Media Saturated Consumers Are Multitasking More Than Ever – Major Impact Seen on Media Usage.

Consumers, faced with busy lifestyles, are increasingly relying on simultaneous media usage as their best option for keeping informed and entertained according to the latest Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM) from BIGresearch. Over 68% of consumers say they regularly or occasionally simultaneously use various forms of media as they strive to find enough time to read, listen, watch, or surf all the options available. The survey was the third simultaneous media study conducted by BIGresearch. It was conducted between March 25 to April 22, 2003 among the more than 60 million on-line subscribers Regularly surveyed by BIGresearch. The current study was composed of responses From 12,320 individuals that were sorted and coded to fit the 2000 Census for 14 age And sex cells. The study is the work of Dr. Joe Pilotta of BIGresearch and Dr. Don Schultz of Agora, Inc.

“Today’s competitive but slow growing markets are forcing more marketers to do more with less. And when it comes to marketing/advertising, more executives expect higher returns on their expenditures. Unfortunately, the outdated media
planning models developed for a mass marketing economy populated with few media options no longer work in today’s world. As a result, most marketing programs fail, and the average return on investment is about 1.5%,” said Dr. Joe Pilotta, VP Research of BIGresearch and one of the study’s authors.

“Understanding simultaneous media usage will help marketers to understand the potential erosion of impact an advertisement may have as a result of the intermittent engagements that various consumer groups have with a particular medium at any point in time. SIMM usage, when not understood, creates much of the ‘slippage’ in marketing campaigns, which adversely affects return on investment,” said Pilotta.

The study looked at simultaneous media usage across all major media: radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, and direct mail in combination across all age groups.

Most marketers intuitively know that simultaneous media usage occurs. However, this ongoing study quantifies the level at which it is happening and provides a tool for understanding the increasing complexity of the media marketplace”, said Dr. Don Schultz, one of the studies authors. “Marketers’ focus today on the return on their media investments is seriously hampered by the current media measurement tools.

Since each medium is measured discretely and in isolation, media planners are at a major disadvantage when they try to incorporate simultaneous media usage into their planning systems. It is the synergy and interaction between and among the media that marketers must understand today,” Schultz said. “Present media planning tools may not just be inaccurate, given these simultaneous media studies, they may be downright wrong. Media planners must understand the ‘real world’ of media, as it exists today, not the way it was forty or more years ago when our present media planning concepts were developed. It is critical for marketers and media to understand simultaneous media usage and exposure to determine what they are actually receiving from their media expenditures,” Schultz concluded.

To view charts CLICK above on ‘More Images’.

For more information at http://www.bigresearch.com