Internet access numbers still climbing
Recent global research from Nielsen//NetRatings shows that the number of people worldwide with Internet access via a home PC grew steadily from 580 million people in Q4 2002 to 585 million in Q1 2003.
The U.S. leads with the largest Internet population, accounting for 30 percent of global Internet access, followed by Europe with 24 percent, Asia-Pacific with 13 percent and Latin America with 2 percent. The following analyses are based on the research of 10 countries, including Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the U.K.
The Internet has played an increasingly important role in all 10 countries during the past year. Globally, both the number of households and the number of people with access to the Internet via a home PC increased 12 percent since Q1 2002.
Of the 10 countries, Germany (37.1 million), the United Kingdom (29 million) and Italy (24.1 million) have the largest number of people with Internet access via a home PC. Combined, these three countries account for more than half (54 percent) of the total Internet audience for all 10 countries.
Sweden, Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Australia continue to be more mature Internet markets in their Web usage. These four are the clear leaders across key statistics, including the percentage of people with access to the Internet via a home PC (all countries are 57 percent or more); percentage that own/lease a home PC (all 64 percent or more); and high Internet connection rates (all 80 percent or more) for those who have a PC in their home.
Compared to a year ago, 56k modems are being replaced by highspeed Internet access. All countries have experienced an increase in the percentage of households with broadband connection since Q1 2002, with
the exception of Germany and Italy. Sweden and Brazil had the largest percentage increase (16 percent) in broad-band connection since last year, while Hong Kong continues to be the leading country, with a significantly higher percentage of broadband connections than low-speed connections (65 percent vs. 16 percent). Brazil displays potential for future growth: an additional 21 percent of the telephone household population plans to acquire Internet access in the next 12 months.
Pre-movie ads OK, people say
American cinema audiences regard advertising before movies as more interesting than ads seen on television and more acceptable than ads on the Internet, according to a study by Arbitron Inc., New York. "The Arbitron Cinema Study: Appointment Viewing by Young, Affluent, Captive Audiences" reveals that over two-thirds of moviegoers and seven out of every 10 young adults age 12-24 said they did not mind the advertising that plays before a movie begins.
Four national research surveys were conducted by Arbitron to probe America’s cinema advertising exposure, cinema habits and exposure to media. Research began in July 2002 and the subsequent surveys were conducted in December 2002, and January and April 2003. Audience trends for each survey were compiled using frequency of attendance, including "last week," "last month" and "last three months." The research also includes information from Scarborough Research.
Moviegoers arrive at the theater early and are aware of their enhanced media environment. Adults who frequent the theater monthly tend to arrive, on average, 19 minutes early. This allows ample time for a variety of media to reach consumers including tickets, posters, concessions, music and video programming in the lobby and the auditorium as well as hightech interactive kiosks that allow consumers to research films and purchase tickets.
Eighty-six percent of "last-month" moviegoers (an average of the four surveys), are aware of advertising seen before the movie. Forty percent of Americans age 12 and older went to the movies in the past month, during the holiday 2002 movie season. Cinema delivers advertising frequency, reaching an attentive core audience that is highly educated, active and is much more likely to have a household income of above $75,000.
According to Scarborough Research, frequent moviegoers are significantly more likely to invest their money in high-end merchandise including automobiles, entertainment technology, and telecommunications than the national average.
- Moviegoers are 85 percent more likely to pay $35,000 or more for a vehicle and 70 percent more likely to lease or buy a luxury vehicle.
- Entertainment and communication technology account for a large portion of the cinema audience’s spending. DVDs are 73 percent more likely to be purchased, video games 52 percent and digital cameras 44 percent.
- Frequent moviegoers are 50 percent more likely to spend $150 or more on their cellular phone bill and 41 percent more likely to be in the market for a cell phone.
Last-month cinema audiences rely less on television, radio and newspapers for advertising and are more frequent users of Internet and outdoor media. Against the national average, last-month moviegoers are 29 percent more likely to be heavy Internet users and 9 percent more likely to be heavy users of outdoor media.
While summer and winter holidays are considered peak movie seasons, cinema reaches large audiences throughout the year. In July 2002, 42 percent of adults age 18 and older went to the movies in the past month. Thirty-two percent reported going to the movies just before the holiday season, according to the December survey. Thirty-seven percent went to the movies during the peak season, according to the January survey. The study supports the conclusion that consistent, multiplatform advertising mixed with entertainment will enhance consumer impact and enjoyment.
Sure love you honey! Honey?
American males are significantly more satisfied with their current relationships than are their female partners, according to a nationwide study of love and romance by Arlington, Texas-based Decision Analyst’s American Consumer Opinion.
A recent survey of 744 men and women, drawn from a balanced sample of the American Consumer Opinion Online panels, found that 72 percent of the male respondents were "very satisfied" with the relationship they share with their current spouse or partner. By contrast, only 61.3 percent of females felt able to say the same thing. This lower satisfaction among females is reflected in their judgments on their marriage: more than twice the number of females (8.8 percent compared to 4.3 percent for males) wished they were not married at all.
One crucial explanation for this difference between genders may lie in viewpoints on the characteristics of the ideal partner. Although both males and females agree on the top four characteristics desired in an ideal partner - trustworthiness/faithfulness, a sense of humor, honesty and similar moral values - women place a greater priority on these four, with faithfulness in particular showing a clear gender divide. For men, while these characteristics are important, a whole range of other factors are also crucial, including, somewhat surprisingly, a romantic outlook and, less surprisingly, an athletic and pretty physique.
While the male attraction to beauty might be deemed superficial (although women too have their own superficial desires, as they considered the wealth of a potential partner more than twice as important as males do), men nonetheless appear more able, or willing, than women to compromise on their own ideals when faced with the practicalities of a relationship. When asked what is most important for a happy marriage, male respondents were almost twice as likely to consider an "ability to compromise" important (15.4 percent against just 8.7 percent of women).
Debit cards rapidly becoming payment method of choice
In addition to traditional forms of payment like checks, cash and credit cards, today’s consumers have a wealth of options to select from, whether it’s using a debit card to buy groceries at the supermarket, driving through the "EZ Pass" lane at a highway toll booth or paying the phone bill online.
With customer behavior changing so rapidly, the banking industry is finding it increasingly vital to identify the primary issues and technologies capable of attracting and retaining consumers while building their core payment strategies, according to a recent study conducted by Unisys Corporation, Global Concepts and Jim Moore of Talson Associates.
As retail payments can represent up to 33 percent of total bank revenues and 40 percent of operating costs, the study, entitled "Beyond the Decline of the Check: New Directions in Retail Payments," helps outline best practices and pinpoints both current and future technologies offering banks additional revenue opportunities over the next 12 to 36 months.
According to the overall research, consumers are surprisingly flexible about paying for services or merchandise, and 42 percent of consumers surveyed stated they changed how they made payments last year and 33 percent expect to make changes this year.
Additionally, the study found that various payment methods failed to yield significant return-on-investment (ROI) to-date, yet senior-level banking executives believe the passage of government legislation and introduction of technologies that are easier to use and more convenient for consumers will deliver quicker returns.
Specifically, the survey identified primary issues around which banks are building core payments strategies:
- Check decline - Although checks remain the most popular form of consumer bill payment, the U.S. is witnessing a decline in check volume, holding close to 2 percent decline annually.
- Most large banks are moving or plan to move from centralized to distributed image capture. Though the building blocks for straight-through digital check processing (full truncation) are in place with the Check Clearing for the 21 st Century Act (pending legislation that would allow the use of a digital substitute check which would pave the way for easier image-based check processing and full truncation). The study found that even if the bill now before Congress passes this year, market and regulatory barriers still exist, and full tnmcation will likely take three to five years to evolve.
- Debit card popularity - Debit cards are growing at twice the rate of credit cards and are expected to grow faster than any other method for instore purchases over the next 24 months.
- While issuer revenue generated from signature debit cards fees is more than four times that of personal identification number (PIN) debit cards, consumers prefer PIN to signature debit transactions by a 12 percent margin.
- Most large banks are developing payroll cards. Half of consumers now use some form of direct deposit; for those paid in cash or check form, 19 percent would be willing to consider a "wage card."
- Gift and stored-value cards are already widely disbursed by merchants and expected to expand. Banks, however, have captured only a fraction of the business opportunity associated with these new payment options.
- Billers expect direct debits, electronic bill payments and consumers’ use of credit cards to pay bills to continue to increase in the next 12 months.
- Fifteen percent of retail bill payment check writing will shift to electronic payments over the next 12 months.
- Electronic point-of-sale (POS) payments should grow substantially over 12 months; 34 percent of cash transactions should shift to cards.
- Online bill payers are, on average, 21 percent more profitable than nononline bill payers. Consumers’ interest is still higher among those with easy Internet access.
- While 64 percent of billers have yet to look at offering Web-based bill presentment options, 15 percent are evaluating it, and 7 percent offer it today. More than 80 percent of billers cite improved float, self-service capabilities and cost reduction as EBPP benefits yet three-quarters are still concerned about data security.
"Beyond the Decline of the Check: New Directions in Retail Payments" studied both the supply and demand side of the U.S. payments market. Comprised of both qualitative and quantitative data and analysis conducted in late 2002 and early 2003, the supply-side research involved interviewing more than 100 decisionmakers at banks, payment processors, system intermediaries and technology vendors, including representatives from sponsoring organizations ABN AMRO, Bank of America, Comerica, Wachovia, EMC, the Federal Reserve, MasterCard and Microsoft.
The demand-side study involved market surveys, conducted by the research fkrm IDC, of major retail payments market stakeholders, including more than 800 retail consumers, 150 high-volume retail bill originators and 100 national retail merchants.
Customer reward programs not so rewarding
A Maritz Poll reports that while almost half (49 percent) of American adults participate in some form of reward or loyalty program, four out of 10 participants have opted out of at least one program, citing a variety of frustrations from an inability to redeem rewards to having to pay a fee to participate.
According to the Maritz Poll, which surveyed 1,205 adults nationwide, loyalty programs are good for business: 80 percent of the participants do more business with the companies as a direct result of the programs. However, 40 percent of those Americans who participate in reward programs offered by airlines, hotels, restaurants, credit card issuers and retailers have stopped participating in at least one of them.
The poll cited the following reasons why Americans dropped out of a reward program: 46 percent said they didn’t like paying a fee; 41 percent didn’t feel they were being rewarded properly; 32 percent had trouble redeeming points; 24 percent said the rules kept changing. Furthermore, 74 percent of those who stopped participating in a reward program said they subsequently buy less from the company that offered it.
Maritz Poll is a national consumer opinion survey conducted periodically by Maritz Research, St. Louis. The online survey, conducted April 7-9, featured responses from 1,205 randomly selected adult participants in an e-mail panel (602 male, 603 female) from throughout the United States. The survey focused on attitudes and issues related to brand loyalty.
The Maritz Poll also reports on the most popular rewards programs consumers participate in: credit cards (29 percent); airlines (24 percent); retail store (13 percent); hotel (13 percent); restaurant (12 percent); online retailer (6 percent); automobile (5 percent); cellular phone (4 percent).
Participants in reward programs were asked why they take part in them. Following is a list of reasons for participation: discounts (60 percent); cash-back (53 percent); free merchandise (42 percent); free travel (41 percent); special benefits or upgrades (33 percent); special "members only" offers (28 percent); gift certificates ( 28 percent).
Outdoor advertising growing
The outdoor advertising industry experienced modest growth in first quarter 2003 overall spending, posting significant gains in the categories of local services and amusements, financial, and automotive, according to figures from the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA). First quarter netted out at $1.25 billion, up 2.3 percent versus first quarter 2002.
Outdoor media performance fluctuated across the top 10 advertising categories with local services and amusements the number one spender, remaining strong with 10.1 percent growth. The biggest gain came in the automotive category, which registered a 58.7 percent rise compared to the previous year. Financial also posted a large increase, up 19.3 percent. Insurance and real estate (7.4 percent), automotive accessories (6.1 percent), and media and advertising (6.0 percent) all reported strong gains.
The largest decline continued in the telecommunications category, which dropped 10.4 percent. Restaurants, retail, and public transportation, hotels and resorts were all down approximately 4 percent.
Relative to the overall ad industry recession, outdoor media continues to show resiliency, particularly on a local level, where the medium is strongly employed. Reports from OAAA member companies indicate that second quarter sales have shown buoyancy and that early summer spending is brisk.