Consumers are turning to social media and other online sources to socialize their TV-viewing experience, chatting with others about shows, playing games, using check-in services, finding supplemental information and more.

Viacom Media Networks surveyed US internet users in January 2012 and found that many make TV watching social through on and offline means. Of respondents, 85% watched television in the same room as another person, while 61% searched for supplemental content online, 58% watched video clips on social networks, 57% chatted with friends about the show via text and the same percentage accessed information on sites like IMBD.com or Wikipedia.

The study also found that around 41% of respondents were interested in or were already using websites and apps that allowed them to chat with others about TV shows. Of those respondents, 56% said that, if their favorite TV show launched a social TV app, they would be interested in a chat function directly through that app, while 53% would prefer to use Facebook chat. Half of respondents would use text messaging or group texting and 38% said they would use Skype to discuss that TV show.

Looking at when viewers are participating in these social TV activities, it depends on the type of content or activity. Checking in to a show, through an app such as GetGlue, generally happens before or during a show, while searching for extra information or playing games most often takes place during ad breaks or after the show.

Consumers want to make watching TV a more social activity and social media allows them to do so from the comfort of their couches. Users are turning to several sites and applications to extend their viewing experience and will continue to do so as TV shows and networks provide added value and content on social networks.

Consumers may appreciate successful TV ad campaigns with interesting creative, but many still treat a commercial break as a great time to grab a snack or do some other quick chore away from the screen. Online, however, a video ad that pleases is one to be shared socially—and research indicates consumers are doing just that, and watching such ads more than ever before.

According to data released in April from social video measurement firm Visible Measures, views of social video ads served to English-speaking audiences increased to almost 1.33 billion in Q1 of this year, a 78% rise over Q4 2011. The measurement company noted that Q1 is typically a busy time of year for video ads shared socially, as many internet users turn online to find—and spread the word about—their favorite Super Bowl commercials. But this year’s Q1 results were also 72% better than the same period in 2010, indicating a real rise in social video ad viewership.

The automotive industry, a big spender on offline commercials (including those Super Bowl ads), saw the most social video views during the first part of this year, followed by those video ads related to community and activism at a fairly distant second.

Visible Measures included data from social video ads served over its network to an English-speaking audience, and all views were user-initiated.

Video is the fastest-growing ad format online, and social sharing capabilities can only help that growth by allowing users to act as curators and promoters, passing appealing videos to a larger and larger audience of network connections. eMarketer estimates US advertisers will spend $3.1 billion this year on video ads, up from $2 billion in 2011. By 2016, $9.3 billion in online ad spending will go toward video.

Kevin George
SVP and Global CMO
Beam

Kevin George, SVP and global CMO, spoke to eMarketer about how spirits producer Beam is moving beyond traditional channels to create digital campaigns that tap into the social behaviors of its consumers and leveraging online video to maximize campaigns’ viral spread.

eMarketer: What top trends are you seeing in digital marketing in the spirits industry?

Kevin George: They’re probably not unlike a number of other trends you see in CPG, but clearly digital is growing for spirits companies, who traditionally have spent quite a bit on billboards and print. There is certainly a move toward mobile and apps.

When we look at search and mobile in our industry, 30%-plus of all the searches done on spirits are done on a mobile device. It fits the nature of our business—when people are out at night and they’re searching for what drink they should have, they’re looking for apps, they’re looking for bars or trying to find our products in bars.

We see a tremendous amount of discussion about our brands on the Twitter space with people enjoying our products or people experiencing our brands in other ways—like at a concert, or at a Maker’s Mark distillery, looking for a drink recipe or tweeting about one of our ads they saw on TV. We see a lot of action on all the social spaces, but we’ve seen a lot of that on Twitter.

eMarketer: You have brands including Jim Beam, Skinnygirl, Sauza Tequila and Maker’s Mark, how has the company’s spinoff last fall (October 2011) from Fortune Brands affected the digital marketing aspect of the business?

George: I don’t think the spinoff really affected how we ended up spending. We’ve moved our digital spend from about 10% of our total media two or three years ago to 35%. That really didn’t have anything to do with the spinoff itself. Certainly, we’ve been investing more money in our media and our brand investment, with a good portion of that going into digital.

eMarketer: How is Beam leveraging digital to stand out from big spirits companies such as Diageo?

George: There are two things that we’re focused on. One, creating a great brand experience for consumers—any way that we can do that, we do it. We try to understand what experience consumers want to have with our brands and determine which channels can deliver that in the best possible way. Sometimes that’s digital, sometimes that’s in person and sometimes it’s through an ad or trying our product via sampling. More and more we’re seeing digital as part of the solution for that experience, whether that’s content, education or recipes.

Two, try to make sure it’s easy for people to share that experience that they’re having through their social network, their brand and their peer networks. We see that when people are tweeting about a really interesting ad during a television show or when they go on TripAdvisor to talk about how great their visit to Maker’s Mark distillery was.

eMarketer: What type of presence does Beam have today in social? Why does the company see social as an important arena to be in?

George: We have a presence across a number of different platforms—Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, as well as YouTube channels.

I don’t think anybody has really completely figured it out yet. If you look at the landscape of spirits players, everybody is in a very similar position. We have a very singular goal, which is in the next 12 to 24 months, to be the most socially adept and responsive company in the industry. We try to make sure that we’re driving toward that every day.

Social allows us to engage with consumers in a dialogue one-on-one. It gives us the ability to listen to what consumers are saying about our brand and make decisions based on that. And, it helps us drive sales by encouraging people to find our products or directing them to find our products.

eMarketer: What’s happening in mobile for Beam?

George: There are a couple of things happening in mobile that are exciting for us. People are seeking information with their mobile phones on the go, whether that’s at a bar, restaurant or in a store standing in front of the shelf and finding out about a great bourbon to buy.

It’s exciting that everybody is carrying a computer in their pocket these days. Our ability to extend the in-person experience is going to be critical as we do a lot of experiential things on the ground, such as concerts and sampling or visits to our distillery centers. Those experiences can be extended very easily in real time with mobile by letting people post a picture of themselves at the distillery or use a QR code to find out more about the products. Our ability to extend an in-person experience must go further than just the five seconds or five minutes that we have their attention. Mobile can help extend that experience.

eMarketer: Can you share some of your digital best practices?

George: Make sure that digital sits at the center of the planning process. That’s a critical thing. The brands that have done that well have really shown an ability to grow. You can’t think of digital and social as just an add-on you do at the end when you run out of money. It’s important to think about it in the upfront process.

A great example would be the Sauza Tequila fireman video that’s out on YouTube right now. In two weeks, it had close to 2 million views. The “viralness” of the video has been very good. A couple years ago doing recipes would have been about putting a recipe for a margarita on your website, where women could go and find the recipe. The insight is that women have these “ladies nights in” and they want a great recipe to make margaritas because that’s what a lot of women drink. We thought to do it in a really fun, interactive way. So we did a 2-minute video of a sexy fireman actually following the recipe online in a very humorous way.

The other thing is to listen. Skinnygirl is a great example of listening. We have the Twitter feed [@SkinnygirlCKTLS] with our partner [reality TV star] Bethenny Frankel. It’s basically listening to people and [helping them] find Skinnygirl vodka, wine or our new pina colada product. We listen very closely to what they need or want, and then respond to them by saying here’s where you can go to find the products. People wanting the product and telling us where [it isn’t available] has been really helpful, and this has been a real success in helping to drive that brand by getting new distribution in places where it hadn’t been before.

Consumers have demonstrated a voracious appetite for online content that shows no signs of abating. In November 2011, research firm JZ Analytics conducted a survey of US internet users for semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom and found that nearly 87% of respondents consumed 11 hours or more of online content per week at their workplaces or homes, whether surfing the internet, watching online video or checking email.

Further, 54% of those polled said they consumed at least 21 hours of digital content in a given week.

Digital content consumption levels were lower for consumers on the go who used laptops, smartphones or tablets. From that group, only 31% of people said they consumed 11 or more hours of content, which makes sense given that they were likely accessing content on a smaller screen.

The immediacy and ease of streaming services continue to draw users in search of online video. According to the survey, 58% of respondents said they watched online videos on web-based streaming services that hosted user-generated content, such as YouTube. And more than one-third of respondents said they watched content on full-episode player sites, such as Hulu or Netflix.

Broadcom also found that the majority of respondents watched videos online—in fact, more than two-thirds of those polled said they watched at least one online video a day. And about one-quarter of respondents said they watched three or more videos a day. Online video’s continuing popularity and increasing penetration reflects its emerging status as a mass-market medium, presenting new opportunities for brands to reach consumers.

eMarketer estimates spending on online video advertising—much of which supports the video content consumers are so hungry for—will reach $3.12 billion this year in the US, up 54.7% over 2011. Online video is the fastest-growing online ad format in the country, albeit from a comparatively small base.

APRIL 30, 2012
From Emarketer

Online video will continue to enjoy its place in the sun, especially as the connected TV category grows. According to an April 2012 analysis by Leichtman Research Group (LRG), 38% of US households—roughly one in five—will have at least one TV connected to the internet in 2012. That is up from 30% in 2011.

By LRG standards, connected TVs include those hooked up to the internet through video game systems and Blu-ray players, Apple TVs or Roku set-top boxes. The category also includes internet-enabled “smart TVs,” which LRG indicated are steadily growing in number.

Connected game consoles are the most popular method for streaming—28% of households had an internet-connected game console during the study period. Only 4% of all households, however, had an internet-enabled TV set, or a smart TV. Set-top boxes like Apple TV and Roku were even less popular, present in only 1% of households.

 

Although many US households have been quick to adopt connected TV through game console streaming, a November 2011 study by market research company YouGov found that they trailed other markets in true “smart TV” adoption. Smart TVs were more popular in European countries and in the UAE. France led, with 18% of respondents owning smart TVs, while in the US only 9% of respondents owned them.

 

The connected living room will likely become more pervasive. Electronics companies such as Samsung, Lenovo and Philips are already bringing smart TV products to the market. Apple is expected to release a smart TV later this spring, which is likely to boost both category awareness and adoption. Although the category is still fairly nascent, marketers can soon expect new opportunities for reaching an ever-connected online TV audience.

By: Michael Learmonth Published: April 27, 2012

From Ad Age Digital

Apple‘s new Siri campaign starring Samuel L. Jackson and Zooey Deschanel drew the ire of Ad Age TV Editor Brian Steinberg this week, but turns out consumers love them. If you believe ad-effectiveness company Ace Metrix, in fact, they’re rejuvenating the Apple brand.

The two ads were the most-effective ads to premiere in the week ending April 20, according to the company. They were also the second- and third-most effective mobile phone commercials of 2012 based on Ace Metrix measures, right behind Samsung‘s Galaxy Note campaign, which has been airing since February and was the most effective ad of the quarter.

Apple’s two new ads are also indexing well above its recent work, which “had been falling rather flat,” according to Ace Metrix CEO Peter Daboll.

“These ads performed very well, especially with younger women, who did not react as strongly to Apple’s more feature-focused ads from earlier in the year,” said Mr. Daboll in a statement accompanying the new results. “Celebrity ads are risky, as many celebrities can be polarizing. In these latest ads, Apple has chosen wisely, using celebrities with broad appeal.”

Earlier this week, Ad Age critiqued the ads as casting the iPhone and Siri as tools of the elite, a “rare misstep” and “horribly out of touch with modern consumer culture.” The ads star two well-paid celebrities coping with the concerns and ennui of the 1%: Mr. Jackson searching for “organic mushrooms for my risotto” (he later graciously gives his assistant Siri the night off) and a bored Ms. Deschanel hearing rain and asking, “Is it raining?”

As Mr. Steinberg said, that tone clashes with some of Apple’s most successful messaging, which celebrate its users as iconoclasts willing to rise up against corporate hegemony.Yet those ads scored 653 and 645 on Ace Metrics’ scale (Ms. Deschanel scored higher) compared with Apple’s average score of 620. Mr. Daboll said the company’s previous, feature-focused campaign had been scoring below Apple’s average.

More programming news from Bravo, which promises to deliver “afflueners” to advertisers. The network claims a 27% increase in original programming, with six new projects.

The network will continue to explore its recently added sixth passion point—Digital (the other five being Food, Fashion, Beauty, Design and Pop Culture), with two new projects, “Shop With Stella” and “Tone It Up.” “Bravo is moving full speed ahead to ramp up our diverse development slate and bring our highly engaged audience even more breakthrough original programming,” said Eli Lehrer, Vice President of Development for Bravo. “Our newly added Digital passion point provides an expanded development filter for us to explore the innovative and fascinating digital world,” ostensibly with streaming media, fan polls, forums and apps.

Bravo’s additional character-driven development greenlights include “The Gold Coast,” “Heirs Of Palm Beach,” “Splitsville” and “Untitled Male Model Project.”

BRAVO SERIES IN DEVELOPMENT:
The Gold Coast (working title)
Produced by True Entertainment with Steven Weinstock and Glenda Hersh serving as Executive Producers. This lively, over-the-top group of twenty-something girlfriends exemplify the “Boomerang Generation” as they move back home after graduating from college to live with their parents on the Gold Coast of Long Island.

Heirs Of Palm Beach (working title)
Produced by Pink Sneakers with Kimberly Cowin and John Ehrhard serving as Executive Producers. Palm Beach is home to the privileged offspring that make up the center of this elite social scene where membership has its privileges and pitfalls.

Shop With Stella (working title)
Produced by Firehouse Productions with Nanette Burstein serving as Executive Producer. Three best friends and roommates find out if they are way over their heads or on the verge of a very profitable future as they try to launch a killer start-up idea for a fashion website that could revolutionize the way women shop.

Splitsville (working title)
Produced by BASE Productions with Mickey Stern and John Brenkus serving as Executive Producers. These high-powered divorce lawyers battle each other with millions of dollars at stake, all while trying to avoid the same personal perils that trap their wealthy clients.

Tone It Up (working title)
Produced by Fishbowl Worldwide Media with Vin Di Bona, Bruce Gersh, Susan Levison, Beth Greenwald and Jen Colbert serving as Executive Producers. Two infectious best friends and roommates become the unlikely “it girls” of the fitness industry after launching their popular Tone It Up website.

Untitled Male Model Project (working title)
Produced by Done and Done Productions with Adam DiVello serving as Executive Producer. Some of the most successful men in the world of male modeling try to make the most of this extremely high paying profession with a very short shelf life.

AT&T Interactive’s Q4 2011 “Local Insights Report,” which analyzed data culled from its YP Local Ad Network, found that most US local searches were for restaurants, with auto repair and service searches second.

Automotive repair and service searches also saw a 25% quarter-over-quarter increase in Q4 2011, likely caused by consumers seeking end-of-year discounts from dealerships. Queries for financial services, real estate, and physicians and surgeons rounded out the top search categories at third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Auto parts and supplies ranked ninth.

The report found that half of the top 10 quarterly search growth categories were retail-related, owing to the shopping spike that accompanies the holiday season. However, searches for pharmacies saw the most growth, with a 58% quarter-over-quarter increase. The boost was likely due to a rush by consumers to clean out pre-tax health savings accounts before they reset at the end of the calendar year. Searches for travel agencies also climbed 36%, likely due to the increase in travel during Thanksgiving and the December holidays.

When AT&T Interactive broke down the searches according to platform, it found that restaurants and automotive remained the first- and second-most frequently searched categories on both mobile devices and PCs. Mobile users were more likely to look for movie theaters, beauty services and hotels than their PC-using counterparts, reflecting smartphone users’ desire for information on nearby services. The report found that users were more likely to use PCs to search information-intensive categories, such as finance, real estate and legal services.

In an October 2011 interview with eMarketer, Chung Meng Cheong, the vice president of advertising publisher products for AT&T Interactive, said national brands were increasingly turning to local search marketing to reach customers ready to make a purchase. “[National brands] use local mobile and desktop search as a transactional element, designed to increase foot traffic to both their websites and, ultimately, their local stores,” Cheong said.