Advertising and marketing in 2020 will definitely go down in the business and media strategy playbooks as one of the most incredibly interesting years not only in the Prescott Valley region, but across the country, and globe.
Consumers in the U.S. increased their online shopping spend by 30% between 1st and 2nd Quarters 2020 (CSNBC), while media junkies continued to consume even more content via websites, blogs, videos, podcasts, digital magazines, and yes, social media. March 2020 experienced an 18% jump in online traffic compared to March 2019 as households hunkered down and hopped online (Satista.com). In its third year (2020), our own multimedia website, SignalsAZ.com, essentially doubled its page views and has maintained those numbers garnering almost 4.0 million page views in 2020, tracking to exceed that in 2021.
In fact, consumer habits as it relates to news media have changed drastically over the years, with 2020 being no exception. According to PEW Research’s survey of adults in August, 2020:
- 52% of adults now prefer to get their news online
- 35% from television
- 7% from radio
- 5% from print publications
Of those adults online (52%), here are their preferred ways of getting to their information online, in descending order:
- News websites or apps
- Search
- Social media
- Podcasts
(Source: PEW Research)
Recent trends in the digital world can also be seen in magazines. In the Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2016-2020 Report, it is expected that revenues from digital magazine publishing will grow 30% by 2020 in total consumer magazine revenues, compared to only 16% in 2015. That’s a huge jump. What’s most interesting found in these trends is that the interest in digital magazines isn’t coming from new readers of magazines, but from former print readers which suggests a change in preference. (PaperLit) Prescott Valley’s print voice is TG Magazine. At Talking Glass Media, we call TG Magazine our “smart and beautiful” voice for the Prescott Valley region. This unique publication is offered both digitally and in print. Additionally, soon you may be able to listen to TG Magazine articles through our text-to-speech services that we currently offer both on our website SignalsAZ.com and via our podcast, CAST11.buzzsprout.com . That leads us to the streaming world of content.
Within the past couple of years, podcasts have begun to enter into their golden age. Did you know that there are now 1.75 million podcasts out there with over 43 million episodes and growing? That’s a lot of content. According to PodcastHosting.org, here are some 2021 statistics that you may be interested in especially if you have a podcast or were considering one:
U.S. Demographics
- 75% of the US population is familiar with the term “podcasting”
- 50% of all US homes are podcast fans
- 55% (155 million) of the US population has listened to a podcast
- 37% (104 million) listen to podcasts at least every month
- 24% (68 million) listen to podcasts weekly
- 16 million people in the US are “avid podcast fans”
- 51% of podcast listeners are male, 49% female
- Age of listeners:
- 12-34: 48%
- 35-54: 32%
- 55+: 20%
- 63% of podcast listeners are white
- 41% of monthly podcast listeners have household income over $75K (vs 29% for US population)
- 25% of US podcast listeners have a 4-year college degree (vs 19% of US population)
- 51% employed full-time (vs 44% of US population)
U.S. Habits (also according to PodcastHosting.org)
- 90% of podcast listening is done at home
- 64% listen while driving
- Podcast listeners subscribe to an average of 6 shows
- Podcast listeners listen to an average of 7 different shows per week
- 93% listen to all or most of each episode
- Podcast listening on a computer went up from 29% to 31%
- 19% of listeners increase the speed
- 65% of monthly podcast listeners have been listening for less than 3 years
- Comedy, education, and news are the most popular podcasting genres.
Podcast listeners are loyal, affluent, and educated. Best yet, data suggests that 81% of podcast listeners pay attention to ads on podcasts and 60% say they have purchased something from a podcast ad.
Sources: PodcastiInsights.com, PaperLit, PodcastHosting.org
Luckily for us here in the Prescott Valley region, we don’t have the big city density that added to the concerns for COVID, albeit there were shutdowns, losses of life and businesses closed. Yet, our region’s economy fared very well. Interests rates were low and remain at bargain rates. The real estate market was booming in 2020 and continues to rally in 2021. Some restaurants quickly pivoted to 2020’s challenges (and opportunities), creating new menus that worked well for take-out and delivery. Mobile apps were developed for online ordering and curbside delivery. Businesses have shifted, even if just for the moment, to online event marketing, virtual conferences and web based educational programs to stay in front of customers. Our local municipalities moved to change ordinances allowing for outdoor dining and short-term parking for food pick-up. Restaurants that had already planned to come to Prescott Valley wanted to change their original design-build before breaking ground to include drive-thru. A quick pivot to adapt to a rapidly changing world. These agile entrepreneurs are capturing marketplace. Those merchants, big and small that had already unfurled their “sails” in order to capture the sustaining force of online merchandising and marketing subsequently captured the powerful COVID tradewinds that rose up. But, was it simply a short storm, or permanent, new trends and preferences that come along with a change of habit? The data may suggest that things have changed for good.