The Pursuit of Human Truth: Starcom's Global Media Intelligence Report

Starcom Worldwide in partnership with eMarketer and GlobalWebIndex has published the Global Media Intelligence study for the past nine years assessing more than 40 countries and 2 billion Internet users The study reveals the trends and differences in consumer preferences by country The results are surprisingquotThere have been a lot of changes across the decadesquot says Kelly Kokonas pictured at top executive vice president global data strategy at Starcom Worldwide quotTrying to find a data source across markets for time spent with media was elusive because there were a lot of data sets across markets as well as a lot of data sources that gave slightly different stats So this intelligence report has become a great resourcequotThis study has proven to be a strategic asset for Starcom clients at the campaign level quotwhen we are doing strategy work understanding people39s changing use of media over time as well as the direction and magnitude of that changequot Kokonas says quotBut it also has a great value at the portfolio level of brands or across categories where this data is used as a foundational understanding for local and global budgets and where to spend by channelquotIt also helps to inform advertisers on emerging channels which may be harder to measure and quotthe return on investment may be lowerquot she addsRevealing Global TrendsHaving a decade39s worth of data enables Kokonas to see profound trends quotTen years ago we were tracking household broadband penetrationquot she says quotand if any market got to 40 percent it was a digital revolutionquotFastForward to where we are today That digital revolution quotis further accelerated by mobile and mobile experiences which have further accelerated overall video viewing including more VOD and the rise of amp8230 smart TVs in the householdquot Kokonas explains adding that even these changes vary across the globe quotYou have to consider all of the changes in the different marketsquotBrazil for example ranks ahead of all other markets in mobile phone usage while Russian media is still in a state of transition with digital devices and activities becoming more mainstream for the first time the report found China still stands as an outlier Kokonas points out Consumers there lead in adopting smart devices such as a digitally enabled wristband smart doorbell or other smart appliances The magnitude of those changes year over year will continue to be profoundRevealing Global Consumer BehaviorsWith all of the convenience and connectedness that technology offers today are consumers becoming more demanding of its capabilities quotCertainly consumer expectations are highquot Kokonas says quotWe can infer that amp8212 with the proliferation of devices for these digitallyenabled experiences amp8212 as people are surprised and delighted with what they can do on their mobile device or with a branded experience there is enthusiasm for more of these experiencesquotThese experiences go far beyond static advertising which consumers may want to avoid People are drawn to quotpremium experiences amp8230 that they love and get some benefit from that makes them lean in and engage in a transaction with a brand in a different wayquot Kokonas explains All these experiences are intertwined with commerce as behaviors are tracked through the funnel enabling a clearer quotwhyquot quothowquot and how frequently interactions are happening between consumers and brandsBrands Harnessing the New TechnologyThere are myriad opportunities in every vertical to harness the potential of emerging technologies amp8212from mobile banking to CPG involving mobile payments and commerce The extent to which individual brands harness the power of new technology depends on their digital maturity just like the differences across countries Kokonas points out Some clients she says are even strategizing in product and commerce development quotThe extent of those specifics depends on the category the brand and the maturity of the marketquot she saysFor marketers who want to harness a specific technology the report may provide the needed insight In the case of voice technology for example the report enables marketers to quotsee which of those geographies have a mature enough marketplace around voice assistants to invest amp8230 marketing dollars and expect a positive returnquotSurprises in this Year39s StudyEmerging technology is expanding in some interesting ways quotVoice assistants tend to skew male and young which I find interestingquot Kokonas says quotI39m not sure why that would be But then I remind myself that it is not just an Alexa in the household but it39s also geonavigationquotIn addition she is seeing from the report findings that the use of digital devices is increasing but the rate of the increase by country varies because of logistics and infrastructure For example digital viewers in Germany especially older adults are still attached to traditional media and are not rushing to adapt to new technology Part of this is due to a lack of robust networks since so much money was spent instead on reunificationCompare this to Hong Kong which admittedly has a smaller geography but also is among those with the quotworld39s highest rate of advanced digital device ownership which is encouraged by virtual universal internet accessquot Kokonas saysWhat39s Nextamp8230Kokonas believes that this study is ideal for helping marketers to expand the range of opportunities they can use to reach the right audiences even if standard measurement hasn39t quite caught up to the advancing technology quotIt will continue to be elusive as to how to measure return on investment I have not seen a marketing mix model on voice yet for examplequot she says quotThere will always be this pressure this tension to measure these emerging technologies and their ability to impact business The best way forward is to test and learnquotBut beyond that she added quotit is about the relentless pursuit of the human truth This data is really an awesome baseline for all of that across so many different media channels and media experiences as well as across the different countriesquot she concludedClick the social buttons to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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The Pursuit of Human Truth: Starcom's Global Media Intelligence Report

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Charlene Weisler

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