â–¶ CMOs Getting Social: U.S. marketing execs in the U.S. will place a heightened emphasis on social media next year, figures from a new survey show. According to a new report from The CMO Club, almost two-thirds (64%) of 133 chief marketing officers surveyed intend to increase their investment in social media in 2010. Other findings from the study include:
• 81% of CMOs expect to direct up to 10% of their budgets to social media, up from a comparative total of 44% in 2008.
• Of those CMOs who are not currently attempting to track the impact of social media on sales, 72% will implement policies enabling them to do so in the next 12 months.
• Top metrics CMOs plan to put in play include driving site traffic (90%), page views (85%) and the number of “fans” on sites like Facebook (83%).
• 53% of respondents were unsure about the ROI offered by Twitter and 50% were unsure about ROI for LinkedIn and content like industry blogs.
• 80% of chief marketing officers are now using consumer insights generated on the Web to help “shape decision-making at the executive level.”
Source: The CMO Club
â–¶ Seniors’ Web Usage Up: According to a NielsenWire Online study, while people 65 and older still make up less than 10% of the active Internet universe, in the last five years their number has increased by more than 55%, from 11.3 million active users in November 2004 to 17.5 million in November 2009. Among people 65 and older, the increase of women online in the last five years has outpaced the growth of men by 6%. Other key findings include:
• People 65-plus are spending more time on the Web, increasing by 11% in the last five years, from approximately 52 hours per month in November 2004 to just over 58 hours in 2009.
• 88.6% of seniors say checking personal e-mail is the No. 1 online activity performed in the last 30 days. Viewing or printing online maps and checking the weather online were the second and third most popular online activities.
• The No. 1 online destination for people over 65 in November 2009 was Google Search, with 10.3 million unique visitors. Windows Media Player and Facebook were No. 2 and No. 3. Facebook, which came in at No. 3, ranked No. 45 just a year ago among sites visited by seniors.
• The number of unique visitors 65 or older on social networking and blog sites has increased 53% in the last two years alone. Now 8.2% of all social network and blog visitors are over 65, just 0.1% less than the number of teenagers who frequent these sites.
Source: The Nielsen Company
â–¶ Newspapers Not Dead Yet: In its annual world press trends update, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers finds that at no time in the foreseeable future will digital ad revenues replace those lost to print, making the search for new business models, including paid-for online access for news, a pressing concern for the news publishing industry. In a $182 billion press advertising industry, digital revenues of newspapers accounted for less than $6 billion last year and are forecast to grow to no more than $8.4 billion by 2013. Other findings include:
• Newspaper circulation grew, on a global scale, by 1.3% in 2008, the last full year for which data exists, and almost 9% over five years.
• Over five years, newspaper circulation increased in 100 of the 182 nations for which the WAN-IFRA has reliable data.
• Globally, 1.9 billion people read a newspaper every day, or 34% of the world population, while 24% use the Web.
• The biggest newspaper market in the world is India, with 107 million daily sales. India, China and Japan account for more than 60% of the world’s newspaper sales, with the U.S. taking 14%.
Source: WAN-IFRA
â–¶ Gen Y More Receptive: People ages 18 to 34 are more accepting of unsolicited phone calls, says a Harris Interactive study. Specifically:
• 60% of Gen Y-ers consider reminders to pay credit card bills to be at least somewhat beneficial, compared to 35% of adults over 55.
• 75% of adults over 55 are likely to hang up on a stranger, while that number drops to 53% among 18- to 34-year-olds. PRN
Source: Harris Interactive