Kelly Scott Madison announced the release of its " 2012 STATE OF MEDIA " report, a 55-page analysis that details the current media and advertising landscape and forecasts upcoming industry trends.
The annual report, which breaks down media segments into five main categories, indicated the industry is currently in the midst of a revolution due to unprecedented rates of consumer technology adoption, platform convergence and increased access to analytics. Not only has the introduction and true embracement of cutting-edge gear, such as tablets and continuously-evolving mobile devices changed the very way consumers absorb media, but now more than ever trends are showing that users increasingly expect to interact with all content providers through multiple online and offline formats.
Industry shifts are also causing advertisers to experience big changes, specifically in regards to audience targeting. Because of market convergence, agencies are now more apt to experiment with a mix of digital and traditional tactics in new campaigns. However, due to the speed at which analytics and technology are constantly advancing along with recent developments in privacy regulation, companies will likely be testing these efforts in a trial and error manner into the foreseeable future.
Key findings from the 2012 STATE OF MEDIA report include:
- Faster technology adoption: It took tablets less than two years to reach the 40 million unit mark; that same level of adoption took seven years for smartphones.
- Market clutter: Less than 4 percent of videos on YouTube exceed the 100,000 viewer mark. Now more than ever, advertisers have to find the most appropriate delivery method and make strong marketing decisions in order to avoid having their messages lost in the clutter.
- Privacy Issues: As the industry continues to battle consumer misconceptions and fears over privacy issues, education and self-regulatory practices will be key to maintaining order. Regulators will continue to face outcry from advertisers that are unsure of how costly proposed standards will benefit all those involved.
- Data overload: The digital media industry is "drowning in data" and will only overcome this issue by successfully understanding how their key target groups are currently consuming media, thus allowing them to separate insignificant performance metrics from those that matter most.
- Wireless Spectrum shortage: Better known as wireless signals, spectrum is a finite resource and licensed to companies by the government. Its availability over the coming years will become a large issue as smartphones and tablets are essentially rendered useless without it. Cable, broadcast and mobile providers will fight to maintain a hold on spectrum, and whoever wins will literally own the market.
