Saturday, January 8, 2011

TV: Still the 800 Lb. Gorilla

Recent Nielsen reports indicate that the average American is watching more television each week; approximately 34 hours vs. 28 hours just 3 years ago.

In the average American household, the TV set(s) are on for 6 hours and 47 minutes per day.

This average American, today, is also getting on line about 13 hours per week, up from just 9 hours in 2000.

60% of all TV users use the Web at the same time at least once a month, according to a Nielsen report issued in March of 2010. Americans now spend 3.5 hours per month watching TV while on the Internet.

So by the time someone is 65 years old (baby boomers turning 65 this year!!) they will have watched 9 years of TV. Yikes!

So while many advertisers have moved to on line advertising, social media and mobile marketing, the top 100 advertisers last year spent over $100 billion on TV advertising. Many of these advertisers had a strong on line presence s well.

We have always said that the name of the game is synergy; the use of multiple communication channels to reach your target, so each channel adds frequency and message redundancy

Because the consumer is more multidimensional than ever and seeks information from more sources than ever, the need to reach him/her will depend on more forms of media including people who watch video on their mobile devices, (17 million people in 2011. 12 million people in 2009; 57% increase and will only increase by double digits for years to come)!

If you are leaving Television, especially cable TV out of your media mix, or if you are leaving mobile videos out of your mix, you might be leaving your message on the cutting room floor.

Think multi channels, not just one channel. It’s just how it is.

And if you think Americans watch too much TV instead of reading consider this:

The percentage of Americans who can name the Three Stooges? 59%.

The percentage of Americans who can name Three Supreme Court Justices? 17%