Blog By Geoffrey James
April 29th, 2009

I asked a room full of newspaper writers a simple question: “Have you EVER read a newspaper advertisement?” Less than 5 percent admitted to having done so. Ever. In their whole lives.

Think about that for a minute. If newspaper writers aren’t reading newspaper ads, why would newspaper readers be reading them? And if nobody is reading newspaper ads, what’s the value of that ad? Not much, obviously.

Read the entire blog article here.

Posted under Newspaper

Study: About 16% of commercials will be skipped by 2011
From The Hollywood Reporter
By Paul Bond
April 28, 2009

About 6% of TV commercials in the U.S. are fast-forwarded because of DVRs, reflecting about $5 billion in what some consider wasted spending. By the end of 2011, about 16% of commercials will be skipped.

The data come from a study titled “Advertising in the DVR Age,” which the DVR Research Institute will release Friday. It bases its conclusions on a poll of 200 top U.S. advertising executives and on averages from other research firms.

There are about 30 million DVR households, a number expected to rise to 50 million — or 49% of U.S. households — by the end of 2011. When a show is time-shifted, as many as 70% of ads are avoided, and as users get accustomed to their DVRs, they watch more and more TV in time-shifted mode.

Read the full article here.

Posted under DVR, Research, TV & Cable

From the San Diego Business Journal Online
By Connie Lewis
April 28, 2009

Weekday circulation for The San Diego Union-Tribune stood at 261,253 on March 31, down from 288,785 on the same day last year, according to a report released April 27 by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The ABC takes snapshots of newspapers’ circulation figures every six months — on the last days of March and September. Read More…

Posted under Newspaper

From The Center for Media Research
April 24, 2009

The latest study by Arbitron and Edison Research shows continued growth in usage and ownership of various forms of digital audio platforms, including online radio, iPod/MP3 players, and podcasting. The weekly online radio audience increased significantly in the past year to 17% of the U.S. population age 12 and older; up from 13% in 2008. On a weekly basis, online radio reaches 20% of 25-to-54 year-olds; up from 15% in 2008. Read More…

Posted under Radio, Research, Satellite Radio

From Radio Business Report
By Jennifer Lane
April 14, 2009

Newly released studies by American Media Services and Edison Media Research both indicate a growing Internet Radio audience. Last week Edison Media released a few facts from its updated Infinite Dial Study, done jointly with Arbitron. The new info reveals that Internet radio’s US weekly audience is 42 million and that figure represents 17% of Americans 12+ and has doubled since 2005. Kurt Hanson’s RAIN: Radio and Internet Newsletter did a nice job of updating a chart from last year’s Infinite Dial Study to reflect this growth. The full presentation will be released on April 16th and presented by Tom Webster of Edison Media Research at the RAIN Summit on April 20th. Read More…

Posted under Online, Radio, Research

From Media Post News
by Joe Mandese
April 10, 2009

It’s long been known that peak usage of time-shifting TV viewing technologies such as DVRs, video-on-demand, Slingboxes, and other devices, tends to occur during prime-time when the greatest concentration of the most desirable “counter-programming” is scheduled. But a new analysis released Thursday by DVR marketer TiVo finds that the volume of time-shifting activity is rising, and is concentrating around television’s so-called “Family Hour,” – 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The analysis, which comes from TiVo’s syndicated Stop//Watch audience ratings service, analyzed time-shifted viewing of the Big 4 broadcast networks during the month of February, and found that time-shifting has become the dominant viewing behavior in TiVo households during all of network prime-time (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.), but that it is actually increasing for the 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. timeslots, and tens to taper off at 10 p.m. Read More…

Posted under DVR, Research, TV & Cable

From Media News Daily
April 9, 2009

Interpublic Group of Co.’s Magna forecasts that in five years, DVR usage will grow more than 70%, to 51.1 million U.S. TV homes.

Magna estimates this will reach 43% of all U.S. TV homes in 2014, up from 27% as of the end of 2008. Overall, the projection is that DVRs will contribute a 4% erosion in total viewing impressions across all dayparts over a ten-year period — from 2004 to 2014. Read More…

Posted under DVR, Research, TV & Cable

From Media Life Research
By Diego Vasquez
April 9, 2009

Two weeks ago, Nielsen released a study showing that time spent watching online video was nowhere near as significant as many had thought, with television accounting for 99 percent of screen time. It seems media buyers already knew that. A new study from The Convergence Consulting Group, an Ontario-based media consultant, finds that only a very small percentage of TV dollars are migrating to the internet, and that won’t change much in the coming years. Just 2.4 percent of U.S. broadcast/cable network TV advertising revenue in 2008 came from the internet, and that will rise to 4.6 percent in 2011. What’s more, we may see broadcast and especially cable networks putting fewer shows online for the public and instead walling them off for subscribers in order to protect their sales based on programming revenue. Still, the report predicts that viewers may simply be more interested in DVRs than online viewing anyway, as they can then fast-forward through commercials rather than being forced to watch them, as is the current online model. Convergence predicts that DVRs will be in half of all households by 2011. Brahm Eiley, president of The Convergence Consulting Group, talks to Media Life about growth potential for online TV, why it’s not that promising, and what impact DVRs will have on the marketplace. Read More…

Posted under DVR, Online, Research, TV & Cable

From Media Post Publications
By Eric Sass
April 8, 2009

The economy be damned. Online radio is still going strong, according to “Infinite Dial 2009,” Arbitron’s latest overview of the medium, due out later this week. The news follows a series of deals confirming that whatever happens in the economy at large, online radio is rapidly carving out a niche for itself in the digital media landscape.

And it’s a sizeable niche. 42 million Americans over the age of 12 listen to radio during an average week, more than double the 2005 figure of 20 million, and up 27% from 33 million in 2008. That means online radio currently reaches about 17% of Americans over the age of 12, up from about 8% in 2005 and 13% in 2008. These figures are based on data collected and analyzed by Arbitron and Edison Research. Read More…

Posted under Online, Radio, Research, Revenue