To illustrate this, we decided to take a peek into the behaviors of viewers to this season’s new broadcast shows that aired on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox during the month of September. In this example, given the explosion of media multitasking, we thought it was relevant to identify the likelihood of each program’s viewers to use the Internet via their computer while watching TV. A list of the 14 new shows that have premiered so far this season — seven each half-hour sitcoms and hour-long dramas — are listed below. The sitcoms are in blue, the dramas in red.

Using Simmons TV BehaviorGraphics, a proprietary consumer segmentation system based on TV viewing behaviors that links 60,000 consumer elements measured by the trusted Simmons National Consumer Study (NCS) to Nielsen’s National Television Index (NTI), we identified the nine viewing segments that rank highest in the NCS for their propensity to surf the Web while watching TV. The top scoring segment is one called Trendsetters. This segment’s TV viewing behavior is highly focused on entertainment TV, which includes programs on E!, Bravo, MTV and more. In addition to media multitasking, Trendsetters stay on top of the latest celebrity gossip, own the latest electronic gadgets and stay in touch with friends through social media. A brief profile of all of the top-ranking segments is below.

With the top-indexing BehaviorGraphics segments in hand, we can then examine their viewing to each of the 14 new broadcast programs against the latest ratings data from Nielsen. Below, listed in descending order, are the programs where we can find the highest concentrations of these media multitaskers among the viewing audience.

What is interesting about the rankings in this list is that sitcoms are much more likely to have an audience that is multitasking, compared with dramas in general. This is not surprising, given that the audience that is likely to do this is younger, as are sitcom viewers, and that dramas tend to require more involvement in the story to keep up with the plotlines.

The big exception in the list above is Revolution, on NBC, whose viewers are 25% more likely than adults 18+ to be online on their computers while watching TV. This post-apocalyptic drama series follows a young woman and her family as they try to find out why the power suddenly went out all over Earth and use a mysterious device they have to reboot the system. With executive production duties held by JJ Abrams (of Lost fame), it is no wonder that tech-savvy viewers are 25% more likely than the average adult to be media multitaskers.

The new sitcom most likely to attract these online multitaskers is the Mindy Project — starring Mindy Kaling, much known to TV viewers as Kelly from The Office — another show popular with young, tech-savvy viewers, with over 10 million Facebook fans. The Mindy Project, off to a strong start with nearly 75,000 Facebook fans, follows Mindy, an OB/GYN trying to juggle her busy personal and chaotic professional lives.

Advertisers who have committed to these shows should be aware of the higher than average likelihood that viewers are splitting their attention between the TV and the Internet. However, this also presents advertisers with an opportunity to engage viewers even more by driving them to Web properties, including the company or product Website, social media page or a hashtag that can provide targeted consumers with more information about the advertised product or with a way to interact with the brand in a more personal way.

The month of October brings more new programs, including Arrow (CW), Chicago Fire (NBC), Nashville (ABC), Beauty and the Beast (CW), and Emily Owens, MD (CW). Along with these new shows, it will be interesting to see how the audiences for returning shows change with the new TV landscape. Stay tuned for further updates on the attitudes, behaviors and lifestyles of TV viewers this fall.

Learn more about Simmons TV BehaviorGraphics and download a sample profile of BehaviorGraphics segment.

The segments come from the PoliticalPersonas consumer segmentation system, which classifies U.S. adults into one of 10 unique segments based on the individual’s political outlook and party ID as well as their attitudes and opinions towards key topics.

The segments we will focus on in this post include the Super Democrats and Ultra Conservatives segments, which represent the most party loyal voters for Democrats and Republicans, respectively. We will also profile the TV preferences of three important swing voter segments during this election cycle, including: Mild Republicans, On the Fence Liberals and Green Traditionalists. For more information about the PoliticalPersonas segments, download the PoliticalPersonas Report.

The shows in each list include those cable and broadcast TV shows with the highest concentration of viewers from each segment. For example, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central has the highest concentration of Super Democrats of any non-news cable or broadcast show on TV. Likewise, Rules of Engagement on CBS has the highest concentration of Mild Republicans. Candidates, political organizations, and even traditional advertisers trying to connect with any of these voting segments would be wise to consider advertising on the programs listed below.

For more information on PoliticalPersonas, watch our Webcast.

While younger audiences are largely tuned out and overall ratings for the World Series continue to decline, Cardinals and Rangers fans in St. Louis and Dallas/Ft. Worth most certainly will be tuning in.  The Cardinals are in pursuit of their eleventh World Series championship.  In direct contrast, the Rangers enter the World Series having won only one World Series game in franchise history.

When measured strictly by past World Series success, the Cardinals and Rangers look vastly different.  There are also some pronounced variances when comparing the profiles of the home markets for these two teams.  Here are key highlights of differences in household composition of the St. Louis and Dallas/Ft. Worth CBSA market areas as measured by Experian’s Mosaic segmentation solution.  A penetration index for each segment compared to the U.S. is shown in parenthesis.  An index of 100 indicates that the concentration of households in the segment for the CBSA market and the total U.S. are equal.

–          Striving Single Scene (332), a diverse segment consisting of young multi-ethnic singles living in city centers, is strongly over-represented in Dallas/Ft. Worth.  Some of the top interests of this segment include yoga, jogging/running, and tennis.

–          Blue Collar Comfort (206), the domain of middle-class families with solid blue-collar jobs, has a much stronger presence in St. Louis.  Distinguishing characteristics of this segment include going to the zoo and listening to country music.

–          Given the strong Hispanic heritage of Texas, it comes as no surprise that segments including Cul de Sac Diversity (309), Nuevo Horizons (297), and Hispanic Harmony (289) are much more prevalent in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

–          St. Louis gets the nod for being Settled and Sensible (174), a segment defined as older, middle-class and empty-nesting couples and singles in city neighborhoods.  Camping, fishing, and bowling are activities with above average participation rates for these households.

–          Everyday Moderates (389), a segment that predominantly contains mid-scale, multi-cultural couples and families living in mid-tier metro suburban settings, are decidedly more established in Dallas/Ft. Worth.  These households have a penchant for purchasing state lottery tickets and shopping at Wal-Mart.

–          Diapers and Debit Cards (160), a segment characterized by young, single-parent and working-class families living in small established city residences, have an above average presence in St. Louis.  These young families lead hectic lives where meals often involve fast food, takeout, or frozen dinners.

–          Couples with Clout (232), homes comprised of middle-age, childless couples living in affluent metro areas, have a foothold in the Dallas/Ft. Worth market.  These prosperous households are more inclined to take a cruise ship vacation, attend the theater and concerts, and visit museums.

–          Family Fun-tastic (168), a segment described as upscale, family-focused, middle-age couples with older children living in satellite cities, has a high concentration in St. Louis.  Activities with above average participation rates within this segment include playing a musical instrument, listening to jazz, and collecting sports memorabilia.

Your target segments should be ordered and arranged much like a manager determines his team’s batting lineup

Results from this comparison are an excellent reminder for marketers to adjust their targeting strategies based on differences in the importance of specific consumer audiences.  When targeting, think like the manager of a World Series team.  Your target segments should be ordered and arranged much like a manager determines his team’s batting lineup.  Which segments should you consider for the leadoff position (picky and discerning, looking for the best pitch or offer to hit)?  Do you have a methodology for determining which segments represent your most effective power hitters (big, prolific spenders that drive in lots of business)?  Every lineup contains some light hitters (below average spending power).  Which of your light hitting segments would you place lower in the batting order?  By taking the time to identify your segmentation starting lineup you will most certainly increase your chances of success.

There are a few things I have yet to accurately predict with Internet data, namely political races and sporting events. Politics is tricky given the existence of confounding variables in visits to political sites. Sporting events, as skill based competition, have little relationship to search volume or Internet visits. That being said, there’s no reason why we can’t have a little fun with the data.

On our Experian Marketing Forward Blog we have some great posts comparing the two geographic markets of Green Bay and Pittsburgh (here and here). With Experian Hitwise, using the official team sites for the Packers and Steelers (assuming visitors to each site is a good proxy for a team fan) we can analyze the difference between the two.

At Experian Hitwise, we have the ability to report, in aggregate on the VantageScore bins for visitors to sites and categories (VantageScore is a grade-based credit scoring system, A = best credit, F= worst credit).

Here’s the comparison of visitors to the Steelers’ and Packers’ websites over the last four weeks:

While the latest Vegas odds are still showing Green Bay favored by three. The spread in VantageScore for visitors to the two sites shows a much stronger gap. While this might not help predict Sunday’s winner, I’m guessing that Packer fans have been able to finance better last-minute LCD TV purchases for the game.

I love this time of year. Anticipation builds around the match-up, Green Bay vs. Pittsburgh, Danica Patrick plus Jillian Michaels on the eagerly anticipated Go Daddy commercial, and whether the Super Bowl could cause a heart attack mid-game.

But beyond Packers vs. Steelers (I’ll leave the Patrick vs. Michaels match-up for a post game analysis) there’s another interesting match-up for my online data peeps; is social gaining on search as a navigational tool. First lets look at a chart of “Super Bowl” searches over the last three years.

First, we should note that over the last three years, U.S. searchers have realized that the Super Bowl is spelled as two words, not “superbowl.” Also by looking at this chart you might guess that, by search volume, there is less interest for online Super Bowl content. A separate analysis of visits to the official Super Bowl site however, indicate that we’re seeing a greater pregame surge in visits than in previous years. So why is traffic share on the term “Super Bowl” declining this year?

The chart above compares upstream traffic to Superbowl.com for this week versus the week before Super Bowl last year, you can see that traffic from all three search engines to the official game site have dropped, while traffic from Facebook has more than doubled.

Is this a sign that, as a navigational tool, social is gaining on search?

On a separate note, one of the reasons that I love working at Experian Marketing Services is the sheer volume of data that we have at our disposal, both online and offline. Check out these posts here and here from my esteemed colleague Bill Schneider on the depth of our market data comparing Pittsburgh to Green Bay.

To provide those insights, we conducted a detailed market analysis using a wide variety of data sources including research information from Experian Simmons, Hitwise, and the Mosaic Consumer Lifestyle segmentation solution, which defines the predominant household types for each area (as featured in yesterday’s post: Cheeseheads vs. Terrible Towels). Today, we delve further into the hearts and houses of Green Bay and Pittsburgh area residents.

GREEN BAY FANS PACK THEM IN FOR TAILGATING
Green Bay area residents are more passionate about tailgating compared to their rivals in Pittsburgh. Among those who identify themselves as NFL football fans, Green Bay fans are 1.45 times more likely than Pittsburgh fans to have participated in a tailgate party within the past 12 months. They are also better equipped to tailgate due to a higher ownership rate for midsize SUVs, and both light duty and full size pickups (Road & Track magazine top-rated picks for tailgating), compared to Pittsburgh fans.

STELLA AND STEELERS GO TOGETHER

With every tailgate comes a beverage of choice, and in today’s analysis we’ve found that Bud Light and Budweiser are the light/low calorie and regular domestic brands of beer favored the most by both Green Bay and Pittsburgh fans. However, Pittsburgh fans are 1.56 times more likely than Green Bay fans to down a few of premium brand, Stella Artois. Notably, along with its best selling brands, Anheuser-Busch plans to devote a portion of its multi-million dollar ad spend to this Belgian import.    

FANTASIZING ABOUT FOOTBALL

While all that tailgating is going on, Green Bay fans might also be boasting about their latest fantasy sports selections. They are 1.34 times more likely to say that they participate in a fantasy sports league compared to Pittsburgh fans. That’s not to say that Pittsburgh fans don’t enjoy their fantasy sports, indexing above the national average for visiting fantasy sports and football websites.

PLAYING IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS

Packers and Steelers fans enjoy being out in the elements, so chances are you’ll probably never see a dome over either Lambeau or Heinz Field. The most popular Green Bay football fan activities, with a higher participation rate compared to Pittsburgh fans, are: golfing, camping, state fairs, hunting, power boating and motorcycling. In the Pittsburgh area, with its impressive network of recreational trails, residents are 1.23 times more likely to in-line/roller skate and are 1.36 times more likely to play hockey, compared to Green Bay. Off land analysis shows that despite Green Bay residents’ close proximity to Lake Michigan and a multitude of water sport opportunities, Pittsburgh fans are more likely to spend time on the water, namely: canoeing, kayaking, sailing, and fly fishing.

THROWING DEEP VERSUS HANDING OFF

Each year Super Bowl advertisers try to reach their audiences across broadly defined demographics with little ability to measure the direct impact of their super-sized investments. It’s the equivalent of throwing a “Hail Mary” and hoping the receiver will leap above the clutter of defenders and catch the ball. Direct marketers, however, are using the behavioral and attitudinal data we’ve shared here to deliver their messages to a precisely targeted sub-audience. For marketers who want to be relevant and target accurately, this capability is the playmaker that scores a game winning touchdown every time.  

Click here for the full article

Blog post author: Bill Schneider, VP, Experian Marketing Services.

We’d love to hear your stories and how you’ve used lifestyle data. Please leave your comments or feedback below.

An enlightening glimpse into the lifestyles of Packers and Steelers’ supporters living in Green Bay and Pittsburgh, and surrounding communities, creates exciting targeting opportunities for marketers. Using Mosaic segments from Experian to dissect these two markets, marketers can identify the “Small-town Contentment” of Green Bay – these are middle-aged, upper-middle-class families living in small towns and surrounding satellite cities, versus the “Blue-collar Backbone” of Pittsburgh – these are budget-conscious, young and old blue-collar households living in older towns.

MEET THE PREDOMINATE HOUSEHOLD TYPES IN PACKERS AND STEELERS COUNTRY

In Green Bay you will find over twice the concentration of households from the Small-town Success and Family Convenience segments compared to Pittsburgh. Successful Suburbia (these are upscale, middle-age, married couples with children), the fifth most populated segment in Green Bay, is also the most over-represented segment with five times the concentration of households compared to the national average.

In Pittsburgh you will find a larger share of neighborhoods consisting of households from the Urban Commuter Families and Steadfast Conservative segments compared to Green Bay. Lower-income Essentials (these are lower income, empty-nesting couples and aging seniors) is the third most populated segment in Pittsburgh. With over eight times the concentration of households compared to the national average, this is also the most over-represented segment in Pittsburgh.

SUPER-SIZED MARKETING IS NOT FOR EVERYONE

Not all marketers can afford to spend millions of dollars placing Super Bowl ads to reach massive audiences. A more efficient approach is to target various market segments with relevant messages, using the power of segmentation solutions. A retailer developing a marketing campaign for its new line of children’s apparel should target growing families in the Small-town Success and Family Convenience segments, rather than including populations with older couples and seniors in households that are much less likely to contain children. Time and time again precision targeting based on consumer lifestyles delivers greater return on marketing spend.

While an examination of the differences in the predominate lifestyles and demographics of Green Bay and Pittsburgh may not lead us to a prediction concerning the outcome of the big game, we know one thing for certain - We’ll see lots of Cheeseheads wearing Packer gear trying to out-cheer their Terrible Towel twirling counter parts on Sunday.

What marketing are you doing in honor of Super Bowl Sunday? Does the research and segment information shared here surprise you?  Share your comments below.

Click here for the full article

Blog post author: Bill Schneider, Vice President, Experian Marketing Services at bill.schneider@experian.com

NOTES:

Pittsburgh is the 29^th largest media market (based on DMA).  The Pittsburgh, PA CBSA includes the seven counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland.

Green Bay is the 72^nd largest media market.  The Green Bay, WI CBSA includes the three counties of Brown, Kewaunee and Oconto.

Below is a list of the top 15 programs, according to Experian Simmons’ National Consumer Study, that registered Democrats and registered Republicans both watch at above average rates. To understand how a program can score high for both Republicans and Democrats, it’s important to know that registered Republicans make up 24% of the U.S. adult population and registered Democrats account for 34% of adults. Voters registered with another political party or as independents account for 15% of the adult population and 21% of adults are not registered to vote. Six percent of U.S. adults in the study either did not know if they were registered to vote or did not know which party they were registered with. Therefore, it is entirely possible for programs to perform well among both Republicans and Democrats when compared with other U.S. adults.

Topping the list of unifying shows is The Good Wife on CBS. Republicans are 19% more likely than the average American adult to tune into this hit show starting Julianna Marguiles as the wife of a Chicago politician caught up in a public sex affair and political corruption scandal. But Democrats too flock to The Good Wife-now in its second season-at rates 24% above the U.S. average. CBS actually secures several spots on the list of programs popular among viewers on both the left and the right of the political aisle, including The Mentalist, Numb3rs, How I Met Your Mother and NCIS.

HGTV’s Income Property is the highest ranking cable show on the list, which Republicans and Democrats tune into at rates 14% and 20%, respectively, above the national average. The show about converting a part of your home into an apartment to help with the mortgage confirms that in these tough economic times Democrats and Republicans alike can use all the help they can get.

The relatively new Human Target on Fox, based on a DC Comics comic book, has a bright future in store if it can continue attracting both Democrats and Republicans viewers.  Just ask the creators of ABC’s Desperate Housewives. Desperate Housewives, now in its seventh season, has the unique honor of being the only program on the list that appeals equally to both sides. Republicans and Democrats are both 16% more likely than average to tune in each week to find out what the ladies of Wisteria Lane have cooked up.

We all know that later this month when President Obama and Republican leaders meet in Washington to discuss a roadmap to bipartisan cooperation that they won’t agree on much. That said, they’ll always have The Good Wife to bridge the divide. Happy Thanksgiving!

Examining weekly trend data from Experian Simmons DataStream, we found that in the past year alone, there has been a 65% relative increase in the share of young adults who believe that video games are more entertaining than television. In fact, as of September 27, 2010, more than a quarter of 18 to 24 year-olds (28%) agreed that video games were more entertaining than TV.

Furthermore, one-in-five 18 to 24 year-olds (21%) today spend more time playing video games than watching TV, a relative increase of 48% in the past year. Many games remain split with 14% of 18 to 24 year-olds watching TV while playing video games, up just slightly from this same time last year.

This trend is noticeably more pronounced among young men, but women are closing the gap. Simmons DataStream shows that 37% of 18 to 24 year-old men find video games more entertaining than TV, compared with 10% of women the same age. However, during the past year, the share of young women who find video games more entertaining has increased by 65% compared to a 59% increase observed among young males.

This trend may be driven, at least in part, by the proliferation devices that support video games, including smart phones and tablet PCs.

You can find more information  on our website about technology adoption and use of mobile phones. For more information on Simmons DataStream weekly reporting of nearly 40,000 consumer variables, visit our website.

Experian Simmons examined the political party registrations of viewers of over 700 television programs measured in the Spring 2010 Simmons National Consumer study. We found that registered Republicans and Democrats, indeed, have different preferences in entertainment programs. But especially noticeable was the preponderance of highly rated Nielsen programs at the top of the Republican list. Not all shows that skew Republican are ratings darlings, of course, but programmers should take note of this fact if ratings are their foremost goal.

Republicans:

When looking at programs on broadcast TV, we see that Republicans tend to gravitate towards reality shows that center on some sort of competition. In fact, Republicans are 32% more likely to watch The Amazing Race on CBS than the average American adult. They’re also 24% more likely to watch American Idol on Fox and 18% more likely to watch America’s Got Talent on NBC. The Simmons data provides some evidence that it’s the competitive angle of these shows that is attracting Republicans. Specifically, Republicans are fully 29% more likely than the average adult to watch the results show of Dancing with the Stars on ABC and just 17% more likely to watch the non-results episodes of the same show.

Republicans tend to gravitate towards reality shows that center on some sort of competition.

When it comes to cable entertainment programs, Republicans tend to prefer lifestyle programs on HGTV and TLC. Republicans are also found in high concentrations among many adventure/documentary show audiences, like Ice Road Truckers on History and Deadliest Catch on Discovery. And finally, big families are big draws for Republicans with 18 Kids and Counting and Jon & Kate Plus 8, both on TLC, attracting more than average concentrations of Republican viewers.

Democrats:

On the left side of the broadcast dial, we see that registered Democrats tend to be drawn to crime and legal dramas like Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU, both on NBC. We also see higher concentrations of Democrats tuning into broadcast shows featuring female characters playing central or leading roles, such as Brothers & Sisters on ABC, Medium on CBS, 30 Rock on NBC and the Good Wife on CBS. The Good Wife, actually, has higher than average concentrations of both registered Democrats and registered Republicans. Given that the program is about the wife of a politician, it’s not such a surprise that registered voters from both sides of the aisle tune in.

We also see higher concentrations of Democrats tuning into broadcast shows featuring female characters playing central or leading roles.

On cable, we see high concentrations of registered Democrats tuning into character-driven dramas, like Dexter and United States of Tara, both on Showtime. Democrats also flock in disproportionate numbers to cable reality shows. But unlike the competitive reality shows favored by Republicans, Democrats prefer observational reality shows where they get to peer into the lives of celebrities or unique and extraordinary people.

For more information about the in-depth consumer behaviors, attitudes, lifestyles, brands and media measured in the Simmons National Consumer Study, visit our website.