The value of us
For all the fuss over the Federated Media advertorial mess, one underlying message here is that advertisers are coming to care about being close to us — us, the Users or Consumer who Generate Media. They’re coming around slowly, but they’re coming around.
I just saw a Piper Jaffray PowerPoint (sorry, I lost the link) that said that time spent on “user-generated content” sites soared from 3 percent in April of 2005 to 31 percent now: a tenfold increase in just two years and a now huge proportion of time spent online.
That means that advertisers can no longer ignore the content we make, even if they are still scared of it.
And a survey reported in Ad Age last week shows some trepidation still. The Ad Age reporter was unimpressed that 12 percent of senior marketers found consumer-generated and new media “very important.” But I was impressed that 57 percent found it very or something important. Marketers’ main reason for using new media/CGM was to be innovative and ahead of the competition in pushing the latest marketing trend, cited by 36% of marketers. Many also said CGM saves money compared with traditional advertising and marketing, a reason cited by 32% of respondents.
Yet the survey showed that the advertising industry is not taking advantage of new media/CGM. One reason may be hesitation to give the consumer more control. Only 22% said they were “very willing” to allow consumers more control. Others said it could harm their businesses and there is no clear return on investment.
Fools. They still don’t see that we are in control.
And the World Editors Forum blog reports that, according to Hitwise, YouTube is about to surpass the BBC in UK home page visitors. And thanks to MySpace et al, entertainment websites overtook retail and classified traffic.
You just can’t escape us.
Tags: ads
June 24th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Jeff,
Methinks you are giving the collective Us too much credit. I generate content - at about 1,000 hits a week! - and MS didn’t come to me.
I’m too small. And I’m fine with that, really.
The point is FM went to people who have a large following. It’s no different than a company who hires a sports star or a Hollywood figure to ‘endorse’ it’s product.
Yes, UGC sites are growing in popularity… and will continue to proliferate… which means as Our audience grows, We will be sought out for by advertisers.
But that also means that some of the UGC “stars” will also be asked to serve as pitchmen/women for products or services. No one should really fault them for it.
The next few years will be wild and unpredictable. But it will be fun, for sure…
June 24th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
I like what you have to say about credibility (integrity) being an essential element to any form of meaningful communication or conversation. Certainly, there are a tremendous number of bloggers that write intelligent, thought provoking stuff ( jarvis included), and other types of commentary worth perusing, laughing about, getting angry with, exploring, considering, delving deeper into, etc..
Where I draw the line is in the realm of video. Sorry, much (I really mean most) of user generated video is pitiful garbage without any real value other than it provokes an interest, sometimes a substantial interest (I scratch my head) from a largely undefined audience. Is vulgar, stupid, ridiculous, thoughtless, superficial, narcissistic,, nonsensical, video what you are calling upon advertisers to embrace? Is the standard, let the people decide, whatever is popular must be deemed worthy? I hope not.
True, the top down network mentality where the audience gets fed just the information and entertainment the network decides to deliver, thankfully, that magnificient era appears to be over. True, there is room now for the z-franks of this world in addition to the bill maher’s, but the pendulum may have shifted too far. Popularity can also be another word for “lowest common denominator”. YouTube has some (maybe even a substantial number) wonderful videos, but thepopularity ratings applied to the videos are little indication of true value.
Viva La Revolution!
June 25th, 2007 at 8:13 am
Jeff, I thought you might find this quite interesting:
“A place might be interesting simply because there are a lot of other people there at the moment. We’re instinctively drawn towards crowds. “Why are all those people gathered over there? I’ll check it out too.” A swarm of bees clumped on a particular tree branch doesn’t mean that the branch is some magical bee-place with a lock-in for centuries.”
http://tinyurl.com/yt69tx
June 25th, 2007 at 9:27 am
I predict that advertisers will start paying a lot more attention to Consumer Generated Media when we become more segmented by market. Right now there are an awful lot of general blogs attracting general audiences, making it difficult for advertisers to make a pitch to clients as to why any particular blogger’s audience makes particularly good sales prospects. High traffic is something we can’t do that Old Media can. High segmentation is something we can do that Old Media can’t. (Steve Boriss, The Future of News)
June 25th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
You write: “I just saw a Piper Jaffray PowerPoint (sorry, I lost the link) that said that time spent on “user-generated content†sites soared from 3 percent in April of 2005 to 31 percent now: a tenfold increase in just two years”
Just think. In two more years, it’ll be up to 300%.
Sorry. You’ve written another provocative post, but I just couldn’t resist. Poor impulse control.
June 25th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
It is indicative of the corporate mindset that any potential advertiser would feel threatened, i.e., think CGM ‘could harm their businesses’ and not see the advantage of appearing in a community which has intense loyalty as one of its major characteristics. When a product is worthy, its presence on a blog as an ad can get a real boost. If the product’s not any good, no, it won’t help, and the blogging comment/correction is a negative. Good way to separate wheat from chaff.
June 26th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
I think Ruth hits the nail on the head. Why wouldn’t big marketers be wary of bloggers? They’re notorious for using their space to right the wrongs of bad customer service and bad products, at least the ones they know something about. Bloggers are advocates. They’re determined not to follow the “corporate mind-set”. Big marketers probably just view them and their readers as loose cannons. They like spending their money in favorable, or at least neutral, territory.