How has media consumption has changed over the past 5-10 years? And how does this impact on your marketing requirements today?!
Let’s start by looking at the overall picture of advertising expenditure in NZ, from last year. Print publications receive the lion’s share of advertising spend at 31%. Television advertising accounts for 28% of the expenditure we’re looking at, and radio and online are about equal around 11-12%.
In an average day, do you spend more time on the internet, or watching TV? Do you spend more time reading newspapers and magazines than you do listening to the radio? What about your customers?
The research says that in an average day we spend about 6 hours a day interacting with mainstream media. And of that, only about half an hour a day is with print media. But we spend over 2 and a half hours watching TV, and an average of 1 and a quarter hours on the internet, each day. Compare that to the media spend data and you’ll see quite a difference!
Newspaper readership levels are on a decline, but not as much as some would have you believe. What has hurt newspapers is the movement of classified advertising – employment, real estate, cars for sale… – into the online space. Consumers are using the online medium to find the property, job or car they want… could they be looking for your products online too?
Television viewing levels are, despite the dirge of good stuff to watch, as high as they have been in 12 years. But you can no longer count on a few TV spots to reach most of the people, all of the time. The proliferation of new channels means that peoples’ viewing is now spread wider than ever before, and no single channel commands more than a quarter of all viewing.
The same is true for radio, with up to 20 stations competing for the hundred minutes we spend listening each day. That means potentially having to pay for advertising on lots of stations to ensure you reach all of your potential customers.
Effective use of media for advertising placements now comes down to targeting the right people at the right time, or times, rather than putting an ad out for all to see, safe in the knowledge that some of those who see it would be potential customers.
10 years ago, no one had heard of Google, WiFi or Trademe.
5 years ago, no one had heard of Twitter, iPhones or Facebook.
The fact is, a period of immense change is upon us, and at its core is information. Well, entertainment, and information. 10 years ago less than half of New Zealanders had internet access at home. Today it’s close to three quarters of the population, over half of whom have broadband. In fact, over four-fifths of us can and do use the net, when you include those who access from work, schools, universities and libraries.
As internet access becomes more widespread, we are seeing a growth in the awareness of the opportunities the web provides for consumers, and more and more people are spending more and more time, on the internet.
This means access to a whole new range of media properties, which all provide opportunities for marketers and advertisers such as yourselves. And consumers are embracing those new properties! 90% of internet users say we use the internet to research purchases, and most of those searches start with Google. If you want your brand or product to be seen by consumers, you have to make sure it can be seen on Google!
We’re watching TV on the internet. Last week TVNZ streamed close to 350,000 individual programmes to viewers through TVNZ on Demand. We’re reading our news on the internet – a third of us access online news sites regularly. And we’re communicating more, with more people, than we ever have before.
Social media sites have proved to be the big success story of this millennium so far. Nearly half of all New Zealanders are on Facebook now. People share everything with each other: photos, news, their favourite videos, music or gossip, and even opinions on products and services they have purchased or encountered.
Forward thinking marketers have already grasped that here is a massive potential to monitor and communicate directly with their customers. Do you know what your customers are saying about you?
And do you know where they are saying it from? Are they Tweeting from their iPhone while standing in a queue, waiting for an obnoxious sales clerk to serve them?
Smart phones that can access the internet and manage multiple functions are growing in popularity, particularly as they come down in price. TVNZ have a stated objective to be the preferred news source for New Zealand across all screens. By that they mean your TV, your computer, your mobile phone, and whatever other screens may be produced in the future. They know where their customers are, and where they will be. Will you be with them?
These new devices also provide another aspect to consumer communications – they are instant. Consider the speed with which reports and video footage of last year’s civil unrest in Iran reached mainstream media, despite official government censorship.
If people have something to say, they will say it, and the new technology means what they have to say can be broadcast around the world within minutes. Imagine if that could happen for your advertising!?!
Consumers now want to have their media on tap, ready for them when they are ready for it.
Tivo and MySky deliver that. TVNZ On Demand and YouTube deliver that. Your customers are deciding where and when they get their information. We all need to be ready to provide them with our information, in their time, in their way.
The thing with the internet, is it has provided an environment for like-minded people to congregate, share their stories and feel included. Your brand can be included too! Want to reach local mountain bikers? There’s a website for that! Want to reach Kiwis living overseas? There are websites for that! Want to reach pig hunters? Check out the website!
There are immense opportunities for online advertising to reach tightly identified niche audiences, as well as supporting mass market campaigns.
The internet and other digital media give you the opportunity to be alongside and communicating with your customers all the way through their purchase cycle. Traditionally “advertising budgets” have been used to generate awareness, and everything else was up to the people on the shop floor. Now, you have the chance to interact with and influence your potential customers all the way through the purchase cycle, and beyond.
All it takes is a commitment to change. Get thy brand online! If you can’t, hire someone who can.
In the words of Bill Gates: “The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow”. Will your business be on the main street?
