For Advertisers

Defining the new media consumer is a puzzle that faces every medium and every advertiser. Not only is the definition a challenge, but determining what that new definition means to your media plans is yet another piece to the puzzle.

Cross-platform consumers will change how advertisers think about reach and frequency.  Already, through partnerships with networks and leading Web analytics providers, we’re challenging what we knew to be true.

One such partnership among Arbitron, NBC and Web analytics providers Omniture and comScore provided these insights.  Some of our top learnings include:

Olympic viewers of TV plus Internet went the extra mile

Adults 25-34 who followed the Olympics on both TV and online watched three times as much Olympics coverage on NBC as people who only followed the Olympics on TV.

The television screen is still tops

While online video is growing in popularity, television screens still remains the top choice for watching the Olympics. Among adults 18+ who followed the Olympics on TV or the Internet:

• 86% followed the Olympics on TV only
• 1% followed the Olympics online only
• 13% followed the Olympics on both TV and online

Home viewers packed in the Olympics on TV and online simultaneously

Nearly one-third of adults 18+ who followed the Olympics on TV and online at home, watched them simultaneously. That percentage grew to Almost 50% for adults 25-34 who followed the Olympics on TV and online at home, watched them simultaneously.

Age is irrelevant

It doesn’t matter how old the viewers are, they are all nearly equal in their simultaneous media usage.  The breakdown of simultaneous television and Internet Olympic Viewers by age is:

• Adults 18-34: 36%
• Adults 35-49: 30%
• Adults 50+: 34%*

Heavy online viewers are also heavy television viewers.

The more time viewers spent watching the Olympics online, the more time they spent watching them on television. In adults 18+, light Internet Olympics viewers watched a third more Olympics coverage on TV than non-Internet followers.  For heavy Internet Olympics viewers, that number grew to watching two-and-a-half times more Olympics coverage on TV than non-Internet followers.

Last updated: 4.6.10