Can the Super Bowl predict an end to the US recession?

Being one of the consistent TV events that garner large ratings, the Super Bowl advertising price tag will continually rise.

Despite a recession that has resided in America for the last few years, advertising spending for the Super Bowl has not fallen in rank with the economy. In fact, it has continually managed to exceed $200 million in advertising for the last few years. The media research company Kantar Media has been continually recording the investment levels of Super Bowl advertising.

According to MediaPost, the last seven years has shown major growth in spending. This is in part to the increased amount of available advertising time. In 2001, there was room for about 82 commercials which translates to about 40 minutes and 15 seconds. In 2010, there was a big jump to 104 commercials or about 47 minutes and 50 seconds. With each commercial ranging between $2.8 and $3 million, more time equals more money. In fact, since 2001, Super Bowl commercials have totaled to a $1.62 billion investment.

An interesting note is that the product that is advertised the most is not alcohol, cars, or snack foods but the network’s own programming. Kantar Media reports that about 15% to 20% of all Super Bowl commercials are dedicated to this.

Being one of the consistent TV events that garner large ratings, the Super Bowl advertising price tag will continually rise. With that in mind, the Super Bowl is not a good predictor of how long it will take the US to get out of this recession.

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What medium is the main news source for Americans?

The channels people use for information can depend on accessibility, immediacy, and accuracy.

One constant in many American lives is the news. People purposefully seek it out. The only difference is where people are accessing it. Pew Research Center has recently done a study to find out how news is being consumed.

According to MediaPost, the Internet is continually growing as a major news source. However, television still remains dominant with 66% of those surveyed. Radio tends to be more consistent; however, it is the medium that people accessed the least to acquire news. Newspaper has declined 55% in 2003 to 31% in 2010.

The study also mentions that young people, between the ages of 18 and 29, said the main news source is the Internet rather than TV. Americans in the next age group, between the ages of 30 and 49, showed gain with the Internet as well; however, television is still the main source.

The channels people use for information can depend on accessibility, immediacy, and accuracy. It’s important for advertisers to be aware of which channels are being utilized and by whom. That way, advertisers can properly cater the message to the captive audience.

Be sure to visit Ruth Burke & Associates’ blog to find the latest in media news and receive helpful tips to make your advertising campaign successful...

Who really does Tweet?

As social media continues to grow and expand its reach, it behooves advertisers to keep up-to-date on the ever-evolving demographics.

Since launching on July 15, 2006, the message service Twitter has exponentially grown to tens of millions of worldwide users. With the addition of another social networking site, it leads a lot of advertisers wondering what the demographics of Tweeters are nationally. The Center for Media Research recently summarized a study from Pew Research which examined Twitter users exclusively.

Of the 74% of American adults that are Internet users, 8% acknowledged using Twitter. These users are fairly split between those who use his/her accounts on a daily basis vs. people who rarely do.

A demographic breakdown is as follows:

· A little over half of Twitter users are women

· Overall, the majority of Tweeters tend to be between the ages of 18 and 29

· African Americans and Latinos are twice as probable to use it over white Internet users

· Two household income levels tied for the majority of users: people making less than $30,000 and between $50,000 and $74,900 per year

· In education, the majority of users had some kind of higher education like college or grad school

· Urban areas tended to have the most Twitter users compared to rural and suburban areas

As social media continues to grow and expand its reach, it behooves advertisers to keep up-to-date on the ever-evolving demographics. Even though paid advertisement may not be a possibility for the moment on Twitter, like Facebook, that can change. Therefore, it is fundamental to stay current.

Be sure to visit Ruth Burke & Associates’ blog to find the latest in media news and receive helpful tips to make your advertising campaign successful...

Which online radio station reaches the masses?

As more traditional radio stations join the ranks with online streaming, it is important to understand where people are tuning in and how long they are staying online.

Online streaming has become an established form of media consumption in the last few years. Ando Media, a media management company, has been following online radio and rating the medium with a variety of measurements like average active sessions and average time spent listening.

MediaPost recently released the frontrunner for both October and November 2010 was the website Pandora. In regards to average active sessions, Pandora beat out fellow competitors like CBS Radio, Clear Channel and the Katz Online Network with an average of 556,359 active sessions in October and 585,558 sessions November. In comparison, none of the other competitors reached 300,000 active sessions in either month.

While Pandora dominated in the sheer number of sessions, it did not rank first in the average time spent listening. Each month, it had an average of 49.8 minutes of listening. CBS Radio properties, which include AOL Radio and Yahoo LaunchCast, had 64.2 minutes in October and 63.6 minutes in November. The Katz Online Network seemed to have the most time spent listening with 82.2 minutes in October and 84 minutes in November.

As more traditional radio stations join the ranks with online streaming, it is important to understand where people are tuning in and how long they are staying online. If you want to reach the masses, Pandora or a product like it seems to be a great tool; however, if you want to reach people for a longer length of time, then a more localized station may be a better choice.

Be sure to visit Ruth Burke & Associates’ blog to find the latest in media news and receive helpful tips to make your advertising campaign successful...