Microsoft Advertising Connects The Screens

Multi-screen adoption of digital technology and devices has created a challenge for advertising to deliver relevant, targeted messages. The more connected the consumer, the greater expectation for bigger ideas. A study released Thursday by Microsoft Advertising gives advertisers insight into how a multi-screen strategy can build awareness, generate consideration and encourage purchases.

Younger multi-screen consumers and online gamers -- the most active segments -- are satisfied with today's connected experiences, but they expect substantial improvements in media, advertising and engagement in the future.

Marketers and agencies that attempt to improve this experience will need to find ways to integrate data and track attribution, according to Alison Engel, senior marketing director, Microsoft Advertising. "People may start their day on one device and end it on another," she says. "The computer and the smartphone offer the one-two punch. And as smartphone functions improve, you'll see more convergence in the future."

Sixty-nine percent of consumers who use multiple screens believe being able to access similar media and advertising across screens makes it more useful, and the media experience more relevant and informative. The research study suggests that the computer remains the primary vehicle for learning about brands, products, and services at 88%; followed by TV at 32%; smartphones, 36%; and gaming consoles, 11%. Sixty-five percent of consumers rely on smartphones to make buying decisions when away from home. They use the handset to make decisions about restaurants, theaters, and entertainment.

Multi-screen consumers think more favorably of content providers that deliver similar content across multiple media devices, and 62% of these consumers and nearly 75% of younger consumers admit that a consistent experience generates positive feelings about the provider.

Compared with 35- to-64-year-olds, 18- to-34-year-olds are more likely to find ads fun to watch -- like ads on their computer, smartphone, and gaming console -- and believe ads are more meaningful and relevant across all screens.

In fact, younger age groups find ads fun to watch on a computer, at 36% vs. 22%; smartphone, at 32% vs. 16%; and gaming consoles, at 36% vs. 14%, respectively. This age group also likes ads on their computer -- 33% vs. 19%; smartphone, 29% vs. 13%; and gaming console, 32% vs. 11%, respectively -- and believes ads are more meaningful and relevant across all screens: computer, 40% vs. 25%; TV, 52% vs. 40%; smartphone, 30% vs. 14%; and gaming console, 34% vs. 12%, respectively.

Microsoft Advertising conducted research to understand how consumers use multiple platforms and their attitudes toward devices and capabilities that drive media and advertising. The study, conducted in partnership with Wunderman (a WPP company), aims to teach advertisers about the opportunities to engage audiences with the correct tone and message in the perfect environment. It surveyed 1,200 people ages 18-64 across the U.S. in the spring of 2010 who consume media through TVs, computers, smartphones, and video game consoles.

Paid-Search Advertising Becoming Ticket For Small Business

Small businesses in jewelry, loans, mortgages and recruitment services significantly increased spending for search engine marketing and advertising in Q2 2010.

Loan companies spent 25% more sequentially in the second quarter, followed by mortgage companies at 23.9%; jobs and recruitment, 14%; and travel, 8%, according to the State of Small Business Online Advertising Q2 2010 report released this week.

The average small business supported by Irvine, Calif.-based WebVisible spent on average $2,231 -- up 160% compared with the year-ago quarter, but just 1% sequentially.

Another sign that the medium continues to build momentum: 43% of all clicks resulted in a Web conversion in the second quarter of 2010, up 39% from the year-ago quarter, and 22% sequentially. This tells WebVisible that consumers want information about local businesses, says WebVisible CEO Kirstin Mangers.

Mangers doesn't see the uptick as an indicator that small businesses believe they must advertise online, but rather a signal that the economy slowly continues to turn around as more jobs become available and consumer confidence levels start to rise.

Click-through rates (CTR) in the second quarter of 2010 on all engines improved year-on-year, but Google and Bing declined sequentially. Google CTRs rose 28%; Yahoo 46%, and Bing 15% in the quarter, compared with the prior year. Google and Bing declined slightly, sequentially, from the first quarter of 2010, with Google's CTR declining to 4.4%; and Bing 6.6%. Yahoo's CTR improved by 35%, compared with the prior quarter.

The average keyword count per advertiser also continued to increase for WebVisible's small business advertisers in the first quarter of 2010. Keyword inventories consisted of an average of 75 root keywords, compared with individual bids with geographic modifiers in Q2 2010 -- a 39% increase over Q2 2009, according to the report.

Paid-search share shifted toward Yahoo in Q2, as WebVisible's platform looks for the best-quality traffic at the lowest price. "This would suggest we're getting higher conversion rates and lower CPCs to buy traffic more effectively," Mangers says. "The same thing is applicable in the U.K. Yahoo's less noisy than Google for local companies. It's easy to be seen and easier to compete at a lower rate, so it's converting higher."

Market share shifted a bit in the second quarter of 2010. Advertisers spent 15% more on Yahoo in the second quarter compared with the prior quarter, gaining 4.1 percentage points in share -- and 23.5%, gaining 5.7 percentage points in share, compared with Q2 in the prior year.

Google lost 2 percentage points in share in the second quarter of 2010 sequentially, to 3.4% share, but year-on-year declined 5 percentage points to 6.8%. Bing's share of spending dropped 5% from Q1 2010, and 6.8% from Q2 2009, according to the report.

By Laurie Sullivan