By Enid Burns 

Media consumption has shifted from traditional media to digital, finds Netpop Research, a syndicated division of media-screen.

In a typical month, the average person spends about 30 percent of
her time listening to audio content -- music, podcasts, or recorded
books -- on the computer; 48 percent of her time watching video
content, including TV shows and full-length films; and 37 percent of
her time reading print content, such as newspaper articles, magazine
features, and books.

A social element has evolved from these new content consumption
behaviors. "People are spending about an hour a day, on average,
communicating about the entertainment, for leisure purposes," said Josh
Crandall, managing director of media-screen.

About a quarter of respondents say they are motivated to post
opinions about TV shows, films, songs, games, graphic novels, and other
forms of entertainment because they disagree with something someone
else has said. Compare that to the fifth of respondents who post to
promote a new entertainment product they want others to know about.

The report dubs this form of social media "communitainment," or the
social activities that support online entertainment content. The report
finds it's on the rise among 13 to 34 year olds, with 60 percent in
this age group regularly engaging in at least one communitainment
activity.

"What's happening with the computer screen is not only are they able
to consume 'Lost' or one or two four-minute videos, but they are [also]
able to send it to a friend, give their opinion, and meet new people,"
said Crandall. "It becomes a much more engaged environment for people."

The online survey was fielded in August 2007 and consisted of 4,068 broadband users aged 13 or older in the United States.

Pop culture is a crazy, revenue driving machine but did you know
that those addicted to pop culture turn to the Internet first for their
entertainment news? According to a new report from NetPop, 36% of time
spent with entertainment is spent via computer.

by Kristina Knight

Especially for younger consumers (aged 13 - 34 years), online
portals are their primary resource for entertainment content and news.
On average, 60% of these consumers
engage with online entertainment each week, spending more than 70
minutes each day on "communitainment" activities through social
platforms. They are talking on message boards about a favorite show,
blogging about a new album release or telling friends about a new movie.

Also, consumers are listening to audio files (30%), watching video content (48%) or reading print content (37%).

“Increasingly, the medium is no longer the message for entertainment
content.” said Josh Crandall, managing director of Media-Screen LLC,
the creator of Netpop. “With content set free, marketers and
advertisers need to think beyond the medium, beyond the device, to
capture eyeballs in a meaningful way.”

What this indicates is that marketers need to really begin looking
into product placements and sponsorships related to entertainment
activities. With so many consumers logging on to the Internet for
entertainment news, television shows and CD releases, it makes sense
for marketers to have their products in those outlets as well.

These Surfers Do It Their Own Way

Ryan Pyle / Corbis

Plugged In: A young man in Hangzhou, China, surfs the Web

Herman Tang is just the kind of customer tech companies in China are trying to woo. He's a twentysomething student at a topnotch Beijing university, and he's adept at using all the latest Internet technologies. He joined the Chinese social-networking service Xiaonei, which allows members to post opinions and comment on each other's personal pages. He's checked out the English-language site Facebook, which is looking for a foothold in Asia's biggest market. But when it comes to keeping in touch with his friends, Herman says both sites are too "passive." He prefers the immediacy of instant messaging, from his PC at home and his cell phone when he's on the go. With IM, he says, "you can connect with anyone, any time—that's what makes it great."

Herman's not alone: China's Internet audience has, for the most part, given sites like Facebook and MySpace the cold shoulder. Even local Chinese sites like Xiaonei or 51.com have failed to establish big national followings. What may seem on the surface to be a stubborn backwardness on the part of the Chinese, however, could also be interpreted as a viable alternative to Western-style social networking. Many experts are starting to think that the Chinese are leading the way to a new kind of social Internet—one that emphasizes the kind of instant communication that Herman and his friends prize so highly. Recent surveys leave little doubt that a different kind of Internet culture is emerging in China—younger, more devoted, more addicted to speed and intimacy than its Western counterparts. With tens of millions of Chinese gaining access to broadband each year, says a recent study by the Internet research firm [Media-Screen and it's tracking study titled] Netpop comparing China and the United States, "Chinese have the potential to shape Web commerce and culture far beyond their own country."

Read the rest of the story here.

For these reasons, the survey's authors contend that China's broadband users disproportionately influence the consumer marketplace. Josh Crandall, managing director of the San Francisco-based research firm, said this population is already "very comfortable with user-generated content. One of the biggest surprises was the diversity and volume of content that the Chinese are contributing—they're very active with blogging, in forums and on discussion boards."

The report, "China and the U.S. in a Web 2.0 World," also reveals that nearly half of all Chinese broadbanders ages 13 to 35 contribute something online in a typical month, compared to only about 15 percent of younger Americans. The Chinese are also more likely to publish a blog (40 percent to 13 percent), review a product (32 percent to 22 percent) and use chat rooms (45 percent to 16 percent).

Read the rest of this story at Adweek by clicking on the title above.

Netpop.com, a consumer market-data web site, recently came out with
a report that is one in a series to come of studies on various
international consumer behavior markets entitled “Netpop|Nations: China
and the U.S. Web 2.0 Behavior.” This report outlines insights on
Chinese consumer behavior that may assist American companies looking to
expand into this somewhat untapped, burgeoning marketplace.

One of the major findings was that user-generated content influences
about 58% of all purchases in China compared to only 19% in the United
States. This means that social media companies stand to benefit from
their current business practices. These consumers are highly engaged
online with a 47% total of broadband users posting comments on blogs,
chat rooms and forums compared to only 28% of broadband users in the
U.S. Managing director of Media-Screen LLC and creator of Netpop Josh
Crandall said “The pull market trend is only accelerating. There is a
wide gap found between consumer behavior and the allocation of
marketing assets. We’re really attempting to provide CMOs the evidence
to back up their case for increased online ad expenditures.”

Start-Ups Push to Subsidize Phone Apps With Ads, but That Strategy Could Strip Carriers of Billions in Revenue

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By
Alice Z. Cuneo

Published: November 12, 2007

Is corporate greed stifling mobile marketing's potential?

Clipped from the full article:

Not for the family
Few of the wireless carriers, internet companies, content providers and
upstart middlemen jockeying over the potential mobile bounty, estimated
to be $10 billion or more in a few years, are thinking about sharing
some of it with wireless subscribers. And that's too bad, said Josh
Crandall, managing director at Media-Screen, a San Francisco-based
market-research firm, because one of the main barriers to adoption is
the cost associated with more-advanced, non-voice features. "The
pricing model needs to change," he said.

His firm conducted a study of more than 4,000 consumers, and
only 11% said they use their phones' extra features. Added fees and
small screen size were the biggest barriers to using more data
services.

Mr. Crandall said carrier pricing policies for data plans are
established to generate revenue from business customers and are not
optimized for the benefit of the consumer market. "There are no data
plans for the entire family," he said, which would make the services
and the advertising on them easier to swallow.

For the full article, click on the title to be directed to Ad Age.

While China's general population has been online for less time than the U.S., online social media and research are quickly becoming a purchase decision tools in the world's most populus country. A report, "Netpop China," released this month by Netpop, look at Internet usage in China, and key differences with the U.S. Internet population.

User-generated content plays a role in purchase decisions in China, as 58 percent of purchases are influenced by consumer reviews and ratings sites, forums and discussion boards, blogs, and other social media sites. In contrast, about 19 percent of purchase decisions in the U.S. are influenced by user-generated content.

"We see China surpasses the U.S. in looking to content that's been uploaded by individuals, and also with regards to shopping, the number of hours spent researching shopping in the U.S. on average is 2.9 hours. In China it is 3.4 hours spent online for a particular purchase," said Josh Crandall, managing director of Media Screen, the research organization that released the Netpop report.

Read the complete article by clicking on the title and visiting ClickZ.

Blogs to Podcasts, online users in China are adopting Web 2.0
interfaces faster than their American counterparts. According to a
recent NetPop report user-generated content impacts 58% of Chinese
purchases but only about 19% of American purchases.

Chinese consumers have dramatically surpassed Americans in adopting
Web 2.0 behavior, relying heavily on social media for guidance in
purchase decisions, according to data from Netpop.

The Chinese-consumer behavior data have broad implications for
American companies intent on selling consumer goods in China, Netpop
said.