BIGresearch's SIMM 11: New Media Continues to Grow in Influence to Purchase

COLUMBUS, OH--(Marketwire - February 20, 2008) - Advertisers who are trying to increase their ROI would be well advised to pay more attention to what their customers say influence their purchases and, in particular, the new media options which are growing the fastest, according to BIGresearch's (http://www.bigresearch.com) Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM 11, Dec. 07).

While traditional media still rank on top, many are declining in influence and some are showing double digit losses over the previous year; whereas, many new media options are showing double digit growth. For example, when compared to SIMM 9 (Dec. 06), Instant Messaging and Blogging experienced double digit growth for purchase influence of electronics at 22% and 21.5%, respectively. Conversely, Broadcast TV and Cable showed a decline of 13.9% and 14.4%.

"It's no longer enough for marketers to advertise only a slogan or warm fuzzy feeling. Top line sales growth and bottom line increases are where it's at in today's highly competitive no growth market," said Gary Drenik, President of BIGresearch. "Marketers need to better understand the changing dynamics of the consumer media market and develop new marketing plans that integrate new media to replace the erosion of traditional media for influence to purchase. Marketers who can't tap new media options for their influence to purchase will suffer a decline in advertising ROI," said Drenik.

Not only is influence of new media growing, it is much more influential among minority groups. Influence of new media is higher for Hispanics and African Americans across all new media forms compared to all adults. Alternatively, influence of new media for Caucasians is lower than the general market for all types.

Percent of Media Influence on Electronics and Year over Year Growth

              ALL        Y over Y               AFRICAN
New Media     ADULTS 18+ Growth* HISPANICS 18+ AMERICANS 18+ CAUCASIANS 18+
Instant
 Messaging    7.5%       22.0%   11.3%         14.1%         5.1%
Blogging      6.1%       21.5%   9.2%          7.8%          4.8%
Web Radio     6.2%       14.4%   9.2%          11.2%         4.2%
Email
 Advertising  21.5%      9.2%    24.7%         24.4%         20.3%
Internet
 Advertising  22.4%      -1.4%   25.8%         26.4%         20.6%
Satellite
 Radio        8.4%       -6.9%   9.9%          13.2%         6.7%
Video on      6.9%       -10.6%  8.6%          14.6%         4.4%
Cell Phone

Traditional
 Media
Product
 Placement    13.9%      10.2%   19.2%         16.7%         12.2%
Direct Mail   22.5%      4.6%    30.0%         29.7%         19.9%
Coupons       23.1%      1.6%    25.5%         23.4%         21.9%
Yellow Pages  7.9%       1.5%    8.8%          10.5%         6.9%
Radio         19.7%      0.8%    26.1%         30.3%         15.7%
Read Article
 on Product   34.3%      0.6%    30.8%         28.4%         36.7%
Instore
 Promotion    27.4%      0.5%    28.8%         28.6%         26.9%
Word of Mouth 42.6%      0.0%    42.0%         38.3%         44.1%
Outdoor
 Billboards   6.7%       -0.9%   10.4%         10.9%         4.8%
Newspaper     21.8%      -1.2%   22.1%         24.8%         21.1%
Magazines     24.7%      -3.7%   28.8%         25.8%         23.6%
Newspaper
 Inserts      30.5%      -4.5%   28.0%         27.0%         32.1%
TV/Broadcast  27.9%      -13.9%  31.3%         32.7%         26.6%
Cable         18.9%      -14.4%  22.8%         23.1%         17.5%

*Year over year growth for All Adults (SIMM 9 - Dec 06 vs. SIMM 11 - Dec 07) Source: BIGresearch, SIMM 11

Further analysis comparing new media influence to purchase with traditional is available by clicking: http://info.bigresearch.com/.

About BIGresearch

BIGresearch is a consumer intelligence firm providing analysis of behavior in areas of products and services, retail, financial services, automotive, and media. BIGresearch's syndicated Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM) is focused on consumers to gauge their consumption across media, products and services. Marketers can use SIMM to develop the types of consumer-centric marketing plans required to increase advertisers' ROI. The SIMM monitors more than 15,000 consumers twice each year. They also conduct the Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey (CIA) which monitors the pulse of more than 7,000 consumers each month.

BIGresearch's methodology provides the most accurate consumer information in the industry with a margin of error of +/- 1 percent. http://www.bigresearch.com

Contact Information: Contact: Chrissy Wissinger BIGresearch 450 West Wilson Bridge Road Suite 370 Worthington, Ohio 43085 (614) 846-0146