In the many unsettled areas of new media, including local, the questions can sometimes be more interesting than the answers. This is especially the case in the new executive survey by our friends at Borrell Associates.
This round, the latest in a continuing series, focuses largely on the potential of online video advertising by TV stations and other local media channels– something that I think is often overstated by Borrell, but cannot be counted out.
The questions buttonhole survey respondents by first asking the probability of an event (ie 0-20%, 80-100%), and then asking how long it will take before it happens (ie 1-2 years, 20+ years). Local Onliner readers are invited to join the hundreds of participants by emailing abby@borrellassociates.com for an invitation. Here is the provocative list of questions, posed as statements.
1. Local ad spending share for TV station websites exceeds that of local newspaper websites.
2. Virtual tours of stores, restaurants and other advertisers using streaming video become the preferred format for local TV website ads.
3. Podcast ads become a significant ($1 billion + per year) ad category. They include links allowing mobile users to make reservations or purchase products.
4. Fueled by streaming video, the majority of online ad spending by Realtors shifts from newspaper websites to TV station websites
5. Video-streamed “help wanted” ads feature interactive “virtual first interviews” between candidates and employers.
6. Virtual product placement in video games becomes a significant ad category.
7. Print advertising of online services becomes a more important ad category for newspapers than recruitment advertising.
8. Movie and video game distributors spend more ad money on podcast/video-streamed trailers than on any other media choice.
9. Spending on business-to-business e-mail marketing exceeds spending on business-to-business direct mail.
10. U.S. newspaper print ad revenue from the classified verticals – real estate, auto, and recruitment – drops below half of what it was in 2000.
Being in the auto and real estate industry the questions/answers are right on. It seems that everyone wants their information and marketing messages in video format. WIth all of the attention that CNN/FOX etc give to news stories more and more people are getting used to instant information. This is great for marketers who can capitalize on this trend.