Tag Archives: Digital

the7stars Digital View : EU Privacy Laws

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April 5, 2012

A recap…

Since we last discussed the EU Cookie Law (its adopted headline title… this is about user privacy remember!), and we creep ever closer to compliance judgement day, 26th May, what’s the latest on how the EU might enforce this law and how has the UK online business community been reacting recently?

Doom merchants are still prophesising the end of the ecommerce world as we know it, but others are perhaps more level-headed and pragmatic in their views on whether this law can actually be fully enforced in the way the Directive set out its suggested compliance almost a year ago.

To recap, the fundamental change is the ‘opt-in’ requirement around cookies versus the existing ‘opt-out’ option that websites currently include in the small print of their Privacy Policies tucked away at the bottom of their web pages.    Making this clearer is the EU’s intention, but as our recent What’s Hot piece reflected, there isn’t anything currently in the Directive distinguishing between different cookies… remember, not all cookies are bad for you.

Cookies Explained

There are essentially 3 types of cookies that are under scrutiny here;

  1. Those that help user experience, remembering your font sizes, pre-populating forms, where you are in an order/your basket contents, and allowing users to comment and share content on social networks.  Typically 1st party.
  2. Those used to retarget you with ads based on your behaviour.  Often 3rd party (e.g. ad networks) and at the heart of the privacy issue.
  3. Those that website owners will use for analytical purposes, which for many online ecommerce businesses, is absolutely critical for their existence.

Recently even the Government Digital Services has stepped up to question the validity of making analytical cookies opt-in, and Mr Ed Vaizey himself has been liaising recently with browser providers to see what can be done at this level to apply the rules (this has some way to go as browsers need to become more intelligent to handle opt-in/opt-out tracking).   The Directive’s wording around this might offer some narrow allowance around point 3 and maybe even point 1… “if what you are doing is ‘strictly necessary’ for a service requested by the user”… but the area is grey, at least for the next 7 weeks!

Current, Suggested Fixes For Sites To Achieve Compliance

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) which is overseeing the application of the Directive in the UK, has offered some initial suggestions for compliance;

  • JavaScript pop-up box on every site – this would explain cookie usage and provide ‘yes’ and ‘no’ options for consent. Horrible solution for most… as we all know how much everybody hates pop-ups and most browsers block them anyway.
  • Splash page – a big user experience (and SEO) faux-pas.
  • Header and/or footer bars– shown along the top and/or bottom of the home page to first time visitors with a tick box to allow users to consent, with cookies disabled until the visitor ticks to indicate consent.
  • Remember preferences – enhanced wording of ‘remember preferences’ such as language or font size to ensure that it’s clear that a cookie will be required to do so.
  • Flagging at Terms & Conditions level – an option where users have to log into their account. They would need to give ‘specific and informed’ consent to these pages, so consent cannot be assumed just by changing the terms and conditions
  • In addition to this, the law also requires that Privacy Policies, typically hidden for obvious reasons perhaps, are more prominent, sited more visibly on the page.

What Should You The Advertiser Take From This?

Recently posting impressive growth figures – online display has increased 27% year-on-year across 2011 according to a recent IAB study – it is clear that the online display channel has been driven by the increasing number of behavioural targeting opportunities that now exist.  The UK has spawned many innovations and indeed innovators… a whole industry around user data interpretation and usage… so naturally the industry is concerned.

the7stars believes that privacy is an important issue, but if user data is anonymous, website user experience is enhanced and industries flourish in the UK, then with a level of control, hopefully we can be allowed to effect these campaigns to the benefit of all.

The likely outcome?  A quick roundup of comments from our numerous network and exchange suppliers suggests they are unsurprisingly favouring the ad level solution that has been adopted by some… that is, the AdChoices logo in the corner of any display ads that are retargeting users. But this is clearly opt-out rather than opt-in, so that sits at odds with the current Directive. Seems as though confusion still reigns.

Until 26th May, and likely beyond, we are available to advise objectively on any and all methods of behavioural targeting so please call with any queries around current or planned campaigns and we’ll be happy to answer them!

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Hey Mr DJ! the7stars RAJAR Update

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February 7, 2012

Who’s up, who’s down, who’s tuning in and how? Here, in a nice digestible bite-sized format, are the highlights of the latest radio quarterly audience survey released last week…

The reach of all radio has dropped by 4% QoQ, but still reaches a massive audience of 46.7m adults every single week. All commercial radio now has a 42.4% share compared to the BBC’s 55.5% share. Commercial radio has attracted an additional 1.4m listeners over the last two years.

Capital London has clung on to the top London spot this quarter, reporting a 15% YoY increase in listeners. Magic 105.4 had a strong quarter by going above the 2m listeners mark. Heart 106.2 falls into third place, followed by Kiss 100 and LBC 97.3 completing the London top five respectively.

The network radio stations, which have grown over the past few years, had some strong results this quarter. The largest commercial network in the country is the Heart Network, delivering 7.4m listeners, followed closely by Capital with 7m; Kiss UK with 4.1m; Magic UK with 3.8m; Smooth Radio UK with 3.3m; and Total Real Radio with 2.6m.

Classic FM remains the most listened to single commercial UK radio station, despite a poor quarter. Talksport has seen a 3% increase in reach, no doubt bolstered by the coverage of the Rugby World Cup in October.

The Total Absolute Radio Network, which includes Classic Rock, 80s, 90s and 00s stations, remained static at 2.8m listeners. This is expected to grow next quarter with the inclusion of listening results from the recently launched Absolute 60s and 70s stations.

When it comes to local radio, commercial radio delivers 26.2m listeners, compared to 9.6m for the BBC’s local and regional services. First Radio, who represent 118 of the UK’s local radio services, report that 5.8 million adults tune in to one of their stations for an average 8.4 hours per week.

Digital listening has grown once again, and accounts for a 29.1% share of all radio listening. A record 20.9m adults (40%) now claim to live in a household with a DAB radio. Listening to the Absolute Radio Network via a digital platform is at 71%, against an industry average of 29%.

In terms of mobile listening, 15.1% of adults and 32.2% of 15-24s now claim to listen to radio on their mobile phone.

Source: RAJAR Q4 2011

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Hear me now – the7stars Q3 RAJAR update.

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October 28, 2011

The reach of all radio has remained above 47m for the third consecutive quarter, with all radio listening hours increasing by 2% YoY, and with almost 91% of the UK population tuning in.

Commercial radio has seen a slight QoQ decline of 0.9%, but still boasts a 43.3% share of all radio hours.

Capital London has won the battle for top London radio station this quarter, knocking Magic 105.4 into third place, following another burst of TV advertising pushing the Capital brand. Heart 106.2 also surged passed Magic, claiming second place, with LBC 97.3 and Kiss 100 completing the London top five respectively.

Following investment in station consolidation, many of the radio networks are performing well. The largest commercial network in the country is the Heart Network, delivering 7.6m listeners, followed by Capital with 7m, Kiss UK with 4.1m, Magic UK with 3.8m, Smooth Radio UK with 3.3m and Total Real Radio with 2.6m. Smooth and Real Radio networks reported their highest ever weekly reach this quarter.

Classic FM remains the most listened to single commercial UK radio station, despite a poor quarter. Talksport remained largely flat in hours QoQ.

Absolute Radio’s network hours have increased by over 11% YoY but have dropped 16% QoQ. Absolute 80s delivered over 1m listeners for the first time, and is now the 10th biggest UK commercial station.

When it comes to local radio, commercial radio delivers 27m listeners, compared to 9.5m for the BBC’s local and regional services. First Radio, who represent 120 of the UK’s local radio services, report that 6m adults tune in to one of their stations for an average of 8.7 hours per week.

Digital listening has grown once again, and now accounts for a 28.2% share of all radio listening, up from 26.9% QoQ, no doubt helped by RadioPlayer.  Over 20m adults also claim to live in a household with a DAB receiver.

In terms of mobile listening, 16% of adults and 32% of 15-24s now claim to listen to radio on their mobile phone. A recent RAJAR study also found that over 20% of all smartphone owners have a radio app.

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The great outdoors

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October 26, 2011

This morning at the7stars HQ, we had a bit of a catch up on the outdoor market. Want to know what’s going on?

Well, first of all, we’re buying loads of it. As an agency, the7stars’ outdoor spend was up +233% YoY compared to Q3 last year. We are buying a hell of a lot – and making it work hard for our clients. Recently you may have seen our big impactful Converse sites, Discovery’s ‘Alone in the Wild’ as far as the eye can see, many new album launches…and also keep an eye out for our special builds for Phones4U and our Cocosa Bond Street digiwall in the near future.

Looking at the market more holistically, on a macro level, investment in digital outdoor has increased by 12% in Q3 of this year. This mirrors a trend that has run across the whole year, with spend on traditional sites down somewhat, but spend on digital sites increasing. Overall, avails for Q4 are looking very tight as clients from every industry sector gear up for the busy Christmas period. Other things to keep an eye out for include a roll out of new formats; including digital 6 sheets at bus stops, jazzy new ‘social’ digital screens in bars and nightclubs, and some upgraded large formats, such as those in Euston Station and in Manchester.

So looking forward to 2012, what’s coming up? With a year jam-packed with big events, there’s a lot going on. Many of the Olympics outdoor sites have already been booked up by the official sponsors, with taxis in particular being in extremely high demand.  In addition to this, we have a shortlist of a few trends to look out for, namely…

  • Increased augmented reality interactivity with sites,
  • Social media integration,
  • Interactive gaming,
  • Mobile connectivity,
  • More live dynamic content.

The future’s looking bright – has there ever been a better excuse to get out?

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When You’re Looking Like That

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October 21, 2011

 The internet and social media have allowed people to define the terms on which they interact with the media they consume. For example, The X Factor may be seeing a drop in viewer numbers but this doesn’t stop fans from tweeting about the contestants or the judges. The latest figures show that 59 per cent of 16-23 year olds use social networking sites to discuss their preferred television programmes with their online friends. What does this have to do with us? Well recently 52 per cent of people have admitted to shopping online whilst watching television. What’s Hot decided that it was about time we had a look at how consumers are interacting with TV and digital simultaneously.

 The act of watching television whilst using another screen, whether that be laptops, tablets or smartphones, is known in the industry as ‘dual-screening’. Dual-screening isn’t particularly new, but only an astonishingly small handful of companies have used it to their advantage. Of course it is by no means unusual to see a television programme ‘#hashtagging’ to encourage Twitter interaction from their followers. However very few have embraced dual-screening for its marketing potential, perhaps the logistics of co-ordinating marketing on two devices limiting what they feel they can do.

 One company to attempt to incorporate dual-screening is Honda. After its highly successful ‘Grrr’ campaign, Honda decided to create something that could interact with its television advertisement. Their creation was a mobile app which could be ‘swiped’ at the television whilst the advertisement was being played. The application would recognise the soundtrack and automatically download a character from the advertisement, with a total of six available. This encouraged the consumer to actually interact with the advert, anticipating the next time it will be screened in order to download their next character.

Dual-screening may not be such good news for the television industry. Even for the most tech-savvy user it is practically impossible to be concentrating on the television content whilst discussing it on social platforms. Furthermore if consumers choose to use their second screen to research the brand or programme, whilst having it on their television, they are automatically transferring their concentration into the hands of the digital world. The television advertisement will have little chance to influence the user after they turn their eyes to a search engine or social network.

We are yet to see the direction dual-screening will take in regards to advertising potential. What is certain is that advertisers can no longer take for granted the effectiveness of any single media type.

 Consumers are communicating their likes and dislikes over many different levels, and advertisers need to keep an eye on it.

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Us Against The World

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October 21, 2011

It’s official.  What’s Hot is excited about 2012.  Next year we are going to witness an abundance of media creativity in the UK. How can it not be exciting when we have the Euros, the Olympics, and even a Jubilee to plan around?

 So first, the numbers.  The latest Bellwether Report showed that despite a drop in marketing executives’ confidence, marketing spend has been revised upwards in Q3 2011.  It seems that many UK companies are increasing marketing spend in an effort to boost sales, and the main beneficiaries are online, direct marketing and sales promotion (all media channels that deliver the immediate returns to advertisers).  We estimate that 2011 ad revenue will be 2% higher than 2010.  The biggest growth sectors so far have been cars and telecoms (+10%), while Government spend has declined by 33% and Retail by 13%. Our forecast for the whole of 2012 is that ad revenue will increase by 4%.  The overall buoyancy masks a number of conflicting trends, such as a predicted 8% growth in Digital compared with 4% decline in Press.

So, what of the events?  The first big one is the Silver Jubilee and another Bank Holiday in early June.  The Royal Wedding this year took a few people by surprise, as the nation was gripped by royal family fever, or at least excited with the extra time off work.  And with it came a few smart marketing initiatives such as T Mobile’s great viral, currently at 25 million views on YouTube and still growing.  We are anticipating lots of Jubilee-inspired media campaigns in 2012.

Euro 2012 kicks off in Warsaw in June and, with apologies to our Scottish and Welsh readers, we are expecting a great tournament and a boost to the ad market, particularly  for ITV who will share the broadcast rights with the BBC.  Following this, the first British Olympics since 1948 will commence on July 22nd.  The BBC will of course have exclusive TV rights for the games.  Interestingly Channel 4 has purchased the rights for the Paralympics in August and You Tube will stream highlights of the Games to countries all over the world as part of an IOC deal.

The Press media owners have some interesting Olympics plans, including Metro and City AM planning weekend editions (Metro’s will be London-only and they are suggesting a print run of 350,000 copies).  The Outdoor market will be even more dynamic.  Vicinity sites in London, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle and Coventry will be exclusively sold to official Olympic sponsors and the auction process for this is already underway.  Meanwhile new non-exclusive space is becoming available around the new transport, new Central London experiential spaces and Westfield.  Poster companies are predicting 2012 revenue growth  of 15% – one of the biggest growth years ever.

So, 2012 is going to be crammed with exciting new media opportunities, increasing advertising budgets and three major events to give advertisers the opportunity to keep their communications absolutely up-to-the-minute.   It’s going to be a great year to remember in marketing.

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Google Wallet – Can a phone now burn a hole in your pocket?

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October 7, 2011

Google Wallet is the latest of the Near Field Communication (or NFC) systems to hit the digital world, perhaps signalling the end for the humble leather wallet. With the application, money and cards can be loaded onto your handset, allowing items to be paid for with a quick swipe of the phone without hanging around in long queues. The consumer can also be rewarded with the latest offers. No more holding onto paper vouchers and remembering to use them when in store. So why Google Wallet? Or more to the point… Why NFC at all?

 

Essentially the NFC system is a tool for convenience. The idea is undoubtedly exciting. The problem is seeing to what extent the benefits outweigh the dangers of keeping all your financial information in one, digital space. It may be convenient to skip queues, forget about vouchers, and transfer money at a click, but it may seem less convenient if your phone is lost or stolen, or perhaps if a merchant asks for cash – you thought you didn’t need your wallet anymore. Google rebuff the security argument by claiming that the digital wallet is in fact safer than the physical equivalent. The system is protected by a pin and secured with encryption, whereas a wallet’s only protection is often just a person’s trouser pocket. What if the phone is stolen you may ask? Well not everyone has the software to completely wipe their phone’s memory. This means you will still have to cancel your bank cards, even though you will still have them at home!

 

For any technology to become part of daily life, first and foremost it needs to be a better system than what is currently available. For NFC to make a truly social impact it must stay safe and simple. There is little argument against the simplicity of the technology. If you don’t mind syncing your bank accounts to the software then the tool appears easy to use. The interface is almost self explanatory, enter your pin, choose an account, transfer to another person/merchant’s account by holding your phone close to reader, and you’re done. The system will then also sync any relevant offers ensuring you have the best possible deal. All good then…

 

Well there are significant drawbacks that come with the Google Wallet compatibility. The problem is that this makes for a pretty extensive list:

  1. Model – For the time being the app is only available on the Nexus S 4G.
  2. Cards – The only cards taken currently are most Citi® PayPass™ eligible MasterCard® credit cards and the Google Prepaid Card.
  3. Merchants – Although many large corporations will take the system on, it will take a long time for the NFC readers to become universal and readily available.
  4. Battery – The handset must be on to complete the transaction.
  5. Digital – As with all apps there is the threat of malicious applications extracting data.

 

Google ‘Wallet’ is certainly a revolutionary tool in mobile purchasing, although not necessarily a major step forward. The system has some flaws and incompatibilities which detract from the obvious benefits of the application, until these are addressed then Google’s attempt at NFC may hit too many stumbling blocks. The recent law suit with their nearest competitor PayPal may not have tarnished their reputation much, but with a more integrated system PayPal may still reap the rewards. 

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Into the Groove

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September 23, 2011

Keen What’s Hot fans will remember our piece on Radioplayer from back in March. At the time, the player – a single online platform that could stream up to 160 different UK radio stations, both BBC and commercial – was predicted to be a game-changer in the radio industry. Six months later, it’s time for an update.

Radioplayer celebrated its six month anniversary last week by announcing that it had received 6.7m unique users to its site during the month of August. Going from strength to strength, the platform now streams 282 stations – a 75% increase on March – live on the site. All BBC national and local stations are available, as well as commercial radio stations, and new stations are still enlisting. A lot of the growth has come from the addition of independent, community and student stations, expanding both the choice and diversity of the offering. Radioplayer is starting to live up to its slogan, ‘UK radio in one place’.

Research over the last few months has provided an insight into exactly who makes up those 6.7m users. Data indicates that Radioplayer is a companion during the working day. Listenership peaks at 9am, drops off at around 5pm and peaks again during the weekday evening when Joe Bloggs gets in from a hard day’s work. There are noticeable troughs of listenership at weekends and bank holidays.

A keen and significant development made recently at Radioplayer HQ was the development of a Facebook app, launched in August. It allows listeners to share what they’re listening to and chat about the content. It is the part of a broader plan to add online listening to other platforms, including mobiles and web-connected TVs. The end goal is to have multiple convenient access points for the listener. Elsewhere, Facebook has just hosted its F8 Developers’ Conference this week, with a special session entitled ‘The Future of Digital Music’. It announced plans to partner with Spotify, Rhapsody, Vevo and Rdio, which will effectively turn profile pages into personal media hubs. How exactly this will pan out remains to be seen.

All good stuff, but what’s next? Radioplayer’s success looks set to go global with inquiries from abroad from broadcasters looking to replicate its success in their own domestic markets. Future plans also include the addition of podcasts to the platform, enriching the end user experience.

So what does the future hold for radio in the UK? In the last RAJAR audit figures released in August, there was a period-on-period increase in total UK radio listening, with 91.7% of the population tuning in. Clearly, this is a medium that isn’t falling on deaf ears, and won’t any time soon.

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