The Frank N. Magid Associates Generational Strategies study, which took a look at how consumers spend their time consuming media throughout the day, came out this week. If you work in a company with employees under the age of 47, the primary conclusion shouldn’t come as much of a shock: Consumers are spending more time on Facebook than watching TV during working hours.
What is impressive is that Facebook (media provided by one privately held company that didn’t exist seven years ago) is now dominating the TV (a collective effort of the largest media conglomerates out there). In other words, it’s not social media as a whole that is more popular than TV—it’s just this one social network.
Another interesting aspect of the study is its break-down of Facebook users and TV viewers by daypart and generation. With 50 percent of all Facebook users logging in every day and about 45 percent of users accessing Facebook through a mobile device, employers and employees alike can expect to see a quickly changing work day. Given Nielsen’s prediction that 50 percent of mobile devices will be smart phones by the end of this year, it is inevitable that Facebook is going to be central to the ‘nine to five’ routine.
I was interviewed by Business News Daily about what this study means to marketers and came to a pointed conclusion. This state of affairs provides an amazing opportunity for marketers to integrate themselves into a lifestream that doesn’t stop during work hours. Previously, brands may not have been able to advertise a new lunch option within company walls, but now they can do it not only within the walls, but in consumers’ pockets as well:
“This study should be really eye-opening for advertisers in that it shows what people are doing when they consume their messages,” said Grossman. “If your message isn’t relevant to your target audience, it is going to be skipped over or ignored completely.”