MediaCommunications

MediaCom View: IPC Insight, the division of IPC Advertising responsible for spearheading consumer research, has unveiled a major new research initiative designed to provide a continuous channel through which to understand the evolving attitudes and behaviour of women across the country.

This is a rolling study entitled 'Origin Panel' and will be the largest on-going research programme IPC has ever undertaken. It marks the beginning of a new initiative designed to provide IPC with unrivalled consumer insight into the UK’s female population. This ongoing research could provide an authority for key clients, ensuring they develop more effective relationships with consumers and measures the effectiveness of their advertising message. Insight gathered from The Origin Panel can also be used in conjunction with key clients to create bespoke research solutions, as well as informing brand and product development across IPC.

MediaCom View: Everyone is talking about them, but what exactly are they? The wikipedia definition states that "A widget is anything that can be embedded within a page of HTMLhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML, i.e. a web page. A widget adds some content to that page that is not static. Widgets are commonplace and are used by bloggers, social network users, auction sites and owners of personal web sites” But how are brands going to be using them? Rather than relying on a broadcast method of advertising to push messages out via ad units, widgets are being produced, full of wonderful content for people to enjoy, consumers will be encouraged to download the widget application and become brand advocates by placing it on their Facebook, Freewebs and My Space pages.

Publishers that have built and deployed widgets on the Facebook platform have seen a dramatic increase in both global and domestic traffic, according to Quantcast. For example, Slide, a media-based social network, created a widget that let Facebook member’s trade photo slideshows with their friends. Just six weeks after launching the application on Facebook's platform, daily unique visitors to Slide.com grew from 312,000 to more than 1 million--a whopping 256% increase. Global traffic also surged by more than 200%, with daily uniques growing from 753,000 to more than 2 million.

MediaCom View: Radio groups are reporting double-digit growth in revenues for the summer months, as a new-found faith in radio advertising takes effect. GCap, Chrysalis, Virgin and GMG said they anticipated an increase in revenues year on year for June, July and August. Sales directors say the figures indicate a resurgence of confidence in Radio. With the newly formed Radiocentre improving the profile of the medium, award winning Channel 4 entering the radio market with the second digital multiplex and Charles Allen's Global Radio buying Heart FM's parent company Chrysalis Radio, the industry is looking forward to a re-appraisal of the importance of Radio advertising. There is more econometric evidence of the responsiveness and effectiveness of Radio advertising and non-spot activity and this combined with tighter targeting through niche interest digital stations like Oneword, Gaydar and Planet Rock has created a positive buzz for the Radio business as a whole. Digital radio listening and penetration of DAB receivers is growing and despite being a 'traditional' medium, Radio has shown that it is moving with the times by offering Dabverts, Podcast audio content, music downloads direct from Radio to mobile (Cliq) and the first digital radio EPG. The Radio groups can't relax yet but things are certainly looking up at present.

MediaCom View: While this statistic is impressive it actually doesn't tell the whole story. Regular users of the messenger service (the key driver of the volume) will know that the application generally sits open far longer than it is actually used, as it can sit idle behind other applications until a message is received. So 'time spent' in this case is not a necessarily a proxy for 'engagement'.