Digital marketing research

Finding you the best research

2012-12-02T11:12:19Z

To support the Digital Training Academy we look for examples of interesting research in digital trends from a wide variety of industry sectors. Any research firm, agency or media owner can submit a piece of research for our consideration, and on this page you'll find some of the studies we're currently using to support training in Europe, Asia and North America. If you'd like to submit examples of your work then email them into TheTeam@DigitalStrategyConsulting.com and after an initial review we'll be in touch if we feel they can be used to support learning goals.
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Digital Intelligence research briefings

2012-08-03T16:42:35Z

Keeping on top of the latest research and trends is still a huge challenge. That's where Digital Intelligence can come in - every month we trawl through hundreds of websites, magazines and research newswires to bring you this retrospective review of the industry's growth and the evolution of digital marketing. Let us take some of the strain and make your email that little bit faster to sift through. And if we've missed something you'd like to know more about, then just email us right back.
Links: Digital Intelligence | Ask your Academy Manager for more insights | Submit your own piece of research

Media consumption of teenagers: implications for marketing to teens

2009-06-25T12:15:24Z

Deep insights about marketing to teenagers from new US research about the media consumption of teenagers. The implications for marketing to teens are that TV and magazines continue to account for very high levels of time, alongside digital channels. It also suggests that in the US online use is often higher for slightly older segments where it becomes a key business tool. Fascinating insights and an important dose of reality for brands thinking about digital-only strategies.

View the presentation

Media multi-tasking: a snapshot in changing behaviours of digital consumers

2009-06-23T09:38:37Z

There is a marked increase in the number of people choosing to consume different media simultaneously, confirming the evolution of media multi-taskers according to new research from the European Interactive Advertising Association released in June 2009. The study highlights how consumers are entering a new phase of communications and commerce online and how dual simultaneous media consumption has become standard consumer behaviour.

Read the full research report on media multi-tasking

Asia research news 2009: ICT expansion and empowerment across Asia

2009-06-17T15:51:14Z

A number of interesting articles about ICT expansion and empowerment across Asia were featured in the first edition of Asia Research News - a ResearchSEA publication to highlight research in Asia.

Read Asian Research News 2009

OPA White Paper - A Day in the Life: An Ethnographic Study of Media Consumption

2009-06-09T10:17:22Z

This study of media consumption among a small group of people tracked how the balance of media is changing and the implications for advertising budgets and the effectiveness of marketing communications. Funded by the Online Publishers
Association (OPA) and conducted by the Ball State University Center for Media Design, the ‘Day in the Life’ project asked these key questions:

What are the media consumption habits of the average American?
What are consumers saying about when, where and how they use media?
Which target audiences can be reached and engaged online?
How does online complement offline media?
What are the implications for media, advertisers and marketers?

Download the OPA White Papers - A Day in the Life: An Ethnographic Study of Media Consumption

The media day: An analysis of teenage media consumption behaviours

2009-06-09T10:12:57Z

This paper from Ball State University is the summary of a media diary study that tracked the experiences of 15 US teenagers in 2007. It’s a fantastic insight into the step-change in media consumption, showing in detail the nature of media saturation and the switching between channels. It provides a snapshot of the explosive growth of influence the web is having in consumer behaviour, and also tracks the changing locations of internet access, clearly showing the importance of media consumption on the move. The academic methodology is reassuring and whatever market you are exploring, this provides a benchmark for the nature of change.

Download ‘media day’ report from Ball State University

If you like this report and want more on consumer behaviour, then try these links:

Top websites: Hitwise chart toppers in 50 categories (UK)

2008-04-14T15:12:27Z

The Hitwise UK Annual Online Performance Awards serve up a list of best in class category winners for website traffic throughout 2007. Published this month, the Hitwise team collate data and compare across a large number of services in the same category. What's interesting is that it's the dotcom pureplays who steal the show, nudging out the newspapers, magazines and broadcast media brands that compete in key industry sectors.

This is a ranking of the percentage of user visits a UK website received between January and December 2007. As Hitwise reports on the anonymous online usage and search behaviour of more than 8.4 million UK Internet users (the largest online sample of its kind) the data is solid by virtue of the volumes.

]]> Rankings across the Hitwise industry categories

Automotive - Classifieds	www.autotrader.co.uk
Automotive - Dealerships	www.carcraft.co.uk
Automotive - Manufacturers	www.bmw.co.uk
Aviation - Commercial Airlines	www.easyjet.com
Business and Finance - Banks and Financial Institutions	www.lloydstsb.com
Business and Finance - Business Directories	maps.google.co.uk
Business and Finance - Business Information	www.moneysavingexpert.com
Business and Finance - Employment and Training	www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk
Business and Finance - Insurance	www.moneysupermarket.com
Business and Finance - Property	www.rightmove.co.uk
Business and Finance - Stocks and Shares	uk.finance.yahoo.com
Business and Finance - Telecommunications	www.bt.com
Business and Finance - Utilities	www.uswitch.com
Community - Humanitarian	www.raceforlifesponsorme.org
Computers and Internet - Electronics	www.sony.co.uk
Computers and Internet - Hardware	www.euro.dell.com
Computers and Internet - Social Networking and Forums	www.bebo.com
Entertainment - Arts	www.tate.org.uk
Entertainment - Movies	www.odeon.co.uk
Entertainment - Photography	www.pixmania.co.uk
Food and Beverage - Lifestyle and Reference	www.bbc.co.uk/food
Food and Beverage - Restaurants and Catering	www.beerintheevening.com
Government - Central	www.metoffice.gov.uk
Health and Medical - Health Insurance	www.norwichunion.com
Lifestyle - Beauty	www.avon.uk.com
Lifestyle - Dating	www.gaydar.co.uk
Lifestyle - Family	www.genesreunited.co.uk
Lifestyle - Weddings	www.hitched.co.uk
Lifestyle - Womens Sites	www.handbag.com
Music - Companies	www.sonybmg.co.uk
News and Media - Print	www.telegraph.co.uk
Shopping and Classifieds - Apparel and Accessories	www.next.co.uk
Shopping and Classifieds - Appliances and Electronics	www.currys.co.uk
Shopping and Classifieds - Automotive	www.ebaymotors.co.uk
Shopping and Classifieds - Books	www.whsmith.co.uk
Shopping and Classifieds - Computers	www.euro.dell.com
Shopping and Classifieds - Department Stores	www.amazon.co.uk
Shopping and Classifieds - Flowers and Gifts	www.iwantoneofthose.com
Shopping and Classifieds - Grocery and Alcohol	www.tesco.com/grocery
Shopping and Classifieds - Health and Beauty	www.boots.com
Shopping and Classifieds - House and Garden	www.diy.com
Shopping and Classifieds - Intimate Apparel and Accessories	www.annsummers.co.uk
Shopping and Classifieds - Music	play.com
Shopping and Classifieds - Rewards and Directories	www.kelkoo.co.uk
Shopping and Classifieds - Sport and Fitness	www.halfords.com
Shopping and Classifieds - Ticketing	www.ticketmaster.co.uk
Shopping and Classifieds - Toys and Hobbies	www.toysrus.co.uk
Shopping and Classifieds - Video and Games	play.com
Sports - Football	www.liverpoolfc.tv
Travel - Agencies	www.expedia.co.uk
Travel - Cruises	www.pocruises.com
Travel - Destinations and Accommodation	www.laterooms.co.uk
Travel - Maps	www.multimap.com
Travel - Transport	www.easyjet.com

Polish audiences push Poland’s sites up UK charts

2008-02-28T16:31:40Z

The latest audience traffic data from Hitwise shows the effect of Polish migration on UK online audiences patterns. Polish editions of Google and YouTube score highly, along with Polish portals and email services and even dating site PolishDating.co.uk. See the latest statistics…

]]> Ninefold increase in UK Internet visits to Polish websites

Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, revealed that UK Internet traffic to Polish websites has increased ninefold over the last two years. UK Internet traffic to a Hitwise custom category of the top 100 Polish language and community websites increased by 805% between January 2006 and January 2008.

Google Poland most popular overseas search engine page in the UK

Google Poland (www.google.pl ) is currently the most popular Polish website amongst UK Internet users, accounting for 29.7% of all UK Internet visits to the top 100 Polish sites in the UK. "Google Poland is extremely popular in the UK," commented Robin Goad, Hitwise Director of Research. "Google is the most visited website in the UK, so comparing usage of the different Google country sites is a good way of understanding Internet usage patterns."

Google Poland is the third most popular Google country page in the UK after the UK (www.google.co.uk) and international / US (www.google.com ) versions. In January 2008, there were three times as many UK Internet visits to the Polish page as there were to the French (www.google.fr) and Irish (www.google.ie) pages, and ten times as many as to the Australian (www.google.com.au) and Indian (www.google.co.in) pages.

Polish Internet users spread right across the UK

Hitwise demographics data reveals that Google Poland is most popular with young men: 62% of visitors to the site in January 2008 were male, while 85% were under 34 years of age. However, visitors were spread more evenly across the country, with 74% residing outside of London and the south East. "The usage data for Google Poland tells us that most of the people visiting the site are younger men, but also that they are spread right across the United Kingdom. In January, there were as many visitors to the site from Scotland as there were from London," commented Goad.

Community and video sites popular with UK-based Poles

Of the top 10 most visited Polish sites in the UK in January 2008, the second most popular after Google Poland was www.02.pl, a Polish portal page similar to Yahoo! or MSN. YouTube Poland (pl.yoputube.com) was the third most popular site, while another video site Wrzuta (www.wrzuta.pl) was ranked fifth. Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com) was the fourth most popular Polish site in January, when the budget airline received more UK Internet visits than a number of more established airlines including Qantas, American Airlines, Air France, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.

The latter half of the top 10 list is dominated by Polish community sites, including PolishDating.co.uk, a dating website serving the Polish community in the UK and Ireland, at number six. The Polish version of Wikipedia (pl.wikipedia.org) was at number seven, and is currently the most visited foreign language Wikipedia site in the UK. The eighth and ninth ranked Polish sites were both community sites – Szkocja, a site serving the Polish community in Scotland, and Polish Elite Board (peb.pl), a Polish message board. The final site in the top 10 was Polish news site TVN 24 (www.tvn.pl).

Web makes perfect match for online dating in the UK

2008-01-31T13:09:12Z

Staggering to reflect on, but half of the UK’s single population are now logging-on to dating sites. That’s the latest finding from web dating specialists Parship who reckon almost eight million Brits tried online dating last year, an increase of around 50% on 2005. The gender balance is pretty even (52 per cent of men vs 48 per cent of women use online dating). Parship’s UK and Ireland director Tony Blin Stoyle sees higher rates among older people: "UK singles, particularly those aged 30 to 40, recognise that as they get older and their social networks become smaller, they need to maximise their opportunities in order to meet a partner. if you rely on traditional routes and wait for a chance encounter with someone special, you could end up waiting a very long time."

http://www.parship.co.uk/

Download the Parship Singles Survey UK 2008

UK Media Consumption: Digital saturation drives change

2008-01-29T17:00:51Z

The growth of internet access has greater implications than just an additional channel in the communications mix. As people explore the new platforms, they reappraise their use of the old ones, and as audiences swell the market becomes large enough to attract investment in content, entertainment and commerce. This virtuous circle has been fuelling the Digital Networked Society (DNS) and from this research snapshot for the UK market at the end of 2007, it’s clear that Europe’s leading digital economy has entered a new phase is the dynamics of use.

Download the UK market report

Over 875 million consumers have shopped online - The number of internet shoppers up 40% in two years

2008-01-28T13:24:48Z

Clothes/shoes – fastest growing internet buys

“Visa” the most popular credit card payment method

January 28, 2008—More than 85 percent of the world’s online population has used the Internet to make a purchase—increasing the market for online shopping by 40 percent in the past two years—according to the latest Nielsen Global Online Survey on Internet shopping habits. Globally, more than half of Internet users have made at least one purchase online in the past month, according to Nielsen.

To download the full press release including charts/graphs - visit http://www2.netratings.com/file.aspx?f=655-2943-6150F875B087 (Word document)

Top 10 Search Terms in 10 Categories, December 2007

2008-01-22T16:55:33Z

The terms which were searched for most often on the web in December 2007. Full details...

]]> Top 10 Search Terms by Category, Four Weeks Ending December 29, 2007 (%) IT and Internet Automotive Manufacturers Search Term Search Volume Search Term Search Volume paypal 6.58 honda 1.77 paypal.com 1.45 toyota 1.75 www.paypal.com 0.96 nissan 1.38 mapquest.com 0.70 ford 1.10 pay pal 0.69 dodge 0.85 people search 0.56 harley davidson 0.79 people finder 0.40 chevrolet 0.75 experian 0.35 jeep 0.68 futures tradingcharts 0.32 suzuki 0.65 paypal account 0.28 honda motorcycles 0.63 Movies Net Communities and Chat Search Term Search Volume Search Term Search Volume netflix 1.52 myspace 6.52 imdb 1.13 myspace.com 3.09 blockbuster 0.64 craigslist 2.26 movies 0.56 youtube 1.84 fandango 0.50 www.myspace.com 1.51 i am legend 0.44 facebook 1.04 cloverfield 0.41 my space 0.69 netflix.com 0.37 you tube 0.69 regal cinemas 0.28 youtube.com 0.41 cinemark 0.26 craigs list 0.37 Food and Beverage Brands and Manufacturers Pharmaceutical and Medical Products Search Term Search Volume Search Term Search Volume pizza hut 2.42 lyrica 0.62 starbucks 1.09 lexapro 0.50 omaha steaks 0.96 chantix 0.47 harry and david 0.89 viagra 0.40 honey baked ham 0.68 depression 0.33 mcdonalds 0.53 alli 0.32 dominos pizza 0.51 levaquin 0.31 betty crocker 0.51 cymbalta 0.27 candystand 0.45 seroquel 0.27 subway 0.41 bipolar disorder 0.26 Blogs and Personal Web Sites Broadcast Media Search Term Search Volume Search Term Search Volume yahoo 360 0.48 cnn 2.07 perez hilton 0.48 fox news 1.61 myspace 0.43 msnbc 0.75 livejournal 0.31 cnn.com 0.73 360 0.27 news 0.57 myspace surveys 0.24 bbc news 0.52 myspace.com 0.19 ksl.com 0.49 santa tracker 0.17 ksl 0.32 area codes 0.16 bbc 0.31 xanga 0.16 cnn news 0.31 Shopping Rewards and Directories Travel Destinations and Accommodations Search Term Search Volume Search Term Search Volume consumer reports 0.24 hotels.com 0.37 mycokerewards.com 0.17 disneyland 0.34 coupons 0.14 disney world 0.22 free samples 0.09 holiday inn 0.21 shopzilla 0.08 hotels 0.18 pch.com 0.07 motel 6 0.18 mycokerewards 0.07 walt disney world 0.15 free stuff 0.07 las vegas 0.15 gift ideas 0.07 hampton inn 0.12 cnet 0.07 carnival cruise 0.12

Source: Hitwise

Online adspend leaps

2007-11-16T11:35:25Z

The 2007 data for online marketing spend shows another giant leap in the growth of web advertising as more and more brands switch their budgets over. By looking at the market share of the web vs other media, it's easier to gain the context about how great the changes are in the media mix.

For more information see the Digital Insight Reports at www.DigitalStrategyConsulting.com/insight.

Media Work Best Together, Playing Different Roles in Driving the Consumer Purchase Process

2007-10-27T14:52:29Z

Magazine Strengths Drive Persuasion and Purchase Intent

Dynamic Logic releases new analysis of 32 cross-media campaigns* across ten categories showing that media work best when used together. All three media platforms – television, magazines, and online – contribute incrementally to brand metrics, but at different levels, bringing various strengths at different points along the purchase funnel. TV and online's contributions were more apparent during the awareness stages while magazines were stronger at building brand favourability and purchase intent. These findings are consistent with results from an earlier analysis conducted by Dynamic Logic in 2006.

]]> For this analysis, Dynamic Logic isolated the impact of TV advertising, then assessed online's contribution in addition to TV, and finally looked at magazines added to the online and TV combination. The chart below summarises the increases in brand metrics from media combinations over the levels represented by TV alone. The study compared people who had the opportunity to see only TV advertising with those who had the opportunity to see TV in combination with other media. For example, online advertising represents the increased impact of online display advertising combined with TV (+3.7 percentage points for aided brand awareness). The magazine values represent the (positive) change in each metric produced by adding magazine advertising to TV and online using the same approach.

The incremental values from the addition of magazines were very strong, adding most impact further down the purchase funnel with contributions to brand favourability perceptions and purchase intent.

Incremental Effect of Medium on Brand Metrics: Overall Studies

Average Percentage-Point Increase Over Unexposed (Control) Baseline

NOTE: Percentage-point increases are calculated and tested for statistical significance at a 90% confidence level. Campaigns included in these aggregate results include those which have television, magazine, and online media scheduled comparatively at similar time periods, where the audience overlap did not result in highly discrete groups with atypical audience characteristics.

Other key findings:

TV advertising performs the strongest for generating brand awareness. When used in combination with TV, magazine and online each build on the initial awareness impact of TV. Over these 32 multimedia campaigns, magazines' incremental awareness added nearly as much to the total as TV.
Both magazine and online advertising generate significant lifts when used in conjunction with TV. TV and magazine advertising produced greater incremental brand and ad awareness gains than online advertising.
Incremental contributions from magazine advertising are strongest for brand favourability and purchase intent. They about double the average persuasion contribution of TV and online combined.
Online is a booster on all key awareness and persuasion metrics

This initial research allows us to begin to quantify the synergy of cross-media campaigns. It also suggests that through further research we may begin to examine whether there are cost-efficiencies within certain media combinations that could significantly increase an advertiser's impact, without increasing costs.

The results across these studies were aggregated in order to better understand how these media work together to support brand metrics. The cross-media campaigns used in the analysis had similar media allocation and duplication levels.

* This analysis is based on evaluations of 32 cross-media campaigns: FMCG (14), Automotive (5), Consumer Electronics (4), Information Technology (4), Apparel, Financial Services, Alcohol, Non-Profit, Entertainment.