More people multitasking media than ever

How much media can any one person consume? According to BIGresearch's (http://www.bigresearch.com) latest Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM 11), in which 15,727 people participated, the only way for people to keep up with the deluge of media options is to multitask with other media. The level of simultaneous media usage in SIMM 11 increased over SIMM 10 for all major forms of media.

“Technology is creating new media options faster than most people can assimilate and is causing more multitasking,” said Gary Drenik, President of BIGresearch. “Unfortunately for marketers faced with the challenges of an uncertain economy and the need to increase marketing ROI, new media options are impacting how consumers use traditional media.

“Specifically, TV's influence on consumers to purchase products declined, whereas new media options such as web radio, satellite radio, instant messaging and blogging all increased.
Consumers seem to be seeking information from digital platforms while TV has traditionally been viewed as a brand building medium, which isn't providing the requisite information,” said Drenik.

This does not mean all traditional media are declining in influence, however. Media that can target, be timely, and deliver value to consumers, such as coupons/direct mail, radio, yellow pages, newspapers and newspaper inserts all increased in influence to purchase as consumers are looking to stretch budgets in a slowing economy.

Other key findings from SIMM 11 include:

• Regular simultaneous media consumption for online, newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and direct mail is up from 1% to 35%, depending on the medium.
• Channel surfing remains the #1 regular activity engaged in during TV commercials with 41.2% doing so followed by:
o 33.5% talk with others in the room or by phone
o 30.2% mentally tune out
o 5.5% regularly fully attend to commercials
• In SIMM 11, eating continues to be the number one activity people engage in while using media followed by doing housework, doing laundry, cooking and talking on phone.
• Top simultaneous media used when reading a newspaper are: watch TV, listen to the radio and go online.
• For people listening to radio, other media simultaneously used are (top 3): engage in other activities, go online and read the newspaper.
• Web radio usage is up in all dayparts.
• Cable is where most TV viewing takes place.
• Dayparts which had highest number of media types increase usage over SIMM 10 – 1:00 am to 6:00 am, noon to 4:30 pm, 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm, 7:30 pm to 11:00 pm and 10:00 am to noon.
• Top 3 in-store promotions for influence of purchasing a product: product samples, shelf coupons and special displays
• Top 3 media for triggering an online search: magazines, reading an article on the product and TV.
• Blogging increases in all dayparts.

To receive a recap of the key findings, click http://info.bigresearch.com.