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its tune on the web
Direct marketing splash by top music-video club
By Jeremy Schlosberg
The country’s oldest
record club has suddenly become an aggressive web advertiser.
Columbia House, one of the largest direct marketing companies
in the world, has apparently decided that the web is a worthy direct
marketing medium.
Columbia House accounted for an unprecedented seven of the
web’s top 10 most-viewed banners for the week ending May 13, according
to new data from Nielsen//NetRatings.
The banners were a mix of music and DVD ads, all seeking
traffic to Columbia House’s web site.
The campaign has the look of a tightly managed effort, as all
seven banners—Nos. 4 through 10 on the chart—delivered between 17 and
17.5 million impressions and reached between 7 and 7.4 percent of the
overall web audience, reports Nielsen//NetRatings.
Columbia House had three banners in the top 10 for the week
ending April 22, two in the top 10 for the week ending April 29, and one
each week since then until the May 13 explosion.
The company did not return phone calls seeking an explanation
for the sudden splash of banners.
The campaign helped place Columbia House at No. 6 on the week’s
list of top web advertisers, with 155.3 million overall impressions.
Founded in 1955, Columbia House originated as the Columbia
Record Club, a marketing adjunct to Columbia Records, which was owned by
the Columbia Broadcasting System. The club was started at the time of the
introduction of the 33 1/3 long-playing vinyl record.
The 33 1/3 records
were
unbreakable, unlike the earlier 45s and 78s, making them ideal for sending
through the mail.
These days, Columbia House is jointly owned by Sony and
AOL Time Warner and is the top club-based marketer of music and videos in
North America. Its top competitor is BMG Music, owned by Bertelsmann.
That Columbia House has turned to the web in earnest should
not be surprising. The company has long been known for its intensive study
of media responsiveness and energetic use of advertising.
In the 1960s,
Columbia House pioneered the use of the four-page TV Guide advertising
insert, which is credited with helping to generate the company’s healthy
expansion through that decade.
The record clubs have had web sites for a number of years.
Columbia House has typically been ranked the No. 3 most-visited music site
behind Amazon and CDNow.
The company has claimed that
roughly three million people--almost 20 percent of
its 16-million customer base--have interacted
with the web site.
To date, however, Columbia House’s relationship with
the internet is best known for two apparent mistakes.
First, a merger with e-tailer CDNow, initially announced in
the summer of 1999, fell apart in March 2000. CDNow was bought by
rival Bertelsmann later in the year.
Then in February of this year, Columbia House emerged in the
news following a security breach that exposed personal information from a
reported 3,700 customers.
|
Top 25 Properties |
|||
|
Property |
Unique_Audience |
Reach_% |
Time |
|
1. AOL Time Warner |
35,740,685 |
49.27 |
0:16:04 |
|
2. Yahoo |
29,175,820 |
40.22 |
0:26:32 |
|
3. MSN |
26,184,562 |
36.10 |
0:24:26 |
|
4. Excite@Home |
10,362,240 |
14.29 |
0:13:56 |
|
5. Microsoft |
8,871,617 |
12.23 |
0:04:19 |
|
6. Lycos Network |
8,851,645 |
12.2 |
0:07:59 |
|
7. eBay |
6,730,696 |
9.28 |
0:42:07 |
|
8. Walt Disney Internet Group |
5,706,327 |
7.87 |
0:14:07 |
|
9. About |
5,289,664 |
7.29 |
0:07:37 |
|
10. Amazon |
4,358,787 |
6.01 |
0:08:01 |
|
11. eUniverse Network |
4,358,334 |
6.01 |
0:08:06 |
|
12. Google |
4,306,015 |
5.94 |
0:06:33 |
|
13. InfoSpace |
4,218,160 |
5.82 |
0:05:00 |
|
14. Napster |
4,079,416 |
5.62 |
0:07:33 |
|
15. CNET Networks |
4,022,461 |
5.55 |
0:06:05 |
|
16. NBC Internet |
3,577,054 |
4.93 |
0:07:58 |
|
17. American Greetings |
3,545,826 |
4.89 |
0:10:25 |
|
18. GoTo.com |
3,512,753 |
4.84 |
0:02:21 |
|
19. Ask Jeeves |
3,477,468 |
4.79 |
0:05:51 |
|
20. ClassMates Online |
3,454,417 |
4.76 |
0:07:01 |
|
21. EarthLink |
2,976,297 |
4.10 |
0:07:00 |
|
22. iWon |
2,953,549 |
4.07 |
0:25:17 |
|
23. Vivendi Universal |
2,757,204 |
3.80 |
0:15:37 |
|
24. Gator.com |
2,720,800 |
3.75 |
0:06:49 |
|
25. AT&T |
2,696,834 |
3.72 |
0:10:16 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
|||
|
Top Ten Advertisers |
|||
|
Advertiser |
Impressions |
Unique_Audience |
Reach_% |
|
1. Microsoft |
487,789,601 |
25,769,543 |
35.53 |
|
2. Amazon |
247,807,628 |
27,470,198 |
37.87 |
|
3. ClassMates |
184,611,187 |
22,240,883 |
30.66 |
|
4. Yahoo! |
183,628,710 |
16,836,942 |
23.21 |
|
5. eBay |
165,184,411 |
14,990,272 |
20.67 |
|
6. Columbia House |
155,257,549 |
13,991,557 |
19.29 |
|
7. Barnes and Noble |
137,765,969 |
17,179,180 |
23.68 |
|
8. 1-800-Flowers |
115,571,509 |
20,065,601 |
27.66 |
|
9. Providian |
114,964,840 |
14,984,246 |
20.66 |
|
10. America Online |
107,862,431 |
14,401,149 |
19.85 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
|||
|
Top 25 Domains |
|||
|
Domain |
Unique_Audience |
Reach_% |
Time |
|
1. yahoo.com |
26,989,863 |
37.21 |
0:27:02 |
|
2. aol.com |
25,110,685 |
34.62 |
0:14:15 |
|
3. msn.com |
24,175,553 |
33.33 |
0:21:28 |
|
4. passport.com |
12,801,259 |
17.65 |
0:03:22 |
|
5. microsoft.com |
8,267,465 |
11.4 |
0:04:13 |
|
6. geocities.com |
6,606,951 |
9.11 |
0:05:36 |
|
7. ebay.com |
6,241,802 |
8.60 |
0:43:32 |
|
8. netscape.com |
6,127,523 |
8.45 |
0:10:15 |
|
9. go.com |
5,542,902 |
7.64 |
0:14:19 |
|
10. excite.com |
5,005,278 |
6.90 |
0:17:47 |
|
11. bluemountain.com |
4,709,386 |
6.49 |
0:09:15 |
|
12. google.com |
4,304,354 |
5.93 |
0:06:33 |
|
13. napster.com |
4,079,416 |
5.62 |
0:07:33 |
|
14. lycos.com |
4,072,365 |
5.61 |
0:10:20 |
|
15. amazon.com |
3,949,532 |
5.44 |
0:07:31 |
|
16. goto.com |
3,505,158 |
4.83 |
0:02:21 |
|
17. classmates.com |
3,451,262 |
4.76 |
0:07:01 |
|
18. americangreetings.com |
3,105,467 |
4.28 |
0:10:29 |
|
19. iwon.com |
2,953,549 |
4.07 |
0:25:17 |
|
20. nbci.com |
2,856,539 |
3.94 |
0:06:34 |
|
21. compuserve.com |
2,729,189 |
3.76 |
0:18:59 |
|
22. gator.com |
2,699,685 |
3.72 |
0:06:22 |
|
23. about.com |
2,623,779 |
3.62 |
0:04:56 |
|
24. tripod.com |
2,553,641 |
3.52 |
0:03:45 |
|
25. earthlink.net |
2,531,347 |
3.49 |
0:07:27 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
|||
|
Top 25 Advertising Domains |
||
|
Domain |
Impressions |
Reach_% |
|
1. yahoo.com |
1,325,630,938 |
32.17 |
|
2. msn.com |
869,225,203 |
30.45 |
|
3. ebay.com |
466,718,166 |
8.18 |
|
4. aol.com |
446,079,173 |
22.4 |
|
5. netscape.com |
172,967,563 |
7.74 |
|
6. excite.com |
146,637,401 |
6.16 |
|
7. lycos.com |
105,999,123 |
4.52 |
|
8. iwon.com |
103,301,779 |
2.47 |
|
9. go.com |
85,209,557 |
5.46 |
|
10. compuserve.com |
67,830,127 |
3.01 |
|
11. monster.com |
59,435,241 |
1.73 |
|
12. pogo.com |
58,654,054 |
1.52 |
|
13. passport.com |
52,670,536 |
12.12 |
|
14. americangreetings.com |
49,214,350 |
3.56 |
|
15. audiogalaxy.com |
46,722,668 |
0.47 |
|
16. mapquest.com |
46,396,643 |
2.12 |
|
17. juno.com |
42,607,791 |
1.62 |
|
18. cnn.com |
42,319,149 |
2.09 |
|
19. infospace.com |
42,295,658 |
2.11 |
|
20. commissioner.com |
33,633,621 |
0.44 |
|
21. neopets.com |
33,537,602 |
0.47 |
|
22. looksmart.com |
32,269,710 |
2.34 |
|
23. dogpile.com |
30,818,047 |
1.81 |
|
24. bluemountain.com |
30,799,675 |
4.07 |
|
25. ezboard.com |
29,418,326 |
0.75 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
||
|
Top Ten Banners |
|||
|
Advertiser |
Impressions |
Unique_Audience |
Reach_% |
|
1. Bonzi Software |
44,079,186 |
10,329,629 |
14.24 |
|
2. ClassMates |
57,629,128 |
8,908,016 |
12.28 |
|
3. Colonize |
26,140,498 |
6,210,885 |
8.56 |
|
4. Columbia House |
17,392,148 |
5,355,225 |
7.38 |
|
5. Columbia House |
17,476,008 |
5,329,840 |
7.35 |
|
6. Columbia House |
17,392,548 |
5,324,001 |
7.34 |
|
7. Columbia House |
17,762,383 |
5,249,154 |
7.24 |
|
8. Columbia House |
17,056,897 |
5,221,529 |
7.20 |
|
9. Columbia House |
17,346,579 |
5,149,669 |
7.10 |
|
10. Columbia House |
17,254,213 |
5,131,030 |
7.07 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
|||
|
Average Usage |
|||
|
|
Current Week |
Last Week |
% Change |
|
Number of Sessions per Week |
6 |
6 |
0 |
|
Number of Unique Sites Visited |
5 |
6 |
-16.67 |
|
Page Views per Week |
211 |
204 |
3.43 |
|
Page Views per Surfing Session |
35 |
34 |
2.94 |
|
Time Spent per Week |
2:58:29 |
2:58:21 |
0.08 |
|
Time Spent During Surfing Session |
0:29:37 |
0:29:34 |
0.17 |
|
Duration a Page Viewed |
0:00:51 |
0:00:52 |
-2.7 |
|
Average Click Rate for Top Banners |
0.3 |
0.23 |
30.43 |
|
Total Internet Audience Sample |
62,827 |
56,308 |
11.58 |
|
Active Internet Universe |
72,537,834 |
74,194,148 |
-2.23 |
|
Current Internet Universe Estimate |
167,524,426 |
168,117,669 |
-0.35 |
| Source:
Nielsen//NetRatings
|
|||
May 18, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Jeremy Schlosberg is the senior editor for new media. Staff writer Marty Beard contributed to the reporting of this story.
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