Turns Out, We're Not Such Big Multitaskers†

MRI Study Finds Most Media Usage Confined to One at a Time

Advertising Age, September 17, 2008 — Marketers have begun to believe that the average consumer is able to surf the web, answer a cellphone, read a newspaper or magazine, listen to an iPod and watch TV all at the same time. Yet a report released by MRI this week found that multitasking is less frequent than might be expected.

TV's Future Looks Like Web's Present†

Forrester says targeted ads and a portal-like menu of options are coming to your set

Adweek, August 27, 2008 — TV advertising is poised to change dramatically over the next decade, embracing the kind of targeting and user control already common on the Web, according to a new report by Forrester Research. Forrester lays out a decade-long evolution that will ultimately result in most programming delivered on-demand with targeted ad messages based on location and behavior, along with community functions.

How to Reach Out and Touch a Brit (With Media)†

Sweeping U.K. Institute of Practitioners Study Looks at Attitudes, Behavior and Consumption

Advertising Age, July 28, 2008 — Media are inescapable. They're present in every aspect of life, at all times and in all locations. A realistic approach to media research today has to take into account that we expect to be stimulated constantly without concern for channels.

Nielsen Reports on TV, Internet and Mobile Use among Americans

MarketingVox, July 9, 2008 — Screen time of the average American continues to increase: TV users watch more TV than before (127 hrs, 15 min per month) and also spend 9 percent more time using the internet (26 hrs, 26 min per month) than they did last year, according to the Nielsen Company (via MarketingCharts).

Serving Up Television Without the TV Set

Watching television online is now a common activity for millions, with one in four Internet users watching a full-length show online in the last three months.

New York Times, March 10, 2008 — The “stupid computer” is a repeated target of the dimwitted office manager Michael Scott on “The Office.” But the show itself may be motivating viewers to put down their remote controls and pick up their laptops.

When the fourth season of “The Office,” an NBC comedy, had its premiere in September, one in five viewings was on a computer screen instead of a television. The episode attracted a broadcast audience of 9.7 million people, according to Nielsen Media Research. It was also streamed from the Web 2.7 million times in one week, the executive producer, Greg Daniels, said.

“The Office” is on the leading edge of a sharp shift in entertainment viewing that was thought to be years away: watching television episodes on a computer screen... continue reading

Study: Kids Are Master Multitaskers On TV, Web, Mobile

MediaPost Publications, March 10, 2008 — TELEVISION IS NO LONGER GETTING the undivided attention of kids, according to a study released today on social networking by Grunwald Associates LLC, an independent research firm that specializes in new media market intelligence.

About 64% of kids go online while watching television, and nearly half of U.S. teens (49%) report that they do so frequently--anywhere from three times a week to several times a day.

What Will Media Buying Look Like in 10 Years?†

Hundreds of Consumer Segments, Marketers Making Media and No More Upfront

Adweek, March 10, 2008 — In a fragmented media landscape, content matters more than ever, said Jim Poh, VP-director of creative content distribution for Crispin, Porter & Bogusky. "We are figuring out how to create content that will appeal to people first and then worry about delivery mechanisms later," he said last week at a 4A's Media Conference Panel called "It's 10 Years Later: Have Agencies Survived Digital Convergence?"

NBC Unveils Sell of NBC Everywhere†

Network Holds First Digital Out-of-Home Upfront Event

Advertising Age, January 17, 2008 — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — As the writers strike puts a question mark on the fate of this year's TV upfront market, the out-of-home upfront market got off to a splashy start yesterday at Rockefeller Center with the first event for NBC Everywhere, NBC's out-of-home-media division. Held in Studio 8H, where "Saturday Night Live" is filmed, the event showcased the nine out-of-home venues NBC is selling, ranging from taxis to sports arenas to maternity wards.

The Death of E-Mail

Teenagers are abandoning their Yahoo! and Hotmail accounts. Do the rest of us have to?

Slate, November 14, 2007 — By 2002, everyone in my family had become an Internet convert. For the technophobic older generation, signing up for an e-mail account was a concession to us youngsters—if the kids don't call home, they thought, we'll just reach them through the computer. Everyone was especially eager to send messages to my niece, a kid who wasn't all that chatty on the phone but was almost always glued to her PC.

Four of 10 Americans Read Blogs, One-Third of Those Click on Ads

Marketing Charts, September 5, 2007 — Blogging has entered the US mainstream, with nearly 4 out of 10 Americans having visited a blog, and 8 of 10 now knowing what a blog is, according to a recent Synovate/MarketingDaily study. Moreover, “8% of Americans currently have their own blog,” said Tom Mularz, SVP at Synovate. “This is surprising given that a few years ago hardly anyone knew what a blog was.”