Turn On, Tune In... Screen Out

It's tough getting US consumers' attention these days - many of them claim to mentally screen out ads and one person in 6 even watches the TV *whilst* listening to the radio. The findings, from BIGresearch's twice-annual Simultaneous Media Usage Survey (SIMM), present a challenge to conventional audience measurement approaches.

The survey allows advertisers and media planners to identify which media platforms consumers use in tandem, and when they use them, relating this to shopping habits. SIMM looks at usage of newspapers, TV, radio, Internet, instant messaging, cell phones, PDAs, PVRs and other media, and BIGresearch argues that simple audience figures for each medium are inadequate as a means of understanding ROI from media spend.

Whilst some would see this as opening a can of worms - there are huge complexities in considering all these various formats along with degrees of attention paid to each, as any audience researcher will admit - BIGresearch are not the only people arguing for a more holistic approach to media evaluation (see the Skills article in next week's MRWho for another example). Moreover, the sheer number of respondents who do use more than one medium simultaneously is an interesting finding in itself and demonstrates the need to consider how much attention is paid.



SIMM looks not only at the incidence of simultaneous use but delves into the implications, at least as far as consumers are aware of them. For example, of those who say they go online while watching television (nearly two thirds of the population sampled), 94% claim to regularly or occasionally tune out mentally when a commercial comes on. Similarly, 95% of those who read the newspaper while watching television say they mentally tune out commercials.

The link - or lack of it - between eyeball counts and ROI is topical in the US. A recent study from the Association of National Advertisers published by Advertising Age magazine (Oct. 13, 2003) showed that the industry rated network television as being the worst at proving ROI and said 'advertisers doubt the willingness of agencies, media sellers and marketing vendors to be held accountable for ROI'.

According to Gary Drenik, president of BIGresearch, a program built to reach target consumers must therefore be measured in relational terms rather than linear. 'Simultaneous media usage goes beyond media mix and identifies synergies of media. The new paradigm for savvy media professionals requires an extensive consumer knowledge base, which SIMM provides'.

Complimentary top line findings are available at www.bigresearch.com . Results are based on 12,030 responses, allowing BIGresearch to claim that SIMM has one of the industry's smallest margins of error.

For information about subscriptions to MRWho see www.mrweb.com/who

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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