US Podcasting Sweet Spot = 45+

A survey of 8000 American consumers by research company CLX is giving us a few more numeric data on the actual amount of people listening to podcasts.  In summary, the numbers are:

• on average 15% of those surveyed have actually listened to a podcast
• for those over 45 this percentage increases to 21%
• for those 15-24, the number drops to only 13%

As the survey was conducted via mobile phone, the audience was probably not representative for the average American, yet the most interesting feature is of course that older audiences are more podcast oriented than the stereotype MP3-loving teenagers.

Rather than come to premature conclusions on this that podcasting is not for the young (as the researchers tend to do), in my opinion this makes perfect sense as:

• podcasting is not only MP3-player based ... it's radio on demand which can work on any device.  Also, if demographics are comparable to those in Europe, it is actually the 30-49 year olds driving the technology movement.
• Let's face it: most of the podcasts out there are not really of the type that your average 17 year old gets really excited about. 

That's why, for me the important number is that the podcast penetration numbers keep growing and are hitting 15% in somewhat representative surveys.

Looks like the tipping point for the market is approaching.

via: VNU

Much Ado About Digital Signage?

Frost & Sullivan just published a report indicating that the North American market for digital signage advertising has grown from $73.6 million in 2003 to $102.5 million in 2004, which is touted as a whopping 40% increase in only one year.

While this actually means the market size has gone from being a rounding error in the US advertising budgets to being "a little bit smaller rounding error", what was interesting to me is the report's conclusion that advertising agencies are struggling with the new medium as they don't know how to do 10 second commercials with minimal audio and can't handle the new metrics & technical specs which come with the medium.

Media buyers are also struggling with the lack of standards for measurements, audits and buying in this emerging market.

This would make it much more appropriate for sales promotion agencies who are not that bothered about brand building.

This makes me wonder whether digital signage (and other digital media for that matter) remain so small because they are new media with unproven track records, or because of the inertia of traditionally above/below agencies who can't cope with the new realities of campaign development and media buying.

via: broadcastengineering.com

US 18-34 Year Olds are Rapidly Changing Their News Consumptions Patterns

If you ever needed any more convincing that the nature of media-consumption is changing, have a look at the research findings of Abandoning the News by the Carnegie Corporation (note: the juicy bits start from Slide 15 onwards).

In short, the age group 18-34 is rapidly, and it would seem irrevocably from the traditional sources of news.  In stead, the segment is rapidly switching to the internet and - surprisingly to some - local news.

Internet portals like Yahoo, MSN have emerged in the survey as the most frequently cited daily news sourced, with 44% of the group using these portals at least once a day for news, ahead of local TV (37%) and all other media.

Young people, the report concludes, don't want to rely on the morning paper on their doorstep or the dinnertime newscast for up-to-date information; in fact, they - as well as others, want their news on demand, when it works for them.  

While posing valid questions for the media trade, this also means marketeers should - rapidly - start thinking about new ways to do mediabuying as it looks like some predictions from the dot-com age are starting to become reality.