There is great interest in the development of television technologies such as PVRs, VOD and Interactive TV. Forecasting the consumer response to these new technologies should take the recent history of technology forecasting into account in order to improve such forecasts.Clearly, there is a need to improve technology predictions, since practically all prognoses about the future of TV and new TV technologies made during the 1990s were wrong. This paper takes the point of view that these inaccurate predictions did not occur by chance, but that the forecasters made identifiable mistakes from which we can learn to make more accurate forecasts going forward.
The rapid increase in the number of people who can and do access the Internet, has resulted in similarly strong increases in the amount of money spent for online advertising. This increase in spending makes it more and more important that the effectiveness of these new forms of advertising is explored and that we understand how they work. The body of research that has explored if and how Internet advertising works is still comparatively small, but it is growing rapidly. We will review this research, including a number of unpublished studies, analyze conclusions, and suggest directions for future research. However, before we do that, it is appropriate to define what we consider Internet advertising.
This presentation reviews research on the impact of different forms of online advertising presents the authors analysis of the findings and suggests directions for future research. The main conclusions are first that advertising on the Internet can be very effective; and secondly for most forms of advertising the Web should not be regarded as a substitute for advertising on traditional media. Rather indications are that Internet advertising works best if it is part of a coordinated campaign that includes traditional media. In order to explore this issue further we recommend that future research treat the Internet not in isolation but in the context of other media.
The concept of harmonization of television ratings from different countries has been discussed for well over five years. The first impulses towards this goal came from Europe and they focused on Europe, where a number of countries were working with peoplemeter systems which had a lot of similarities, but also enough differences to make ratings comparisons between countries difficult, if not impossible. More recently, the concept of harmonization has been extended to encompass countries around the globe. It is hoped that countries which are building new measuring systems will embrace principles of harmonization put forth by organizations ranging from the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) to the WFA (World Federation of Advertisers). Our paper suggests that the perceptions which create these obstacles to harmonization are largely based on misunderstandings about the meaning of harmonization. We will show that harmonization does not mean abandoning specific features, but rather adding flexibility and access and that the outcome of such efforts would benefit everybody, not a limited group of international players. We think that concerns and possible misconceptions about the nature and goals of harmonization efforts need to be addressed openly in order to overcome negative perceptions.
Out-of-home viewing has been documented in a number of studies. Much of this research has been conducted in the U.S., most recently in 1994. That study confirmed that there is a considerable amount of viewing in locations which are not measured by Nielsen's meter panel, especially by young people, students, business travelers, and working women. While such research is driven primarily by commercial interests, a comparison between out-of-home data from different countries reveals that it is also a source of valuable information about the impact of culture and lifestyle on the use of television. This paper compares the findings from the American studies with those from the first study of out-of-home TV usage in Germany. The German study was conducted because, as in the U.S., the German meter panel does not measure viewing outside of private homes and it excludes visitor viewing. The German study, therefore, covers all viewing outside of one's own home, that is, out-of-home viewing and visitor viewing. The results show a number of similarities with the U.S. data, but also suggest distinct differences which point to cultural and lifestyle differences between the two countries. The results of this analysis indicate that more research on this topic and international comparisons of the findings are likely to produce interesting and valuable information not only for advertisers, but also for TV programmers and even for sociologists. Such data not only show us the TRUE amount of total television usage, they also show us the way in which different viewer groups use television, and they help us understand how television fits into viewers' lives.
During the fall of 1992 the Network Television Association (NTA) an organization that was created by the three major U.S. television networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) to promote awareness of the networks and serve as a research resource -- commissioned the A.C. Nielsen Company to conduct a study of "out-of-home" viewing in the United States. The findings of that study are being presented at the 1994 ESOMAR Research Symposium by Marcella Rosen, President of the NTA. We recommend reading that report, as this paper assumes familiarity with that study's findings. Building on the findings of the 1992 study, this paper reports on research that explores the nature of out-of-home viewing patterns. The findings suggest that most out-of-home viewing is planned and attentive exposure which is concentrated among specific population groups those which live in unmeasured locations, are away from home temporarily, or choose to watch in non-residentiai locations. As out-of-home viewing is driven by sociological, economic and lifestyle factors, the research points to a number of differences between the American and European out-of- home audiences. At the same time, the data indicate that most segments of the out-of- home audience in all countries are of strategic importance to advertisers. For those reasons, and because there is evidence for further increases in out-of-home viewing, this paper calls for continuous research on this audience.