January 25, 2007

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A new marketing report published by BIG-Research confirms what a number of earlier studies had already found. Increasingly, Americans are consuming media in large quantity, not specifically concentrating on any one medium at a single time.

BIG-Research's survey of about 15,000 consumers revealed that 67.9 percent of them use other media while watching television, 69.2 percent while reading newspapers and then 70.8 percent while surfing the Internet.

At 56.9 percent, radio has the least amount of simultaneous media usage, probably due to the fact that many people listen to it while driving their cars.

However, when it comes to the question of which medium influences consumers the most most, big advertising media took a back seat to humble WOM (Word-of-Mouth), which may be far less manageable than conventional ad-supported media, but which also seems to be a lot more effective by a wide margin.

Joe Pilotta of BIG-Research says "overall, new digital media makes it easier to give and receive options on products and services, and it's no longer confined to one-to-one conversations."

"Online search, blogging, email, writing text, video, video-streaming and social networks such as MySpace and YouTube have expanded the word-of-mouth universe and made traditional advertising less relevant for many," added Pilotta.

WOM outperformed other media in two major product categories: electronics and automobiles.

BIG-Research says that 93.9 percent of consumers regularly or occasionally give advice about products and services they purchased.

It added that about 91 percent regularly or occasionally seek advice about products and services before making any purchase.

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Source: eMarketer