Advertisers Relying Less on Traditional Media

A Harris-LinkedIn survey (.pdf) of just over 1,000 US advertising “decision makers” released last week found that advertisers were migrating away from print and other traditional media — no surprise there — and adding more digital media to the mix.

The top-level findings:

• 92% [of advertisers] are typically incorporating Internet advertising into their media campaigns
• 88% say they are incorporating print advertising
• 46% use radio advertising
• 46% use television advertising
• 39% say they’re using “digital advertising, such as through cell phones”

Today vs. a year ago:

The chart above reflects that advertisers are using traditional media less often than a year ago. In addition, just over half (54%) of advertisers report that they use the Internet as part of a larger “integrated campaign with other media.”

Intentions behind use of online advertising:

Note the line “to drive information gathering for an offline transaction” as the chief use (65%) after “branding.” This is quite significant in my view and indicates that marketers do “get” how consumers use the Internet as a research tool before buying locally.

Consumer unhappiness with online ad units:

A parallel survey conducted by Harris asked consumers about their likes and dislikes re Internet ads (n=2,025 US adults):

Consumers tend to express more frustrations and dislike about digital advertising than traditional advertising. They also tend to trust digital advertising less than they trust traditional media ads.

A final note: the relatively large number of advertisers that say they’re using mobile advertising — “digital advertising, such as through cell phones” — causes me to question the survey results to some degree. Clearly more advertisers are moving budget to digital media and relying on traditional less, but the 39% who said they’re using mobile advertising is too high in my view to be extrapolated.

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