Tuesday, October 14, 2008

What's Greater Than Sex?

Well, if you're a male between the ages of 18 and 34, it should be obvious: nothing. But the Internet sure comes close.

In a recent study from Break Media and Hall and Partners (which came to me via Marketing Charts), they surveyed over 500 men from 18-34 years of age, and made some interesting discoveries - not the least of which was that 69% say they can’t live without the Internet, versus just 31% for television.

That's more than a 2:1 margin of the Web over TV. Are you listening, traditional marketers? I'd suggest it's time to look at how you're spreading your media buys.

These aren't total geeks, though: 79% would rather meet a woman out on the town than online, 71% prefer "a date with a hot girl to a poker game with the boys" and - here's the definitive number - 74% would rather have sex than surf the web.

Well, okay. Maybe they are geeks - these stats merely noted what they'd prefer not what they do. And when given the choice of "sex" or "web," I wonder how many chose both? ;-)

In addition, here are some salient facts about this demographic:

63% have a smart phone and one in four use their mobile device to connect to the Web
40% use the Internet for more than 22 hours a week
36% say they can’t live without the Internet for socializing
33% say they can’t live without online entertainment
59% notice online ads
35% like ads that allow them to play a game
34% like online ads that allow them to participate in a contest

Hmm...digital marketing is looking a little more attractive now, isn't it?

And for those of you marketers looking for personality attributes that may tie to your brands, you might consider:

Conformist: Only 26% think they are trendsetters.
Responsible: Only 18% agree that having fun is more important than being responsible.
Green: 53% say they care about the environment.
Social: 49% claim to have no trouble meeting new people; 51% like to spend as much time hanging out with friends as possible; only 20% said they valued appearance over personality when it comes to attraction.
Adventuresome: 68% enjoy traveling to new places; 61% enjoy spending time outdoors.
Laid back: Only 38% say they live a fast-paced life.
Not wellness-centric: 38% claim to lead a healthy lifestyle; however 45% say their appearance is very important to them.

If you don't care as much about targeting your media spend and you want to apply the mass marketing approach and go for the majority, here's your ideal target: an outdoorsy non-chalant traveling tree hugger who doesn't care how he or his date look, as evidenced by his flabby gut.

Or, you could follow the indicators and create some engaging and shareable digital interactions that get results.

Is there anything about the above statistics that surprises you?

Photo credit: thepollen

Labels: Advertising, Marketing, television, trends

Posted by Scott Monty at 11:54 PM

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Sunday, July 20, 2008

Television Viewership Grows - Just Not on TV

This may and may not come as a surprise to you. The thing that grabbed my attention was that Americans are viewing more television than ever before . I thought that it would have dropped off recently, with the advent of the other ways people are spending their time. But it appears that commercial TV is growing by 1 percent a year.

The part that didn't surprise me has to do with viewing habits: the viewership of television on various types of media skews when you look at different age groups.

Most interesting to me are the 35-44 and 45-54 age groups: both show a significant increase of viewing video online rather than on TV; and the 25-34 cohort shows a twofold increase in viewing mobile video over TV.

This is only going to continue to skew as technology advances. We just need to ask ourselves if we're ready for more advertising interruptions on our mobile devices and if we'll settle for the same-old same-old pre-roll that we've come to expect in online video. As Hulu has shown, people have no problem accepting limited and clearly demarcated commericals in return for high-quality video on demand.

The real question is, where will we the viewers draw the line? How much is too much and what should we give up if we're not paying to watch online video? And if we're paying for mobile access to multimedia, should we be free from commercial interruptions? What do you think?

Labels: mobile, news, television, Video

Posted by Scott Monty at 11:25 PM

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About Scott

For hi-res, click here

The best way to describe Scott is "Renaissance Man." Friends and colleagues that know Scott from one facet of his life are very frequently surprised to learn of his interests and talents in other areas.

Scott is a marketing and communications professional focused on the digital industry — specifically on social media. His career spans a number of industries such as healthcare, pharma, biotech, travel, automotive, tech, and communications, and includes a wide range of clients, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.

Currently on the staff of corporate communications in Ford Motor Company, Scott heads up the social media function and holds the title Global Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager. He is a strategic advisor on all social media activities across the company, from blogger relations to marketing support, customer service to internal communications and more, as social media is being integrated into many facets of Ford business.

Prior to joining Ford, Scott served as Consigliere for crayon and spent a number of years with PJA Advertising + Marketing, a boutique BtoB agency specializing in health sciences & high tech.

In addition to his consulting and agency background, Scott is an active blogger and podcaster. He writes about the intersection of advertising, marketing and PR at The Social Media Marketing Blog and also writes The Baker Street Blog, a literary undertaking. Scott has been featured in numerous news and business publications, on a variety of podcasts, and on national television. Scott is a recognized thought leader in the social media industry and frequently speaks at industry events.

Scott received his Master's in Medical Science from Boston University's School of Medicine concurrently with his MBA from BU's Graduate School of Management. He lives in the greater Detroit area with his wife and two young sons, golfs all too infrequently, and has a hidden talent for voice over work.

Oh, and one last little-known fact: Scott coined the term "tweetup."

You may download a headshot here, courtesy of C.C. Chapman and a PDF version of Scott's bio here.

Books in which Scott's work is featured:
The New Rules of Marketing & PR
Twitterville
Six Pixels of Separation
Monkeys with Typewriters
Read This First
World Wide Rave
Get Seen

Disclosures/Relationships

Scott is on the Advisory board of SavvyAuntie
Scott is on the Advisory board of Business Smart Tools
Scott is a judge for the SAMMY Awards
Scott is on the Advisory board of The Hive Awards
Named one of iMedia's 25 Top Internet Marketing Leaders & Innovators
This blog's content is also syndicated on Social Media Today
Plaid occasionally does web work for me and designed this site
No animals were harmed in the making of this blog.

Speaking Events

Scott speaks on social media at events, seminars and conferences around the world. His topic generally focuses on corporate use of social media, becoming an online spokesperson, and specifically on the progress that Ford has made in the recent past. If you're interested in booking Scott to speak at your event, please send an email to speaking [AT] scottmonty [DOT] com. Scott's bio and headshot can be found in the "About Scott" tab above.

Some previous engagements include:

BlogWell - How Big Companies Use Social Media - Minneapolis - August 13

Who is Scott Monty?

Hi, I'm Scott. I'm the head of social media for Ford Motor Company. This is my personal blog, where I share my perspectives on social media - the convergence of marketing, advertising and PR on the Web - for marketers, agencies, the enterprise and the individual. This blog contains my personal views.