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Media-Screen Maps the Diverse US Broadband Marketplace

Written on
Nov 29, 2006 
Author
Kiran Aditham  |
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Media-Screen Maps the Diverse US Broadband Marketplace


It looks like it runs the gamut from the newbies to the insiders. Is there any specific segment here that marketers should pay attention to based on your results?

J: Let me give a little bit of background to why we think segmentation is so important. In today’s world of interactive advertising, marketers have a vast array of different sites and services on the Internet where they can purchase advertising or look to associate themselves. It’s a much different playing field than more traditional advertising landscapes. So, what has happened we feel is that many of the marketers, both on the planning side as well as the agency side, find that this complex landscape has really fragmented the audience as well as the sources of content. Oftentimes, we’ve heard that marketers have a difficult time trying to figure out how to market to the 20 million-person group that will be interested in their mass-market service or product.

With all of the click-stream data and log analysis that companies have been doing is in the scope of “how am I targeting a mass-market group on the Internet” has been lost. So, through our segmentation, we’ve really looked at the fundamental ways that people interact with content, whether it’s through entertainment, information, productivity or shopping. We looked at what their intentions are for using the Internet as well as what their attitudes are towards the interaction itself, whether they want to spend a lot of time or if they’re really looking for the quick fix of news and information.

It’s through that structure that we have identified these five homogenous groups that marketers can now start looking at with the tools that are available to them online—the behavioral targeting of advertising networks, contextual advertising through Google AdSense, and through direct relationship with sites that really do appeal to types of products and services that each of these segments are most interested in.

While the Content Kings are very focused on gaming, they certainly are also interested in video that Cate mentioned and other types of topics that are not specifically game-related, but are related to their common interests in entertainment.

Is it a common hurdle if one of these segments blurs into another, such as a gamer also interested in news and other information?

C: I think it depends. Let’s say you are a company that needs to understand how to position a product or position your brand. If you understand through the eyes or attitudes of your consumer, you can play back whatever that message is or whatever that is that they’re going to want. You can tap into that psychographic in a way that’s going to make your product seem more valuable to them. So, it’s true that a gamer certainly wants to check the weather and certainly wants to check their news. That’s true. But let’s say your brand or your product isn’t news and information-oriented, how do you want to structure your messaging? How do you want to structure your ad campaigns? How do you want to structure the content that you’re serving on your site to make sure that you’re really capturing that audience?

Or, you can also think of it as the fast-tracker if you are news and information-oriented. [This segment's] whole orientation to the Internet is one in which they want to get in and get out fast, and they feel like they’re getting the top information. It might be very advantageous for companies to also make ads that are entertaining, maybe just [put] game advertisements for this group. They’re not necessarily gamers. They want a quick, in-and-out experience. But there are ways that you can position your message in order to appeal to them from just their orientation with the Internet and how they’re using the Internet.

I think that in terms of targeting specifically, that’s one way to look at this. They could blur, but I think it’s more the question of how do you want to position your brand and how you want to position your product to meet your audience’s needs. [A segment like] “Everyday Pro” is a very different approach to the Internet than another group, so it might be more on the creative, execution side of the ad much so than the targeting of the ad.

What was the timeline for this survey? Was there a specific number of people you had in mind?

J: The methodology behind this study is as follows. We collected 4,190 completes surveys that are representative of the US broadband population, ages 13 and over. So the margin of error at a 95% confidence level of the entire population that has been polled is 1.5%, very accurate. It was conducted online.

We’ve talked with agencies who have said 18-34 is a demo that’s growing extinct online, giving way to behavioral targeting and other new methods. Would you agree?

J: Absolutely. Age certainly has an impact, but we also see that if there’s a young fast-tracker, their attitude towards their interaction with the Internet is very similar to an older fast-tracker. So, there are definitely common interests that bond these individuals that is irrespective of age.

One of the things we find that’s so interesting here, and what I think is really driving what is driving advertising in the market these days is that these people are motivated by their special interests. The special interests of the broadband population are very across-the-board. When you are speaking to some of these special interests, they are much more engaged in not only the content, but the advertising that’s associated with that content.

What we’re finding is that targeting the demographic of 18-34 isn’t the best “target” for advertisers. What we find is that older members of the broadband population are more apt to spend money on products and services that relate to their special interests, and they have more disposable income, and they’re spending it online. So we’re seeing a much wider band of audience that really deserves being targeted if you are really looking at it on an age basis only.

Taking that further, our perspective is very Internet-centric. We look at how people who are broadband-enabled and are viewing the world through this relationship with the Internet as a central component of their lives. They’re spending more than 5 hours a day on the Internet.

I’m guilty of twice that.

(Laughs) Yeah, it’s amazing. So, the tools that are available for advertising on the Internet are much different than the tools that are available on a broadcast medium. The mode of interaction with customers has to reflect that new landscape. It’s one that’s based on a point-to-point relationship, so by planning media or advertising based on gender, age and possibly geographic region is no longer the conduit through which you should be designing those advertising strategies. It really has much more to do with a psychographic connection to the advertising and content in ways, and makes advertising more interesting to the end user.





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