With summer speeding by, all your hectic plans, and your family vacations in the sun, have you been able to stay up to date on the latest digital news? We’ve got you covered. Here’s our expertly compiled and recapped news of note for the past month:
Streamers are not browsers. When video-on-demand subscribers don’t know what to watch, most don’t bother sifting through content to see what they may want to watch. They simply revert to what they know: watching traditional linear TV channels and their DVR recordings, according to Nielsen’s Q1 total audience report. This is a problem for advertisers who most want to reach the 18- to 49-year-old demographic, which is precisely the one that appears to be the most overwhelmed by all the content available and the most indecisive about what to watch. Peter Katsingris, SVP of audience insights at Nielsen said, “Too much choice leads to no choice at all. The challenge for media owners is to get their content or promotion of content to stand out and be sticky as a way to reel in eyeballs.”
Newspapers, such as The Chicago Tribune, The Orlando Sentinel, The Sacramento Bee and The Kansas City Star, have a new way for consumers to get the morning headlines: through daily news briefings now available through voice apps on voice-activated devices, such as smart speakers. Idalmy Carrera-Colucci, senior director of editorial operations at Tribune said, “We’re committed to bringing our readers the most compelling journalism on all of the platforms on which they expect us to be. That’s voice now.”
Due to a robust economy and rising competition, travel companies are opening their wallets and spending more on advertising in the United States this year. In fact, eMarketer says its latest estimates show the travel industry’s overall digital ad spending will grow 21.4% to $10.86 billion this year. One popular channel that travel advertisers use to reach consumers as they research destinations for quick getaways or family vacations is paid search. Sarah Scherer, our product marketing manager here at Goodway Group told eMarketer, “Search is crucial for travel advertisers, and search engines have products that are specialized for the travel industry. It’s foundational for travel advertisers to have a presence on search.” The travel industry must agree on building that strong foundation: According to eMarketer, the industry will spend $5.84 billion on search this year, which comes to 10.9% of total U.S. search spend.
Consumers’ expectations when dealing with brands are changing. A recent survey of over 1,000 consumers by Drift and SurveyMonkey Audience found online shoppers want to communicate quickly with brands to solve issues. Though email and phone remain the top two customer communication channels per the survey, chatbots are gaining ground and offer brands another way to personally connect with people one-to-one to improve the customer experience. In fact, 14% of consumers surveyed said they would prefer using a chatbot over a webform. Another interesting survey tidbit is consumers said they get frustrated when they’re not able to find the answers they need on brand websites and when brands don’t provide 24/7 customer service.
Adobe’s new voice technology survey of 1,000 U.S. adults showed voice is growing: 48% of consumers are using voice for “general web searches” now and doing it more so on their smartphones rather than smart speakers. Though consumers did complain about some of voice technology’s current pitfalls, for instance, accuracy and comprehension, 79% of those surveyed agreed voice still improves their quality of life, and 92% agreed voice technology saves them time. Per the survey, here’s a quick summary of the top five ways voice technology is being used today: Overall, the survey indicated voice’s future is looking bright. In fact, 90% of responders said they wanted voice on more devices, and 44% wanted a touch screen included in voice-activated devices. However, when asked how voice technology should evolve in the future, that result was mixed. Survey takers were torn: 49% said voice technology didn’t need more human qualities, like being able to show sympathy or demonstrate a good sense of humor. Want more news you can use? Follow our blog to stay in the know or reach out to us to learn how you can leverage and benefit from digital media’s hottest tools and trends.