GfK MediaTalk

A 2010 Retrospective: Looking back at a year of water cooler television

British television confirmed its place as a dominant medium last year by delivering large audiences via event television. 2010 saw a definite shift away from niche audience programming towards what television does best: large, ‘spectacle’ events that get the entire nation talking.

Successful event television is often associated with the entertainment genre and this genre certainly showcased television’s ability to captivate large audiences in 2010. The final of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing was viewed by 13 million after the series saw debates on contestant Anne Widdecombe raging around the nation. The final of ITV’s The X Factor delivered a record audience of 17 million viewers. ITV also sought to further extend The X Factor’s reach by launching magazine X Mag.

The Soapies took advantage of a big anniversary year to create some memorable TV moments. 16.6 million viewers tuned in to Eastenders to find out who killed Archie Mitchell in a live episode to celebrate the soap’s 25^th anniversary. Corrie’s 50^th anniversary saw a major explosion leading to a tram smash in the street and the subsequent death of two characters.

Arguably the most controversial and talked about event television of 2010 was the first televised series of election debates. These debates became a competition not just between the candidates but between the broadcasters themselves as ITV, the BBC and Sky each used their own unique style in an attempt to claim this historic moment as their own.

The World Cup in 2010 also proved to be fairly controversial for broadcaster ITV who fell prey to one of the dangers of live television: switching to an advert during the first England goal of the tournament meant they were lambasted by their HD audience.

Even drama went big in 2010 as ITV made a foray into period drama. The highly successful Downton Abbey showcased the channel’s ability to capture large audiences outside of the entertainment genre. The BBC’s Sherlock also pulled in viewers and both series are likely to return this year.

While commentators often debate television’s future in an increasingly fragmented multimedia market – it seems that television has sought to differentiate itself as a medium by showcasing its ability to ‘stop the nation’ via big event programming.

So what’s next for British television in 2011? The investment of both the terrestrial and paid television providers in IPTV services this year may seem on the surface to suggest shift in focus away from linear programming. However, the lessons of PVR usage suggest that such technologies seem to increase, rather than decrease, the amount of time audiences spend viewing linear television.

I predict that content which gets people talking around the water cooler, rather than technology, will remain the key to driving audience figures this year. Channel 4’s My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding is a prime example: the programme has attracted the highest ratings that the channel has seen since Big Brother. Sky has also upped its content offering in 2011 by launching the new Sky Atlantic channel, a showcase of high quality drama largely from US powerhouse HBO.

If broadcasters continue to invest in event-style television and big drama there is every reason to believe that television will continue to be king in 2011.

Stacey Hand

Senior Research Executive

Rules of Engagement – Download

At the end of 2010, GfK NOP Media’s Christine Connor worked with Tim Cain of the AOP to produce a white paper on measuring audience engagement with Media (if you missed it, the original paper is still available here).

Findings were recently presented to the MRG… and if you missed that, the summary report is now available here for you to download:

Rules Of Engagement (406)

In-Game Advertising – where is it heading?

The gaming industry has grown from strength to strength over the past few decades and whether people are playing alone on FIFA ‘11 or Need for Speed, gaming online with friends or complete strangers on Call of Duty: Black Ops or spending time with their family on Wii Sports Resort, gaming has become an important way for people to spend their leisure time. There is now also a whole new list of reasons for ‘non-gamers’ to have the latest console: to get fit with your own interactive fitness coach on Wii Fit or EA Active, or for games on the go… which have been revolutionised by ownership of smartphones, tablet PCs and the emergence of apps.

Not surprisingly, with so many ways to access gaming materials, advertisers want to capitalise on any benefit for their brand and game producers are not against the idea. Not only does it bring them extra sources of revenue but it helps them produce a game that feels ‘real’ to the user, whether this is because of advertising hoardings as part of the landscape or showing characters drinking branded drinks.

As the quality and realism of games improves so does the need to make every detail of the game feel as real as possible… and as advertising is all around us it makes sense for it to be incorporated into our game worlds – as long as it does not affect the flow of the game! Nothing is more likely to turn a gamer away from a brand (and as an avid gamer myself I can vouch for this) than a feature that keeps getting in the way of the game they want to play.

It should be noted that in-game advertising is not a new development. In the 1980s a Marlboro billboard was featured as ‘set dressing’ on one of the racetracks in Sega’s game Final Lap. This wasn’t, strictly speaking, advertising: it was a real advertisement from the Suzuka and Monaco tracks, included without the tobacco company’s permission in order to add to the game’s realism. Marlboro owner Philip Morris filed a lawsuit against Namco and Sega in 1990 and they were forced to remove the content… but the point is that ‘real-world’ brands have long been seen as an important part of the in-game experience.

What has changed is the scope of what advertisers can achieve in games and now big money is being spent on in-game advertising. According to the 2010 article in the Journal of Interactive Advertising, ‘Online In-Game Advertising Effect: Examining the Influence of a Match Between Games and Advertising,’ over half a billion dollars was spent globally on adverts in video games in 2006. It is expected that nearly two billion dollars will be spent this year (2011).

It is now commonplace for games to contain advertising – so where are they going to go next?

Advertisers have already started becoming more involved in the actual game – for example drinking a can of Red Bull to increase your characters energy levels. This can also been seen in social networking games such as Farmville where users where asked to watch an advertisement in exchange for Farmville ‘cash’ that can be used in the game.

One growth area for in-game advertising is the downloading of apps. Purchases on Apple’s App Store have been dominated by game purchases – and extremely popular, talked about games. A recent Apple press release claims that there are more than 1000 apps available (not that specific I admit, and I believe it is quite a bit more than 1000!) and games are the biggest category.

The gaming app ‘Angry Birds’ was one of the sensations of 2010. As a purchased app this was a massive hit for Apple and the iPhone. However users of Android phones were able to download the game for free as long as they were happy to have advertising on it. So users were getting a good game for nothing and advertisers were getting all the advantages of in-game advertising.

The area of apps is a very interesting proposition for advertisers because as the number of Smartphone owners increases so will the demand for downloadable apps (according to a GfK survey more than 2 out of 5 mobile phone users own a smartphone) leading to more people seeing their ads. The added benefit of advertising in this way is that the advert can, using the smartphone’s internet technology, direct the user straight to the point of purchase making it quick and easy for us to buy the products we see advertised.

Quite the unique selling point really: adverts wherever you are with a speedy purchase option – no wonder so much is being invested in this area!

David Chopping

Senior Research Executive, GfK NOP Media

Work with GfK NOP Media (Research Executive vacancy)

The media team is looking for a Research Executive to join the BBC account team and work on the high-profile, fast turnaround BBC Pulse panel, which measures audience appreciation of TV and radio programmes and websites.

We are a friendly bunch of 25 researchers in central London. Our clients include BBC, ITV, Virgin Media, RTE and the media regulator Ofcom – our projects are a mixture of continuous online daily reporting panels, and a large variety of ad-hoc media research projects.

Experience, skills, competencies required

Ideally you will:

Have strong organisational/quant project management skills
Have some experience working with large data bases in the past
Be attentive to detail
Possess good communication skills and be a team player
Take initiative and are self motivated with an interest in media trends and developments– and possess a willingness to learn and attend external media training courses
Relish being given responsibility early in your career

What we offer:

Lots of client contact and exposure – you will work on a number of different projects for various UK and international broadcasters, online clients as well as the BBC
Engagement work with the panellists to create highly motivated communities that allow us to deliver high quality results.
Daily questionnaire development
Input into proposal writing for new projects
Ad-hoc analyses of continuous data
The opportunity to receive training and work on a mixture of research methodologies, including qualitative and quantitative projects.

GfK NOP Media is part of the media strategic business unit within GfK – and we work closely with colleagues in GfK Intomart in The Netherlands and actively participate in knowledge sharing with our media colleagues in GfK across the globe.

If you are interested in the vacancy, please send your CV and a covering letter to the Human Resources Department, Ludgate House, 245 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 9UL or email hruk@gfk.com.

Have we had enough of social networking yet?

This article was originally written by Jessica Hallsworth for MediaTel Newsline in December 2010.

Have we had enough of Social Networking yet?

The release of The Social Network in cinemas earlier this year has once again brought Facebook into the limelight, with countless people discussing the advantages and disadvantages of letting everyone into your life and numerous people ‘just wanting to see what all the fuss is about.’ According to Facebook there are now 500 million active users worldwide with 50% of those accessing the site every single day. In the UK alone there are 25 million users[1] with the most prolific being those highly sought after 16-24 year olds, so it is unsurprising that the question on every company’s lips is how we can make money from this – and quickly.

Media commentators have sometimes exercised a certain amount of caution towards social networking as they wait for the point where people can no longer be bothered with updating information. Social networks have often been seen as a passing fad.

For some social networking sites there has certainly been dwindling interest and participation. At the end of 2006 Friends Reunited was one of the most popular social networks with 39% of adult internet users having visited the site. [2] Friends Reunited expanded by releasing Genes Reunited along with CD soundtracks. They also introduced a subscription fee which became a significant barrier and gave Facebook one of its biggest competitive advantages. The subscription fee was later revoked although by that time Facebook had taken its hold on the market. By 2007 when Friends Reunited dropped its subscription fee Facebook had grown to 7.6million users and Friends Reunited was lagging behind on 2.89 million. GfK NOP Media’s Future of Media survey asks which sites people have visited in the past month and the chart below highlights this usage trend.

The only noticeable line extension Facebook has made (other than growing from a campus based website to a worldwide phenomenon) is providing a smartphone application free of charge which is arguably one of its best moves yet.

According to GfK NOP Media’s 2010 Future of Media survey, 50% of internet users own a smartphone and of those 42% are using it for social networking. A sceptic could be forgiven for thinking this would harm Facebook by driving people away from the main PC site, where there is advertising and consequently advertising revenue to be made. However the statistics suggest that this addition actually serves to increase popularity. Between July ‘09 and July ‘10 PC usage of the website has increased by 3.8 million unique users[1] proving that there has certainly been no detraction. This offering of a free application has increased brand loyalty essentially allowing a website which is perceived by the public as not highly commercialised to release a film about itself and get away with it.

So, we know there is a key youth market that actively interacts with the website. We can also see that ‘free stuff’ sustains and promotes usage. So have we really had enough of social networking? Due to those clever marketers at Facebook – not just yet! Issues over privacy appear not to have dented its standing and as long as it’s free and effortless, Facebook is of great value. It is looking like the time when we have had enough of social networking will arrive only when ‘the next big thing’ comes along!

[1] UKOM/Neilsen 2010

[2] GfK Internet User Profile Survey 2006

Time Shifted Viewing: A TV Success Story

This article was originally written by Stacey Hand for MediaTel Newsline in November 2010.

Time-shifted viewing – Television’s success story

The television industry has faced growing pressure from a number of other media players threatening to capture the audiences it has dominated for so long. While live television remains the favourite way for audiences to view television content– time-shifted viewing via PVR and streamed television services seem to provide the best potential avenue for television channels/programmes to extend their reach.

The television industry has certainly shown signs of targeting time-shifted viewers – Virgin Media plans to develop their next generation of set-top boxes with US-based DVR giant TiVo and there is certainly talk of Sky expanding their Anytime offering to include greater on demand capability. The traditionally terrestrial television channels have also pushed to capture this market by launching internet-enabled television service You View.

How are you watching television?

Watching television live as it is broadcast remains the dominant way to view the medium with just over 9 in 10 respondents continuing to watch television in this way. Since 2007 this figure has remained fairly consistent and 77% of respondents felt that they would continue watching television this way in the future.

Changing Viewing Habits

The main growth areas in terms of ways of watching television content, has been in the area of time-shifted viewing through a PVR and via streamed television services such as the iPlayer. The percentage of respondents who have reported watching television through a PVR has increased by 20 percentage points from 17% in 2007 to 37% in 2010. The percentage of respondents reporting that they have viewed television via streamed television services had quadrupled since 2007, from 8% to 32% in 2010.

2 in 5 respondents felt that they had watched more recorded/ time shifted television in 2010 than in 2009. 18% of respondents felt that they had watched more television via an on demand service this year than last year, and this figure rises to 30% among 18 – 34 year olds.

GfK NOP Media: Future of Media Study 2007 – 2010, ‘How do you watch TV programmes nowadays?’

Catch-up Services

Three quarters of respondents reported having used a catch-up service in the previous 12 months and among 16 – 34 year olds this number rose to 87%. 64% of respondents had used the BBC iPlayer in the previous 12 months, followed by the ITV Player with 30%, 4OD with 26%, Demand five with 13% and Sky Player with 10%.

While usage of catch-up services may be on the increase – the frequency with which people watch content via these services remains relatively low. Only 1% of respondents reported using a catch-up service more than once a day.

This suggests that the future challenge for the television industry may lie in increasing the frequency with which audiences use catch-up services in order to effectively increase their reach in this way.

Use of time-shifted technology has certainly grown over time and with a line-up of exciting developments planned by a variety of television providers it seems that this method of viewing television is set to be the key area of growth for the industry.

Mobile Technology & Mobile Research

This article was originally written by Jon Davies for MediaTel Newsline in October 2010.

Mobile Phone Development

It seems that the computing power of the mobile phone increases almost daily and that new and better technology is released virtually every week. The most recent touch screen technology to enter into the competitive “iphone” market is the new HTC smartphone, competing with Apple’s product on its impressive 1GHz processor. The technology’s centrality in so many people’s lives makes it an ideal and as yet, realatively under-used method of collecting research data.

A recent survey conducted by GfK on the Future of Media confirms this trend of people increasingly going beyond just traditional phoning and text functionality to use more and more of the other functions. Aside from taking photos, main activities are browsing the internet (55%), Emailing (50%) and social networking (42%). However, a relatively small number buy into the possibilities which are not yet as developed with only 11% anticipating streaming TV through their phones within the next 5 years.

Mobiles Technology for Research

GfK Media has already road-tested mobile technology in the course of a survey for a major broadcaster. As with internet surveying, the results were immediate and easily tabulated, and respondents were able to complete the survey more readily, being unconstrained by the need for computer access.

Given the fast developments already mentioned the scope and sophistication of this as a survey option will likewise increase.

The Importance of Developing Mobile Research

Reasons for making mobile research a more common practise are legion. Beyond the convenience of the method for respondents, if researchers can deliver engaging mobile surveys, valuable ground is likely to be made in reaching the difficult 16-24 age group.

But one of the biggest areas where mobile surveying is set to make a difference is in countries where there is less broadband internet development. There are many places around the world where there is a good wireless phone connection but the infrastructure for a fast internet service is not yet in place, for example South Africa. Panel Services Africa have made headway in developing the new technology necessary to deliver a service based around mobile technology and given the convenience it must be a matter of time before this sort of methodology becomes more prevalent in other such markets.

The Changing Face of Audio Consumption

This article was originally written by Christine Connor and Gary Roddy for MediaTel Newsline in August 2010.

Media 1Up is a long-term attitudinal study that was set up to investigate the changes in media and the usage of media over time. It is a nationwide study, building up relationships with the same contributors over time.

The project seeks to understand the key changes in media each year whilst at the same time provide an in-depth understanding of key trends and new developments in the market place.

This is the second year of the project and it is now helping clients understand these new developments, each year’s key themes and emerging trends

2009 focused on understanding the pattern of usage of time-shifted viewing. In 2010 the study continues to providing more insights in the time-shifted arena through a specific emphasis on Project Canvas [editor’s note: now renamed YouView]. Additional modules this year have explored usage and attitudes towards audio, news, smart-phones, social networks as well as future expectations.

People will recommend a programme for me to listen to on the internet. An example is Money Saving Expert. Listening on the internet is comparable with the radio.
Male, 46

The area of audio has been the subject of much speculation in recent times. What is audio in the digital age? How and why do people consume the various formats? How has this changed? Does it vary by age or sex or are there other factors that come into play?

To put the results into context, it is useful to remind ourselves why people listen to audio content. We identified four key drivers behind audio listening:

Functional/ information needs
Background/ companionship
Appointment to listen
Entertainment

The radio is mainly for news things. I listen to some music and I listen a lot in the car.
Male, 65 years

For each of these drivers, radio has a clear role to play – but is being challenged by the new technologies available.

I don’t have an MP3 player because I can’t have headphones on in a cab.
Male

Radio’s main stronghold remains functional – providing easy access to news, weather, traffic and other information. This also applies to ‘Appointment to listen events’. However, in the entertainment area, the role of radio has been superseded by the internet, and the rise of MP3 players.

I do listen to the local radio on a Sunday morning. There’s a gardening programme and I listen to that.
Female, 78

With analogue radio switch-off announced for 2015, what does the future of radio hold? Those who have digital radio appreciate the ability to be able to listen to what they want, when they want – although the quality of the output has been questioned.

An old friend of mine has a digital radio at work and I like the fact that it tells you what the track is, a little bit like your iPod does.
Male, 36

More needs to be done to communicate the ability to be able to listen to radio via digital TV – with many people unaware that they can access audio content via their TV. Those who are aware often use this to meet background/companionship needs, albeit via a different platform.

Work with GfK NOP Media!

GfK NOP Media is seeking to recruit a quantitative Research Manager to join its specialist team of 20 executives, based in central London. An enthusiasm for media is essential, as are excellent communication skills and experience in account management and providing excellent client service.

Job Title: Research Manager (quantitative)

Department: GfK NOP Media, Ludgate House

Type: Permanent

Job description, responsibilities

This is a Research Manager role that will incorporate the ability to run major projects with minimum supervision from more senior team members, taking the lead on developing a digital offering and new business development as well as line managing and inspiring more junior members of the team.

Experience, skills, competencies required

The requirements for the successful candidate are:

A passion for media
Experience in understanding and measuring digital platforms
Excellent communication skills (both verbal and written)
Experience in account management and giving excellent client service
Willingness to take responsibility and demonstrate decisiveness, proactivity and commitment
The ability to manage large scale projects with minimal supervision
Working closely with a team of researchers, taking on line management responsibility and taking pride in getting the best out of the team
Having a key focus on project deadlines and delivering results accurately and on time
Evidence of innovative thinking and problem solving
A proven ability to write proposals and win new business
Experience of adding value and insight to projects
Ability to think innovatively and solve problems

About us

GfK NOP Media is a team of 20 executives, working on a mix of panel, continuous and ad-hoc projects across different media. We have a blue-chip client list that includes: BBC, ITV, Ofcom, Virgin Media, CNN, Trinity Mirror Regionals and Sky.

To apply

If you are interested in the vacancy, please upload your CV and covering letter on our website www.gfknop.com/careers or alternatively send your CV and a covering letter to Human Resources Department, Ludgate House, 245 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 9UL or email hruk@gfk.com quoting the reference number below.

Ref: RM.Media.JW.20.08.10

Measuring Engagement: A White Paper

The article below is drawn from a study by GfK NOP Media for the AOP

Why is engagement important?

Engagement, and how to measure it, has become one of the hot topics in the research world over the past few years. In an increasingly cluttered advertising environment, understanding how consumers both engage with – and react to – different media is becoming ever more important, particularly in understanding how these experiences influence purchase decisions.

The relationship that a user has with particular media may actually influence how receptive they are to the advertising contained within; with the premise being that the more engaged a user is with particular media, the more effective the advertising contained within that particular media will be[1].

By understanding the experiences or feelings that consumers are undergoing when in contact with different media, it is possible to develop a series of metrics which will provide an overall measure of engagement and, by default, an indication of how well the advertising contained within that medium will be.

Measuring engagement in an increasingly complex media landscape

Trying to understand this relationship is particularly complicated in the online world; where consumers may visit certain sites very frequently and spend considerable time on these sites, yet not notice any advertising. In certain circumstances, the advertising may even be seen as a hindrance, distracting them from the main purpose of their online activity. As such, volume alone (frequency of visiting and time spent) cannot be a measure of engagement; it is the quality of the time spent on the site, and perceptions of the experience that contribute to overall engagement and receptivity to the advertising contained on that site.

To further complicate matters, consumers are increasingly media multi-tasking, consuming more than one type of media at the same time. Recent research from Ofcom [2] indicated that on average consumers squeezed 8 hours and 48 minutes of media activity into 7 hours and 5 minutes (increasing to 9 hours 32 minutes of activity into 6 hours 35 minutes of media consumption amongst 16-24 year olds).

The same research highlighted (detailed in chart 1) that two fifths of time consumers spend on a computer is on communicating with other people; namely e-mail, social networking and instant messaging, with activities on computers or mobile phones most likely to be undertaken at the same time as other media activities.

Chart 1: Proportion of Computer Use by Activity:

Understanding the online environment – and the impact of site content on engagement

The rapid growth of social networking sites such as Facebook has grabbed headlines and new advertising opportunities as the number of users increased dramatically. However, motivations for using social networking sites are very different to those motivators for using portals, or other sites and the type of engagement is quite different.

To understand these differences, and how this might impact on advertising engagement, the AOP (Association of Online Publishers) commissioned GfK NOP to conduct a research project to examine engagement levels for content sites (that is, websites for which content is produced specifically) versus those for portals and social network sites and how this might impact on advertising perceptions. On face value, both portals and social networking sites have ‘engaged’ users in terms of dwell time and frequency, but how do content sites perform?

Mirroring the approach taken by the OPA (Online Publishers Association) in the US, the AOP project did not start out with a pre-conceived measure of engagement but instead asked respondents to rate particular site types on a battery of different image dimensions. Detailed statistical analysis was conducted on the results to identify different dimensions associated with each site type – together with related advertising measures. This resulted in the identification of 5 core website factors: Trustworthy & Reliable, Opinion Leader & Authoritative, Entertaining & Engaging, Unique & Up-to-date and Community , and 3 advertising factors; Creates awareness, Trust and Response Trigger.

Interestingly, it was the metric of trust and reliability which was more likely to drive a response to the advertising – and one area in which social network sites are still to prove themselves as the chart below illustrates. Consumers who particularly trusted the sites they used were more likely to trust the brands advertising on these sites and, as a result, more likely to respond to the advertising on these sites.

In Summary

Site engagement is a complex relationship and cannot be measured by reach and frequency alone. Consumers’ attitudes towards a website, motivations for using and overall opinion of the site also need to be taken into account. Trust is an extremely important metric for driving advertising response and is yet to be strongly associated with social networks.

For more information please contact:

Christine Connor

Research Director

GfK NOP Media

Christine.connor@gfk.com

Tim Cain

Head of Research & Insight

AOP

Tim.cain@ukaop.org.uk

[1] Calder & Malthouse: ‘Media Engagement and Advertising Effectiveness’

[2] The Communications Market 2010: Key findings of the consumer’s digital day