••• sports and leisure research
Sports fans going mobile
Some turn to Google+, Instagram during the action
The U.S. Know the Fan Report 2014, produced in conjunction with Kantar Media and SportBusiness Group, finds that the percentage of sports fans consuming content on mobile devices has doubled and the percentage of fans following sports on social media has more than doubled since the report was first issued in 2011.
The study, which surveyed over 1,000 American adults aged 18+ in February 2014, found nearly half of sports fans claim to use an Internet-connected device at the same time as watching sports on TV. Most often these second-screen fans like to catch up on what’s happening with other games being played via live text commentary and live scores (44 percent), access non-sports related content (38 percent), communicate with friends via a second-screen device about the sports event on TV (21 percent), watch clips and highlights of other games being played (20 percent) and post comments to social networking platforms about the game/event they’re watching (14 percent).
2014 has seen a significant increase in the number of fans following sports via social networking platforms, to the point where now over a third of fans consume sports on these platforms. Social networking fans are primarily younger fans, with 65 percent aged 18-34. Also fans typically use an average of two social networking platforms to follow sports. While Facebook (70 percent), YouTube (40 percent) and Twitter (24 percent) remain the most popular networks overall for fans to follow sports, fans are using them less as compared to last year to make use of newer social networking platforms such as Google+ (16 percent), Instagram (10 percent), Pinterest (8 percent) and Vine (6 percent).
While mobile consumption of sports content has doubled to 42 percent (from 21 percent in 2011), sports fans still primarily use a computer/laptop computer to access online sports content (65 percent) and just over one-third access content on these devices at least once a day (38 percent). Smartphones are more widely used (34 percent) than tablets (22 percent) for the second year running, with smartphone usage still growing (up 10 percentage points) since 2013 and tablet usage remaining relatively flat (up 3 percentage points).
Among fans who watch sports online, live streaming remains the most popular content accessed (38 percent), followed by videos of game/event highlights (31 percent) and videos of sports news (27 percent). More than half of fans who watch videos of game/event highlights online (51 percent) and videos of player/manager/coach interviews (56 percent), do so via mobile device.
Sports news continues to be the most popular content read online (57 percent), followed by statistics and in-formation (49 percent). This year has seen a greater demand for live text commentary of games (up 10 percent-age points to 35 percent) as more fans are trying to keep up with events in real time.
The majority of sports fans who read sports news in text format online do so via a computer/laptop computer (82 percent). However, nearly half of fans who follow sports on mobile devices prefer apps to sites (44 percent) – and about one in four use only apps (24 percent).
www.knowthefan.com/usa
••• online research
What is the Internet of Things?
Experts sketch a vision of our connected future
A March 2014 Digital Life in 2025 report issued by Pew Internet Project in association with Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center looked at the Internet’s future. Some 1,867 experts and stakeholders responded to an open-ended question about the future of the Internet by 2025. They said it would become so deeply part of the environment that it would become “like electricity” – less visible even as it becomes more important in people’s daily lives.
As reported by Janna Anderson, director, Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center; Lee Rainie, director, Pew Internet Project; and Maeve Duggan, research assistant, Pew Internet Project, to a notable extent, the ex-perts agree on the technology change that lies ahead, even as they disagree about its ramifications. Most believe there will be:
‒A global, immersive, invisible, ambient networked computing environment built through the continued prolif-eration of smart sensors, cameras, software, databases and massive data centers in a world-spanning infor-mation fabric known as the Internet of Things.
‒ “Augmented reality” enhancements to the real-world input that people perceive through the use of porta-ble/wearable/implantable technologies.
‒Disruption of business models established in the 20th century (most notably impacting finance, entertain-ment, publishers of all sorts, and education).
‒Tagging, databasing and intelligent analytical mapping of the physical and social realms.
The Internet of Things (sometimes called the Cloud of Things) is a catchall phrase for the array of devices, ap-pliances, vehicles, wearable material and sensor-laden parts of the environment that connect to each other and feed data back and forth. The Pew/Elon study garnered over 1,600 responses to a question about where the In-ternet of Things would stand by the year 2025. Survey respondents expect the Internet of Things to be evident in many places, including:
Bodies: Many people will wear devices that let them connect to the Internet and will give them feedback on their activities, health and fitness. They will also monitor others (their children or employees, for instance) who are also wearing sensors, or moving in and out of places that have sensors.
Homes: People will be able to control nearly everything remotely, from how their residences are heated and cooled to how often their gardens are watered. Homes will also have sensors that warn about everything from prowlers to broken water pipes.
Communities: Embedded devices and smartphone apps will enable more efficient transportation and give readouts on pollution levels. “Smart systems” might deliver electricity and water more efficiently and warn about infrastructure problems.
Goods and services: Factories and supply chains will have sensors and readers that more precisely track ma-terials to speed up and smooth out the manufacture and distribution of goods.
Environment: There will be real-time readings from fields, forests, oceans and cities about pollution levels, soil moisture and resource extraction that allow for closer monitoring of problems.
Expert respondent Patrick Tucker, author of The Naked Future: What Happens In a World That Anticipates Your Every Move?, provided a nice working description of the Internet of Things, writing: “Here are the easy facts: In 2008, the number of Internet-connected devices first outnumbered the human population, and they have been growing far faster than have we. There were 13 billion Internet-connected devices in 2013, according to Cisco, and there will be 50 billion in 2020. These will include phones, chips, sensors, implants and devices of which we have not yet conceived.”
Tucker went on to forecast the benefits of all this connected computing: “One positive effect of ‘ubiquitous computing,’ as it used to be called, will be much faster, more convenient and lower-cost medical diagnostics. This will be essential if we are to meet the health care needs of a rapidly aging Baby Boomer generation. The Internet of Things will also improve safety in cities, as cars, networked to one another and their environment, will better avoid collisions, coordinate speed, etc. We will all be able to bring much more situational intelligence to bear on the act of planning our day, avoiding delays (or unfortunate encounters) and meeting our personal goals. We are entering the telemetric age – an age where we create information in everything that we do. As computation continues to grow less costly, we will incorporate more data-collecting devices into our lives.”
www.pewinternet.org/topics/future-of-the-internet/
••• customer satisfaction
Cell phones up, cable down, down, down
Satisfaction Index results chart consumer unhappiness
Subscription TV and Internet service providers (ISPs) have sunk to the bottom of the American Customer Sat-isfaction Index in its annual measure of communications industries. According to the latest ACSI results, ISPs dropped 3.1 percent to an ACSI score of 63 on a 100-point scale, while subscription TV fell 4.4 percent to 65. These industries, which include many of the same companies, are the worst-performing among 43 tracked by the ACSI. Meanwhile, customer satisfaction with cell phones improved 2.6 percent to 78 and wireless phone service remained at 72.
The ACSI report includes the annual measure of ISPs, subscription TV service, fixed-line and wireless tele-phone service, computer software and cell phones, as well as detailed findings for the top-selling smartphone brands available to U.S. consumers.
Customer satisfaction is deteriorating for all of the largest pay TV providers. Viewers are much more dissatis-fied with cable TV service than fiber optic and satellite service (60 vs. 68). Though both companies dropped in customer satisfaction, DIRECTV (-4 percent) and AT&T (-3 percent) are tied for the lead with ACSI scores of 69. Verizon Communications FiOS (68) and DISH Network (67) follow. DISH Network may be the lowest-scoring sat-ellite TV company, but it is better than the top-scoring cable company, Cox Communications (-3 percent to 63).
Cable giants Comcast and Time Warner Cable have the most dissatisfied customers. Comcast fell 5 percent to 60, while Time Warner registered the biggest loss and plunged 7 percent to 56, its lowest score to date.
“Comcast and Time Warner assert their proposed merger will not reduce competition because there is little overlap in their service territories,” says David VanAmburg, ACSI director. “Still, it’s a concern whenever two poor-performing service providers combine operations. ACSI data consistently show that mergers in service in-dustries usually result in lower customer satisfaction, at least in the short term. It’s hard to see how combining two negatives will be a positive for consumers.”
High prices, slow data transmission and unreliable service dragged satisfaction to record lows, as customers have few alternatives beyond the largest Internet service providers. Customer satisfaction with ISPs dropped 3.1 percent to 63, the lowest score in the Index.
At an ACSI score of 71,Verizon’s FiOS Internet service continues to lead the category, surpassing AT&T, CenturyLink and the aggregate of other smaller broadband providers, all at 65. Cable-company-controlled ISPs languished at the bottom of the rankings again. Cox Communications is the best of these and stayed above the industry average despite a 6 percent fall to 64. Customers rated Comcast (-8 percent to 57) and Time Warner Cable (-14 percent to 54) even lower for Internet service than for their TV service. In both industries, the two pro-viders have the weakest customer satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction with cell phones is up for a second straight year, rising 2.6 percent to a new all-time high ACSI score of 78. Steady growth in the use of smartphones, which have much higher levels of customer satisfaction, helped drive the overall industry gain. However, as data usage increases, costs to access overloaded networks are high, leaving customer satisfaction with wireless service providers stagnant at an ACSI score of 72.
While Apple still sells nearly twice the number of smartphones in the United States as its nearest competitor, Samsung now comes out on top in one critical metric – customer satisfaction. Samsung surged 7 percent to an ACSI score of 81, beating Apple in overall customer satisfaction for the first time. Smartphones are becoming more dominant in Samsung’s cell phone product mix, pushing its satisfaction score higher. Apple declined for the second year in a row (-2 percent to 79), and the field is getting tighter, with Motorola Mobility and Nokia (now Microsoft) both at 77. BlackBerry has seen its market share nearly vanish, but satisfaction climbed to 74 (+7 per-cent) for those customers that remain.
“Samsung has gone from up-and-comer to top-of-the-heap on the strength of its smartphone portfolio,” says VanAmburg. “Apple’s magic isn’t gone but the luster has dulled on its older models. Each iteration improves on the last but Apple’s year-long product refresh cycle is an eternity when a new Android phone seems to be re-leased every week.”
Among wireless phone providers, Verizon Wireless separated from the pack after climbing 3 percent to 75. T-Mobile (69), Sprint (68) and AT&T Mobility (68) are tightly grouped behind. As smartphone adoption continues to grow, network demands increase along with costs to the consumer, each contributing to stagnant customer satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction with fixed-line telephone service dipped 1.4 percent to an ACSI score of 73 but re-mained the most satisfying of all types of telecommunications. However, the score was due to shrinking landline usage. As more households abandon fixed-line service for cell phones, the customers that remain tend to be the most satisfied.
Computer software customer satisfaction is stable at an ACSI score of 76. Microsoft inched up 1 percent to 75, as did the aggregate of smaller software makers, but not enough to impact the industry as a whole. The rise of tablets and mobiles remains a challenge for traditional software makers looking to appeal to a new generation of consumers.
www.theacsi.org
••• health care research
Few Americans say health care law has helped them
New policyholders more likely to have positive views
According to a survey conducted about one month after the new health care exchanges closed with over 8 million new enrollees, there has been little substantial change in Americans’ perception that the health care law has helped them. Most Americans say the law has had no impact on their health care situation, while those who do perceive an effect are more likely to say it has hurt them rather than helped them. These data are based on interviews with over 2,500 Americans in a May 21-25 Gallup poll.
As reported by Gallup’s Frank Newport, the majority of Americans have said that the Affordable Care Act has had little effect on their personal situations since Gallup first asked this question in early 2012. In more recent months, after the exchange-based enrollment opened up, Americans have gradually become more likely to indi-cate that the law has had an effect – both positive and negative. The current 24 percent who say the law has hurt them is by one percentage point the highest measured, while the 14 percent who say the law has helped them is also within one point of being the highest measured on that dimension. In all instances, across seven different surveys, Americans have been at least marginally more likely to say the law has hurt them and their families than to say it has helped them.
Americans’ views on how the health care law has affected them personally are predictably partisan, as are al-most all attitudes about Obamacare. The biggest partisan effect is evident among Republicans, with 41 percent claiming that the law has hurt them and their family. Democrats have opposite views, although more subdued, with 23 percent saying that the law has helped them, while over two-thirds say it has had no effect.
The goal of the law was to provide an insurance policy to the uninsured, particularly young, low-income and minority Americans. There is, however, little difference in the perceived benefit of the law among those aged 18 to 64. But, those younger than 30 are more likely than those who are older to say the law has both helped and hurt them.
Americans living in households with very low incomes (less than $24,000 a year) are slightly more likely than those with higher incomes to say that the law has helped them and slightly less likely to say that it has hurt them. Still, as many of this low-income group say the law has hurt them as say it has helped them.
Americans who say they obtained a new insurance policy in 2014 are significantly more likely than those who are insured but with the same policy as last year to say the new law has helped them, at 27 percent to 11 percent, respectively. Some of those who bought new policies this year did so because of mechanisms in the law, which others did so as a result of other factors, such as changing jobs. The number of Americans interviewed in this survey who have a new policy this year but were uninsured last year are more likely than average to say they have benefitted from the law, although their representation in the sample is quite small, making precise estimates of their attitudes difficult.
Americans who are currently uninsured by definition did not take advantage of the exchanges to get insurance, and, at this point, they are substantially more likely to say the new law has hurt them rather than helped them.
Americans continue to be more pessimistic than optimistic when asked to ponder the effect of the health care law on their family’s health care situation “in the long run.” About four in 10 say it will make no difference in the long run, while slightly fewer say that it will make their situation worse. Americans are least likely to say it will make their situation better in the long run (22 percent).
As of yet, there is no sign that Americans think the new health care law is having a net positive effect on their health care situations. The majority say the law has not affected them, while those who do report it having an ef-fect are more likely to say it has hurt their health care situation rather than helped it. Americans also remain more negative than positive when asked about their views of the potential impact of the law on their family’s health care situation in the long run.
Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted May 21-25, 2014, with a random sample of 2,538 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
••• data privacy
Digital shoppers are open but wary
Some willing to trade data for deals
The vast majority (80 percent) of consumers aged 20-40 in the United States and the United Kingdom believe total privacy in the digital world is a thing of the past and nearly half (49 percent) said they would not object to having their buying behavior tracked if it would result in relevant offers from brands and suppliers, a new study by Accenture shows.
Privacy concerns aside, the survey of 2,012 consumers conducted in March and April 2014 indicates that they continue to embrace digital technology in pursuit of a good deal. In fact, nearly two-thirds of the respondents – 64 percent – said that when they are physically in a store, they would welcome text messages from that retailer alerting them to offers matching their buying preferences.
However, it’s clear from the survey results that consumers continue to be cautious about the use of their per-sonal information. According to the survey:
‒ The majority of respondents – 87 percent – believe adequate safeguards are not in place to protect their personal information.
‒ Sixty-four percent – compared to 85 percent from the 2012 survey – are concerned about Web sites tracking their buying behavior.
‒ More than half (56 percent) say they are trying to safeguard their privacy by inputting their credit card infor-mation each time they make an online purchase rather than having that data stored for future use.
‒ Seventy percent of respondents believe businesses aren’t transparent about how their information is being used and 68 percent say there is not enough transparency around what is being done with their information.
‒ A large number of respondents – 40 percent – believe only 10 percent of their personal data is actually pri-vate.
‒ Although 42 percent believe vendors and suppliers are using their personal data in order to provide them with more relevant offers, 39 percent believe their data is being sold.
So how do businesses strike the right balance in providing consumers with what they want while taking their concerns about privacy into consideration? “In today’s digital age where consumers are connected and empow-ered and data is abundant, businesses must align their organizations, technology and strategies to deliver rele-vant and loyalty-enabling experiences to their consumers,” says Glen Hartman, global managing director of digital transformation for Accenture Interactive. “As the business leader who typically owns the customer experience for most organizations, the chief marketing officer should be in the driver’s seat to encourage a customer-centric digital transformation that generates experiences to meet consumer needs.”
The survey validates the fact that consumers are becoming increasingly demanding. Asked to rank the factors that would make them most likely to complete the purchase of a product or service, respondents’ top three choices were sales and competitive pricing (61 percent), superior products (36 percent) and superior customer experience – both online and in-store (35 percent). Customer loyalty programs and relevant promotions followed, at 31 percent and 26 percent, respectively, but engaging advertising campaigns and celebrity endorsements trailed far behind, at 6 percent and 3 percent, respectively. “Price and quality are regularly recognized as purchase drivers,” Hartman says, “but the fact that relevant and useful customer experiences trumped advertising, loyalty programs, promotions and endorsements in influencing purchase behavior was a key survey finding. It should be a huge wake-up call for CMOs.
“Businesses should align their marketing strategies using advanced analytics to drive real-time recommenda-tions with the needs and interests of today’s consumers, who demand a seamless omni-channel experience whether they choose to shop online or in a store,” he says. “When pursuing that seamless customer experience, businesses must balance the need for security and data privacy with the desire to provide an exceptional cus-tomer experience. And it goes beyond marketing or shopping transactions. Businesses must embrace the full customer experience. The relationship with customers is defined by the experiences delivered across marketing, sales, service, online and offline, before, during and after campaigns and transactions – it should be a continuous engagement loop. Unless they can provide customers with the most satisfying experience possible, companies in all industries risk losing them to a competitor who can.”
Further, the survey confirms that consumers in the 20-40 age groups are ubiquitous users of digital technology across multiple mobile platforms. Respondents own between three and four digital devices per person, on average, and 27 percent own more than four devices. They also spend an average of six to six-and-a-half hours per day using a digital device for personal activities including messaging/texting (48 percent), e-mailing (39 percent), getting news (27 percent) and shopping for a product or service online (20 percent).
According to the survey, businesses appear to be making a good effort to reach these customers: Nearly all respondents – 90 percent – said they receive notifications of upcoming promotions or new services with varying frequency and half say these communications help guide future purchase decisions. However, there is also a clear pecking order among the types of communications that consumers prefer to receive from companies: e-mail was the top choice for 93 percent of respondents, followed by social media (57 percent) and text (44 percent). Only 25 percent of survey respondents said they are comfortable receiving phone calls.
“Delivering relevant experiences based on intent will be a critical success factor for businesses in the next several years. In fact, this capability will draw a line in the sand between booming and struggling companies,” says Hartman. “Importantly, since 51 percent of those surveyed said they would prefer for companies to stop tracking their shopping behavior, companies must find ways to establish more trust with customers and an effec-tive formula for reaching them without crossing a data privacy line. For consumers there’s a direct correlation between privacy tolerance and value.”
The consumer survey was conducted by Coleman Parkes on behalf of Accenture Interactive. It was carried out online in March and April of 2014 with 2,012 consumers in the U.S. (1,000) and the U.K. (1,012). Participants were split equally between males and females between 20 and 40 years of age, and the survey recorded income, ethnicity and sociodemographics.
www.accenture.com