3

Google now represents 43 percent of the industry globally in the third quarter of 2010, according to Strategy Analytics.

Google generates 43% of the world’s online ad revenue in Q3

40% of Skype Minutes Were Video, First Half of 2010

For the first six months of 2010, approximately 40 percent of Skype-to-Skype minutes were video minutes. That should make Skype one of the world's largest providers of video calling or videoconferencing service, one would think.

Assuming half of the 2009 total of 113 billion Skype-to-Skype minutes were at least matched in the first half of 2010, that would suggest something on the order of 22.6 billion minutes.

Skype - The Big Blog - Celebrating 25 million concurrent users

Younger Users Show Preference for Mobile Apps Over Web

Preferences for mobile apps over Web browsers are growing among younger demographics, say researchers at Parks Associates. "Consumers under 35 are starting to ditch browsers in favor of mobile apps, where they don't have to type in a Web address or contend with slow browser speeds," says Harry Wang, Parks Associates director.

"They are also put off by Web pages that do not fit the small phone screen, whereas the mobile app is native to the platform," says Wang.

Mobile apps are already the dominant medium for access to Internet radio (including Pandora), maps, social networks, navigation (including Google Maps), and games.

Mobile preferences show generational divide as younger smartphone users choose apps over Web browsers

Where Will SMBs Spend Marketing Dollars in 2011?

Small businesses are predicted to maintain steady marketing budgets next year, including spending on websites, direct mail, e-mail marketing, social media and print advertising, according to a recent survey by Zoomerang and GrowBiz Media.

Small business marketing budgets leaned toward websites this year, with 39 percent of SMBs with fewer than 1,000 employees spending greater than 20 percent of their budgets in that area. Online spending is expected to continue in favor of websites, as 17 percent of respondents plan to increase budgets for their sites in 2011, the highest percentage increase in planning for any marketing item included in the survey.

In comparison, 15 percent of respondents reported that they plan to spend more on email marketing next year, while 13 percent of respondents plan to up their social media marketing budgets.

Social media is predicted to be the third most increased area for online marketing spending next year. Among the more than 750 businesses surveyed, 34 percent indicated that they currently engage in social media marketing. Of those using social media, Facebook (80 percent), LinkedIn (37 percent) and Twitter (27 percent) were the most commonly used platforms.

One obvious conclusion is that small businesses do not use mobile marketing channels much, if at all.

The State of Small Business Online Marketing Budgets

Online TV Show Viewers Tolerate More Ads

Will online TV viewers accept levels of advertising normally associated with multichannel video service? A new study funded by Turner Broadcasting suggests the answer is "yes."

In the study, online video viewers were randomly exposed to different amounts of adertising. One set of viewers was shown about a minute of ads an episode; the second set of viewers was shown eight to 10 minutes of ads; and the third was shown 16 to 20 minutes worth of ads.

Viewers of 30-minute TBS sitcoms like “Meet the Browns” watched, on average, 40 percent of the episode, including the ads, if there was one minute of ads and 37 percent of the episode if there were 16 minutes of ads.

Viewers of hourlong TNT shows like “Memphis Beat” watched 59 percent of the episode if there were one minute 15 seconds of ads, and 49 percent of the episode if there was 20 minutes of ads.

The takeaway is that viewers watched, on average, for the same number of minutes no matter how many ads were embedded within the program.

The Turner research also suggests that online viewers often do not watch an entire episode, just as they channel-surf while on the couch.

Online TV Show Viewers Tolerate More Ads, Turner Says - NYTimes.com

Conflicting Data on Consumer Communications Spending

Though surveys taken in 2009 and 2010 seem to indicate that consumers were cutting back on communications and multi-channel video entertainment spending, other data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis suggests that did not happen; in fact, such spending increased between the start of 2008 and the middle of 2010, for example.

Since the recession started in the fourth quarter of 2007, U.S. consumers have apparently been cutting back on their spending. But Bureau of Economic Analysis data suggests that consumers have been cutting more in some areas than others, and actually have increased spending on many communications services.

BEA show aggregate personal consumption expenditures were up 2.9 percent, or $285 billion, between the fourth quarter of 2007 and the end of the second quarter of 2010, for example.

Mobile device spending was up almost 17 percent since the fourth quarter of 2007. And spending on communications and multichannel video services was up by five percent.

Americans were spending a little bit less on clothing and hotels; a lot less on foreign travel, video and audio equipment (think televisions), and furniture. The big drop came in motor vehicles and associated goods and services, like gasoline. Spending on household furnishings dropped six percent.

Spending on international travel dropped 7.4 percent; purchases of audio and visual equipment dropped 8.4 percent; spending on motor vehicles declined 16 percent; while spending on moving, freight and storage services dropped nearly 20 percent.

Spending on pets increased 14.4 percent. Spending for child care increased 13 percent. Health care spending grew 11 percent while education spending grew 13 percent.

http://innovationandgrowth.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/where-americans-are-spending-more/