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Holtz Communications + Technology

Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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New media study reinforces what we already know

Deloitte isn’t exactly the kind of company you’d expect to find at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), taking place now in Las Vegas. But Deloitte is there and meeting with people looking for consultations on the results of a new study, “State of the Media Democracy,” which the consulting firm unveiled today.

You won’t be bowled over by the results, which serve more to reinforce findings of other studies (and common sense) than offer mind-blowing revelations. But some of the numbers are still interesting enough to compile into a bullet list:

  • 45% of respondents—representing U.S. media consumers—develop websites, photo albums, blogs and music online to share with everybody from family and friends to complete strangers. That is, the notion of consumer-generated content is alive and well.
  • 32% of consumers consider themselves to be “broadcasters” of their own media
  • 54% are increasingly making their own entertainment
  • 69% are consumer content created by others
  • 69% find their computers more entertaining than their TVs, and over one-third watch TV shows online
  • 58% want to connect their TV to the Net so they can download content or view anything they like on their computers
  • 36% use their cell phones as an entertainment device
  • 50% of female Americans said videogames, PC games, and Internet games have become important entertainment sources
  • 19% of GenXers said ads or product placement in virtual worlds like Second Life are the most influential form of online advertising
  • 23% of Millenials said ads or product placements in video games are the most influential form of online advertising

In every case, these numbers were dramatically higher than in a survey Deloitte conducted earlier in 2007 (this one was conducted between October 25-31) by Harrison Group, an independent research company, with 2,081 consumers between the ages of 13-75.

Comments
  • 1.Thanks for finding this and sharing it. It's important to those of us who are marketing our non-profit concerns (especially churches) to the "marketplace." I always wonder about the efficacy of traditional advertising media, and am always on the lookout for ways to connect with potential new constituents. (The report actually suggested that newsprint is not dead, but only that new media and virtual product placement are taking increasingly important roles in the marketing mix.)

    Mike | January 2008 | Hampton, Va

  • 2.As you said, Shel, not exactly paradigm-shifting insight but interesting stats all the same. Companies are moving into engaging with consumers via social media but are playing follow my leader to some extent. Two areas worth looking at are extracting consumer and market insight and engagement from myriad social media (see Sense and Online Sensibility in Online Journal of Research http://ijor.mypublicsquare.com/)and the widget space (http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/17891.asp).
    Be bold, marketers (and PR, customer service,customer insight/engagement)

    Jonathan Moody | January 2008 | London UK

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