As we all know the decline of readership in newspaper has been discussed for years, especially since the economy tanked and the mobile space has grown. “According to an eMarketer study of U.S. adult media habits, the average time spent reading newspaper has decreased by 12 minutes from 2008 to 2011.”
“The University of Southern California’s Annenberg Center for the Digital Future predicts within five years, only four major daily papers will continue in print form.” The four survivors forecasted to remain are The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and USA Today. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal require a paid subscription to access their online content; while USA Today and Washington Post still allow readers to browse their site for news updates with no subscription. USA Today is projected to have paid subscriptions some time in 2012.
“The Washington Post has weathered its financial storms better than most dailies: Its Kaplan educational subsidiary has remained largely profitable, helping to stabilize the paper’s finances. Coupled with major cutbacks — the Post has closed all but two of its regional suburban bureaus and almost halved its reporter corps — this has sufficed to stem the loss of revenue.”
As consumers branch away from newspaper and use television, mobile sites or the internet to get the latest news story instead of waiting until tomorrow morning, the national/local newspapers are suffering. The cost of paper is increasing and the subscriptions are decreasing. Television is still the main outlet for consumers to get the most up to date news.
“A recent Rasmussen poll found that a clear majority of Americans – 59% — plan on getting most of their political information from their television sets this year. That number represents the combined total for cable and broadcast sources. The breakdown of the 59% is 37% cable, 22% broadcast. The internet is second with 21%. Newspaper and radio trailed, with neither able to break into double digits, pulling responses of 9% and 7% respectively. 18% now get political updates over a phone or other mobile device, with 18-29-year-olds twice more likely to do so than the 65+ crowd.”
Back in the beginning of January 2011, I made some predictions about things I thought would be important in that year.
Well, that year is over. Let’s see how it went.
I talked about the power of the personal brands. If you look at last year, the Personal Brand was in full force. From the Kardashians to Steve Jobs, to Zuckerberg to you. Yes, you. Due to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs, you are out there as a brand whether you like it or not. Everything you do is being looked at and scrutinized, to a degree, by others. You are, in essence, forming a relationship with the world. Individuals are looked at as much as their companies are. Even with mass movements – individuals and their tweets and status updates stand out. YouTube has given millions the ability to become brands with nothing more than a video camera. And these brands are making money … lots of it. Take Randall and Honey Badger for instance. I happen to know he has an agent and a brand.
Another was the Power of the iPad. OK, so the iPad was an easy guess. But just how much of a game changer is it? Well, it’s now replacing airline flight manuals. It’s used in hospitals, restaurants and offices everywhere. It’s the new children’s book. It’s the new art gallery. It’s the new canvas. It’s every presentation. But more important, it’s what the next generation will grow up on and that is the real game changer. iPad kids will have a whole different perspective on what mobile is and will be in the future.
One of the things that will play this year as well is Real-time Interactive experiences that went past the computer and into the real world. Take a look at these wonderful examples of that. This year, the HYBRID of real and digital will continue to grow.
Then there was Crowdsourcing. It’s not just for advertising anymore. It is now helping us discover new products and help get them on the market. It’s also helping to publish books. But, best of all, it’s working toward discoveries in health care and science.
Digital hasn’t figured out how to showcase its great content. And, in many ways, still isn’t providing great content to showcase. Digital needs to look at TV and learn some things. TV spends the money on content. TV promotes content. TV makes content an event even with TIVO. And TV still has more resources. But most of all, too many digital agencies spend their time talking about usability, wireframes, click-through metrics and half a dozen other digital buzzwords. That’s all well and good, but I am going to spend two minutes on your Web page if you are lucky. Meanwhile, I will spend more than four hours watching TV. Stop bullshitting me and put more on the Web that I need to see as much as I need to see the season finale of Homeland.
We were all wrong about Foursquare. I don’t use Foursquare much anymore and I don’t do a lot of checking in. I have also tired of watching my friends check in from different dive bars. So, from my perspective, I have lost interest in Foursquare discounts and I don’t want to be an imaginary mayor. Plus, my coffee place went to a frequency card.
And since the economy is getting better, the companies decided they don’t care about Foursquare as much either.
The consolidation battle between Facebook and Google rages on and on and on. Who will win your soul? Google. No, Facebook. No, Google. It’s hard to decide. Consumers seem locked in to Facebook. However, Google keeps throwing stuff against the wall hoping it will stick. Maybe something that helps individuals stand out more will be the key for Google along with all the customizable friend and privacy settings.
But the best prediction of last year was the Power of the Disenfranchised. The Occupy Wall Street set and whole countries decided they didn’t like the way things were going for them and moved on it. Social media was a conduit for these movements. This has empowered a great many to think they can cause the CHANGE that politicians have been inept at bringing. And if these movements get more organized with stronger leaders and missions, the sky is the limit. This may be the new system in 10 years. It’s pretty obvious the current political party system DOES NOT WORK (see Herman Cain and a host of Republican contenders).
However, the banks will never change. Greed wins over common sense the majority of the time.
All in all, not a bad year. So, what about 2012? Here are some thoughts on what will be more important in the coming year. (Not in any particular order.)
1. The Need for Privacy
Simply put, we don’t have any. Facebook, Google, your iPhone and the nation’s security issues have taken most of it away. With Facebook’s suicide button, you can report a friend who seems too depressed. How far away is that from reporting a person who seems like they might commit a crime? With Facebook’s Timeline, you can look into the history of friends and coworkers. You can look at a relationship status. You can stalk. It’s a window that is always open. With Foursquare, everyone knows you are out while your valuables are home alone. Your iPhone is tracking your movements. Cameras are everywhere. Phones can take a picture and post it to numerous social networks in seconds, tagging you forever. What happens when local cameras are automatically linked to phones? Watch out, terrorists. And what about the social index that can map when large groups are happy, sad, hungry, etc., from their social interactions? Can’t the same be done searching the key words used by individuals? Maybe I want to be sad ALONE.
It seems nothing is sacred anymore. We recently put a campaign together within Vegas asking people to Protect their What Happens Here, Stays Here moments by tweeting and posting discretely when on vacation here. It’s just the beginning. In the next couple of years, the privacy issue will provide a host of apps and a ton of conversation.
2. Transcending YouTube
YouTube celebrities have been showing up in the mainstream for a long time. Someone gets a ton of hits and you see them on a talk show or they get a TV deal. This year, however, brands will hook on to them like fine cheese at the wine tasting. Because the sheer number of fans is so appetizing. From Randall for Emerald Nuts to DJ Dave for Hyundai, the brands are taking notice of the number of hits on their videos.
As well they should. The tie in to Web videos for the brand should be easier since that is the original home of the celebrities in the first place. And if you think there are only a few of them getting the really big numbers of viewers, think again. For instance, try Nice Peter’s Epic Rap Battles – millions and millions of views. Just one of the many.
3. Putting a Brand Worth on Friends/Followers
What are those 600,000 Facebook friends really worth? What kind of ROI can I put to them? How can I spur them into action? How can I turn then into Brand Ambassadors, Brand Evangelists and, eventually, Brand Instigators? Because, as we all know, the key is not those people, but the people they will eventually influence. As more companies start building these groups, they’ll want to know what they’re really getting for the money. They can look at sales, do surveys or follow an online promotion setup for that very measurement, but this is really a small part of the picture. A lot of this is on the “come” as they say. Your Brand Instigators could have already influenced someone to use your product or service – someone who will never become your brand’s friend or tell you how they were influenced on a survey. That’s the nature of social and why it is so successful. Social still feels like an authentic suggestion from a trusted friend. How often is that happening and converting to sales? It’s a big question that will be on more companies’ minds than ever before.
4. The Online Content vs. Risk Dilemma
As more companies get a digital knowledge base, they will take less risk online. The Web is becoming less new and ambitious and more usability and content-driven. This has been happening for the last few years. That isn’t to say there aren’t wonderful sites to see. There are. They just happen to look and feel like what already works. The new mentality is that we will work on original content instead of originality. This is not a bad thing as long as the content is great. If it isn’t, then you just have another site. What does this mean for next year and beyond? Two things: 1. Content is going to get more and more competitive. 2. True originality will stand out like a sore thumb for better or worse.
The bottom line is that originality moves things forward while content makes what is working watchable and engaging. Originality will take a back seat this year on the digital front.
5. Screen Integration
Putting the TV screen, iPad screen and smartphone screen together will be paramount this year. Apps like Yahoo’s IntoNow listen for the audio signature of the show you are watching on television and provide you a unique second-screen experience to go with it. Well, a somewhat unique experience. In other words, the experience could use more content. Content is the key again here.
First off, the app is 100 percent accurate when it listens to identify what you are watching. Better than Shazam by a mile. And if you like to watch TV in a social manner, nothing will beat this. You can discuss with others who are watching the show, watch tweets connected with the show, get information about the episode and season, even buy the show ION iTunes. It’s all on one screen. If you are watching a sporting event, the stats are right there along with a lot of other great information.
What the app lacks is extra original content from the network. However, this will come in the near future. Think of the extras that can be made available to someone watching a show like LOST.
And that’s just the beginning of shared-screen experience. There’s already an app where you can paint over what you’re seeing on your iPad’s camera screen. It’s called Composite.
Couple that with augmented reality and who knows what will happen when you hold your iPad up to a television someday. Hidden characters? Hidden clues? Where to buy the outfits they’re wearing? Alternate endings? What’s to the right of picture where the screen ends? Games? Think of the possibilities.
6. The End of Talking to Anyone But Siri
Talking is out. It is a lost art. Texting allows you to interrupt at any moment. You don’t have to stop what you’re doing to do it (well, driving, finally – you have to stop driving – or you should stop driving). It allows you to put something out there with less risk of rejection. It’s casual even when it’s serious. It’s immediate. There are no awkward silences. When you text, you can attribute those silences to anything. Maybe they got hit by a bus or their phone went dead or they’re in a meeting on a bus that hit someone. No one ever has to believe that they are the reason for the silence. And, most of all, it’s just easier than talking.
Siri is perfect for the texting age. Siri is also immediate. Now you don’t even have to type. You can teach Siri to text someone. You can teach Siri who your wife is or who your best friend is.
And Siri is easy to talk to. She basically just does what you say. The only awkward silences are attributed to Siri not working. Which has happened to me a couple of times.
As Siri learns more and more apps learn to work with Siri, the dream of never having to talk to anyone real may become a reality. I look forward to the day when Siri starts to want stuff from me. Then I will know she is really learning.
7. Backstories
For those on the constant search for authenticity, this will be the year of backstories. In the world of art, the backstory is everything. The “provenance,” as it is called, should be able to trace the past of any great painting or sculpture. Companies and their products will start telling these stories more and more to today’s untrusting consumer. You will see the Web filled with videos showing how boots are made by hand; inspiration that led to that craft-brewed beer you like; the history of your jacket, and the individuals behind it all. It’s the year of pulling back the curtain. Even bankers will give it a shot, but who will believe?
8. The Gospel of Jobs and the Spread of Apple Innovation
The Steve Jobs love affair is just beginning. Pretty much everyone has read the Steve Jobs book (not me yet, but I have it on my iPad at the ready). They have seen his rules for innovation. They have felt his world-changing power. Now they all want to be a part of it. They like spreading the gospel of Jobs. They want to be Steve Jobs. For all the people who say there will never be another Steve Jobs, there are millions of inspired people and companies that will be trying to become the next Steve Jobs. And that will lead to Apple innovation and simplicity in a host of new and exciting products that cover a wide spectrum of our lives. Like the one below.
It’s not new, but it will become a bigger story this year. With search engines, blogs and the ability to target consumers like never before, the ability to make your brand part of breaking stories is easier than ever. Ad campaigns will follow closer to trends and often be built around them. In a world where “there’s an app for that,” marketers will have to move fast. These days, consumers have a thought and they want it taken care of. They want things that make sense for the times because they live current and interconnected. The river of information is in constant flow. It can’t hurt to jump on one of the big logs so that someone might notice you before the falls.
10. The Clouds
Consumers will discover the cloud this year. If you asked most of them last year, they would say, “What is that?” or “You mean the fluffy thing in the sky?” Most consumers look at the cloud as one, main place. This year, they’ll understand the cloud is Amazon, Dropbox, Facebook, Evernote, iCloud, Google and many more. The cloud is about as fragmented as it can be. As more consumers start to understand the cloud and what it means, they will look for ways to consolidate their information. This is the big hope of Google. Google has a place for all your stuff in the cloud under one account. Right now, it may be the easiest, but Apple is close behind with iCloud. And then there’s the personal cloud where you own the memory and the location of your personal server and access your information from there (R&R client Western Digital plug here).
If you’re using the cloud, get ready. Because the cloud wars are just heating up.
I hope some of this has been interesting to you. I certainly don’t know everything, but I would like to. So if you want to tell me what I’ve missed, argue one of these points or just call me an idiot, feel free. I am @arnied on Twitter.
Projections have campaign spending estimated at $6 billion in the 2012 election cycle. According to Ken Goldstein, president of Campaign Media Analysis Group, combined television spending across candidates, party committees, and outside groups could reach $3.2 billion. For comparison purposes, about $2.1 billion was spent on television advertising in 2008.
Twitter has also started selling political ads in the form of its promoted tweets, accounts and trends. In September 2011 these placements launched with a campaign for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Political ads are differentiated with purple icons and when users mouse over the ads, Federal Election Commission compliant notification revealing the ad’s backer are viewable.
As of November 18, 2011, Pandora revealed its plan to sell targeted political ads during the 2012 election period. Targeting will be based on age, gender, and zip code.
In addition to candidate advertising, ballot or issue advertising also accounts for political spending and demands on inventory. As of November 15, 2011, there are 56 ballot questions certified for spots on 23 statewide ballots. Some of the ballots in key states include: California: Term Limits, Tobacco Tax, and Water Bond; Nevada: Harrah’s Sports Arena Initiative and Special Tax District Ban Measure. As we move into 2012, we expect additional ballot propositions to be certified.
As we enter 2012, we recommend planning ahead and buying as early as possible. Due to the demands of political advertising, CPPs and preemptions are expected to increase throughout the year.
Sources: Ad Age, LA Times, billboard.biz, ballotpedia.org
Ok… so out-of-home advertising may not be quite this invasive just yet, but it is definitely moving in that direction. According to the Digital Signage Federation, Kraft and Adidas announced plans to incorporate facial recognition into their digital out-of-home campaigns. The increased incorporation of cutting edge technology into digital out-of-home will allow for increased levels of personalized messaging and the elimination of wasteful impressions. More in the Digital Signage Federation article.
The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas uses facial recognition to recommend restaurants, clubs and even entertainment. As more and more companies and marketers adopt the use of this technology, it will be important to keep an eye on effectiveness as well as potential regulations regarding privacy concerns of the end user.
“The future of digital out-of-home advertising was glowing fluorescent bright, and represents a market whose global share would grow some 8.3 percent, or about $26.4 billion in 2011 alone.” — The Economist
Senior Media Planner/Buyer TC Torres co-authored this article.
While other Hispanic media outlets such as broadcast and newspapers have had a difficult time recovering from the recent recession, it appears that Hispanic magazines have bounced back at a much faster rate.
This growth can been seen in ad pages and monetary spend in publications such as People en Español and Latina. For People en Español, ad dollars have increased by 39.9% and ad pages have grown by 34.1%. Latina has seen a 12.6% jump in ad dollars and 10.3% growth in ad pages. Although several publications have seen a decrease in frequency over the last year, rate inflation is one of main reasons for the growth seen above.
Reaching the loyal LGBT consumer
In a recent statement, Thomas Roth stated that “gay men and lesbians have the largest amount of disposable income of any niche market.” Roth is the president of Community Marketing, who recently conducted a survey that showed that 5-10% of the population are LGBT consumers.
What does this mean to us as advertisers? LGBT consumers are much more apt to purchase a product when messaging is geared towards the LGBT community and lifestyle, according to a 2011 survey conducted by Harris Interactive and Witeck-Combs Communications.
“Even in a struggling economy, LGBT consumers express an unmistakable and stronger sense of brand loyalty to companies that support their community. Maintaining this trusting and sensitive relationship requires a sustained effort to incorporate diversity, fairness and inclusion into a company’s DNA,” said Wes Combs, president of Witeck-Combs Communications.
Assistant Media Planner/Buyer Steele Haney co-authored this article.
I’m sure everyone reads every bit of research that comes out nowadays (I mean, why not. It’s all so riveting). However, I think if you’re going to take on the numbing task of reading a research report, you should consider the Interactive Marketing Forecast released by Forrester.
Forrester asserts that by 2016, advertisers will spend $77 billion on interactive marketing — as much as they do on television today. Search marketing, display advertising, mobile marketing, email marketing, and social media will grow to 35% of all advertising spend as they are embedded in the marketing mix. They expect this growth to help firms become adaptive, kill off daily deals, re-emphasize marketing’s “p’s,” and turn consumer electronics into audience-targeting tools (the 4 “P’s” referenced are Product, Packaging, Placement and Price, just as an FYI).
Of course, this sort of research isn’t new. Ever since 2002-ish (after online marketing began recovering from the bubble burst), there’s been research upon research that showed an ever increasing online marketing share. Will it live up to this $77 billion forecast? Only time will tell. I’d say of all these listed (search, display, mobile, email and social), mobile and social will have the greatest impact on advertisers’ digital spend.
This assumption isn’t hard to back up when you look at research conducted by ABI, which predicts that mobile subscriptions will reach 6 billion by the end of 2011 and when you consider that the Earth’s population just surpassed 7 billion, that’s massive. While not all of these connections will have high-speed access, it shows a trend that will only continue to grow.
Layer this into a survey conducted by Razorfish and Yahoo that showed 80% of respondents use their cell phones regularly while watching TV (70% of those multitasking at least once a week and a staggering 49% doing it every day). 38% of these respondents stated that their mobile browsing habits were related to what they were watching on TV, which leaves a huge gap in reaching these distracted viewers. It really underscores the importance to buying an audience, not a medium. A client’s plan should never focus exclusively on one medium, but should try and reach their consumers wherever they are.
And last, but certainly not least, mobile drove 14.3% of Black Friday online traffic and 9.8% of sales. This more than doubles the online traffic from last year and triples the mobile sales from last year. With the surge of smart phones and tablets, if you don’t have a digital marketing strategy in place, you need a swift kick in the rear. The future isn’t coming, it’s here.
Social media, marketing, and creative advertising have come a long way since my first venture into the business world (and that wasn’t all that long ago). Likewise, I’ve seen decent companies bring revolutionary ideas to the table, only to disappear within months or a couple years after launch. In the frantic race to simultaneously prove return on investment and justify innovative direction, many existing marketing giants are feeling pressure to adapt and simply avoid becoming an industry laggard. These conflicting needs are a daily challenge for brands and businesses alike.
So, how can a company quickly and efficiently change its perspective on social media? The answer may be “enlightenment through creative and strategic risk.”
A majority of business professionals understand that communication pathways have changed, and so have the vehicles. Only a few years ago, brands were able to gain instant market share simply by creating a presence within a social network, throwing some funding behind seeding the network, and then reaping their successes through earned media and elevated community traffic. In the current state of social media, a brand is extremely lucky to break through all of the chatter armed only with an integrated social media presence. The new world of digital and social marketing requires brands to look at their business through a completely new perspective.
First, I’m a firm believer that business objectives should come first and should never be put at risk purely for the purpose of social buzz. Now, how can you compliment your business objectives through social media? I’m guessing GM doesn’t plan on selling a car because of a tweet, or a truck through a Facebook post. But I do believe that a tweet or a post can help solidify relationships with your existing customers, facilitate new relationships, and create brand loyalists. The value of these relationships and conversations is a variable as diverse as the audience and network they occur on.
Remember, social media is a platform for conversations and a vehicle for sharing new, personal, and unique content. The space was not meant to drive direct sales. With this in mind, you can now explore your tactics through a new lens; one that is dedicated to some basic guidelines of “new, personal, unique and social.” If you were to explore all of the strategic pathways that consumers communicate with online through this lens, you’re bound to discover campaign direction with social steam power. But what good is building steam without the potential to see explosive results? This is where many marketers find themselves stuck – with every entrepreneurial venture comes risk, and risk sometimes results in unconquerable challenges. If you’re able to predict accurate ROI then it’s probably already been done. However, this is precisely the point in social and digital campaigns where you reach innovative enlightenment. You are attempting to explore the path to become an “entrepreneur” of sorts, creating a whole new idea with the tools and unique offerings that your brand or business has to offer. This is your adventure into the unknown marriage of a new strategy, innovative tactics, and an audience that can talk back.
Social media can be the catalyst for a plethora of marketing ideas, and sometimes these ideas can generate explosive movements. In the end, a social media movement requires the right creative lens, a healthy dose of considered risk, and an enlightened organization to be supportive – win or lose.
If you’re interested in further investigation of some progressive social media brands— check out the short list below.
Announced this month, Ad Age recognized the A-List magazines that have excelled at meeting a challenge, turning things around, building new businesses or just setting a consistent editorial and business example one more time. Vogue, the 12x/year publication, has been named the 2011 Magazine of the Year. “For 118 years, Vogue has been America’s cultural barometer, putting fashion in the context of the larger world we live in- how we dress, live, socialize; what we eat, listen to, watch; who leads and inspires us.”
The A-List has changed significantly from 2010 to 2011. The 2010 A-List is below:
01. People Stylewatch
02. The Atlantic
03. All You
04. Cooking
05. Food Network – Bumped up to # 3 in 2011, the only title to remain in the top 10
06. Parenting
07. Bazaar
08. Elle Décor
09. Vice
10. Wired
In 2010, the focus was on culture, lifestyle and fashion (including budget –friendly options). These publications also delivered a lighter message to the reader. While in 2011, the focus is now more on the economy, business, lifestyle and of course fashion. While they have a few newcomers to the list, they have still focused on established publications that continue to grow despite the odds.
No. 10: The Economist
“The Economist increased its paid subscriptions another 5% in the first half and grew total paid circulation 3%, to 844,000.” The Economist was the 2008 Magazine of the year. This year the Economist introduced Economist Education which is a set of electronic learning courses focused on emerging market. “It also has 1.2 million Twitter followers and 800,000 Facebook fans.” The Economist continues to be a leader in the global news.
No. 9: This Old House
“Call it a case of the right magazine at the right time. Advertisers kept flocking to This Old House despite the economy and housing market, because people may be buying new houses less, but they’re nesting, remodeling and aspiring more. Ad pages through the October issue increased 16.8%, according to the Media Industry Newsletter, helped a little by one more issue in 2011 than 2010.”
No. 8: The New Yorker
“At a time when there are questions about how much people will pay for content, The New Yorker, with its circulation of 1 million, keeps proving that quality has customers. Its single-copy sales rose 1.2%, despite a $1 price hike to $5.99 and an industry-wide downdraft at newsstands, and its subs are up, despite a $10 price hike to $70.” The digital side of The New Yorker is continuing to grow now having 27,000 iPad-only subscribers which pay $60 a year or $6 per month and also they have 189,000 paying readers together with iPad, Kindle, Nook and digital editions including print subscribers who have activated digital access.
No. 7: National Geographic
This magazine has been around as long as I can remember. “Editor Chris Johns was our Editor of the Year in 2008; the magazine appeared on our A-List in 2008 and 2009. And it’s having another great year. Newsstand is up 5%; ad pages are up 14%. And it enjoys the admiration of its peers, winning Magazine of the Year at the 2011 National Magazine Awards and receiving nominations for photography, news/documentary photography, feature photography and best single-topic issue.”
No. 6: Monocle
Monocle is a newer magazine that launched February 2007, focused on global affairs, business, culture and design. “Monocle this year is making its first appearance on the A-List. With paid circulation of just 66,000, this is no mass-market play, but its 204 pages every issue are filled with flawless editorial, luxury advertising, brand extensions and confidence in print. Revenue is rising; profitability arrived last year.”
No. 5: Vanity Fair
“Vanity Fair is enjoying its most profitable year yet thanks to growing ad pages, circulation, newsstand and digital revenue. While some magazines lean on bulk sales, sponsored sales and public-place copies, 99% of Vanity Fair’s subscriptions are paid for directly by the subscriber. It’s big on Hollywood, but just as long on essential reporting about the economy and businesses from News Corp. to Groupon.”
No. 4: Garden & Gun
“Another newcomer to the list, and another example of what niche publishing can do, Charleston-based Garden & Gun practically begged urban Northerners to joke about its unusual name when it launched in 2007. But the magazine that styles itself the “Soul of the South” looks like it will have the last laugh, with ad-page growth on a tear, circulation still climbing and a National Magazine Award for General Excellence.” Garden & Gun is a magazine that is shaped around the Southern way of life. This magazine helps create the idea of how to live an engaged life with the Southern surroundings.
No. 3: Food Network Magazine
The only magazine to make the list from 2010. The magazine launched in 2009 and has continued to grow and make a name for it. “Food Network magazine has grown from a test issue in October 2008 to a giant with paid circulation nearing 1.5 million and still seeking its cruising altitude. Food Network is back on the list after ad pages through October surged 13.8%, according to the Media Industry Newsletter, newsstand sales added 5% and total circulation grew 5.2%.”
No. 2: Time
For the first time in 20 years, Time stopped the press last week after the announcement of Steve Jobs passing, reworking the issue to be dedicated to him. “Challenges keep mounting for the news business in general, and for news weeklies in particular. So even if Time’s 16.1% newsstand gain reflected external events like the royal wedding, and even if its subscription growth had something to do with absorbing subscribers from U.S. News and World Report, we say there’s something to be said for having the strength, smarts and position to capitalize. Still a big, iconic print brand where readers turn when major news happens, Time was also recognized this year for digital excellence, suggesting it’s got a bright future too.”
The Magazine of the Year: Vogue
“It’s easier to grow when you’re new and relatively small, but when you’re this established and you grow anyway, you’re doing more than a few things right. Vogue increased its January-to-October ad pages more than 9% and boosted its big newsstand component almost 13% over the first half of last year, partly but not entirely on the strength of a great Lady Gaga cover in March. Its September issue killed again with 584 ad pages. And Vogue’s role off the page — most recently with the latest installment of Fashion’s Night Out — keeps expanding as well. Vogue is our Magazine of the Year.”
It is no secret that the recession stretches far beyond American soil, with many countries ailing from a slowed global economy facing stock market dips, rising commodity prices and large budget deficits. The United Kingdom is included in that struggling group (Unemployment 7.9%, Current Account Deficit -3.2%), hanging optimistically onto any sign of good news (the year-over-year numbers from 2009 never fail to elicit a touch of hope), but as we know is true here in United States, life forges on.
Similar to the United States, discretionary spending habits have shifted, and purse strings have tightened, but money continues to be spent soaking in media from all angles. (Will this ever change?)
Year-over-year from Q2’09, media expenditure in the UK was up 300M GBP after Q2’11, with increased spending in television and online, naturally, with decreased spending against in press and direct mail. Out of home is flat, as is radio.
From Q1’11, TV spend is up 8% (£1,091,634,635 total spend in Q2’11) and online spend is up 31% (£198,970,465 total spend in Q2’11). This could very well be due to increased spending against The Royal Wedding, named “the largest UK TV event of this millennium.” The wedding received a 28.1 ranking against ABC1 adults on BBC1 and a 6.1 ranking on ITV1. Other television happenings included the beginning of another season of “Britain’s Got Talent,” and the conclusion of the English football season.
The Royal Wedding provided the same boost for the national press with 60 million newspapers sold in a week, though this still wasn’t enough– overall Q2 circulation numbers were down 6% against both Dailies and Sundays year-over-year.
In the world of digital press, Future UK, the number one licensor and exporter of monthly magazines in the UK has seen revenue growth of over 10% a month in the past year. The Times and Sunday Times recently announced that 100,000 people are now paying to read the titles online, and growing. The Sunday times has seen an 89% increase in the three-month average of uniques from Q2’10.
The magazine landscape has been far more tumultuous, with the combined Q1-2 circulation down to 41.3 million magazines circulated versus 61 million in 2010. And what a difference 6 months makes—TV Listings magazines are down 71.1% from Q3-4’10 and Teenage titles down 35.7%. Women’s lifestyle magazines have fared the best, down only 1.8%.
Rounding things out, online video was identified as one of the key investment channels of Q2 with the IAB reporting that 28% of marketers intend to spend more money in this area in 2011; this is unsurprising considering the Nielsen Video Census 2011 shows that the UK watches 6.3 billion minutes of online video each month. Google released statistics reporting that 48 hours of YouTube video are viewed every minute—a 50% increase from Q2’10.
In the first quarter of 2011, Facebook delivered over 346 billion impressions, which accounted for almost one third of all display ad impressions delivered (31.2% marketshare). The increase in marketshare has gone up by 15% since last year (16.2% in Q1 2010). Yahoo followed Facebook, along with Microsoft in third and AOL in fourth positions.
BIG BROTHER FEAR
With the ever increasing discussion of privacy laws and requirements for display ads, what about all the apps out there?
Three-quarters of the most popular mobile apps lack even a basic privacy policy – 22 of the top 33 paid mobile apps across major platforms had no policy regarding personal data. With all the talk around town, a U.S. Senate hearing was held to discuss mobile privacy issues as reports have come out that popular mobile devices collected detailed information about users’ locations. But never fear all you Angry Birds lovers, of the apps tested only Angry Birds had a privacy policy link on their user interface.
Some other apps included in the study were Doodle God, Cut the Rope, WeatherBug Elite and Chat for Faecbook Pro.
