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multi-media clutter
Most planning is for one medium, but we use many
By Kevin Downey
In the real world, we are surrounded by media competing for our attention, and we do pay attention, often to more than one medium at the same time.
But in the world of media planning, this reality is often ignored. So much of the $175 billion worth of advertising messages that are placed each year are done so on the assumption that those messages will get the exclusive attention of their target audiences.
Today's media planning tools do not reflect how media is actually used, and the result is that many of those dollars are wasted.
So warns a new study from BIGresearch of Worthington, Ohio.
Rather than using one medium exclusively at any one time, the study points out, more than half of all people use multiple media types at the same time.
The concern is that advertising messages and media plans are not being developed to effectively break through competing ads.
“The planning tools are based on the data available, which look at individual media,” says Philip Rist, vice president of strategic initiatives at BIGresearch.
“Arbitron measures radio and Nielsen measures TV, but they don’t really take the time to find out what else you’re doing. That’s why we decided to find out how people use media types simultaneously.”
During primetime, for example, nearly 70 percent of people say they watch television, 43 percent say they go online, and 22 percent say they read magazines. Or more simply, at least 35 percent of those people are using more than one media type during primetime.
BIGresearch conducted their study with 7,800 online respondents.
Moreover, nearly two-thirds of men and women say they go online while watching television, for example, while half say they have the radio on while reading magazines, and more than half say they read the newspaper while watching television.
You wouldn’t know that, however, by existing reach and frequency systems, which are used by planners to determine how many times an advertising message is exposed to consumers.
Most systems base estimates on the number of exposures to individual media types with an estimate for duplication, or the number of times a person is exposed to multiple media over a set period of time.
What isn’t factored in is the duplication of messages that a consumer is exposed to at a single point in time.
In addition to a need for new planning tools, there is something that advertisers can focus on to ensure they break through competing messages, says Rist.
“The one message that is important for the creative community is that this new data supports them,” he says.
“This shows us that half of people are involved in more than one media at any given time, so the message used to get their attention is important. Because if they’re not paying attention, the message is lost.”
When it comes to effective advertising, three senses come into play, according to the study: sight, sound and touch, with sound often being the most effective at breaking through the clutter of competing messages.
Moreover, even when people are using many types of media at a time, one is typically more dominant.
Say, for example, someone is specifically watching a television show but only casually surfing through the internet, an ad on TV would probably be more effective.
“For someone who wants to move to the next level, they wouldn’t be missing anything if they incorporated this data,” says Rist.
“We crafted the question set to be complimentary to the traditional research that is out there, but also to fill a void, which is how real people use media.”
November 26, 2002© 2002 Media Life
-Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life.
