With 65 percent of the U.S. population estimated to have a smartphone and/or tablet by 2015, companies would be doing themselves a disservice by only advertising through one screen, as evidenced by a recent Business Insider report which argues that a cross-screen approach to advertising and marketing is a must.
Every great marketer knows that delivering content to where your customers frequent is the key to success. Research shows that consumers typically use two devices simultaneously to gather information. For example, television viewers are increasingly using their smartphones, tablets or laptops to connect to their favorite shows—also known as the “second screen” phenomenon.
In fact, according to a Nielsen study, 41 percent of smartphone owners in the United States use their phones at least once a day while watching TV. Here are some other compelling statistics:
- 61 percent of tablet owners check e-mail while watching TV
- 47 percent visit social networks
- 37 percent look up information pertaining to the show they are watching
- 34 percent check sports scores
- 27 percent look up product information based on a TV ad
So, why only target your specified audience through one platform when you can reach them through several and increase your chances of driving sales, creating new leads, increasing brand awareness and more? For instance, the average amount of time spent on each device during each interaction is as follows: TV, 43 minutes; PC/laptop, 39 minutes; tablet, 30 minutes; and smartphone 17 minutes.
While marketers often fear that bombarding consumers with ads will actually discourage them from purchasing a product or service, cross-screen marketing actually proves otherwise. For example, AdColony used a cross-screen marketing strategy for its client, targeting one set of consumers with a TV ad about the brand and another group of consumers with a cross-screen strategy using TV, iPad and iPhone. The mobile video ad company found that unaided brand recall was 43 percent for audiences who were shown the cross-screen campaign compared to just six percent unaided brand recall for the TV-only strategy. Moreover, 31 percent intended on purchasing the brand for the cross-screen campaign, while only 18 percent had purchase intent for the TV-only ad.
Cross-screen retargeting – the ability to track and give users ads related to sites that they have previously visited – has also proved beneficial for companies. According to reports, Drawbridge, a company that retargets ads from desktops to mobile, has seen a 338 percent return on investment for clients who use cross-screen retargeting.
To avoid inundated customers, the Business Insider report also suggests that frequency capping, “where an individual is only presented an ad a defined number of time in a time period,” should aid in cross-screen marketing’s ability to drive marketing strategies forward.
“A growing number of mobile ad industry companies are arguing that a cross-screen approach integrating mobile is more effective. They're betting that with an increasingly powerful cross-screen pitch they can sell marketers on mobile,” says the report.
To read the full article and report, click here.
