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goes mainstream
More agencies are recommending it to clients
By Jeremy Schlosberg
The idea that advertisers can stream either audio or video messages onto the internet to get their messages in front of web users is no longer a gee-whiz novelty.
Fully 99 percent of ad agency executives surveyed in a recent study are in fact familiar with this so-called "streaming media" technology.
Not nearly that many have clients who have used it yet, however.
Only 55 percent of the ad-exec respondents in the study, conducted by MeasureCast and the Yankee Group, report that clients of theirs have bought streaming media advertising in the last 12 months.
Sixty-one percent say they have recommended streaming media advertising in the last year and another 65 percent say they will recommend it to clients in the coming year.
The biggest obstacle preventing more widespread usage of streaming media ads online is a rather widespread misunderstanding of the technology.
For instance, among agencies that have not yet recommended that their clients use streaming advertising, the main reason given for not recommending it is a lack of consumer access to streaming media capabilities, cited by 46 percent of respondents.
And yet a report last month from Media Metrix noted that streaming media players are now found on 99 percent of all U.S. computers.
"Those of us in the industry need to do a better job of education," concludes Bill Piwonka, vice president of marketing for MeasureCast, a company specializing in tracking the streaming media audience. "The idea that people don’t have access to streaming media is a perception, not a reality."
This perception that users may not have access to streaming media capability exists also among clients, report the survey’s respondents.
Some 43 percent of ad agency executives surveyed say that lack of consumer access to the technology is one reason their clients are not interested in streaming media advertising.
The biggest reason cited by clients, according to the agencies, is cost: 53 percent of respondents say that the expense of this method of advertising is keeping their clients uninterested.
That streaming media advertising is expensive is another misconception that Piwonka feels those offering streaming media advertising should work to undo. "My belief is you can’t know it’s too expensive until you talk to the broadcasters," he says. "And I believe broadcasters have rates that are very reasonable."
The survey gives one compelling reason why more advertisers may want to look into streaming media advertising: its potential for branding.
Of the various types of internet ad vehicles, respondents identified streaming media advertising as the second-best method for delivering branded messages, just barely behind the No. 1 branding vehicle online, email sponsorships.
Respondents were asked which type of internet advertising will be the best for delivering branding messages over the next 12 months. While 40 percent chose email sponsorships, 39 percent selected streaming media advertising. These two were far ahead of the next two choices—interstitial ads, selected by 14 percent, and banner ads, seen as most effective at branding by just 7 percent.
"Streaming advertising and in particular internet radio advertising is a phenomenal vehicle for branding on the internet," says Piwonka. "Audio advertising is a visceral experience."
If there are still misconceptions in the air about streaming media advertising, general awareness appears to be growing concurrent with increased usage by consumers.
Back in May 2000, 70 percent of ad agency executives surveyed by Arbitron Internet Information Service said that their agencies did not place what that survey called "webcast advertising," which is another term for streaming media advertising, and another 9 percent weren’t sure either way.
And research published recently by Arbitron and Edison Media Research claims that the number of Americans who listen to or watch streaming internet audio or video rose 30 percent between January 2000 and January 2001—up to 13 percent overall from 10 percent the previous year.
-Jeremy Schlosberg is the senior editor for new media.
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