Author's note: The findings presented in this article come from Netpop, Media-Screen's ongoing research study designed to provide a definitive picture of the broadband consumer based on five fundamental pursuits: personal productivity, news and information, shopping, communication and leisure and entertainment. For more information please visit our site or email Netpop.
According to a Nielsen//NetRatings study, at the end of 1999, less than 5 million Americans accessed the internet via a broadband connection (defined as a connection greater than 56Kbps). In contrast, more than 100 million Americans -- or over one-third of the U.S. population -- now use broadband to access the online world.
This raises some big questions for anyone looking to do business on the web: who are these people? What are they doing when they are online? But let's focus on some specifics: what does this mean for the advertising and entertainment industries?
Who they are
The broadband population offers a highly desirable market profile. They earn more (approximately 10 percent) than the average U.S. household and are educated: 47 percent of Broadbanders™ 25 and over have college degrees or higher (compared to 33 percent for the total U.S. Census population). Broadbanders generally conform to the gender breakdown of the U.S. Census population, and skew only slightly younger (1 year and 10 months).
Shifting media and entertainment behaviors
The average Broadbander spends over 5 hours every weekday accessing content and applications online. These consumers are spending approximately an hour and forty minutes of a typical weekday engaged in leisure and entertainment activities online. And younger Broadbanders (13- to 24-year-olds) are even more engaged, spending an hour and fifty-five minutes of a typical weekday online in the pursuit of entertainment. Not surprisingly, more than half of all respondents report that the amount of spare time they are spending online has increased over the last two years.
While watching television is still America's favorite media activity (a little less than 2.5 hours a day), our study found that visiting websites for personal reasons is not far behind (about one hour and fifty minutes a day). Furthermore, when analyzing 10 popular offline media activities compared with only 6 popular online media activities (possibly skewing results toward offline media activities), we found that more than 40 percent of all time spent on media activities is spent online.*
Implications for advertising
The online media usage and size of the broadband population, in relation to the U.S. Census population, supports allocating approximately 14.5 percent of total ad spend online. Yet, Zenith Optimedia forecasts that internet advertising in the U.S. won't surpass 10 percent of total ad spend until 2009. This means you should be asking yourself how much is your company spending on online advertising, and if the amount is adequate to compete effectively against new entrants and established companies that target this influential group of consumers.
Skeptics may counter that the online channel doesn't provide as good a branding opportunity as traditional media advertising channels. But, entertainment fans (defined as somebody who goes online once a month or more to access content or information about one of their three favorite kinds of entertainment ) pay attention to many types of sources (both online and offline) to learn about new entertainment properties. Today, search engines influence the same number of people as magazines; social networking sites are on par with newspapers and portal sites like Yahoo! are almost as effective as television in raising awareness.
In today's fragmented media landscape, successful marketing is dependent creating a successful brand framework that stresses extensibility through theme and variation rather than stressing a particular brand identity that projects the complete picture. In other words, entertainment marketers who deconstruct the value proposition for their brands into distinct elements -- text, text + still image, text + audio, text + audio + video, and so on -- and construct the message in context with the way consumers interact with the property on which the advertisement will be associated will find success. Thus, an advertisement should be presented in the context of "the hunt" when attached to a search result. On a social networking site, the advertisement should be presented in the context of a "conversation."
Heightened engagement
Not only are users discovering new entertainment online, but the internet seems to increase fans' enjoyment of each type of entertainment included in the study. With the ability to access and enjoy games and music directly online, fans acknowledge that the web impacts their enjoyment to a greater extent than movies and television. That said, approximately one in three movie and television fans said the internet has increased their enjoyment, lending credence to the fact that Broadbanders find entertainment value in information and promotional materials (e.g., trailers, screenshots) that can be accessed at work as well as at home. It will be interesting to measure shifts in enjoyment across these types of entertainment now that video content is more prevalent online due to broadband penetration.
Rise of user participation
From one perspective, the power of mass media and entertainment is measured by the number of conversations it creates. Successful ideas manifested by artists and communicated to an audience are then transformed into conversations between friends, family, acquaintances and workmates, driving increased interest and larger audiences.
The internet offers an ideal setting for fans to share their opinions and contribute to the conversation on sites that cater to their interests. In fact, 68 percent of Broadbanders contribute to the internet -- by posting or sharing content -- in a typical month, and a quarter of all Broadbanders regularly talk with friends online about a favorite title or artist. The implication of this type of behavior is that marketers may focus on supporting the conversation rather than pushing one. Entertainment marketers should leverage this knowledge by reaching out to community influencers and thought leaders and support their enthusiasm to drive discussion and awareness online.
Conclusion
Between countless fan sites, an ever-growing array of online marketing vehicles and traditional channels of advertisement, billions of promotional and entertainment dollars are in flux. Active participants online, Broadbanders are shaping the contemporary marketplace in ways that will ripple through the rest of the population for years to come.
For an industry whose product is still images, audio, videogames and videos, the broadband population isn't just another demographic to target. Rather Broadbanders are passionate fans who want to actively engage with their favorite entertainment genres and titles, bands or franchises. Entertainment marketers need to leverage that interest and focus on catalyzing a conversation, or risk being left out entirely.
Josh Crandall is managing director of Media-Screen. Read full bio.
*Media activities include: Offline - watch television, watch videos/DVDs, read magazines and newspapers, listen to AM/FM radio, play video games, listen to MP3s, send text messages, watch pre-recorded TV, watch videos/movies on a portable device, listen to satellite radio. Online - sending email, visiting websites for personal reasons, instant messaging, listen to internet/online radio, playing online casual games, visiting websites for work.
