medialifemagazine.com
The hot kids thing: Active multitasking
By Heidi Dawley
Mar 11, 2008 - 1:05:54 AM
When it was first discovered that multitasking was becoming a popular way to consume media--watching TV while surfing the web, say--it was read as bad news for marketers. People engaged with more than one media were likely too distracted to absorb ad messages on either one.
But now a new study suggests that when it comes to kids, multitasking could actually present opportunities for marketers.
The reason? Active multitasking.
When kids surf the net while watching television, nearly three quarters of them are engaged in what's being called active multitasking. That's to say their behavior with one medium influences what they do on the other, according to a new study by Grunwald Associates, a research company that focuses on kids and technology.
“It is both a threat and an opportunity for marketers,” says Peter Grunwald, president of Grunwald Associates.
The opportunity is that with the right messages, savvy marketers can engage kids to visit their sites when their attention might otherwise be wandering off to someplace else.
For example, a 14-year-old girl is watching a TV show when an ad comes on for a new makeup. The girl goes to the show's web site, then to the product's ad on the site, where she finds a contest in which the winner receives a year of free lipstick, and she enters.
The study, which looked at data from surveys of 1,277 young people aged 9-17, as well as 1,039 parents and 250 school leaders, found that overall 64 percent of kids go online while watching TV. Just under half do so frequently, between three times a week and several times a day.
It also found that 73 percent of those who are watching TV while online are engaged in active multitasking. That’s up dramatically from the 55 percent of kids who said they had engaged in active multitasking back in 2002.
Some 50 percent said they had visited a web site in direct response to something they'd seen while watching TV. That’s up from 41 percent.
Some 35 percent said they had sent an email or instant message to someone who was watching the same TV show, compared to 18 percent in 2002.
Further, one third said they went online to participate in polls, contests or games after television programs have directed them to while still watching the tube. That’s up from 21 percent.
Another interesting thing to come out in the study is that when kids are on the internet while watching TV, it’s the internet that tends to hold their attention as the primary medium.
“It is really striking, the percentage that tell us that they are paying more attention to the internet,” says Grunwald “It is really a one-to-four ratio.”
Grunwald attributes this to the fact that the internet is the more interactive and engaging media.
Nearly half, 47 percent, of these multitaskers said that their internet surfing absorbed most of their attention. That compares to 42 percent who said they focused equally on the TV and what they were doing online. The TV came out tops for only 11 percent of kids.
What’s more, 17 percent said that they actually have decided what to watch on TV based on what they were doing online. That’s up from just 10 percent in 2002.
This study comes just weeks after Blynkx, the video search engine, released its own look into adults who were online while watching TV. Their survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, found that 78 percent go online while watching TV.
***
Meanwhile, in online ratings for the week ended March 2, according to Nielsen Online, Google claimed the top spot among parent companies, followed by Microsoft, Yahoo, Time Warner and News Corp. Online. The top five brands were Google, Yahoo, MSN/Windows Live, Microsoft and AOL Media Network.
NexTag was the No. 1 advertiser with 7.4 million impressions, followed by No. 2 Experian Group Limited at nearly 6 million. With 32.8 million ads served, Yahoo was again the top advertising site, well ahead of No. 2 MSN at 3.7 million.
Sessions per person per week were even to the previous week at 17, and domains visited per person were even at 41. PC time per person was down 1 percent compared with the previous week, at 18 hours and 3 minutes.
|
Top 25 parent companies
Through March 2 |
|
#
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time Spent per Person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1
|
Google
|
90,993
|
64.8
|
0:33:42
|
|
2
|
Microsoft
|
86,088
|
61.3
|
0:46:00
|
|
3
|
Yahoo!
|
78,781
|
56.1
|
1:07:27
|
|
4
|
Time Warner
|
71,330
|
50.8
|
1:22:08
|
|
5
|
News Corp. Online
|
44,163
|
31.4
|
0:46:33
|
|
6
|
eBay
|
33,557
|
23.9
|
0:54:49
|
|
7
|
InterActiveCorp
|
29,648
|
21.1
|
0:13:33
|
|
8
|
Amazon
|
25,739
|
18.3
|
0:12:46
|
|
9
|
Wikimedia Foundation
|
24,690
|
17.6
|
0:09:29
|
|
10
|
Apple Computer
|
23,172
|
16.5
|
0:34:29
|
|
11
|
Walt Disney Internet Group
|
22,242
|
15.8
|
0:21:27
|
|
12
|
Landmark Communications
|
21,832
|
15.5
|
0:09:16
|
|
13
|
New York Times Company
|
21,566
|
15.4
|
0:10:44
|
|
14
|
AT&T Inc.
|
18,005
|
12.8
|
0:23:00
|
|
15
|
RealNetworks, Inc.
|
14,734
|
10.5
|
0:17:27
|
|
16
|
E.W. Scripps Company
|
14,123
|
10.1
|
0:06:13
|
|
17
|
Verizon Communications
|
13,866
|
9.9
|
0:18:18
|
|
18
|
CNET Networks
|
13,105
|
9.3
|
0:05:05
|
|
19
|
Bank of America
|
12,623
|
9.0
|
0:25:27
|
|
20
|
Comcast Corp.
|
12,561
|
8.9
|
0:30:53
|
|
21
|
United Online
|
12,437
|
8.9
|
0:27:43
|
|
22
|
Viacom Digital
|
12,012
|
8.6
|
0:25:17
|
|
23
|
Gannett
|
10,858
|
7.7
|
0:11:00
|
|
24
|
Facebook
|
10,747
|
7.7
|
0:36:06
|
|
25
|
CBS Corporation
|
10,504
|
7.5
|
0:11:08
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online
|
|
Top 25 brands
Through March 2 |
|
|
Parent
|
Unique Audience (000)
|
Reach %
|
Time spent per person (hh:mm:ss)
|
|
1 |
Google
|
83,639
|
59.5
|
0:26:21
|
|
2 |
Yahoo!
|
77,977
|
55.5
|
1:07:43
|
|
3 |
MSN/Windows Live
|
63,805
|
45.4
|
0:47:07
|
|
4 |
Microsoft
|
56,605
|
40.3
|
0:16:29
|
|
5 |
AOL Media Network
|
56,418
|
40.2
|
1:32:48
|
|
6 |
Fox Interactive Media
|
38,275
|
27.3
|
0:49:43
|
|
7 |
YouTube
|
35,335
|
25.2
|
0:20:20
|
|
8 |
eBay
|
27,739
|
19.8
|
0:59:57
|
|
9 |
Wikipedia
|
24,465
|
17.4
|
0:09:26
|
|
10 |
Apple
|
23,172
|
16.5
|
0:34:29
|
|
11 |
Amazon
|
20,872
|
14.9
|
0:12:07
|
|
12 |
Weather Channel
|
19,820
|
14.1
|
0:09:33
|
|
13 |
CNN Digital Network
|
17,749
|
12.6
|
0:18:35
|
|
14 |
Blogger
|
16,792
|
12.0
|
0:06:14
|
|
15 |
Ask Search Network
|
16,644
|
11.9
|
0:12:39
|
|
16 |
Real Network
|
14,730
|
10.5
|
0:17:27
|
|
17 |
About.com
|
14,426
|
10.3
|
0:02:52
|
|
18 |
AT&T
|
12,769
|
9.1
|
0:28:22
|
|
19 |
Bank of America
|
12,023
|
8.6
|
0:25:52
|
|
20 |
Facebook
|
10,747
|
7.7
|
0:36:06
|
|
21 |
Chase
|
10,359
|
7.4
|
0:15:26
|
|
22 |
Craigslist
|
10,289
|
7.3
|
0:43:24
|
|
23 |
Comcast
|
10,136
|
7.2
|
0:36:45
|
|
24 |
Disney Online
|
9,565
|
6.8
|
0:23:35
|
|
25 |
Verizon
|
9,239
|
6.6
|
0:14:33
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online |
|
Top 25 advertisers
(excludes house ads)
Through March 2 |
|
#
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
NexTag, Inc.
|
7,351,374
|
|
2 |
Experian Group Limited
|
5,985,730
|
|
3 |
Vonage Holdings Corp
|
3,696,506
|
|
4 |
Netflix, Inc.
|
3,552,630
|
|
5 |
Toyota Motor Corporation
|
1,511,969
|
|
6 |
Apollo Group, Inc.
|
1,405,396
|
|
7 |
Verizon Communications, Inc.
|
1,331,259
|
|
8 |
CoolSavings, Inc.
|
1,281,413
|
|
9 |
InterActiveCorp
|
999,250
|
|
10 |
Wachovia Corporation
|
970,652
|
|
11 |
Free-Games-Online.com
|
837,121
|
|
12 |
AT&T Corp.
|
760,008
|
|
13 |
Echostar Communications Corporation
|
704,166
|
|
14 |
General Motors Corporation
|
664,949
|
|
15 |
Deutsche Telekom AG
|
648,736
|
|
16 |
HSBC Holdings plc
|
614,765
|
|
17 |
Bank of America Corporation
|
560,247
|
|
18 |
Scottrade, Inc.
|
546,500
|
|
19 |
Time Warner Inc.
|
477,800
|
|
20 |
Intuit, Inc.
|
447,543
|
|
21 |
E*TRADE FINANCIAL Corp.
|
394,917
|
|
22 |
Fidelity Investments
|
364,701
|
|
23 |
TaxACT
|
309,437
|
|
24 |
United Online, Inc.
|
304,780
|
|
25 |
Privacy Matters
|
303,484
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Top 25 advertising sites
(excludes house ads)
Through March 2 |
|
|
Company
|
Impressions (000)
|
|
1 |
Yahoo!
|
32,842,153
|
|
2 |
MSN
|
3,671,220
|
|
3 |
MySpace
|
2,054,735
|
|
4 |
AOL.com
|
1,300,376
|
|
5 |
eBay
|
991,088
|
|
6 |
MSNBC
|
823,961
|
|
7 |
Facebook
|
698,378
|
|
8 |
Comcast.net
|
599,457
|
|
9 |
The Weather Channel
|
581,073
|
|
10 |
New York Times
|
539,764
|
|
11 |
NeoPets
|
476,344
|
|
12 |
FOXNEWS.COM
|
457,471
|
|
13 |
CNN
|
428,882
|
|
14 |
IMDb
|
378,458
|
|
15 |
Amazon
|
358,456
|
|
16 |
Photobucket
|
315,169
|
|
17 |
Juno
|
305,922
|
|
18 |
NetZero
|
295,495
|
|
19 |
MyPoints
|
280,447
|
|
20 |
CNN Money
|
205,326
|
|
21 |
EarthLink
|
181,712
|
|
22 |
ESPN.com
|
178,636
|
|
23 |
Excite
|
174,327
|
|
24 |
FOX Sports on MSN
|
163,935
|
|
25 |
Verizon Online
|
163,563
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance
Note: Nielsen Online, AdRelevance service estimated online advertising expenditures account for CPM-based image-based advertising. All reported estimated expenditures and impressions do not account for the following placement types: text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns. AdRelevance currently does not report estimated spending for paid search advertising. Above data does not include any house advertising activity. Also, Nielsen Online, AdRelevance reporting data reflects advertising activity served on pages accessible via the World Wide Web and not within AOL's proprietary service. |
|
Average use
Through March 2 |
|
|
Current Week
|
Last Week
|
% Change
|
|
Sessions/Visits per Person
|
17
|
17
|
0
|
|
Domains Visited per Person
|
41
|
41
|
0
|
|
PC Time per Person
|
18:03:34
|
18:15:06
|
-1.05
|
|
Active Digital Media Universe
|
140,468,503
|
139,435,368
|
0.74
|
|
Current Digital Media Universe Estimate
|
220,765,807
|
220,709,448
|
0.03
|
|
Source: Nielsen Online |
© 2010 Media Life
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