New Ketchum survey shows media lines continue to blur

January 21, 2009 by Dave Haynes

Big New York-based communications agency Ketchum has released a new survey, the third of its kind, on Media Myths and Realities.

The takeaway this time is that the lines continue to blur between media, just as they are in media technologies.

This melding of media means the content deliverables that were once owned by a specific medium are now found on nearly all platforms – a shift that has helped create an increasingly participatory and fragmented media landscape, reports Kethchum in a press release.

The survey, conducted in late 2008 and released today by Ketchum and the University of Southern California Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center, revealed, for instance, a steep rise in the use of shopping Web sites among consumers, doubling from 2006 to 2008 (17% to 35%). More revealing still, about half of those (44%) who visit shopping Web sites read consumer reviews and comments found on the site, demonstrating that these sites have transformed into virtual social gathering places and information destinations, rather than merely being a place to purchase goods. Consumers are placing more trust in the experiences of their online peers than they are on the retailer’s product descriptions, which is one example of the broadening definition of a social networking site.

This burgeoning participatory media landscape means media audiences are having just as much influence, if not more, than the content providers themselves. 

A run through the methodology shows that in-store digital media and other forms of DS did not hit the radar for the research, which is unfortunate, but the survey nonetheless gives a really interesting snapshot of attitudes and influences out there.

MediaPost’s report on the survey has a nice breakdown of the shift in traditional media consumption and provides more assurance as to why I got the heck out of newspapers.

If you are in the business of selling your digital screen medium against print and broadcast, you can clearly see the slippage and the opportunity to push alternatives, particularly those that get close to purchasing decision moments.